Wacky Packages Forum

Wacky Packages Discussion => General Wacky Packages Discussion => Topic started by: DrDeal on November 15, 2017, 07:00:00 PM

Title: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 15, 2017, 07:00:00 PM
Dave has mentioned that he has a number in mind that needs to be hit in terms of sets sales for OS6 to be considered a success. With that in mind I thought it might be helpful to Dave if we started a tally of purchases made by members of this board.

Please list the number of $150 Sets and or $50 Sets purchased and update the total.

Dr Deal: 2 $150 Sets     

            0  $50 Sets
 
Total: $150 Sets : 2 
   
           $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 15, 2017, 07:13:50 PM
Baked Bears: 1 $150 Set


Total: $150 Sets : 3
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Scheres on November 15, 2017, 07:44:23 PM
Scheres: 1 $150 Set


Total: $150 Sets : 4
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: bigtomi on November 15, 2017, 07:59:13 PM
bigtomi: 1 $150 Set


Total: $150 Sets : 5
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Slaytex99 on November 15, 2017, 08:15:49 PM
Slaytex99: 1 $150 Set


Total: $150 Sets : 6
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 15, 2017, 08:17:58 PM
total sales will be posted online in a week, but I guess you're looking to track the real-time numbers?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 15, 2017, 08:23:07 PM
I know of 15 more right now. But since they didn't say I don't want to post their names. Or are you only keeping track of specific people here?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: bigtomi on November 15, 2017, 08:26:35 PM
total sales will be posted online in a week, but I guess you're looking to track the real-time numbers?
Obviously, won't be super accurate anyway, as others will (probably) be purchasing them besides the folks here.

Just heard on the news that a DaVinci painting just sold at auction for $450,000,000. About what a full OLDS6 set goes for.  LOL
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: HENRY.R on November 15, 2017, 08:55:30 PM
Henry.R: 2 $150 Set


Total: $150 Sets : 8
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: NationalSpittoon on November 16, 2017, 01:58:49 AM
NationalSpittoon: 1 $150 set

Total: $150 Sets: 9

         $50 Sets: 0

Although I am thinking of ordering a $50 set for fun..
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 16, 2017, 03:14:54 AM
I know of 15 more right now. But since they didn't say I don't want to post their names. Or are you only keeping track of specific people here?

Let's keep this thread for Board members and you update your comment as you hear of other Dealers and or non-posting members who purchased and let you know. That way you can get a truer accounting by adding your total to the board total. It will be interesting to see how close the total comes to what is actually purchased.   
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: bwing on November 16, 2017, 03:59:15 AM
Bwing: 2 $150 set

Total: $150 Sets: 11

         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 16, 2017, 05:07:50 AM
8 base sets on eBay so far. Surprisingly only offered at $50-60. I would have thought a bit higher.

edit 11/16:  well, that super low $50 is now gone, and sets are pushed up to $75
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: dth1971 on November 16, 2017, 05:38:15 AM
I only ordered 1 $50 set.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: sco(o)t on November 16, 2017, 08:26:45 AM

Sco(o)t : 2 $150 sets

Total: $150 Sets: 11

         $50 Sets: 1. (added dth1971's in)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: rdsjnk on November 16, 2017, 08:29:44 AM
rdsjnk: (2) $150 sets

Total: $150 Sets: 13

         $50 Sets: 1. (added dth1971's in)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 16, 2017, 08:46:43 AM
looks like bwing's purchase was skipped?


Total: $150 Sets: 15

            $50 Sets: 1
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jleonard1967 on November 16, 2017, 10:04:51 AM
Jleonard1967
(3) 150.00 sets

Running total (18)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Lavirus on November 16, 2017, 01:05:22 PM
I bought a full set.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: De-Mented Tomatoes on November 16, 2017, 01:54:05 PM
I bought a full set.

I bought one full set and if I add in Lavirus that makes 20 full sets to date.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: drono on November 16, 2017, 01:54:33 PM
1 $150 for me: Total (21)

I just tried buying 1000 and the limit is 100, but only 50 could be added to the bag.  So it looks like there are only 50 left.  Anyone got $7,500 lying around?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: cmgmd on November 16, 2017, 01:55:13 PM
I also bought a full set.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 16, 2017, 02:19:36 PM
1 $150 for me: Total (21)

I just tried buying 1000 and the limit is 100, but only 50 could be added to the bag.  So it looks like there are only 50 left.  Anyone got $7,500 lying around?

Isn't it print on demand so wouldn't that mean you can get as many as you want and they will be printed? Then again if they did 900 sketch cards and you get three per $150 set there can only be 300 sets.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Brian Mc on November 16, 2017, 02:27:18 PM
Full set.

cmgmd + mine = 23
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 16, 2017, 02:27:57 PM
Isn't it print on demand so wouldn't that mean you can get as many as you want and they will be printed? Then again if they did 900 sketch cards and you get three per $150 set there can only be 300 sets.
yep, the sketch cards are the limiting factor.
seems like many of the artists stated they did 25 sketches, but I have no idea how many artists there are. I think the GPK Classic had 32, all nicely listed on the web page. We weren't so lucky. I have 16 names so far, and counting.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Campy on November 16, 2017, 02:31:28 PM
I just bought a full set >( Hoping for something Good!)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: g.u.e.s.t. on November 16, 2017, 03:06:11 PM
I just bought a full set >( Hoping for something Good!)


1 Full set here plus Campy's = 25 full sets
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Scheres on November 16, 2017, 04:26:03 PM
The first round of sketches was 25 each. I know a few of people that turned it down because The GPK classic set was also due at the same time. 2nd round of old school sketches was 18 each and only people that signed on for the 2018 Wacky set got those. I'm trying to find out who worked on old school 6 but no luck so far.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: WACKY MIKE on November 16, 2017, 04:45:30 PM
I bought a full set yesterday.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: wormypackages on November 16, 2017, 04:54:50 PM
I bought 1 full set - i think we are up to 27
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: HENRY.R on November 16, 2017, 06:00:56 PM
Anyone thinking of buying a set on Topps,I believe there are only 11 sets left,grab yours before they're gone. :'(
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: HENRY.R on November 16, 2017, 06:01:54 PM
Just bought another one,I think were up to 28
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: drono on November 16, 2017, 06:43:23 PM
Isn't it print on demand so wouldn't that mean you can get as many as you want and they will be printed? Then again if they did 900 sketch cards and you get three per $150 set there can only be 300 sets.

It also says, "while supplies last."  I could only put 8 in the cart now.

You also have to remember that the $50 option has a sketch card too, so 900 would be 300 sets - how ever many went into the $50 bundles.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: ronlisa on November 16, 2017, 07:13:38 PM
Just bought my set to help keep Old School  alive. Thanks for making this happen Dave. Can't wait to see them.

1 set at $150
This should make it 29 $150 sets
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: ronlisa on November 16, 2017, 07:32:59 PM
It also says, "while supplies last."  I could only put 8 in the cart now.

You also have to remember that the $50 option has a sketch card too, so 900 would be 300 sets - how ever many went into the $50 bundles.
I think your thinking is right. I just bought  a set and now the maximum it will alow me to order is 7.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 16, 2017, 08:55:03 PM
It says it's Sold Out
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Slaytex99 on November 16, 2017, 09:06:50 PM
It says it's Sold Out

Right with 5 days left to boot.  Granted there are the $50 items left, but this brings me to a point.

If this is print on demand, Topps is leaving money on the table by limiting this to the availability of sketch cards.

Why not offer a base set of stickers only to allow anyone to purchase the set without sketches?  Demand obviously out-stripped supply for full sets very quickly.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 16, 2017, 09:15:41 PM
Right with 5 days left to boot.  Granted there are the $50 items left, but this brings me to a point.

If this is print on demand, Topps is leaving money on the table by limiting this to the availability of sketch cards.

Why not offer a base set of stickers only to allow anyone to purchase the set without sketches?  Demand obviously out-stripped supply for full sets very quickly.

Absolutely. They should drop that $50 option with all the extra stuff and over $50 base sets for the remainder of the time. Maybe they could put 2nd edition on the copyright line so it's fair to the people that bought the $150 sets.

Here's the thing. The original plan they were proposing was so off that they would not have sold anything. I got them to do $150 for everything which clearly was a good idea but they didn't have enough sketch cards. They potentially could have sold 300-600 more sets with the 5 1/2 days left if they had way more sketch cards (or had only offered 1 or 2 in it in the first place). The $50 was a complete waste. I bet Darryl's was the only one they sold!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 16, 2017, 09:18:14 PM
Now in the $50 column it does allow for 100 items in the cart which means they must have stocked both columns with a certain amount. So it's maybe not really sold out. I bet they dump the $50 option tomorrow. Figure out how many remaining sets they can put together with the remaining sketch cards and restock the $150 option with them.

I am also going to suggest they add a new option for just a base set, no sketch cards or other stuff for around $60-70. Whatever works for them. If you have 5 days left you really should have more product to sell. Lesson learned on the sketch cards. Over produce them, don't have a series number on them (just the series name) in case you have extras which you can put towards the next series.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 17, 2017, 02:39:24 AM
I can't see them offering a base set alone for $50  - $60 now that so many people have dropped $150 to obtain one. They would get complaints.

Also,  this set could end being quite a boon for resellers if they end up only making 300 or so full sets. Time will tell. The two sets that were sold on Ebay yesterday

may end up being a steal. Now that full sets are sold out; lets see if the others that guy had for $75 move today.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: RawGoo on November 17, 2017, 04:33:14 AM
I can't see them offering a base set alone for $50  - $60 now that so many people have dropped $150 to obtain one. They would get complaints.

