Is this the year Panini.......

[drobfan8]

Absolutely nails it?

It's hard to believe they still have only had the NBA license to themselves for 4 years or so.

I think they really are trying to improve and do good things.

Flawless has some great chase cards (white background needs to go or at least only run through a couple of sets, not the entire run).
I think they make it even better this year.

Immaculate has some incredible cards and I think even though I'm not huge on the look of the base set, they look to be trying new things.

Nat Treasures seems to still carry some great hits, even though it's a risky break. But seeing as there's so much group breaking going on, the loss usually gets shared.

Preferred might need a change up, same concept but different designs.

Prizm did some good things again. Yes too many parallels, but it allows for every collector to jump in where they want, maybe you can only afford to put the blue set together, or are you an orange person? GOLD??? I don't like the autos added on the higher end cards, the stickers should go, leave this set as refractor only.

Seems like they're doing ok.

But, of course, I would still like to see UD come back and watch these two companies go at it.

 

[drobfan8]

Or is next year where it really goes off with the supposed incredible rookie class?

 

[Wattsup]

Is there enough room for 3 high end releases again, especially as we've seen the sophomore release of some products (Retro, Gold Standard)
struggle as the novelty wears off.
I just feel people may not go as crazy for Flawless as they did this year, what more can they do to top that product this year? Soon enough people
realised that, for say Garry Payton as an example while no autos were numbered to higher than 20, once you took all the different designs and parallels of each design into account there were over 200 of his autos in the product.
What niche does National Treasures now provide given that Immaculate has taken a lot of its concepts?

I think there were far too many products last year, and I became quite jaded with the monotony of the sameness of it all.
Given that this year has already seen new products, will some fall by the way side?

 

[drobfan8]

Very good points.

I think Nat Treasures will always do well though as the RPAs have become a staple for some the most sought after cards each year. What are the Rookies everybody HAD to have in Immaculate and Flawless?

3 high ends is a lot though, hard to know if it is sustainable.

I'd like to know how much of the product gets sold off, does Panini move it all on to wholesalers? Or are they left with half of a product still?

How much of a product do they need to move to make a profit?

Are they killing it and gonna spend big $$$ to renew the license? Or will UD get a look in again?

 

[nichj99]

I can honestly say I don't yet own anything from Immaculate. I'm not against it, don't get me wrong - I just had to make a choice financially between flawless and Immaculate, and Flawless won out... I don't regret that choice either! I do think they are trying to new things, seeing how brands that work in other sports carry over (Momentum, Titanium, Pinnacle for example). I think whilst their high end stuff is improving, their low end stuff is dropping the ball and needs more attention... Pinnacle may be one of the ugliest products I've ever seen, and whilst its a stark contrast in regards to Hoops in design, I think both should drop the jumbo concept. Jumbo has worked for prizm, with having so many parallels but the other two are meh (apologies to any set collectors who like to open a zillion packs at a time). Speaking of parallels, products like Hoops.... DO NOT NEED ANY! Red back, blue border, gold border, regular... is Panini for real?

I really hope they go around with Preferred again too!

Summing up
- High End = improving fast!
- Low End = needs attention!

Mid Level products, in my belief are the safest way to go as they are still affordable yet have a much better design and collect-ability without the feeling of getting a dud high end box and feeling like Panini has just bent you over.

 

[hairyangryfella]

Very good points.

I think Nat Treasures will always do well though as the RPAs have become a staple for some the most sought after cards each year. What are the Rookies everybody HAD to have in Immaculate and Flawless?

Panini kicked all the NT breakers in the balls last season by releasing TWO arguably higher end products afterwards, people might be a lot more hesitant to go hard for them now.
The rookies you HAD to have in Flawless? Easy - the base one! Seen the prices of them now??

