quote:

Originally posted by hammer:

quote:

Originally posted by WandringRebel:

I have to disagree with you on this. The majority of my customers wanted sets and binders to give as gifts for neices/daughters. This set is going to sell with the teenager crowd and they don't really care about autographs. My customers who ordered boxes of this aren't into autographs, they're actually happy that the box price is a bit lower as it gives them more money to spend on finishing their chase sets and maybe even buying a pieceworks card that they really want.
There are plenty of people in this hobby who could care less about autographs and costume cards, they just want a base set and a couple of chase sets to go after.

Laura

Laura, I can see where you are coming from but at $40+ a box (and reduced chase cards in each box) a base/chase set is going to be quite expensive without the auto to offset some of the cost. At $20 a box I would agree with you but what sort of price will a Mini-Master Set cost for this set?

Jeff -
People said the same thing when Inkworks released Family Guy: Blue Harvest and it was the most profitable release of the year for me as all the speculators who buy boxes in hopes of getting the "big hit" and then give away all the other cards didn't buy this product. That meant I didn't have to compete against those fools and get in price wars.
For Twilight I expect to get 2 base sets per box and they will be $10 each. That means I only have to get another $20 or so out of the box to start making money. Between a costume card and 5 or 6 inserts I don't see that being a problem. Mini-masters should be in the $50 - $60 range.
At $20 per box Inkworks would probably lose a ton of money on this set as not only do they have to pay for printing the product but they have to buy the costumes and they also have to pay for the license.

Excellent observation, Laura. I think this set will do well even without the autos, I will still get a couple of boxes to make sets, as I'm sure will many others, or they will go to dealers with their needs. Autos would have been nice, but it's not the end of the world.

Are there 5 or 6 inserts in the 24 pack boxes? Some of the boxes are now only getting 4 inserts in them - that was what I was wondering. I agree that if that works out that way that is GREAT and good luck

If you include the costume, you should get 5 hits per box.

for those of you who want to pay less,they are still doing the retail version

lol unbelievable.. I feel sorry for the guy. I'm sure he's loving the attention at the moment but I imagine he's gonna have difficultly venturing into other, more serious, acting roles in future because he'll be followed by a crowd of screaming "Edward" girls. It'll be hard for him to shake it off.

quote:

Originally posted by Tamara:

Near-Riot Over Teen Heartthrob In San Francisco

11 November 2008 10:46 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing

A near-riot broke out at a mall in San Francisco Monday when an estimated 3,000 teenagers jammed the corridors for an autograph-signing session with 22-year-old actor Robert Pattinson. Police were summoned to the Stonestown Galleria after receiving telephone complaints that the crowd of teens -- some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles to see the young heartthrob -- had become so large that some were being crushed against mall windows. The autograph session had been scheduled to begin at the Hot Topics store at 6:00 p.m. with an estimated 300 fans expected to show up, but a large crowd had already gathered at the mall's entrance before it opened in the morning. The event was subsequently canceled. The incident, however, appeared to lend support to predictions that the forthcoming movie Twilight, which stars Pattinson, will become an enormous blockbuster when it is released on November 21.

---------

T.

I don't understand why the mall/Hot Topic is so shocked about this. The reaction to the Twilight panel, or anything Twilight, at Comic-Con was the same way. There were tons of screaming teenagers and if there was anything related to Twilight happening they wanted to be there. People were in line for hours just to get a t-shirt/SWAG from the Twilight booth. Either no one bothered to warn Hot Topic about this or they didn't believe what they were being told.

Well it looks like this set will go really well considering the prices that some of the pieceworks are fetching. A Robert Pattinson piecework sold for US$177.50 just a few days ago . Looks like sellers will do pretty well with this set, don't know if prices will fall much once the set is released, but I can say I didn't think costume cards would sell that high.

quote:

Originally posted by Sidewinder:
A Robert Pattinson piecework sold for US$177.50 just a few days ago .

Don't forget the first one sold for for $75.00.

And master sets are selling for $450

OK ....as I live in San Francisco, I'll add a little about the event.

I drove by the mall on the way to work in the morning and was completely confused why there was this CRAZY long line infront of a closed shopping mall. The local news radio cleared it up as the article said, but here are some details.

The size of 3,000 sounds about right, but the promotion was reported as follows: Hot Topic hoped to sell 500 Twilight T-shirts that would entitle the purchaser to return at 6 PM for a meet and greet with Robert Pattinson. They estimated 300 people would show up (WRONG!). Hot Topic is a little store with a storefront less than 25' wide on the second level. The walkway in front of the store is only about 15' wide as it overlooks the level below. Upon opening of the mall doors, the crowd that gathered overnight probably rushed the stairs and escalators completely blocking any access to the store. One would imagine someone did get hurt by the crowd, and San Francisco's finest was called to break-up the event. The mall is a little more upscale than most.

