Upper Deck is doing a Doctor Strange set. If high-end sets aren't your thing, I suggest you look away now.

Boxes have 7 packs, each with 1 (one) card.

Base cards are numbered to 150.

http://www.beckett.com/news/20...deck-doctor-strange/

I might buy a box if there is a Chiwetel Ejiofor autograph (even though I have the Serenity one). I have no problem with high end sets - I personally can't afford them, but no reason why the market can't be varied for all levels of collector.

84 total cards in a case likely costing $800 or more?

By the All Seeing Eye of Agamotto!!!

I agree with that up to a point, all levels I mean, then I think it becomes counterproductive to the hobby in general. I like premium products and premium hits. I wouldn't touch retail because I regard that as a waste of money, but a product designed like this Doctor Strange is more than high end. It's so limited in number, only 150 sets as a maximum that will never be obtained, just who is going to buy it?

If you buy that single box, you will get at least 4 base cards that will mean nothing to you. If you keep them or discard them, the complete possible set number drops to 146. You can sell or trade them to someone trying to complete. You should get 3 hits, but an autograph is not guaranteed.

As a collector, even though I like this title, this format is all wrong for me. Not because it's high end, but because I know I will not pursue a base set and I don't even know if I'll catch an autograph even if I buy a box.

So this is only good for the flippers or speculators or dealers who are not buying to collect, but buying for what they hope is a big re-sale score. This is not just leaving out the average non-sport collector. It's also making the high end collector get in line behind the first line buyer/seller because it's impractical to pick up even a majority of the base cards from boxes.

And at the end of the day, it will still be demand and not just a limited supply that determines value.

If all else fails, they can Epack these and sell them out, I have no doubt, especially if they announced after a week or two that supplies were getting low.

There was an absolute frenzy when that happened with Marvel Masterpieces, and whether the stock WAS low, or whether that was a clever sales pitch is immaterial as they immediately sold out whatever amount was left over a weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
If all else fails, they can Epack these and sell them out, I have no doubt, especially if they announced after a week or two that supplies were getting low.

There was an absolute frenzy when that happened with Marvel Masterpieces, and whether the stock WAS low, or whether that was a clever sales pitch is immaterial as they immediately sold out whatever amount was left over a weekend.

So here's a question about that, since this whole Epack thing has come up pretty suddenly and I'm not involved with it.

If products are going to be released and then followed up by the same cards or the same title being sold as an Epack, what does that do the normal way that products have been distributed? What does that do to the traditional hobby maker-distributor-dealer networks?

And how will we ever know how much product is available if it keeps getting released on different platforms?

Were all cards released in Epacks, it would eliminate normal distribution channels. The manufacturers would not need them.. I think we're a long ways from that, but the financial and critical success of Marvel Masterpieces is impossible to ignore. There will be more Marvel sets (among others) from Upper Deck released that way, I have very little doubt.

As for Upper Deck repeating the shenanigans they've been known for in the past (creating an endless supply of 1989 Upper Deck after the fact to popularize on the popularity of the Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie, counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh cards, etc.), the safeguard for the consumer on Marvel Masterpieces, at least, is that the vast majority of the cards were numbered.

When both the Alien set and the MM set were released on the hobby market, there was no indication of an Epack version to come, so it seemed like print runs for the hobby boxes were inordinately low, especially for Alien, which was Epacked over 4 months after the hobby release. The apparent scarcity of the Alien release did help hold up the value of the hobby boxes, which might've fallen some had people known a large chunk of the production run was going to be sold directly from the manufacturer online several months later.

The people "hurt" by the Epack release of Alien would've been those who paid top dollar for autograph cards thinking there wouldn't be many more of them as the available hobby boxes seemed basically exhausted. A lot more of them are now hitting the market as a result of E-pack causing initial values are coming down, even on Sigourney Weaver. (No one likes Harry Dean Stanton more than me, but sorry, that is simply not a $250 card as it was when it seemed liked there were literally only a few of them out there, based upon how little of the singles content from the hobby boxes made it to online outlets before Epack.) There was also an autographed card of Ian Holm that didn't become available until the Epack release, not too cool for those who already had what they thought was a master set, which would've been very expensive to do from hobby boxes alone (and is still costly to do even with Epacks, possibly moreso since there are different color foil versions of the base cards, "achievement" cards, which are actual cards you can get for bundling digital only base cards found only in the Epacks. Those cards, as well as a Quad Autograph "achievement" card along with the Holm auto did not exist until Epack. As to whether the Holm card was purposely held back for Epack in a marketing move or the autos just weren't received in time for hobby release, who can say?

With MM, the Epack release followed shortly after the hobby release, and I think people were just happy to have a crack at cards (by the unsearched pack, no less) that were fairly hard to find anywhere but online and by the box when initially issued.

There are also achievement cards available only by Epack in MM, but other than that, the hobby and Epack were identical and verifiable as being from the same original run thanks to the extensive serial numbering throughout the card, which Upper Deck should definitely use on all Epack products going forward for purposes of transparency. Further, any time a hobby release precedes an Epack release of the same product, collectors should be apprised of that from the very beginning.

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
Were all cards released in Epacks, it would eliminate normal distribution channels. The manufacturers would not need them.. I think we're a long ways from that, but the financial and critical success of Marvel Masterpieces is impossible to ignore. There will be more Marvel sets (among others) from Upper Deck released that way, I have very little doubt . . .

