Time to hand in your tests class! Class dismissed! Alright, before I grade these papers, I need to grade 2009 Topps Allen & Ginter. Here we go:
Design: This is by far the best product design so far this year. At 1st I didn't like the base cards, but when I opened my 1st packs and looked at the 1st card, I knew I was in for a long ride. The base cards look better than ever, and the inserts look great too! I wasn't a huge fan of the National Pride inserts though, they got boring after 5 packs. But all of the minis looked great, especially the black borders, with the great design, more alive than the black square boring border. The hits look really good too, especially the frames, which I have to say is the best frame yet. Some people say to stop making the frames and change it up, but what would Allen & Ginter be like without them. Let's go back to 1887 and find out! OK, I don't have a time machine, but I will say that these cards are the best in show. Compared to what? I have no idea! Grade: A (A+ if not for the stupid national prides!)
Price: This part contains the one and only problem with Ginter, it is very expensive and won't pay up your money. Sure it's a fun half an hour busting 24 packs, but at around $80 a pop is not worth it. I may get a 2nd box (I made over $500 on b-day cash), but I'm not sure if I should wait until the price drops to like what 08 A&G is now. Overall the price is a little too steep for me to consistently buy. Grade: C+
Hits: Another small problem with this product, these are the reason nobody gets their money back unless they pull something great. Come on, Rocco Baldelli has 2 DIFFERENT RELICS in this product!!! By the way, I've been finding ways to push my score for Gint-A-Cuffs up and here's one way, the Soriano bat card is a short printed relic and is 12 instead of 8. Anyway, the hits are nice but next year, please include 4 or 5 for that price! I pulled a Soriano Bat, Longoria jersey, and a Rich Hill autograph, and I thought I had a good box, but I'm pretty sure I didn't make $40 back from that box! Grade: B-
Overall: Well, this product is the best one out there so far, but hopefully Goodwin steals the show in the end. Everything looked fantastic and was a ton of fun to break, although even with a good box I coudn't pay for it. Next year my only suggestion is to either: lower the price because it's naughty not nice, or include 1 or 2 more hits. Overall I had a lot of fun breaking it, thanks to Mark and Beardy for running Gint-A-Cuffs, I think it was a great idea for you guys to do something like this, it really brought us closer. Overall Grade: A
Leave a comment and let me know what you think about the product, and DON'T VOTE FOR OREOS!
I COMPLETELY agree with your thoughts on the price of A&G. It definitely should include a couple more hits. Heck, if those are what you're after, you can find product with twice the hits for half the cost (like Masteripeces!). I'd happily buy A&G if the price was closer to $60 with the hits it comes with now, or I could justify the higher price if the hit count was bumped up to 5 or 6.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I'll definitely be buying some 2009 Allen & Ginter... but probably not until 2010.