Upper Deck has lost Marvel to Fanatics.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by BobCollects

Time to start moving your cards off of e-Pack if you think the rumors are true.

Why????

[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by BobCollects

Time to start moving your cards off of e-Pack if you think the rumors are true.

Notre Dame cards are still tradable on ePack and they lost that license like 5 years ago.

[Chrominator]

Yeah that was kind of a hot take right there

[Zeldafanatic15]

I doubt the license would affect them being able to store Marvel cards for users or the ability to send stuff to COMC, but you never know. Fanatics is ruthless. Remember they bought out the MLB license for trading cards before they even had the capacity to print cards, then bought Topps. Believe it even came out during the Fanatics vs Panini legal briefs that they tried to buy Topps first, then when they couldn't proceeded to buy the MLB, NBA and NFL licenses, then bought Topps for cheaper then they were willing to pay.

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[finfangfan]

I will say that when UD lost Notre Dame license the boxes/cases ended up getting a deep discount (something like 90%) that final weekend. So a license loss *could* affect the timeframe in which ePack will be able to sell Marvel product.

I think ND sale was the only time I bought a case on ePack… and I pulled a Rocket auto that more than paid for everything.

[DynaEtch]

As others have stated, not a fan of the utter domination of one company throughout all cards in Fanatics.

What even is left that is non-Fanatics after this? DC obviously. Hockey I guess? Does UD still control that? There’s some miscellaneous entertainment with UD like looney tunes. Wrestling?

I guess you have Rittenhouse, cryptozoic and some minor companies doing stuff with non sports, but if one company has both Marvel and SW, that’s all but dominating the nonsports field (two top dogs by far). I kinda hope UD has some big success with DC just so there is a major niche not controlled by Fanatics.

[BobCollects]

I think it’s more likely Marvel collectors will stop using e-Pack so you won’t have anyone to trade with once the last packs are sold and opened. If you only use e-Pack for Marvel, like me, there’s no reason to stick around. And if lots of people wait until the end of Marvel on e-Pack to shift their collections to COMC, prices are going to plummet. But who knows.

Losing Marvel won’t impact e-Pack itself, I assume, but isn’t UD also losing some of its sports licenses to Fanatics?


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[DynaEtch]

What would be the last UD Marvel set if this does actually go down say by the end of the year or next year we already see Marvel under Fanatics. Would it be Metal Avengers? I guess that set will get some extra attention beyond what it would have, all things considered. I wonder if we’ll even see Marvel Beginnings vol 2. Series 3 (so just cut that short I guess).

I mean we still have a lot to hit ePack right? Flair, FU Wolverine, MM22, Beginnings series 2, and Metal Avengers which isn’t even physical yet much less epack. I have to imagine UD will be smashing a ton onto ePack, and not too far after the sets come out either.

[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Not sure I will get anything back other than a generic response, but I did send this message to UD customer service today…

“People are circulating rumors in the hobby community that Fanatics has snagged the US Marvel card license away from Upper Deck. Are there any truth to these rumors? How long does Upper Deck’s current trading card license last with Marvel?”

I will post whatever response I get.

I also sent a similar inquiry to Fanatics through their customer service link web form…. https://www.fanaticsinc.com/contact-us

I will let you know if I hear anything back other than some generic response.

[newhobbygeek]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

What would be the last UD Marvel set if this does actually go down say by the end of the year or next year we already see Marvel under Fanatics. Would it be Metal Avengers? I guess that set will get some extra attention beyond what it would have, all things considered. I wonder if we’ll even see Marvel Beginnings vol 2. Series 3 (so just cut that short I guess).

I mean we still have a lot to hit ePack right? Flair, FU Wolverine, MM22, Beginnings series 2, and Metal Avengers which isn’t even physical yet much less epack. I have to imagine UD will be smashing a ton onto ePack, and not too far after the sets come out either.

This is purely speculation and my own opinion: If Upper Deck is losing the Marvel license in very near future, ie before Dec 31, 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if they change course and physically pack out some of their products originally intended for ePack. The reason being they might have hard stop sale date on ePack or to distributors. If they case/box/pack out all their remaining new products, they can offload it to distributors instead at 40-60% off vs. 90% to consumers.

The latest Marvel product sale sheet to go out was for GOTG Vol. 3 with placeholder date in October.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by newhobbygeek

This is purely speculation and my own opinion: If Upper Deck is losing the Marvel license in very near future, ie before Dec 31, 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if they change course and physically pack out some of their products originally intended for ePack. The reason being they might have hard stop sale date on ePack or to distributors. If they case/box/pack out all their remaining new products, they can offload it to distributors instead at 40-60% off vs. 90% to consumers.

The latest Marvel product sale sheet to go out was for GOTG Vol. 3 with placeholder date in October.

