A Fortnight of 2012 Topps: Day 14

Hooray, we're finally there! 

Today, I just want to recap the last 13 posts.

Day 1: My wife surprised me with a bunch of cards shortly after the release.  I opened a hanger pack, a rack pack, and a handful of retail packs.  They're still the only packs I have opened to this point.  I wanted to stay away from new packs until the fortnight was over, to see if I still want to buy.

Day 2: Vertical cards.  The photography has been a hot topic for this year, but I'm not sure why.  I thought the photography was pretty good on average, with many unique shots.  I do think Topps zooms in a bit too much on some action shots.

Day 3: Horizontal cards.   More interesting photos, including the World Series subset.  gotta love the seagulls.

Day 4: The store parallels.  Red for Target, Blue for Wal-Mart and Purple(?) for Toys-R-Us.  I just don't get it.  I don't need to be reminded of where the card came from.  I'd much rather have team color parallels, but I don't see that happening.  That said, I certainly won't avoid collecting the parallels for my PC players.

Day 5: The Gold Parallels.  I'm a fan.

Day 6: Gold Standard.  It's the first insert set I highlighted, and the first one that looks Panini'ed.  I like the foil medallion, but the cards are a little underwhelming. 

Day 7: Golden Moments.  I'm a fan of "Moments" cards. They put you in the game situations, which is always good.  The design is Panini'ed, but not as bad as some.  I tweaked it a little and thought it made it a little better, but the set isn't too bad.

Day 8: Golden Greats.  C'mon Topps, you were almost there on this one.  Get rid of the fade and make the medallion foil.  That makes it a flagship-set-worthy insert.

Day 9: Golden Futures.  I like them, though It's the "Golden" insert set with the least Gold, ironically.

Day 10: Timeless Talents.  Boring and repetitive and boring and repetitive.

Day 11: Classic Walk-Offs. Ugh. Based on the comments, most people seem to agree that this insert was the biggest failure.  The auto-patch variation is fantastic, but at 10 copies apiece, that doesn't fully justify the design.

Day 12: '87 Minis.  Follow the worst insert set with the best.  I'm a fan of these because the cards backs just felt right.  They'll make good trade bait.

Day 13:  Golden Giveaway.  Topps is showing that the momentum of the Million Card Giveaway and the Diamond Giveaway can, in fact, die a slow death.  There are far fewer real cards that can be redeemed, making most code cards just a dummy card.

Day 14: Hey, that's today.

My thoughts on the set as a whole:
I'm a low-budget collector, so I likely won't get to appreciate the auto/relic/patch/etc. designs in person.  There are some great higher-end cards in the flagship set, but that isn't what it should be all about.  The pin cards look great, as do the rings, and I like the blaster patches that I've seen. 

The set doesn't blow me away, but I rarely expect the flagship set to do so.  My PC players don't have a ton of cards in the set and insert sets, so I won't be buying a ton trying to find many.  This set will still be like any other flagship set for me, though.  I will continue to put retail packs and rack packs in my cart from time to time, to quench the thirst of opening packs. 

I hope you enjoyed this fortnight of 2012 Topps.  I may have to do the same with some other sets. 

I do have one request.  I desperately want 2 cards from 2012 Topps that I don't have yet.  #'s 3 and 139.  The first is for my Topps #3 collection.  The second is the Scott Sizemore card.  While I'm on Scott Sizemore, I also need his 2011 Topps Update card #111.  I don't think 3 base cards is unreasonable.  I have 2012 Topps to trade.

As for other happenings during this fortnight,
I surpassed 100 followers, 450 posts, 1,000 comments, and 50,000 pageviews.  You guys left 26 comments on the first 11 posts, which I greatly appreciate.  I'm currently on pace to surpass my record for most posts in one month.  I owe my motivation to all of you who read this. 

The purpose I have always had for this blog is for it to be a welcome diversion for both myself and anyone else who may need or want it.  Right now, I need it more than ever.  I have high hopes for the rest of this year, and plan to continue having "series" posts like this fortnight, the super bowl countdown, and the Christmas posts.

Thanks for reading!