I came across some rack packs of Opening Day while on a diaper run and had to grab one.
I love how they stacked the OD logo and the Rookie Cup. You almost don't even see the cup at first.
These cards really bothered me, though. I guess the cards weren't the problem, but Topps was...er...is. This rack pack has 27 cards for around $3.50. That's about 13 cents per card. Topps Flagship retail packs and rack packs are considerably higher than that.
It's high time Topps combined OD and Flagship. The most obvious problem is that it doesn't make any sense for OD to come out after Series 1. Aside from that, OD cards without the foil just plain look better. They're easier to read and there's no chance of foil crap-ups.
I get that hits in OD are very rare...more rare than Flagship, anyway. I understand that raises the price. Here's the solution: reduce the number of hits in retail. Most people don't buy retail for the hits. Most people that buy retail just want to rip some cards or maybe complete a set. Reduce the hits in retail. Hell, put the hits you take out of retail in the hobby boxes.
Make Flagship a product where a 12-card pack costs $1.50, and a rack pack is less than $5.
As for inserts and parallels, OD has Flagship whooped this year.
The blue parallels are just like the Emerald parallels, only they are blue. Therefore, they are miles better than the green ones. They do have the foil Opening Day date on them, which I could live without. The OD Stars cards are fantastic once again. Topps has to have figured out by now that the 3-D style cards are awesome. I don't know why they aren't found more often in Flagship. I like the Ballpark fun insert set. This is what the Pie-in-the-Face SPs from a couple of years ago should have been...an insert.
One beef with the blue parallel, though, is Topps use of the black numbering on the back. If you can stamp a foil date on the front, or foil names on every flagship card, you can stamp foil numbers on the back. It makes a HUGE difference.
Nitpicking aside, I think OD is a homerun this year.
10 comments:
Testify! I agree with everything you said and while I like the flagship this year, Opening Day looks like a set I'll complete, inserts and all.
I'm looking forward to picking up some of these once I have the available funds. This year's OD inserts look terrific.
Plus, those blue parallels are just as good, if not better, than Flagship's emeralds.
I've been debating picking some of these up vs. saving funds for the big local card show in early April. May have to take a trip out to Wal-mart tonight...
Oh god, more pie crap.
OD inserts are instantly worse than everything ever if we're going to get pie face photos in it. I think I've just decided not to buy any Opening Day.
Looks dope the whole pie in the face concept looks cool and as usual the Topps Opening day set looks good for Player autographs if your the type of person who goes to games and gets Auto's in persom.
I'm glad they brought back the Opening Day Stars. I've been casually collecting those from the previous two sets. Also I'm a big sucker for blue cards, though usually turned off by the sparkle concept.
I picked up a blaster and a rack pack today and I love the inserts and parallels. You are right on about the blue looking SO much better than the Emerald parallels. I'm looking forward to building the 3D set again and the new Play Hard set has some great photography. Opening Day has some really fun stuff this year.
I was hoping for the blue cascading parallels would show up in 2014. Looks like my wish came early. Although it's a shame they're "wasted" on a product that hardly anyone buys. Would make a set of blues damn tough to complete.
I open packs FOR the inserts. I would love a 25-75 split for inserts in a pack and drop the red & blue department store inserts. Just a waste of another possible insert.I usually wind up getting a factory or collated set a couple of years down the road anyways.
Ya, I guess the red and blue are inserts but its not the same.
The blue parallels look pretty amazing. I've never been a huge fan of Topps Opening Day. I think it has to do with the extra OD logo. I mean, the Cespedes has four logos. I can handle three... but four is where I draw the line.
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