Thinking of giving up on the Topps Heritage Brand

i have collected every Topps Heritage Baseball Set from 2001 through this years 2012.

it's the one modern baseball card set that i am genuinely excited about.  i watched as other pissed on Topps shortly after the 2012 version was released back in March.  Not enough of this, too much of that, yada, yada, yada.   Some of the complainers were old, some new, more or less the same ol' same ol'

i stood up for the release.  i am a fan of the set it represents, 1963 Topps.  i bought my share, then bought some more.  i am less then 100 insert cards from finishing my 2012 Set.

i love heritage.  i love heritage because it reminds me of days gone by.  days when there were no "SUPER MOJO RARE MEGA-$$ HITS".  There were cards, gum and cards.  that was it.  Yes, things have changed.

i collect the heritage set each year.  i collect all the base cards (1-500) and then all the basic inserts.  i do not collect Chrome cards, fabric cards, bat cards, or cards with writing on them (aka autos).  i welcome those if i pull them from my packs.  they make for great trading bait.

i learned over the summer that there was going to be a Heritage High Number Set.  i was as excited as anyone that there would be such a release.  i learned that it would be in factory set form, and only available on-line. 

i was worried about set cost and expressed my concerns.  turns out i was right.  Yesterday Topps announced that the set would be released early next month with a SRP of $99.95.  yes, 100 dollars for a set of 100 base cards.  the "bonus" as they call it, is that there will be an "Autographed" card in every set.   As someone that doesnt have any interest in ink cards, its a kick in the junk that this "bonus" is driving the SRP through the roof.

i honestly don't know what to do.  it's easy enough to just give Topps $100.  But i feel they've done collectors totally wrong with this release. i feel enough so that i am thinking about calling it quits on the brand.

My SAGA Trade Paperback Money Back Guarantee

If you've read my posts before, you know that i have returned to reading comics for the first time since the late 80's.  ive gone into why before, so wont be repeating myself here.

This one is about SAGA. If you've been reading Saga and love it, then i guess you don't need me to tell you how great it is, eh?

If you're a huge Star Wars Fan that grew up seeing them in the theater when they came out like myself, then there is no way that you will not like SAGA.  Unless of course, you don't care for reading, then it really doesn't matter, does it? :)

The first Trade Paperback, which includes Issue's 1 through 6 (which is the latest issue) is being released on October 10th of this year.  Reading the TPB will "catch you up" on everything that has been released so far.  Issue #8 is due out in November, so you'll be all set to jump in on the monthly roller coaster if you choose to do so going forward.

Here is my Money Back Guarantee.  Buy the Trade Paperback (cover price is only $9.99 for 160 pages!), read it, soak it in, love it, read it again.  Then thank Brian K. Vaughn for writing it, and Fiona Staples (@FionaStaples) for drawing such goodness on a monthly basis.  No need to thank me, as I'm just a fan :)

But if you don't like it, and feel that I mislead you and forced you to "waste" ten bucks, here's what I want you to do,on the first page of the Trade Paperback, do the following:

Write your @Twitter Handle or Blogger Handle.
Write in your own handwriting what you did not like about the book, why you're returning it.
Give me your autograph under the above.
Mail the Trade Paperback to me (message me, I will provide my address)

Upon receipt, I will PayPal you ten bucks.

It really is THAT good of a book people.  I don't say that lightly, and I have always been a person that backs what they feel with action.

Walking Dead TV, Comic, and CGCs & Sports Card Transistion

Walking Dead is a Fever.  it really is.  it starts all nice and easily enough, but then it takes you over.

The TV show is very, very good.  i think it will get even better.  The Comic book is flat out fucking amazing.  there is little that is "the same" about the two.  the basic outline is the same, but there are limits as what can be done on TV, especially basic cable.

i feel that with the rising popularity of the TV Show, more people will gravitate towards the Comic.  im collecting CGCs with an eye towards the future.  i feel that there is room for them to grow, a lot of room.  Time will tell if i am right or not.  of course. ive been wrong about things like this before :)

ive lost a lot of interest in cards as of late.  i can about count on both hands how many slabs that id still like to own when it comes to post war rookies.  i'll always love and love to talk about cards and will do so with anyone whos interested in doing so, but the ones that ive been interested in winning gets smaller with each passing day it seems.

