First Buzz: 2025-26 Topps Chrome NBA cards

[Moss84istheGOAT]

I ripped another 60 Hangers and a few blasters with some more great hits. I defintely have to agree that they must send certain players etc to certain areas in waves, I hit 3 pulsar Flagg rcs, 3 refractor rcs, 16 base rcs plus the color and over a dozen insert refractors of him, which is not a complaint at all and hit alot of other nice cards to resell and pickup more, but seemed to be the same 5 or 6 players

I am a huge Sixers fan and i didnt hit a single paralell of VJ at all in 160 hangers, same with Harper, I hit 18 autos total the best being a Coward #75 with 6 being Walter Claytons and 31 base rcs.

And true colors are next to impossible

[whodatbeastly16]

You should keep ripping, your boxes have been incredible

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by jfan2024

The problem in basketball is Jokic was a runaway MVP buyback but for the people who tried to buy him up early, now they have a lot of worthless junk given his injury and the 65 game rule.

Giannis, Wemby, and Luka may all very well miss the 65 game minimum also. SGA seems like a safe buy, but OKC will be a runaway #1 seed, so at the slightest hint of injury he'll sit. This is much easier to do in baseball than basketball. You just know there will be people sitting on a mountain of worthless base for guys like SGA, Brunson, Cade, Brown, Ant etc in the end. It's a true all or nothing options gamble

The whole buyback program as others have mentioned is just an ingenious scheme. Fanatics has baked this into increasing the price you pay upfront for the product to increase MSRP. Then on the back end, you don't get cash back. You get a gift card, which you have to spend on only their products basically so they make money again as only about 50% of gift cards ever get redeemed. Genius move to again, milk every last penny out of the schmucks..ahem hobbyists/customers

I very much doubt the typical buyer of TC is factoring in the MVP buyback when deciding to make their purchase. The program was designed to artificially create hits. The bounties from Topps should make the product an official gambling product.

Jokic and SGA were the MVP favorites one month into the season -- that hasn't changed. The only potential complication was going to be health, which has unfortunately become a factor for one of the players.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by weatherwarrior

I have a friend who ripped 25 from DSG and he said the same thing. He was crushed however, the fanatics hangers he got in he absolutely did great.

Very hit or miss. If you go somewhere and buy 10 and they are good the likelihood the rest are good is high.

If true, was this done on purpose? Does Fanatics think it's better for more buyers to have good experiences ripping hangers at the expense of a lot more having poor experiences? Does it increase the gambling aspect of ripping the product?

Or is it just poor quality control and incompetence?

[weatherwarrior]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

If true, was this done on purpose? Does Fanatics think it's better for more buyers to have good experiences ripping hangers at the expense of a lot more having poor experiences? Does it increase the gambling aspect of ripping the product?



Or is it just poor quality control and incompetence?

It is the same with with all companies I experienced this with prizm football hangers 2 years ago.

A whole case on a shelf at Walmart, bought a random 15, then went to another walmart and bought a random 15. Kept them separated and ripped.

One walmart the packs were dry as bone. The other i pulled a several nice ssp cards, All the big names in rookies and parallels.

That is the randomness of ripping packs. Thats the way it goes.

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[auctionjmm]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

If true, was this done on purpose? Does Fanatics think it's better for more buyers to have good experiences ripping hangers at the expense of a lot more having poor experiences? Does it increase the gambling aspect of ripping the product?

Or is it just poor quality control and incompetence?

Collation. If you open a full 64 hanger case, you'll see it. There will be one row of boxes that are loaded with color and then another row that has nothing. Even my autos were within a few boxes of each other in the same row.

As far as QC, I don't know. State lotteries don't even mix up their scratch offs. You could have 4 winning scratchers in a row followed by 12 duds even though the odds are 1:3.5. Then there's always that one chip at Chipotle that is covered in all the salt

Some folks desire a perfectly collated world but I just don't think life works that way!

[weatherwarrior]

Originally Posted by auctionjmm

Collation. If you open a full 64 hanger case, you'll see it. There will be one row of boxes that are loaded with color and then another row that has nothing. Even my autos were within a few boxes of each other in the same row.



As far as QC, I don't know. State lotteries don't even mix up their scratch offs. You could have 4 winning scratchers in a row followed by 12 duds even though the odds are 1:3.5. Then there's always that one chip at Chipotle that is covered in all the salt



Some folks desire a perfectly collated world but I just don't think life works that way!

The Chipotle chip reference had me dying! Great analogy.

Ive noticed the same thing. When a case is hot or appears loaded that is thw time to keep ripping.

My sealed case of megas was loaded with Flagg cards. Nothing was overwhelming but a nice bit of value there.

And its the luck of the draw. The previous mega case before mine didnt have anything but a Cooper inserts or two. And lots of vet color. Where my Cade was heavy on vet color it had lots of rookie x-fractors and color.

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[JHVS123]

Do the image variations have a different code like they usually do? The ones I’m seeing online do not but they might not be variations at all I guess.

