Brendan_B
OZCT Supporter
So we are about 4 weeks post what I anticipated would be one of the better, more exciting cricket releases for quite sometime. Unfortunately, due to reasons I will document in the review I haven't been able to bust anywhere near as much product as I hoped.
What wasn't to look forward to? After-all it is the Ashes and for the first time in 15+ years there were base and insert card for another touring team.
As always please feel free to agree, disagree or just have a general opinion. I am confident that these reviews get seen by the producers and can only help improve the future products.
FOLDERS
The folders themselves are nice, well designed with the sweater covering the folder a different touch. The sleeves inside are another story though, cheap & nasty! My folder has the same issue that the 15/16 folders did with the last few sleeves curling under the metal plate that holds the rings. This means no cards on the last few pages and for a premium release this is poor. I think these folders either needed to come with a free packet, promo card or album card to meet the value for money aspect.
BASE SET
Some positive aspects and some negative, I will start with the former. The Australian & English base cards are quite good, aside from the couple of English players where the image has been very obviously photo-shopped in. The great Ashes grounds was also a nice addition however I felt that for the shots they could have found better images (SCG aside) that clearly identified the ground.
Now for the negatives. The Southern Stars are always a great addition but why oh why are they in their ODI uniforms? I know that the ODI & T20 form part of the Women's Ashes but let be realistic, you say Ashes and I think red ball cricket. Where are the English women? Where are the checklists for both teams? How bizarre to have a checklist 1-42 and then nothing.
The inclusion of the men's ODI and T20 is obviously to boost numbers but this is not Ashes related at all. The Ashes is test cricket! If they wanted to boost numbers how about coaches cards? How about subsets such as great Ashes moments (Freddie consoling Lee 2005, Harris first ball dismissal of Cook etc). How about a picture of the urn with a bit of history?
Lastly and maybe most importantly the stock used for the cards is rubbish for a premium release (or a release that is priced at the premium level).
PARALLELS
These are quite nice looking and no real complaints here that haven't been mentioned in the previous paragraphs. I think that there should have been silvers at 1 per pack and golds at 1 per 4 packs. I know this creates a huge amount to chase but isn't that what collecting is?
NATIONAL PRIDE
These are easily the best looking insert IMO and could have very well been the box hit. The foil board comes up a treat, the national flag in the background is spectacular. As the box hit these would have been numbered and add a couple of the Women's players to the set and even better!
RIVALRIES
These are not a horrible looking card and for a two per box hit are fine. The theme is good and while a few players depicted haven't played in the series I don't think TnP can be blamed for that.
MILESTONES
Another reasonable theme and solid lower end insert. Certainly nothing spectacular, maybe a set that should have been either completely toward the individuals pending milestone though.
PORTRAITS
This is another set where I can't knock the theme and the fact that a box hit is numbered (all be it printed not foil) is a welcome addition. The damage and cutting issues with these cards have been quite an issue and the replacement that I have seen was hand numbered which is just ridiculous and cheap. I appreciate that TnP are replacing damaged cards but having a few hand numbered among printed numbers is not a fluent look. I think that having these as the Promo / Show cards was also a bad move as it drives down the value of a numbered set and with Promo cards you just don't know how many are produced.
PREDICTORS
Great concept, really nice looking cards. The fact that no clear direction on what a winning predictor will redeem is poor and at /100 they should redeem at least a five card set of the player with one being a signature. The wildcard stuff up (and it was a stuff up) now means there will be double the amount of POTS cards available and this will be strange because you will have both the actual winning player at /100 and the wildcard at /100.
SIGNATURE CARDS
I haven't seen one of these in hand but the fact that they are landscape is great as this really gives the player room to sign and puts the focus on the signature which is what a signature card should be! Any signature series with both Ashes Captains in it is a solid start and good to see a couple of new faces aside from Smith but really who doesn't want a Steve Smith auto? I felt there should have been more players to make each card no more than /125. I know the English are /100 but this is in part due to the fact that they kept some non numbered for promotional purposes & Xmas bundles. This is a blatant cash grab to me and really diminishes in the value as how many non numbered signature cards are there?
HIGH END
Really great initiatives and both should hold value, particularly the Bradman. The redemption cards look spectacular, I can only imagine how good the actual cards would be. Having the Morris game worn patch /48 after the Invincibles is a nice touch.
SUMMARY
I am not sure if there are case cards so I won't comment on these. In summary this release could have been huge. I was so optimistic and when @Matt26 posted the sell sheet made the comment, "shut up and take my money" because I was genuinely excited about this release.
Initially the price was a big concern for collectors and yes it is an expensive product (premium pricing for Australian sports cards). In relation to the value for money it hasn't delivered at all, this product should be a maximum of $5 per packet. I would have been happy to pay $7 per packet if there had been a couple of higher end inserts. Why not a 1:72 past heroes subset? Why not a Ashes memorable moments set at 2 per box? To me, and I am sure I am not alone, the Ashes is as much about the present as it is about the past and to that end this needed some more nostalgia about it. I know that I do not have the inside knowledge in relation to costs and licensing etc and I have been previously made aware that CA are a bit funny with having retired players sign. Select seemed to incorporate retired players with no worries, this set coulkd have been huge with a past heroes subset and a legends case hit as a signature. Can you imagine a Lillee, Marsh, Gower or Gooch saignature card /50?
This release has been plagued by other issues also, most notably the distribution and quality control. The release should have been out 1 November not toward the end of the first test. TnP seem to have massive issues in these areas and they are into their fourth cricket release.
