Topps Marvel Mint

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

What’s weird to me is that you would think with all of the buzz Topps is getting with Marvel that the “rising tide would lift all boats” and you’d seem some spike in Upper Deck ePack activity from the same breaker participants that enjoy the instant thrill. However, it seems like ePack has been pretty inactive lately compared to its heyday.

Well they can't sell new cards so I'm guessing they are no longer promoting ePack. I'd guess a lot of ePack folks would be reminded by google ads and drop back in to check it out. I've personally forgotten it existed.

During the lawsuit years, when Topps acquired the MLB rights as an exclusive holder, the value of all other brands (even licensed from years before) plummetted. Some Upper Deck rookie cards survived but Score, Donruss, Leaf, Fleer, etc were all just completely worthless. I'm hoping this doesn't happen to Upper Deck marvel cards -- I think the one saving grace is how financially impossible Fanatics is making it to get your hands on the Topps Marvel cards. Collectors might be more than okay with Upper Deck cards at that point.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by Xiarmadillo

There really isnt a need to 'make sense' per se on these as when a very rich person is tunnel visioned into acquiring something due to whatever reason, you can sometimes add a 0, or two 0s at the end of a price. example the fugly LOTR One ring MTG 1/1 sold to Post Malone for $2,000,000, or the various NFTs that sold for millions and tens of millions which are only 'worth' (or so they say) 1% of their prior price.
Value is in the eye of the beholder, all you can do is judge based off price if it is worth it to YOU. That is of course if you are a collector.


For the flippers, buster/gamblers all they see is what it can sell for (has sold for) and in so far they do not really care about value, just what the top lottery hits can sell for. then they pay through the nose at even worse gambles to try to get these big hits to sell. Its all about maximum value extraction for the box sellers So in rebuttal to Grid, I would say top hits selling for a boatloads more in actual price actually decrease value, because it cause the sealed to also be expensive (and in a Topps/Fanatics market only a tiny proportion is allocated to EQL drop so in the end the winner and value goes to Fanatics), and the singles to be expensive for exactly the same cards

Lets not even talk about possible affiliates bidding back top hits at inflated prices to inflate box price further. Kind of what some of the repacks were doing a few years back

I guess I should have been more specific when asking someone to make sense of the photo.

This Wolverine card is NOT the 1/1. It is not "special" like the 1/1 Magic card. There are many levels to the fake autograph. Another example would be:



So again, it's not "rare".

I'm curious who is buying these cards, if it's not collectors and who exactly they think they'll flip them to...if that's the intent.

As far as this photo goes:



I can see 2 scenarios, though I'm sure there are more:

1st is both buyers are looking to flip said card. I get the PMG buyer thinking there is money to be made. I do not get the "autograph" buyer thinking there is money to be made.

2nd would be both are PC buyers. This is the only thing that I guess makes sense to me. I think the PMG buyer made a solid purchase, where there is a history of data showing it's a solid "investment". I think the "autograph" buyer made about a poor a decision as I've seen, including Covid purchases...and I sold some cards during Covid that I paid $80 for "A lot of money"...so that's saying something.

[Xiarmadillo]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

What’s weird to me is that you would think with all of the buzz Topps is getting with Marvel that the “rising tide would lift all boats” and you’d seem some spike in Upper Deck ePack activity from the same breaker participants that enjoy the instant thrill. However, it seems like ePack has been pretty inactive lately compared to its heyday.

Most of the new Topps crowd aren't aware of its existence, or most of what is available in terms of Marvel cards prior to 2024 Chrome release and even if they were, you can't open Marvel there anymore.
Heck most of them aren't even aware what they can pull from the boxes they are buying....as can be seen by the constant 'what do I have here? anything of value' posts elsewhere....A guy on reddit busted 2 boxes of Marvel Mint, and ask for people's thoughts....I dont want to tell him how he got hosed paying $1000-$1500 for 16 base cards and 4 numbered

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by eldavojohn

Well they can't sell new cards so I'm guessing they are no longer promoting ePack. I'd guess a lot of ePack folks would be reminded by google ads and drop back in to check it out. I've personally forgotten it existed.

