Official SCF Review: 2008 Topps Big Stix

[Enigma]

First and foremost, I'd like to thank our sponsor Topps for providing us with the opportunity to review this product.



Contents:
20 packs per box
5 stickers per pack
MSRP - 2 packs for $19.99 (Only place I've seen these for sale is at mlb.com)

Topps Big Stix is a box of 5x7 stickers. The sticker are removable and meant to be moved around. Each "card" comes with an action sticker of a particular player, a sticker that contains the team logo of the jersey the player is pictured and a sticker with the player's name inside a baseball.



Each pack also contains a checklist. I have to assume the purpose of the checklist in each pack is because this product is not meant to be sold by the box, but by the pack.



As you can see, some teams are more represented than others.

Box Breakdown:
Set - 87/100 (87% complete)
Dupes - 16

I know the idea is to get people to keep buying the product and trading, but how hard would it be for a product such as this to just put all 100 stickers in the box? Of the 16 duplicate stickers, 2 of them were actually triplicate stickers (David Ortiz and Victor Martinez).

All you get in these packs are the stickers. There's nothing else to chase after. There's no variations, no possible auto, etc. And yes, we did have three packs that yielded six stickers. The pictures used for this product was great and the colors standout. However, that's all that is good about this product.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when should someone be expected $10 a pack for a bunch of stickers. Most of Topps brand card packs do not cost this much. It might be different if there were actually statistics on the back of the stickers, but there isn't any. It's a blank white backing. As collectors, no one is going to try to complete the set of these. The occasional player may appeal to player collectors, but overall, stickers are for kids. With that said, how many kids can afford to pay $10 for a pack of stickers!

Now, for another kicker, 4 of these "cards" actually have the Rookie Card Logo on them. How ridiculous is that?! These are not even really cards. They are stickers, so now I guess we have rookie stickers. The Rookie Stickers are Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Hiroki Kuroda and Evan Longoria.


Final Ratings (Out of 5):
Base - 2.5
Fun - 3.0
Overall Design - 3.5
Value - 0
Rebuy - 0

Final Grade - 9/25 (36%)

I know that Topps is working hard to create new products to appeal to the masses, but this one fails miserably. The people (kids) that this should appeal to cannot afford it while those who can afford will want nothing to do with it. As a collector, I view this as a slap in the face to assume I will want to spend this time of money on a bunch of stickers. If we are going to see stickers again, then let's just go back to the 1980s where there was a sticker album and you could by packs of stickers for .25 and then you tried to complete a booklet. At least it would be affordable to those that have an interest in the stickers!

I am very disappointed to see "high-end" stickers on the market. Is that where we are going? How can it be justified to see that one player sticker costs more to purchase than a full pack of your base line product? I really hope this is not a trend at it will carry over into other sports. If these would have been actual cards that had a sticker you could peel off, that would have been totally different. But no, it's just three stickers, a player, a ball and a logo! I'm just left with nothing else to do but shake my head in disbelief!

[Pheebs888]

Yikes Tony...Tell it like it is! Good review though, will be up on the articles site later today

[BBonds25]

They should've named the product Topps Big Stinx! Terrible idea for this day and age.

That being said, if any are FT, I can use the Longoria and Curtis Granderson (if you pulled them).

Brad

[lil5up3rman]

Ouch, Tony no like!!! Daniel.

[andrewcstein]

Well, I guess the main question is...did you pull the Vlad? :)

[gladdyontherise]

are any avaiable for SASE? did a verlander get pulled?
this seems like a huge waste of money, i feel bad for whoever buys this because there can't possibly be a resale value on these

[SingleDaddyof2]

I wonder much different the review and other's reactions would have been if the price was like $1.49 per pack?

[BBonds25]

They should've named the product Topps Big Stinx! Terrible idea for this day and age.

That being said, if any are FT, I can use the Longoria and Curtis Granderson (if you pulled them).

Brad

Nevermind Tony. I see that i apparently missed the appropriate thread that made these available.

Brad

[Trucker]

Stix fail. Due to this product not selling at all, I'm sure we collectors will get slapped with prices on different Topps product to make up for this miserable loss. Thanks for honest review Tony.

[fyretiger]

MSRP - 2 packs for $19.99 (Only place I've seen these for sale is at mlb.com)

I saw them at Target today. They were $9.99 per pack.