quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
“An Upper Deck release is never late, nor is it early, it arrives precisely when it means to.”

-Gandalf

No wonder LOTR went to Topps!

quote:

Originally posted by JOHN LEVITT:

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
“An Upper Deck release is never late, nor is it early, it arrives precisely when it means to.”

-Gandalf

No wonder LOTR went to Topps!

Haha! Yeah, even his X-Men card was a Topps product.

The new James Bond as well as Chasing Amy (surprise! surprise!) has been bumped back again.

They were on an August 28th date but now it just says Sept/Oct TBD

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
The new James Bond as well as Chasing Amy (surprise! surprise!) has been bumped back again.

They were on an August 28th date but now it just says Sept/Oct TBD

They (along with Alien 3 and X-Files) are now sitting with a 12/31/20 placeholder release date with my supplier. Alien 3 is approaching 2 years since solicitation.

I somehow imagine Chasing Amy and Alien 3 orders were light, and they don't know what to do with them. Likely a straight to ePack maybe? If the autos exist, they need to recoup something from them.

Bond and X-Files are more problematic as they probably have real money tied up in those. But the previous sets were only OK sellers, so I'm not sure what they were expecting?

Ed

quote:

Originally posted by Scifi Cards:

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
The new James Bond as well as Chasing Amy (surprise! surprise!) has been bumped back again.

They were on an August 28th date but now it just says Sept/Oct TBD

They (along with Alien 3 and X-Files) are now sitting with a 12/31/20 placeholder release date with my supplier. Alien 3 is approaching 2 years since solicitation.

I somehow imagine Chasing Amy and Alien 3 orders were light, and they don't know what to do with them. Likely a straight to ePack maybe? If the autos exist, they need to recoup something from them.

Bond and X-Files are more problematic as they probably have real money tied up in those. But the previous sets were only OK sellers, so I'm not sure what they were expecting?

Ed

That is a great question -- what are they expecting? I just did some looking at the trade marketplace on ePack -- certainly not scientific in any sense of the word, but the James Bond set seems to have sold A LOT of ePacks, and Clerks seems to be right up there too. Based on available cards in the marketplace they seem to have sold WAY better than Marvel sets like Ant Man and the Wasp and Defenders (I thought Wasp would have been much higher since it sold out). I didn't look at any other Marvel sets.

I also don't see a lot of the Bond boxes getting discounted. I don't remember if Clerks were discounted, I can't really even find them for sale anymore. . .

I'm guessing that comparatively these didn't move as many physical boxes, and I have no idea how much UD is sitting on, but they definitely seem to have held their own on ePack -- and as Ed asks what were they expecting?

It bums me out to see these get pushed back over and over. . . I'm really starting to miss variety in cards. . . A HUGE percentage of releases fall in to a small number of titles/categories. I'm missing the days of tons of easily accessible sketch packs, varieties of titles from companies, varieties of manufacturers, etc. Thankfully this is starting to improve in some areas. . . but for me it's gotten hard to find things to spend money on. I've spent a lot of time lately scouring the web for sellers selling old product. It's tough -- I haven't had much luck.

ePacks are an invention of UD. My impression, just going by forum posts I've seen, is that many experienced card collectors simply don't want to get caught up in that whole system of buying and retrieving cards, while a lot of other collectors are still in the basic question stage and just don't know what it is.

Since UD is holding back a good percentage/portion of their main title cards to at least fund the trailing ePack release date, I don't quite get how it works to their advantage. If a card product/set is a good seller, wouldn't it have been better to have more product to sell traditionally? If the first traditional release has little demand, how will it do any better in ePacks?

I don't know what UD expects, but these titles had problems long before COVID. Alien3 was hated by many Alien fans, including me. Clerks and Chasing Amy are both aimed at only a small section of card buyers. X-Files has been well covered.

I thought the first UD Bond were pretty good, but most long time Bond card collectors rightly found the autographs inferior to the previous RA cards. UD needs to produce new Bond movies and new signers to really make that title work for them. That schedule COVID has effected since the film won't come out until 2021.

While RA and Topps have forged ahead, UD looks to be stuck with many titles having too narrow market demand and a broader title that can't get started.

I have been opening a free Epack for some months and today I got the last card I needed to complete a 200 card set (Ice Hockey as I did not like the other free packs). Not every card was found in my free packs as I received quite a few through trades that were instigated by others. Not sure what to do next but I doubt very much that I will purchase them as I think they might be too expensive to ship but then again I don't understand the charges and fees.

regards

John

As a point of reference . . . based on the number of cards showing up in the ePack marketplace as well as the low end chase on COMC the 2019 James Bond Collection set sold over 4000 boxes on ePack.

