Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Complete (Rittenhouse)
My case just arrived and I have busted 6 boxes down. I must say that I am quite pleased with this set. It is obvious that Rittenhouse put alot of effort into making this set. From the huge 189 card base set to the autograph cards, everything is really top-notch.
The first card I saw when I opened the case was the Dual Autograph Case Loader. This card features autographs from the ladies who play Lursa and B'Etor, and it is a really well done card. On the left of the card is a photo of the sisters superimposed over a photo of the worm hole. I would guess that it was done in a horizontal format, because it was a dual autograph card. The rest of the autograph cards are done in the vertical format (didn't get the dual Worf/Dax card ) but am sure it is in the horizontal format.
The base set is quite big and RA has stuck to the one photo on the front format that they used for their HIGHLANDER set . The photos appear just a bit dark, but that is probably because of the show being indoors and DS9 had a darker feel than the other Star Trek series.
The first level of insert cards are the ALLIES and ENEMIES set. There are 27 of these with the ALLIES done in blue and the ENEMIES in brown. Again RA has followed the precedent they set with the HIGHLANDER set and it's harder to make a set of these.
The 9 card SHIPS OF THE DOMINION WAR set is the second level of inserts. These are done on silver foil and look very good. The backs of the card contain a small paragraph about each ship.
The 10 card GALLERY set is the third level of inserts. The right side of the card features a cell with a portrait of a main character from the show. The left side of the card features the characters name and photo. My only complaint about these are the the cell is the same photo as the portrait.
The fourth level of inserts are the ALERNATE REALITIES cards. There are 6 of these and they are very nice. The left side of the card features a headshot of the chareacter in their normal state. The right side contains a cell and it features the character in the alternate universe. The backs of the cards contain a paragraph with a short write-up of what happened.
The fifth level of insert cards are the FROM THE ARCHIVE COSTUME CARDS. These are awesome! The left side of the card has a photo of the worm hole and the swatch of material is right in the center of the hole. The right side of the card has a portrait of the character. There are 5 of these with one coming exclusively in the binder.
The final level of chase cards are the AUTOGRAPHS. These are numbered from A1-A26, but there are only 24 autographs. One number wasn't used and for some reason James Darren was left out of the set. There was a small slip of paper that stated his autograph wasn't included in this product. Hopefully we can get some clarification as to what exactly this means at a later date. The cards are done in the vertical format with the characters photo superimposed over the worm hole. All of my signatures were done in blue Sharpie.
I'm sure Star Trek fans will be happy with this release as this is the definitive DS9 set. General collectors should also consider this set as it is very well done and the autograph line-up is first rate.
[This message was edited by xSaBx on November 12, 2003 at 11:51 AM.]This message has been edited. Last edited by: H_Toser,
July 03, 2003, 12:57 AM
TheUberBob
Nice to hear you liked the set. My box came in today as well, but I don't know for sure when I'll be able to pick it up. I can't wait!
-Bob-
"Future events such as these will affect YOU in the future!"
July 03, 2003, 01:23 AM
aagranata
Bought my box today. The two autos I got were Nana Visitor and Wallace Shawn. Also got the Worf Alternate Realities. A very nice set, but I hope I don't have a difficult time finding all those Enemies and Allies cards! If anyone buys a case and has lots of spares, I need B3,B4,B5,B6,B7,B13,B14,B15,B16,B22,B23,B24,B25,B26
One thing I notes about the costume cards is that the cards are so thick they will not fit in the 9-card pages . These costume cards will have to be put in snap tight holders.
[This message was edited by Barbara C on July 03, 2003 at 08:52 AM.]
[This message was edited by Barbara C on July 03, 2003 at 11:01 AM.]
July 03, 2003, 08:30 AM
flobe
Wait a moment... Let me see the official ratio of special cards:
Case = 12*40 = 480 Packs
Allies and Enemies 1:3 Packs - Should be 160 - you have 154 - Ships of the Dominion Cards 1:8 Packs - Should be 60 - you have 58 - Gallery Cards 1:40 Packs - should be 12 - you have 7 - Alternate Reality Cards 1:80 Packs - should be 6 - you have 7 - Autographs 1:20 Packs - should be 24 - you have 23 - Costume Cards 1:100 Packs - should at least be 4 - you have 6 -
I think the only winning part are the costume cards. The autographs are poor, there should be 2 guaranteed in a box and only 5 of them are limited.