That would make sense for UD. Really hoping this is not the case for MM22 since I’ve been banking on that hitting ePack so I can put together the set on COMC for cheap.

Then again MM22 should sell out on ePack in all but a week tops, so this issue shouldn’t be a problem with it. The bigger print run sets like Metal Avengers and FU Wolverine….definitely.

[finfangfan]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

I also sent a similar inquiry to Fanatics through their customer service link web form…. https://www.fanaticsinc.com/contact-us

I will let you know if I hear anything back other than some generic response.

I got a quick response… redirected to https://topps.custhelp.com

EDiT: which doesn’t open for me… lol

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by newhobbygeek

This is purely speculation and my own opinion: If Upper Deck is losing the Marvel license in very near future, ie before Dec 31, 2024, I wouldn't be surprised if they change course and physically pack out some of their products originally intended for ePack. The reason being they might have hard stop sale date on ePack or to distributors. If they case/box/pack out all their remaining new products, they can offload it to distributors instead at 40-60% off vs. 90% to consumers.

The latest Marvel product sale sheet to go out was for GOTG Vol. 3 with placeholder date in October.

I understand that you're just throwing this out there, but it doesn't make sense to me that UD would pull cards back from COMC in order to sell them at 40-60% off. All the product intended for epack (afaik) is bulk-packed to COMC who then images and enters it all into their massive only-for-epacks database. UD would have to manually intervene in the database to pull 'cases, boxes, packs' out of it and invalidate those for sale on epack. Seems like a one-way ticket to me.

[finfangfan]

Imagine if ePack never gets the last MM!!!

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by finfangfan

Imagine if ePack never gets the last MM!!!

It wouldn’t make sense to me. What’s stopping UD from releasing it basically right now (or August) where it’ll sell out in a week or two at most, presumably long before they are out of this license. If things are getting dire with losing the license, they don’t have to play the game of timing epack releases against others and all that.

And if they somehow didn’t release it, what happens to the cards then, probably half the run. Nah I thinking it’ll be on epack, probably soon….I certainly hope!

[BipolarBear]

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but weren't there rumors some time back about MM24 (which obviously would not be released in 2024 because MM22 was) already in the works?

If so, I can't imagine that would get scrapped.

[newhobbygeek]

Originally Posted by HiltonL

I understand that you're just throwing this out there, but it doesn't make sense to me that UD would pull cards back from COMC in order to sell them at 40-60% off. All the product intended for epack (afaik) is bulk-packed to COMC who then images and enters it all into their massive only-for-epacks database. UD would have to manually intervene in the database to pull 'cases, boxes, packs' out of it and invalidate those for sale on epack. Seems like a one-way ticket to me.

There are bunch products not on ePack yet. This list doesn't even touch products being released in August or in near future.

Loki Season 1
Hawkeye Season 1
Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness
Thor Love and Thunder
Fleer Ultra Wolverine
Fleer Ultra Midnight Sons
Marvel Masterpieces 22
Marvel Beginnings Vol2 Series2
Marvel Flair
Marvel Premier 2023
Marvel Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Marvel She-Hulk

Marvel Premier and MM22 could sell out quickly less than couple weeks, but some of the other sets I see sitting. This is why I'm thinking maybe they physically pack out some of these products.

I listed 12 products above. There is 3 months of releases if they did one per week.

[newhobbygeek]

Originally Posted by BipolarBear

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but weren't there rumors some time back about MM24 (which obviously would not be released in 2024 because MM22 was) already in the works?

If so, I can't imagine that would get scrapped.

Yes, UD stated there was artist working on MM24 a while back. This was before they released any info on MM22.

[glorbgorb]

Still all speculation from the looks of it, so why not speculate? Better yet, why not ask questions no one here will know the answer to.

There has to be a cut-off date. "As of such-and-such a date, UD is no longer able to manufacture or distribute Marvel" blah blah. However, COMC still has a lot of their content, so will they be allowed to let ePack sell out whatever Marvel stuff is on there? It's created product essentially sitting in storage at COMC.

Remember, we're still getting products that were supposed to come out in 2022 and 2023 (based on copyright statements on the card backs). Will this move up UD's timetable to release more sets in a shorter timespan? If you all thought we saw a lot of Marvel sets in the last couple of years, you ain't seen nothing yet! Maybe.

What about sets not even officially announced? I'm talking Women or Marvel, 2023 Marvel Allegiance: Secret Wars, 2022 Marvel Spider-Man, 2024 Marvel Renditions Spider-Man, and many more. Can they announce them to officially make them part of the product pipeline?

