With the unveiling of the underwhelming design of 2015 Topps flagship—with its 25-year-anniversary homage to the 1990 Topps design, intended or not—and the prospect of collecting Heritage '66 next summer already uninteresting, Archives may be the set for me in 2015.
So today I daydreamed about which old designs Topps will pull out of their storage closet for its 2015 Archives set. Here are my guesses.
1988 Topps Baseball
I happen to like the design of 1988 Topps. It's like a combination of the best elements of the 1966 and 1967 designs, with an easy-to-read orange back. Nine-year-old me bought a metric ton of 1988 Topps.
1983 Topps Baseball
Another hallmark 1980s design for a brand that so far has managed to miss it, despite using 1980's design twice.
1994 Topps Baseball
Honestly, not a great design, but the 1990s are sorely lacking from this set so far.
1978 Topps Baseball
What's the Archives brand without a token 1970s design? 1978 is one of the few they haven't cribbed yet.
1981, 1991, or 1970 Topps Baseball
I'm hoping the short-printed cards are in a separate uniform design, unlike in 2014's set, which used the same four designs from the base set. 1981 Topps would be a great choice, or 1970, or 1991.
The designs used for the insert sets have been a hodgepodge taken from all four major sports. I don't see 2015 Topps Archives being any different. Here are a few of the insert designs I'd like to see.
1956 Topps Football
1958 AB&C Footballers (UK)
1967 Topps Who Am I? (with disguises)
1968 Topps Baseball Game
1969 Topps Football
1979 Topps Baseball Comics
1981-82 Topps Basketball Super Action!
1983 Topps/Drake's Baseball Sluggers
1986 Topps Baseball Tattoos
1990 Topps Baseball All-Stars
1990 Topps The Simpsons
The problem with all of this is that eventually Topps will run out of old designs to use for Archives. I've written about this before, but it really feels like every year Topps has to out-do itself in terms of designs to use in its Archives offering. At this pace, the well will soon dry. We can only hope that the Topps brand managers will have enough sense to stop while they're ahead.
I really hope they use the '78 design.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly going to be a hard decision to keep it positioned between Heritage, what they have already done, and a long run of upcoming Heritage styles that just won't be that exciting. But then on the other hand, all collectors care about it is the hit cards, not whether they used 1980 twice already.
ReplyDelete75 would be hugely popular even though just used in '11 Lineage.
76 and another run though 56 would be cool.
For inserts, I would like to see the '76 Father-Son combos return, plenty of subjects in MLB today, though perhaps not of stars so few would care today. '76 Traded could make a nice theme.
But with the hot card in '14 not even being of a real Major Leaguer and Wal-Mart not picking up the brand this year, I could see Archives coming to an end.