So let’s take a look inside the box:

Not all the photos are this unique, but a lot are.

The first thing I noticed when I started ripping packs is that the photos aren’t the typical on-ice action shots that you get from 25 other releases each year. It’s definitely cool to see some of the behind-the-scenes stuff, and it actually makes it feel like the base is worth collecting. To that end, I got 177 of the 200 true base cards, which gets me close enough to a complete set that I can just trade for the rest online. (So uhh, anyone got any dupes they’re looking to unload?)

What’s that? All you care about is hits hits hits?

Look out Sid, menace Dave Steckel is also in this post.

You’re guaranteed four hits in a hobby box and I got five, so that was cool. I think the City Lights relics would have looked better with a thick black border around the swatch window, but that’s a minor complaint.

As for other inserts, it’s Pinnacle so that means starburst/dufex! Actually, they’re calling it Nufex technology and the parallels are called the Rink Collection…

Neuvirth PC!

I was pretty skeptical after seeing initial scans of some of these because the faces of the players looked really washed out, giving them a sort of ghost-like creepiness, but in person they look pretty good. To give you a better idea of how they compare to the base cards, here are a couple side-by-sides:

Oooh, shiny.

They look good, but I think I still prefer the UD Black Diamond base cards with similar foil technology. And that segues nicely into the negative portion of this review…

Ice Breakers rookies are cards 201-250 in the set and they appear to be seeded around 1:4 packs, so they’re very short printed compared to the rest of the base set (cards 1-200). I only got four base Ice Breakers, plus one Rink Collection and one auto.

I thought I'd see more of you. Well, the base at least. The auto was a nice bonus.

The Ice Breakers Autographs are also part of the base numbering (cards 250-270), which is an OCD nightmare because I know I’ll never complete the “full” base set without dropping some serious cash.

Then there are the inserts with the standard Panini design flaw: big empty spaces that might as well say “PLACE STICKER HERE.”

Clearly no amount of complaining about this practice is going to change it.

They look fine when there’s an auto on them, but they’re just kind of ugly without. I’d rather the auto-less cards just not exist and know I’m not going to get as many inserts per box.

Finally, the Artist’s Proof inserts seem to be typical of the tack-on mentality at Panini when it comes to parallels.

Unnecessary.

I don’t mind parallels, but I prefer my parallels to be obviously different than their base counterparts. It took a couple looks just to figure out what I had here, and what I had was “not much added value.”

I know there’s some magic number of inserts-per-pack to get collectors to buy a product — or at least I’m assuming the card companies have done some research — but these just don’t work for me.

That being said, I can’t end on a negative note because I really had a blast opening this set. Even though I only need 23 more cards for the base set, I could easily see myself buying another box or two just for the hits. For the price, you can’t lose.

As a hockey fan and collector who’s also played the game for almost 20 years, hockey tape has a certain aura that may only be rivaled by pine tar in baseball. To a player, tape has the mystical power to make your slap shot harder, your wrist shot quicker and your passes more accurate. As any hockey player will tell you, proper stick-taping technique is based on physics and science and math — knowledge that is passed down from locker room professors to young and eager students who experiment with dozens of tape techniques before they even have the finger strength to rip it off the roll.

And obviously there’s superstition. There’s a reason most NHL players don’t let team trainers tape their sticks for them. It’s got to be just right.

So as I read through Panini’s preview of 2010-11 Dominion hockey, an uber-high-end product slated for a July release, I got a bit giddy when I saw this:

Image from http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com. Click image for more from 2010-11 Dominion hockey.

I want these cards in a way that may be illegal in some states. They’re incredible.

There’s just something about stick tape — almost an emotional attachment. It’s the painstaking effort that players, from youth rec leagues to the NHL, put into getting the tape on just right. It’s the unmistakable tinge of sadness we feel when an opponent’s skate slices through a freshly wrapped layer (especially if that layer netted a goal or two). It’s the odd thrill of watching Alex Ovechkin do a perfect wrap in mere seconds just before taking center ice for a shootout attempt. It probably sounds crazy to those who have never experienced it, but it’s almost artistic.

And that’s why the opportunity to pull a card featuring an NHL hero’s game-used tape is too good to pass up.

