SCF Official Review: 2009 Topps National Chicle

[Enigma]

First and foremost, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Topps for providing us with this box.



24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
Current Retail Price: 64.99 - 74.99 (Online)


Product Description

A New All-Painted Series Featuring:
2 Autographed, 1 Relic, and 1 Cabinet Card Per Hobby Box!

BASE CARDS (200 TOTAL CARDS) - 7 PER PACK! Classic Chicle Design
- 165 Veterans, Legends, Rookies, 50 Short Print, and 5 Short Print Variation Cards

BOX LOADER (50 TOTAL CARDS) - 1 PER BOX!
- Cabinet Cards (25 subjects)
- Cabinet Card Signature Series (25 subjects) - Numbered to 50!

AUTOGRAPH CARDS (80 TOTAL CARDS) - 2 AUTOGRAPH CARDS PER BOX!
- National Chicle Autographs (50)
- National Chicle Dual Autographs (20 subjects/10 cards) - Numbered to 25 or lower!
- National Chicle Cuts (25) - One of One!

RELIC CARDS (90 TOTAL CARDS) - 1 RELIC CARD PER BOX!
- National Chicle Relics (50)
- National Chicle Dual Relics (30 subjects/15 cards) - Numbered to 25!
- National Chicle Reprint Relics (5) - Numbered!

PARALLEL CARDS (1690 TOTAL CARDS) - 1 PER PACK!
- Printing Plates (175 subjects/700 cards) - One of One! Hobby Exclusive!
- Pigskin (165 subjects) - One of One! Hobby Exclusive!
- Artist Proof (165 subjects) - Numbered to 10!
- Umbrella Back (165 subjects) - Numbered to 25!
- Bazooka Back (165 subjects)
- National Chicle Back (165 subjects)
- Base (165 subjects)

CHICLE ERA CARDS (40 TOTAL CARDS)
- Era Icons Insert Cards (20)
- Era Icon Relic Cards (20) - Numbered to 99!

NATIONAL CHICLE ORIGINAL CARDS (TBD) - Hobby Exclusive!

INSERT CARDS (75 subjects) - 12 INSERT CARDS PER BOX!
- Youngsters of the Gridiron (20)
- Greats of the Gridiron (10)
- Stars of the Gridiron (10)
- Greatest Thrills (10)

WHAT WE PULLED



Box Loader: Matthew Stafford
Base: 113/200 (57.5%)
Dupes: 29
Mini (20)
Mini National Chicle Back (3): Greg Olsen, Hakeem Nicks, Brandon Tate
Mini Bazooka Back (1): Laveranues Coles



Era Icons (8)
Greatest Thrills (1)
Greats Of The Gridiron (1)
Stars Of The Gridiron (4)
Youngsters Of The Gridiron (6)



Andre Brown Auto
Brian Orakpo Auto
Juaquin Iglesias Auto
LeSean McCoy Auto
Beanie Wells Jersey



FINAL RATINGS

Base: 2.75/5
Design: 4/5
Fun: 3.5/5
Value: 4.5/5
Rebuy: 4.5/5

Total: 19.25/25 (77%)

The theme of retro sets continues with National Chicle. Chicle has a dubious honor of appearing as an insert set for one company and then appearing as a release for another. The base cards feature the players as paintings instead of action photos. The design is based on the actual Chicle product that was released a long time ago. There are mini versions of the cards and parallels of the minis.

There are five inserts set in Chicle. The most interesting would be Era Icons. It is centered around personalities or other famous/important pieces of the time. The other set focus purely on football with players grouped into different sets.

On average, Chicle contains two autographs and 1 memorabilia card. We did amazingly well by getting double the amount of autographs. The autos look just like the base cards other than the area for the sticker auto. The jersey cards have the swatch contained in a box with a "C" in the middle.

Retro sets tend to turn off a lot of collectors because of the basic designs. However, these cards are facsimiles of actual paintings done by various artists to create these cards. The vibrant colors bring these cards to life. A huge drawback though is the unnecessary amount of duplicates in a box. When twenty percent of the base cards are duplicates, a lot of the enjoyment is removed. You know what would have really looked magnificent? Yes, on-card autos on the painted cards. Well, at least there's always IP and TTM.

Once again, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsors at Topps for giving us the opportunity to open and review this release. For more information on all their products, be sure to check them out at www.topps.com.

[spuds1961]

Great box,thank you Topps,nice review Tony you can open a box for me anytime if you're gonna do that good.Take care Steve

[patriotsguy]

Thanks again to Topps and nice break!

[SingleDaddyof2]

Interesting card concept, fantastic break! Thanks Topps!

[MadMan1978]

Great review thanks tony

[Captngeetch]

I love the painted look...always been a fan of the throwback look...and any box with 4 auto's is a winner for me....Thanx to Topps for providing the box for review !

[etmill01]

Thanks Topps for the box to review, not really sure if I like the concept of the cards, never really was a fan of throwback look...Ed

[JKC]

Nice break and review! Thanks, Topps, for providing this!

[garnett_21]

Nice break and review! This box was loaded! Nice group of autos pulled too. One thing I don't like is the amount of duplicate base cards - why not cut the duplicates in half, and make it considerably easier to complete the base set in only 2 boxes, instead of possibly falling a handful of cards short on the second box?

Thanks, Topps!

[CHillyDoggy]

Nice product, not a fan of the art on these as much as most of Topps other art designs but thats just me. You do seem to get a lot in these boxes though. :)