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Review: 2012 Panini Crown Royale Football

By Sports Card Blog | February 8, 2013 - 8:55 pm | Football Breaks, Football Reviews

Panini Crown Royale football has come out again featuring some of the best die-cut and autographed patch cards of the year. With some new features that are sure to impress die-cut aficionados and autographs from one heck of a rookie class, this product is loaded with things collectors love most. Hits, die-cuts, and low numbered parallels. Want to see what we pulled in your typical box break? Here we go.

Design:

The design is classic and something that is changed so subtly, that you are going to miss any little tweaks they make to the product. I’ve always loved the die-cut designs so really there isn’t much to complain about there on this side. This year, I really like the look of the inserts and the lettering and other new designs they’ve used. They went away from some of the classics and really found some great looking cards like that Clay Matthews below. I also really like the die-cut jersey cards, keeping with that tradition. Oh, and you may have missed it last year, but the parallels weren’t numbered. A very fair complaint on my part about the product, and it was remedied this year with numbering. Thank you!

Checklist:

Every product this year can stand up to the checklist scrutiny because of the fantastic rookie class and their beautiful play on the field this year. That would drive sales for every product no matter what the sport. My only issue is, once again, there is too much rookie content. Again, I open a $100 box with four hits, and pull all rookie hit cards. I still find this to be unacceptable, especially when 85% of the products are like this. There will be ranting soon on this, trust me.

Value:

The hero of the product is obviously the rookie silhouettes. Ours was a redemption so we can’t show it off, but we’ll be definitely showing it off when it arrives because it is former Oregon Duck LaMichael James! Can’t wait to see that one. But the value of the product comes in with that great rookie class. If it wasn’t for that, this product would be far from that considering all the rookie hits you can pull from the product. This year’s rookies may carry the products, but next year it may not be so lucky.

Overall:

Overall, the product continues to keep the nostalgia alive while producing some beautiful signatures in the rookie silhouettes. Panini continues to innovate with new designs on the inserts, which are definitely at their peak this year then the past years of this product. But again, like many Panini products, content seems to be lacking. Too many rookies, not enough veterans. Again, this year is fine with all that top rookie talent. Next year there needs to be a shift due to the lesser rookie class, or there will be unhappy collectors. All products across the board need more veteran content. We can only wait and see.

A big thanks goes out to Panini America for providing this product for us to review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of the best social media people on the planet.

You can also find the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.

For a video box break, make sure you subscribe to us over on YouTube.

But for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the cards we pulled. (Not pictured: LaMichael James Rookie Silhouettes Patch/Auto Redemption)

2012 Panini Prime Sigs and Super Bowl Black Boxes

By Sports Card Blog | January 31, 2013 - 9:50 pm | Football Breaks, Football Reviews

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In quite possibly one of the best online promotions ever run by a card company, Panini was offering a Super Bowl promotion where if you ordered any box over $60 in their online store, they would send you a special Super Bowl Black Box featuring a fantastic autograph checklist of former Super Bowl standouts and rookies from 2012. All cards were numbered to 25 or lower. All you had to do was purchase from them at the iCollectPanini store.

So I took the plunge. 2012 Panini Prime Signatures was one of the more underrated products of the season, probably due to the product pretty much not doing too well last year. This year was different, I knew that coming in not from the earlier box break, but even the preview showcased that. I bought two boxes at $60 each so I could get two Super Bowl Black Boxes.

But before we show you what we pulled in the Black Boxes…why not see our hits from Prime Signatures?

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LaMichael James Auto/Patch! Only question is, why did he sign on the patch instead of on the card? One will never know.

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Hines Ward autograph! Two hits, two players who will have played in the Super Bowl, assuming LMJ gets in! Two boxes and I’m doing well. So on to those Super Bowl Black Boxes. Ready?

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Phil Simms #/25! Decent start. Not one of the names that I wanted, but a legend nonetheless. Lucky me, I went in for two so I got a second box.

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Fin. End. Right there. BAM! One of the best rookies of the season, patch autograph numbered to 15. Fantastico.

