Wacky Packages Forum
Wacky Packages Discussion => General Wacky Packages Discussion => Topic started by: jeffcaff on January 03, 2022, 07:08:14 PM
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Not sure what this means for the future of Wacky Packages and GPK stickers but my general feelings that this is not a good thing. Fanatics will most likely focus on Sports and pay no attention to most non sport products. The Star Wars franchise will probably be safe. Any thoughts?
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Not sure what this means for the future of Wacky Packages and GPK stickers but my general feelings that this is not a good thing. Fanatics will most likely focus on Sports and pay no attention to most non sport products. The Star Wars franchise will probably be safe. Any thoughts?
Agreed. this deal was to accelerate Fanatics getting MLB rights and creating their own online marketplace for sports cards.
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Wacky Packages and GPK may go the way of Kickstarter projects done by independent printers like Sidekick. May not be a bad thing. Kickstarter projects give the opportunity for input by the fans. Would be good if the projects were coordinated by one of the artists on this site such as Neil or Dave. Just my 2 cents.
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The CNBC article indicated the deal was for the Topps name and the Sports and Entertainment unit (physical and digital cards), but not the confectionery unit (Gadzooka, Bling Pop, etc.)
No mention if the IP aspects (WP,, GPK, etc.), are part of that deal. Have to wait to hear more.
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Wacky Packages and GPK may go the way of Kickstarter projects done by independent printers like Sidekick. May not be a bad thing. Kickstarter projects give the opportunity for input by the fans. Would be good if the projects were coordinated by one of the artists on this site such as Neil or Dave. Just my 2 cents.
Can't speak for the company, but as far as I'm concerned, it's business as usual. Still have lots of wacky plans for 2022.
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Can't speak for the company, but as far as I'm concerned, it's business as usual. Still have lots of wacky plans for 2022.
Good to know. Thanks, Neil.
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Can't speak for the company, but as far as I'm concerned, it's business as usual. Still have lots of wacky plans for 2022.
Thanks Neil!
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If something is profitable, and you have the capacity to do it. Then it makes no sense not to do it. They have another division that just handles the entertainment division. Why would you stop with tried and true products that are currently making Topps money with no effect on the sports card side. I actually can see, with the money Fanatics has to spend, that it increases all divisions. I would love it if Topps was able to produce other Non-Sports cards because the sports world is already locked down. Only time will see, but don't write off non-sports as we have a large footprint in the collectable market
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I've been told by reliable sources that the sale included the entertainment aspects, like GPK and Wackys. No word yet on what changes, if any, they intend to make. For the moment at least, it looks like we will continue with business as usual! Whew!
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I've been told by reliable sources that the sale included the entertainment aspects, like GPK and Wackys. No word yet on what changes, if any, they intend to make. For the moment at least, it looks like we will continue with business as usual! Whew!
one possible change is that that we may finally see parodies of Disney/Marvel/StarWars again :great:
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one possible change is that that we may finally see parodies of Disney/Marvel/StarWars again :great:
Why is this? Is Fanatics owned by Disney? If this comes true, that would be awesome.
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What is Fanatics like?
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I am trying to be optimistic, but what do 500 fanatical Wacky fans (pun intended) matter to a $500 million dollar deal? Internet says Fanatics is worth $28 billion. Lets hope they like wackys, or making a small amount of profit…
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I'm leery as well.
Fanatics might have a new idea of what Wacky Packages should be, so I'll just wait and see.
The impression I get when I read some threads when Fanatics acquired the sports rights last year, is that they tend to limit product and then charges a high price for it.
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Heres hoping they arent all about NFTs
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I haven't felt this bummed out about a company changing hands since Facebook bought Oculus. Wacky Packages might survive (don't really care about GPK so much). But if it's not "Topps Wacky Packages", something feels different. I hope they at least keep the name Topps rather than everything having the new name.
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I haven't felt this bummed out about a company changing hands since Facebook bought Oculus. Wacky Packages might survive (don't really care about GPK so much). But if it's not "Topps Wacky Packages", something feels different. I hope they at least keep the name Topps rather than everything having the new name.
"Fanatics Wacky Packages" sounds redundant.
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It's still Topps Wacky Packages. Fanatics might end up on the boxes in the teeny print in the corners but it would still say Topps as the main name. They wanted the Topps brand name to launch their card division. All Topps employees went over with the sale. I'm still doing Old School work right now and no projects have changed. I'm optimistic that they may even be more inclined to do stuff. Fingers crossed.
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Good to hear. We like artists and writers to have jobs and produce Wackys that we can buy..
