I didn't know that about Gwendoline and the Star Wars cards. I like the movies, but found the card sets a bit overwhelming, so not followed them as much as other titles.
Yeah, if it's those dreaded stickers, then she could have signed any number of them a while back and they'll keep being filtered through.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
There are many common signers and new signers, but they don't make up for a lack of star power

They do for me, when the star power aren't new signers too. Not that I begrudge another shot at a full bleed Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

God those Valyrian style autos are ugly though. The cut-out jobs on the headshots look so amateurish. Glad there's not many of them, and the ones which are there are just repeats anyway.

For anyone keeping count of the GoT autograph cards only, there are now 451 signed cards and 167 individual signers.

To my mind there are at least 3 notable signers missing and a few who are still underrepresented. I would anticipate at least 2 more releases on this title and I hope we are pleasantly surprised by getting some of them before RA wraps it up.

To be honest I find the autograph list very underwhelming. I dipped out last year from buying a case and got much better VFM. I decided to the same this year and reckon I will do sizeable damage to the autograph list for the price of a case. I think we will see some average autographs being overpriced by dealers just so they can get their money back.

quote:

Originally posted by gk1964:
To be honest I find the autograph list very underwhelming. I dipped out last year from buying a case and got much better VFM. I decided to the same this year and reckon I will do sizeable damage to the autograph list for the price of a case. I think we will see some average autographs being overpriced by dealers just so they can get their money back.

THIS. Plus the second and third card designs of these new signers will be the same autographs seeded in coming sets.

Completely agree Raven. It has been a product of diminishing returns for a couple of years now.

There are clearly some signers who won't sign again now they are "stars" and some who won't sign at all; unfortunately those are the autographs we all really want.

Will probably hang in there as I have come this far but will just grab low hanging fruit and graze for the rest. I actually picked up the gold autos from VS for Sansa & Arya for £100 the pair.

I have collected for a custom matte I have been making autographed cards from the show. I have collected both the rittenhouse cards and my own custom cards I have gotten signed through the mail. The only major cast member I am missing is Liam Cunningham. I can still hope he will one day sign.

2 more auto variations showed up on the Archive Box contents list as Archive Box exclusives, Valyrian style autos of Jim Broadbent and Joe Dempsie. Still no relics list and no relics in the archive box.

quote:

Originally posted by ctacker:
2 more auto variations showed up on the Archive Box contents list as Archive Box exclusives, Valyrian style autos of Jim Broadbent and Joe Dempsie.

Yes and in the fine print it says that the FBs of Broadbent and Dempsie, which are ELs themselves, will not be in the Archive Box. They are only available in the packs. So that is how you make more gap cards for regular buyers, while not even giving the big spenders everything they need.

So how does this inspire GoT card collectors to buy more, I wonder?

So now its 453 signed cards total and still 167 individual signers. Until we get some more exclusives that no one asked for, that is.

When is an Archive Box not an archive box?

While being a bit rhetorical with the question, I thought that originally Archive Boxes basically gave the buyer/dealer a master set, maybe without a few parallels? But to be missing autographs and relics sort of makes the box a midi master set(rather than mini or full).
I can understand not having complete gold parallel sets, but not complete autograph sets is really missing the point. I don't think some naff printing plates make up for the lack of the full autograph set...not to me anyway...not that I've ever bought an archive box, but just thinking if I ever did.

Yeah, this seems the weakest archive box yet for GoT. Usually one of the incentive autos is missing from it, and S5's was missing the dragonglass relic but had the others. But this one is missing:
2 EL autos
Both incentive autos
whatever relics are in the set
Promo cards (only 1 or 2 ABs had them)
Sketch card (only S3's AB had one)
and I'm so over the printing plates!

So with Season 7 in the market for a few weeks now and autographs going for a song, dealers are looking for real premium on the steel chase cards and the Winter is Here chase set to try and get there money back. I even picked up a gold parallel set for $100.

Where does this leave the product going into Season 8? Personally I think it is time for RA to consider switching to a premium pack format. The base cards could be in gold foil mode and be restricted to the episode cards - I don't need an 8th bio card for any of the main characters. With a couple of chase sets and each pack having autographs, relics or sketches in it, I think it will have a better chance of grabbing the collectors interest.

quote:

Originally posted by gk1964:
Where does this leave the product going into Season 8? Personally I think it is time for RA to consider switching to a premium pack format. The base cards could be in gold foil mode and be restricted to the episode cards - I don't need an 8th bio card for any of the main characters. With a couple of chase sets and each pack having autographs, relics or sketches in it, I think it will have a better chance of grabbing the collectors interest.