The total number of boxes sold is definitely higher than that as the number of cards on ePack that are locked or have already been shipped are no longer showing up in the marketplace.

I have no idea how many boxes were sold through traditional channels, but 4000 boxes sold just on ePack seems really healthy to me -- again I have no idea what UD was expecting.

Also I don't think this set has ever gone on sale on ePack.

So No Time To Die has been officially moved to an October 8, 2021 release date. Upper Deck had previously announced a new Bond release having something to do with Bond Henchmen. If that set was meant to be timed with the new film, even though there is nothing new likely to be in it, its no wonder going on 2 years it hasn't shown up yet.

More telling is the fact that not only is the new Upper Deck Bond product not mentioned in NSU's Upcoming Card Releases for the last issue, no Upper Deck product is mentioned on the list. Nothing is even in the TBA column.

So has UD stopped communicating altogether or stopped producing non-sport cards or has NSU dropped advertising them? Odd, no?

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

Coincidentally, details on this set were shared today in a facebook card group (video and electronic sell sheet):
https://gogts.net/2020-upper-d...chmen-trading-cards/

Configuration: 12 boxes/18 packs/5 cards
Box Hits:
(1) Premium Insert
(3) Additional Hits (Star Signatures Autographs, Crystal Clear Plexiglass or Acetate Movie Posters)

CASE Hits:
(1) Character Base Set Acetate Parallel SSP
(1) Premium Insert Card

2020 Upper Deck James Bond Villains & Henchmen Trading Cards Cards PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS:
(1) Premium Insert in Every Box!
Discover RARE and Unique PREMIUM inserts!

100-Card Base Set!
Two Levels of Parallels!
Search for Obsidian Parallel Base Cards
Uncover Premium Autograph Base Cards

(3) Additional Hits in Every Box!
Star Signatures Autographs – ALL autographs are HARD SIGNED ON-CARD!
Look for PREMIUM autograph cards with numbered tiers of rarity!
Crystal Clear Plexiglass
Acetate Movie Posters

(1) Insert Card in Every Pack!
Potent Quotes
Master Plan
The Upper Hand
Allies & Colleagues
Stunning Acetate Parallels with Three Tiers of Rarity!


Upper Deck are doing their usual thing and offering completely differnet designs from their last set which will be appreciated by some, and will drive some Bond collectors mad - namely those who liked years of consistent designs from Rittenhouse.

Sticking with on-card signatures is obviously good but no new signers are to be seen so far.

I actually quite like their card designs, and fresh take, but I still have not picked up any cards from their last set because their set compositions are too vast, too confusing, and some chase cards just too rare. Add in the achievement cards that are too difficult to find any information on and it's all too much like hard work if you ask me.
I simply cannot fathom paying over £100 for a single chase card so I'm not even going there.

And people complained RA sets were hard to put together!

I'll be interested to see if their costume cards are production used, like the RA cards, and obviously what new signers they can come up with.

Thanks for the info and pictures, although I still can't see where they are giving a delivery date for this.

I thought UD's first Bond set was very nice, much better than I expected. I'm not sure why some dedicated Bond collectors just seem to want to avoid them as they in no way diminish the RA cards, which will have several autograph signers that will never reappear for UD.

The issue of not being able to complete UD checklists is almost a given for nearly everyone now. As an autograph card collector I know there is no way I could possibly get the majority of high priced signatures in any UD set, be it Bond, Marvel, Alien or whatever. The only thing I ask is that I'm guaranteed to get an autograph card in every box. When that is not the case, that's when I won't take the chance of even buying a box. For the rest of it, having more certified autographs available is always better than not if you are a true collector and fan.

Since it does seem as though they are promising some sort of tiered autograph in each box, I would try it, if I ever find out when it's released.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I thought UD's first Bond set was very nice, much better than I expected. I'm not sure why some dedicated Bond collectors just seem to want to avoid them as they in no way diminish the RA cards, which will have several autograph signers that will never reappear for UD.

I think that is half the problem. The only truly new things UD brought to the table last time were autographs of Christoph Waltz and Andrew Scott.

The UD cards don't diminish RA, but there's no great reason to go deep on UD's set when all their signers are available on arguably nicer lookingh RA cards, and many collectors are still trying to complete RA sets.

...and as I said, the UD set is near enough impossible to complete without spending an absolute fortune, which is a further deterrent to some.

quote:

Originally posted by X:

...and as I said, the UD set is near enough impossible to complete without spending an absolute fortune, which is a further deterrent to some.

Yes me for a start. I have collected all the Bond sets over the years but do not have one card from the UD set and that is totally down to the price of collecting them.

