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impel promo packs
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Silver Card Talk Member
Picture of promoking
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Impel was the modern innovator of promo cards and they almost invariably distributed some form of advance card(s) prior to a set's release. Some of their first promo cards were distributed in "cello" packs. Two that come to mind are the 1991 Star Trek 25th Anniversary cards and the Terminator ones of that same year. sacrilege! I have opened a "promo" pack of each and In my observation, however, I haven't been able to find any dissimilarities between the cards they included in those early promo packs, and the corresponding numbered card in the set. In your experience, have you noticed any differences in color, trademark, etc.., however slight, between the 2? Has your experience been the same or have you discovered variations?

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hi Promoking,

I've seen the Star Trek packs but I don't have any. In the past the word was they were all just base cards. There's a pack with "The Immunity Syndrome" on the top and card 226 on the bottom. There's another pack that has "Romulans" on the top and card 130 on the bottom.

Here's the #226 card back in the cello-pack. I don't have that base card nor the #130 base card but maybe someone else can look at this one any say if there is any difference in the way the text is organized or the way the copyright information is provided. If someone can hold both cards side-by-side, there may be a difference in the finish (matte/flat vs. glossy/shiny).


This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Here's the card 130 back for comparison to the corresponding base card:


 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I've checked the text. No difference. I'm more inclined to believe that if there are any differences at all, it would be with hue, color variations.

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Didn't the cards in the sample packs of the first Marvel set from Impel have variations compared to the "normal" cards?
 
Posts: 2197 | Location: Huntsville, AL United States | Registered: November 30, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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So if these are just base cards does this mean they are a promo item if sealed in the pack but just plain base cards if taken out.

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Posts: 28998 | Location: wolverhampton staffs uk | Registered: July 19, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Hi Bill,

That discussion is here and it contains a link to another one about those cards:

http://nonsportupdate.infopop....4605453/m/1927018496



quote:
Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Didn't the cards in the sample packs of the first Marvel set from Impel have variations compared to the "normal" cards?
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Both Wixiban and Jeff Allender's House of Cards list the following for Star Trek: The 25th Anniversary Series I:

37 Without diamond symbol, from cello pack of five
86 Without diamond symbol, from cello pack of five
128 Without diamond symbol, from cello pack of five
130 Without diamond symbol, from cello pack of five
133 Without diamond symbol, from cello pack of five
37 With diamond symbol
86 With diamond symbol
128 With diamond symbol
130 With diamond symbol
133 With diamond symbol

Both sites indicate Series II only had a three-card cello pack (#171, #195, and #226).

Based solely on pictures from eBay, I'd say the cards in the cello packs are identical to the base cards.

I've never seen individual cards with a diamond symbol, but a 4-up promo panel with cards #37, #128, #130, and #133 does have grey diamonds printed on the back of the cards. Here's a photo from an eBay auction:

 
Posts: 62 | Location: The World | Registered: August 03, 2020Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Recently, I ran across a sealed cello-pack I hadn't seen before. It was sold as a G.I. Joe promo pack by !mpel from 1991. I couldn't tell how many cards were in it but soon found out it was a 5-card pack. I figured out that the top card was #53 and could see that the back of the bottom card had #175 on it (base set goes to 200). I was told all the packs had the same top and bottom card. Neither card was marked as a promo nor prototype.

I bought it and opened it. The cards inside are numbered 2, 36, 53, 116, and 175 (not in that order in the pack). I didn't have the base set but was able to look at some base singles online and then ordered #175 to take a good look at an actual card. It turns out the pack has at least three unmarked prototypes (2, 116, 175) that differ from the regular base cards in the back text. Cards 36 and 53 appear to be identical but I don't have the actual cards to see if there is any minor color difference.

Card 175 from the base set says "File Name: Unknown" in bold type on the left right under "Honor Roll" on the back but #175 in the cello-pack says "Branch: Cobra Operative" in regular type right under "Honor Roll." There are other text differences in the same field with basically the same information rearranged.

Also, in the field below that one, there is a paragraph in which the 4th line of the base card says "uncle" while card 175 from the cello-pack says "father."

At some point I will pick up a sample of the other base card numbers and get back to this thread. The scans below show the front of card 175 which is the same for both cards and then the prototype card back next to it and the base card back below the front.