While I personally agree that something different would be a good thing, I think there would be an outcry from many collectors if the format were changed for the 8th and final season set. Many collectors dislike change in general and I think there would be a serious backlash against a format change at this point.

Time will tell though, Rittenhouse will have to decide if a change would drive more collectors away or if it would bring some back to the fold.

Rittenhouse hasn't done a Premium Pack set in quite some time. Overall they didn't sell that well. Whether that was because of the format or the licenses is up for debate.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:

quote:

Originally posted by gk1964:
Where does this leave the product going into Season 8? Personally I think it is time for RA to consider switching to a premium pack format. The base cards could be in gold foil mode and be restricted to the episode cards - I don't need an 8th bio card for any of the main characters. With a couple of chase sets and each pack having autographs, relics or sketches in it, I think it will have a better chance of grabbing the collectors interest.

While I personally agree that something different would be a good thing, I think there would be an outcry from many collectors if the format were changed for the 8th and final season set. Many collectors dislike change in general and I think there would be a serious backlash against a format change at this point.

Time will tell though, Rittenhouse will have to decide if a change would drive more collectors away or if it would bring some back to the fold.

Rittenhouse hasn't done a Premium Pack set in quite some time. Overall they didn't sell that well. Whether that was because of the format or the licenses is up for debate.

Ed

They should finish off season 8 the same way they have done all the other seasons for consistency.

Last year they put out Valyrian Steel and it was a success. That was a premium product but not the way they used to do it.

I really think that putting out Valyrian Steel as its own release was a mistake. Not only did it dilute the autograph cards of the better stars, but the metal cards could have been kept to a smaller number, covering only the truly main characters, and been used as an added premium hit in boxes. But since they did Valyrian metal as a 100 card set, I find the expansion metal cards added in Season 7 boxes precisely as added hits, to be an annoyance. Its like they didn't get it right the first time, so now we'll do it right, but it's too late, so it's wrong both ways.

As far as changing it up, no can do for the same reason. It's too late. If you have carried the same format for the base cards all the way thru, how can you change it now? And it's not really the bio text that is the problem. I like that you can read the backs of these cards and follow the storyline for the various characters as it goes along from season to season. I really think its a great plus of GoT cards that the text is so well written given the space limitations.

However the card photos are not thrilling after so many seasons and they have always been too dark in MHO. The photos rarely pop, especially the tight portraits, and the dark borders just make it worse. The chase set sheen also mutes and washes out any vibrant colors. Yet if you changed it at this late stage it would upset the uniformity that has been kept up for 7 seasons. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Anyway GoT cards have become unexciting and I said as much when I broke my boxes this year. I think RA has to give collectors a more realistic shot at getting a sketch or a relic or something that has real value. They need to get autographs from those few big names that have not signed or more from those few stars who were in early and have not been back in years. They need to stop making minor characters/actors ELs as that only turns people off. I hate to pay premium money for a signature of someone I barely know and I generally let those cards pass. RA needs to stop making temporary bridge sets because it wastes the limited number of good assets they have remaining.

I don't know if RA intends to do a second set this year or early next year before the delayed season 8 comes out. I hope not, not unless they have something great in the vault, but I fear it will just be the second and third autograph designs of actors that barely needed one card. It has been a very good title, but it is also dragging its way to the finish line when it should be going out with a bang.

Raven,

I think the sketch/relic comment is key. When they are so rare (6 cases to date and not 1 sketch card or relic that was not seeded 1 per case), VFM has to be based upon autographs. As we have said before to many repeats, even of the main characters causing ever decreasing value in the secondary market. I get the uniformity points regarding finishing off the sett, however the large base set drive the creation of the now uneconomical pricing of the cases. My dealer in the UK has still got unsold cases that remain unbroken because he can't sell the contents of those already broken at a price that covers his costs. At least RA have a long time to ponder what to do with season 8.

It would be hard to change the 'season' format now, but if they do any of the endless sets after the show...such as quotables, heroes & villains and scraping the bottom of the barrel like RA normally do, then those sets could be different. As they've covered pretty much all the show and actors, I'm not sure what any after-show products can really offer to entice the collector further.

I hated the metal cards of the Valyrian Steel set, and have no intention of collecting any missing ones from my collection and I'm not bothering with the lazy 'expansion' set for season 7. Too much metal, and they're not even that well done. As for the gold metal cards, they look like old pictures stained with years of smoke, like old paintings in antique shops.