During the lawsuit years, when Topps acquired the MLB rights as an exclusive holder, the value of all other brands (even licensed from years before) plummetted. Some Upper Deck rookie cards survived but Score, Donruss, Leaf, Fleer, etc were all just completely worthless. I'm hoping this doesn't happen to Upper Deck marvel cards -- I think the one saving grace is how financially impossible Fanatics is making it to get your hands on the Topps Marvel cards. Collectors might be more than okay with Upper Deck cards at that point.

Sadly, I think a lot of people already have. DC has mostly fallen flat so far. Perhaps a "MM" DC set will pick up interest... I hope so, for UD's sake.



Prices like that don't help things, though... Likely the "best" card, limited to 88 for....$36 bucks. That's about 5~ packs worth.

As far as UD era Marvel cards go, my personal opinion is they pick up some major steam over the next couple of years. I'm not even heavily "invested" anymore, so I don't really have a dog in the fight, but that's just what my gut tells me. Topps single prices crash; UD era cards pick up steam.

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Sadly, I think a lot of people already have. DC has mostly fallen flat so far. Perhaps a "MM" DC set will pick up interest... I hope so, for UD's sake.



Prices like that don't help things, though... Likely the "best" card, limited to 88 for....$36 bucks. That's about 5~ packs worth.

As far as UD era Marvel cards go, my personal opinion is they pick up some major steam over the next couple of years. I'm not even heavily "invested" anymore, so I don't really have a dog in the fight, but that's just what my gut tells me. Topps single prices crash; UD era cards pick up steam.

I don't want to get into DCU vs MCU arguments ... but I've been collecting non sports since 2013 and you would be very smart to stay away from any DC cards. The collectors just don't exist. If you like it, buy the singles but do not break. UD and Panini both have been trying some interesting properties as trading cards and nothing really seems to be sticking apart from NHL & stickers which ... can only get you so far. Even the colleges appear to be going with Fanatics over UD.

[dd316]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

What’s weird to me is that you would think with all of the buzz Topps is getting with Marvel that the “rising tide would lift all boats” and you’d seem some spike in Upper Deck ePack activity from the same breaker participants that enjoy the instant thrill. However, it seems like ePack has been pretty inactive lately compared to its heyday.

Nah. Who wants that crusty old stuff when shiny Chrome is the big deal for the next few weeks? I wouldn't be shocked if many of the high-ticket sales of this set are to people who never even knew there were Upper Deck Marvel cards.

[armyml]

Originally Posted by dd316

Nah. Who wants that crusty old stuff when shiny Chrome is the big deal for the next few weeks? I wouldn't be shocked if many of the high-ticket sales of this set are to people who never even knew there were Upper Deck Marvel cards.

Whats with all the weird nostalgia for recent UD sets now that they lost the license? We werent necessarily fawning over these sets while they were live with the exception of a few.

2024 Marvel Sets:
Platinum
She Hulk
Flair
Black Panther
FU Wolverine
Beginnings Vol 2
Masterpieces XL
MU Avengers
Annual
Disney Plus Series 1
Guardians 3
Disney Plus Series 2
Women of Marvel
Allegiance Secret Wars
Masterpieces 92 Plat
FU Matriarchs
Masterpieces Grego
Renditions Spider-Man

How many of THOSE sets down the line are going to be iconic. Sets where people are still buying boxes 5-6 years down the line. Two or Three maybe? I remember an entire year of mid-ass lazy Marvel releases.

I feel like its just more of a grass is greener type situation because the Marvel Topps boxes are so expensive.

[glorbgorb]

Many of those sets came out after the announcement that Topps was getting license. Rather, during the period when it was the worst-kept secret and we were just waiting for the announcement.

In fact 3 or 4 of those were unceremoniously shoved out the door in the closing months of 2024. I still haven't seen artists lists for several sets.

Edit: you're even missing the Marvel Avengers and Marvel Spider-Man sets that were silent releases with zero fanfare.

[Angus Con]

Originally Posted by orion9578

Sadly, I think a lot of people already have. DC has mostly fallen flat so far. Perhaps a "MM" DC set will pick up interest... I hope so, for UD's sake.



Prices like that don't help things, though... Likely the "best" card, limited to 88 for....$36 bucks. That's about 5~ packs worth.

