Topps Attax Doctor Who

Yes you heard correctly. Topps has finally produced a Doctor Who set of collectable cards. It may be in 'Attax' form but it is still The Doctor. Pity Topps couldn't produce some dalek relic or Rose Tyler DNA cards, those might be interesting to collect. The Topps Alien Attax coincides with the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who television show.
If your a fan of The Doctor, you would have already realised that this year is a special year in the Doctor Who calendar. On the 23rd of November 1963  the first Doctor Who episode 'The Unearthly Child' was broadcast, although eclipsed by other historic events, the show pulled in a decent audience.
In 1973, on the tenth anniversary of the show, a series of episodes called 'The Three Doctors' was made.
In 1983, on the twentieth anniversary, a special called 'The Five Doctors' was made.
In 1993, although Doctor Who series had been on temporary leave since 1989, a Children in Need special called 'Dimensions in Time' was broadcast.
Unfortunately in 2003, the Doctor was still off the air, so to speak, but roll on 2013 The Doctor has never been more popular, which means there is a flood of Doctor Who celebratory merchandise available - Royal Mail stamps (which are pretty cool even for a non stamp collector), cups, mugs T-shirts, miniature TARDISes, (is there a plural for TARDIS?), hats, figures, you name it.

The Alien Attax set contains 240 cards to collect which includes 16 rainbow foil cards and 32 mirror foil cards.

The collector pack comes with the collection folder, checklist, battle mat and a 'special' 3D Matt Smith card. 

The rest of the 240 cards are divided into groups of Aliens, Humans, Humanoids, Doctors, Companions, Robots, etc. Thankfully the set includes the very lovely new assistant Clara/Oswin Oswald played by Jenna-Louise Coleman.

There has never been a shortage of Aliens in the Doctors past, whether they were the creepy sort to keep you up in the night such as; Snowman, Weeping Angels or gas-masked children,

 Or just downright weird like the Face of Boe, The Ood or Sulirians

 Although there were some that would barely past the Alien screening process. Really- an alien made from Liquorice Allsorts.

I am pretty close to completing this set, so if you want to fill any empty spaces, just contact me. 



2011/2012 Topps Match Attax Football

The recent 6-1 drubbing of Manchester United by their close rivals Manchester City put a huge smile on the face of most football supporters (except the Manchester United faithful-naturally). It would have been nice if it had been Norwich, or West Bromwich Albion, or even Fulham handing out the humility lessons. However we are not fussy. It's not bitterness or jealousy that makes us feel this way. Manchester United is, and has been, a great team for many years. It is more the cocky, swaggery arrogance that the manager and some of the players have adopted in recent times. There lies within the joy of an unbiased supporter.

Unfortunately Topps has developed a somewhat similar attitude towards the Match Attax Brand. Build it and they will come. It's Match Attax, they will buy it no matter what. Let's not forget this is a product directed towards children, the Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh generation. But I cannot feel anything except disappointment as an adult and as a swap club organiser at school.

Let me talk about the positives, or more fitting 'the' positive is an insert called Golden Moments.

Yes they are golden cards, but the 40 card insert focuses on the last 20 years of Premier League football. The set looks at some of the iconic moments of Premier League football such as Jurgen Klinsmann's goal celebration from 1994, David Beckham's goal from the half-way line in 1996, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer netting four goals after coming on as a sub in 1999 and the remarkable Blackburn Premier League winners in 1995. This is a great idea for an insert, even in gold. Dissapointingly missing is Eric Cantona's flying kick on a spectator in 1995, Roy Keane's leg breaking tackle in 2001, Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer's same team fight in 2005 and any one of the many Patrick Viera moments- Roy Keane tunnel bust up perhaps. However, for me, the positives stop there.

My main beef is the 'Limited Edition' cards, of which there are 6. These limited cards are not inserted in packs randomly except for one, which is inserted randomly into packs only available from one particular chain of bookshops. The other five limited cards can only be 'collected' through purchasing a football magazine (£2.99), the Match Attax collectors tin (£9.99), the Match Attax collectors box (£7.50), the Match Attax multi-pack (£5.00) and the Match Attax starter pack (£4.99). So a very clever marketing ploy to make you purchase more Match Attax in unique disguises, at a rough cost of £30.00, which would give you the five limited cards and roughly 150 Match Attax cards. There are 360 base cards to collect and a further 65 Man of the Match,100 club and a referee. Is the picture becoming clearer. Some collectors may feel that this is fair and that you purchase all these different products and obtain the limited card, rather than trawling through packs. Fair enough.