Also,  this set could end being quite a boon for resellers if they end up only making 300 or so full sets. Time will tell. The two sets that were sold on Ebay yesterday

may end up being a steal. Now that full sets are sold out; lets see if the others that guy had for $75 move today.

As I recall, Topps has "restocked" the website for past Old School products, and that could happen today if it is simply a question of them having reserved too many sketches to fill $50 orders versus the $150 set orders.  After all, the site still allows a customer to order as many as 100 of the $50 sets, so they should have at least 100 sketches unspoken for, which could be 33 more $150 sets.  I also recall that they don't work on weekends, so hopefully we'll know by tonight.

If they don't restock, I'm wondering whether they might get complaints from people who thought they had 5 more days to order.

My main hope is that orders are enough to convince them to revive postcards and regular Wackys, as I am sick to death of the thin bordered pop-culture and political stuff.




Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 17, 2017, 05:44:00 AM
I can't see them offering a base set alone for $50  - $60 now that so many people have dropped $150 to obtain one. They would get complaints.
Also,  this set could end being quite a boon for resellers if they end up only making 300 or so full sets. Time will tell. The two sets that were sold on Ebay yesterday
may end up being a steal. Now that full sets are sold out; lets see if the others that guy had for $75 move today.
agree- and if they start offering unlimited base sets *now*, people are going get pissed. that's not how 'limited supply' items work.

I thought $50 base sets were a steal to begin with, and was surprised they were offered that low. A few others have gone for $59, but now all are $75. Wait and see it that starts trending upwards.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 17, 2017, 05:55:47 AM
If they don't restock, I'm wondering whether they might get complaints from people who thought they had 5 more days to order.

My main hope is that orders are enough to convince them to revive postcards and regular Wackys, as I am sick to death of the thin bordered pop-culture and political stuff.
they may get a couple of complaints, but that's how these work. The Star Wars limited set sold out early as well, several days before the expiration.
Heck, the daily "24 hour" baseball cards that are limited supply items, like autographs and relic pieces, sell out within minutes of being posted. Sometimes mere seconds! (there's a dealer somewhere with a webpage sniffer or inside knowledge, that's for sure). By the time the email notification is sent an hour or two later, all the cards are already sold out!

A full sell out of Old School had better be enough to convince them. There's clearly been a bias against Wackys going on. All these recent GPK sets have routinely had poor to piss-poor sales, but they just keep chugging along. Where was the ultimatum that if the GPK Classic set didn't sell extremely well, that it would be the end of the line?? They only sold 156 Classic sets. Topps has got to be sitting on hundreds and hundreds of leftover sketches from that set.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: RawGoo on November 17, 2017, 06:27:22 AM
they may get a couple of complaints, but that's how these work. The Star Wars limited set sold out early as well, several days before the expiration.
Heck, the daily "24 hour" baseball cards that are limited supply items, like autographs and relic pieces, sell out within minutes of being posted. Sometimes mere seconds! (there's a dealer somewhere with a webpage sniffer or inside knowledge, that's for sure). By the time the email notification is sent an hour or two later, all the cards are already sold out!

A full sell out of Old School had better be enough to convince them. There's clearly been a bias against Wackys going on. All these recent GPK sets have routinely had poor to piss-poor sales, but they just keep chugging along. Where was the ultimatum that if the GPK Classic set didn't sell extremely well, that it would be the end of the line?? They only sold 156 Classic sets. Topps has got to be sitting on hundreds and hundreds of leftover sketches from that set.

I guess this isn't "print on demand" like the earlier stuff.  I do hate the selling time limits, since you have to wait until it is too late to order more to see if you really like the product.

I wonder how many people decided to wait until the weekend to indulge their hobby habit and got left out.  I also wonder how many dealers might have tried to corner the market.

And, agreed, if this quick sellout doesn't convince Topps that there's a viable market for new Wackys done in the traditional style, nothing will.  In that case, I can't see myself ever buying another Topps product.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 17, 2017, 07:04:19 AM
As I recall, Topps has "restocked" the website for past Old School products, and that could happen today if it is simply a question of them having reserved too many sketches to fill $50 orders versus the $150 set orders.  After all, the site still allows a customer to order as many as 100 of the $50 sets, so they should have at least 100 sketches unspoken for, which could be 33 more $150 sets.  I also recall that they don't work on weekends, so hopefully we'll know by tonight.

If they don't restock, I'm wondering whether they might get complaints from people who thought they had 5 more days to order.

My main hope is that orders are enough to convince them to revive postcards and regular Wackys, as I am sick to death of the thin bordered pop-culture and political stuff.

That's true, they may have more to restock. I forgot about that. They should definitely dump the $50 thing though and move any they had for that to the $150 one since no one is buying from that option.

As for the sell out it did say 7 days or until supplies last so can't really fault them for that. They just underestimated the sketch card amount needed or putting three in each grouping was too much and depleted their stock way faster.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 17, 2017, 07:11:01 AM
they may get a couple of complaints, but that's how these work. The Star Wars limited set sold out early as well, several days before the expiration.
Heck, the daily "24 hour" baseball cards that are limited supply items, like autographs and relic pieces, sell out within minutes of being posted. Sometimes mere seconds! (there's a dealer somewhere with a webpage sniffer or inside knowledge, that's for sure). By the time the email notification is sent an hour or two later, all the cards are already sold out!

A full sell out of Old School had better be enough to convince them. There's clearly been a bias against Wackys going on. All these recent GPK sets have routinely had poor to piss-poor sales, but they just keep chugging along. Where was the ultimatum that if the GPK Classic set didn't sell extremely well, that it would be the end of the line?? They only sold 156 Classic sets. Topps has got to be sitting on hundreds and hundreds of leftover sketches from that set.

I would think this would be enough to have another series (and I promise to work them over to get checklists back in in some form and to improve some other issues). Also I can;t see why they wouldn't try postcards now and I will talk to them about an ANS style set. What would you call that? It's not Old School and not Classic so...

The Wacky bias is very weird. They have sold more on average than the GPK so why not have some of the online small sets reflect WPs entirely? There are some WPs in the new Thanksgiving set coming this Tuesday. The GPK set didn't sell well because they made some serious errors. Some of which I helped them fix for the Old School set. It wild have sold much better had it come out after this one. And don;t take what I said about no more WP sets as a threat by them. That was only referring to stuff like Old School, postcards, etc. There would still be retail and various small online offerings. It wasn't a threat. Just makes sense that if you lose money on something you aren't going to continue making it.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 17, 2017, 07:12:53 AM
agree- and if they start offering unlimited base sets *now*, people are going get pissed. that's not how 'limited supply' items work.

I thought $50 base sets were a steal to begin with, and was surprised they were offered that low. A few others have gone for $59, but now all are $75. Wait and see it that starts trending upwards.

OK, that does make sense. Live and learn. They could also pre-sell more $150 sets and have the artists do more sketch cards. I mean it is print on demand so the sketch cards can easily fall in that category as well. More demand? Draw more.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 17, 2017, 07:27:44 AM
Just got an email that they have restocked the $150 set area. Don't know if it was from the $50 stuff or they had more to add on it's own. Looks like less than 100 are now in the $150 option. No idea if they just always only have 100 in there at any given time.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: fbvikes on November 17, 2017, 08:27:19 AM
Ordered One $50 Set
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: cmgmd on November 17, 2017, 08:33:20 AM
Add 2 more for me from the restocked batch.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: lucidjc on November 17, 2017, 04:24:17 PM
It says it's Sold Out



See, this is one of the EASIEST things to fix and for years its not.   How hard is it to put in "Out Of Stock" or "Sold Out"   This stupid little change can make a huge difference in selling product. We all know when sold out is seen people will move on. Out of stock, people will check back. I've told them this on the phone as far back as OLDS 2 and still nothing. LOL and don't get me started on the CLEAR retail packs (save that for another time).

So, topps is all about the money and financial plan??? Then why do they leave ALL that money on the table with PPP? Piss Poor Planning.   Pass that on Dave.

OH, OLDS 6???      Looks FANTASTIC!!!

Thank you Dave for keeping the ART Old School.


Jim
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: g.u.e.s.t. on November 17, 2017, 04:43:35 PM

And, agreed, if this quick sellout doesn't convince Topps that there's a viable market for new Wackys done in the traditional style, nothing will.  In that case, I can't see myself ever buying another Topps product.
[/quote]


It selling out so fast is both good and bad. Good, because hopefully it's a shot in the arm to keep things going, adding postcard sets, etc. Bad, because they will want to stick with the $150 price point because it sold out so fast.

I think they should've offered a base set with no sketches, pencil art, etc at a much lower price. But to do so now would not be a good idea. I think it would be a great idea going forward with future sets. The KIS method is always a good idea IMO.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 17, 2017, 05:05:26 PM
So is it correct that we know at least 100 $150 sets were
before it went out stock? Our total was about 30 at that
time which would sense that this board accounts for about 1 in 3 sales..
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 17, 2017, 06:09:53 PM
See, this is one of the EASIEST things to fix and for years its not.   How hard is it to put in "Out Of Stock" or "Sold Out".
It did actually say Out Of Stock, so maybe they have learned something?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 17, 2017, 08:22:49 PM
It did actually say Out Of Stock, so maybe they have learned something?

Yes, my mistake. It did not say Sold Out.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: drono on November 18, 2017, 04:40:24 AM
It selling out so fast is both good and bad. Good, because hopefully it's a shot in the arm to keep things going, adding postcard sets, etc. Bad, because they will want to stick with the $150 price point because it sold out so fast.

If the price had been $75, I might have bought two, but I definitely wasn't going to do so at $150.  If they had boxes and packs and binders and uncut sheets, oh my, I would've spent more.  I imagine most of us on here would've too!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Hustler08 on November 18, 2017, 05:06:56 AM
Yes, my mistake. It did not say Sold Out.

