The timing of Topps' releases was a little strange. The 216 card "flagship" "NPB" set was released in May but the other three sets didn't come out until the last two months of the year. The 180 card "Bowman NPB" set came out in early November and the "Chrome NPB" set came out a couple weeks later. The 216 card "206 NPB" set was released at the beginning of December and I think had to be ordered from Topps' Japanese website.
I mock Topps' NPB offerings a lot and with good reason but I should point out that I really like their Topps Now Samurai Japan cards (although they are pricey). This year they did 16 Topps Now cards for players (and manager Hirokazu Ibata) on the Samurai Japan squad that won the Asian Professional Baseball Champsionship in November and are also releasing an on-demand Topps Now 30 card full team set for the team (although they're still in the process of selling that so it won't be out for a few more weeks).
7 comments:
I still need to get the base 206 set added. I have had a heck of a time finding set information for Chrome and 206. The PDFs Topps put out don't reference parallels, so I'm not sure what to add to the existing TCDB listings. Even their sell sheets don't mention the parallels.
Yet again, Topps drops the ball in Japan.
I've been enjoying the topps sets in Japan. Specifically npb chrome and 206. Really love the inserts in chrome Titan and volcanic. 206 is really nice too for a classic feel and nice artwork. Nice change of pace from bbm.
Next year I'm hoping topps introduces some short prints and variations to the the npb sets with some quirky photos like topps mlb. I think the popularity oh the topps npb is growing as I see a lot of photos on twitter so I think they are doing a good job and I'm excited to pick of some more. My best pull was an orange /25 oshiro(catcher for the giants)
The biggest thing I'd like Topps to do with their NPB cards is embrace their Topps-ness. Do an "All Star Rookie Team" with the little trophies on the cards. Do an Archives or Heritage set putting NPB players into the classic Topps designs.
I'm glad you're enjoying their cards - I'm certainly not trying to tell you that you shouldn't. I've just been kind of disappointed with them.
Four Topps sets = one set’s worth of card back content between them.
Cold but accurate.
I've finally got most of Topps 206 added to TCDB now. Wasn't sure what color the unnumbered parallel was, so I just called it 'Unnumbered Parallel' for now. While we know who has autographed cards, I have yet to see a copy of each, so I don't know what the actual card numbers are for all of them or what variations are available for them. I THINK I have all of the parallels listed, now.
I've been thoroughly confused by the plethora of 206 parallels so I'll be referring a lot to whatever you've put up whenever I get around to writing about the set.
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