Trading Card Sugar Crash

[CompEng1]

Well, they've apparently done it again! Revisited the same insanity of the 90's trading card boom with a special kicker this time around.

I was initially very excited to see the artwork on the most recent trading card sets out there. The artist sketch cards really add something special to those sets and it's great to see so many different artists contributing. The problem is the inevitable euphoric let down that has now set in with the realization that I can never complete a card set.

The death of the 90's card craze was the ever increasing insert set problem, and near the end of it all 6 or more insert sets that you'd have a challenge completing, were not uncommon. Now, you have sketch cards that come 1 per box and you'll never get them all because they are literally one-offs. A great idea in theory but the point of collecting great card sets is actually being able to GET all the cards in the set!

WTH are the card companies thinking? On ebay you can find cases of unopened boxes of cards for sale on the cheap because they've been strip mined for their sketch cards, which are rapidly flipped for prohibitive prices. I loved seeing Perna's sketches until it dawned on me I may never get one, and even if I did that would likely be the only one I'd see. I will have zero chance of getting them all and completing the set. For collectors this is a Greek tragedy! Not to mention that you have to buy an entire box of cards just to get one sketch. Would it be too much to ask that they make reprints of the original sketch cards and randomly insert them in the packs so we loyal collectors might as least get the cards with the artwork we enjoy so much? Even if they aren't the signed, original version?

So here we go again with trading card insanity. At least in the 90's you could, with work, actually complete some of the monstrous sets. Now, I'm just left feeling let down and irritated, the trading card equivalent of the good ole sugar crash.

[jimmmy]

Some of the prices people are asking for sketch cards are insane. I'd love to own a nar sketch, never going to happen though

[CompEng1]

Originally Posted by jimmmy

Some of the prices people are asking for sketch cards are insane. I'd love to own a nar sketch, never going to happen though

Agreed. But even if the prices were reasonable you'd never be able to get a full set because if even one person did not want to sell their card the gig is up. The concept was good but the collectors like us are getting hosed in the end.

[JadeGiant]

This is where the card market is going. Correction – that is where it went a long time ago. The inserts are driving the hobby from what I have heard from a few people that are heavily into cards. The sketch cards are thriving because that is what the big time card collectors go crazy for. If they were to stop these 1:1 inserts the hard core collectors would probably leave the hobby. Because these cards are 1:1 – nobody can have everything. It would not matter how much they cost as nobody would be able to acquire all of the 1:1. I don’t see these as part of the sets – they are a different breed of collectible – a hybrid of the card and art hobbies. If I were a card collector, I would probably look to collect the main series and selectively collect the 1:1 cards of my favorite characters or from my favorite artists.

[CompEng1]

Originally Posted by JadeGiant

This is where the card market is going. Correction – that is where it went a long time ago. The inserts are driving the hobby from what I have heard from a few people that are heavily into cards. The sketch cards are thriving because that is what the big time card collectors go crazy for. If they were to stop these 1:1 inserts the hard core collectors would probably leave the hobby. Because these cards are 1:1 – nobody can have everything. It would not matter how much they cost as nobody would be able to acquire all of the 1:1. I don’t see these as part of the sets – they are a different breed of collectible – a hybrid of the card and art hobbies. If I were a card collector, I would probably look to collect the main series and selectively collect the 1:1 cards of my favorite characters or from my favorite artists.

Yeah, I love collecting the Marvel card sets and I'm just going to have to resolve myself to the idea that the sketch cards aren't part of those sets. It just feels like unfinished work to leave the sets incomplete as a collector.

I wouldn't mind the 1:1 so much if they made reprints of it for the rest of us. The hardcore would be happy cause they have the original signed card and artwork and we'd be happy cause we could complete the set. Like having a reprint of the Starry Night, it doesn't diminish the value of the original at all, it just gives the rest of us the chance to own a great art work.

There certainly are enough insert sets to keep me chasing and I suppose since the sketch cards came along, getting boxes of unopened packs of cards is cheaper than ever. Lots of people buying cases of cards just to get the sketch cards. One of my all time favorite sets is the 94 Marvel Fleer Flair. Why? One insert set of 18 cards, that's all. Very nice card set, good looking and attainable insert set. I hated some of the 90's card set inserts. You had some that were the exact same card just gold, metal, prism. No different art work, just different foil on them. Sigh, that was the pinnacle of laziness on their part and the end for me for a long time.