 

[Telfs Card Park]

As long as my Preferred gets a run I am happy! More silos to collect! I do agree though that they need to look at what collectors are asking for and what actually sells and refine their approach to the low end side of things. They are too many parallels and 1/1's for my liking and it makes it hard for the collector to have a comprehensive collection of anything which for mine takes away from what I knew the hobby to be through the 90s/2000s. I am a fan of Immaculate over Flawless and NT. Immaculate had more of an old Upper Deck Exquisite feel whereas Flawless was overpriced with epic fails in design and I had a similar response to NT where unless you hit a logoman you are struggling. Less is more sometimes and while I yearn for a return to Upper Deck to provide competition to the Panini monopoly the reality is that it wont happen. As long as MJ and Lebron sign for Panini then that harsh reality doesn't bother me all that much.

 

[drobfan8]

Panini kicked all the NT breakers in the balls last season by releasing TWO arguably higher end products afterwards, people might be a lot more hesitant to go hard for them now.
The rookies you HAD to have in Flawless? Easy - the base one! Seen the prices of them now??

Yeah Panini did a job on the NT guys for sure.

You're right, the Flawless rookies are nice and bring something different to the table as far as rookies go (plain white background) but the list is also pretty short going across the 2 years (a great thing for high end obviously) but it does not make them the most wanted rookie card, or does it? I just think the Nat Treasures RPA is still a huge attraction.

 

[taffster74]

Drob, considering that upper deck is struggling to make their payments from their two big law suits in 2009 (konami, mlb properties), i seriously doubt the nba will even invite them to the table for the next negotiation. Topps...? Probably. Wouldn't mind seeing a showdown between Chrome/Finest and Prizm. that'd be nasty...

 

[drobfan8]

Drob, considering that upper deck is struggling to make their payments from their two big law suits in 2009 (konami, mlb properties), i seriously doubt the nba will even invite them to the table for the next negotiation. Topps...? Probably. Wouldn't mind seeing a showdown between Chrome/Finest and Prizm. that'd be nasty...

Yeah I'm afraid that might happen too. Such a shame.

That showdown between Topps and Prizm would be great.

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

can someone dig up that old thread "suggestions for panini" or whatever it was called. Was made around the time Panini were taking over and the info was going to be sent to Panini. who remembers it?

I think a lot of the ideas from that thread would be in place now. some not, but still, would love to read over it again

 

[kiwi_in_melb]

can someone dig up that old thread "suggestions for panini" or whatever it was called. Was made around the time Panini were taking over and the info was going to be sent to Panini. who remembers it?

I think a lot of the ideas from that thread would be in place now. some not, but still, would love to read over it again

This one?

http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/comm...-news-your-feedback-please.43828/#post-423785

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

This one?

http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/comm...-news-your-feedback-please.43828/#post-423785

that's the one! cheers Matt

 

[GarnettFan4Life]

implemented:

straight from jimbo - Past & Present autograph cards - ie Glen Rice/Daequan Cook from the Miami Heat or Mitch Richmond/Kevin Martin of the Kings (just as examples). I know some sets already have some like these but more would be great.

from billyhoyle - Look at retired players - they may be able to auto more and faster than current players with their commitments.

from cobretti - some rare cards like 100/100 50/50 25/25 10/10 1/1.

from A_iverson_I - First up it would be great to see some awesome looking inserts again (like the ones Fleer/Skybox used to produce in the 90's).... all we have these days (apart from the odd sweet insert like Jambalaya's) is plain looking inserts that are inserted at easy to get rates & are worth diddly squat - drop the usage of so much GU's & autos & give us some sweet looking inserts again!!

from wannabe all-stars - Place limited cards in packs that state you are a winner, and prizes can be signed player worn jersey or player worn shoe's signed even signed basketball sky's the limit.

from garnettfan4life - Bigger swatch/jersey size, i think its pointless to have this tiny little area of a tiny piece of "game worn material" when you could use us the whole bottom third and make it so much better looking.
- I like the look of Draft Day stuff, do something cool with the draft day worn hat, suit, team logo, lottery balls, pics from the draft day, table name cards etc

from a few suggestions - game dated specifics.