So when is the raffle?? And is there any uncut sheets in the raffle ?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 18, 2017, 10:08:08 AM
So when is the raffle?? And is there any uncut sheets in the raffle ?

It's Wednesday night. I'm still figuring out a time (and need to learn how to do the video thing on FB. Will announce details on it soon.

It's one painting and four roughs that will be in the raffle. This has nothing to do with Topps so I only have access to what I have so no sheets.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: steveandcelia on November 18, 2017, 03:36:30 PM
If anyone's keeping track... I also bought a set of three for $150.00.  I never buy sets at Topps, but thought I'd try my luck this time around!!!  Fingers crossed!!!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 18, 2017, 03:52:38 PM
If anyone's keeping track... I also bought a set of three for $150.00.  I never buy sets at Topps, but thought I'd try my luck this time around!!!  Fingers crossed!!!

You bought three of the $150 sets? If so PM me a copy of your receipt and you'll be entered in the raffle I'm having on Wednesday.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fool-Aid on November 18, 2017, 03:57:58 PM
Bought 1 complete set $150, art looks great! Price stings..would also have liked the base set option too if they had it.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 18, 2017, 05:17:36 PM
As of 8 tonight I see 42 sets in the 150 column and 1 in the $50 column. I suspect they probably moved the majority of the $50 stuff to the other column combining the sketch cards because I seriously doubt more than a few people were buying the $50 ones. I wonder if they still have more they can add should the remaining 42 sell. It's all dictated by the amount of sketch cards.

If Neil reads this thread he really should start drawing up postcard ideas right now...looking good for a return
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: ratchet007 on November 19, 2017, 04:10:08 AM
A little late to game here but, I purchased 1 $150 set. As others have stated, I thought the price was a little too steep. Had the price been lower I would have bought multiple sets.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jeffcaff on November 19, 2017, 06:06:43 AM
OLDS6 appears to be sold out.  I will check back on Monday to see if the replenish the stock. 
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 19, 2017, 07:03:34 AM
OLDS6 appears to be sold out.  I will check back on Monday to see if the replenish the stock.

(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)(https://www.topps.com/skin/frontend/enterprise/topps/images/soldout.png)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 19, 2017, 07:55:20 AM
Wow! Both the $150 and $50 options are out of stock. This is getting interesting. The sale of sets on the bay for around $50 has slowed down. I wonder if those sales will pick up now.  Can we safely estimate that they have sold 200 of the $150 sets now?  I think it was determined they loaded the site with 100 sets each time they went up for sale right?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 07:56:51 AM
And, agreed, if this quick sellout doesn't convince Topps that there's a viable market for new Wackys done in the traditional style, nothing will.  In that case, I can't see myself ever buying another Topps product.



It selling out so fast is both good and bad. Good, because hopefully it's a shot in the arm to keep things going, adding postcard sets, etc. Bad, because they will want to stick with the $150 price point because it sold out so fast.

I think they should've offered a base set with no sketches, pencil art, etc at a much lower price. But to do so now would not be a good idea. I think it would be a great idea going forward with future sets. The KIS method is always a good idea IMO.

So we did it!  The cupboard is now bare, and everything sold out!

Hopefully, Topps will reconsider their past practices and once again begin to take more of an additional approach - and approach that has served them, fans, and collectors well for the past 50 years.

I agree with g.u.e.s.t. in that a simple base set should be offered next time around in the future.  I'm not crazy about the price, however, say around $100.  For those who desire a base set, this would work well.  For those who crave something a bit more - sketches, pencil roughs, parallels - offer a base plus set for $150.  This not only pertains to Old School, but all future sets.  I am not an expert by no means, however I would suggest 1 $150 base plus set for every 3 or 4 $100 base sets.

Oh, and please, no WP / GPK mixes (as was hinted at with the upcoming Thanksgiving release.)

Thanks!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 19, 2017, 08:04:25 AM
I agree with g.u.e.s.t. in that a simple base set should be offered next time around in the future.  I'm not crazy about the price, however, say around $100.  For those who desire a base set, this would work well.  For those who crave something a bit more - sketches, pencil roughs, parallels - offer a base set plus for $150.  This not only pertains to Old School, but all future sets.

Oh, and please, no WP / GPK mixes.

Thanks!
With folks like Matt already offering a dozen or more base sets under $50 each on eBay, it doesn't seem like a $100 base set would get much traction. Although I know some refuse to buy from eBay or deal with PayPal, so there's always that.

And don't hold your breath on WP / GPK mixes. We haven't seen how the Thanksgiving cards are going to be sold. But they best be separate!!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 08:16:49 AM
The Wacky bias is very weird. They have sold more on average than the GPK so why not have some of the online small sets reflect WPs entirely? There are some WPs in the new Thanksgiving set coming this Tuesday.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jeffcaff on November 19, 2017, 09:36:28 AM
One thing to note is that it is extremely likely that 3-4 dealers like CardGary may have purchased 100+ of these sets. I locked my sets in so I am happy.  Let's see if anymore show up tomorrow on Topps. 
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: bigtomi on November 19, 2017, 10:35:16 AM
...it doesn't seem like a $100 base set would get much traction.
I agree, a base set needs to be considerably lower than $100, like $40-$50. They should be able to produce these with a much lower overhead than parallels, sketches, etc. Hence, they should be proportionally a smaller percentage of the overall cost.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: RawGoo on November 19, 2017, 11:11:47 AM
I agree, a base set needs to be considerably lower than $100, like $40-$50. They should be able to produce these with a much lower overhead than parallels, sketches, etc. Hence, they should be proportionally a smaller percentage of the overall cost.

I agree that they should sell base sets at a lower price, especially since these aren't kiss-cut.

Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 12:26:57 PM
I agree, a base set needs to be considerably lower than $100, like $40-$50. They should be able to produce these with a much lower overhead than parallels, sketches, etc. Hence, they should be proportionally a smaller percentage of the overall cost.


Yes, $40 - $50 would be very nice and easy on the wallet, yet do you realistically expect Topps to do so?  I wish they would, but I doubt they will.  OS6 was produced for a select clientele.  We know that.  Topps knows that.  Why would they now even consider so a low price - considering the selfsame select clientele just shelled out $150 per set until they were entirely sold out?

Besides, if Topps were to put out a base 30 set for $40, that would come to $1.33 per card.  In my imagination, I can already hear an executive saying, "What?  $1.33 a card?  Er, no, I don't think so."

Just speculating, but if David Gross got $400 per painting x 30, that's $12,000 total.  12,000 divided by $40 equals 300 sets that would have to be sold just to cover the cost of the artist's work alone.  (If Dave's commission was more, great, but the numbers would change accordingly and the "300" number would increase, that is, even more sets would have to be sold.  If he got less, well, then we should all each send him a bag of peanuts, for that's what he's working for!)  And then there's material / manufacturing costs, "free" shipping, corporate overhead, the janitor emptying the waste baskets, etc. that must also be taken into consideration.  (I'm sure this list has to be much lengthier.)  Where would profit even begin to enter into the equation?  How many sets would realistically have to be sold to see this through?  And, the big question, would that many sets even sell?  Or would Topps experience another WP loss?

Ladies and gentlemen, I balk at the high prices just as much as any of you do.  Trust me on this.  The other day my right index finger was hovering over my mouse pad until I finally had to slam it down with my left hand to see my purchase through to completion.  (Kind of like the angel and devil on one's shoulders thing.)  At the same time, I could hear my account let out a long wail from the bank building down the street.  But we are the select clientele.  These are no longer the days of old.  The corner stores with 10 cents packs are a thing of the past, and we now find ourselves in a costly hobby.

Like Dave said in some earlier posts.  If we desire the more traditional WP, we are going to have to pay for them to be made especially for us.  It's kind of like us commissioning our own special set.  And commissions are never cheap.  Otherwise, it's the mass-market / PoD stuff.  And we are all familiar with what that is like.  Should I post a few titles images lest anyone has forgotten?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jeffcaff on November 19, 2017, 01:49:20 PM
I think everyone complaining about base set not be price at the $50 range is missing out right now.  Sets are available on Ebay below $50.00 including shipping so go there and make your purchase.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrSushi on November 19, 2017, 02:10:29 PM
I think everyone complaining about base set not be price at the $50 range is missing out right now.  Sets are available on Ebay below $50.00 including shipping so go there and make your purchase.
I just did! I wanted to support Dave and see more sets in the future, so I was debating plunking down $150 for the full set on Topps. However, as many others have stated, I'm not interested in variations or sketches and find selling the extras to be work that I don't enjoy. Now that Topps is sold out, my conscience is clear to get a full set of the images I'm interested in at what seems to be a reasonable price.

Topps, please add a simple full set without any extras as an option for future on line releases!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 19, 2017, 02:24:48 PM
I also just pulled the trigger on one of the ebay "simple sets", currently priced at $48.99 with free shipping.   Happy that the secondary market-ability of the extras (sketches, inserts, etc) makes this a bit of a de facto base set purchase option. 
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 19, 2017, 02:56:23 PM
Speculative mathematics aside, I'd be curious to know why Topps thinks the original (series 1) model of Old School no longer works?

Having worked on the publishing side of somewhat similar endeavors in the past (when I worked in marketing for DC Comics and editorial for Marvel), and as a reasonably active member here having watched the various Old School sets roll-outs since series one - it was plain and simple to me to see where Topps likely became quite twisted in their assessment of what can, and what cannot, reasonably work mathematically and economically, where Old School is concerned. 

