Panini. Smart or just plain stupid?

kingjack

Dane Swan super collector.
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VIC
Real Name
Jack
So, I've been thinking about posting this for a while but have held back. But seeing as hoops has just been released it has sparked me to do this. Sit back and relax because this is going to be a long one.

When I was first introduced into the NBA hobby honestly I had no idea about players, the market or the value of cards for that matter. I didn't know who was good, bad or just plain sucked. I honestly was going to quit the NBA hobby before I even started. But there was one thing that kept drawing me back. The quality and design of the cards. I started off collecting AFL which let's face it, doesn't have some of the greatest looking cards ever made.

I didn't know who to collect but some how thought collecting the #1 draft pick and future MVP would be a good place to start:blink: On a tight budget not a great idea. But you can understand why I would want to collect him. Check this card out below:

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Stunning isn't it? Huge area for an ON CARD auto, quad jersey and very well made. Gold foil and neat touches. A beautiful card and still a dream for me to own one.

Now let's have a look at panini shall we?

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A manufactured patch signed on material with less than a quarter of the player showing and all in all just a dull looking card.

Let's try a different product then shall we?

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Oh wait it's the same thing. It really pisses me off how badly panini design some of their cards and still sell the hobby boxes for a premium. I could go and get more images of other boring and lack luster products but I won't.

Now i'm not really a panini hater because some of their products are decent like NT, Gold standard and even limited to an extent. But the point i'm trying to get across is why even bother with the other products? They offer collectors nothing, they are boring cards which lose value as soon as the next product comes out a month later.

But the thing that really made me angry was this years (Or last years) "rookie" cards in hoops.

Now i'm seriously thinking about collecting Kyrie Irving this year. I really like his game and the fact that he was born in Melbourne makes it a lot sweeter. He would be the first player i've seriously collected since Hasheem Thabeet. I was looking forward to the hoops release to get my hands on a Kyrie. But then I saw the so called "rookie" card.

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What about this says that i'm a rookie card collect me? Nothing! It looks exactly the same as the other base cards which aren't worth a cent. So what should make this card worth $10-15 at the moment?

Here's a base card to compare.

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And the final thing I want to talk about is the way they do redemptions. Not just the fact that they take upwards of 8 months to be redemeed but how they look. Have a look at this it looks like a piece of sh!t.

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Now look at this. This is how it should be done. Full body shot and in all honesty stunning. People don't just toss these in the bin once they've been redeemed they keep them and value them.

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So basicly the point i'm trying to make out of all this is are Panini just brillant master minds who produce rubbish that a 4 year old could design, sucking in collectors and forcing them to buy their products by having a monopoly on the industry.

Or just plain stupid. Because seriously if any other card company came in and made NBA products you would buy them over Panini. Nobody buy's Panini hockey or baseball it's all UD and topps. Panini would lose their entire business to another company because they don't produce quality and value for money.

Feel free to add your 2 cents worth, I don't care if I get criticised for this post because this is how I feel about what is happening to the hobby.

Cheers
Jack
 
Hoops is a BASE line product, it is never, ever going to be even remotely flashy as such..... And anyone expecting any different shouldn't be collecting cards or is extremely new to the hobby!

I know exactly where you are coming from Jack, I feel the same in many ways, but...People continue to buy ALL Panini's products! And will continue to for the simple fact that the hobby is very diverse in the way of what people like and want!

It's also not really fair to pick on Panini exclusively! Topps and UD before them produced some utter crap to go along with a select few nice designs!

Also from a business perspective, they sell quiet well in Hockey at least, not sure on Baseball... They also have a contract with the NBA for the licensed products so it doesn't matter who wants to produce cards or how they produce them, the top dollar offer for the license will always win.... Panini have moved forward in leaps and bounds in the last 12 or so months... Sure they don't spend mega dollars producing $500 5 card boxes, but they cater for a lot more of the Hobby and still produce some nice brands.

With the RC crop and so on, they are/were very limited with the lockout and everything else, so I wouldn't even begin to judge them on RC cards from Hoops until the other series are released! They will only get better from now...

That rant/post is all over the pace, just like my head at the moment! :lol:

Basically none of the card companies have ever been immune to criticism or producing low selling products!
 
The lack of bordering around their gu pieces and patches anoys me! Love how UD used the gold bordering. It's amazing how such small detail makes a huge difference!
 
Perhaps of you actually compared apples with apples you wouldn't feel this way!

Premier is not comparable to Rookies & Stars, or Contenders! Both of them are set builders' releases! They have 16 or 24 packs of 5 cards. Premier had what? 1 pack of 7?

Try comparing Premier to Limited.

Upper deck base rookies in some of their release are exactly the same as the base, but have the word rookie in the design! Why would Panini print 'rookie' on an Irving base card that is not his rookie year?

The only reason why the autos that are coming will be considered rc autos is because they are the first pack pulled rookies!

Next, why don't you get in contact with select and find out how many redemptions the produce per year. Then you will see why the don't print them like that.

You are more than entitles to have your opinion, but perhaps it would come across as a VALID OPINION if you did some research and knew what you were talking about first!
 
The lack of bordering around their gu pieces and patches anoys me! Love how UD used the gold bordering. It's amazing how such small detail makes a huge difference!

That is one thing that gets brought up every time there is a Panini/UD comparison thread, but I think we all know that if Panini decided to start using gold borders or foil everywhere, then they would be written off as lazy copycats!
 
