2012 Topps S1: The Review!

Ahh, Yes. My First Real Review of 2012
(…let the snoring begin…)

It’s that time of year again. Just before Punxsutawney Phil had a chance to poke his furry little head out and gaze at his fat shadow with his beady little eyes (wait, did he see his shadow? I don’t know, it was super foggy here in the Cities), the much anticipated Topps ’12 S1 hit hobby shops and retail stores with force. This “Golden” edition of the flagship set, a follow-up to the Diamonoid promotion from 2011, has been as hyped up as I’ve heard any entry-level trading card product. Complete with more insert subsets than you can shake a squirrel tail at and last-second Super Short Prints of pie faces, stars Photoshopped into their new uniforms, and rally rodents. Too bad Phil didn’t get his own Super Short Print card.

I’m not collecting the flagship this year, as I’m wont to do (or not do). As I say each year, if I REALLY want the base set, I’ll just purchase the Factory Set. For the review, I picked up a blaster box at a nearby Target. In fact, I was the first one to pick a box there. I noticed something interesting, too. This particular location’s shelves were stocked with two different versions of blaster packaging. I purchased the only box they had stocked with the yellow vertical stripe on the right side. The rest of the boxes featured the same yellow stripe, but it instead ran horizontally on top. The difference? I just happened to pick the ONLY blaster containing Target Red Border parallels that they had on the shelves that day.

One thing I can say for Topps, it seems that they are consistently following a very successful formula for their package designs, at least as far as the Flagship set is concerned. Unfortunately, at least this year, with all of the information they need to communicate, their blasters end up looking terribly cluttered. There really isn’t much they can do about it, though. Adding their Twitter handle was a nice touch. Varsity Trading Cards includes QR Codes on each card. I wonder how long before Topps incorporates that strategy?

The configuration for a Target Blaster is pretty typical. 10 eight-card packs, two packs of which are all Target Reds. Each blaster also contains a commemorative manupatch. That’s pretty decent for $20.

ALL YOUR BASE
By the way… does anyone get the “all your base” reference? Anyway… Topps has gone back to the K.I.S.S. method of design, and by that I don’t mean they all started spitting fire while wearing high heels. What I mean is that they kept the design nice and simple. Although, I’m not sure I’m buying into the Starship Enterprise oval thing just yet. In any case, Topps’ designers stayed on track with a successful formula. A good rule of thumb to follow? KEEP THE TEAM NAME OFF OF THE TOP OF THE CARD!! *cough cough 1972, 1986, 2008 cough cough* Okay, okay. SOMETIMES including the team name on the top of the card works, BUT NOT ALWAYS. *cough cough* They kept a nice clean framed border, which is a call-back to other successful sets like the ’91 flagship. Plenty of room is left for photography, and there were plenty of nice shots used. There were also some questionable shots used.

On the left, you see an astonishing and unique shot that could make Night Owl drool. On the right is the kind of shot that makes me go “uhh…” I know the Twins were terrible in 2011, but I have to believe that Carl Pavano had a much better, more usable shot than the one found on his Topps ’12. Although, now that I think about it, that image does kind of encapsulate the kind of season Pavy had last year. I mean, look at the guy. He looks like he’s being dishonorably discharged from service while Drew Butera drops a stink-bomb on both he and Rick Anderson. That was pretty much his 2011.

BACK AND FORTH
Remember that “perfect card” survey I had you all take recently? Well, apparently either you all really like what Topps does to the back of their cards, or Topps was listening. I’d believe the former. I happen to think that’s one of the classic strengths of Topps flagship design. For years, they’ve followed the same basic formula, save for a few tweaks here and there and an occasional trip back to cartoon land. Clean, readable text (for the most part), easy to find and read card numbering, unobtrusive legal text and logos, COMPLETE statistics, biographical information, and player trivia. One nice touch that I appreciate about this year’s set is how if a player is, say, an Outfielder for the Detroit Tigers, instead of saying “Detroit Tigers – OF” they say “Detroit Tigers Outfielder.” One drawback you probably already noticed is, depending on the team’s color scheme, how hard it is to read that part of the text. A simple text color adjustment to the necessary cards would have made the backs to these cards nearly perfect.