There are also achievement cards available only by Epack in MM, but other than that, the hobby and Epack were identical and verifiable as being from the same original run thanks to the extensive serial numbering throughout the card, which Upper Deck should definitely use on all Epack products going forward for purposes of transparency. Further, any time a hobby release precedes an Epack release of the same product, collectors should be apprised of that from the very beginning.

Thanks, agree with your whole post, that is exactly how I would call it. Only judging from the speed of appearance and the media push that is being applied all of a sudden for Epacks, I am inclined to think that certain companies do not want to wait for the long road.

Totally agree that collectors should be told what products will come out in the Epack format at the same time as the traditional product is announced.

I also know that they won't do that until there is a wave of customer and dealer complaints about surprises like Alien Anthology. Most traditional card collectors are just hearing about Epacks and haven't begun to consider the possible ramifications of it yet.

Paradigms are shifting, or at least they are trying to shift. Nothing wrong with that if there is room for everyone, but invariably successful NEW results in discarded OLD. Luckily there are billions of cards I don't own to keep me busy if I get pushed off the grid.

Upper Deck is a disgrace - they along with Topps are destroying a hobby that is already approaching the end of days - at least companies like Cryptozoic, Rittenhouse Archives, and Breygent are still trying to give collectors the best of what the hobby has to offer I just hope it is enough to sustain the hobby we know and love.

until UD announces Benedict Cumberbatch a On Card Auto....... I'll keep this little Beauty

quote:

Originally posted by Batman:
Upper Deck is a disgrace - they along with Topps are destroying a hobby that is already approaching the end of days - at least companies like Cryptozoic, Rittenhouse Archives, and Breygent are still trying to give collectors the best of what the hobby has to offer I just hope it is enough to sustain the hobby we know and love.

this is very true
I don't see how they can think that doing things against what collectors want is the way to go
sport cards companies just don't get it

Probably cheaper to fly to premier and get autographs and have a weeks holiday than buy that product! What sort of people are making these decessions? Do they want younger collectors? They are not providing the product that the majority of collectors want! By that they surely should not have the licence to produce.
Collecting gold is easier.

I collect mostly for autographs. Companies like Cryptozoic, Rittenhouse, etc have been great. Not only are most of the signatures reasonable cheap to buy. They give large selection of signers. Companies like UD and Topps give a smaller selection of signers and even more limited quantities of cards signed....Plus, they use stickers.

quote:

Originally posted by ts:
I collect mostly for autographs. Companies like Cryptozoic, Rittenhouse, etc have been great. Not only are most of the signatures reasonable cheap to buy. They give large selection of signers. Companies like UD and Topps give a smaller selection of signers and even more limited quantities of cards signed....Plus, they use stickers.

I could live with that from UD and Topps if I wanted the title or even wanted a few of the autograph signers. They are getting nice licenses and, as an autograph collector, I drool over some of the signed cards they produce.

Having said that, I will not buy a single box of any of their products that are constructed with the skip box format. That now appears to be just about every product.

If I am spending a fair amount of money on a box, I want an autograph guaranteed. This business about getting an autograph in some boxes, or you might get a sketch, or you might get a printing plate, or you will surely get a relic means nothing to me. I want an autograph card, I don't even care if it is a common autograph or a sticker autograph, but give me something. Don't tell me we are keeping the high value of the autographs because they are all so limited. I didn't pull one, so it's value is not doing me any good. Nor can will I buy one, because the market selling price is too high to make sense.

So goodbye UD and Topps products. It was nice knowing you, but you don't want my money anymore.

I have purchased a box for most of the Marvel movies, but I don't plan on ordering this one.

Posted on another forum, these are the signers that Upper Deck has supposedly confirmed:

Benedict Cumberbatch
Tilda Swinton
Scott Adkins
Michael Stuhlbarg

quote:

Originally posted by Kryten67:
until UD announces Benedict Cumberbatch a On Card Auto....... I'll keep this little Beauty

I like this card and it is probably as rare or maybe even more than what UD will release.

That Into Darkness auto is a lovely card. I did enjoy his version of Khan.

Can't see Cumberbatch fitting that signature on a sticker.

*I wonder if we'll ever see the unsigned full-bleed RA teased all those years back. I would like a Khan auto from him one of these days.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
That Into Darkness auto is a lovely card. I did enjoy his version of Khan.

Can't see Cumberbatch fitting that signature on a sticker.

*I wonder if we'll ever see the unsigned full-bleed RA teased all those years back. I would like a Khan auto from him one of these days.

I just picked this one up because of the Dr. Strange film. I did not realize (but I should have known) that UD was doing a set.

Something I noticed on the scifihobby site is that none of the case incentive cards are listed against the rarity chart. If I do the math based on a division of 9 cases it comes out to roughly 90 or so. But then how many people actually order 9 cases? I am assuming all of the 6 and 9 case incentives are scarce but it would be interesting to know just how many there actually are.

Not certain about this because the official press release does not mention it, but some of those e-Pack enthusiasts are saying that Doctor Strange will be coming out in e-Packs. I don't know if they mean in addition to that announced 1 card per pack or not. Does not help me either way, but it would be good to know for those interested.