So yeah, definitely the best online promotion ever put forth by a card company. Good work Panini. Can we see something similar for the Stanley Cup Finals, please?

Review: 2012 Panini Limited Football

By Sports Card Blog | January 28, 2013 - 9:48 pm | Football Breaks, Football Reviews

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The Limited brand continues its presence in 2012 with 2012 Panini Limited football. It continues to follow the same strategy it has for years now with the three hits per pack/box of the product. With large memorabilia pieces, unique memorabilia, and tons of autographs for collectors, it is one that many collectors like to risk on as the rewards can be huge. Did we hit it big, or was it a bust?

Design:

The design of Panini Limited is once again, and always, very shiny and full of foil. My only issue with that this year is that Absolute is also extremely foily and shiny this year and looks kind of similar. I do like the new inserts this year with the way they did the photos for the rookies, although I’d like to see some more game action from the rookie photos. Too many studio shots this year, in my opinion, and there hasn’t been a lockout. But other than that, it’s a solid set up and design, just one I wouldn’t reuse again next year.

Checklist:

The rookies are carrying football products this year like crazy. In a hugely deep and talented draft, and a product that comes out at the end of the season, you know you have the chance for extremely valuable cards. Tons of rookies made names for themselves this year. My only issue was that all my hits WERE rookies. I’m going to say this again, MORE VETERAN CONTENT. And that means every product across the board. This hobby leans too much on rookies. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Value:

If you look at the product as a whole, yeah, there is some good value to be found. You can find a box for $100 over at DA Card World and you have the opportunity to pull some big hits. The only issue with that is it’s a real risky product still. You can end up like me and get three rookie hits, one being a plain jersey, one being a guy you never heard of, and one being Mohammad Sanu. It’s risky business products like this. Still need to put the word veterans in this part somewhere, so I just did, needs more of them. There is no reason Devier Posey should have multiple cards in every single product.

Overall:

Overall, the design of this year’s Limited it solid, although it reminds me too much of Absolute from this year with the foiling and style of the cards. I still think Limited has better potential if tweaked accordingly, but putting out the same products every year with the same types of hits does get redundant at times. Especially when you are filling them with rookies and no longer veterans of the game. I remember when Donruss would have one rookie hit per box with the other hits being veterans. I miss those days.

Thanks again to Panini America for providing this product to review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can find the full checklist of this product over at the Cardboard Connection.

You can watch the video break of this product if you subscribe to us on YouTube, but here are some photos of highlights of the break:

Review: 2012 Panini Absolute Memorabilia Football

By Sports Card Blog | January 5, 2013 - 1:52 pm | Football Breaks, Football Reviews

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2012 Panini Absolute Memorabilia football is in stores just in time for the end of the 2012 football season. That means you’ve had time to see the rookies and breakout stars of the season and find your favorite players in this product. Absolute Memorabilia is a four pack per box product that features 4 autographs/memorabilia cards, an insert and a few base cards as well. It often features some of the nicer rookie cards of the season where you can find some big hits like the popular NFL shield memorabilia cards, laundry tags, and jumbo patches. The popular subsets return as well with the favorite Tools of the Trade insert returning. Want to see what’s in a box? Check it out below.

Design:

The design of the product you can see resembles that of previous years as far as the base design goes. With just enough tweaking, I think it is a solid base to go off of and Panini does a pretty good job in that department. My only issue remains to be the color/usage of the foil on the cards. The lettering doesn’t really match with the flow of the rest of the card causing it to look a little out of place. The color fung-shui is just a little off to me. The updates to the insert sets are interesting and do take a little getting used to, while the autographed rookie cards look fantastic this year. Not to mention, the on-card autographs on the rookie cards look fantastic on the foilboard. I wasn’t sure how they would look, but the thin pen actually stands out really well.

Checklist:

The checklist for Absolute continues to be solid, although I don’t see that much has changed since last year as far as the rookie odds compared to the veteran odds. It was very nice to pull a great veteran prime memorabilia card in Hakeem Nicks, but the odds for just rookie autographs again appears higher. I do rate the checklist a half star higher than last year however, due to the quality of the rookies and some of the bigger hits you can find this year.