I am assuming of course that Old School series 1 actually made mathematical and economic sense and was reasonably profitable or break-even to justify its existence.  And that it was a model that worked, considering the size of the hobby and the cost of manufacture, etc.   Going on that assumption (and if it's wrong, what follows all sort of falls apart);

Things clearly took a stupid turn when Topps started chasing the insert sketch dragon.  That is to say, they based their model on a grossly inflated demand that was never real to begin with.  It was based on a hyper-inflated secondary market for the inserted sketches.  That hyper-inflation (and inevitable collapse) of that secondary market in and of itself shouldn't have damaged the Old School model - in fact, it shouldn't have effected it (affected it?) at all.  The problem began when Topps changed their model to match it.  They opted to more-than-double their print run to meet said artificially inflated demand.  Quite simply, they overproduced.  And they continued to chase that sketch dragon, trying to find ways (inserts, parallels, etc) to keep it alive.  But it was never alive to begin with.  It was mirage.  A business model based on a mirage is doomed to fail. 

And so, based on the perception of a falling demand for Old School (an inaccurate and incorrect assessment since what was really happening was likely a return to realistic demand) and an inability to recreate that artificially-inflated demand (an accurate assessment) Topps determined that Old School was no longer a viable model.

Which leads us to where we are now. 

But to me, the provocative question is this:  Is Topps' determination accurate or have they just completely lost sight of their original model?   If the Old School model was indeed viable for series one, what evidence is there that it wouldn't or couldn't be viable now?  If the only evidence is the failure for subsequent series at meeting a briefly hyper-inflated demand, then that's a poorly considered conclusion. 


 

Yes, $40 - $50 would be very nice and easy on the wallet, yet do you realistically expect Topps to do so?  I wish they would, but I doubt they will.  OS6 was produced for a select clientele.  We know that.  Topps knows that.  Why would they now even consider so a low price - considering the selfsame select clientele just shelled out $150 per set until they were entirely sold out?

Besides, if Topps were to put out a base 30 set for $40, that would come to $1.33 per card.  In my imagination, I can already hear an executive saying, "What?  $1.33 a card?  Er, no, I don't think so."

Just speculating, but if David Gross got $400 per painting x 30, that's $12,000 total.  12,000 divided by $40 equals 300 sets that would have to be sold just to cover the cost of the artist's work alone.  (If Dave's commission was more, great, but the numbers would change accordingly and the "300" number would increase, that is, even more sets would have to be sold.  If he got less, well, then we should all each send him a bag of peanuts, for that's what he's working for!)  And then there's material / manufacturing costs, "free" shipping, corporate overhead, the janitor emptying the waste baskets, etc. that must also be taken into consideration.  (I'm sure this list has to be much lengthier.)  Where would profit even begin to enter into the equation?  How many sets would realistically have to be sold to see this through?  And, the big question, would that many sets even sell?  Or would Topps experience another WP loss?

Ladies and gentlemen, I balk at the high prices just as much as any of you do.  Trust me on this.  The other day my right index finger was hovering over my mouse pad until I finally had to slam it down with my left hand to see my purchase through to completion.  (Kind of like the angel and devil on one's shoulders thing.)  At the same time, I could hear my account let out a long wail from the bank building down the street.  But we are the select clientele.  These are no longer the days of old.  The corner stores with 10 cents packs are a thing of the past, and we now find ourselves in a costly hobby.

Like Dave said in some earlier posts.  If we desire the more traditional WP, we are going to have to pay for them to be made especially for us.  It's kind of like us commissioning our own special set.  And commissions are never cheap.  Otherwise, it's the mass-market / PoD stuff.  And we are all familiar with what that is like.  Should I post a few titles images lest anyone has forgotten?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 03:15:31 PM
I think everyone complaining about base set not be price at the $50 range is missing out right now.  Sets are available on Ebay below $50.00 including shipping so go there and make your purchase.

Had I known base sets would sell on eBay a few days later for $50, I might have waited.  I didn't know, however, and couldn't have known.  So, being I already spent $150, I am not going to purchase a second base set simply because they now cost less.  Also, hopefully my initial purchase will help bolster the possibility of future sets.  In addition, if dealers are selling the base sets at $50, they must be hoping to make well over $100 on the remaining cards.  Being I purchased the "complete" set, that option is now open to me, as well, should I choose to pursue it.

Right now, one particular OS6 sketch card is at $99.99.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 19, 2017, 04:57:20 PM
Lots of good posts here the last few hours. Will try to address what I can.

From what I can see a lot of the $150 sets went to dealers which may actually turn out to be a great thing for everyone involved. Topps sells out the sets. People that want to get the set and some extras pick up the $150 option, dealers buy up the rest and build sets, Ludlow and tan sets and sell sketches to the sketch collectors. All of these sold at (hopefully) an appropriate price for the people who are interested in these individually. If the dealers sell their stuff well they will be back for another series. Another great thing about getting dealers involved is that since these are 7 day releases they will essentially be carrying on the sales well beyond the initial release.

I don't know how many sets they had to sell. I thought I had heard there were around 900 sketch cards but there may be more. If it's 900 then they would have 300 full sets. Going with what they paid me, postage, production and anything else I think if they sold out they did good enough for another series. I think the speed of it selling out will definitely spur them to do more including stuff with the postcards and I also think they are going to take the WP crowd more seriously (compared to GPK). If they apply what they learned from this to GPK they should also do another GPK Classics set with a smarter plan.

Baked Bears had it right. They are making sets specifically geared to people here and that's going to cost a lot more (in comparative terms) to a retail release. I think we are looking at the model (with some tweaks) that will be around going forward. I think they should just dump the $50 option they had and go with the $150 one. People in dire straight or that don't want the sketch cards or don't want to do collecting and trading of the Luds and tans can pick up their 30 card sets through the dealers at a cheaper rate. I will see what I can suggest to get the price down but it's their call. I don't know the numbers for how much it all costs so I'm not going to presume to tell them what they have to sell it for. It's their product in the end. I would like to get them to add some things though. Would like to see them drop the rough sketch cards and instead do puzzle/ checklists. Even if these aren't on the same stock as before. We can print them with the same stock look at least. I'd add autograph cards since that won't cost anything extra. If they can figure out how to do it (legally) also do Golden Tickets for some art (rather than me doing it) but I'll do it again next time if they can't.

So I'm thinking of seeing if they might be into doing a big set like this every 3 months (in between would be the regular holiday and event mini sets). Maybe Old School, then Postcards, Old School Through Time; thinking about doing sets from different eras like the 80s or the 50s or even the 30s. So imagine a 1930s style packaging for Planters as an example using the lingo, fonts and character designs from that era. I think that would be pretty cool. Lastly, Wacky Packages NOW (this would be an ANS style set). Four of these a year and the retail set. Thoughts?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 19, 2017, 05:04:11 PM
Speculative mathematics aside, I'd be curious to know why Topps thinks the original (series 1) model of Old School no longer works?

Having worked on the publishing side of somewhat similar endeavors in the past (when I worked in marketing for DC Comics and editorial for Marvel), and as a reasonably active member here having watched the various Old School sets roll-outs since series one - it was plain and simple to me to see where Topps likely became quite twisted in their assessment of what can, and what cannot, reasonably work mathematically and economically, where Old School is concerned. 

I am assuming of course that Old School series 1 actually made mathematical and economic sense and was reasonably profitable or break-even to justify its existence.  And that it was a model that worked, considering the size of the hobby and the cost of manufacture, etc.   Going on that assumption (and if it's wrong, what follows all sort of falls apart);

Things clearly took a stupid turn when Topps started chasing the insert sketch dragon.  That is to say, they based their model on a grossly inflated demand that was never real to begin with.  It was based on a hyper-inflated secondary market for the inserted sketches.  That hyper-inflation (and inevitable collapse) of that secondary market in and of itself shouldn't have damaged the Old School model - in fact, it shouldn't have effected it (affected it?) at all.  The problem began when Topps changed their model to match it.  They opted to more-than-double their print run to meet said artificially inflated demand.  Quite simply, they overproduced.  And they continued to chase that sketch dragon, trying to find ways (inserts, parallels, etc) to keep it alive.  But it was never alive to begin with.  It was mirage.  A business model based on a mirage is doomed to fail. 

And so, based on the perception of a falling demand for Old School (an inaccurate and incorrect assessment since what was really happening was likely a return to realistic demand) and an inability to recreate that artificially-inflated demand (an accurate assessment) Topps determined that Old School was no longer a viable model.

Which leads us to where we are now. 

But to me, the provocative question is this:  Is Topps' determination accurate or have they just completely lost sight of their original model?   If the Old School model was indeed viable for series one, what evidence is there that it wouldn't or couldn't be viable now?  If the only evidence is the failure for subsequent series at meeting a briefly hyper-inflated demand, then that's a poorly considered conclusion. 


 

Old School 1 had a 1000 box run. Up for #2 to 2500 I think. By Old School 5 I believe it was 5000. That's a lot more boxes. I think a 1000 box run could work again but the price might be $150 or more for that at this point. A lot more costs involved when you have a box, checklists, wrappers and all the other stuff. What's the most people would pay for a box (guaranteeing at least one full set at least) in this market?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 05:12:59 PM
Things clearly took a stupid turn when Topps started chasing the insert sketch dragon.
 

So do you suggest eliminating the sketches entirely?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 19, 2017, 05:28:27 PM
So do you suggest eliminating the sketches entirely?

That's not going to happen. There are still plenty of people that enjoy finding them and chasing them.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 05:57:57 PM
I'd add autograph cards since that won't cost anything extra. If they can figure out how to do it (legally) also do Golden Tickets for some art (rather than me doing it) but I'll do it again next time if they can't.

