A bit of the revival of this thread, as the Plates WILL be included in the packs of Galactic Files 2, so we'll actually see what happens when such a large number of plates are inserted into packs, and not need to theorize about it.

There are 1628 plates in all since they not only include the 1,400 that constitute the 350 card base set but another 228 from the insert cards.
With these numbers, it is likely these will be fairly easily found in the packs if the production run is similar to that of series 1. I'm thinking there will be 1-2 in every case of 12 boxes, as they'll fall 1 in about every 6 boxes or so. While the plates will be common in relation to plates from previous sets, there will be the added interest in them from collectors trying to re-unite the plate set of 4 for a given card (something that was lacking with Series 1, since those were sold as complete sets).

These Series 2 boxes retail at $120 which is up $20 from last time (or $100 pre-sale vs. $90 -re-sale last time), with the selling points of the new series being the pack inserted plates and the first ever Star Wars Dual autographs (200 total of 5 different pairings, so they are rare).

The 1 of 1 Golds from Series 1 become 10 of 10 Golds this for this series, likely since the Plates satisfy the 1 of 1 card (in addition to sketches) that Topps tries to get into their sets.

Finally, manufactured Medallion Cards take the place of the manufactured patch cards found in the first Galactic Files set. It's a 30-card set again with 12 different metal medallions distributed among those cards. If the medallions themselves were produced in equal numbers like the patches were, certain of the cards will be short prints like the X-Wing pilots were with the patches. These will be found at a rate of 3-4 per case, so I believe a little less common than the patches, like since the large number of plates and increased golds (3,500 total) will in many boxes be the hit that comes along with the traditional one per box sketch card.

Parallels are otherwise the same as before with 350 blue, 35 red, but again, 10 of each Gold instead of just one of each gold. The Golds could fall 3-4 per 12 box case, so at a much more frequent rate than we've been accustomed to, certainly where Galactic Files are concerned.

TOPPS have been known to put printing plates in retail packs (Galaxy 7) so that could make them hugely more HTF in the Hobby packs.

True, true, but they would be insanely easy to find in the retail packs for those who make a business of that. They would literally fall at a ratio of one per pack for those skilled in the dark art of pack searching.

In other words, if the plates are in retail, look for "hot" packs galore on these the day they are released, and for that reason, I sure hope they are hobby exclusive.

The printing plates were a Hobby Exclusive in Galaxy 5, 6, and 7, so hopefully that trend will continue.

Whatever happened with that whole business of the 4 printing plates that could be bought from the first Galactic Files? The last I heard there was not a lot of interest at that price, even with the bonus of the expanded cards.

I don't buy just for plates, so I'm curious to know if those plate sets are still available in large numbers at the same price or were they ever discounted? Anybody know?

It appears that Topps has sold the remaining inventory to a reseller. You can now purchase the sets at a fairly good discount. They seem to be going for around $340 - $370 per set. The reseller has also placed some on "that auction site".

quote:

Whatever happened with that whole business of the 4 printing plates that could be bought from the first Galactic Files? The last I heard there was not a lot of interest at that price, even with the bonus of the expanded cards.I don't buy just for plates, so I'm curious to know if those plate sets are still available in large numbers at the same price or were they ever discounted? Anybody know?

That's still crazy money for what I consider to be a novelty. If these were reasonably priced from the start say for around $200 they may have done ok but still I don't see a sell out even at that price.

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Originally posted by Batman:
That's still crazy money for what I consider to be a novelty. If these were reasonably priced from the start say for around $200 they may have done ok but still I don't see a sell out even at that price.

I think the big drawback was that you got the plates of an unknown random card when you ordered and there were way too many cards that collectors would not have been interested in. If you got a popular main character it might have been worth the money, but you were more likely to get a minor character for the same price.

You're right that the discount is still too high. If it were going for $200, basically $50 per plate, it might have a chance in a blind sale, but if the card is being named I would bet that there are many plate sets that wouldn't sell even at $100.

Well, there's definitely some interest in them.
At $200, I think they would sell out instantly.

A sealed one (but with slightly torn shrinkwrap) just sold for $415 at auction, kind of strange considering the same seller has sets available with fully intact shrinkwrap with a "buy it now" price of about $25 less that that. Maybe the buyer has a feeling about that particular set. There are a few of plate sets I'd have a hard time parting with, the title card in particular.

There are a lot of offers being made to get those fixed price ones little cheaper, but so far, those offers are being declined, so the Ebay price is about $380 and a little less at the seller's website, so we'll see if they come down any more.

There was a period when you could get them from Topps for $400 using a coupon. That's how I got mine, and it was lucky to hold the plates for a Padme card which I sold for about $360 (The auction showed $332, I think, but the buyer actually paid me more than that), so I ended up with the expansion set for about $60, which was my main reason for purchasing the one I bought, but it's true, it wouldn't have worked out so well for me if I'd received the plates for a less popular card than the Padme set I got.

Finally, I have seen the expansion sets appear for sale for less than $ 70. I grabbed one.

The medallion cards look really nice.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Finally, I have seen the expansion sets appear for sale for less than $ 70. I grabbed one.

Weren't these $500 less than a year ago?

Some investment that would have been.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
Finally, I have seen the expansion sets appear for sale for less than $ 70. I grabbed one.

Weren't these $500 less than a year ago?

Some investment that would have been.

Not quite. The expansion sets only shipped as a bonus with the printing plate sets. The whole set including plates and expansion set was $500. Mind you, the whole thing was probably still a poor investment in the short term. Maybe in 20 years time they will have appreciated...especially the, by that time, rarer complete sets that still have the original expansion sets with them

So it appears that the 24 cards in the expansion set were re-released as part of the new Galactic Files II set. Minor differences in the photos on the front of some of them, mostly different cropping, and 2013 copyrights on the backs instead of 2012.

Had I known this, I would not have paid $ 70 for the set from the plates, a few months ago !

I only looked at one card, but the photo on the front was completely different from the one in the 2013 set.

Well, look at chesspiece's post above in the General Card section on these. He identified only one with a different photo. The others he scanned are pretty much the same, but the backs have different text,

The photos of Kabe and Tessek are different. The other 22 are the same. Here's an easy link to an overview of the expansion versus the pack issued versions.

http://nonsportupdate.infopop....787069236#5787069236