Fanfare IS a fun product! The retail packs are going to be VERY hit-or-miss, but the hobby boxes can be as well. Even considering that, they are fun breaks. I think this product is way better than Showcase and Five Star!!! 1st- it's more affordable than the other two. 2nd- you get more cards but still get a hit-per-pack. 3rd- the design is just as appealing as the other two.
I hope this release influences PP to make better decisions about their releases. I think they should limit their entire NASCAR line-up to these products (listed lowest cost to highest):
1. Press Pass Racing--the main set--It should stay at 200 or less base cards and no more than 2 insert sets, + 1 MEM set and 1 AU set. There should also not be more than 2 parallel versions - a hobby parallel and a retail parallel (blue for retail and holofoil for hobby would be great).
2. PP Eclipse -- same ideas as above, but add a parallel to the MEM & AU cards, plus a B&W version of the base cards available in hobby AND retail.
3. PP Premium -- Still the same for the base/insert sets, but add more names to the AU/RU lists but keep the # of parallels the same.
4. PP Fanfare -- Keep it very similar to the way 2011 is, but make 1 less parallel version of the AU/RU cards and eliminate the promotional parallels of base and base parallels!
5. Showcase -- Don't change a thing unless they want to add a few more base/parallel cards per box.
This is JMO, and I would attempt to buy AT LEAST one box of each if they did this lineup. That would be affordable. Element would be my wild card though. They could also release a set of that and I'd still be happy. The Wheels brand is just a waste to me. They should dump that like they did several other 'brands'. VIP used to be my second favorite set (after Eclipse), but they dumped it too.
I hope this release influences PP to make better decisions about their releases. I think they should limit their entire NASCAR line-up to these products (listed lowest cost to highest):
1. Press Pass Racing--the main set--It should stay at 200 or less base cards and no more than 2 insert sets, + 1 MEM set and 1 AU set. There should also not be more than 2 parallel versions - a hobby parallel and a retail parallel (blue for retail and holofoil for hobby would be great).
2. PP Eclipse -- same ideas as above, but add a parallel to the MEM & AU cards, plus a B&W version of the base cards available in hobby AND retail.
3. PP Premium -- Still the same for the base/insert sets, but add more names to the AU/RU lists but keep the # of parallels the same.
4. PP Fanfare -- Keep it very similar to the way 2011 is, but make 1 less parallel version of the AU/RU cards and eliminate the promotional parallels of base and base parallels!
5. Showcase -- Don't change a thing unless they want to add a few more base/parallel cards per box.
This is JMO, and I would attempt to buy AT LEAST one box of each if they did this lineup. That would be affordable. Element would be my wild card though. They could also release a set of that and I'd still be happy. The Wheels brand is just a waste to me. They should dump that like they did several other 'brands'. VIP used to be my second favorite set (after Eclipse), but they dumped it too.