New James Bond cards coming in the new year -- from Upper Deck. Not a lot of specifics yet other than a handful of images.

https://www.beckett.com/news/j...lands-at-upper-deck/

Not surprised that RA lost the license after 15 years. The inventory dump in their Bond Final Edition kind of felt like they knew they weren't coming back. I am surprised that UD picked it up, but I think the key may be in the inclusion of Bond trading card games, along with regular cards. And there will of course be more films eventually, so new material will come out sooner or later.

I'm happy Bond will continue in some form, but TOPPS and UD really seem to be cornering the big titles these days. I wonder if NSU could go into an article about why so many old licenses are changing hands in recent times?

Upperdeck are all about gimmicks and making hits scarse for over pricing, I collect the Bond full bleed auto's with rittenhouse, I am over 250 different signers to date in that style, this is a tragic news.

I don't think Rittenhouse "Lost" anything, it seems that they walked away from Bond on their own terms.

So, if the license was left open, it's not surprising someone else has picked it up.

And to give Upper Deck some credit in this, both the new Ant-Man and the Wasp set and the upcoming X-Files set carry an SRP below what Rittenhouse pricing has become. So time will tell what they do with Bond. I say wait and see. I've been very pleased with several of the non-sport sets recently released by UD.

And you cannot count out the gaming OR ePack component that UD brings to the table for the license.

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by cheifbrody:
Upperdeck are all about gimmicks and making hits scarse for over pricing, I collect the Bond full bleed auto's with rittenhouse, I am over 250 different signers to date in that style, this is a tragic news.

Just ignore them then. If anything sticker autographs, which UD will probably use, gives collectors a greater appreciation for the on-card signatures. Bond has already been fully covered. UD can come out with more repeat autographs, but virtually no new signers of merit from the existing films. The only new signers will come from films not yet made because RA did such a good job of running them down. And those actors that may have passed away can't be on UD stickers.

I don't see where this in any way hurts the Bond cards or Bond collectors, except that it breaks the design formats. But the option is to have no new cards at all.

I agree with you about gimmicks and skipped short printed hits. I keep hoping UD will change its box construction and I can't risk buying blind boxes because of the value disparity. But you can still pick up cards individually and if you really don't like them, no one should feel they have to have them, especially not when you have better already.

So Mr Bond, we meet again. ( good article header, you can have that for free. )

Let's face it, some Bond is better than no Bond so we shall wait and see what comes along. That Famke autograph does not look like a sticker.

I have master sets of ALL of the Rittenhouse Bond sets, aside from parallel cards, and that Sean Connery cut auto that came out in 2017. Still looking for an inexpensive one of those.

However, I don't have any Upper Deck cards at all. Don't all of their sets tend to be over whelming in terms of the number of hits ?

What I am trying to ask is, won't it be VERY tough to put together a master set of chase--autos, relics, etc. ? I am not talking about sketches or parallels, as I don't collect those

[QUOTE]Originally posted by David R:
However, I don't have any Upper Deck cards at all. Don't all of their sets tend to be over whelming in terms of the number of hits ?/QUOTE]

Depends on what you call hits.

If you are counting that manufactured garbage they count as hits, then yes. I don't count them, but I am not a completest.

If you count all the signers that may be on the autograph list, then yes. I don't count them when they are sketch artists and production people that I never heard of before, but I am not interested in those autographs, so I don't care. Signature lists on the main actors in UD sets have actually run from being very short, to really very short. Thor Ragnarok had a grand total of only 4 actors as an example, but there were numerous artist signers.

UD employs a skip formula for their boxes, whereby you never know what you are getting. The guaranteed hit is some manufactured relic that I consider worthless and then you may get either an autograph or some sketch of unknown quality. This is in general mind you, I have no idea if Bond will look like that, its just what UD has been doing. On the plus side, if you pull a star autograph, or any actor signature really, if will have good to great value. On the minus side, its hard to get a star or even any actor signature. Master sets on a budget will be tough.

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

I'm just looking at the 2015 Ant Man set, for example

Looks like it had 7 levels of chase which were not too bad. You could probably complete these with a half dozen boxes, or slightly more

But then there were 9 autos, and 6 other double autos (limited to 4 to 10 each), and finally 2 other double sided autos

And then on top of that, about 45-50 different Memorabilia cards. Did they come 1 per box or more ?

To me, quite overwhelming !

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
That Famke autograph does not look like a sticker.

Too early to tell, with UD you don't even know if it's a mock up card. Remember the ScarJo on an early sell sheet. And the Holm that didn't make it in till later. I will say that those cards look a lot like something I would expect from TOPPS Now, so I hope the final cards turn out less plain. On-card would be very welcome, but a departure for them.

Well i know all about UD history and i understand why people would be concerned but i refuse to get negative until i see the actual product.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Well i know all about UD history and i understand why people would be concerned but i refuse to get negative until i see the actual product.

I agree with you. I'm not being negative. It's not negative to have lower expectations and maybe be pleasantly surprised. I'm glad Bond will continue and I don't think it hurts current collectors to shift from RA if they are out of it, which is the first thing I said.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
I'm just looking at the 2015 Ant Man set, for example

Looks like it had 7 levels of chase which were not too bad. You could probably complete these with a half dozen boxes, or slightly more

But then there were 9 autos, and 6 other double autos (limited to 4 to 10 each), and finally 2 other double sided autos

And then on top of that, about 45-50 different Memorabilia cards. Did they come 1 per box or more ?

To me, quite overwhelming !

Other than anything seriously short printed, or autographs/sketches you can get lots of VERY good deals on cards from ePack products on COMC.

