2018 Fleer Ultra X-Men Non-Sport Forum

It's unbearable. Look at the average Topps baseball set from the last 5 years. The list of parallels and inserts is about a mile long. Totally pointless. Even the amount of SP's is ridiculous. I just do the base set and a few insert sets - that's it.

@billykingsley, Sad. Just sad. Especially for someone with a collection as large as yours I can't imagine trying to find additional room to store all that extra until you can get rid of it. My natural impusle would be to burn the set but reason would probably get the better of me and I would want to get some of my money back.

@suomibear8, Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to just keep trying to collect the eariler sets as long as they're available. I just can't get into the new sets. It would really drive me insane not being able to collect a full set. Maybe if I kept my comic cards in boxes like my Baseball cards it wouldnt matter to me as much but with comic cards I like to display them in binders. I usually break down the box they came in and display it in the binder with the set as well as some open packs, promos, prototypes, and pretty much anything else that will fit in the binder. 

I have a set of 2016 Marvel Masterpieces that I'm working on, but the cards are on the ultra premium, extra thick card stock so there are only 12 packs per box with 3 cards per pack. It is going to take me years or a whole lot of money to complete the base set let alone the three parallels. Also to your point the chase sets are infinite as well. Everytime I open that binder I think  "Why did I do this to myself?"  

I dont want collecting the set to be easy, but it also shouldn't be this hard. Glad I'm not the only one who feels this way.

You might be better off buying the base set complete on Ebay...some people who chase "hits" don't care about the base cards and sell them cheaply. I've picked up a few that way...the best being the Empire Strikes Back 3Di set...I don't really like doing it though, it feels like cheating. But sometimes the desire to have the cards is more than the desire for the hunt or the sense of accomplishment.

@billykingsley Yep, that's what I did with the base set of 2016 Marvel Massterpieces. I guess the problem now is that the definition of "base set" has changed. Technically there are 90 cards in the base set but the base set is actaully just tiered sub sets with each tier having a more limited run. So you end up seeing partial base sets that are high runs going for cheap and then you see the higher tier limited subsets of the base going for several hundred dollars more. I have cards 1-81 that I bought in all at once but cards 82-90 are going to cost a fortune. They have basically turned the entire set into chase cards. And then they do it 3-4 more times with the parallels. So either I have to shell out hundreds of dollars just to collect the base set or I have to hunt for the deals on individual cards. By the time I'm done collecting the base set I don't have the money or energy to go after the inserts let alone the parallels.

Im worried that I'm starting to sound too whiny. I really do love the hobby and I enjoy the hunt I just feel like I don't get any additional value to having all of these essentially duplicate cards. I don't ever plan on selling my collection. I collect because I love the hobby but there has to be some value to collecting all these additional cards other than Upper Deck told me to. The value added used to be the hunt for rare and unique cards to eventually have a complete set. Now the card companies just want me to buy it because they printed it. That's it I'm done hating. Thanks for letting me vent to you guys! I'm gonna go buy some of those 82-90 subset cards now.

UGH Now Non-Sport is into thousands of millions of parallels, short prints and inserts? I think the parallel insert era we are in today is thousands of times worse than the mid 1980s to mid 1990s OVERPRODUCTION Years. (I don't want to offend Billy and others by saying the "J" word)

It is really ridiculous when you have to purchase 2 or more boxes to maybe get the dang 100 or 150 card BASE set. Of course with some products only have 4 or 5 cards per pack with maybe 12 packs per box, 24 per hobby box there is no way to complete a "base" set. 

@captainkirk42, Exactly. It's like the carrot on the stick dangling in front of our noses. It used to be a stick that was so short we could just stretch our necks a bit and get the carrot. Now the stick is a mile long. We can't even see the carrot anymore.

I've said it before (although maybe not here) and I'll say it again; as long as there are those collectors buying the product by the case hunting down all those "sick hitz bro" that they are obsessed with, we will continue to have this problem.

Now, I am not one to bash the way anyone collects. To each their own; that's a great part of this hobby. But it's hard to deny that those who buy in bulk just to hunt down the rare cards and cast away the rest are the big reason behind why this keeps happening in every new product.

Topps/Panini/whoever doesn't make money when one of their cards are sold on eBay, no matter what the price. They do make money, however, when Joe Schmoe spends $150 buying Wal-Mart out of Bowman blasters because he's on the prowl for the Ohtani autographed superfractor. 

Heck, 1/1 cards aren't even as special anymore. Printing Plates are essentially 1 of 4, and when a product has 37 1/1 parallel cards, with the only difference being the color of the border or text, is there really that much of a difference? But the Pokemon mentality of those with the time and resources to "catch 'em all" continues to allow these to command a premium price in the secondary market. Again, to each their own; I'm simply stating the reason.

Sorry to get off track and rant a bit. I know this is a non-sport discussion, but the problem is the same in many sports too. Like you Vargatron, I am a completionist. For a few years, I thought about taking my plethora of 2013 Topps baseball cards and building the set, but I don't think I could comfortably sit here and know that there's still so many more inserts/parallels/etc. out there to get. Don't even get me started on variations...

Oh, and one final note. I still think the solution to the problem I mentioned above is to get every collector to refuse to buy a high-end product. Go on strike against it to send the message to Topps or Panini that their little game of one pack/three cards/three hits per box for $200 (or whatever) is over with. That won't ever happen, but I can dream...

Man, three different parallels is nothing. Check out a product like this year's Prizm Basketball, which has 25 different parallel versions listed here! And then have fun trying to figure out if you have, say, a "Red Prizm", or a "Red Pulsar Prizm", or a "Red Shimmer Prizm", or a "Red Fast Break Prizm". 

Hot Wheels, comic books, action figures, the various bobble head mini figure (Funko) type statues, and now cards too I'm hearing.  EVERY collectible comes series after series, so each year there is going to be a year's worth of a line.  Then that basic line will have variations that are harder to find.  Then there are chase pieces, then exclusives, so each series/year is pretty much maxed out in volume.  But then that happens every year.  No one can complete all of it, or if they do, they spend tremendous amounts of time, money, and space to do so.

If you pick any one year and decide to be a completionist about that, you can have a fun time with chasing them all.  But it is so hard to keep that pace up again and again.  It takes discipline but you have to define your completionist desires into a manageable focus.

1. Every base card each year.

1a. Plus all parallels.

1b. Plus all inserts.

or

2. Inserts only.

3. Certain characters, all cards.

There are many ways to look at it.

You have to define your focus and that is the hardest part. Once you do, sticking to it will be easier and things will become more enjoyable.  You don't want a ton of cards, you just want all of them.  They supply the tonnage.  You have to redefine 'all of them' so that the volume is not overwhelming.  Believe me, it is so easy to go around just checking things off the list, but never getting any sense of satisfaction, because there is always something new being added to the list.  You end up never enjoying what you have because you are obsessed with what you don't have.  Build in limits so that you can enjoy the chase, enjoy it's closure, and then enjoy being complete (and getting a breather from the chase).

It can sound scary to 'quit' and miss something, but once you make that break, you are free from the 'gotta get em all' obsession.  Would you rather have 75 plastic tubs (all over the house) of stuff you never see, or maybe 8 really cool binders on a bookshelf you can showcase with pride, and reflect through anytime you want to?  Display is a part of collecting that many sacrifice.  The money and time you save by reducing your focus can be put into display and organization.  In that way you are still just as engaged as you were before, but it will be more rewarding and satisfying.