I love that RA have got most of the main actors to sign over the years. BUT, the past two season sets have felt very diluted. It's at the point where there ought to be 3 autographs in a box.
Going by the average autograph values and character importance I had a couple of boxes where the two autographs were worth hardly £15(@$20) the pair.

And I totally agree with Raven about stop making lesser characters/actors EL or VL?! I never EVER understood the Oona Chaplin prices a few seasons back. That was madness! Oh I forgot she's related to Charlie Chaplin?!?! Sorry, I forgot, she was also seen breathing in a bad Bond movie too!


The only relic in season 7 was a Daenerys one which was classed as 'scarce' meaning less than 100. Stupid! Considering one part of it looks exactly like the material used in previous relics, not a new costume, just a new designed card.

I hate sketches. And I've been unlucky to have a sketch the past three years, which I've quickly sold on. All of which I could have doodled better while on hold for a phone call.
My problem with them, other than the average/poor quality of most, is that a sketch is produced for the product. How is that any different from the stupid pins and medallion cards from other sets? It's a manufactured hit. If the artist had actually been on set, or the sketches were in fact parts of the storyboard processes from the set, I'd be fine with that. A sketch is an over-hyped irrelevance. I guess in my case I can paint my own if I so wished.
I think I'd prefer a piece of Winterfell mud than a sketch. At least that would have a proper connection to the show/set.

I loved the Winter Is Here chase set. That was really nicely done. The Quotable and Relationships sets were also good, as usual. The parallel sets are looking really tired and lazy now.
The only good part of having less episodes, means there are less cards and therefore parallels for people to hunt down if they so wished.

quote:

Originally posted by gk1964:
My dealer in the UK has still got unsold cases that remain unbroken because he can't sell the contents of those already broken at a price that covers his costs.

Yes and this is a song that I have been singing for quite awhile now, but both manufacturers and collectors have seemed not to care about the signs until perhaps the situation is here. At least there hasn't been many comments made about my contention that there will come a point where no one will want to break boxes.

Collectors have by-in-large come to the realization that buying blind boxes is not cost effective, so they go to the dealers and breakers on the secondary market to pick up lots and individual cards. The dealers and large breakers have been getting added incentives in the form of 1 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 18 case cards, added product, card exclusives and archive box cards that prop up the bulk sales so that they can take a loss on the box breaks or even discounting the boxes down the line the line if necessary. But once those bulk buyers feel they are not making enough money or not covering costs, they will first stop breaking and second stop buying as much or altogether.

When no one breaks product in sufficient quantity that is the end of finding those lots and individual cards on the secondary market. It all just sits in sealed boxes that no one wants to take the risk of opening and no one can move as sealed boxes. Its a fairly logical progression that you can see coming, but apparently we have to get to some real failures before card makers change course. I'm not just speaking about RA with GoT, its a widespread hobby problem that has been patched together with the hope it will all hold up a little longer.

If RA waits until after the show is over and puts out S8 as the other seasons and then around 6 months later puts out a premium compendium of the entire show would that be good? I personally like base sets so a large base set, maybe 150 cards where half are the story of the show and half are the characters. All the cards are serial numbered so no need for parallels. Only a couple of insert sets.
Wouldn't mind seeing a timeline set so you can see the characters grow within the show. Have to make sketch/relics at least one a case. No need for manufactured pins in a premium product. Not sure how to handle autographs to make them new enough people would want to collect them again. Has to be a completely different design.

quote:

Originally posted by ifish73:
Have to make sketch/relics at least one a case. No need for manufactured pins in a premium product. Not sure how to handle autographs to make them new enough people would want to collect them again.

How about putting back all those 1 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 18 case incentives and exclusive cards as seeded hits in the boxes instead. Breakers have zero chance of getting the best cards in the release because they are not even seeded.

Want to improve the sale of sealed boxes? Get away from that $100 mark SRP. Sell at $70 - $80 SRP and get all the big autographs and duals and relics and sketches back into the product.

Close the gap between content value and box price. Make it that a collector doesn't stand to lose $50 - $60 on an average box. Collectors are prepared to gamble up to a point, but not when the reward doesn't justify the risk. The average box is losing too much and the best cards are not there anyway.

Manufactured patches and pins are nice looking, but as extras, not to replace a premium hit. Add value, don't substitute lesser value.

I wouldn't mind a different autograph design as I am not crazy about Valyrian, Blue or Gold Signatures, but common signers done in even more styles still won't cut it. You need the stars, even as repeats, that is where demand lies. It affords new people the ability to get them with an increased supply and I don't think that's a bad thing.