Tomorrow or one day later I'll get my case. I hope I will have better ratios...
----------------------------------------------- My ST Have/Want Lists (German, but for everyone) http://www.st-cards.de
July 03, 2003, 08:55 AM
Barbara C
The number of autos was a typo error on my part. I did get the guaranteed number of autos, 2 per box. I have updated my post.
I am happy about the number of costume cards I received. All in all, I think this was a good case.
I had to edit this post because I was sleepy during the first keying.
To flobe: Some of those frown faces can now be smily faces. To self: watch the typos
[This message was edited by Barbara C on July 03, 2003 at 09:08 AM.]
[This message was edited by Barbara C on July 03, 2003 at 11:04 AM.]
July 03, 2003, 08:55 AM
Over_Worked_Mom
Send me a note to joanna@scifihobby.com regarding your DS9 breakdown. Thanks
Joanna
July 03, 2003, 11:50 AM
Barbara C
Joanna: I have listed the updated pulls from the case. I'm sorry I alarmed everybody.
The card-pull force is with me.
July 03, 2003, 12:50 PM
xSaBx
quote:Originally posted by Barbara C: Here is my case breakdown.
Now, I reckon that's a pretty good result. You're missing 5 limited autos, yes, but the limited autos you do have seem pretty good (at least to me) Have Rittenhouse stated whether any one autograph was more 'limited' than any others?
-- xSaBx Trading Cards a Go-go! REMEMBER: Take out the 'removemefirst' from my e-mail address to send me mail...
July 03, 2003, 01:16 PM
Barbara C
The Rittenhouse website does not list the number of limited autos for each card. There is also a 6th limited auto I did not pull:
DA1 Worf/Dax
July 03, 2003, 04:25 PM
Keith
My 4 boxes arrived today (yay for FedEx) and here are the highlights:
Box 1 A6 Mary Kay Adams A24 Brian Thompson G9 QuarkCC3 Garak (Black And Green)
Box 2 A8 William Sadler A15 Nicole DeBoer (yay!) G7 Jake Sisko CC2 Worf (Black) AR5 Jennifer Sisko
Box 3 A6 Mary Kay Adams (booooo) A10 Rene Auberjonois (yay!) G3 Worf AR8 Worf
Box 4 A11 Alexander Siddig (yay!) A26 Barry Jenner G1 Sisko CC1 Quark (Plaid) AR2 Kira
Overall, I think my boxes turned out very nicely. After going through all the cards, it really amazed me how much of the show I don't remember. Good thing I only have 2 more seasons to go of TNG on DVD and then I can start DS9.
Keith
"Do or do not. There is no try."
July 03, 2003, 08:11 PM
john the hat
from the only box of complete DS9 I got 1 base set ( I thought the base cards were dull and boring (very grainy & Dark) a26 auto a11 autograph siddig g1 sisko gallery alternate reality card siddig 13 friends/foes 5 ships cc2 worf costume card (black) I wasn't going to get this trading card set overall, Skybox did it better just my 2 cents JTH
I AM SURE THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS, AFTER 50 YEARS OF LOOKING I AM STILL NO CLOSER TO FINDING IT
July 04, 2003, 03:55 AM
xSaBx
quote:Originally posted by john the hat: from the only box of complete DS9 I got 1 base set ( I thought the base cards were dull and boring (very grainy & Dark)
Well, when you've got almost 200 card to layout and print I'm thinking one image per card is cheaper than a montage: I assume Rittenhouse have to pay for every image, and if you multiplied almost 200 images by, lets say 3, to make a montage per card... that's gonna really add up. I know, this is part of what I do for a living (not trading cards, but images for packaging) One image is by far the most economical option, which I assume leaves lots of money to buy costumes etc...
