Box Break - 2010 Topps WWE Platinum

I believe this is Topps' first foray into the higher end of wrestling cards and the final result is pretty good.  Topps borrowed the Platinum design first used for football so if you are familiar with that design then you know what you are getting here for the base cards.  The draw for a lot of fans and collectors alike will be the inserts.  Each hobby box guarantees 3 hits - autograph, autograph relic and relic.  There are also TONS of parallels of both the base cards and the inserts.  I was going to post the odds of the inserts, but there are so many freakin' parallels and such it would require more energy to type them up than I am willing to muster!

The base set consists of 125 cards.  This is a step up in number of cards from the base WWE set released earlier in 2010.  Inserts include Platinum Performance, Legendary Superstars, Platinum Autographs, Platinum Autograph Relics, Platinum Relics and Platinum Triple Relics.  Parallels include refractor like cards one per pack printed on thicker cardstock, sequentially numbered green (/499), blue (/199), gold (/) and red (/1).  Printing Plates (1:174) are also included and are 1/1.  The inserts also come in the various colored sequentially numbered variety as well as printing plate versions.  Still hanging in there?  Good.  Now I'll let you relax your eyes and share some of the inserts and the hits I got out of my hobby box.

#d 17/25 - odds 1:385

#d 15/99 - odds 1:87

non numbered version Relic

  

  

  

#d /499

  

  

#d 238/499 - odds 1:12

Overall I really like the inserts sets, though I could do without all of the various colored parallels.  The cards do look better in person.  Upon seeing scans of the green and blue cards online I wasn't too excited about them.  After holding a few in my hands I can report they look beautiful...I just don't care to chase any more of the down.  The Legendary Superstars are nice because you get current talent and a similar veteran/hall of famer on the same card.  The Legendary Superstars highlight career moments for each character.  Both of these inserts feature a refractor like rainbow sheen.

I was very happy pulling the Big Show autographed relic card.  The fact that it was a parallel version numbered to 99 didn't hurt either.  The design on the t-shirt swatch is cool too as not all of the relic cards have designs...case in point w/ the Sheamus relic card.  I have no clue who Curt Hawkins is and I watch a good amount of wrestling so his card may be up for trades if anyone shows interest.  I was really surprised to feel the cold steel of the printing plate card.  By the time I got to it I had already pulled 2 of the 3 guaranteed hits.  This marks my first ever 1/1 card I've pulled.  It's a neat gimmick I suppose, but either way the card was a nice bonus on top of a great box.

I was a little disappointed however when I collated the base cards and found myself with maybe 75% of the set.  I'm not buying another box and I really don't want to buy more packs or blasters to finish off the set.  I'm hoping that someone that is reading this will help me complete my base set.  I may go after completing the other inserts, but right now I want to focus on the base set.  I'll list my wants in the side bar of the blog shortly.

Another thing I was disappointed about were some rather obvious errors Topps made.  One would think with a mid to high end set the quality control would be stepped up.  Upon reading the backs of the cards I ran across simple typos and a few cards were miscut.  Alright call me anal.  Those may not be big things, but check these 2 cards out and tell me what's wrong with them.  Winner gets a patent "no-prize".

 

Come on Topps!  You really dropped the ball here!  How you can possibly mix up the names of the guys that comprised one of the most iconic tag teams in wrestling history?  Opps?  Wonder if they'll ever correct this.  Doubt it.

Outside of a few flaws I really enjoyed opening this box.  The base set, while finger print prone, is done very nice.  WWE announcer Michael Cole did a good job writing the bios on the backs of the cards.  Just like on RAW however he majorly kisses the Miz butt on the back of his card!  Inserts have a good theme and are well presented and the autographed relics are very nice.  Kudos to Topps for getting different talent to autograph cards from the base WWE set.  They are still sticker autos, but that isn't a huge deal breaker for me as it will be for others.  If you are a fan of the WWE and like wrestling trading cards then I encourage you to at least try this product.  Retail packs can be had for $3, retail rack packs for $9 and hobby boxes seem to currently be in the $45-$60 range.  Let me know what you think.  Better yet, help me out with some base cards!