My other complaint is that it still much the same as the last years set, and the years before, and the year before that, with just the colour of the backs changed. Topps has the ability to produce design changes elsewhere. Why not here? The starter pack book to keep your cards in is crap as well.

All that said, I will however be collecting the entire set again as part of the swap club I run at school. The lucky winner of our club competition gets to own the completed set and as many of the 'inserts' I can collect.

I think though that this will be my last time doing it. My fifth and final completed set.

Topps Attax STAR WARS Edition

Police Academy was a fine product of the 1980's. The first was the best, the second pretty funny but they should have stopped there. Three was stupid, four even worse. Then Steve Guttenburg decided enough was enough and jumped ship after the fourth instalment. They continued to squeeze that winning franchise until it bled...5th, 6th, Mission to Moscow (7th), TV series, Dog Academy and there is talk of an 8th with Steve Guttenburg safely rescued and back at the helm. Topps, I fear, is squeezing as much as possible from the Attax brand:

Premiership Match Attax (4 series)

Bundesliga Match Attax (2 series)

Slam Attax (2 series)

Match Attax Extra (4 series)

Match Attax World Cup edition (1 series)

Baseball Attax (2 series)

NFL Attax (?)

Basketball Attax(?)

and now Force Attax.

When I saw these I thought why, but that little Star Wars nerd that resides inside me bought four packs. My boys, who pay no attention whatsoever to any of my other collecting pursuits, saw them and without hesitation 'awwed' and 'arred' over them. So in this respect a success for Topps and the continuing Attax brand. Unfortunately they are not the original Star Wars (I mean episode 4, 5 and 6) but the more recent animated series 'Clone Wars'.

If you are familiar with the Topps Attax cards, you will know they are used as a game. Each card has a defence and attack number. There are 190 cards in the Force Attax set to collect, the usual special insert foils are available -Star foils and Force Master rainbow foils and an album with pocket pages, game mat and checklist also available.

I retrieved the four packs from my sons to give you a taste and share the Star Wars goodness enclosed within.

Pack 1:

Y-wing Starfighter

General Grevious Starfighter

Clone Trooper

Clone Trooper Denal

Count Dooku Star FoilPack 2:

Mace Windu Rianbow Foil

Bail Organa

Luminara Unduli & Barriss Offee

Yoda & Clone Trooper

Bounty Hunter

Pack 3:

Ahsoka Tano & Barriss Offee

General Grievous & Magnaguard

Clone Trooper Waxer

Asajj Ventress & Super Battle Droid

Asajj Ventress Force Master rainbow foil

Pack 4:

Obi-Wan Kenobi & Commander Cody

Embo

Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi

Commander Wolffe

Padme Amidala & C-3PO

Some great looking cards that we have come to expect from the Attax brand. The Obi-Wan / Anakin card my personal favourite.

Where will the Topps Attax brand go next?
What Attax cards would you like to see Topps produce?

2010 Topps Attax Starter Box

Match Attax -The card game that puts you in charge of the action!

Aimed at children? Obviously. Collected by grown-ups? Possibly. Nice looking cards? Definitely.

There should be two code cards plus 4 foil cards including an exclusive 'Legends' sepia foil card.

There are 21 cards in the starter box.

15 base cards

Francisco Rodriguez Mets

Cliff Lee Mariners

Scott Feldman Rangers

Brad Lidge Phillies

Nelson Cruz Rangers

Howie Kendick Angels

Carlos Lee Astros

Eric Byrnes D-backs

Adam Kennedy Athletics

B.J.Upton Bay Rays

Andrew McCutchen Pirates

David DeJesus Royals

Curtis Grandson Yankees

Jermaine Dye White Sox

Evan Longoria Bay Rays

2 code cards and 4 foils

Manny Ramirez Dodgers

Alex Rodriguez Yankees

Nolan Reimold Orioles Hot Streak
Aramis Ramirez Cubs Hot Streak

Justin Verlander Tigers Superstar

Mike Schmidt Phillies Legend

I know there isn't a great deal of love for the Match Attax cards amongst 'serious' collectors. They have no numbers or statistical information, no relic/auto 'hits' but it is helping to draw in the next generation of collectors. That cannot be a bad thing.

Topps have tried hard to make this collectable and achievable. The foil cards, although not to every collectors taste, are nice and shiny.

I also know a Mike Schmidt collector who would appreciate the sepia legend.

