[rjcj2017]

Completely agree. The good news is at least at this point they are saying all the right things. Promising exactly what you asked for and getting the focus back on the collector, not the investor. I know it's all talk at this point, so we'll see if their actions follow suit. But as for now they claim to be giving us collectors what we want.

That's good news, it's better than coming out right off the bat and saying, "you think Panini sucks? You ain't seen nothing yet!!!"

And to be clear, I'm not picking on traditional hobby case breakers - it's actually a pretty clever way to cut costs and pick up cool PC stuff.

I'm referring to the great "new wave" of collectors buying up all the desirable retail and setting up "retail breaks" for the low low price of $12 per spot or whatever, where they swindle naive collectors into getting nothing but worthless base in return.

I get that no one is forcing these people to buy these spots, but it just seems dooshy to me.

[ZSDOne]

I'm referring to the great "new wave" of collectors buying up all the desirable retail and setting up "retail breaks" for the low low price of $12 per spot or whatever, where they swindle naive collectors into getting nothing but worthless base if they are lucky and don't end up with nothing at all in return.

Fixed it for you.

Topps is the brand with by far the most goodwill and equity in the business and the least remaining value aside from goodwill and equity - it has always made the most sense for Fanatics to purchase because it gives Topps what they want (selling the company for a profit) and gives Fanatics what they wanted - the top name in trading cards.

My main goal here is seeing a return of Topps Magic Football 

I strongly suspect that one piece of Topps IP that Fanatics will not continue is Allen & Ginter - at least under that name - I am very skeptical that a huge corporation like Fanatics with business far beyond trading cards is going to want to have a product named after Lewis Ginter who doesn't exactly play well to modern sensibilities  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Ginter - interesting fellow, but I definitely wouldn't want my multibillion dollar multiline company to have a relatively small potatoes product named for him.

[ashlandmark]

All the card breaks that people are doing are opened on Youtube/Zoom, right? No one is falling for the honesty policy breaks I hope? That's just dumb.

[DrMitchJ]

We’ll see how it all pans out at the end of the day.
Bottom line ... I still get to buy Heritage

[rjcj2017]

We’ll see how it all pans out at the end of the day.
Bottom line ... I still get to buy Heritage

Can't even fathom how great it would be to walk into WalMart or Target and actually grab a blaster or five of Topps Chrome football or basketball!

[ZSDOne]

Can't even fathom how great it would be to walk into WalMart or Target and actually grab a blaster or five of Topps Chrome football or basketball!

And have no DBN and Retail Sharks R Us out of business so we can actually buy blasters and Mega Boxes to open at MSRP like the far off time of 2019.  

Although it's TOPPS MAGIC FOOTBALL that I really want to see again.

Topps Heritage Football would be awesome as well (the 1950s and 1960s had some great football card designs)

And with baseball, I was sad to think that they'd never reach Heritage  for 1982.

[rjcj2017]

And have no DBN and Retail Sharks R Us out of business so we can actually buy blasters and Mega Boxes to open at MSRP like the far off time of 2019.  

Although it's TOPPS MAGIC FOOTBALL that I really want to see again.

Topps Heritage Football would be awesome as well (the 1950s and 1960s had some great football card designs)

And with baseball, I was sad to think that they'd never reach Heritage  for 1982.

I'm actually hoping they make it to 1988 for Heritage ... I know it's universally considered the worst Topps set of all time, but it happens to be the one I collected first (the Mark McGwire All-Star Rookie Cup card might be my favorite card of all time).

True story - when I first started collecting as a kid, I got $20 from my grandparents for a birthday gift.

I took it to the LCS. They had silly 1986-87 Fleer Basketball (!) packs on sale for - 3 for $1 - because they couldn't sell them. They weren't even near the rest of the packs and boxes, they were right by the register.

They also had a Michael Jordan RC in the display case for $20 - no way I was going to waste my entire birthday present on just one silly card!

Instead, I decided to load up on packs of 1988 Topps baseball. What foresight I had back then.

[ZSDOne]

I'm actually hoping they make it to 1988 for Heritage ... I know it's universally considered the worst Topps set of all time, but it happens to be the one I collected first (the Mark McGwire All-Star Rookie Cup card might be my favorite card of all time).

True story - when I first started collecting as a kid, I got $20 from my grandparents for a birthday gift.

I took it to the LCS. They had silly 1986-87 Fleer Basketball (!) packs on sale for - 3 for $1 - because they couldn't sell them. They weren't even near the rest of the packs and boxes, they were right by the register.

They also had a Michael Jordan RC in the display case for $20 - no way I was going to waste my entire birthday present on just one silly card!

Instead, I decided to load up on packs of 1988 Topps baseball. What foresight I had back then.

If you would have gotten the Jordan back then, you probably would have done something stupid with it because one of the reasons why so many of the older cards are worth money now is because they were bought by kids who didn't exactly handle them gently.  If I got a Michael Jordan rookie card it would have gone in a cardboard box with no protection along with all of the other cards I got - or I would have traded it for something more interesting which would have probably been something from the the 1970s, maybe even 1950s because even as a kid, I was fascinated by getting cards that were made before I was born (yeah, I still am - that's why I like buying vintage when I get the chance).

When I around five years old, I got one pack of those Topps Basketball cards where they had the three little cards connected - one of the cards I got out of the one pack was the Bird-Johnson-Erving combined RC for Bird and Johnson - I of course, separated the card because of course I did.

I got some 1988 Topps baseball as well - I don't remember buying any 1986 Fleer basketball but my parents said that they found boxes of cards that included baseball, basketball, football, Garbage Pail Kids, and pro wrestling cards that I will eventually have to go through to see what all is in there - my response to that was "I don't even remember buying pro wrestling cards when I was young" - I remembered buying the sports cards and the Garbage Pail Kids, but I didn't remember getting pro wrestling cards as a child. so it's quite possible I bought some without remembering it.

But 1982 Topps is the first cards I bought a how lot of - got a bunch of 1985 Topps as well - both baseball and football.  So not getting 1980s Heritage would have been sad.

of course, the real goal is to have no more DBN.

you know another card shop has popped up at one of the almost abandoned malls in the area (actually this mall is coming back to life because they demolished the old Sears store and are building a large apartment building and also building offices - so effectively there will be some retail as part of a larger complex) - predictably a lot of marked up football and basketball retail boxes (also some hobby boxes).  Will have to check the other dying malls and shopping centers around to see if there are more card shops

[Nintari]

Is it a sadder day than in August when Topps lost their license? That day spelled the doom for Topps and all its iconic brands unless Fanatics bought them. This is a day we were all hoping for. This means Topps doesn't die but lives on under new ownership.

It's all sad. All of it. I started collecting during the 80's and 90's boom, when you could go into any drug store in the country and there would be an entire wall/isle dedicated to cards. And not just baseball cards either. All sport cards. So to see Topps lose its license, and then get bought out by (of all things) Fantatics... it's just a sad state of affairs for me.

[shy1979]

It'll be interesting to see how Fanatics handles redemptions.  If they keep Topps redemptions the same, or if the make any changes.