So I'm thinking of seeing if they might be into doing a big set like this every 3 months (in between would be the regular holiday and event mini sets). Maybe Old School, then Postcards, Old School Through Time; thinking about doing sets from different eras like the 80s or the 50s or even the 30s. So imagine a 1930s style packaging for Planters as an example using the lingo, fonts and character designs from that era. I think that would be pretty cool. Lastly, Wacky Packages NOW (this would be an ANS style set). Four of these a year and the retail set. Thoughts?

I'd love to see "Old School Through Time" - 80s, 50s, 30s, and so on.  I think the 80s would go over well.  Not sure about the other decades/eras, however.  Personally, I enjoy seeing the evolution of products, and I know for a fact that some other Forum members do, as well.  But would everybody enjoy these other decades?  Will they be familiar with the products?  Bear in mind that WP, particularly the Original and Old School series, ring a bell of familiarity and evoke a certain sense of nostalgia with collectors and fans who grew up with the respective parodied products during the 70s and 80s.  Would products from the 50s ring that same bell, though?  I can see people being familiar with Mr. Peanut - he transcends the decades - but what about the Hubley Atomic Disintegrator cap pistol?  It would definitely be cool to parody a product such as this, but would it be embraced and/or appreciated say, as much as Cap'n Crunch?  I'd suggest putting out feelers to hear what others have to say.  Again, though, I would love to see such sets with their retro graphics, lettering, and whatnot.

(https://s18.postimg.org/dq9l8ahed/1f339bf96c3759479eae0b2d3d1ba008.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/dq9l8ahed/)

Again, speaking for myself, I would love to see the return of postcards.  Due to their larger format, the artwork on these really shines.  Kind of like mini posters.  Not huge sets, though, but small sets reasonably priced.  (I don't know if everybody can lay out $150 every other month or so, and it would be a financial "breather" to have something less costly in between.)

"Wacky Packages NOW" is a catchy title.  (With maybe a year after it, for example, "2018," or "Series 1" to tell one series from another.)  Would such a series be mass market retail?  And, if so, would said series still feature real products, thick black borders, great artwork, etc. - those things that we on this forum have come to admire and appreciate, that is, will it lean toward the traditional WP spirit and feel?  Also, would it feature a variety of artists?

On another note...

Although many here on the forum are enthusiastic about sketches, parallels, etc., many others are not.  As you mentioned, dealers played a pivotal role in OS6 sales, and my guess would be that the sketches, parallels, etc. played a pivotal role in their decision making.  Thus will future sets - "Wacky Packages NOW," "Old School Through Time," etc. - continue to contain the same peripheral cards?

Oh, and the "Golden Ticket" sounds like an interesting idea, however could it be random and not based exclusively upon an individual's number of purchases?  Granted, the more one buys, the better one's chance, but you know what I mean.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 19, 2017, 06:17:08 PM
I'd love to see "Old School Through Time" - 80s, 50s, 30s, and so on.  I think the 80s would go over well.  Not sure about the other decades/eras, however.  Personally, I enjoy seeing the evolution of products, and I know for a fact that some other Forum members do, as well.  But would everybody enjoy these other decades?  Will they be familiar with the products?  Bear in mind that WP, particularly the Original and Old School series, ring a bell of familiarity and evoke a certain sense of nostalgia with collectors and fans who grew up with the respective parodied products during the 70s and 80s.  Would products from the 50s ring that same bell, though?  I can see people being familiar with Mr. Peanut - he transcends the decades - but what about the Hubley Atomic Disintegrator cap pistol?  It would definitely be cool to parody a product such as this, but would it be embraced and/or appreciated say, as much as Cap'n Crunch?  I'd suggest putting out feelers to hear what others have to say.  Again, though, I would love to see such sets with their retro graphics, lettering, and whatnot.

Again, speaking for myself, I would love to see the return of postcards.  Due to their larger format, the artwork on these really shines.  Kind of like mini posters.  Not huge sets, though, but small sets reasonably priced.  (I don't know if everybody can lay out $150 every other month or so, and it would be a financial "breather" to have something less costly in between.)

"Wacky Packages NOW" is a catchy title.  (With maybe a year after it, for example, "2018," or "Series 1.")  Would such a series be mass market retail?  And, if so, would said series still feature real products, thick black borders, great artwork, etc. - those things that we on this forum have come to admire and appreciate, that is, will it lean more toward the traditional WP spirit and feel?  Also, would it feature a variety of artists?

On another note...

Although many here on the forum are enthusiastic about sketches, parallels, etc., many others are not.  As you mentioned, dealers played a pivotal role in OS6 sales, and my guess would be that the sketches, parallels, etc. played a pivotal role in their decision making.  Thus will future sets - "Wacky Packages NOW," "Old School Through Time," etc. - continue to contain the same peripheral cards?

Oh, and the "Golden Ticket" sounds like an interesting idea, however could it be random and not based exclusively upon an individual's number of purchases?  Granted, the more one buys, the better one's chance, but you know what I mean.

Something like the 30s set would probably be a one shot but there is more than enough famous products that were around during that era to use. Skippy, Jell-O, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Planters, Bordens, Wise Chips, Campfire Marshmallows, Baby Ruth, Erector sets, Monopoly, Lionel Trains, Wheaties, Kool-Aid, Campbells, etc.

Hell, could just do a version of WP series one in 1930 retro packaging and fonts.

I'd stick with Wacky Packages NOW series 1 and so on as the name. Would be ANS style. Good old WPs with fat borders, modern products, NO entertainment stuff, NO fake products. No, not mass market. This is online. Like I said in the original post. Every 3 months a new online set. We could drop one of these and make it every 4 months if that is too much but I like the four sets as ideas. There would also be one retail set a year like the current ones they are doing. That's not really part of this discussion as it's not geared towards this group exclusively and I doubt we'd have any say in what they are doing with those.

Yes, I would expect any other online series to use some of the same chase cards and extras.

Yes, Golden Tickets randomly if Topps does it. There are legal issues involving these types of contests when it deals with packs so I would not hold your breath on that one.

Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 19, 2017, 06:43:19 PM
Thanks.  Sounds good, for the most part.  (Still not interested in the chase cards, though.)

I understand that the "Old School Through Time" series will probably be one shots.  Fine with me and look forward to them.  If you do a 30 card set, perhaps you could throw in 2 or 3 "oddball" products, as well, for us few aficionados - such as a ray gun or the Gilbert "Prospect for Uranium!" Geiger Counter?

Oh, and really sock it to those Campbell Kids, if you can!  They've escaped the WP radar for far too long!

One last thing, please.  Topps might be tempted to throw "Old School Through Time" through the sepia process.  Please, good Lord, no!  Do what you must to convince them to stick with the original colors.  The products were never - and never meant to be - rendered in sepia.  That would take so, so much away from them!  I, for one, would like to be able to appreciate the original color of the original products - not somebody's idea of what they might look like aged.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 19, 2017, 08:38:18 PM
So do you suggest eliminating the sketches entirely?

No.  I'm not suggesting that at all.  Is that what came across? 

The sketches weren't the problem - they were a part of Old School Series 1 and I believe that it worked just fine.  It was Topps not recognizing that the hyper increase in demand for the product was not, in fact, sustainable because it had zero to do with people wanting to own that many more sketches or that much more Old School product.  It had everything to do with people wanting to make a profit on sketches on the secondary market.  And frankly, it was pretty obvious because I've seen this before - most of us have.  I happen to have seen it from the other side of the wall.  But Topps went ahead and shaped the ensuing product not around what fans wanted or the intrinsic qualities in the product itself, but upon a temporary frenzy around the prices of sketches on the secondary market. 

When they changed the product to meet that, they not only flooded the market and ultimately caused themselves to illogically sour on the original model, but they actually destroyed the single artificial quality that had driven the hyper demand in the first place.  It was doomed to fail. 

The original model was fine, as far as I could tell. 

Although Dave, I have to ask, if you're saying that the original model would now require a $150 per box price, I'd be curious about why that is?  What has changed about the elements involved that made $50 a box viable then and now it's 300% more?  That seems...surprising.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 19, 2017, 08:50:12 PM
This is not an obviously bad idea.  And it's incredibly tempting.  But I gotta tell ya, as a vintage packaging historian of sorts, I think it'd be a stretch to say this is the right way to go. 

I feel as though there is, at best, a forgetfulness and at worst a fundamental misunderstanding of what Wacky Packages were/are and how they functioned and why they were successful to begin with.  Not saying that they can't evolve, but if you evolve by casting away those underlying values, I think you get some of what is considered abortive ideas - some of which we've now experienced. 

I was having lunch recently with a friend of mine, the ballplayer who invented Big League Chew bubblegum.  And he tells me how over the years he was often encouraged to stretch the brand out to other confectionery products.  Big League Ice Cream, etc etc... And he was of the mind that "you stick with who brought you to the dance".  Over the years, his philosophy has proven out to be the right one.   But I look at that statement and would apply it to mean that it's about truly understanding what brought you to the dance, so to speak.

To put that into Old School terms... the reason why people were excited about the first Old School series was that it was a return to roots and format, and quality.  It was not about colored sketches selling for more than original paintings.  But it did become about that, and that was so clearly its undoing.

I'd love to see "Old School Through Time" - 80s, 50s, 30s, and so on.  I think the 80s would go over well.  Not sure about the other decades/eras, however.  Personally, I enjoy seeing the evolution of products, and I know for a fact that some other Forum members do, as well.  But would everybody enjoy these other decades?  Will they be familiar with the products?  Bear in mind that WP, particularly the Original and Old School series, ring a bell of familiarity and evoke a certain sense of nostalgia with collectors and fans who grew up with the respective parodied products during the 70s and 80s.  Would products from the 50s ring that same bell, though?  I can see people being familiar with Mr. Peanut - he transcends the decades - but what about the Hubley Atomic Disintegrator cap pistol?  It would definitely be cool to parody a product such as this, but would it be embraced and/or appreciated say, as much as Cap'n Crunch?  I'd suggest putting out feelers to hear what others have to say.  Again, though, I would love to see such sets with their retro graphics, lettering, and whatnot.

