2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers (Upper Deck, 2022)
 

Early presale placeholders for 2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers boxes and cases are up at a Blowout competitor with the following description:

[QUOTE]2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers Trading Cards offers new premium original art from top artists! Collect retro Fleer Ultra designs, parallels with limited numbering, chase cards, artist and creator autographs, and new inserts from the Marvel Publishing Universe.

Artists who worked on 2022 Fleer Ultra Avengers include: Caio Cacau, Mark Evans, Crystal Fae, Tom Fleming, E.M. Gist, Jason Juta, Ray Lago, Gilberto Martimiano Jr., Tom Morgan, Ariel Olivetti, John Stanko, and more!

90 Card Original Art Base Set: Collect a wide variety of Parallels including numbered Orange, Blue, Burgundy, Red, and Gold Spectrum foil versions!

Silver Age Base Set: Collect the 15-card original art Silver Age Base Set and parallels!

All New Animation Cel inspired Base Set variants: Look for autographed Red Parallel versions!

Marvel Value Stamp: Brand New insert paying homage to the nostalgic Marvel Value Stamps!

Checkmate: Original Art on die cut chess piece inspired cards separated by Heroes and Villains! Look for numbered artist autographed versions!

Look for a variety of numbered Comic Clippings: Find Comic Covers, Autographed, Dual Autographed, and Coinage versions!

Medallions

Numbered Gold, Platinum Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue, and Emerald Green Parallels!
Collect 1-of-1 Opal Black Parallel Medallions!
Stunning Ultra Power Cards: Printed on Rainbow Foil Board! Search for numbered Photo Variants!

Magnificent Jambalaya Cards

Throwback Universe Power Supreme card designs: Look for Die Cut Black Parallel versions!

Look for 2 cards from the following: 3x3, Comic Covers, Medallions, Ultra Power, or Universe Power Supreme, plus, look out for 1 Sketch, Premium Technology, Comic Clipping Memorabilia, Jambalaya, or Artist Autograph Card per box on average.

Case hits include: Comic Clippings Dual Autographs, Gold Spectrum Foil Base Parallels - #’d 1 of 1, Opal Black Medallions Parallels - #’d 1 of 1, Jambalaya, 1 of 1 CMYK Printing Plates, and Original Art Sketch Cards.[/QUOTE]

Beckett: [url]https://www.beckett.com/news/2022-fleer-ultra-avengers-trading-cards/[/url]

Cardboard Connection: [url]https://www.cardboardconnection.com/2022-fleer-ultra-avengers-trading-cards[/url]

Release date TBD.

Pretty bold of them to put [B]2022 [/B]on the packaging. :D

[QUOTE=PurplesaurusRex;18189494]Pretty bold of them to put [B]2022 [/B]on the packaging. :D[/QUOTE]

Releases January 2023. :p

I'm glad there are no PMG's in this set. Jambalaya's will be the big insert chase.

2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers (Upper Deck, 2022)
 

Agreed no PMGs is a good move. Looks like a slew of color parallels in any case.

Original art is refreshing, looks like UD is keeping its Fleer Ultra brand original art in the spirit of FUSM and FUXM.

Looks like sketches will be 1 per several boxes, not in each box (standard for UD marvel release now).

The sports inserts Ultra Stars, Universe power supreme, jambalaya, should do ok.

This seems promising. New original painted art is always a good thing for the hobby -- especially skilled artists.

The Medallions parallels are new to Marvel -- they were parallels found in Fleer Ultra sports cards.

The base cards look cheap with the same digital backsplash. I really hope that's an error and we're not getting characters cropped and pasted onto generic geometric patterns.

[QUOTE=sjmdiablo;18189761]The base cards look cheap with the same digital backsplash. I really hope that's an error and we're not getting characters cropped and pasted onto generic geometric patterns.[/QUOTE]

I’m not a fan of the design either.

[IMG]https://xcdn.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Fleer-Ultra-Avengers-Trading-Cards-Base-Set-Patriot.jpg[/IMG]

Checkmate look really amateurish too…

[IMG]https://xcdn.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Fleer-Ultra-Avengers-Trading-Cards-Checkmate-Villain-Knight-Loki.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=finfangfan;18189784]Checkmate look really amateurish too…

[IMG]https://xcdn.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Fleer-Ultra-Avengers-Trading-Cards-Checkmate-Villain-Knight-Loki.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

Agreed. Upper Deck keeps trying to copy successful looks and inserts from sports sets. But they do that flashy digital garbage on sports cards because they have to use photographs. This is comic superhero art. Why dress it up with gaudy digital trash? It looks out of place, needless, and yes, horribly amateurish.

On closer look, I guess the Medallions are basically the PMGs of the set? A separate insert set, that has a tiered color scheme and basically solid color backgrounds.

I agree with the above: if you're gonna make it original art, why not just let the artist paint the background scene of the card (like FUSM, FUXM)? It's sort of an odd combination to have original art for the character, superimposed on a generic background. On the other hand, it could give the set a distinctive feel and puts focus on the character itself, so maybe not a bad thing..but does sort of look cheap.

What's the chess connection, seems kind of random.

The Ultra Stars are also a 90s Fleet Ultra sports insert. But I'm guessing they won't have the same pretty look:
[IMG]https://i.redd.it/41i80qjoqvv71.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=finfangfan;18189784]Checkmate look really amateurish too…

[IMG]https://xcdn.cardboardconnection.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Fleer-Ultra-Avengers-Trading-Cards-Checkmate-Villain-Knight-Loki.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

This is a pretty badly designed card. There was a thread on here about the best designed cards....this might be a candidate for the opposite!