Personally I am so very disappointed by this release. TnP had ample time and so many great ideas from collectors to get this right and they have failed. Despite this I will still continue to chip away at the release because I love collecting and there are some good aspects.
5/10 for me
What wasn't to look forward to? After-all it is the Ashes and for the first time in 15+ years there were base and insert card for another touring team.
As always please feel free to agree, disagree or just have a general opinion. I am confident that these reviews get seen by the producers and can only help improve the future products.
FOLDERS
The folders themselves are nice, well designed with the sweater covering the folder a different touch. The sleeves inside are another story though, cheap & nasty! My folder has the same issue that the 15/16 folders did with the last few sleeves curling under the metal plate that holds the rings. This means no cards on the last few pages and for a premium release this is poor. I think these folders either needed to come with a free packet, promo card or album card to meet the value for money aspect.
BASE SET
Some positive aspects and some negative, I will start with the former. The Australian & English base cards are quite good, aside from the couple of English players where the image has been very obviously photo-shopped in. The great Ashes grounds was also a nice addition however I felt that for the shots they could have found better images (SCG aside) that clearly identified the ground.
Now for the negatives. The Southern Stars are always a great addition but why oh why are they in their ODI uniforms? I know that the ODI & T20 form part of the Women's Ashes but let be realistic, you say Ashes and I think red ball cricket. Where are the English women? Where are the checklists for both teams? How bizarre to have a checklist 1-42 and then nothing.
The inclusion of the men's ODI and T20 is obviously to boost numbers but this is not Ashes related at all. The Ashes is test cricket! If they wanted to boost numbers how about coaches cards? How about subsets such as great Ashes moments (Freddie consoling Lee 2005, Harris first ball dismissal of Cook etc). How about a picture of the urn with a bit of history?
Lastly and maybe most importantly the stock used for the cards is rubbish for a premium release (or a release that is priced at the premium level).
PARALLELS
These are quite nice looking and no real complaints here that haven't been mentioned in the previous paragraphs. I think that there should have been silvers at 1 per pack and golds at 1 per 4 packs. I know this creates a huge amount to chase but isn't that what collecting is?
NATIONAL PRIDE
These are easily the best looking insert IMO and could have very well been the box hit. The foil board comes up a treat, the national flag in the background is spectacular. As the box hit these would have been numbered and add a couple of the Women's players to the set and even better!
RIVALRIES
These are not a horrible looking card and for a two per box hit are fine. The theme is good and while a few players depicted haven't played in the series I don't think TnP can be blamed for that.
MILESTONES
Another reasonable theme and solid lower end insert. Certainly nothing spectacular, maybe a set that should have been either completely toward the individuals pending milestone though.
PORTRAITS
This is another set where I can't knock the theme and the fact that a box hit is numbered (all be it printed not foil) is a welcome addition. The damage and cutting issues with these cards have been quite an issue and the replacement that I have seen was hand numbered which is just ridiculous and cheap. I appreciate that TnP are replacing damaged cards but having a few hand numbered among printed numbers is not a fluent look. I think that having these as the Promo / Show cards was also a bad move as it drives down the value of a numbered set and with Promo cards you just don't know how many are produced.
PREDICTORS
Great concept, really nice looking cards. The fact that no clear direction on what a winning predictor will redeem is poor and at /100 they should redeem at least a five card set of the player with one being a signature. The wildcard stuff up (and it was a stuff up) now means there will be double the amount of POTS cards available and this will be strange because you will have both the actual winning player at /100 and the wildcard at /100.
SIGNATURE CARDS
I haven't seen one of these in hand but the fact that they are landscape is great as this really gives the player room to sign and puts the focus on the signature which is what a signature card should be! Any signature series with both Ashes Captains in it is a solid start and good to see a couple of new faces aside from Smith but really who doesn't want a Steve Smith auto? I felt there should have been more players to make each card no more than /125. I know the English are /100 but this is in part due to the fact that they kept some non numbered for promotional purposes & Xmas bundles. This is a blatant cash grab to me and really diminishes in the value as how many non numbered signature cards are there?
HIGH END
Really great initiatives and both should hold value, particularly the Bradman. The redemption cards look spectacular, I can only imagine how good the actual cards would be. Having the Morris game worn patch /48 after the Invincibles is a nice touch.
SUMMARY
I am not sure if there are case cards so I won't comment on these. In summary this release could have been huge. I was so optimistic and when @Matt26 posted the sell sheet made the comment, "shut up and take my money" because I was genuinely excited about this release.
Initially the price was a big concern for collectors and yes it is an expensive product (premium pricing for Australian sports cards). In relation to the value for money it hasn't delivered at all, this product should be a maximum of $5 per packet. I would have been happy to pay $7 per packet if there had been a couple of higher end inserts. Why not a 1:72 past heroes subset? Why not a Ashes memorable moments set at 2 per box? To me, and I am sure I am not alone, the Ashes is as much about the present as it is about the past and to that end this needed some more nostalgia about it. I know that I do not have the inside knowledge in relation to costs and licensing etc and I have been previously made aware that CA are a bit funny with having retired players sign. Select seemed to incorporate retired players with no worries, this set coulkd have been huge with a past heroes subset and a legends case hit as a signature. Can you imagine a Lillee, Marsh, Gower or Gooch saignature card /50?
This release has been plagued by other issues also, most notably the distribution and quality control. The release should have been out 1 November not toward the end of the first test. TnP seem to have massive issues in these areas and they are into their fourth cricket release.
Personally I am so very disappointed by this release. TnP had ample time and so many great ideas from collectors to get this right and they have failed. Despite this I will still continue to chip away at the release because I love collecting and there are some good aspects.
5/10 for me