The news footage would have given the Fire Marshall a heart attack.

One Ebay seller says that they are doing so much business with Twilight and was getting bombarded with questions from people new to card collecting that they had to put together a web page with all of the card collecting terms/ definitions. I figure this must be a good thing for the hobby.

Since the page shows active auctions, I figured I will just cut and paste the page into this message for you to see:

Intro to Trading Cards for Twilight Fans

Since I've received so many questions about trading cards because of the upcoming Twilight set, I've created this page to help clear some confusion.



TERMS - Here are some terms you should know: (Using Twilight specifically as an example)

Trading Cards - NOT the same as Gaming Cards (Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering, Pokemon, etc.) Trading cards are meant for keeping and collecting and are NOT played with. Standard trading cards measure 2.5" X 3.5"

Retail - sold in stores such as Target, Walmart, Toys R' Us etc, aimed at kids, contain base and chase cards, usually DO NOT contain any valuable premium cards such as Autograph, Costume, Prop, or Sketch Cards (some card sets do contain retail exclusive cards or premium cards at very high odds, but Twilight does not)

Hobby - sold in Comic and Hobby Shops, aimed at teens to adults, contain rare and valuable premium cards not available in Retail boxes

Case - what Boxes of trading cards come in (10 boxes per case for Twilight).

Case Topper (or Loader) - a bonus chase card that is only available in cases and not in boxes or packs (the "PROTECTOR" card for Twilight)

Box - what Packs of trading cards come in (24 packs per box)

Pack - contains (5 or 6) randomly inserted Base Cards and (0 or 1) randomly inserted Chase Card, Costume Card (called Pieceworks by Inkworks), or Autograph Cards, etc. (6 cards per Pack)

Base Cards - common cards with pictures and info about the card set (the movie Twilight in this case), each numbered between 1-72

Base Set - A complete set of base cards (all 72 base cards about Twilight) 1-2 complete Base Sets per box is standard for most card sets.

Chase Card - A trading card that you have to search for or "chase" because it is not as common as the base cards. There are MANY different types of chase cards (Puzzle, Foil, Chrome, Die-Cut, Glitter, Sticker etc.), but for Twilight, there are 3:

ALWAYS - A nine-card puzzle (9 cards - inserted approximately 1 per 11 packs or 2-3 cards per box).
DIFFERENT - Six foil cards (6 cards - inserted approximately 1 per 17 packs or 1-2 per box).
IN PURSUIT - Three foil cards (3 cards - inserted approximately 1 per 23 packs or 1 per box).
Chase Set - All 9 "ALWAYS" Puzzle Cards is one chase set, all 6 "DIFFERENT" Foil Cards is one chase set, etc...

Mini-Master Set - includes the Base Set and all of the Chase Sets together

Master Set - ALL the cards and sets that are produced for that trading card set including ALL the Costume Cards, ALL the Autograph Cards, etc.

Autograph Card - card personally hand-signed by the actors (actor list and odds are to be determined for Twilight but usually 1 per box for Inkworks sets)

Costume Card - card containing material cut from costumes worn by the actors (Inkworks calls them Pieceworks) (1 per box)

Prop Card - card containing material cut from Props around the set of films and tv shows (none are in the Twilight set)

Sketch Card - art drawn by professional artists on trading cards depicting scenes and images from the card set (none are in the the Twilight set)

Promo Card - a card distributed by the card manufacturer to card dealers and fans to "promote" an upcoming card set. For Twilight there are 4 Promo cards/sets:

P-1 (for general distribution, given to dealers to get to the fans)
4-Card SDCC Promo Set (distributed exclusively at the 2008 San Diego Comic Convention)
P-PS (distributed exclusively at the Philly Card Show in Pennsylvania in Oct 2008)
P-i (internet promo distributed exclusively by Inkworks via their website (Inkworks.com). Requests for this Promo must be received by Jan. 6, 2009.

Variant - a card (usually a Costume or Prop Card) that was intentionally designed or cut to look different than the other copies of that same card (more details and an example below)

Error - A card that was mistakenly produced a certain way that makes it different from other copies of that same card (wrong number printed on card, wrong costume on card, etc.)

SET BUILDING TIPS AND OPTIONS

In my opinion, the most cost effective way for someone to collect is to buy by the case and then sell or trade off all the spare and unwanted Costume and Autograph Cards, and extra base and chase sets (you should get 2-3 of each chase set per case and 15-20 base sets). But it's A LOT of tedious work to sort out all those cards, scan, list, package, and then ship them. You'll probably save money this way, and have a lot of fun opening the packs, but it's not easy to sell and takes A LOT of time. Cases don't come cheap and there is the risk of getting a "bad" case, so this option takes serious committment.