(https://s18.postimg.org/dq9l8ahed/1f339bf96c3759479eae0b2d3d1ba008.jpg) (https://postimg.org/image/dq9l8ahed/)

Again, speaking for myself, I would love to see the return of postcards.  Due to their larger format, the artwork on these really shines.  Kind of like mini posters.  Not huge sets, though, but small sets reasonably priced.  (I don't know if everybody can lay out $150 every other month or so, and it would be a financial "breather" to have something less costly in between.)

"Wacky Packages NOW" is a catchy title.  (With maybe a year after it, for example, "2018," or "Series 1" to tell one series from another.)  Would such a series be mass market retail?  And, if so, would said series still feature real products, thick black borders, great artwork, etc. - those things that we on this forum have come to admire and appreciate, that is, will it lean toward the traditional WP spirit and feel?  Also, would it feature a variety of artists?

On another note...

Although many here on the forum are enthusiastic about sketches, parallels, etc., many others are not.  As you mentioned, dealers played a pivotal role in OS6 sales, and my guess would be that the sketches, parallels, etc. played a pivotal role in their decision making.  Thus will future sets - "Wacky Packages NOW," "Old School Through Time," etc. - continue to contain the same peripheral cards?

Oh, and the "Golden Ticket" sounds like an interesting idea, however could it be random and not based exclusively upon an individual's number of purchases?  Granted, the more one buys, the better one's chance, but you know what I mean.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Slaytex99 on November 20, 2017, 09:29:21 AM
Although Dave, I have to ask, if you're saying that the original model would now require a $150 per box price, I'd be curious about why that is?  What has changed about the elements involved that made $50 a box viable then and now it's 300% more?  That seems...surprising.

That's exactly what I was thinking.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 11:15:52 AM
Making 5000 boxes is cheaper than producing 300 by a lot. No way they would make 5000 boxes again. Plus, they have some kind of exclusive with a printing company which is way more expensive.

Don't know. The cost to pay for the art and everything else after it is a lot of money. They have to be completely on point to make money on the online sets. The nice thing for them when you compare the Boxes Vs. The New Format is that they produce exactly what sells this way. The exception is the sketch card part which next time I'm sure they will produce many more of. Don't put the series number on the sketch card and they won't have to worry about having too many of them ever. With boxes you have a good chance of having piles left over.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 20, 2017, 11:45:16 AM
Yikes.  When I was working on the X-Men, Marvel had an 80% exclusive deal with an Irish color separations house.  Meaning 80% of the line how to have their digital coloring done by that one company.  It was awful, and meant that only a small percentage of books would get the gold treatment - meaning hiring top notch freelancers to do the digital colors (and this was pretty early on in the digital coloring/separations era).   The rest of the books ranged from having digital colors that were "decent" to "awful". 

Now, the question I always asked then was why?  Why did we have that terrible exclusivity deal?  Maybe there was a good business decision underneath it but I was always suspicious that someone personally got a kickback.  And even now, nearly twenty years later, I think its still likely.  There were a number of corporate level goings on that seemed to fall into that odd category at the time.. 

Plus, they have some kind of exclusive with a printing company which is way more expensive.

Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 20, 2017, 11:49:26 AM
So no restock today. Will they be changing it to “Sold Out”?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 20, 2017, 11:51:31 AM
Dave,

I think this all makes sense and is certainly true, but the thing is, and the mystery to me is, it was certainly true however many years ago when the model for Old School was first devised.  None of these other factors (costs being high, etc) would seem to have changed.  Well, one could expect some level of change, but a 300% increase in those factors? 

And if I may step into the realm of speculation:  maybe the original Old School series was a vanity project of sorts championed internally by Mike Jasperson, and one that didn't require a certain profit margin to be approved within Topps at the time.  I did get the sense back during the first and second series that they were not the most profitable sets.  But now perhaps there is not an internal champion for the series within Topps and Topps perhaps now has guidelines that require projects of this nature meet certain profit percentage criteria.  Those are things I might speculate on and that could result in what we are seeing.  They are more reasonable guesses than the cost of printing/art ballooning by 300%....  But I'm just guessing...

Making 5000 boxes is cheaper than producing 300 by a lot. No way they would make 5000 boxes again. Plus, they have some kind of exclusive with a printing company which is way more expensive.

Don't know. The cost to pay for the art and everything else after it is a lot of money. They have to be completely on point to make money on the online sets. The nice thing for them when you compare the Boxes Vs. The New Format is that they produce exactly what sells this way. The exception is the sketch card part which next time I'm sure they will produce many more of. Don't put the series number on the sketch card and they won't have to worry about having too many of them ever. With boxes you have a good chance of having piles left over.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: BumChex on November 20, 2017, 12:00:00 PM
I ordered a set on the 16th. Checked today for tracking info and the order isn't on my list of products purchased.  >(
Looks like there are sets available for $50 on ebay. Hopefully Topps will update their website with more stock. I can't imagine these running out this fast at this price point.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 20, 2017, 12:04:54 PM
Agreed.  But it would be a heck of an endorsement for Dave's work and the Old School product if they did.  :-)

I can't imagine these running out this fast at this price point.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 12:12:11 PM
I ordered a set on the 16th. Checked today for tracking info and the order isn't on my list of products purchased.  >(
Looks like there are sets available for $50 on ebay. Hopefully Topps will update their website with more stock. I can't imagine these running out this fast at this price point.

It is completely sold out. I asked this morning. Are you able to call and check on the order?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 12:13:08 PM
Yikes.  When I was working on the X-Men, Marvel had an 80% exclusive deal with an Irish color separations house.  Meaning 80% of the line how to have their digital coloring done by that one company.  It was awful, and meant that only a small percentage of books would get the gold treatment - meaning hiring top notch freelancers to do the digital colors (and this was pretty early on in the digital coloring/separations era).   The rest of the books ranged from having digital colors that were "decent" to "awful". 

Now, the question I always asked then was why?  Why did we have that terrible exclusivity deal?  Maybe there was a good business decision underneath it but I was always suspicious that someone personally got a kickback.  And even now, nearly twenty years later, I think its still likely.  There were a number of corporate level goings on that seemed to fall into that odd category at the time..

Yeah, I don't know the details but it sounds like an awful deal and it's really hurting some of the products.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 12:16:27 PM
Dave,

I think this all makes sense and is certainly true, but the thing is, and the mystery to me is, it was certainly true however many years ago when the model for Old School was first devised.  None of these other factors (costs being high, etc) would seem to have changed.  Well, one could expect some level of change, but a 300% increase in those factors? 

And if I may step into the realm of speculation:  maybe the original Old School series was a vanity project of sorts championed internally by Mike Jasperson, and one that didn't require a certain profit margin to be approved within Topps at the time.  I did get the sense back during the first and second series that they were not the most profitable sets.  But now perhaps there is not an internal champion for the series within Topps and Topps perhaps now has guidelines that require projects of this nature meet certain profit percentage criteria.  Those are things I might speculate on and that could result in what we are seeing.  They are more reasonable guesses than the cost of printing/art ballooning by 300%....  But I'm just guessing...

Keep in mind any speculation from me is just that and is pretty much on the same level and anyone else's speculation (well, I can probably speculate a little better with some inside knowledge).

Yes, when Mike and I were running the ship it was at Toppsvault and they had way different expectations for it (and we had way more latitude to do what we wanted). It moved over to the regular Topps area for series 3 and expectations were much different. I think you are on the nose with that.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 20, 2017, 12:27:34 PM
Congratulations, Dave! 

Whatever misgivings there may be for the format and delivery this time around, selling out can only be taken a sign of success for yourself and Old School and an encouraging note for the underlying concept going forward.  I for one hope you are given more room to flex the format next time around and one would think it would be reasonable to grant you that, given this successful release. 

At any rate, it would seem to at least assure that there will be an Old School 7, in some form or another.  And that's worth smiling about and worth celebrating. 

It is completely sold out. I asked this morning.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: g.u.e.s.t. on November 20, 2017, 12:54:27 PM
Lots of good posts here the last few hours. Will try to address what I can.

From what I can see a lot of the $150 sets went to dealers which may actually turn out to be a great thing for everyone involved. Topps sells out the sets. People that want to get the set and some extras pick up the $150 option, dealers buy up the rest and build sets, Ludlow and tan sets and sell sketches to the sketch collectors. All of these sold at (hopefully) an appropriate price for the people who are interested in these individually. If the dealers sell their stuff well they will be back for another series. Another great thing about getting dealers involved is that since these are 7 day releases they will essentially be carrying on the sales well beyond the initial release.

I don't know how many sets they had to sell. I thought I had heard there were around 900 sketch cards but there may be more. If it's 900 then they would have 300 full sets. Going with what they paid me, postage, production and anything else I think if they sold out they did good enough for another series. I think the speed of it selling out will definitely spur them to do more including stuff with the postcards and I also think they are going to take the WP crowd more seriously (compared to GPK). If they apply what they learned from this to GPK they should also do another GPK Classics set with a smarter plan.