Value:

Again, value is a tough indicator in a box like this because it is extremely hit or miss. Just as well, this product is much better bought by the box than bought by the pack because of the one hit per pack odds and the price of the single pack. Currently, the product sits at $155 per box at DA Card World which is around where you would expect it to fall after all these years and the solid rookie class. However, it is still a tough break as it is a hit or miss product at that price, especially if you purchase by the pack. I think this year, you may find more hits than misses with the class of rookies and the checklist.

Overall:

Overall, the product isn’t much changed from last season. You still get the rookie autographs and the occassional veteran autograph. The design is somewhat changed, even a bit in a better direction. The checklist is what you’ve come to expect as well. And the price hasn’t changed. So without much of a change this year, you are generally going to get the same score as last year. I do admit, the rookie autographs still look much better than in years past and I like the autograph on the foilboard. It’s definitely worthy of your penny, but only purchasing by the box.

Thanks again to Panini for providing this product to review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can find the full checklist of this product at Cardboard Connection.

To see the video break, make sure you subscribe to us on YouTube. Here are the cards…

Review: 2012 Panini Black Football

By Sports Card Blog | December 31, 2012 - 12:41 pm | Football Breaks, Football Reviews

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Panini has brought out the big guns in the creation of 2012 Panini Black football. A set with a black theme to do it has been done dozens of times, however Panini puts their own spin on the concept with some interesting results. At one pack per box and 12 cards per pack, you do get quite a few cards for a one pack box. Each box is guaranteed a couple autographs and a couple memorabilia cards, with the prized cards being autographed (gold ink) patch autographs from some of the top young rookies in the game. Let’s see what your typical box will bring you:

Design:

The design is nothing ground breaking. That said, it was extremely well done without too much going on in the background. An all black design is hard to design because the absence of color is what makes the cards bold and attractive. Plus, how can you call yourself “Black” with a ton of other colors and designs? The design stays with the theme with a few accents in the background to make the players pop and the background distinguished. The lettering on the cards is actually pretty neat with a futuristic font and the use of letter foiling is subtle enough to not overpower the card either. Overall, a great effort.

Checklist:

Panini Black is sort of like the product you go to if you want to get rookie autographs. I pulled three of them in my box, however, one autograph was an undrafted rookie for the Dolphins who I don’t believe is even on the roster currently. The other was not a skill player, but the patch autograph was decent, although he sits behind Ray Rice in the depth chart. That is the issue when you have a product that mainly consists of rookie autographs in that you often will pull nobodies when you’re spending big money on a product. With the low chances of pulling veteran content, it’s going to be hit or miss on the content.

Value:

Again, the checklist makes the value suffer. You can find this product for $200 at DA Card World. I mean, this product is extremely hit or miss. You have your random rookie autographs from people you haven’t heard of, but then you find beautiful on card content from players who attended the rookie premiere who get some playing time. At the same time, you find a whole bunch of single color swatches in the product (some even in the patch autographs) but you can also find some pretty sweet and rare pieces as well. Again, I’m offering the suggestion of cutting out the no name rookies, perhaps even the ones who aren’t skill players, in a product with this high of a price tag and find veterans out there who at least you recognize their names and they get some playing time. The price tag plus the content can lead to some extremely disappointed customers.

Overall:

Overall, this product has the looks as if it could start a tradition over at Panini. However, the content needs an overall better product for it to succeed as that. The strong rookie class this year has probably really helped the product this year, but what about when the rookies are weak? The design is great for this product and I applaud the design team for not over-doing it, but the content in this product needs a bit of a step up. When will we start seeing higher end products contain content where you can recognize the player? $200 should not get me two autographs from people I’ve never heard of nor should I get 3 single colored swatches.

Thanks to Panini for providing this product for review. You can find them online on their official site, blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

You can find the full checklist of this product over at Cardboard Connection.

And here are the hits…