Anyway, I've decided to get a box of these to trade with, because there seems to be enought people collecting... Are there DS9 archive boxes this time around?
-- xSaBx Trading Cards a Go-go! REMEMBER: Take out the 'removemefirst' from my e-mail address to send me mail...
July 04, 2003, 06:55 AM
DavidJohnston
All I wanted from this set was the "added value" of a complete base set covering all episodes and it appears these are dull and grainy......oh well I suppose the added value must lie elsewhere...maybe in the Meaney and Combes autos!!
I suppose the quality of the STOS series 1-3 base sets has just spoiled me!
July 04, 2003, 07:03 AM
DavidJohnston
Is the dullness of the base cards the reason they dont appear on the rittenhouse site checklist or are there other reasons?
There again, to be fair, how many manufacturers provide an advance preview service anyway?
July 04, 2003, 08:02 AM
STCardGeek
quote:Originally posted by DavidJohnston: Is the dullness of the base cards the reason they dont appear on the rittenhouse site checklist or are there other reasons?
There again, to be fair, how many manufacturers provide an advance preview service anyway?
??? Is that sorta like the trick question they always ask "When did you stop beating your wife?" I'm not aware of any of the Trek checklists on their site that inlude images of common cards, so I wouldn't call it significant that they didn't this time.
July 04, 2003, 10:40 AM
Robert Kohlbus
We only put one image on the front of each card because that is what collectors and fans requested. We did the montage on both The Complete Star Trek Voyager and The Complete Babylon 5 and fans and collectors alike let us know that they didn't much card for this type of card. So we went back to putting one large single image on the fronts of the cards. Economics played no part in the decision. The quality of the images on Fleer/Skybox TOS set are very sharp because they came directly from film (which is only available for older shows) as opposed to set photography and/or DVD grabs.
As to why there are no images of the base cards on the website checklist, its because I simply don't have the time to scan in 189 base cards, resize them, adjust the brightness/contrast and post the images.
quote:Originally posted by Robert Kohlbus: Economics played no part in the decision.
Good for you :->
-- xSaBx Trading Cards a Go-go! REMEMBER: Take out the 'removemefirst' from my e-mail address to send me mail...
July 04, 2003, 11:02 AM
john the hat
Thank you for taking the trouble to to reply on this topic, Its just the base cards don't have the normal clarity that Rittenhouse normally has in its trading card sets, I know you are setting your own mark on the Trading card world, but as I have said on posts in the past, the Quality versus Quantity debate will go on forever, having numerous autographs of minor characters just pushes the prices even lower (ebay a classic example) as I said b4 just my 2 cents
JOHN THE HAT
I AM SURE THERE IS MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS, AFTER 50 YEARS OF LOOKING I AM STILL NO CLOSER TO FINDING IT
July 04, 2003, 01:51 PM
flobe
Well, here is my breakdown
Autographs: A1(2),A2(2),A4(3),A5,A6(2),A7,A9(2),A11,A12(2),A16,A19,A21,A23,A24,A26(2),DA1 Well, I would say:
Allies and Enemies: All Boxes had the expected count of 13 cards
Ships of the Dominion: All Boxes had the expected count of 5 cards
Gallery Cards: G1,G2,G4(3),G7(3),G8(2),G10 Well, 1 less than the expected average:
Alternate Realities: AR1,AR2,AR3(2),AR5,AR6(2) Well, 1 more than the expected average:
But now the Costume Cards: CC1(Green/Yellow Striped),CC3(Green and Red),CC4(Dull Silver) Well, in theory there should be an average of 4,8 Costume Cards per Case. I'm very sad and angry about this:
I haven't counted the common cards yet, but I think, I will get a lot of complete sets.
After the experience of my first case ever, I have to say: Never again! I thought the costume cards would be well divided and I can't sell the double autographs for a price that helps me to get the set complete.
) but am sure it is in the horizontal format.
. The photos appear just a bit dark, but that is probably because of the show being indoors and DS9 had a darker feel than the other Star Trek series. 