Baked Bears had it right. They are making sets specifically geared to people here and that's going to cost a lot more (in comparative terms) to a retail release. I think we are looking at the model (with some tweaks) that will be around going forward. I think they should just dump the $50 option they had and go with the $150 one. People in dire straight or that don't want the sketch cards or don't want to do collecting and trading of the Luds and tans can pick up their 30 card sets through the dealers at a cheaper rate. I will see what I can suggest to get the price down but it's their call. I don't know the numbers for how much it all costs so I'm not going to presume to tell them what they have to sell it for. It's their product in the end. I would like to get them to add some things though. Would like to see them drop the rough sketch cards and instead do puzzle/ checklists. Even if these aren't on the same stock as before. We can print them with the same stock look at least. I'd add autograph cards since that won't cost anything extra. If they can figure out how to do it (legally) also do Golden Tickets for some art (rather than me doing it) but I'll do it again next time if they can't.

So I'm thinking of seeing if they might be into doing a big set like this every 3 months (in between would be the regular holiday and event mini sets). Maybe Old School, then Postcards, Old School Through Time; thinking about doing sets from different eras like the 80s or the 50s or even the 30s. So imagine a 1930s style packaging for Planters as an example using the lingo, fonts and character designs from that era. I think that would be pretty cool. Lastly, Wacky Packages NOW (this would be an ANS style set). Four of these a year and the retail set. Thoughts?


I really like the idea of doing sets from different eras. 20's - 60's would be cool!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 20, 2017, 01:26:23 PM
Dave,

  Congrats on the sell out! Did you ever get an answer from Topps about making it so those who purchased Two $150 Sets will get a complete set of Pencil Sketches since each set comes with 15/30.

Please advise.   Thanks,  Andrew
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 01:34:38 PM

I really like the idea of doing sets from different eras. 20's - 60's would be cool!

Yeah, that would be really fun. The lingo from the different eras would add more good puns into the mix and the art from anything below the 70s was really interesting. An 80s set would also be fun. They missed some good products.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 20, 2017, 01:36:37 PM
Dave,

  Congrats on the sell out! Did you ever get an answer from Topps about making it so those who purchased Two $150 Sets will get a complete set of Pencil Sketches since each set comes with 15/30.

Please advise.   Thanks,  Andrew

Still waiting on that question. Will LYK
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Scheres on November 20, 2017, 01:55:45 PM
Bring on Old School 7!!!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: BumChex on November 20, 2017, 10:38:02 PM
Yeah, I don't know the details but it sounds like an awful deal and it's really hurting some of the products.
I sent in a support ticket. When I purchased I still had a series 1 binder canvas in my queue. So when I purchased it said I spent $225. For some reason the canvas was still on my shopping cart. I asked them to cancel the canvas. I just got an email this morning saying they are not sure of my order #. I’m guessing since I said to drop the canvas someone killed the whole order. I’ll find a set somewhere. Good job on the set and the sales!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 21, 2017, 06:27:50 AM
Base sets are readily available for about $50.
And Matt has listed the chase sets at $100 for sketch and $450 for each back type.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 21, 2017, 08:27:36 AM
Base sets are readily available for about $50.
And Matt has listed the chase sets at $100 for sketch and $450 for each back type.

I can see the Pencil Rough sets going for $100 ($3.33 per card );but I don't feel $450 ( $15 per card) is what the Parallel sets / cards will sell for.

Time will tell.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: g.u.e.s.t. on November 21, 2017, 02:03:48 PM
Yeah, that would be really fun. The lingo from the different eras would add more good puns into the mix and the art from anything below the 70s was really interesting. An 80s set would also be fun. They missed some good products.


I like the idea. Foney ads come to mind. I know most of the products, but still enjoy the ones I don't. I agree that the lingo, puns, and simple graphics from past eras would be interesting. I hope to see these type of offerings.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: g.u.e.s.t. on November 21, 2017, 02:08:54 PM
Base sets are readily available for about $50.
And Matt has listed the chase sets at $100 for sketch and $450 for each back type.

omg


Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: CherryBombs on November 22, 2017, 11:09:07 AM
Cherry Bombs


Total: $150 Sets : 3
   
         $50 Sets: 0
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Slaytex99 on November 23, 2017, 08:03:17 AM
I see Matt has 28 base sets on ebay (23 have sold).

That's a lot of sets for him to invest it!

I've been watching the sales of them and it's strange when it gets down to 1 or 2 sets left, it seems he bumps the available sets ups to 5 or so like he has additional sets held back.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jeffcaff on November 23, 2017, 09:49:11 AM
I fairly confident that between Matt and CardGary, they probably purchased 80 sets.  Huge investment but I bet they will do okay.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: jleonard1967 on November 24, 2017, 05:19:11 AM
I fairly confident that between Matt and CardGary, they probably purchased 80 sets.  Huge investment but I bet they will do okay.
I haven't seen any cardgary auctions
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: rdsjnk on November 27, 2017, 03:19:52 PM
Any News on when Old School 6 will ship!  :^)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 27, 2017, 03:58:01 PM
Any News on when Old School 6 will ship!  :^)
at least this, which was listed with the recent GPK classic set:  Ships in 5 business days after countdown clock ends

so hopefully by Friday
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 27, 2017, 05:30:34 PM
at least this, which was listed with the recent GPK classic set:  Ships in 5 business days after countdown clock ends

so hopefully by Friday

How long before they post the number of sets sold?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 28, 2017, 06:57:09 AM
How long before they post the number of sets sold?
Hard to say. Sometimes it’s a week before numbers are posted.

And they never posted the number of Jay Lynch tribute sets sold, which is annoying.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Jean Nutty on November 28, 2017, 08:15:51 AM
Where do they post that info? Somewhere on their website, I assume?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 28, 2017, 09:01:10 AM
Where do they post that info? Somewhere on their website, I assume?
Scroll down on most any of their category sales pages and they show archives of past sales.
Such as the category with the current Turkey set
https://www.topps.com/shop-entertainment-brands/garbage-pail-kids/gpk-sets.html
Shows all the earlier gpk sets.
They do screw up sometimes, such as the July 4th, Summer TV and Wacky Fall TV set were there, but then later disappeared.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 28, 2017, 11:18:43 AM
Sell number is now up

1200

Although that's listed with the $50 sets. $150 are not listed. Pretty certain that number actually indicates 400 full sets.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 28, 2017, 01:26:42 PM
Sell number is now up

1200

Although that's listed with the $50 sets. $150 are not listed. Pretty certain that number actually indicates 400 full sets.

So $60 K from the sale. I hope that was good enough for Topps.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on November 28, 2017, 04:54:03 PM
As it was a complete sell-out, it would be ridiculous if it weren't. 

I hope that was good enough for Topps.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 28, 2017, 07:06:24 PM
But is it good enough to warrant what we actually want - WP in a more traditional vein - as opposed to the substandard fare that was thrown at us earlier in the year?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 28, 2017, 09:07:16 PM
I don't see how it's 1200. It has to be 400 total possible sets based on the fact that they probably had 1200 sketch cards. Divide that by three to get 400. Still, sell out and 400 is great numbers considering it's possible they would have sold more with over 3 days left and had they had more stock.

Can't see why we wouldn't be able to do more. They had to have been very happy with this outcome.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 29, 2017, 03:16:24 AM
I don't see how it's 1200. It has to be 400 total possible sets based on the fact that they probably had 1200 sketch cards. Divide that by three to get 400. Still, sell out and 400 is great numbers considering it's possible they would have sold more with over 3 days left and had they had more stock.

Can't see why we wouldn't be able to do more. They had to have been very happy with this outcome.

Dave,

   Can you please inquire as to when we will get our cards?

Thanks,  Andrew
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 29, 2017, 06:12:19 AM
I don't see how it's 1200. It has to be 400 total possible sets based on the fact that they probably had 1200 sketch cards. Divide that by three to get 400. Still, sell out and 400 is great numbers considering it's possible they would have sold more with over 3 days left and had they had more stock.
Looks like they just took the easy route by just showing sales of 1200 of the $50 cases, where all the $150 purchases were lumped into that and counted as a bundle of 3.
Concur - it's 400 complete white back sets.

Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: drono on November 29, 2017, 10:45:31 AM
Dave,

   Can you please inquire as to when we will get our cards?

Thanks,  Andrew

Right now Topps is scrambling to bust open all those $50 sets and assemble the complete sets.  They won't ship until they've assembled everything.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: quas on November 29, 2017, 02:41:05 PM
Right now Topps is scrambling to bust open all those $50 sets and assemble the complete sets.  They won't ship until they've assembled everything.

Great.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on November 29, 2017, 02:55:37 PM
So this means we'll be receiving the Thanksgiving sets before the Old School sets?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: bigtomi on November 29, 2017, 04:45:28 PM
Right now Topps is scrambling to bust open all those $50 sets and assemble the complete sets.  They won't ship until they've assembled everything.
LOL, thought this was POD...
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: lucidjc on November 29, 2017, 07:27:32 PM
LOL, thought this was POD...

If this was POD, wouldn't they have taken orders all the way up to the ringing bell?


1000
Jim
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 29, 2017, 07:45:16 PM
If this was POD, wouldn't they have taken orders all the way up to the ringing bell?
1000
Jim
Base cards are POD, but the sketches aren't.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on November 29, 2017, 08:40:17 PM
Right now Topps is scrambling to bust open all those $50 sets and assemble the complete sets.  They won't ship until they've assembled everything.

Ha, I doubt they actually had anything assembled while the sale was going on. What's the usual time for online cards to get shipped? Is it past that already?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Fanatical_and_Sickly on November 30, 2017, 06:04:27 AM
Ha, I doubt they actually had anything assembled while the sale was going on. What's the usual time for online cards to get shipped? Is it past that already?
Topps always states in the listing the expected ship time - but left it out of the OLDS set. Sigh.
GPK classic was 5 business days. If this is the same, that’d be today. Holiday week probably messed that up though.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on November 30, 2017, 11:36:52 AM
I know we waited for a long time for the release to go on sale; but now its painful to wait on the arrival in the mail. I need my Old School Fix!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: vahsurfer on November 30, 2017, 04:08:18 PM
Andrew,

I am happy to provide a great home to your Mix Up / Alt Art to help make room for the OS6, Let me know,

Richard!