The last card product I completed was AvP Requiem and technically I didn't even do that one. I never picked up the elusive "fur" variant.

It's not just UD's Bond that would cost a small fortune to finish, it's any major title, from any major card manufacturer, that is a new premium set that includes premium hits.

Apparently card manufacturers got the idea that unattainable sets is what card collectors wanted when they asked for more value. Apparently when non-sport card buyers kept saying they wanted their cards to be more like the sports card market, this is what they got. And when the non-sport card market evolved into flippers selling to flippers, the actual card collectors were left to change their standards or stop buying the quality products that they were never going to complete.

I understand the sentiment, but an "all or nothing" approach is going to leave you with nothing besides filling in old gaps. Stay away from the insane cards, they aren't worth it. There are plenty of good looking new cards to be enjoyed and you won't be anybody's fool.

I am no longer an "all or nothing collector" but I still find UD's approach off-putting. I'm sure master-set collectors even moreso.

Old RA Bond sets were a challenge to put together.
Newer RA sets were very hard to put together.
UD's Bond set is near enough impossible... and that is just the base set and a parallels!

If the UD cards, even just singles, are too hard and expensive what is the motivation to even make a start?

That just goes to show how dumb and short sighted certain card makers are when they take franchise titles with a solid collector base and make those collectors feel like second hand citizens with extreme products.

I get that they think I don't count as an autograph card collector who happily picks up single cards individually and buys a couple of boxes of anything, as long as it has autographs. Even though I spend quite a bit of money on cards, nobody can count on me to buy anything except GoT and I'm not looking to complete any set there either.

But when Bond card collectors who have probably spent thousands of dollars or pounds making these sets for years, can't see buying one new card, well I hope the card makers notice. You can sell to flippers only as long as the flippers have someone to sell to. Once the collectors stop buying, or get smart and just wait for the dumping, its over for new products. And yet the sets keep getting more extreme. A death wish?

Is the data shared above new? If so maybe that means they have made some progress.

Since these UD sets are accessible to be via ePack I've been collecting the UD Bond despite never having collected Bond previously.

Hi Raven
I have a AVP Requiem Fur variety for trade if you want it I have a wants list on the site it is not a large list mabey we can do a trade , it is not going anywere.
Regarding set building etc i am basically a Inkworks collector and I have over the last couple of years wondered .
If they were still in existence what they would be look like and be issuing today I am not into these modern sets as there are too many levels to collect , three or four different colour Parallels of 70 odd cards for a set is I think over the top and putting people off buying boxes cases etc and turning them to E Bay for their needs
If you cant get something that can be seen as a set out of a box the companies are just playing you along and leaving you chasing your tail if you had one

webjon - I only saw the details on the new set on Friday but apparently was put out a month ago.

Do you have a link to where info. can be found on what ePack cards needed to be combined for the achievment cards in the last UD Bond set?

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
That just goes to show how dumb and short sighted certain card makers are when they take franchise titles with a solid collector base and make those collectors feel like second hand citizens with extreme products.

I get that they think I don't count as an autograph card collector who happily picks up single cards individually and buys a couple of boxes of anything, as long as it has autographs. Even though I spend quite a bit of money on cards, nobody can count on me to buy anything except GoT and I'm not looking to complete any set there either.

But when Bond card collectors who have probably spent thousands of dollars or pounds making these sets for years, can't see buying one new card, well I hope the card makers notice. You can sell to flippers only as long as the flippers have someone to sell to. Once the collectors stop buying, or get smart and just wait for the dumping, its over for new products. And yet the sets keep getting more extreme. A death wish?

I don't feel like a "second hand citizen". I can afford what I can afford, and can't what I can't. Same with anything in life.
But I do think Upper Deck go to extremes in making cards hard to get.

As an example, I am a big Judi Dench fan. Have a couple of different Bond autos of hers and will always add more if I like the card design and the price. I wanted one of her new UD autos...
- her base auto starts around $90
- her inscription auto $200+ (cool but a bit of a premium for just an 'M')
- her short print (numbered to 99) is also around $200
- and her 'Tier 3 Achievemnt auto' at $300+(!)

If manufacturers force collectors into only picking up singles, changing the way they collect because sets are now impossible, an Inkworks Dench auto can still be had for under $30 and even though many sellers pitch her cards quite high, she signed so many different cards for Rittenhouse, almost any she did can be had for $50-$100 with a little patience.
So why not just go for those singles? You're still getting Dench on a Bond card so why bother with the UD ones?

Besides any new signers, IMO the only major plus point to these UD Bond sets is more chances for collectors to get autos from the likes of Famke Janssen and Denise Richards because the prices of their RA equivalents have gone insane.