As far as UD era Marvel cards go, my personal opinion is they pick up some major steam over the next couple of years. I'm not even heavily "invested" anymore, so I don't really have a dog in the fight, but that's just what my gut tells me. Topps single prices crash; UD era cards pick up steam.

You may ultimately be right, but it’s definitely premature to predict DC’s success based on an Annual set. Marvel Annual wasn’t a big money set either. Used to get consistently placed on sale too. Let’s see what happens with the future sets. I feel like sketches are the main thing from any of UD’s annual sets and the DC sketches from Annual have done pretty well.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by armyml

Whats with all the weird nostalgia for recent UD sets now that they lost the license? We werent necessarily fawning over these sets while they were live with the exception of a few.

2024 Marvel Sets:
Platinum
She Hulk
Flair
Black Panther
FU Wolverine
Beginnings Vol 2
Masterpieces XL
MU Avengers
Annual
Disney Plus Series 1
Guardians 3
Disney Plus Series 2
Women of Marvel
Allegiance Secret Wars
Masterpieces 92 Plat
FU Matriarchs
Masterpieces Grego
Renditions Spider-Man

How many of THOSE sets down the line are going to be iconic. Sets where people are still buying boxes 5-6 years down the line. Two or Three maybe? I remember an entire year of mid-ass lazy Marvel releases.

I feel like its just more of a grass is greener type situation because the Marvel Topps boxes are so expensive.

I think a decent amount of these were well-received by the hobby- Platinum, Flair, FU Wolverine, MM92 Platinum, Beginnings, MM Grego, FU Matriarchs come to mind…many people were heavily collecting some of this stuff…lots of OA in those. Importantly, most also weren’t $500-700 hobby boxes.

Sure there were some bland and forgettable Annual and Allegiance sets etc…at least those generic/rehashed art sets were actually cheap though.

I think a lot of the nostalgia goes beyond last year…people fondly remember the days of MM16, 2017FUSM, 2018FUXM, MM22…that drove a lot of hobby interest in marvel for awhile. People may also be nostalgic for the ePack side of things which has been completely lost under Topps.

As for iconic cards…that is tricky. When I think of iconic art in the marvel hobby…I go back to the 90s for most of it. Jusko’s MM92 set, Hildebrandts 94 set, 1990MU…some of those sets actually have iconic art. The spidey and Wolverine for MM92 were plastered over magazine and comic ads and covers. That sort of thing…even people not specifically into cards may recognize it, like a comic collector etc. It’s art that many card collectors like me grew up with. That art had a much larger audience than many marvel sets now have- a more general audience.

Take a set like 2023 Marvel Platinum or 2024 FU Wolverine- it is original art. And some of it nice OA- well received. But iconic? No. Is it just that not enough time has passed? Not really…I don’t think such art will really achieve iconic status in the way some of the OG 90s did. This hobby is niche now. See if comic collectors or other people outside the modern card hobby will recognize 2023 Platinum art…very doubtful. Even back to the more classic UD sets like 2017FUSM-2018FUXM…great art to be found…but iconic? Not in the way of 1992MM. Even MM16 isn’t, although if there was gonna be one iconic set from the new era, that would be closest. Nothing Topps is doing do I perceive as iconic or do I think will become iconic. So far at least.

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by Angus Con

You may ultimately be right, but it’s definitely premature to predict DC’s success based on an Annual set. Marvel Annual wasn’t a big money set either. Used to get consistently placed on sale too. Let’s see what happens with the future sets. I feel like sketches are the main thing from any of UD’s annual sets and the DC sketches from Annual have done pretty well.

Guess we'll see. First year Spider-Man stuff from Annual sells pretty well, last I checked. Of course I don't keep up with it, basically ever.

DC Annual being the first set and Batman being DC's Spider-Man equivalent, I'd just expect it do better.

I also agree that it's to early to say...see what happens when they do a proper set. Masterpieces etc. I'd hope that they'd be smart enough to get a massive name. All that should equal success, but to say I'm suspicious of DC doing well...is putting it lightly. I hope it does! I love UD cards

[kakarot12]

For me, I can’t complain about this product. I bought 2 boxes for $600, pulled a huge Spider-Man platinum and sold it for 4 grand.

[glorbgorb]

You are by far an exception.

