Here is a thread for all things TEMPO, the auspiciously begun, but ultimately short-lived trading card company out of Victoria, Australia.

Sets released under their banner, which flew from approximately 1995 to 1997, included The Simpsons Down Under, two different for Mattel's Barbie dolls, Nickelodeon's Rugrats, Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter), GumNuts (May Gibbs), Gladiators (like the USA's American Gladiators), and the most unusual one, Pumped Up Down Under which featured Aussie models (guys and gals) in swimsuit apparel.

What differentiated this brief, but ambitious line, was their willingness to create true limited edition trading cards during an era where most manufacturers notoriously let the printing presses run and run. Their hobby boxes were limited editions with each Shrinkwrapped display box individually serial numbered. The Simpsons topped them out at 15,000 boxes, but production runs on the other sets were lower, some much lower. Included in every set are levels of chase cards that were more often than not individually serial numbered on each card. The cards also tended to be on thicker stock than generally used at the time.

Most sets featured a redemption card found in packs that could be mailed-in for additional cards. (In the case of the Simpsons set, a second redemption card could be redeemed for a Simpsons themed hand-painted actual boomerang.)

They also issued high quality padded 3-ring album binders for their sets, some of which featured a sequentially numbered exclusive binder card. Some sets additionally had randomly packed oversized box topper cards.

A big fan of their Simpsons set, I decided to get a good sampling of the rest of their line, which was especially easy to do in the late 90's, as Ebay emerged not long after the company had folded, and back and forth sales between the US and OZ were brisk. I have examples of many of these cards to share, but certainly welcome any others who would like to show off some of their Tempo cards.

But Tempo wasn't just cards, it was a way of life, my friends. Check out this brochure featuring their line of company branded apparel including t-shirts, polo shirts, hats, and even a chambray business shirt.



They also offered the usual binder albums, and not-so-usual deluxe frames (two designs) for their oversized box cards. Of special note were a limited number of uncut sheets of the base sets as well uncut sheets of the special (chase/insert) cards offered direct from the company for each set.



I'm not sure of the exchange rate today, but back then, something that cost $300 in Australian money was about $200 in American money. So from the US point of view, the printed prices were somewhat high for 1996, but were actually about 33% lower, once converted to US funds.



That means the uncut base set sheets (limited to 100) were about $140. The uncut insert card sheets (limited to 50) were about $240. The box card frames were about $30, the padded binders around $15, and that lovely chambray shirt, a mere 23 bucks, give or take a few penniroos.

I bought exactly none of that direct from Tempo. My lone interaction with the company was mailing in a redemption card from the Simpsons set. They were a high class operation and their motto, the bold "Moving Ahead Of The Times" was true, for two years or so. Just look at the popularity of serial numbered chase cards in some of the non-sports sets of today.

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

Yes, Tempo seemed to go out on making quality sets with great chase cards plus going all out with those promo sample sets - promotional variants of the chase cards down to the redemption card and the prize card plus the certification card.

I have a few of the sample sets but they're too big to take a group photo of and get a good look at the cards. The Gladiators sample set took it to an extreme, including 33 cards.

Other than those, I don't have any of the sets or binders. I have just some promo sets and some singles.

Here's one of the World of Barbie (Tempo, 1997) binder cards (TWB-PC1) which were serial-numbered out of 500. This one is stamped 0291. The set logo on the front is in gold foil as is the company logo on front and back - card number on the back is also gold foil. A couple of years ago, I was looking to see what was available of the Tempo binder cards and this one was $12-15 which seemed cheap to me and it was the only one that came up in my searches so I bought it.

Some time before that I looked specifically for a Simpsons one but the seller wanted more than $100 for it - probably worth it but I passed.

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