2010 Opening Day cards have hit Target. As this is not a set I'm going to get to worked up over trying to finish, here are some observations I made after opening a handful of packs today:1. These don't look much different from the base Topps set. No foil stamping of the player's name and the addition of the OD logo are the only differences I see. I never have understood why Topps doesn't have a totally different design for these. (Well actually, I think I have an idea, but I'll hold off for now.....) it's be nice to see them use these to trot out some sort of design they might have used for a Bazooka or a Topps Total issue.
2. Seven cards for a $1. Six base cards and one insert per pack. No inserts to get excited about. One insert set seems to be all the team mascots. Another are parallels with a metallic greenish/blue border that are very reminiscent of '92 Fleer. God those were awful.
3. Several photoshop jobs in the packs I got. Granderson, Halladay, and Figgins. All are very well done. But there will always be a little part of me sad to see air-brushing go the way of bubble gum.
4. The first pack I opened, the first card was Porcello. I only need two cards to finish my Topps base set and this is one of them. It doesn't really mean anything, but I observed it, therefore I'm writing about it. Plus I needed more time to ponder #5.
5. I don't understand why Topps advertises these as a "Fun, easy-to-collect, celebratory brand attracts kids early in the MLB season." (from the MLB website, Topps doesn't appear to have updated their web site in months...)
They don't look any different than the base set. They aren't really any cheaper than the base cards (10 packs of these @ $1 X 7 cards per pack = 70 cards for $10 vs. 5 packs of the base cards @ $2 x 12 cards per pack = 60 cards for $10, 64 if you buy rack packs).
The inserts certainly aren't any cooler. I can't imagine too many kids of any age who would rather pull an insert card of Billy The Marlin instead of Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle.....if anything kids are way more likely to be interested in collecting cards that are worth money.....I know, I used to be one.....
So what it the reason for the marketing ploy? The only thing that I can see that makes this set attractive is that with only 220 cards in it, one should be able to collect the entire set for under $50.
Maybe I'm missing the boat, but it seems to me that they are marketing these towards an unknowing father or mother who think they're getting junior something on the cheap that he would love, when that's really not the case at all. All a part of Topps plan to return collecting to the kids, I'm sure.....
Oh well, I'll continue to buy a pack or two here and there trying to get the Tigers. If I see any kids buying any I'll be sure to mention it.
4 comments:
Well. I'm 24 and I think the mascots are frickin' awesome. Come on Phillie Phanatic.
The true target for these packs are definitely parents of young kids who might like one pack at Target, when the alternative is no packs. From time to time I take my nephews to target and buy them each a pack - usually with a $2 limit (cause they don't REALLY care about or know who they're pulling). They could get two packs of something like Opening Day, which beats the pants off of one pack of anything else (its all about quantity to them).
So indirectly, these are marketed towards kids, but not really.
I like the concept of Opening Day, I just think they could do more with it. I'll be the first to admit that I like to grab a handful of packs when I'm in Target. I just never saw the reasoning behind marketing them to kids. I work in printing, so I KNOW that these cards are cheaper to produce without the foil stamping on the front, but they aren't really retailing for cheaper, they're just selling half the cards for half the price.
Hey, do either of you collect teams? I just broke around 3 or 4 sets and so far all I've taken out of them are Tigers and Cardinals cards. I'll probably make a blog entry about it later this week, but I broke '06 and '07 Fleer factory sets (that have RC only available in those sets) and '06 and '07 Topps Update sets. I've also got a ton of recently purchased '08 Topps Series 2 and Update, plus a large number of '10 Topps Series 1. I've also recently opened a couple of boxes of '91 OPC Premier that's loaded with stars. I've been sporadically buying packs of '06 and '10 Upper Deck recently too. If anybody is interested in making a trade for Tigers cards please let me know! I'll include any and all inserts I've got left too.
Long Live Airbrushing.
Long Live Topps Opening Day Cards.
Decent Price, All the Stars and rookies. I collected the 2008 set (red border spectacular)and it was great
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