P.S...... Let's plan on getting together after the first of the year!
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: crackedjerk on December 02, 2017, 03:38:46 PM
Yeah, that would be really fun. The lingo from the different eras would add more good puns into the mix and the art from anything below the 70s was really interesting. An 80s set would also be fun. They missed some good products.

While I do think it would be kind of cool to see sets based on products from the 30's and 40's and 50's, I wouldn't have much recognition of them.  I'd much prefer seeing an Old School set with 80's and 90's products.  Given that there have been 6 sets just based on 70s products (which didn't include the 500 or so original series Wackys made back in the day), I would think there would be room for plenty of Old School series of 80's and 90's products before running out of ideas.  If, after 20 or so 80's and 90's Old School sets have been produced, Topps/Dave wants to make a 30's Old School set, go for it.  In the meantime, I'd prefer to focus on those products that I remember from my youth/young adulthood.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on December 02, 2017, 05:52:31 PM
While I do think it would be kind of cool to see sets based on products from the 30's and 40's and 50's, I wouldn't have much recognition of them.  I'd much prefer seeing an Old School set with 80's and 90's products.  Given that there have been 6 sets just based on 70s products (which didn't include the 500 or so original series Wackys made back in the day), I would think there would be room for plenty of Old School series of 80's and 90's products before running out of ideas.  If, after 20 or so 80's and 90's Old School sets have been produced, Topps/Dave wants to make a 30's Old School set, go for it.  In the meantime, I'd prefer to focus on those products that I remember from my youth/young adulthood.

Perhaps the 30s set could be the subset instead of the rough drawing cards or something like that.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on December 02, 2017, 07:14:03 PM
Perhaps the 30s set could be the subset instead of the rough drawing cards or something like that.

Wouldn't that increase the price of the set dramatically?  In effect, it would be two 30 card sets - 60 original paintings - put together.

$250 - $300 per set might be suitable for dealers, but it is definitely out of my price range.

Why not do reasonably affordable 9 card mini sets for the 30s, 40s, etc., along with a checklist puzzle for each set?
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on December 02, 2017, 10:52:21 PM
Wouldn't that increase the price of the set dramatically?  In effect, it would be two 30 card sets - 60 original paintings - put together.

$250 - $300 per set might be suitable for dealers, but it is definitely out of my price range.

Why not do reasonably affordable 9 card mini sets for the 30s, 40s, etc., along with a checklist puzzle for each set?

That's what I said. A subset. Meaning 9 cards like the Old School subset that was in the 50th set.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on December 03, 2017, 03:23:42 AM
Andrew,

I am happy to provide a great home to your Mix Up / Alt Art to help make room for the OS6, Let me know,

Richard!


P.S...... Let's plan on getting together after the first of the year!

Richard,

       Thanks for offering to take those cards off my hands.  The quest for them was quite a ride for me. Just buy a few thousand packs of chrome and maybe you will land a few.   8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on December 03, 2017, 07:24:57 AM
That's what I said. A subset. Meaning 9 cards like the Old School subset that was in the 50th set.

When you mentioned that the "30s set could be the subset instead of the rough drawing cards," I assumed you were replacing the rough drawing cards (of which there are 30) with the 30s set.  I see what you're saying now.  Might work.

When I mentioned a "9 card mini set, etc.," I was suggesting a small independent set, much like an event set, for example.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: RawGoo on December 03, 2017, 08:13:39 AM
After watching old game shows like "What's My Line" and "I've Got a Secret" on the BUZZR channel, I could appreciate some Wackys of the products advertised during those programs.  The old commercials that they include are a hoot, but not sure related Wackys would look right in color  :-\
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on December 03, 2017, 08:27:55 AM
When you mentioned that the "30s set could be the subset instead of the rough drawing cards," I assumed you were replacing the rough drawing cards (of which there are 30) with the 30s set.  I see what you're saying now.  Might work.

When I mentioned a "9 card mini set, etc.," I was suggesting a small independent set, much like an event set, for example.

Actually, I like that idea of maybe testing the waters with a small mini 30s or 50s set like any of the awards sets size for example. Maybe 5 - 7 cards.

Also, I agree with Tom (crackedjerk) that the 80s and 90s would be a priority over the 30s and whatever for any first offshoot era.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: slamjim on December 03, 2017, 08:28:36 AM
After watching old game shows like "What's My Line" and "I've Got a Secret" on the BUZZR channel, I could appreciate some Wackys of the products advertised during those programs.  The old commercials that they include are a hoot, but not sure related Wackys would look right in color  :-\

Do you have any of the product names? Always adding to my lists
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: vahsurfer on December 03, 2017, 09:06:33 AM
HAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: Baked Bears on December 03, 2017, 10:45:25 AM
Actually, I like that idea of maybe testing the waters with a small mini 30s or 50s set like any of the awards sets size for example. Maybe 5 - 7 cards.

Also, I agree with Tom (crackedjerk) that the 80s and 90s would be a priority over the 30s and whatever for any first offshoot era.

As far as 30s or 50s, go for it!  Pick a decade and then go with a handful of the best of the best, those products that would definitely ring a bell of familiarity.  See how it goes!

I don't see why the 80s would have to necessarily take priority.  I would assume that this would be a full set (30 cards,) and I believe this set would sell just as well as OS6.  I'd also suggest that this set is long overdue and anxiously awaited.

People are either going to like and buy either set, or they are not.  I don't think that releasing one set before the other would affect the sales of the second.  Why should it, providing the sets are not released too close together?  I do think that the 80s set might sell better, however, based on product familiarity/age of customer base.  The only strong reason I can see to release the 80s set first is to keep the snowball rolling with Topps.  Another round of sold out sets should definitely pave the way for a 30s or 50s nod of approval.

Plus, if I am reading between the lines correctly, you've been aching to do a pre 70s set for some time, now.  The idea keeps growing; the feeling keeps getting stronger.  Once this happens, of course, you know there's only one thing to be done.  And, if by chance a pre 70s set was released first, this would keep the WP excitement and momentum going while you work on and fine tune the larger 80s set.  Kind of like when bands would release an EP of 3 or 4 songs in between their major albums to keep the interest alive.

"Old School" - Series 6 - Released November 2017
"30 Card Base Set Plus Rendered in the Vintage Wacky Packages Tradition!"

Coming March 2018 - "Old School Through Time" - Series 1: The 1930s
"Suffering from WP withdrawal?  Then we have just the set for you!"
"9 Card Base Set Featuring Sailor Jack, Bingo, and Mr. Peanut as You've Never Seen Them Before!"
"Outrageously Affordable and Outrageously Funny!"

Coming July 2018 - Old School 80s - Series 1
"You Asked For It, Now Here It Is!  The 1980s!"
"30 Card Base Set Plus!"

Suggestion:  Call pre 70s series "Old School Through Time" or "Blast From the Past," and post 70s series "Old School" or "Old School (19)80s - Series 1" etc..
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on December 03, 2017, 08:31:46 PM
While I can appreciate the enthusiasm for going "back in time" further than the initial conceit of Old School, I believe the direction is misguided.   And I believe that for a number of reasons growing out of my personal understanding of what fundamentally makes (and has made) Wacky Packages function to begin with. 

I'm keen for Walter Brennan and WPA-related humor as much as any joe, but personally I think there's not much to move the needle taking this route.  So, a 5-7 card set would seem like an appropriate risk. 

Tapping the 60's or the 80's, on the other hand, presents groovy opportunities and a chance to mill what I would think would be some pretty rad and productive ground. 

Actually, I like that idea of maybe testing the waters with a small mini 30s or 50s set like any of the awards sets size for example. Maybe 5 - 7 cards.

Also, I agree with Tom (crackedjerk) that the 80s and 90s would be a priority over the 30s and whatever for any first offshoot era.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: DrDeal on December 04, 2017, 03:31:47 AM
While I can appreciate the enthusiasm for going "back in time" further than the initial conceit of Old School, I believe the direction is misguided.   And I believe that for a number of reasons growing out of my personal understanding of what fundamentally makes (and has made) Wacky Packages function to begin with. 

I'm keen for Walter Brennan and WPA-related humor as much as any joe, but personally I think there's not much to move the needle taking this route.  So, a 5-7 card set would seem like an appropriate risk. 

Tapping the 60's or the 80's, on the other hand, presents groovy opportunities and a chance to mill what I would think would be some pretty rad and productive ground.

I agree that sticking to more recent times makes the most sense. I grew up with wackies and can relate to new wacky's that spoof products I grew up with. I am 54 so basically grew up in the 70's. Spoofs for products from before I was born would not interest me much.
Title: Re: Old School 6 Purchase Totals
Post by: JasonLiebig on December 04, 2017, 09:37:56 AM
Yeah, I think this is going to be the general feeling within classic Wacky collectors, and it just makes sense. 

But not to entirely be a downer on the concept, I think the hobby could embrace a smaller five to seven card set of them painted by Dave, as an aside.  Reading how the idea has been pitched on this thread as a smaller offering in between more full-sized contemporary (1960's and up) sets is something I could happily get behind. 

 
I agree that sticking to more recent times makes the most sense. I grew up with wackies and can relate to new wacky's that spoof products I grew up with. I am 54 so basically grew up in the 70's. Spoofs for products from before I was born would not interest me much.