Monday, September 30, 2019

2019 Topps Archives Expos 50th "Blue Variation" #/150

Card Review: 7.0  The "Blue" variation of the foil Expos Stamp looks better than the standard "Silver" variation (is it a variation if it's the "standard," or are all inserts inherently "variations?").  Obviously blue works better with the Expos logo and as a result these blue variations just look a little nicer, albeit, not as nice as the "red," which I'll get to posting in a few days. 

These are numbered to 150 on the back in tiny gold stamping.  Some people think that matters, I'm just not one of them.  Hear me out.  Topps printed up god knows how many copies of this card.  Once they did that, it was a "card."  That's it, that's the card.  Then they took 150 copies of that card, it didn't matter which ones because they were all the same card, added a blue stamp on the front, and numbering on the back.  It's still the same card, with some post production graffiti.  If I did it with a sharpie, the card is deemed ruined.  If Topps does it with a press, it's more collectible?  I've seen this movie before (remember those ridiculous Leaf Memories monstrosities?).  If Topps is going to do "variations," than they should actually do "variations."  The 2017 Archives Wallach had actual "variations," as the card itself was a different color.  They weren't all born of the same print run.  I still wasn't wild about that gimmick, but at least you could call them "different" cards and only sound like half an idiot.  Same for the chrome and refractor variations they've done before.  They may be goofy, and kind of stupid, but at least they're not literally the same card the way these foil stamp variations are.

Number of this card in my collection: 1