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only guy who likes Panini.

I think they have some really nice cards! I am a HUGE fan of last years Donruss stuff and I would almost guarantee I could pull out 10 card from my DeMarcus Cousins PC and you'd say to yourself "Dayum, that is a nice card"
 
Hoops is a $60 per box low end product. Its aimed at Kids to get them into collecting at a few dollars a pack. Its the same as Topps Total however you get 2 autos a box. It is about what collectors used to be about.....base cards and inserts.

I would compare Hoops to UD Collectors Choice or the base UD.

I have no doubt that once National Treasures is released a lot of people will love the rookie patch autos from 2 years worth of rookies.

A lot of people bag Panini, I think a lot of the times this is due to it simply because they are not Upper Deck.

Cheers
Matt
 
As a newbie getting back in I can say I love Panini's cards, some great looking designs and a good all round spread, the amount of Auto's has knocked me over, before I made my comeback 2 weeks ago in the mid 90's it was awesome to get inserts of any kind in a packet or box, now I expect auto's and patches in a box. How things have changed.....
 
Sometimes I feel like I'm the only guy who likes Panini.

I think they have some really nice cards! I am a HUGE fan of last years Donruss stuff and I would almost guarantee I could pull out 10 card from my DeMarcus Cousins PC and you'd say to yourself "Dayum, that is a nice card"

I doubt that using bordering would make them copy cats!
 
As a newbie getting back in I can say I love Panini's cards, some great looking designs and a good all round spread, the amount of Auto's has knocked me over, before I made my comeback 2 weeks ago in the mid 90's it was awesome to get inserts of any kind in a packet or box, now I expect auto's and patches in a box. How things have changed.....

Well said mate I remember paying $4 a pack for UD back in the day and if I got a Jordan base card I was wraped now we pay $2 for a pack of hoops and if we don't get an auto e get upset
 
Hey I kinda hear your argument, but yeah, apples and pears man.

I'm getting over the manufactured shit too, reduce the amount of items that are produced and release some quality GU cards.

On-card autos seems to be getting rarer and rarer these days, and the ones that are released, don't seem to keep fans happy.

I will say tho, Panini had my hopes up with the new Hoops, but it fails to impress. In saying that, it IS a base product, and something to get everyone involved, but something like Gold Standard simply oozes with greatness and quality cards, but it's what, twice the cost of Hoops? (sorry, not exactly sure on costs).

AFL redemption's are definitely something the rest of the world could take notice of. Copy of the exact card you're redeeming, and you get the redemption back!!!
 
I love Panini... I don't much like the autographs on the manufactured materials... so I don't actually own any, I do however love totally certified... the colours get me lol Gold Standard is awesome, but you know so was Donruss, if I could have afforded to I would have got a case of that, because simple but fun base design with inserts out the wazoo - which I happen to like both last year and this years hoops too - but Panini's detractors makes it cheaper to get some really nice cards of the lesser lights (which for me and the Timberwolves collection = awesome).

Here's the big thing, collecting isn't always about the value... if you can appreciate a card for what it is, then you win. Otherwise you will forever be disappointed by this hobby.
 
I like manufactured patches. Granted, would much prefer something game worn, but if a manufactured patch makes a card look better, I'm all for it. Whereas a 'refractor' type card has its 'shinyness' (for lack of a better term) to make it look cool, or gold trim on a card or whatever, personally I like the look of a manufactured patch on a card, and I can appreciate it for what it is.
 
I'm somewhat anti-Panini, I think it's pathetic that people continue to buy them meaning they have no reason to change any of what they do...

However, some of their stuff is nice.
I'm a fan of some of the cards from Limited. As pointed out a couple of times the border of a GU piece is pretty game-changing. The Trophy Case and Jumbo Patch cards have borders (the TC just in a different colour, the Jumbos in a refractory-foil) and they look GREAT.
Just kinda wish they hadn't 'cheapened' the TC's by putting a refractor finish to the whole card. They still make some dumb design choices, but they are starting to make some nicer cards.

I like the Collector's Choice comparison for Hoops. I just wish the price was similar...
 
Wow. Select making better cards than Panini.......give me a break.

I think you've missed the point of the post.

I believe the point was to highlight the actual redemption card, not the end-products in comparison. Without a doubt, Select's redemption cards are far more attractive than a card with a dymo sticker stuck on it.
 
I think you've missed the point of the post.

I believe the point was to highlight the actual redemption card, not the end-products in comparison. Without a doubt, Select's redemption cards are far more attractive than a card with a dymo sticker stuck on it.

No i understand the point he is making but Select's high end cards are still no where near what you guys get from Panini.

Here is a "manufactured patch" card from Select. The logo is screen printed onto a wafer thin piece of cotton and the glue leached through the patch when it was stuck onto the card. Give me the Panini manufactured patch in the original post any day of the week.

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As much as some of you may not like Panini take some time to look at what you get from a Select release. It will make you feel better about things.:lol:
 
No i understand the point he is making but Select's high end cards are still no where near what you guys get from Panini.

Here is a "manufactured patch" card from Select. The logo is screen printed onto a wafer thin piece of cotton and the glue leached through the patch when it was stuck onto the card. Give me the Panini manufactured patch in the original post any day of the week.

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As much as some of you may not like Panini take some time to look at what you get from a Select release. It will make you feel better about things.:lol:

Are you sure that is even screen printed lol.
 
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