[Xiarmadillo]

Originally Posted by kakarot12

For me, I can’t complain about this product. I bought 2 boxes for $600, pulled a huge Spider-Man platinum and sold it for 4 grand.

Congrats on getting the case hit! and able to sell it for the early premium.
If it is just the normal platinum /99, 4K seem like an absurd amount but all the power to you

[armyml]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I think a decent amount of these were well-received by the hobby- Platinum, Flair, FU Wolverine, MM92 Platinum, Beginnings, MM Grego, FU Matriarchs come to mind…many people were heavily collecting some of this stuff…lots of OA in those. Importantly, most also weren’t $500-700 hobby boxes.

Sure there were some bland and forgettable Annual and Allegiance sets etc…at least those generic/rehashed art sets were actually cheap though.

I think a lot of the nostalgia goes beyond last year…people fondly remember the days of MM16, 2017FUSM, 2018FUXM, MM22…that drove a lot of hobby interest in marvel for awhile. People may also be nostalgic for the ePack side of things which has been completely lost under Topps.

As for iconic cards…that is tricky. When I think of iconic art in the marvel hobby…I go back to the 90s for most of it. Jusko’s MM92 set, Hildebrandts 94 set, 1990MU…some of those sets actually have iconic art. The spidey and Wolverine for MM92 were plastered over magazine and comic ads and covers. That sort of thing…even people not specifically into cards may recognize it, like a comic collector etc. It’s art that many card collectors like me grew up with. That art had a much larger audience than many marvel sets now have- a more general audience.

Take a set like 2023 Marvel Platinum or 2024 FU Wolverine- it is original art. And some of it nice OA- well received. But iconic? No. Is it just that not enough time has passed? Not really…I don’t think such art will really achieve iconic status in the way some of the OG 90s did. This hobby is niche now. See if comic collectors or other people outside the modern card hobby will recognize 2023 Platinum art…very doubtful. Even back to the more classic UD sets like 2017FUSM-2018FUXM…great art to be found…but iconic? Not in the way of 1992MM. Even MM16 isn’t, although if there was gonna be one iconic set from the new era, that would be closest. Nothing Topps is doing do I perceive as iconic or do I think will become iconic. So far at least.

Fair point on the Epack I miss it greatly. What I was more talking about is how all the sets I listed off...while they were "received okay" was it because the sets were so great or was it because it was literally all we had to choose from aside from weird Chinese licensed Kakawow and Kayou cards. I was more asking if any of THOSE sets would hold up to the same scrutiny as the awesome sets we remember like 2010s Masterpieces and Fleer Ultra sets. I dont think so.

If anything I guess I'm trying to gauge the REAL market for collectors. You can't just look at numbers because breakers buy up product en masse. So far , although Topps Marvel has sold very well at high prices, there are still a lot of complaints. But there were a lot of complaints on the UD products as they were releasing in terms of quality and re-used art, so it's not really any different aside from the price point. I think people use the high Topps price point to complain about the product as a whole, when they were complaining about the same UD artwork last year.

As far as iconic cards down the line I think its going to be some of the short prints. Say what you want about Marvel Chrome, but that Thanos reflections card with the Avengers reflections in the Infinity Stones is GORGEOUS.

[notoriousrmb]

I was a big epack user for Marvel. Sent home a ton of sets to keep - problem with epack is many of the cards are trashed. Poorly cut, bad edges/corners, miscuts...no way to tell until you sent them home as all images on the site were stock.

Felt like that always was overlooked, or most people never actually acquired their cards. Just kept them on the site or flipped them on COMC/eBay.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by armyml

Fair point on the Epack I miss it greatly. What I was more talking about is how all the sets I listed off...while they were "received okay" was it because the sets were so great or was it because it was literally all we had to choose from aside from weird Chinese licensed Kakawow and Kayou cards. I was more asking if any of THOSE sets would hold up to the same scrutiny as the awesome sets we remember like 2010s Masterpieces and Fleer Ultra sets. I dont think so.

If anything I guess I'm trying to gauge the REAL market for collectors. You can't just look at numbers because breakers buy up product en masse. So far , although Topps Marvel has sold very well at high prices, there are still a lot of complaints. But there were a lot of complaints on the UD products as they were releasing in terms of quality and re-used art, so it's not really any different aside from the price point. I think people use the high Topps price point to complain about the product as a whole, when they were complaining about the same UD artwork last year.