[sluggerwx]

We've ripped 16 hangers, 4 blasters and 2 Megas. Here are the biggest hits:
Autos:
-Coward on-card /50 (hanger)
-Edey /75 (hanger)
-Davion Mitchell /99 (hanger)

Parallels/Other Hits:
-SGA orange pulsar /25 (hanger)
Ace Bailey /299 true color
-SGA Inspirational /50
-Cooper Flag Refractor (blaster)
-2X Wemby refractors
-Curry Fanatical
-Anthony Edwards Pulsar Go Time
-Flagg base
-8x various Flagg inserts
-Danny Wolf image variation

Plus 4 other numbered cards of non-notable players.
Sitting at 271 of 299 cards for a complete base set. About 130 cards into second set and 60 into third set. We've pulled 4x base for only 5 players (Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler are two of them), and that's the max of any base card we've pulled to date.

The Coward Stratospheric on card is amazing looking. The SGA Orange Pulsar is the most beautiful sports card I've ever pulled.

[J1L]

Originally Posted by sluggerwx

We've ripped 16 hangers, 4 blasters and 2 Megas. Here are the biggest hits:
Autos:
-Coward on-card /50 (hanger)
-Edey /75 (hanger)
-Davion Mitchell /99 (hanger)

Parallels/Other Hits:
-SGA orange pulsar /25 (hanger)
Ace Bailey /299 true color
-SGA Inspirational /50
-Cooper Flag Refractor (blaster)
-2X Wemby refractors
-Curry Fanatical
-Anthony Edwards Pulsar Go Time
-Flagg base
-8x various Flagg inserts
-Danny Wolf image variation

Plus 4 other numbered cards of non-notable players.
Sitting at 271 of 299 cards for a complete base set. About 130 cards into second set and 60 into third set. We've pulled 4x base for only 5 players (Chris Paul and Jimmy Butler are two of them), and that's the max of any base card we've pulled to date.

The Coward Stratospheric on card is amazing looking. The SGA Orange Pulsar is the most beautiful sports card I've ever pulled.

Sell me Edwards go time pulsar….

[crownand]

Ripped into our 32 half case order from Topps. Stopping after 6 hangers, nothing of note.

[whodatbeastly16]

Originally Posted by JHVS123

Do the image variations have a different code like they usually do? The ones I’m seeing online do not but they might not be variations at all I guess.

No they do not, I believe the only differentiating factor for the vet variations is that the background will be silver, not a photo.

[ninjabum87]

Originally Posted by weatherwarrior

The Chipotle chip reference had me dying! Great analogy.

Ive noticed the same thing. When a case is hot or appears loaded that is thw time to keep ripping.

My sealed case of megas was loaded with Flagg cards. Nothing was overwhelming but a nice bit of value there.

And its the luck of the draw. The previous mega case before mine didnt have anything but a Cooper inserts or two. And lots of vet color. Where my Cade was heavy on vet color it had lots of rookie x-fractors and color.

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What is worse? The hella salty chipotle chip? Or the one piece of popcorn at the movies that tastes like a rancid grain silo?

[weatherwarrior]

Originally Posted by ninjabum87

What is worse? The hella salty chipotle chip? Or the one piece of popcorn at the movies that tastes like a rancid grain silo?

Man that one popcorn kernel can be bad lol. Its like buying a six pack of beer and the first one is skunky and bitter.

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[22emmittfan]

Opened ten more..couple better hits. The pulsar go time do look amazing.



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[eastbayak]

Congrats to those who loaded up on the hangers at MSRP.

Almost bought 1-2 hanger cases from Topps when it was first available but held off (oops). Will rip the 4 I have on the way, maybe hit a Curry or Kon auto

[J1L]

Originally Posted by 22emmittfan

Opened ten more..couple better hits. The pulsar go time do look amazing.



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My guy Cade! Nice rip.

[J1L]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

Congrats to those who loaded up on the hangers at MSRP.

Almost bought 1-2 hanger cases from Topps when it was first available but held off (oops). Will rip the 4 I have on the way, maybe hit a Curry or Kon auto

Just look at Chris P break to make you feel better. He the real mvp

[Chris P]

Originally Posted by J1L

Just look at Chris P break to make you feel better. He the real mvp

Hahaha thanks lol. Taking one for the team never hurt so much lol

[ninjabum87]

Originally Posted by weatherwarrior

Man that one popcorn kernel can be bad lol. Its like buying a sick pack of beer and the first one is skunks and bitter.

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So bad. My grandpa was a farmer and biting into one sends me back to a stanky barn immediately.

[Tommy Point]

Finally got around to opening my Hobby box.

Got Rookie Refractors of Coward, Fears and Clifford so I got some guys to root for!

Going to put the Pierce into my C's collection

2 Flagg Bases I will hang on to.

The Yang looks really nice, but I know he will take years to develop so might try to move that one for a good Tatum/Brown card. Also trying to figure out if it's an insert or a base card?

All of the cards came in great condition unlike with some that were in my Flagship boxes.

I ordered 32 hangers at the last minute when I saw everyone here propping them up so that should be fun as well.

[Bob Ross]

Time to clean out Megas on Topps yet?

[J1L]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

Time to clean out Megas on Topps yet?

Only if you have 10% off coupons

[phil]

Originally Posted by Bob Ross

Time to clean out Megas on Topps yet?

Maybe better to stash Fanatics exclusive Megas @ $100? Skylights are definitely in there unlike Blues in regular.

[h00perstar34]

Originally Posted by phil

Maybe better to stash Fanatics exclusive Megas @ $100? Skylights are definitely in there unlike Blues in regular.

I was debating this as well, it seems like the print run on those are way lower and the Flagg and others are holding value for now. Pretty cards too.