Topps has several print-to-demand programs going. In addition to Topps Now programs for various properties, Topps also does Throwback Thursday sets and a program called On-Demand. Throwback Thursday is basically what it sounds like, a fresh take on an older Topps design. On-Demand is kind of a grab bag, with ideas that may not warrant a full product release. There have been On-Demand sets for Star Wars, baseball, a boxing match, a cartoon, Garbage Pail Kids, and WWE.
The WWE set was based on a SummerSlam theme, and offered a 30-card base set, 2 autographs, and a chance at randomly-inserted parallels. I think the original solicitation listed parallels numbered up to # / 99, but only 125 copies of the set were ordered (most people on Facebook and Twitter seemed to think the autograph list was too weak) and the parallels and autographs were changed so that the max print run on them was 10 copies apiece.
The base cards all have that swirly blue and orange background, with a big SummerSlam logo and the wrestler's name at the bottom. The backs have a write-up of the wrestler's SummerSlam exploits. I think it's a pretty fun set, and it's pretty cool that there are only 125 of them out there.
Due to the low ordering, my set was packed with four parallels. I got three Red parallels, featuring Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe, and Nia Jax. They are all serially-numbered # / 10. I was happy to pull the Nia Jax card for my collection of her cards. I wish the other names had been a little bigger. I also got a Black parallel of Big Cass numbered # 4 / 5. You can see the backs have a suffix on the card number that denotes the parallel type.
My two autographs were of the Red variety, again numbered out of # / 10. I mentioned in the comments of an earlier post that these are more initial-graphs than autographs, as Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper put the smallest amount of ink they could on these stickers. I think I would have preferred just about anyone else on the autograph list over these two, but those are the risks you take when you order this kind of product.
Cool sets and cards, but weak autographs for sure. It's too bad they don't take more time.
ReplyDeleteJust like in other products, some individuals make an effort to provide quality signatures, and others can hardly be bothered. I'm sure that signing hundreds or thousands of cards or stickers can be pretty mind-numbing. My signature isn't all that great, although it's relatively consistent.
DeleteI don't collect WWE cards, but if this was a baseball or football set, I could see some player/team collectors really driving up some of the prices on these parallels on such a limited product run.
ReplyDeleteThis would have been a heck of a deal with a baseball product, but the baseball stuff with desirable players tends to sell out the full announced print run. I have't looked at completed listings on this WWE stuff, but depending on who you pulled, a couple of star parallels could probably pay for your set.
Delete