As far as iconic cards down the line I think its going to be some of the short prints. Say what you want about Marvel Chrome, but that Thanos reflections card with the Avengers reflections in the Infinity Stones is GORGEOUS.

Yea, I agree about there being plenty things not great about UD’s run. There indeed were rehashed art sets…Metal Universe was the biggest swing and miss for me: the X-Men, Spiderman, Avengers sets, but particularly X-Men. They took a brilliant concept of a set like Fleer’s 1995 Marvel Metal and turned it into some lackluster sets, with generic all-rehashed art, without the same etched foiling, a mountain of parallels, etc. For a high price point no less.

Then there were the MM sets which kind went darker/shadowed art with most of the ones post-2016, although there was still good art to be found. And the importing of all the sports inserts, quality control issues, etc. UD wasn’t perfect….but I would not say there is no difference with Topps besides the price point. So far Topps has put out almost *no* original art, save for possibly one single insert set. That is not symmetric to the UD side…there were plenty of OA based sets, many mentioned in that previous post.

The prices and what you get for them…11 or 14 cards or whatever it is for $700 in this case…is also quite different than most hobby boxes from UD. I was just at a card show yesterday, and found a total of like one marvel thing at the whole show…a box of 2025 Topps Marvel Chrome a dealer had for the low, low price of….$649. Lol. The heck is going on with this hobby. Isn’t Chrome supposed to be a flagship type of set? No wonder marvel cards as a hobby is barely accessible to anyone these days. Certainly no one was buying that box btw. At least UD’s flagship annual box was like 80 or 100 bucks, even though it was so generic (as Topps Chrome is too). Back in the 90s a flaship box of like marvel universe was 50-60 bucks or something…oh to go back to that

Iconic is a word that can be tough of define. One take on it is a good deal of wider recognition. There is probably little in the marvel card hobby that is truly iconic. Action comics #1 and AF #15 is iconic, Honus Wagner is, etc. In marvel cards…nothing like that…1992 Marvel Masterpieces Spider-Man base card might come the closest (and not because it’s valuable…but because it’s recognized…many in the hobby grew up around that card, it was on comic covers, even people who don’t collect marvel cards and collect maybe sports or comics now, might even recognize it “hey I used to collect those cards!”, etc). The card was a symbol of the set and the 90s marvel card era generally. I do not view stuff in the topps era as such…and sure it’s very early…iconicity needs time…but the hobby is fairly niche now. There are factors that go beyond just the quality of art that make something iconic.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by notoriousrmb

I was a big epack user for Marvel. Sent home a ton of sets to keep - problem with epack is many of the cards are trashed. Poorly cut, bad edges/corners, miscuts...no way to tell until you sent them home as all images on the site were stock.

Felt like that always was overlooked, or most people never actually acquired their cards. Just kept them on the site or flipped them on COMC/eBay.

This has definitely be an issue (MM 92 Plat Holofoils off epack being miscut come to mind).

I do like that cards within the epack/comc ecosystem are untouched though…as in haven’t been sent home. I have had many pretty great grading results sending cards in direct from that on comc without even seeing the card in hand…thicker What If cosmic stone cards getting 10’s and Pristine 10s…cards which I wonder if they were transferred home to someone to handle, put in a sleeve etc, would have still got that…who knows. Another one is the 92MM Plat parallels which are chrome cards. But it does probably depend on what the type the card is. I remember the Metal sets had a lot of chipping and such. But take a MM16 card- a thicker card- give me a choice to acquire one that’s been floating around in physical collections since 2016- super prone to damage in storage- vs the same card that’s never left the epack ecosystem to this point…I’m going with the latter and my money is on that being in better shape.

I transfer a lot off the ePack onto comc to ship home, but I’m also a set collector. It’s fair to say many never do and just keep it in the ecosystem. In some ways that is peoples collections…just stored somewhere else.