In fact I often can't believe how cheap people are selling cards on COMC that come from ePack.

The point I am trying to make is that even with lots of chase sets and even with rare cards you might be able to acquire them far cheaper than you might think.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by cheifbrody:
Upperdeck are all about gimmicks and making hits scarse for over pricing, I collect the Bond full bleed auto's with rittenhouse, I am over 250 different signers to date in that style, this is a tragic news.

Just ignore them then. If anything sticker autographs, which UD will probably use, gives collectors a greater appreciation for the on-card signatures. Bond has already been fully covered. UD can come out with more repeat autographs, but virtually no new signers of merit from the existing films. The only new signers will come from films not yet made because RA did such a good job of running them down. And those actors that may have passed away can't be on UD stickers.

I don't see where this in any way hurts the Bond cards or Bond collectors, except that it breaks the design formats. But the option is to have no new cards at all.

I agree with you about gimmicks and skipped short printed hits. I keep hoping UD will change its box construction and I can't risk buying blind boxes because of the value disparity. But you can still pick up cards individually and if you really don't like them, no one should feel they have to have them, especially not when you have better already.

It's easy to say ignore them, I have an on going collection of all to date full bleed autographs that has just ended, I was looking forward to more Spectre signers.

quote:

Originally posted by cheifbrody:
It's easy to say ignore them, I have an on going collection of all to date full bleed autographs that has just ended, I was looking forward to more Spectre signers.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to be flippant. Just saying that you are complete now, you can't get what won't be made and this is out of your control.

There are a few more Spectre signers we could have used. I really wanted Monica Bellucci myself, and Ralph Fiennes and Christoph Waltz also. RA probably tried, but I would be just as happy if their autographs came out with UD. I get that it will break the continuity of the FB or Bordered collectors and that was a big thing for some collectors. But if they could think of it as just adding another style to one that is complete, they might be happy for the opportunity to get more. If not, it shouldn't bother them, as they are already whole or can continue to fill in old gaps if they are not.

Too Bad RA let the License go. Would have been cool to have had Sketch Cards in the Bond Sets. So many images could have been drawn from all those years of sexy Bond Chicks.

Bit of a weird one this.

A coup for Upper Deck to hold such a prestigious licence but whatever they produce will follow one of the most thorough trading card runs for any property, ever. I think RA missed some decent full-bleed repeats that could have been made but they pretty much did mined everything they could from the series.

So the main appeal of any UD Bond cards will be cards related to new movies, and any new autographs from rare vintage signers, however I hold little hope they can track down and convince the actors RA could not. UD can get some amazing signers for their sets but their autograph lists are not not deep or thorough.

To be fair, whilst a lot of Bond collectors will have many of RA's great cards, some are very rare. The mock-up shown of Famke Janssen is another opportunity for collectors who may not have her signature to add her to their collections.
That said, UD aren't known for good odds on good cards, so would a collector rather pay a lot for an UD Famke sticker auto, or wait it out and track down an RA Famke on-card auto?

And whilst making a direct comparison, I don't entirely dislike the Famke auto design shown, but it's no full-bleed RA card is it? UD are known for their often polarising designs and sticker autos which are still a huge detraction for many collectors.

I will watch what UD put out with great interest but for me, the urgency to collect their stuff will not be there. Their cards are not the best designed, too hard to get, at too long odds, with e-pack exclusive stuff that can be impossible to obtain. Rittenhouse Archives did such a good job it is a real shame that we may never see more Bond cards from them again.

Updated info on this

https://www.beckett.com/news/2...r-classic-franchise/


Note that it says there are 50 different gold acetate cards that come 8 per case, and if you assemble all 50, you can get an exclusive auto graph not available in packs

Two guaranteed autographs per box is a big departure for UD and that's enough to put me in for a couple of boxes.

But that 200 card base set, with 3 tiers and parallels, is going to be a problem for some folks. I wonder if card manufacturers really think most non-sport collectors are asking for sets this large and this difficult to complete?

I actually am glad to see the idea of collecting a set of chase to get a reward make the journey from ePack to actual physical cards. Will be interesting to see how they verify you have all 50...

Honestly I see the parallels here as a throw-away chase. Too few in a box to justify chasing a 200 card set.

As for the 200 card set, I see people all the time that wish for bigger sets to challenge them. Or, longing for the "big sets" like back when they were kids. So it will have it's detractors but we've all said base sets should have value and 1 per box will not bring value.

I'm a little torn at the 2 per box autos when they also say "look for SP and SSP autographs." That means there will be a lot of throw-away autos and we've already got that problem with many of the Rittenhouse autos that don't bring $5 on the open market.

But I'm willing to give this one a chance.

And for those that don't like links, here's the info from the upcoming Newsletter...

quote:

200 Card Base Set

3 Levels of Parallel Cards: 4 Parallels per box

Acetate Parallels
Chase Cards (5 Per Box)

Bond VS Villains

Q-Branch

See the World
Bond Legacy Set (1 Per Box) Character Cards with Acetate windows
50 Gold Tinted Acetate Bounty Cards (8 Per Case)

Collect all 50 to obtain a rare Bounty Autograph
Actor Autograph Cards (2 Per Box)

SP and SSP Autograph Cards to find
Printing plates used to make the cards, each 1/1

6 Cards Per Pack / 18 Packs Per Box / 12 Boxes Per Case

And I will admit the pricing on this one will not be less than Rittenhouse like we'd seen on recent releases. MAP Pricing will be around $100-110.

Ed

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Scifi Cards,