07-16-2020, 04:11 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-16-2020, 04:16 PM by rjcj2017.)
An Eye-Opening Look at the Difference Between Topps and Panini Retail
An Eye-Opening Look at the Difference Between Topps and Panini Retail
So I know a lot of you do not like Panini baseball products because they’re unlicensed.
In a perfect world, I would love to see what they could do with a license, because I have finally decided I am all but done with Topps flagship blasters based on the absolutely horrible collation and lack of overall value in my recent Series 2 busts.
Basically there are two players I’ve been looking for this season – Mookie Betts’ first Dodgers cards as well as Luis Robert’s RCs.
A quick comparison of my two most recent - and similar sized - breaks:
Topps Series 2
4 blasters – 7 packs of 16 cards each … 448 cards
1 hanger – 60 cards
7 loose packs – 14 cards each … 98 cards
606 total cards, and this is what I pulled:
Betts – 1 Home Run Challenge insert
Robert – 0 ... despite having several different cards in the product
Autos – 0 … not available in blasters unless you hit a crazy manufactured relic parallel
Mem - 0 … unless you count the manufactured relics in the blasters, which I don’t … they keep getting worse and worse and these coin versions are the worst yet in my opinion
But, for the record, my four “coin relics” were:
Bryant
Bregman
Lindor
Gallo
Diamond Kings
3 blasters – 7 packs of 5 cards … 105 cards
3 hangers – 20 cards each … 60 cards
165 total cards, and this is what I pulled:
Betts – 1 base
Robert – 1 RC
So I’m already doing better than Topps 2 in barely over a fourth of the number of cards.
But wait, there’s more!
Autos – 1, Deivy Grullon sticker
Mem – 2, Hyun-Jin Ryu quad relic and SICK Brendan McKay double relic patch (like 6 total colors)/49
The Grullon and McKay came in the same blaster this morning (last blaster rule, always!)
Also pulled:
Ken Griffey Jr. All-Time Diamond Kings/25
Mickey Mantle Press Proof Blue base
Like, it’s not even close.
Total approx. $ spent on Topps 2: $119.47
Total approx. $ spent on Diamond Kings: $96.91
About $25 cheaper and waaaaaaay more value.
To be fair, Topps 2 does not have the same overall checklist that Diamond Kings does because Topps flagship is split up into three sets, but it is overall a fair comparison because both sets have the two players I was looking for.
I mean, crap checklists happen depending on when the rookies come up and when veterans are traded or sign elsewhere, but Topps could do itself a major service by giving half a crap about its horrible collation.
I got 4-5 duplicates of some players and obviously zero cards of others, despite the blasters and hangers being from the same store and put out on the shelves at the same time (so obviously from the same vending case).
Had I gotten at least one Betts base and one Robert RC this would have been a totally different vibe, but Topps clearly failed here and I won't be giving them any more money.
In a perfect world, I would love to see what they could do with a license, because I have finally decided I am all but done with Topps flagship blasters based on the absolutely horrible collation and lack of overall value in my recent Series 2 busts.
Basically there are two players I’ve been looking for this season – Mookie Betts’ first Dodgers cards as well as Luis Robert’s RCs.
A quick comparison of my two most recent - and similar sized - breaks:
Topps Series 2
4 blasters – 7 packs of 16 cards each … 448 cards
1 hanger – 60 cards
7 loose packs – 14 cards each … 98 cards
606 total cards, and this is what I pulled:
Betts – 1 Home Run Challenge insert
Robert – 0 ... despite having several different cards in the product
Autos – 0 … not available in blasters unless you hit a crazy manufactured relic parallel
Mem - 0 … unless you count the manufactured relics in the blasters, which I don’t … they keep getting worse and worse and these coin versions are the worst yet in my opinion
But, for the record, my four “coin relics” were:
Bryant
Bregman
Lindor
Gallo
Diamond Kings
3 blasters – 7 packs of 5 cards … 105 cards
3 hangers – 20 cards each … 60 cards
165 total cards, and this is what I pulled:
Betts – 1 base
Robert – 1 RC
So I’m already doing better than Topps 2 in barely over a fourth of the number of cards.
But wait, there’s more!
Autos – 1, Deivy Grullon sticker
Mem – 2, Hyun-Jin Ryu quad relic and SICK Brendan McKay double relic patch (like 6 total colors)/49
The Grullon and McKay came in the same blaster this morning (last blaster rule, always!)
Also pulled:
Ken Griffey Jr. All-Time Diamond Kings/25
Mickey Mantle Press Proof Blue base
Like, it’s not even close.
Total approx. $ spent on Topps 2: $119.47
Total approx. $ spent on Diamond Kings: $96.91
About $25 cheaper and waaaaaaay more value.
To be fair, Topps 2 does not have the same overall checklist that Diamond Kings does because Topps flagship is split up into three sets, but it is overall a fair comparison because both sets have the two players I was looking for.
I mean, crap checklists happen depending on when the rookies come up and when veterans are traded or sign elsewhere, but Topps could do itself a major service by giving half a crap about its horrible collation.
I got 4-5 duplicates of some players and obviously zero cards of others, despite the blasters and hangers being from the same store and put out on the shelves at the same time (so obviously from the same vending case).
Had I gotten at least one Betts base and one Robert RC this would have been a totally different vibe, but Topps clearly failed here and I won't be giving them any more money.