[newhobbygeek]

Originally Posted by armyml

Fair point on the Epack I miss it greatly. What I was more talking about is how all the sets I listed off...while they were "received okay" was it because the sets were so great or was it because it was literally all we had to choose from aside from weird Chinese licensed Kakawow and Kayou cards. I was more asking if any of THOSE sets would hold up to the same scrutiny as the awesome sets we remember like 2010s Masterpieces and Fleer Ultra sets. I dont think so.

If anything I guess I'm trying to gauge the REAL market for collectors. You can't just look at numbers because breakers buy up product en masse. So far , although Topps Marvel has sold very well at high prices, there are still a lot of complaints. But there were a lot of complaints on the UD products as they were releasing in terms of quality and re-used art, so it's not really any different aside from the price point. I think people use the high Topps price point to complain about the product as a whole, when they were complaining about the same UD artwork last year.

As far as iconic cards down the line I think its going to be some of the short prints. Say what you want about Marvel Chrome, but that Thanos reflections card with the Avengers reflections in the Infinity Stones is GORGEOUS.

You are most likely correct that price point is the #1 issue for existing collectors. I don't think any Marvel card set is iconic. This hobby appears almost completely driven by "new" or whats next. This makes sense since #1 priority of trading card manufactures/LCS's is selling their next product. Only collectors care about old sets. I'm a collector, so I've actually been opening cases/boxes + buying singles of your 2024 set list and older product prices continue to fall... I'm having a marvelous time collecting right now . This is cheapest hobby has been in few years for me.

Back to price point, you cannot really complain about quality of cards if you cannot afford to get them in hand or to experience opening the product. I think this is just an issue for existing collectors because there is an established expectation of cost/priced out for new sealed boxes/singles. I don't see this issue being solved. This is new normal and just the beginning. I think prices will continue to rise. Luckily this is just a hobby and not critical resource(ie, food/housing), so hopefully people can find alternative ways to enjoy hobby.

Upper Deck seemed to really restrict who could directly sell their Marvel products. I think this has restricted UD secondary value a lot in modern internet retailers/social/breaking market from exploding like Topps. The UD marvel products never had marketing like Topps is getting. Topps products you can find all over the place. More stores carry Topps products. This puts more eyes on Topps Marvel products and breaker videos act as hype/advertisement for the product. If I youtube search, "marvel trading cards" its almost nothing but Chrome and Mint now.

As someone that was new to card collecting in late 2018, it took me few years before I began looking at older Rittenhouse Marvel cards. I would expect any new Topps Marvel collectors that stays in hobby will have similar experience. They might not look at Upper Deck because they think "Marvel is Topps" or "Topps is Marvel." For this reason, I don't think UD Marvel cards will rise in value with these Topps Marvel card sales. I would actually expect some UD marvel cards to fall in value due to lack of interest or people offloading collections because of hobby burnout. There might be some renewed interest few/several years from now, but again hobby is driven by "new".

I imagine Topps is tapping into some new Marvel card collectors. New collectors are starting similar experience that I had; spending several thousands on sealed wax and singles with no worrying to cost. Its simply ignorance. If you are new to hobby, you probably don't understand difference in original art, comic book sourced art, or movie/show Marvel sets. You don't understand inserts vs. parallels. You probably won't understand how to price sketch cards for years because so many factors that seem to influence value. Also, there will be plenty people trying to exploit that ignorance... resellers, ebay/whatnot, dealers, influencers, etc.

Back to sorting cards. . .

[orion9578]

Originally Posted by newhobbygeek

You are most likely correct that price point is the #1 issue for existing collectors. I don't think any Marvel card set is iconic. This hobby appears almost completely driven by "new" or whats next. This makes sense since #1 priority of trading card manufactures/LCS's is selling their next product. Only collectors care about old sets. I'm a collector, so I've actually been opening cases/boxes + buying singles of your 2024 set list and older product prices continue to fall... I'm having a marvelous time collecting right now . This is cheapest hobby has been in few years for me.

Back to price point, you cannot really complain about quality of cards if you cannot afford to get them in hand or to experience opening the product. I think this is just an issue for existing collectors because there is an established expectation of cost/priced out for new sealed boxes/singles. I don't see this issue being solved. This is new normal and just the beginning. I think prices will continue to rise. Luckily this is just a hobby and not critical resource(ie, food/housing), so hopefully people can find alternative ways to enjoy hobby.

