Topps.com Star Wars Living Set

[jdandns]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

At the bottom of todays email for the last chance of Lebron 40,000 Tops Now card is a picture of SW Living card 498 and the message “Attention Star Wars Living Set Fans
The Topps Star Wars Living Set® concludes next week at card #500!”

Thanks for that, I'd missed it.

Well, shoot, sorry to see it go, but print runs had been trending downward this last year including plenty of cards only printing in the 800's the past few months. That along with so many characters having already received the treatment was likely a lethal combination.

I wonder who gets the final 2 cards?

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Bump since it appears this set will end next week with card 500. Anyone put together a full set?

I have five full sets. This is ... this is really hard to process right now.

[Vargaman]

Originally Posted by eldavojohn

I have five full sets. This is ... this is really hard to process right now.

5!?!? Plus aren’t these $20/card?


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[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by jdandns

Thanks for that, I'd missed it.

Well, shoot, sorry to see it go, but print runs had been trending downward this last year including plenty of cards only printing in the 800's the past few months. That along with so many characters having already received the treatment was likely a lethal combination.

I wonder who gets the final 2 cards?

Maybe George Lucas for card 500?

[eldavojohn]

Kris Penix posted this in his facebook group:

I hate, hate, hate confirming this news. But sadly, yes, Topps has decided they no longer want to produce The Living Set.
Carlos and I haven't known for very long. Topps requested we not mention anything until they announced it first and we have respected their wishes.
The cancellation of the set had nothing to do with Carlos and I. We did what we were told and kept Topps supplied with our art. We did it to the best of our ability and never bugged them. We made them money every week, even when print runs were lower.
So why was the set canceled? Before I speak to that I want to say that I'm not going to speak ill of Topps. They've provided me and many other artists incredible opportunities over the years and I don't take that for granted. I am truly grateful to them for allowing me to get so much of my art out into the world. 500 hand painted Star Wars images for a card set is an incredible accomplishment!!!
However...
The reasons they gave for ending the set make zero sense from both an artist and fan's perspective. They stated that: Star Wars has only a few characters left to choose from AND the new characters are not as collectible as the originals.
��
So this essentially means zero cards from the Ahsoka show were wanted by collectors. No Kenobi from his own show. No Anakin from Revenge of the Sith. Han from The Force Awakens. No Lando or Maul from Solo. No Hondo. No Ventress. No Falcon. No Ghost. The list of potential cards left behind goes on and on and on...
I can assure you, as a Star Wars fan, we barely scratched the surface of this galaxy with these 500 cards. In fact, shortly before we were informed of the set cancellation, I sent Topps a list of roughly 100 animated characters between The Clone Wars and Rebels that we still needed to hit. Popular characters. Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Palpatine, The Droids. So many clones. So many jedi. So many weird separatist droids. It's crazy to think about.
I can only speculate why it was REALLY canceled because I honestly don't know. Perhaps they needed our budget for something else. Perhaps Disney no longer wanted it. Who knows?
What happens now?
We're not sure who the final 2 cards will be next week. They have more of our art than there are cards left. We also don't know if cards 401 to 500 will be made available as prints. We've asked. They haven't answered.
Carlos and I will continue creating. We're artists and we do what we do. This isn't the end of us. We're always compelled to make new and exciting art, especially when it involves Star Wars.
We want to thank every one of you that have stuck with us over the years. Your support has been everything! �� And if you wanted, feel free to email Topps or send them a message on social media if you'd like The Living Set to continue. TELL THEM AS MUCH! I still really want to paint live action Hera! ��
In the meantime keep an eye on this page.
Always in motion is the future.

[jdandns]

Oof, that stings even worse to know Topps has a pair artists working enthusiastically on this set who wish to continue doing so.

Maybe Topps would consider periodically issuing new cards as 10 (or even 20) card on-demand sets to keep this thing going.
I join Kris in recommending all interested parties drop them a line asking for that. I certainly will be.

At a bare minimum they should at least print the cards they've already received the art for, however long that takes.

Originally Posted by Vargaman

5!?!? Plus aren’t these $20/card?

No, much closer to $5 per card, but still, 5 sets is mighty impressive.

[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by eldavojohn

Kris Penix posted this in his facebook group:

So that means 500 won’t be a special card… likely just the best character from the batch the artists submitted that haven’t been printed yet.

While disappointing, I think Topps was basically saying the newer batches weren’t selling as well which is why they were cancelled. And that seems to be generally true based on print runs. Also the Throwback set is likely cheaper to produce and generates similar sales. That one also has the benefit of having more Vader cards pop up to goose sales as well.

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

So that means 500 won’t be a special card… likely just the best character from the batch the artists submitted that haven’t been printed yet.

While disappointing, I think Topps was basically saying the newer batches weren’t selling as well which is why they were cancelled. And that seems to be generally true based on print runs. Also the Throwback set is likely cheaper to produce and generates similar sales. That one also has the benefit of having more Vader cards pop up to goose sales as well.

There's a petition to Topps about it https://www.change.org/p/urge-topps-...ars-living-set

[finfangfan]

Card 500 is kind of underwhelming….

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Card 500 is kind of underwhelming….

At least it's from my favorite movie and they clearly have some sense of humor.

[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by eldavojohn

At least it's from my favorite movie and they clearly have some sense of humor.

Yeah… it’s Topps running away with our money. lol

[TheFrenzy]

Congratulations!

[Vargaman]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Card 500 is kind of underwhelming….

Ending on a meme character seems fitting.


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[jdandns]

Willrow is actually the father of all things Star Wars going forward. It turns out the device he was holding held the frozen embryo in it that would later become Rey Skywalker, the hero of the Sequel trilogy. The true origin of Rey, the promised one who will eventually bring balance to the Force, is the subject of an upcoming Star Wars movie to follow the next one up, which is "The Mandalorian & Grogu".
Good call on the #500 card!

[eldavojohn]

Originally Posted by jdandns

Willrow is actually the father of all things Star Wars going forward. It turns out the device he was holding held the frozen embryo in it that would later become Rey Skywalker, the hero of the Sequel trilogy. The true origin of Rey, the promised one who will eventually bring balance to the Force, is the subject of an upcoming Star Wars movie to follow the next one up, which is "The Mandalorian & Grogu".
Good call on the #500 card!

Yeah they sure went full on farce with rise of skywalker. His laughable retcon into star wars is so absolutely critical to everything that he doesn't even have an entry in the databank. There's a hit for the lego Jaybo Hood though ...

Super awesome character for card 500.

[jdandns]

He's in this one, although the bit with frozen lil' Rey hasn't been added yet:
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Willrow_Hood