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I've wondered about this too. I can't say I'm thrilled with how Topps is doing Wackys right now (would love to see more stuff on sale at the retail level), so I'm optimistic that Fanatics may inject some new life into Wackys. Of course, I hope Fanatics doesn't go the other way and ignore them, but I suspect there's more upside than downside.
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This is a fascinating sale. When Fanatics secured the exclusives with the sports leagues for cards last year, I thought it was a massive mistake, because I surmised that they underappreciated how important the heritage aspect (largely Topps) still was to sports cards. Little did I realize, it was a strategic move, to undercut Topps' market value, allowing Fanatics to acquire them at a heavy discount.
It seems that Fanatics wanted Topps all along, but didn't appreciate their billion dollar valuation. Depriving Topps of their core licenses solved that issue, allowing them to acquire Topps at a stee discount.
I still think Fanatics is looking at 2020 as the realistic trend for the sports card category, which is unrealistic in the short OR long term in my opinion. As an observer, I'm far more bearish on it. But then again, I'd have never predicted the category would still be chugging along in the way that it has. I think paying a premium for limited printed things is a bit silly. In spite of my personal opinions or tastes, sports card collectors seem to have bought into a kind of "Franklin Mint" approach to appreciation, both with "chase cards", now generally called other things I guess (parallels, etc) and of course slabbing and grading.
The idea that ANY Tom Brady or Lebron James card could ever sell for six figures seems silly on its face, but that IS that market as it stands. There is a kind of logic, I suppose. In a world where 90% or more of all printed sports cards will continue existing into the future, the only true "rarities" are the ones that the manufacturers create, or ones that extremely specific grading can sort out.
Like everyone else, I get worried when a Fanatics type of company gets involved in something built on real fandom, as their aim will likely be "how can we create something that will be worth $10k or $100k THIS year? How they'll view lower-revenue heritage Topps brands like Wacky Packages is tough to say. Hopefully they continue to leave it alone, knowing that it feeds a passionate, albeit humble fanbase, and that has value, even if it doesn't move the dial on a grand money scale.
But yes, almost certainly get ready for the NFT's. :sorry:
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I still think Fanatics is looking at 2020 as the realistic trend for the sports card category, which is unrealistic in the short OR long term in my opinion. As an observer, I'm far more bearish on it. But then again, I'd have never predicted the category would still be chugging along in the way that it has. I think paying a premium for limited printed things is a bit silly. In spite of my personal opinions or tastes, sports card collectors seem to have bought into a kind of "Franklin Mint" approach to appreciation, both with "chase cards", now generally called other things I guess (parallels, etc) and of course slabbing and grading.
The idea that ANY Tom Brady or Lebron James card could ever sell for six figures seems silly on its face, but that IS that market as it stands. There is a kind of logic, I suppose. In a world where 90% or more of all printed sports cards will continue existing into the future, the only true "rarities" are the ones that the manufacturers create, or ones that extremely specific grading can sort out.
Like everyone else, I get worried when a Fanatics type of company gets involved in something built on real fandom, as their aim will likely be "how can we create something that will be worth $10k or $100k THIS year? How they'll view lower-revenue heritage Topps brands like Wacky Packages is tough to say. Hopefully they continue to leave it alone, knowing that it feeds a passionate, albeit humble fanbase, and that has value, even if it doesn't move the dial on a grand money scale.
But yes, almost certainly get ready for the NFT's. :sorry:
That's driving me away from collecting sports cards. I simply cannot see spending tons of money on a piece of cardboard or even more if it's in an acrylic slab. I need one more card from my 1971 football set and three more of the 1969 football 4-in-1 minis, and I'm done.
I can't see my ever divulging into NFTs either. If I can't hold it in my hand, I can't enjoy collecting it. I'm a book and magazine reader and only went to a print subscription on my local newspaper to 1) keep them afloat, and 2) stop throwing away all that paper.
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It's still Topps Wacky Packages. Fanatics might end up on the boxes in the teeny print in the corners but it would still say Topps as the main name. They wanted the Topps brand name to launch their card division. All Topps employees went over with the sale. I'm still doing Old School work right now and no projects have changed. I'm optimistic that they may even be more inclined to do stuff. Fingers crossed.
That's great to hear, Dave. Wouldn't be the same otherwise. Do you still have your complete set of plaques and collection of rare oddball Wacky items that no one else could find?
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So I read in the Wall Street Journal that hedge funds are lining up to invest in Fanatics….not sure what that will mean for our beloved Wackys…..
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So I read in the Wall Street Journal that hedge funds are lining up to invest in Fanatics….not sure what that will mean for our beloved Wackys…..