Art looks pretty tiny on an already truncated die-cut card, and the busy checkerboard takes up most of it. Also not a big fan of that Fleer Ultra Avengers logo.

Ah well, UD is at least doing original art in the set, so props for that.

[QUOTE=fabiani12333;18189822]The Ultra Stars are also a 90s Fleet Ultra sports insert. But I'm guessing they won't have the same pretty look:
[IMG]https://i.redd.it/41i80qjoqvv71.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

The cardboard connection link in OP shows one of the Ultra Stars cards as well.

[IMG]https://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-Fleer-Ultra-Avengers-Trading-Cards-Ultra-Stars-Gold-Captain-America.jpg[/IMG]

Is it just me or does the "22 Fleer Ultra" logo look asymmetrical? That's annoying.

[QUOTE=DynaEtch;18189799]On closer look, I guess the Medallions are basically the PMGs of the set? A separate insert set, that has a tiered color scheme and basically solid color backgrounds.

I agree with the above: if you're gonna make it original art, why not just let the artist paint the background scene of the card (like FUSM, FUXM)? It's sort of an odd combination to have original art for the character, superimposed on a generic background. On the other hand, it could give the set a distinctive feel and puts focus on the character itself, so maybe not a bad thing..but does sort of look cheap.

[B]What's the chess connection, seems kind of random.[/B][/QUOTE]

Could be a reference to the character Grandmaster:
[IMG]https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the-grandmaster-jeff-goldblum-thor-ragnarok.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=PurplesaurusRex;18189849]Is it just me or does the "22 Fleer Ultra" logo look asymmetrical? That's annoying.[/QUOTE]

Also the text shape of “22 Fleer Ultra” with the bulge in the middle seems kind of amateurish, like something done with a text template in Word or something.

Designs from previews/ sell sheets are subject to change, especially with the set being nearly a year out, and I feel like something like this, a logo, would be most susceptible to change.

[QUOTE=fabiani12333;18189856]Could be a reference to the character Grandmaster:
[IMG]https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/the-grandmaster-jeff-goldblum-thor-ragnarok.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

Good point, that makes sense with the Avengers connection.

Well, I've been excited about this set since I heard it was happening.

....some of that excitement died when I saw the preview cards in this thread.

Bit cartoony looking.

Meh. They will still sell though. Not interested.

I would not be happy if Marvel Masterpieces went this route and did generic backgrounds for the base- for the consistency of that brand- but Im ok with it here. I think the set will do very well with the color parallels, medallions (PMGs), and jambalayas. Also if past sets like Metal are a sign, when sketches are more rare than 1 per box, the general quality of them seems to be better (I was impressed with avg quality of X-men Metal sketches).

I welcome the original art, and happy to see one of my favs Ray Lago involved (who painted a lot of classic pieces in 90s Marvel sets like 1993 MM, 1994-1995 Fleer Ultra X-men), as well as other names on that list.

[QUOTE=DynaEtch;18190273]I would not be happy if Marvel Masterpieces went this route and did generic backgrounds for the base- for the consistency of that brand- but Im ok with it here. [B]I think the set will do very well with the color parallels, medallions (PMGs), and jambalayas.[/B] Also if past sets like Metal are a sign, when sketches are more rare than 1 per box, the general quality of them seems to be better (I was impressed with avg quality of X-men Metal sketches).

I welcome the original art, and happy to see one of my favs Ray Lago involved (who painted a lot of classic pieces in 90s Marvel sets like 1993 MM, 1994-1995 Fleer Ultra X-men), as well as other names on that list.[/QUOTE]

They're using the 1996 Fleer Ultra Medallion design which had embossing:
[IMG]https://beckett-www.s3.amazonaws.com/news/news-content/uploads/2019/10/1996-Ultra-Gold-Medallion-Alex-Rodriguez.jpg[/IMG].

I wonder if they'll include the embossing in theirs or just print the lines and words.

The Jambalaya design also has the same color scheme as the 2017 Spiderman Ultra, which I dont like.

It seems like UD's Marvel card designs have really taken a nosedive after 2019.

What do people want? It's apparently original art and retro insert designs along with a few new ones. They all cant be Marvel Masterpieces. People complain about pre-sell cost so UD produces more in an attempt to satisfy demand.....including a retail SKU...which means they have to create more parallels.....and people complain about that....just buy it for yourself, if not, buy it for your kids.....or leave it for them

[QUOTE=Archangel1775;18193216]What do people want? It's apparently original art and retro insert designs along with a few new ones. They all cant be Marvel Masterpieces. People complain about pre-sell cost so UD produces more in an attempt to satisfy demand.....including a retail SKU...which means they have to create more parallels.....and people complain about that....just buy it for yourself, if not, buy it for your kids.....or leave it for them[/QUOTE]

I think people can express an opinion pro or con for any set. Otherwise life would be an echo chamber. People loved FUSM and FUAV appears to be nothing like that set despite the Fleer Ultra branding. I don’t think it’s outrageous for card collectors to voice displeasure in that if they want to.

Using your logic there would be no incentive for UD (or any card company for that matter) to ever produce quality sets if the “hive mind” demands everyone to love everything UD puts out no matter the quality.

It looks to me UD is watering down the Fleer Ultra brand and trying to cash in on FUSM’s popularity surge post COVID. So if you think quick money grabs should be applauded then it looks like you’re in luck with this set.