Panini v Upperdeck

Hi guys,

Its been several months now since Upper Deck had their license for NBA Bball trading canned and given to Panini.. I wanted to get peoples thoughts around how they feel the hobby is doing without new UD products.. Has the hobby improved? Is bball card collecting now more popular? How do people feel about lack of "high end" product? Are the products being churned by Panini what they expected?

For me personally the excitement isn't there anymore with Panini, i used to get pretty pumped when a new product dropped from UD but i think the similarities between Panini products at the start have made me feel this way even though there stuff is getting better.
The new Timeless stuff is nice

I don't care for Panini cards. IMO they are pretty plain/bland. Some are ~OK~. The Serial numbering font and centering is HORRIBLE and boring (ARIAL font I believe...) and it seems they number EVERYTHING! Their jersey pieces fit into a boring space. They are just not original as Upper Deck was. I would have liked to see more curves, style and sexy cards. Maybe their designers will just have to get better. Overall, they are new so We'll see.

jasonf23312 said:

I don't care for Panini cards. IMO they are pretty plain/bland. Some are ~OK~. The Serial numbering font and centering is HORRIBLE and boring (ARIAL font I believe...) and it seems they number EVERYTHING! Their jersey pieces fit into a boring space. They are just not original as Upper Deck was. I would have liked to see more curves, style and sexy cards. Maybe their designers will just have to get better. Overall, they are new so We'll see.

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Cant agree more, not that i hate panini just they design its like 90's doesn't and i am sure no improve the collecting hoops world. One good thing for me is i can save $$$ for jordan PC. WIN/WIN!!

When they first came out I hated Panini - thought they looked cheap and extremely samey. With the release of Timeless Treasures I have definitely warmed to them, however I also think they're going too hard and fast - way too many products and released too close together. I hadn't heard of Absolute and now they're flooding ebay as well...
So overall I still prefer UD (pre-greats of the game) though Panini are improving with the likes of Timeless Treasures which has some cool card ideas in it with the Rookie Year and Home/Away jersey cards.

Verse1 said:

For me personally the excitement isn't there anymore with Panini, i used to get pretty pumped when a new product dropped from UD but i think the similarities between Panini products at the start have made me feel this way even though there stuff is getting better.
The new Timeless stuff is nice

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I second that! Not as excited as when UD released a new product. Pannini's products all look to similar.

All I will say is - "I WANT MORE EXQUISITE!"

Verse1 said:

For me personally the excitement isn't there anymore with Panini, i used to get pretty pumped when a new product dropped from UD but i think the similarities between Panini products at the start have made me feel this way even though there stuff is getting better.
The new Timeless stuff is nice

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I would have to agree.
why do most of the Panini products look the same? Wouldn't they make every release completely different?
And yea im also not excited about new releases anymore.

but the timeless treasures is a big improvement, just hope that is not their premium product, and they keep improving

Still not impressed with them...... they haven't brought anything new to the table, have actually used sticker autos MORE frequently than UD was & haven't brought back any cool looking inserts either....... so a BIG fail so far.

It'd be interesting to make up a list of the most asked for stuff in this thread: http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/foru...xciting-panini-news-your-feedback-please.html & see how many (if any) they have come through with.

so far upper deck are still wayyyyyyy ahead of any other card company (with regards to card design/appearance/concept comapred to Paninis releases so far). im pretty sure they will only get better, but yeah a bit repeatative with a few of their stuff, ALREADY. i only found out about 2 weeks ago that the "Donruss" diecut cards that were coming out ARE from Panini (or I should say ARE panini). initially i was under the assumption that THEY WERE panini's new line of cards, but then i saw the brand logo on the card front read "Donruss" and naturally assumed it was another company by the name of Donruss. long story short, its still WAYYYYY to early to cut Panini off at the knees, and probably wont be another 2-3 years till U can really sit down, look back in hindsight, and see how they went with their takeover NBA + contract/s from Upperdeck. so far i really LOVE their Past Logomen auto cards (like the Shaq that was pulled recently here, had the 92-93 Rookie Year Magic Logoman from Shaq). some of their cards in their new release look too similar. yeah keep the concept alive, but that old school wood grainy cartoony style product doesnt scream highend just from first glance. thats my $0.03 cents of input . last time it was $0.01cent, we've upgraded now days .