The investors don't care about wackys either way, they aren't going to be the reason wackys continue or fold. These investors are banking on an IPO and a big pay day and are excited by the sports options here. Its valuation has increased due to flooding the market with shares for investors. Not sure why there are so many investor offerings as once a company gets into the billions, it hardly needs the money to survive. Someone(s) is making a huge amount of money and when this IPOs, dump and run....
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Does anyone know what is going on with Topps? I am not sure how involved Fanatics is right now but come on. I have had orders in with them since January and no shipping movement. Right now, OLDS10 is 2-3 weeks late as well.
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I assume greedy people in board rooms are trying to maximize profits and ingratiate themselves to shareholders. Wackys are probably not at the top of their list of things to do…
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Does anyone know what is going on with Topps? I am not sure how involved Fanatics is right now but come on. I have had orders in with them since January and no shipping movement. Right now, OLDS10 is 2-3 weeks late as well.
I have gotten my January and February sets already; it doesn't seem right that yours haven't even shipped?
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Does anyone know what is going on with Topps? I am not sure how involved Fanatics is right now but come on. I have had orders in with them since January and no shipping movement. Right now, OLDS10 is 2-3 weeks late as well.
I know they have been moving all the employees to a temporary work place because they had to vacate the old Topps building (now Bazoooka Inc or whatever it's called). I just got a package from them that was from a GPK product that came out a few months ago.
Olds is my fault a bit. I was changing and fixing some paintings up until the end of the week of the sale. Sorry about that!
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Oh man, did I miss out on Olds10? Haven't thought about Wackys for so long.
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Oh man, did I miss out on Olds10? Haven't thought about Wackys for so long.
Yep :'(
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Has anyone heard anything about the retail series that was supposed to come out later this year? Id settle for unfounded rumors or wild speculation…
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Sadly, I feel that Fanatics has really started to take full control of their Topps purchase. Recently, they have been indiscriminately cancelling orders, pushing out product several months, not allowing coupon or rewards redemptions, cancelled their NFT program, increased product dramatically, not stating production runs, not allowing family members with the same address to purchase and many other things. Not sure if anyone else has experienced this but this is not positive for the hobby or Wacky Packages.
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Did anyone actually receive official word (or even unofficial) that they were cancelling the monthly sets? Is there any info about the allegedly upcoming Old School set???
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Oh man, did I miss out on Olds10? Haven't thought about Wackys for so long.
Not exactly. You purchased an Old School 10 base set from me.
:]
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Sadly, I feel that Fanatics has really started to take full control of their Topps purchase. Recently, they ...cancelled their NFT program...
<sarcasm> :03: :03: :03: :03: :03: :03:</sarcasm>
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Has anyone heard anything about the retail series that was supposed to come out later this year? Id settle for unfounded rumors or wild speculation…
Monthly sets are no longer in the mix, but we'll have some cool wacky releases in 2023 to be sure. Keep your eyes peeled...
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Monthly sets are no longer in the mix, but we'll have some cool wacky releases in 2023 to be sure. Keep your eyes peeled...
Did poor sales have something to do with the elimination of the monthly sets, or just the artists running out of steam? Doesn't even sound like there will be quarterly sets. So probably the annual Mars Attacks and the next Old School, and that's probably all we're getting. Easier on my wallet, either way.
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Did poor sales have something to do with the elimination of the monthly sets, or just the artists running out of steam? Doesn't even sound like there will be quarterly sets. So probably the annual Mars Attacks and the next Old School, and that's probably all we're getting. Easier on my wallet, either way.
There will be a lot of Wacky Packages sets this year. Just changed up the format. Have your wallet ready in March!
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There will be a lot of Wacky Packages sets this year. Just changed up the format. Have your wallet ready in March!
As Gina Davis said in The Fly...."Be afraid...be very afraid" LOL :]
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As Gina Davis said in The Fly...."Be afraid...be very afraid" LOL :]
Afraid Nothing! I'm stoked! I hated the years when Wackys were dormant and we never knew when or even if they were ever coming back. We have assembled a great bunch of artists and have created some hilarious gags over the past few years. If production were to really end, who knows if we could ever get the team back together? I'd like to see Wackys keep going until they lose their snap, which doesn't look to be a risk anytime soon!
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Afraid Nothing! I'm stoked! I hated the years when Wackys were dormant and we never knew when or even if they were ever coming back. We have assembled a great bunch of artists and have created some hilarious gags over the past few years. If production were to really end, who knows if we could ever get the team back together? I'd like to see Wackys keep going until they lose their snap, which doesn't look to be a risk anytime soon!
Don't get me wrong...I love Wackies. I'm just afraid of the spending!
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There will be a lot of Wacky Packages sets this year. Just changed up the format. Have your wallet ready in March!
Glad to hear it!!