Of course there are the exciting what-ifs (what if one of Stevie Y’s 692 NHL goals came off of this tape?), but even if he used it in a beer league game at least you know he felt the same emotion that all players feel when they tape their blade right before the pregame warm-up.

Since we’re in the era of the sticker auto, I had to ask via Twitter if these autographs would actually be on-card … err … on-tape. And Panini Hobby Marketing Manager Tracy Hackler quickly replied: “On-tape, yessir.”

Done. I need these cards. And I mean NEED.

I can’t wait for the checklist to come out.

1) I like the base card design a lot.
2) What’s all this other crap?

I decided to focus on the second point, as you can see here and here. In fact, this is what I said:

“I should just wait for the factory sealed sets at the end of the year.

…

I’m sure I’ll pick up some Heritage and A&G (and honestly I’ll probably nab a couple packs of Topps base at the card shop despite my misgivings), but I’m certainly going to focus the vast majority of my hobby time on my Eddie Murray collection this summer.”

Uhh … whoops. I’ve made a liar out of myself and it’s time to come clean.

I have purchased more 2011 Topps Series 1 than any other card set in my life, except for 2:
   • 1989 Fleer baseball (that wasn’t obvious enough?)
   • 2010-11 Score hockey

Buy me.

But after ripping a ton of (mostly retail) packs, I have to amend my thoughts on several things.

First, I don’t think the insert bloat is NEARLY as bad as everyone made it out to be when Topps S1 was first released. Yes, there are a lot of inserts — including many that I don’t care anything about — but the balance of base to inserts is pretty solid. I’ve bought 2011 Topps in the form of hobby packs, HTA jumbo packs, retail packs, retail jumbo packs, retail hanger boxes and retail blasters, and the base-to-insert ratio is pretty good across the board. My initial fear when attempting to build the set (still 43 cards short … never build through retail) was that the alleged insert bloat would make completing the set far more difficult, but I’ve found that I still look forward to the various inserts in every pack.

I’ve also found that the hanger/cereal boxes are the best bang for your buck when buying Topps flagship, especially with HTA packs going for $17 or more. For $10 you get more cards than an HTA pack and a lot of the same perks, like a guaranteed Diamond Giveaway code card, a Platinum Diamond parallel, a Kimball Champions mini, a Ticket To ToppsTown, a Topps 60, etc. Granted, you’re far less likely to pull a “hit,” but when autographs are as tough to pull as they are in Topps flagship and most of the hits are manufactured leather plates, it’s really not worth the extra money. I’m sure others will disagree and they may have good reason, but that’s my take.

So as I prepare to pre-order a box of Series 2, consider this my apology to the Topps development team. But I still think Gypsy Queen is stupid.

Whoops.

First there was the Sam Bradford 1/1 that was sent out as a replacement, although I honestly think the weirdest part of that whole story was the original poster’s refusal to say what he sent in to get replaced, then getting pissed when people kept asking, then getting REALLY pissed when people didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just say. Naturally everyone in the Twittablogosphere clamored for an explanation from Panini and was disappointed when that explanation was basically a shrug of the shoulders by the bread company.

But I would argue that this weekend’s incident is even weirder. After doing so much to kick every other company’s ass in accessibility on Twitter and their blog, Panini went and pulled a Ron Burgundy on us. (Link NSFW unless you’re wearing headphones.)

For those who need the Cliffs Notes, Gellman of Sports Cards Uncensored gets on Panini fairly regularly for their design choices and use of non-game-used relics. So when he went after them yet again for some of these same issues in Panini’s “super premium” National Treasures, I guess someone at Panini had enough because they felt the need to get snippy via social media.

Thankfully, Gellman was kind enough to post a transcript of the Twitter transaction.

Granted, Panini is just showing frustration toward one blogger who happens to hammer them repeatedly, but how can they not be aware of the perception this is going to create among collectors?

At best it makes them look thin-skinned (“Come on, we don’t expect a good reaction from you on anything we do.”) At worst, they’re dismissive and arrogant (“Don’t think your praise is necessarily on our priority list.” And “I think we’ll be OK.”)