Upper Deck seemed to really restrict who could directly sell their Marvel products. I think this has restricted UD secondary value a lot in modern internet retailers/social/breaking market from exploding like Topps. The UD marvel products never had marketing like Topps is getting. Topps products you can find all over the place. More stores carry Topps products. This puts more eyes on Topps Marvel products and breaker videos act as hype/advertisement for the product. If I youtube search, "marvel trading cards" its almost nothing but Chrome and Mint now.

As someone that was new to card collecting in late 2018, it took me few years before I began looking at older Rittenhouse Marvel cards. I would expect any new Topps Marvel collectors that stays in hobby will have similar experience. They might not look at Upper Deck because they think "Marvel is Topps" or "Topps is Marvel." For this reason, I don't think UD Marvel cards will rise in value with these Topps Marvel card sales. I would actually expect some UD marvel cards to fall in value due to lack of interest or people offloading collections because of hobby burnout. There might be some renewed interest few/several years from now, but again hobby is driven by "new".

I imagine Topps is tapping into some new Marvel card collectors. New collectors are starting similar experience that I had; spending several thousands on sealed wax and singles with no worrying to cost. Its simply ignorance. If you are new to hobby, you probably don't understand difference in original art, comic book sourced art, or movie/show Marvel sets. You don't understand inserts vs. parallels. You probably won't understand how to price sketch cards for years because so many factors that seem to influence value. Also, there will be plenty people trying to exploit that ignorance... resellers, ebay/whatnot, dealers, influencers, etc.

Back to sorting cards. . .

There's a massive difference between you coming in in 2018, realizing later that Rittenhouse had made Marvel in the years prior and UD's Marvel products. I'd say basically only non-sport people even know who Rittenhouse is, and even then, they're still a small card company.

UD on the other hand has what probably equates to the 2nd best known name in the US card market. You could argue that worldwide, Panini could be 2nd, due to Soccer.

Basketball was basically dominated by UD from the early 2000's to them losing the license. Football I'd say they basically dominated from the early 2000's to losing the license as well.

Fast forward a few years after UD lost those licenses and UD cards exploded, specifically basketball. Granted, so did Topps Chrome, but I wouldn't put them in the same ballpark as the UD cards(value wise). Specific examples can probably be made, but overall, UD cards > Topps cards after they both lost the license.

My opinion is that UD Marvel cards will age well, some very well(think high end, same sets that get mentioned often). I don't think the true collectors are really on board with how Topps is running things and will back collect UD. I will give you that some of the new Topps guys might not back collect all that much, but I don't think that money will be around long... They are not collectors, they are speculating to flip, probably to each other.

I've seen basically 0 people showing off high end Topps cards, saying they're keeping them. It's all flippers or people getting lucky in breaks. How long does that last? Who knows...

I have been watching a few breaks of 2025 Topps Chrome Sapphire and they are just SITTING, not getting bought, because it's just to expensive...even for the degenerates who'll open anything. Doesn't bode well if just a few months in you can't even get the gamblers to buy it, fractionalized style.

As far as UD cards rising... It took a while before basketball went from "X" to "XXXX", quadrupling etc. I definitely DO NOT see UD Marvel doing that, but I say within a couple years and when Topps Chrome comes out for the 3rd...4th...5th year in a row and is $700+ a box...the tide will shift.

I keep bringing it up, but without collectors, this whole thing will fold. You can only flip crap back and forth to no one who collects so many times. And if you do manage to push out the true collectors, 1000% it folds, and probably fast.

[armyml]

So I've opened 2 boxes of this stuff and trying to list the singles on Ebay is a huge pain. Searching for Marvel Mint just gets you a lot of Topps Chrome Marvel singles. I assume thats also a pain for anyone looking to buy singles. Does anyone know if thats an Ebay problem or if its dufus sellers clicking multiple boxes to get more views on their listings?

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by armyml

So I've opened 2 boxes of this stuff and trying to list the singles on Ebay is a huge pain. Searching for Marvel Mint just gets you a lot of Topps Chrome Marvel singles. I assume thats also a pain for anyone looking to buy singles. Does anyone know if thats an Ebay problem or if its dufus sellers clicking multiple boxes to get more views on their listings?