Could they distribute all of a product via ePack? They have done ePack-only sets before, obviously, but could they completely divert a physical product intended for distributors entirely to ePack? I mean, physically they could, but it would be a huge undertaking to scan 100% of a product meant to have a physical/ePack release.


Look, I'm a character collector for 90% of my Marvel purchases. It doesn't really matter who manufactures the cards to me. It stinks that I won't be able to pick up some low-end cards on COMC as sellers race to the bottom, of course. As for the original art angle, most sets that UD puts out are not original art anyway. Topps does have original art in a handful of sets (though has that changed since the Fanatics purchase?). It won't be the Masterpieces name (presumably?), but Stellar had some nice artwork in the sketches/reprint sets.

What I'm NOT looking forward to are the Sapphire reprint sets and old baseball themes. Do I want to see Wolverine on a 1952 Topps baseball design? Do we all want an annual Marvel Allen & Ginter set? It's more likely to bring over baseball collectors.

I don't collect baseball, so I don't know what box prices look like. It took a while for Marvel to get to the point of releasing something high-end like Black Diamond, so how soon will we see Transcendent or whatever the other high-end Topps sets are?

Who knows. It's all speculation at this point, and we all know we will never be told all the details.

I remember what happened during the Rittenhouse->UD transition. People hated it. They didn't think the Marvel name belonged at UD. Rittenhouse was more down-to-earth and understood collectors better. Oh, and 1 sketch per box! But UD seems to have done just fine for themselves since then. Collectors will adapt. Some will drop off, new collectors will join. Some may see all fire and brimstone with Fanatics, but the hobby will survive. It'll just look different.

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by newhobbygeek

There are bunch products not on ePack yet. This list doesn't even touch products being released in August or in near future.

Loki Season 1
Hawkeye Season 1
Doctor Strange Multiverse of Madness
Thor Love and Thunder
Fleer Ultra Wolverine
Fleer Ultra Midnight Sons
Marvel Masterpieces 22
Marvel Beginnings Vol2 Series2
Marvel Flair
Marvel Premier 2023
Marvel Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Marvel She-Hulk

Marvel Premier and MM22 could sell out quickly less than couple weeks, but some of the other sets I see sitting. This is why I'm thinking maybe they physically pack out some of these products.

I listed 12 products above. There is 3 months of releases if they did one per week.

Thats crazy, I didn't realise how big the backlog of Marvel epack releases had gotten, I suppose with the glut of physical releases over the last few months it makes sense, but thats crazy

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by glorbgorb

Could they distribute all of a product via ePack? They have done ePack-only sets before, obviously, but could they completely divert a physical product intended for distributors entirely to ePack? I mean, physically they could, but it would be a huge undertaking to scan 100% of a product meant to have a physical/ePack release.

I think this is very likely for some of the unannounced/upcoming sets in which they already have some cards done, i.e. sketches / autos. I wouldn't be surprised to see another set like Captain Marvel in which its a single card "hit" pack release. Effectively cancelling the set and reallocating the already printed cards to make some quick profit.

[HiltonL]

Originally Posted by glorbgorb

Still all speculation from the looks of it, so why not speculate? Better yet, why not ask questions no one here will know the answer to.

Although I am naturally skeptical, I am also very open to good arguments and points I hadn't considered.
Licensee transition we can all agree is not something that just turns on or off. It'll take a year in my opinion.

Originally Posted by glorbgorb

I remember what happened during the Rittenhouse->UD transition. People hated it. They didn't think the Marvel name belonged at UD. Rittenhouse was more down-to-earth and understood collectors better. Oh, and 1 sketch per box! But UD seems to have done just fine for themselves since then. Collectors will adapt. Some will drop off, new collectors will join. Some may see all fire and brimstone with Fanatics, but the hobby will survive. It'll just look different.

That's the best thing about fans, they typically have short memories.
For me, as long as the product is okay, I'll give it a chance. Plus UD had 2007-2008 Marvel Masterpieces, so I didn't feel like it was totally different. But there are definitely things UD does that I like/hate

[Xazark]

Wonder if Marvel Unbound will continue to week 52 or whether they will condense it or do something else. Probably depends on when the license finishes I guess, its at week 21 this week so if it did go all the way that would make the final week 5th-11th Mar 2025.

[Zeldafanatic15]

Originally Posted by Xazark

Wonder if Marvel Unbound will continue to week 52 or whether they will condense it or do something else. Probably depends on when the license finishes I guess, its at week 21 this week so if it did go all the way that would make the final week 5th-11th Mar 2025.

It hasn't even been that long but I'm getting flashbacks to when Topps/Fanatics canceled the Star Wars Living Set. The two artists working on it were floored since they already had art finished well past the 500 cards it got to.

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[BobCollects]

I wonder how long this topic will get before we receive confirmation about UD losing the Marvel license or not.


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