Now I’m not naive enough to think this little spat is going to completely undo all the goodwill that Panini has created in the hobby with The Knight’s Lance and their Twitter feeds, but it’s not helping. And it’s a classic example of how social media can bite a company in the ass if one person has a momentary lapse in judgment. Just ask Mike Wise.

Michael Eisner has just fired the entire Topps Product Development staff and chose to hire you to take their place. Mr. Eisner has given you carte blanche to do whatever you want with Topps Baseball — as long as you keep it under $2/pack.

If you were in charge of Topps, and based upon what you’ve seen of 2011 Topps Baseball Series One, what (if anything) would you have done differently?

I feel like my first task is to rally the troops, so I’ve decided to take a cue from Rex Ryan. (Don’t read on if you’re offended by foul language…)

I’m about as positive a guy as there is. I believe our card company is better than every fuckin’ card company in the business. I believe our products are better than any products in the business, right? I believe our 2011 base card design was our best design since 1992. Those are true statements – that’s how I believe. But the company’s only going so far if I’m the only guy that has ideas.

The company is only going so far.

I’m not a great leader, OK? I’m not a great designer. I can’t create, myself, this whole group of products. We ain’t gonna put out a great product, guys, if it’s about me.

I’m sitting back waiting for us to understand the card company that we said we were gonna be. What the hell are we waitin’ on? What are we waitin’ on??

Do you want it or not? Do you understand there’s a price to pay?

Can we have insert sets? You’re damn right. I demand that we have insert sets.

That's being a jackass.

Now there’s a difference between having inserts and being a jackass. Our lineup of reprint inserts was a jackass when we shipped in 2011 – getting all bloated with 60 Years of Topps, 60 Years of Topps Original Backs, 60 Years of Topps “The Lost Cards,” 60 Years of Topps “The Lost Cards” Original Backs and Vintage Reprints before we went to the printer. That’s being a jackass.

You can have a good job at a card company, but not like this. We won’t make it. We’ll sit back and say, “Why didn’t we make it?” We didn’t make it because … where were our fuckin’ priorities?

How about our other inserts — the parallels, the game used? When are we gonna put it together? When are we gonna realize that less is more?? Let’s dump the gold inserts that no one’s collected since we starting flooding the market with them in 1992. Let’s dump the diamond, the platinum, the canary diamond anniversary and the Target and Wal-Mart exclusives. We can keep one parallel, but let’s not get carried away. And let’s get rid of all the manufactured relics and retired player relics. We’re about to make 2012 Topps, and the kids only care about uniforms worn by 2012 players.

Not doing this again.

So let’s have one rare parallel, one set of current player relics, and maybe one All-Star insert set — and that’s it.

Can we not cram our leftover inserts, relics and sticker autographs down collectors’ throats in a slew of other sets? Can we not show our MLBPA exclusive license any time we wanna fuckin’ show it?

Let’s make sure we act like fuckin’ Topps, and not some fuckin’ Pinnacle Brands.

That’s what I want to see in 2012.

Do we understand what the fuck I want to see in 2012?

Let’s go eat a goddamn snack.

L to R: 59 percent of a base set; 56 dupes

That’s right. After six retail jumbo packs of 2010-11 Upper Deck Series 1 hockey, I now have 118 cards of the 200-card base set … and 56 dupes (including 13 sets of triples).

Not cool.

Twinkle twinkle, bitches.

(Photo from this eBay auction.)

I really don’t want to be a Topps hater because it’s so en vogue right now, but it’s hard when they’ve got a 50-card unannounced gimmick parallel set and more inserts than base cards. I was actually optimistic about the Topps MLB monopoly when I first heard about it because I figured it would mean less sets and less clutter in the marketplace. But if Topps has shown one thing in a year of non-competition it’s that they’re plenty capable of creating clutter on their own.

Naturally I’ve been following the banter about the “twinkle” gimmicks on Twitter and the response is overwhelmingly negative, as it should be. But while the majority of collectors’ ire is directed at the twinkles, the real issues are the massive overproduction and the huge volume of inserts. You’d think Topps wouldn’t mess with their classic base series that much, but here we are with more insert cards than base cards in Series 1, which is ridiculous. I guess when you can just buy the Series 1 & 2 combined set for $35 at the end of the year it’s not really that important to please set builders, but are any of these inserts really adding anything?