Near mint or better is being search indexed. Try searching for 2025 "marvel mint" with quotes. Example. Hope this helps.

[Chrominator]

Listing should be easy as long as it starts w/ "2025 Topps Mint Marvel" and then character, parallel, card#.

As a buyer, it's like what eldavo said^, bunny ears will be key to this one.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by armyml

Whats with all the weird nostalgia for recent UD sets now that they lost the license? We werent necessarily fawning over these sets while they were live with the exception of a few.

2024 Marvel Sets:
Platinum
She Hulk
Flair
Black Panther
FU Wolverine
Beginnings Vol 2
Masterpieces XL
MU Avengers
Annual
Disney Plus Series 1
Guardians 3
Disney Plus Series 2
Women of Marvel
Allegiance Secret Wars
Masterpieces 92 Plat
FU Matriarchs
Masterpieces Grego
Renditions Spider-Man

How many of THOSE sets down the line are going to be iconic. Sets where people are still buying boxes 5-6 years down the line. Two or Three maybe? I remember an entire year of mid-ass lazy Marvel releases.

I feel like its just more of a grass is greener type situation because the Marvel Topps boxes are so expensive.

The MCU stuff is in a different category from Marvel comics. But you're forgetting that the UD Marvel stuff was also expensive -- just not at the level Topps is now. So the grass isn't great on either side, but it's better with UD -- the cards are certainly better, with more variety.

In the coming years, Marvel card collectors will be rolling back to chase the myriad of Marvel cards from the UD era because Topps Marvel cards will be too expensive and will not feed their collecting needs. There will also be some nostalgia for the UD era of Marvel cards -- we've reached the 10-year anniversary for 2016 MM.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by newhobbygeek

You are most likely correct that price point is the #1 issue for existing collectors. I don't think any Marvel card set is iconic. This hobby appears almost completely driven by "new" or whats next. This makes sense since #1 priority of trading card manufactures/LCS's is selling their next product. Only collectors care about old sets. I'm a collector, so I've actually been opening cases/boxes + buying singles of your 2024 set list and older product prices continue to fall... I'm having a marvelous time collecting right now . This is cheapest hobby has been in few years for me.

Back to price point, you cannot really complain about quality of cards if you cannot afford to get them in hand or to experience opening the product. I think this is just an issue for existing collectors because there is an established expectation of cost/priced out for new sealed boxes/singles. I don't see this issue being solved. This is new normal and just the beginning. I think prices will continue to rise. Luckily this is just a hobby and not critical resource(ie, food/housing), so hopefully people can find alternative ways to enjoy hobby.

Upper Deck seemed to really restrict who could directly sell their Marvel products. I think this has restricted UD secondary value a lot in modern internet retailers/social/breaking market from exploding like Topps. The UD marvel products never had marketing like Topps is getting. Topps products you can find all over the place. More stores carry Topps products. This puts more eyes on Topps Marvel products and breaker videos act as hype/advertisement for the product. If I youtube search, "marvel trading cards" its almost nothing but Chrome and Mint now.

As someone that was new to card collecting in late 2018, it took me few years before I began looking at older Rittenhouse Marvel cards. I would expect any new Topps Marvel collectors that stays in hobby will have similar experience. They might not look at Upper Deck because they think "Marvel is Topps" or "Topps is Marvel." For this reason, I don't think UD Marvel cards will rise in value with these Topps Marvel card sales. I would actually expect some UD marvel cards to fall in value due to lack of interest or people offloading collections because of hobby burnout. There might be some renewed interest few/several years from now, but again hobby is driven by "new".

I imagine Topps is tapping into some new Marvel card collectors. New collectors are starting similar experience that I had; spending several thousands on sealed wax and singles with no worrying to cost. Its simply ignorance. If you are new to hobby, you probably don't understand difference in original art, comic book sourced art, or movie/show Marvel sets. You don't understand inserts vs. parallels. You probably won't understand how to price sketch cards for years because so many factors that seem to influence value. Also, there will be plenty people trying to exploit that ignorance... resellers, ebay/whatnot, dealers, influencers, etc.

Back to sorting cards. . .

Topps will be pumping out generic Marvel products efor years to come -- it's going to get old fast. The market is going to get flooded with this stuff. How many TC Marvel parallels does the market need?