2012 Bowman is out, this is not a set I will be actively collect, but I will chip away at a few singles. I really like the base design other than the player name being foil, squashed and hard to read (who thought making cards of guys you never heard off with hard to read names was a good idea?), the logo placement is good and doesn't look like it will interfere with the photos. Another Topps set that suffers from parallel overload, Blue, Gold, Orange, Red, Silver Ice, Silver Ice Red and International. Do we really need 7 parallels of the base card? That being said the International parallel are a huge step up with the flag instead of the old design with the map. The Prospect are even worse, not counting printing plates (which there are 8 for each prospect) there are 16 different versions of every prospect according to Beckett. Seriously, SIXTEEN!!! I do like that the autographs are not super limited and affordable for collectors, I picked up a Wilin Rosario auto for 3 bucks, but again, we have 7 parallels of the auto cards.
As someone who does follow the Rockies farm system, I am excited to see cards of Edwar Cabrera and Will Swanner, although cards of catchers batting disappoint me. I don't really see Tyler Gagnon, Angelys Nina and Rafael Ortega as serious prospect so those cards fit into the "Bowman cards of guys you have never heard of" category. I find the Bowman's Best inserts hideously ugly and even though I love die-cut cards, they look boring and come with 3 parallels. I do love the Black autographs, silver ink on black card looks sharp and I hope to see more of this in the future. Overall pretty hit and miss for me.
I totally agree about the hard to read foil names, which Topps seems to have enjoyed the last few years. Guess they still think cards are mostly for kids, even though you need a full-time job that pays more than minimum wage to afford a pack of cards now days.
ReplyDeleteSure for an 8 or 9 year old TODAY looking at these foil stamped cards is not a problem, but in 20, 30, 40 years from now when they look back at these awful things they will be disappointed with something they thought they really loved.
That is so true. I didn't even try to read the names on some of the ones I pulled today.
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