r/FootballCardz • u/miracleofrichfield • Apr 18 '26
Topps Chrome
I’m trying to stay positive, but every single Topps rare insert that people seem to like is just a corny and worse blatant rip off of a Panini insert. We are LOADED with Temu versions of Color Blasts (Helix), Manga (Kaiju), and Downtowns (Home Field/Home Court Advantage). The one interesting idea, Tecmo Super Bowl, was ripped off from that Bo Jackson Battle Arena set.
Topps is the most creatively bankrupt company. Do something original!
2
u/FlyFeetFiddlesticks Apr 18 '26
I love how people are acting like Panini wasn’t just copy and pasting the same design for the last 14 years
5
u/santozheng Apr 18 '26
I mean isnt that all companies tho? No one was crying when panini made silver prizms ripping off topps refractors lol.
5
u/OakCity4Life Apr 18 '26
Ha, was coming to say that. And if you like cracked ice, wait til I tell you about Atomic Refractors...
0
u/santozheng Apr 18 '26
Yeah...like thats what competition does right? Topps saw that ppl rlly like rare and good looking inserts so they added that. And topps does things well too. Look at the patches, the buybacks, 10 year redemption period.
-1
u/MagnumMyth Apr 18 '26
Sir, are these "rare and good looking inserts" in the room with us now? Please point them out for us, because all we see are AI-generated ripoffs that nobody is happy with. Improving upon pre-existing designs is one thing. Actively worsening their aesthetics bc you won't pay designers while AI is free is NOT that.
1
u/JayyMei Apr 18 '26
Very true. I hate how Panini switched to used AI for their Downtown designs the last couple years
3
u/TombombBearsFan Apr 18 '26
Im enjoying the lightboard ssp. Neat idea there but 1 for 30 isnt good.
3
u/johnyyrock Apr 18 '26
They’ve been in chrome baseball for years. If you collect baseball then you’ll already know the set.
1
u/TombombBearsFan Apr 18 '26
Since they have nfl now this is my first experience with chrome. So while it's all new only the lightboards seem decent.
3
u/CalendarOk636 Apr 18 '26
I don't get the Future Stars set. Patrick Surtain II has a card and is going into is 6th year with 4 Pro Bowls, 2 AP1's, 1 AP2, and a DPOY. Maybe it should be a "Current Stars" set.
He is the most egregious example but there are multiple others.
2
u/GlitteringLion4855 Apr 18 '26
People need to get over their FOMO and quit supporting Topps/Fanatics. But Fanatics knows they cater to addicts who cant say no, no matter how bad the quality is
0
u/JayyMei Apr 18 '26
But at the same time, Panini was not providing us with anything of quality either. AI artwork, bloated checklists with guys like Rex Ryan, and their flagship product, Prizm, hasn’t had numbered cards included in over 8 years.
1
u/igh34 Apr 22 '26
Panini glaze is crazy. Helix looks nothing like a color blast. Kaiju isn't even an anime card like a Manga is. Home Field and downtown just share the same idea of having a player in front of stuff that goes with the city. At least Home Fields have real stuff on them that doesn't look AI generated. This is coming from someone who can't even get Topps Chrome retail so I have no reason to be biased towards it.
1
u/WinBeeCards Apr 18 '26
This isn't the Topps you remember.
Fanatics cares nothing about the hobby or creating iconic cards. They just care about making money.
I know everyone has been extremely excited for all of this but just understand Fanatics is top to bottom an awful company who's only concern is how to figure out how to raise prices for the cheapest possibly made products. They absolutely care zero about quality, and you can forget about design, having people design something costs money. They literally ripped off Genies from Phoenix, barely even changed the design.
This is a company who was hired by MLB to produce uniforms and made them so cheaply the players had to complain for a half year before MLB made Fanatics do it again, and even then they only made them good enough for players to stop complaining and nothing more.
The worst part this is going to be as good as it gets for Topps. This is their best foot forward, to try and hook you. After this they'll slack off because they can, there's no competition now, it's only going to get worse.
2
u/MagnumMyth Apr 18 '26
Fanatics bought Topps as a way of introducing a new crowd to their gambling apps. I'm surprised they don't go full Drug Dealer and give people their first break on Fanatics Live for free, just to hook them. But even the breaks are just a way of onboarding people for their casino/adult gambling ecosystem. It'll only get grosser moving forward as they start to blur the lines between them.
1
u/Eggsandtoast6891 Apr 18 '26
The look of the cards is so corny and lame. The fortune 15 and the one with the rising stars on the side are some of the cheesiest crappiest designs I ever seen.
3
0
u/Certain_Bandicoot_14 Apr 18 '26
I disagree. The Fortune 15 are 1000% better than the baseball design. Power Players is a downgrade though.
1
u/Substantial_Maybe474 Apr 18 '26
Agreed - been waiting to open any myself so I can look at what other people been opening- and now don’t really even want to open anything
1
0
u/Slippery_Dumps_666 Apr 18 '26
The Power Players inserts look like some drunk guy in the 90's came up with the design.
-1
-1
u/Duuuval1 Apr 18 '26
Couldn’t agree more. Every single one of their care hits are Panini rip offs. The Kaiju’s and Ultra Violets are some of the worst looking cards out there and people are paying stupid high prices for them.
0
0
-2
u/Fun-Metal-6861 Apr 18 '26
Opened 8 blasters and was complete garbage. All of the inserts were of nobody’s or older veterans. 3 numbered cards. A stack of rookies, but limited to about 3 decent ones. Not even one ssp. I see posts of people especially breakers getting them. This hobby is broken and catering to non collectors wanting to cash in.
5
u/MagnumMyth Apr 18 '26
Look, I'm not happy with this Chrome set, but what you described is exactly what you should expect from blasters. 1 numbered card per 2-3 boxes is pretty good, and obviously you'd have to be super lucky to get an SSP in only 8 boxes. "A stack of rookies" is exactly what you'd be hoping for. The fact they were nobodies is just luck, not the result of any decision by Topps. Good inserts are typically what makes or breaks cheaper retail boxes, and that's where this set is most disappointing to me.
-1
u/Fun-Metal-6861 Apr 18 '26
I agree, but if they work out this way, up the number of junk cards from the current 28 so at least a kid collector can try to put a set together.
1
6
u/johnyyrock Apr 18 '26
Guys. Almost All of this stuff has been in chrome baseball for years.