quote:

Originally posted by riddler_149:

quote:

Originally posted by beamer:
Ridler,
Inkworks NEVER destroyed anything. Not one single card. Even when the license was expired. Once they went out of business, it was a free for all. They kept their extras and sold them off in the Razor deal and to some collectors.

Not true- your example is from when they went out of business. When they lost a license they are to destroy product, e.g. their World Is Not Enough set- Once they lost the license to Rittenhouse they were to destroy any remaining stock they had of that product.

They were supposed to but I rather think they did not.There is a well known UK seller who bought the bulk of the Inkworks costume cards when they went out of buisness and they have been selling a lot of TWINE autos and Inkworks Women of Bond autos at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by riddler_149:

When they lost a license they are to destroy product, e.g. their World Is Not Enough set- Once they lost the license to Rittenhouse they were to destroy any remaining stock they had of that product.

Yep that is the way it was supposed to happen. I guess nobody bothered to check though as years later hundreds of Bond autographs came tumbling out of that wharehouse and onto the market totally killing the price of every Inkworks Bond autograph that there had ever been. They are all worth a fraction of what they were now and people will still not buy them as they still don't know for sure just how many more there are.

If anyone wants to know... The HP Metal card set I won from DH Part 2 box arrived today safe and sound very nice.

A shame now that no more cards can be redeemed but happy I managed to get a few very nice ones from boxes bought this year (Emma Watson, Bonnie Wright and this metal card set)

I really hope Artbox doesn't fade away from the non-sport landscape. I really enjoyed their Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory sets. I've been waiting for them to acquire another great license but they never did. I wonder if they made attempts and just got outbid or what?

Potter, Charlie, and even Corpse Bride were all Warner Bros licenses. I guess they were able to work that relationship until people changed at WB and they decided they didn't want to bother with cards. But the card hobby has changed a bit since Artbox started, becoming increasingly Hobby-only oriented for most licenses, and I'm not sure that fits into the corporate strategy of parent company Ensky, which has focused on the retail market.

Still, remember that Artbox did well for a while with second licenses to a primary product, like the FilmCardz releases. Maybe we will see them again soon with a specialized product.

I sure hope so. They were always incredibly friendly with great customer service and cards that just looked fantastic.

I hope to see their distinctive logo on something else some day. They've been a HUGE contributor to the hobby these past 10 years. Their cards will remain collector's items in the very best sense of the word.

Whatever happened to the Universal license that they had?
I liked the Frankenstein set and thought they were supposed
to do a Dracula set as well as others?

Greg

I would think Artbox is history.

quote:

Originally posted by Greg Geerts:
Whatever happened to the Universal license that they had?
I liked the Frankenstein set and thought they were supposed
to do a Dracula set as well as others?

Greg

I think they lost the Universal Monsters license some time after Frankenstein.

A fair while back Factory Entertainment (which we've heard nothing of lately either) announced they had the Universal Monsters license but nothing seemed to come from it either.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:
A fair while back Factory Entertainment (which we've heard nothing of lately either) announced they had the Universal Monsters license but nothing seemed to come from it either.

Ed

Factory Entertainment appear to be concentrating on their prop replica business rather than card products. The closest they have to a card set at present is the Solitaire Tarot Pack. I still keep getting emails from them about prop replicas.

After their two Prisoner Sets, I would not be surprised if they stepped back from cards as they were not exactly great sellers. Having to take on the The Prisoner reboot to get the original license probably didn't help much as it was pretty awful but will have cost them a lot to release.

I would think Universal Monsters could be a huge lecense for a company who was organized and knew what they were doing.



Check out my new blog at Card Crazy!

quote:

Originally posted by wgf351:
I would think Universal Monsters could be a huge lecense for a company who was organized and knew what they were doing.

I really don't think it has much to do with organization or knowledge. Everyone I've ever talked to about Universal Monsters says Universal likes to micromanage and is very difficult on approvals.

Ed

Part of the problem with a Universal license is that you might get a very nice base set, but today the hobby market focuses on the special items. You're limited in surviving autographers; Breygent worked quite a few years collecting some nice prop and costume material, in the aftermarket because there wasn't much left in the Universal vault; and Artbox seems to have had some resistance getting approvals for sketches, which confirms Ed's knowledge.

Let's face it, there are plenty of properties that would make great trading card sets. But you need to have the license holders be as organized and enthusiastic as the card makers and to have material to provide. For older stuff, even a base set might not be possible if a key actor didn't sign permissions for the use of his/her image in trading cards. One reason why you see lots of sets devoted to a single franchise is that the cardmaker found a license holder that was very cooperative. That almost never happens if the license holder wants to micromanage all uses of their images etc. -- it can take forever to produce a set because there probably isn't a team of people at a studio devoted to the task.

Sometimes it takes three or four things to come together, and you're stalled if even one is missing. Picking the right phase of the moon helps too.

I talked to Darren Epstein (Cards, Inc, Factory Entertainment) quite a few months back and he is no longer part of Factory Entertainment. I got the impression his partners wanted to go in a different direction then Darren wanted to go.

It might not be as Factory Entertainment, but don't be surprised to see Darren on the card scene again.

Mike.

A lot sooner than you may have thought. Darren took over Murray Cards (International) Ltd. and is doing just fine (so far as I can tell) shepherding the trusted and true company into a new era. I don't know if they've finished moving into their new NW London storefront and warehouse. I wouldn't be surprised to see some interesting new features from the company, though perhaps those might start in the universe of trade/tea/tobacco cards.

Looks like the location is opposite Hendon Central underground station - round the corner from where my sister works.

OK - SDCC is on and Artbox was listed as being there a few months back but I don't see them on the list now - Anyone got info?

Only that they haven't been on the list since the June 27 list. I'll check out the location they gave then (2842) just in case.

Well.........If they cancelled - that says it all - I will miss them - I thought overall their sets were some of the best - it's a shame.

Booth #2842 ended up being Archie Comics. They did have a 5 card promo set (issued one card per day), but I only got the Thursday card and forgot to go back by on Sunday, oops.
The cards feature the latest reboot of the 1940's Archie (MLJ) superheroes such as the Jaguar and the Comet.

They also had a neat 3 pin carded set featuring Archie, Betty, and Veronica, but it still wasn't the same without Artbox!

Fare thee well, Artbox, sweet prince of a card company that you were. I remember getting Simpsons Film Frame promo cards from Artbox at Comic-Con before anyone except for maybe JK Rowling had ever said the name Harry Potter. That means Artbox was at Comicon for well over 10 years in a row and maybe nearly 15. They'll be missed.