PARALLEL UNIVERSE
Modern Topps wouldn’t be Modern Topps without a few parallels. Obviously, the blaster I bought came advertised with two packs full of Target Red parallels. Walmart also carries Blue bordered versions. I pulled two Gold parallels (seeded 1 in every 4 packs). Apparently the proper name for these parallels is “Golden Moments Parallels.” No thanks. They’re Gold. Okay, fine. I’ll compromise. They’re “Golden.” Also available are Black and Platinum bordered versions as well as 1/1 Wood and 1/1 Printing Plates of each card. This actually isn’t as out-of-control crazy as it has been in the past. It’s nice that the parallel selection has been pared down a bit, especially for player collectors. As a side note, I always find it so odd to run across a refractor-type parallel, such as the “Golden,” without a thick coating of gloss.

INSERT TAB A INTO SLOT B
If you hadn’t detected a common theme in this set by now, your common theme detector will get a swift kick in the shorts when you run across the inserts. There are seven different inserts to concern yourself with, and that’s just in retail. If you’re counting Hobby hits, forget it. The checklist on that is ridiculously insane. And then there’s the wrapper redemption and the “Golden Giveaway.” Topps went berzerk with hits this year, for some reason. Not that their hits are lacking in any other year, mind you. It just seems that this season is a little extra special. But let’s just focus on the low-level inserts for a moment. Let me just start by saying that I’ve never been a big fan of low-level inserts. That includes those of players on the Twins. If the inserts were somehow more built into the base set in the way that there are different subsets within Allen & Ginter, I might be more inclined to reconsider. However, I’ve always felt that packs would be better suited without these fillers. Once in a while, though, a cool little insert does sneak in. I do kind of like the ’87 minis. For as cheesy as the original set is, there’s something cool about seeing it shrunk down and featuring today’s stars. If I WERE to collect any inserts at all, that might be the set I would go for. But I’m not. So there!

YOU’VE GOT ME IN STITCHES
As the advertising on the blaster promised, I was due one commemorative patch card. I’m not entirely sure what they’re counting as a patch, but I got a Historical Stitch card instead. I’m also not entirely sure what to think about this card. The stitching is embedded on felt-like synthetic fabric. It certainly does not feel like cotton or wool. And the stitching… is that supposed to be a replica of his signature, or simply his last name spelled out in cursive? It doesn’t look like anything from anything. At least the “patches” they’ve used in the past looked like they could have actually been used for something. This just looks like it was taken off of somebody’s bowling shirt. Someone who happened to go by the name of “Robinson.” I appreciate that Topps is trying to add more value by inserting these manupatches in each blaster box, but I’m wondering who in the collecting world is even taking these cards seriously? I mean, as I’m writing this, there are about 20 of these Robinson’s up on eBay. Most of the people selling them have them listed at around $10 or more. Two of the other listed Robinson’s actually have bidders, and they’re both currently sitting at 49 cents. I’m not saying that these manupatches are completely worthless. I just wonder if they actually do help sell more blasters.

FINAL SCORE
For a flagship base set, it’s more of the same from Topps. In a good way. They’re using formulas that have worked well in the past, and they’ve even spun in an improvement or two. Some photography and readability issues knock the score down a bit, and my personal feelings on manupatches and an overabundance of inserts/fillers don’t help. A good checklist of hits are great, but can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Oh, by the way? We get it. This year’s theme is GOLD. I’m surprised and quite thankful that the boxes and wrappers weren’t also all rockin’ the C-3PO gold color. What’s that? A Star Trek AND a Star Wars AND a video game reference ALL in the same post? Something tells me that just earned me a night on the couch. Anyways, back to business. If I were Topps, I’d keep doing exactly what you’re doing. Build on your strengths and continue to make improvements. Learn from your mistakes, learn what your target audience likes, continue to innovate, keep things fresh while honoring the past, and keep things simple. You didn’t quite hit a home run, here, but you did hit a gapper for a triple. Unfortunately, you got tagged out at the plate trying to stretch it into an inside-the-parker.

TAKE MY CARDS
As always, any of the cards that I don’t want or won’t be trading away are free for the taking. Just go to the Take My Cards tab found at the top of the blog and see if there’s anything you need or would like. All you have to do is e-mail me your request, and if the cards you’re looking for are available, they’re all yours! The only thing I ask is that you provide a SASE. So go on, take a look! And for cryin’ out loud, take my cards, please!