For some reason, in 2013 the blog became less about baseball cards and more about baseball in general. I bought less packs, ranted less about Topps, and really spoke less about the overall industry. To be honest, I really don't know why that happened. I just got caught up in customs and stuff, and never really had a big 'hey, let's talk about how awful Topps is doing' post.
Until now.
A few days ago, Topps released info on 2014 Topps Archives Baseball. This was a set I had been both fearing and eagerly awaiting. The fear was that it would be a dull, sloppily-put-together, forgettable set that only I would enjoy. However, if they kept it going, I would definitely buy packs, and make sure I had my say on which sets were chosen.
It turns out that 1973 Topps, 1980 Topps, 1986 Topps and 1989 Topps are going to be the sets chosen for this year's set.
Allow me to react accordingly.
1. 1980 Topps was used two years ago in 2011 Archives. SO WHY USE IT AGAIN? I mean, I get that it's an easy set to do, but there's no point in repeating a set like that, when you could simply grab another one. It's not that hard, Topps. I can name five off the top of my head that would be better than a repeat. 1981, 1977, 1976, 1978, 1983. Boom. Roasted.
2. In terms of the 80's sets you used, why those two? They're a little...weak. Like, I'm not saying I'm as mad as I was about redoing 1980, but you could have done better. 1989 Topps isn't necessarily my favorite, and you could have easily redone 1988 or 1987, which are much cooler. However, I doubt you even remember how to do the 1988 design. 1986 I'm cool with, so long as it retains its 80's-ness.
3. I like the 1973 idea, but I hate the fact that there are five dynamite Topps sets immediately after that one that Topps is ignoring for Archives.
4. I'm getting a stinging feeling that they're gonna take what was a good set last year, and do something awful that I haven't thought of.
I mean, this is one of my favorite sets Topps has done, and yet it's so unoriginal, and so restricted, it's all they CAN bring back. I remember 6 years ago they'd do sets like Turkey Red and things that weren't so restricted, thanks to new licenses. It frustrates me that this is what it's come to, and they still haven't done anything about this.
I guess all I can do is just wait for the product, and hope it's awesome.
Archives is a pretty pointless product. I share your frustration with reusing designs. The biggest problem I have (aside from them vulturing Heritage) is that I have absolutely zero recollection of whether a card is from 2012 Archives or 2013 Archives. Just throwing out a random assortment of designs each year makes it hard to distinguish from year to year. At this point I'd rather have another Lineage release, and I HATED Lineage in 2011.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about archives are their on-card autographs... but the base cards are pretty cool too. I like their decision to use the 1973 design and if it were me I would have picked either 1986 or 1989... but not both. I love the 1980 design, but it's definitely too soon to use again.
ReplyDeleteBut if the thing I'm most looking forward to are those Major League autographs. I hope they pump up the presses and flood the market (to keep costs down)... because I definitely want to add a few of these to my collection.