2012 East Coast National Recap

i had taken off from work today as i was going to see Chicago play at Jones Beach tonight.
(The show was awesome, as was expected!)

So i had some free time early in the day and decided to check out the show.  i usually attend this show on Friday, as i prefer those hours to the weekend hours.  That being said, it may be the "norm" to have people line up outside for entry to the show on the weekends, but its not like that on Fridays.

i got in and noticed something right away.  the room was packed. not pack as in a lot of people, but packed as in the walking space in the aisles was considerably less then normal.  There was also no way there were 450 dealer tables.

Well, it is what it is, and it was time to have a look around.  Even a "bad" show is a good show, as it IS a show :)  after walking around for about three hours i hadnt picked up anything.  There were a couple of things that interested me, but overall pretty underwhelmed.

What i did see were a lot of customers walking around and seemingly happy to be there shopping.
there seemed to be a lot of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout low end rookie cards changing hands.  thats a good sign in my book.   of course, some people want then for "cheaper" no matter what the dealer offers.

well as my "time to leave" time approached, i had to make some decisions.  And here they are:

(My scanner is not working, and these pics suck and do NOT do the cards justice)

i fell in love with this card as soon as i saw it.  centering on this card is a PITA, it really is.
even though it's not a rookie card, i had to have it.

Next up ... somewhat of a return to an old focus.  those of you that have known me for some time realize that i tend to jump all over the place.  well, time to revisit an old friend ... BGS Gold.
i am going to try for true gems when given the opportunity, but it wont be a deal breaker like it had been back then.    The BIG Picture of this Focus is to go for Topps Rookie Cards of players of note (that i do not already have). 

Here are two that i picked up today ...

i also picked up a box of 2012 Topps Football Jumbos that i hope to open sooner rather then later :)

Thanks For The Read,
Eric

Damn, still cant believe .....

That the 2012 National has come and is now over for over a week.

seems like just last night i was hanging out with my newly found card friends.  How nice it was to just sit, hang out and talk about cards.  i know that sounds weird to those that do not have this gene known as collector.  But those that have done this for a long time know exactly what i am talking about. 

i was fortunate to make a bunch of new friends while at the show this year.  i hope we are all able to make it to Chicago next year.

things here are alright i suppose.  still looking for some key football rookie cards.  for baseball, im almost done with what ive been working on for the last 8 years.

i opened some of the 2012 Topps Mini Baseball.  Ripped two boxes.  Really fun rip.  highly recommended.

2012 National Recap

Eh, im going to post this later.  i need to gather my thoughts.  im pretty down about the show being over, having been looking forward to it all year.

2012 National day five

Today was the last day of the 2012 National.

im not going to lie, i am depressed as im typing this.  it just ALWAYS goes by so damn fast.  im not even kidding.  its now after 3am and i should be tired and asleep, but im not.  its pouring rain out and im typing away here.

while thinking about what to be on the hunt for today (while trying to fall asleep last night), i was giving serious thought to adding basketball to the mix.  i looked around at some Jordans, but decided that it just wasnt going to be, not now anyway.

What i wound up picking up today were some ..... wait for it ..... yes, what im about to type is not typed in error .... modern .... BGS RCs!  ::gasp::   yep, two of them even!  saved me some money on one, and the other is just not to be found in a PSA (actually, the other one is pretty damn hard as well)

also today i met another Twitter Card Friend, always a good thing in my book.

then it was more walking around, chatting, saying goodbye to those that were still around today.  Most everyone left early this morning to catch flights, so i said farewell to the last night.

All in all i wound up picking up 22 Slabs (20 PSA, 2 BGS) ... 7 baseball and 15 football.

Bet you never would have guessed that would be the ratio, eh? :)