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2012 Topps Archives in Three Words (Reader Responses)

Yesterday, I asked my readers to summarize the 2012 Topps Archives set in exactly three words.  Let's take a look at your responses and see if we can draw any conclusions from them.

  • Nathan:  Absolutely fantastic checklist
  • Spankee:  Cheap ass cardstock
  • The Dutch Card Guy:  Pretty cool stuff
  • The Lost Collector:  Love wrapper design
  • Backstop Cards:  Needs current Padres
  • Chunter:  Vintage-designed Lineage
  • Night Owl:  Leave me cold
  • CaptKirk42:  Mixed on it
  • Lifetimetopps:  Autographs from 70s/80s
  • Mike:  Could be better
  • BA Benny:  Old is new
  • sg488:  Nice retro cards

Before I delve into the actual responses, let me take a quick moment to thank all those who chimed in.  I would also like to welcome those who are new to my blog (either new readers and/or new commenters)!

In total, my post garnered 12 different responses to my question.  Interestingly enough, there were an equal number of people who left positive comments as there were people who left negative comments.

The Postive Comments:

Nathan:  Absolutely fantastic checklist
The Dutch Card Guy:  Pretty cool stuff
The Lost Collector:  Love wrapper design
sg488:  Nice retro cards

From the checklist all the way to the pack wrapper, people had plenty of positive things to say about the set.  Personally, I agree with The Lost Collector here - the pack wrappers instantly bring me back to the days of the 80s and opening wax packs.  Of course, Topps would have hit a home run with the pack wrappers if they had been wax instead of the plastic stuff they used!

The Negative Comments:

Spankee:  Cheap ass cardstock
Backstop Cards:  Needs current Padres
Night Owl:  Leave me cold
Mike:  Could be better


The most surprising comment (to me) was Backstop Card's plea for more Padres.  I don't think I've run across more than one or two Padre collectors during the many years of writing this blog.  I agree with Spankee's complaint about the cardstock - and bonus points for using the word "ass" as one of the three words.  Kudos.

The Descriptive Comments:

Chunter:  Vintage-designed Lineage
Lifetimetopps:  Autographs from 70s/80s
BA Benny:  Old is new
CaptKirk42:  Mixed on it

As Chunter noted, comparisons between 2012 Archives and 2011 Lineage are impossible to resist.  Both sets basically mined the same vein of design, though by most accounts Archives did a better job.  CaptKirk42's comment seemed to sum up the average comment - that is, the mean of all of the comments...there's some good things, there's some bad things, and in the end...well, it's Lineage 2.0 right?

I don't know what to think of the set quite yet - I have a bunch of blasters to open and sort through - and once I begin the process of deciding what (if anything) to collect I'll have a better handle on my feelings for the set.

However, if I had to describe 2012 Archives in three words right now, they would be:

  • '91 Score Clone

Confused?  Well, my stack of '12 Archives sitting on my desk sure looks like it could be a stack of '91 Score with the various different colored borders each taking up a chunk of the stack.  I know, I'm weird like that.

...now go buy my Bryce Harper autograph that I pulled out of a blaster of Archives so that I can afford a case of 2012 Ginter next month.  Thanks.

Comments

  1. Anonymous9:57 AM

    In fairness to Archives as a product - I meant my descriptive comment as a positive :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. OK, if I pulled a Harper autograph I would be a lot more positive. But I don't have that kind of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought my post on Archives summed it up in one word: blah

    ReplyDelete

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