Originally posted by chesspieceface:
A quick note about this case breakdown:
OK, I'm the guy who got the 11 Waterhouse Gandalf's in a single case of LOTR Masterpieces II, so why I am here with another Topps case breakdown after that debacle? Well, to get the breakdown without further yappin', check out the results of my dealing with customer service in the "A Time To Give Back To Topps" thread of the "General Card Discussion" section. But to sum it all up (boring!), I cancelled an existing order for a case each Indiana Jones Heritage and Heroes 2 (more on that later) due to that Waterhouse-assisted Gandalf assault, and even moreso, my need to put my money where my mouth is. However, I have since decided to give Topps another try with Crystal Skull. How'd that turn out? Away we go:
Base Card Set of 90. Of the 8 boxes, six boxes had complete sets of the base cards. With the all of the dupes, I was able to complete the 2 incomplete sets from the boxes plus make 4 more sets and come just one more card shy of another set. So that's about 13 base sets in all with only enough dupes left over (103 Cards) for just one more set which is not too shabby. The base sets look great as usual, but buyers' issues with Topps of late have not regarded the collation or quality of base cards. Still, let's keep it positive and give the base cards and de-collation an "A"
Foil Card Set of 10. Moving on to the foil cards, you get about 4 per box according to the odds, and while I found this to be true, one box (the "hot" box) had 8 foils while another had 5 foils. So from the 37 foil cards in my case in all, I made 2 ten card sets, and a near set of 7 out of 10, leaving 10 dupes. This is decent, but to receive an "A" grade, I would of needed 3 sets of 10 with 7 dupes. Still, a "B+" gets Topps a cookie from all but the harshest moms.
Sequentially numbered base parallels. These are a "value added" chase set that can only ever be completed by 350 people in the world, and due to how the cards are spread out, there will be even somewhat fewer sets than even that, and certainly no matching sets. I did get one Parallel card per box as advertised in 7 of the boxes, and the "hot" 8th box yielded 2 of the cards, giving me 9 in all, or 10% of the set of 90. Two of the cards had the low matching number of 002/350, so that was neat. "I'M NUMBER TWO, I'M NUMBER TWO"
I do have to call Topps out on not UV coating the backs of the sequentially numbered cards as they did the base cards. This was most likely to make easier the stamping of the number in gold foil to reverse of the card, however, due to the lack of coating, the card backs show small scratches, nicks, etc. VERY easily. One way manufacturers, (including Topps at least on their sports cards) get around this is by UV coating most of the back of the card, leaving just a small box uncoated so that the gold foil numbers can be stamped into that space. Anyway, here's another example of the fact that for companies that make both sports and non-sports cards, and non-sports enthusiasts may chant with me now our mantra, "WE'RE NUMBER TWO, WE'RE NUMBER TW0". Coincidentally, the number two letter in the alphabet is "B", the grade for this chase set.
Autograph cards. Just one common in my case which, which, because I'm an autograph collector more than a sketch collector, is not the best result for me. However, the lineup of signers secured for this release was great, and there's seems to be a goodly number of even some of the bigger stars (Shia, etc) out there for the average collector, so I'll give it a "B" even though a case by the odds should have yielded 2-3 (and closer to 3) autograph cards as opposed to the single one I received.
Sketch Cards.
My case met the odds on these as I received 6 Sketch cards in all. At one in 35 packs, you can reasonably expect 6 sketches in every 210 packs. Since a case is 192 packs, each case should have either 5 or 6 sketches if the odds are correctly given.
So while 6 of my boxes had sketch cards, my lone Autograph card was in my Hot Box along with one of the sketches. This means that two of my boxes were what are called "Dud" boxes, which seems pretty consistent for this product based on the other early breakdowns.
So with 1-2 dud boxes and 1 hot box per 8 box case, it does of course beg the question: Why not take the extra hit card out of the "Hot" box and place it into one of the "dud" boxes? In my opinion, it is better for both case and single box purchasers that there is most likely 0 (or a maximum of 1) dud box in each case rather than a Hot Box. Jus' sayin' is all.....
So anyway, "A" grade for the sketches, Nice mix of artists, no repeats.
Box and wrapper look great, very simplistic, timeless, Struzan art if I'm not mistaken. No advertising poster of box toppers in these unfortunately. Overall grade on the set "B+".
Welcome back Topps
BUT, a big ol' PostScript:
As I mentioned above I'll be skipping Heroes Volume 2 Cards (and not only because of the overall awfulness of Heroes 2nd season. What's to commemorate about flailfest?! I believe the writer's strike saved that show from outright cancellation. And I used to think "Twin Peaks" was making it up as it went along, sheesh!). But no. my reluctance to buy future Topps issues stems mostly from the lurking fear that this decent Crystal Skull set is the fluke, while the new norm are sets like Heroes 1, LOTR Masterpieces II and Indiana Heritage, each of which in their own way revealed some aspect of the utter mess the Topps Non-Sport division has been in lately. Whatever the cause, Topps has earned the huge drop in confidence from its buyers in a truly breathtakingly short span of time. Well, I hope this Crystal Skull set signals the end of those dark days for the good of the hobby, as Topps has been crucial to its continuation these past 10 years. I have been buying Topps cards since I was a kid who was really way too young to walk to the liquor store to buy the 1976 King Kong movie cards, but did anyway, 15 cents a pack as I recall...
Welcome back, Topps, now watch yer back!
PS: Bought one more box today from my retailer because I like to support the ol' hometown brick and mortar. I didn't get an autograph as I'd hoped, but at least it wasn't a dud box as I received a nice color Marion Ravenwood "cartoony" sketch card by Paul "Gutz" Gutierrez. Also got a numbered parallel but wouldn't you know it was the same as one of the nine I'd received in my full case
Fantastic work.
