Topps Heritage has all of the potential to be the best release each year. Real cardboard stock, familiar designs, minimal inserts, one series release - a throwback to what set collectors and long-time collectors would want in a product. But, it's a Topps product so of course they screw it up. Believe it or not, some people in the hobby still want to build a set. Key word = build. Not buy a set without the fun of collecting, not be forced to buy cases upon cases to complete a set but actually buy a reasonable and manageable amount of the product and be able to hand collate a set. What makes Topps Heritage an impossible set to build? SHORT PRINTED BASE CARDS! Not only are they short printed, they are typically the star players in the set. It's not like Topps said "oh, let's short print the same way we did in the original release". Why would Topps care about their history? Instead, Topps says "let's short print the best guys so large case breakers and group breakers can get the most return on their purchase".
I've put a ton of time, effort and $$ into trying to build the 2012 Topps Heritage set. This was my first attempt to build a Topps Heritage set, as I was attracted to all of the things mentioned previously - 4 years later, I'm still 19 short prints away from a full set. Since that point, I said to myself - why even bother with this release? It is truly "uncollectible". For some silly reason, I started to feel excitement for the 2016 Heritage release and was looking on eBay/Twitter to see if there were any good deals on base sets (since I knew I'd never be able to afford enough to hand collate). Then I saw the checklist and the short print cards in this years release include: Kershaw, Ortiz, Harper, Trout, etc. Pretty much anyone you'd actually be excited about pulling in a pack. Yet again, Topps caters to the case breakers & re-sellers rather than the collectors.
This exact topic was discussed on Twitter today by a few people I'd consider "collectors". Here are some snippets from the conversation:
Given the price point of the product, nostalgic aspect and minimal inserts, Topps is once again flipping the bird to set collectors and, well, collectors by including so many SPs in this years set.
I've put a ton of time, effort and $$ into trying to build the 2012 Topps Heritage set. This was my first attempt to build a Topps Heritage set, as I was attracted to all of the things mentioned previously - 4 years later, I'm still 19 short prints away from a full set. Since that point, I said to myself - why even bother with this release? It is truly "uncollectible". For some silly reason, I started to feel excitement for the 2016 Heritage release and was looking on eBay/Twitter to see if there were any good deals on base sets (since I knew I'd never be able to afford enough to hand collate). Then I saw the checklist and the short print cards in this years release include: Kershaw, Ortiz, Harper, Trout, etc. Pretty much anyone you'd actually be excited about pulling in a pack. Yet again, Topps caters to the case breakers & re-sellers rather than the collectors.
This exact topic was discussed on Twitter today by a few people I'd consider "collectors". Here are some snippets from the conversation:
- Re: SPs - "At least knock them down to reasonable amount like 25. Shouldn't have to buy a case to complete a set. I won't."
- "I bought a Heritage box every year from 2001-14. Some years 2 boxes, blasters, looses, etc...Guess how many sets I've completed? None!"
- "It's a set that is, ironically, uncollectible. It's not realistic to collect this set as, well, a set."
Given the price point of the product, nostalgic aspect and minimal inserts, Topps is once again flipping the bird to set collectors and, well, collectors by including so many SPs in this years set.
