Topps "2014 Star Wars Masterwork which is set to arrive in mid-December packing a hit in every pack of a four-pack $200 box."

Beckett News Story

who are these cards being made for?

certainly not me or most of the collectors I know, we just don't have this sort of money to spend on a couple packs of cards.

It seems to me that Topps was going to go the mass-market retail route with the SW wacky packages, but because of bad feedback (or whatever), that got punted.

So they are going the opposite route, with premium packs at a premium price.

Another Star Wars set to pass on

Also, 75 cards in the base set and you only get 16 PER BOX !!!

So each premium card is costing you $50 ouch!
Maybe topps star wars licence is coming to a end?
Seems a lot of star wars activity this year.
$800 worth of product to maybe make a base set!
! Makes apples iphones look cheap!remember We are buying cardboard not gold.
Having said that im sure they will still sell and i do generally love topps products

maybe nsu could do an interview with the people who design these sets and find out the rationale behind endless uncollectable parallels etc?

I feel truly sorry for Star Wars master set collectors. The licence is being truly milked dry. Looks like it will be one expensive base set. I don't have much issue with the set being in a premium format as I think your average $200 worth of Topps product would net you about the the same value of content as their boxes can be very hit and miss.

I don't even think most of the cards in the link look that nice. The autographs in particular I think look quite horrible, the manufactured metal relics look pants and the postage stamps relics, as nice as they look are not an adequate 'hit' in lieu of autographs/props/sketches.

The dual book autograph looks funky but for displayability and fragility is not my thing. The Boba Fett pen relic autograph card is just awful though. Who would want that? A nod too Topps for being original I guess (wooden cards?!?) but maybe there is not much ground left to cover?

I would like Topps to take their time and make a truly definitive Star Wars autograph set, one to rival their classic Evolution series. Seeing as pretty much every cast member (bar McGregor and Portman) are willing signers these days, why not produce a massive and comprehensive series of autographs (along the lines of what RA do with Trek and Bond) and print them up on stunning full-bleed stock with classic images. No foil backgrounds or naff design motifs, just nice clean cards with on card signatures. Rather than a thousand different autograph designs for Star Wars, just one classic design uniform style.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Also, 75 cards in the base set and you only get 16 PER BOX !!!

Actually, you only get 2 base cards per pack for a total of 8 in a box. The other 3 in each pack are the hit, an insert, and a parallel.

So a minimum 10 box purchase to get enough base cards for a set, but of course you will get 50% duplicates in those 80 cards.

This is the first Star Wars set with a true high end sports card mentality. It's made for case busters, rippers and flippers, and hit chasers. Not set collectors.

Anyone also picked up the timing of this product, mid December? What are they thinking! Not only is this the wrong type of product for most collectors but also the wrong time of the year for such an extravagant dumping of $$$ on a product.

This set will sell out. As strange as it sounds, sets like these don't require the average non-sports collectors to purchase them to be successful. The regular sports cards flippers think absolutely nothing of buying $50 packs just like these all the time, so they'll buy these, too, and there are enough super collectors to buy up the hits to justify their purchases. This can be iffy with sports cards (you can make or lose thousands on one set with good luck or bad luck on your pulls, respectively), but since the quantities of the Star Wars cards will be so limited in relation to similarly priced super-deluxe (i.e., expensive) sports cards, the market can easily absorb them all and ask for more.

We've come a LONG way since the original Star Wars cards from 1977 at 10 or 15 cents per pack!

quote:

Originally posted by JR2D2:
Anyone also picked up the timing of this product, mid December? What are they thinking! Not only is this the wrong type of product for most collectors but also the wrong time of the year for such an extravagant dumping of $$$ on a product.

The time of year has virtually no meaning to Topps. If it did, they would not have released Wacky Packages Chrome or Star Wars Jedi 3D at pretty much the same time, and right when Comic-Con was starting, to boot.

quote:

Originally posted by JR2D2:
Anyone also picked up the timing of this product, mid December? What are they thinking! Not only is this the wrong type of product for most collectors but also the wrong time of the year for such an extravagant dumping of $$$ on a product.

Maybe they think people will purchase these as Christmas presents?
How many of us would like to see a box of this product under the tree?! I would.

This seems like a total cash-grab from Topps.

I wonder if contractually they have to release a certain number of Star Wars sets every year in order to retain the license.

10-card chase sets???
Sigh. One day Topps will figure out that we put these cards in NINE pocket sleeves and stop making sets of 10.

This aggravates me to no end.

I don't understand a lot of the negativity being thrown at this set. If you can't buy it, don't. I know I can't afford to break any, but it's not going to stop me from appreciating it.

The pen "relics" are a head-scratcher, but I think the rest of it looks pretty cool and it's nice to see a top brand like Star Wars getting the super-premium treatment.

It was only a matter of time before this format hit Star Wars. UD has proven that such high end products can be supported with some of their recent Marvel sets, so why not go for it?

Personally, I'd rather they go the classic route and do an Allen & Ginter-style SW set, but I think this will be a nice set for me to watch others collect. I'll just pick up specific cards.

Make no mistake, I'm all for a high-end Star Wars trading card set.
Unfortunately, this one is not up to par:

Multiple parallel cards are lazy lazy lazy. LAZY!

A piece of pen that the was used for the autograph. Who asked for this? Answer: no one did.

Manufactured "relics". Been there, done that.

Stamps? No.

Even the props aren't "film-used". They are pieces that were "used in the making of" so & so.

Those autograph mock-ups look like they aren't on stickers, but we know they will be.


If Topps wants people to pay big $$$ for a super-premium set, they are going to have to do better than this.

quote:

Personally, I'd rather they go the classic route and do an Allen & Ginter-style SW set

Star Wars on vintage tobacco-style cards? Count me in on that one! See, that's different. A set like that would be breath of fresh air compared to the "step-and-repeat" sets of late.

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

The idea of a $50 pack may turn off some collectors right away, but that in itself is not the problem. As already pointed out, such sets are made to attract high rollers and even sports card collectors, rather than just catering to the base.

The thing here is that those big name autographs are already fairly plentiful with all the other Star Wars sets that have been produced in the last few years. Unless you have a ton of Fords in here, or you land the elusive Portman or McGregor, what is the big reward that you are taking the risk for?

It certainly isn't in a manufactured relic. Sketch cards maybe, but they all have to be great sketches.

If this had come out five years ago it would have a lot of interest because we would not have so many of the big name autographs released. If it came out after the next instalment, and you had the new stars along with the old ones, that would also work well. But the timing now is just more of what is already available at a higher price.

This set needs a wow factor to make it worth the risk. I don't see it yet.

quote:

Originally posted by mintoncard:

Those autograph mock-ups look like they aren't on stickers, but we know they will be.

While I am with you on many of your other points (especially the 10 card insert sets), Topps has already stated that the autos are on-card aside from the duals, which will use the stickers.

I am keeping my fingers crossed with the case that I ordered.

quote:

Originally posted by mintoncard:
Multiple parallel cards are lazy lazy lazy. LAZY!

These admittedly aren't for me, but look at what some other high-end set parallels go for. Somebody is buying these!

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Stamps? No.

I think they look nice. If they're pretty limited, they could be just as sought after as comparable inserts.

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Even the props aren't "film-used". They are pieces that were "used in the making of" so & so.

Some of the Ewok fur wasn't screen used, but I think Jabba's Sail Barge and Chewbacca fur was.



This set will be an interesting test, for sure.