2010 Topps Attax Baseball

I watched two guys open a starter box of Topps Attax each on some obscure website called Beckett. They tried really hard to get excited about the cards but failed. One even said something like '... well you play a game. I don't think I will be playing it but I might collect the cards. They look pretty good.'
It was a little understated as the Attax brand is a huge money spinner for Topps, accounting for about a quarter (according to the Wall Street Journal) of their turn-over. The Match Attax football version has been huge in the UK and Europe. According to the experts the reason was that Topps combined the card collecting habit of old with the new fantasy role-play competitive game of trying to build a winning combination of cards to defeat an opponent.
I will throw my idea in too.
Being a primary school teacher I saw how popular the Attax were on the playground. Firstly they were affordable (8 good quality cards for 50p), secondly they looked good (bright colours, nice pictures) and thirdly there were special 'chase' cards. The children desired them and they traded like anything to get them, even purchasing the tin, book, folder and magazine to obtain the limited cards. They really only wanted to collect the base cards of the team they supported- Manchester United, Chelsea, West Ham United, etc. A few wanted the entire set, but all of them wanted to own some of the Shiny, Glittery Rainbow Foil cards. Very few, if any of the children I saw trading cards actually played the game.
However I'm not sure of the longevity of the product. Topps milked the product for what it worth this year with Match Attax Extra, Match Attax World Cup Edition, a supermarket Attax special pack and Slam Attax. Plus Panini leap on the band wagon with Adrenalyn XL , spreading the demand very thin while keeping supply super high. There are half full boxes in all stores around my way. So whether it is as popular next year we have to wait and see.
But the guys on Beckett were right.
They look pretty good.

I was gifted 9 packs of Topps Attax baseball which I will open in my ongoing search for Red Sox at 'Pursuit of Red Sox'

2009 Topps Attax

FINALLY! I was able to get a hold of Topps Attax baseball cards from e-bayUK. Things like this often end up on e-bayUK through unwanted birthday gifts or relatives visiting the US. I was a big fan of the English versions of this, in the form of Match Attax Premiership football and Slam Attax Wrestling. It didn't appear to set the collecting world alight in the USA or it is probably old news. Topps did stick with a winning formal hugely successful here in the UK, so I was pleased.
Each of the starter boxes contained 2 code cards, 5 Foil cards and 34 base cards.
The foil cards were:
Dan Harden D-backs Hot Streak,
Brandon Phillips Reds Hot Streak,
Josh Hamilton Rangers Superstar,
Daisuke Matsuzaka Red Sox Superstar and
Nolan Ryan Astros Legend.The code cards were:
Jay Bruce Reds and Chipper Jones Braves

There was a healthy selection of Yankees, Bay Rays, Cubs and Angels. A smattering of the other clubs and one Red Sox Jed Lowrie.

Whether Topps choose to make baseball again is another thing altogether. Topps produce a Match Attax Extra half way through the football season and include different foils, but there is no information whether or not they will follow suit with Baseball Attax. There is however, already talk of next seasons Match Attax Premiership football.

As always, cards are up for trade.

2009 Baseball Attax

Back in December I caught this post from bdj610bbcblog and Wax Heaven about Topps Attax baseball and have had a post waiting in the dashboard.
Match Attax Football and Slam Attax Wrestling have been pretty big in the UK. If you didn't catch them. Chris from Stale Gum has busted a few packs of football (soccer) and reviewed them on You Tube and Mario did this post on the Slam Attax cards.

I think the popularity caught Topps by surprise. We are well behind the US when it comes to quantity and quality of cards about 'Our National Pastime' and the game used soccer cards are a out there but it appears primarily for the American market.

I don't know whether the newest stickers available called Topps Total Football have been in the pipeline for a while and they (being Topps) have slowly led us down the memorabilia path but they have gone all out with colour supplements in magazines and a pretty impressive television ad campaign.

Included in 2009 are 20,000 signed stickers, one player from each of the 20 Premiership clubs, signing 1,000 sticker. There are a few big names to whet the appetite. A redemption card is included in the pack to send away for the signed sticker. Sounds familiar.

Back to the reason for the post - Baseball Attax. The reason why Match Attax and Slam Attax were so popular was the price. 40pence for football and 50pence for wrestling. Boxes of the football cards, going for a reasonable £30.00 were being whipped off the shelves. These were not 1 pack, 1 card packs or even 10 pack, 10 card boxes, but 100 packs of 6card football packs. Maybe it isn't in the same league as Sweet Spot or Sterling. It did however get adults into collecting more than they had before and drew children by their 1o,ooo's into the collecting market.
What will Topps charge for the Baseball Attax cards? 99c for 4 card booster pack and $7.99 for a 34 starer pack. This is a potential product to draw NEW young collectors back into a hobby, which needs them. Why not charge 99c for 10 cards? If you have some doubles, trade them or here's an old concept 'flip them'. They only cost 99cents.