I watched Stale Gum’s rip of 20 retail packs this morning, and you’ll never convince me that his stack of stupid reprints, annoying Target exclusives and lame parallels somehow added to the excitement of opening the packs. And that’s not even getting into secondary market value — because there is none.

At this point Heritage has become what Topps base SHOULD be: a set for set builders’ sake. Meanwhile, Topps base is just another low-end series that tries to give kids the illusion of value with a slew of boring inserts, kind of like UD Collector’s Choice in the ’90s.

So after watching Stale Gum’s rip and confirming the sense that I should just wait for the factory sealed sets at the end of the year, YouTube generously suggested that I watch this video from the development team at Topps:

Forget about Gypsy Queen, I defy you to watch this video and feel anything but dread about ANY Topps products in 2011.

The “cool new concepts” in Gypsy Queen are sketch cards with a relic tacked on, base parallels with a stamp relic, “some different mini cards and some mysterious jewel cards.” Getting pumped up? Me neither. These allegedly new ideas are just plain lazy.

I imagine the conversation went something like this:
Development Guy #1: “You like sketch cards?”
Development Guy #2: “They’re kinda cool.”
Guy #1: “What about relics?”
Guy #2: “Honestly, they haven’t been exciting in 10 years.”
Guy #1: “How about a relic ON a sketch card???”
Guy #2: “Seems a little disjointed…”
Guy #1: “So you’re saying you don’t hate it.”
Guy #2: “I never…”
Guy #1: “Let’s draw ‘em up! Go get the leftover Gabe Kapler jerseys. No one will know they’re not Josh Hamilton’s.”

I’m not going to do like brotz13 at Orioles Card “O” the Day and say I won’t open any 2011 product, because I’m sure I’ll pick up some Heritage and A&G (and honestly I’ll probably nab a couple packs of Topps base at the card shop despite my misgivings), but I’m certainly going to focus the vast majority of my hobby time on my Eddie Murray collection this summer.

Yes, I do own this card. If you want it you can buy it off me for 10 cents ... plus $3.50 shipping.

You’re collection is undeniably incomplete without it. You must have it. It’s a steal at just 10 cents. And it ends in five minutes.

But there’s a catch. Shipping is $3.50, bringing the total cost to $3.60 – or approximately nine times what any reasonable person would pay for that card.

You rationalize. “The Beckett book value is $15 so it’s not that bad,” you tell yourself. But you know full well that no one has paid $15 for it since Anthony Thomas’ sophomore slump (that somehow continued for seven years), Jay Williams’ career-ending motorcycle accident and Mark Prior’s achilles, shoulder, elbow, shoulder, oblique and shoulder injuries, all of which somehow happened within six months of the card’s release. You pull the trigger anyway, and as you go through the PayPal checkout process you realize what a sucker you are for paying $3.50 to ship an item that cost less than a postage stamp and weighs half an ounce.

I’m not saying sellers are making up some of the book value vs. actual value difference in the shipping costs…

………..

…………………….. But it gets pretty annoying paying five times the real life value of a card on shipping alone.

The issue is that the average seller posts everything on eBay with their default shipping method:

The supplies:
One card, purchased for $0.50.
One penny sleeve.
One toploader.
One bubble mailer.

You haven't even paid for postage and you've already spent more on shipping than you got for the card.

Place card in penny sleeve, then in toploader. Slap a strip of scotch tape across the top. Drop it in bubble mailer and seal.

Leave the price tag on the bubble mailer so the buyer knows where his money went.

Then drop a ridiculous amount of postage on it because the bubble mailer weighs five times as much as the card.

Make it stop.

I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I just think it’s kind of dumb to mindlessly drop a card that sold for less than a buck into an envelope that cost almost as much and slap two bucks of postage on it.

So here’s my plea to eBay sellers: When you’re dealing in low end crap, just put the cards in a penny sleeve and toploader, sandwich it between a couple pieces of thin cardboard and put it in a plain old envelope (you can get 60 of them for like two bucks), slap a single postage stamp on it and you’re done.