A quick and easy option is to just buy a Master Set if you know you want and can afford one of EVERYTHING. (Master Sets are NOT cheap!) This will save A LOT of time and some money, but it's not as much fun because you can't customize your collection and pick and choose variants and costumes one by one yourself.

A more affordable way to go is to buy a Mini-Master Set to get the cheap stuff out of the way, and then pick and choose the costumes and autographs you want...trying to find bargains as you go.

Probably the most popular option is to buy at least 3-4 boxes to make your own Mini-Master Set, hope to get a rare autograph or costume in the process, and then buy the remaining cards one by one. Keep in mind though that it's very possible to not complete a Mini-Master Set even after 3-4 random boxes and to pull duplicate autograph and costume cards.

BUYING/PRICING - What you can expect to spend and why....

There are several factors that go into pricing, but the two most important are rarity (odds per pack/box) and popularity (main character are in higher demand than side characters of course). It's like the lottery: the higher the odds, the more money it's worth.

That's why chase cards/sets are so much more expensive than base cards/sets, even though you get so much fewer chase cards. It takes AT LEAST 3 boxes to complete a chase set from Inkworks, while you can get at least one complete base set from just one box.

Because card manufacturers don't usually state the individual odds beforehand, it's impossible to know the individual odds of specific costume and autograph cards until A LOT of boxes/cases are open. That's why pricing costumes and autographs for Pre-Order can be difficult and is mostly guesswork.

You can usually make educated guesses on pricing just based on how popular a character is, but don't forget how big/tall the actor is and what the actual costume material is. For example, an Alice costume should be rarer than an Emmett costume card just because Alice is so much smaller than Emmett. However, if it was Emmett's Tie vs. Alice's Dress, then the tie should be rarer.

Another factor into pricing are Variants. Let's look at the Victoria Costume Card:

The shirt is mostly green, but there is also some white on the front. Because the white portion is less, it's considered the variant. From a Box, you could find a variant white or a common green costume card (or a white AND green piece). If you get a Variant white costume card, it'll be rarer and therefore more valuable than the green. In this example, the white's not that rare so it won't be that much more valuable (maybe $40 vs $20), but on some cards, the variant is VERY rare and could sell for $200 while the common version sells for $10.

So if you plan on buying cards and sets individually, you can expect to pay more for the rarer cards and sets. If you buy by the box/or case, it's a gamble and you could get a great bargain or you could overspend. For example, at $50 for a box, you will get 1-2 Base Sets, 4-6 Chase Cards, and 1 Costume Card. If you get just a Laurent Costume, you probably overpaid, but if you get a Variant or an Edward Costume, you got a deal.

Also, keep in mind the Hobby boxes are limited, so once they're gone, they are gone.

Good Luck and Happy Collecting!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: miket999,

Base sets are popular for Twilight. The same seller that posted the above page on Ebay in their store, told me that they have already sold (presales I guess) 60 base sets, with 95% of the sales to people with feedback under 10. And for their current active base set auction, they have 90 watchers.

Lot's of new blood into the hobby. Hopefully many continue beyond Twilight.

The seller also confirms what Laura said, most buyers are not too concerned about auto and constume cards.

Mike

I took the plunge and ordered a case. I am hoping that the teen's/20's girls that would not be the regular non-sport buyers will be the buyers on the secondary market.

I have to agree with everything that Laura has said about this set. I've got people calling me up at the store every week asking if the Twilight cards have come in yet. Autograph or not this will sell very well. I'm sure Inkworks is upset that they didn't get the signatures, but I'm sure this will sell out for them very quickly.

-Bob-

quote:

Originally posted by TheUberBob:
I have to agree with everything that Laura has said about this set. I've got people calling me up at the store every week asking if the Twilight cards have come in yet. Autograph or not this will sell very well. I'm sure Inkworks is upset that they didn't get the signatures, but I'm sure this will sell out for them very quickly.

-Bob-

There is always the sequals and more chances for autos

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Streich:
There is always the sequals and more chances for autos

thats what i keep telling myself

I just read in the new NSU that Hot Topic will have an exclusive Twilight card. Does anyone have any info on this? Will it be sold separately, or come in boxes(packs) that are exclusive to Hot Topic?

Stopped by HT and yes the wrapper on the packs state that there is an exclusive Hot Topic card RANDOMLY inserted in the packs. - NL

quote:

Originally posted by Batman:
I just read in the new NSU that Hot Topic will have an exclusive Twilight card. Does anyone have any info on this? Will it be sold separately, or come in boxes(packs) that are exclusive to Hot Topic?

forgive me, i'm a bit confused. hot topic will have it's own boxes/packs made with this "exclusive" card inserted? so are there technically three different kinds of boxes then? retail, hobby and HT?