 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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A set of 5 cards from the Uncanny X-Men promo (prototypes) pack (Impel, 1991) sold for $129 on 5-1-22. Another set sold for something less than $99.95 on 3-19-22 ($89-90?). This was a $10-20 set just a few years ago.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/14451...rksid=p2047675.l2557
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by catskilleagle:
Recently, I ran across a sealed cello-pack I hadn't seen before. It was sold as a G.I. Joe promo pack by !mpel from 1991. I couldn't tell how many cards were in it but soon found out it was a 5-card pack. I figured out that the top card was #53 and could see that the back of the bottom card had #175 on it (base set goes to 200). I was told all the packs had the same top and bottom card. Neither card was marked as a promo nor prototype.

I bought it and opened it. The cards inside are numbered 2, 36, 53, 116, and 175 (not in that order in the pack). I didn't have the base set but was able to look at some base singles online and then ordered #175 to take a good look at an actual card. It turns out the pack has at least three unmarked prototypes (2, 116, 175) that differ from the regular base cards in the back text. Cards 36 and 53 appear to be identical but I don't have the actual cards to see if there is any minor color difference.

Card 175 from the base set says "File Name: Unknown" in bold type on the left right under "Honor Roll" on the back but #175 in the cello-pack says "Branch: Cobra Operative" in regular type right under "Honor Roll." There are other text differences in the same field with basically the same information rearranged.

Also, in the field below that one, there is a paragraph in which the 4th line of the base card says "uncle" while card 175 from the cello-pack says "father."

At some point I will pick up a sample of the other base card numbers and get back to this thread. The scans below show the front of card 175 which is the same for both cards and then the prototype card back next to it and the base card back below the front.




NEWS FLASH!!! I carefully checked out the #36 and #53 cards from the cello pack and compared them to several of the released cards and there is actually a difference between them.

The prototype card #36's front is different from the regular card's. The prototype card has an additional portion of the snake displayed on the right side of the card, which is non-existent in the regular card. Also, the character's arm shows more of the red buttons on the prototype than on the regular card.

On the back of prototype card #53, the character's hair is painted in yellow across the forehead, whereas on the regular cards, the yellow is nonexistent on the outermost right side of the forehead.

So now we know that ALL 5 of the cards in the cello pack are different from the corresponding cards in the set. If someone doesn't mind, I can email them pics of these 2 newly added prototype cards to post on this thread.

Thank you, Jess for discussing these and making the rest of us look.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: promoking,

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post



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Well, Promoking, go ahead and email me the pics and I will post them. It will be great to see the differences.
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Thank you, Jess. I sent you a link to the pictures. I still don't know how to post images here.

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Here's the front of the #53 base card from the regular packs which seems to be identical to the #53 prototype from the promo cello-pack. The front is on the left with the back of the #53 base card in the middle and the back of the prototype on the right. Promoking points out that on the back of prototype card #53, the character's hair is painted in yellow across the forehead, whereas on the regular cards, the yellow is nonexistent on the outermost right side of the forehead.

Personally, I have a hard time seeing that difference but I don't have the base card with me. However, I see another difference. If you look into the window with Hawk's portrait, you see more blue space to the left of his head in the prototype than you do in the window of the base card. Also, the blue space is a little wider on the right side of his head in the base card than in the prototype.

One more thing, it looks like the portrait is a little more cropped from the top on the base card so you see a little more of his hair in the prototype.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Good pick-up Jess. I like your 2 descriptions better than mine. The #36 card's differences are much more glaring as you'll show here soon.

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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The card on the left is the prototype of the regular #36 base card on the right from the #36 G.I. Joe set (Impel Marketing, Inc., 1991). The prototype was in that promo cello-pack. As you can see, the prototype shows just a little more of the cobra just inside that thinner inner white border on the right and just a little less of the background on the left just inside that border. You can see a little more space between the smoke from the gun and that inner white border. The prototype also looks a little more brightly-colored than the base card but that might vary from card to card across the print run.

The image might look a little weird but that's because the two images were done separately (the regular card was photographed and with a black background and the prototype was scanned with other cards at the same time so the sizing was a little off. I resized one to closely but not perfectly match the other.


This message has been edited. Last edited by: catskilleagle,
 
Posts: 4372 | Location: San Jose, CA, USA | Registered: December 23, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Are there any differences between the cards in the Terminator packs that promoking mentioned and the regular cards ?
 
Posts: 3992 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Sorry, but they are all base cards. I've compared them. keep it sealed!

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Posts: 1019 | Location: Overseas | Registered: May 22, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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awesome discussion Albert and Jess, great topic and nice pics Jess, thanks for the uploads Thumb Up
 
Posts: 707 | Location: sydney nsw australia | Registered: February 09, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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