Preview: 2012 Topps Inception Football

Schedule Release Date: July 11, 2012

Box Configuration:  7 cards per pack/box

SRP: $85-90/box

Box Break:

2 Autographs/Auto-Relic cards

1 Jumbo Relic or Patch card

2 Base Parallels

2 Veteran Base cards

My Thoughts:

A higher-end product created for autograph chasers. The set contains 135 base cards (100 veterans and 35 autograph rookies) and each of the 35 autographed rookie cards has 5 parallels- Blue #/150, Gold #/99. Green #/50, Red #/25 and Inception 1/1.

This is a decent looking set and the 35 base rookie cards (and parallels) are hard signed so this is definitely a plus but it seems like Topps is stuck in artistic mode. This can be interesting when putting out a set but when you consider the 2011 Magic rookies set has the artistic styling then toss in the artistic/grunge of 2012 Bowman Signatures and now the artistic/grunge styling of Topps Inception and there seems to be a situation where Topps’ designers are either bored or unimaginative.

I do like the set, the artist in me is reaching out, and the Griffin Rookie Silver Signings is pretty sweet. I like the black background and silver paint pen autograph really stands out nicely. The $80-90 price is not to bad considering that you will get 3 hits so it is pretty reasonable for a hihger-end product, the only down side it with only 7 cards per pack/box you do not get a lot of cards and it will take some work for set collectors to put together a set.

Pros:

On-card autographs (Base Rookie Autographs and Silver Signings)

Jumbo Relics

Plenty of Autograph Inserts

Cons:

Sticker Autographs (Everything Else)

More Parallels

Another Art-styling Set

Rating:

I give this set a 3 ½ out of 5 because it offers a lot, is artistic (if you like that style) and will include the newest rookies (hopefully in their pro uniforms).

Rookie Silver Signings

Rookie Auto Jumbo Patch

Rookie Patch

Quad Rookie Auto patch

Base Rookie Autograph