Firstly ... why does every assume that Upper Deck got canned in regards to the NBA license? did anyone actually pay attention to the contract negotiations as reported on Beckett.com last january? I did and i can say that Upper Deck was not canned - they walked away, choosing not renegotiate their contract with NBA Properties. Same with Topps. Both Companies quoted the difficulty of the economic times. So all of this BS that upper deck got canned, that panini took over the license is just that - BS. After the announcement from Upper Deck and Topps, Commissioner Stern was left holding the short straw. fortunately, Panini was approaching the NBA to be a third wheel in the basketball hobby. By circumstance, they became the only wheel. So please, get your facts right before making blind statements like "Upper Deck got canned" and "panini took over the license" and "Monopolies aren't good" - it's a monopoly by circumstance, not by design.

Secondly, in March 2009, Panini bought the licensing from Donruss-Playoff LP when Donruss was losing a major courtcase that eventually saw the company go bankrupt.As such, Panini now owns the rights to all licenses from Donruss, Playoff, Leaf and Pinacle - as these four companies went through a series of mergers earlier this decade. This why we are seeing products formerly released by these companies - Playoff Contenders, Prestige, Donruss Elite, Rookies and Stars, Rookies and Star Longevity, Threads, Limited, Certified, Royale Crown and Studio. They are all Donruss-Playoff LP licenses.

Thirdly, Panini is releasing so many products for two reasons - to meet their statement of 15 products a year and also to see exactly what works and what doesn't. We will see a reduction of products next season, with licenses being limited to the longstanding Donruss products - Prestige, Rookies and Stars, Rookies and Stars Longevity, Threads and Elite - as well as the base Panini product. Other than that ... whatever sold the best.

Finally, how often did you see Upper Deck - or topps for that matter - guarantee 1 card serially numbered to 25 or less per box in every product mid-range or higher? never. As to the card designs - you have to remember that panini was limited by what Donruss Playoff LP had designed for their 2009 releases. I expect that we'll see designs next year that are uniquely panini. Personally, I see nothing wrong with a mid-1990's style break - ala Panini. It's about time a card company went back to the roots of the modern card collecting era.

good read there tattster74. loved the info on the whole donruss company and panini, didnt know any of that .

Whilsts i have not "sampled" every sing one of Panini's cards, and would be unfair to judge on their product without getting a better feel for everything.

But right at this moment, with what i have been able to get my hands on, their cards aren't too bad. I for one, certainly did not have high hopes on them doing well at all and thought their cards would be pretty crap to be honest.
Upperdeck (despite alllllllllllll the bashing from people) overall did very, very well in their card realeases. I always loved compiling their sets, and was amazed time and time again how well they looked together, period.

Time will tell as Panini grow and learn and chnage things up, but early on, I think they are doing well but not at Upperdecks level right now. But thats to be expected.

All I know is i like what i like and i haven't liked anything Panini have released. The only product that caught my eye, were the glass cleaners inserts, not sure what product line they were from, but in hand they were very underwhelming. I miss UD products but not their customer service.

Have you seen the newest product of panini- national treasures?
Not bad at all to be a high-end product.

I lost excitement when fleer stopped being fleer haha.

couldn't care less about UD or Panini

Topps > Panini > UD

Panini have some FANTASTIC subsets in some releases but they've yet to master putting together all around great products like UD did with things like ultimate and to some extent, SPGU.

i miss my chromeshave you ever seen so much kobe auto's on the bay is that a good thong or bad?so far i have liked the look of the absolute panini base numbered and the awesome logos in timeless treasures.
will like to see what painini i mean panini comes up with when they put the upcoming rookies we can bag them as much as but they are the only bballcards out there for now if they can get lebron and durant to sign then they got me

just my 5cents lebron to bulls i wish.