[JadeGiant]

The copy idea is not bad – sounds like a win-win to me.

[Rogue]

Sketch cards have been around in card sets since the 90's. I personally think it's a very cool idea to own a one-of-a-kind piece of art that was actually inserted in packs or sets. I think of it as a little bonus. It would be almost impossible to buy every single sketch card from a set in the aftermarket. There will always be some boxes that will never be opened, sitting around collecting dust in a back room of a comic shop or in a collectors bin somewwhere. I know a few card collectors who try to buy/acquire one sketch card by every artist who contributes to a card set. They call these mini master sets. Usually they do this from sets produced by Rittenhouse, Breygent, 5Finity and smaller independant companies who hire 100 or less artists. There are sets produced by companies like Upper Deck who hire hundreds of artists for each release and some draw only a handful of cards. Those are the sets (in my opinion) that are really hard to make a mini master set of, or it would be VERY costly. I tend to really like smaller press released sets and licensed sets (Marvel, DC, etc...).

Some trading card sets that were released in the 90's is almost impossible to complete or VERY expensive too. Some mass produced chase cards can set a collector back $100+ or a couple of hundred dollars for one single mass produced chase card. Example some of the Double Impact 1996 Marvel Masterpieces chase cards are very expensive (Psylocke, etc...), or the Mirage lenticular chase cards from those sets, or say the Professor Xavier Wanted: Timelines chase card. Some of those cards were very short printed or had to be mailed away for with redemption cards or points, etc... I'm a Marvel card collector and I'll never be able to finish those sets without spending a small fortune. Not everyone wants to be a completist or can afford to be.

[galactus]

Originally Posted by CompEng1

Well, they've apparently done it again! Revisited the same insanity of the 90's trading card boom with a special kicker this time around.

I was initially very excited to see the artwork on the most recent trading card sets out there. The artist sketch cards really add something special to those sets and it's great to see so many different artists contributing. The problem is the inevitable euphoric let down that has now set in with the realization that I can never complete a card set.

The death of the 90's card craze was the ever increasing insert set problem, and near the end of it all 6 or more insert sets that you'd have a challenge completing, were not uncommon. Now, you have sketch cards that come 1 per box and you'll never get them all because they are literally one-offs. A great idea in theory but the point of collecting great card sets is actually being able to GET all the cards in the set!

WTH are the card companies thinking? On ebay you can find cases of unopened boxes of cards for sale on the cheap because they've been strip mined for their sketch cards, which are rapidly flipped for prohibitive prices. I loved seeing Perna's sketches until it dawned on me I may never get one, and even if I did that would likely be the only one I'd see. I will have zero chance of getting them all and completing the set. For collectors this is a Greek tragedy! Not to mention that you have to buy an entire box of cards just to get one sketch. Would it be too much to ask that they make reprints of the original sketch cards and randomly insert them in the packs so we loyal collectors might as least get the cards with the artwork we enjoy so much? Even if they aren't the signed, original version?

So here we go again with trading card insanity. At least in the 90's you could, with work, actually complete some of the monstrous sets. Now, I'm just left feeling let down and irritated, the trading card equivalent of the good ole sugar crash.

How are unopened cases (with unopened boxes) missing their sketch cards? If the cases/boxes are unopened, they should have them?

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by galactus

How are unopened cases (with unopened boxes) missing their sketch cards? If the cases/boxes are unopened, they should have them?

I've seen dealers who buy tons of cases sell a box full of sealed packs, once they've pulled the sketch card from the box. So, it's probably a bunch of sealed packs left over from several boxes/cases and put back into an opened box. They usually say in the description if they taken the sketch card. That's the only reason I can think of why there are a ton of boxes with sealed packs of cards with no sketch on eBay.

[galactus]

Originally Posted by Rogue

I've seen dealers who buy tons of cases sell a box full of sealed packs, once they've pulled the sketch card from the box. So, it's probably a bunch of sealed packs left over from several boxes/cases and put back into an opened box. They usually say in the description if they taken the sketch card. That's the only reason I can think of why there are a ton of boxes with sealed packs of cards with no sketch on eBay.

That I could understand, but he said "cases of unopened boxes", which to me meant the boxes themselves were still shrink wrapped. If he meant boxes of unopened packs which have been picked through, then yeah, it makes sense.