Why are Landscape Oriented Wackys Always Off-Center?

[Paul_Maul]

Some of the hardest original series wackys to find centered are the ones that are landscape oriented. Particularly 8-Lives and Sweathard come to mind.

Bigtomi offered the following theory for why this is in another thread. His comments refer to the following picture:



 "If you look at the 2nd sheet, 8-Lives is also only printed twice per slit, but more importantly, the artwork is taller than the adjacent art (compare to Putrid, as the most obvious example). This tells me that when the sheet is cut, it's almost always going to be off-center to the bottom (left side of sticker). And, this is quite true. (How many 8-Lives have you seen off-center to the right?). To get 8-Lives well centered, the row(s) under each would wind up off-center toward the top."

While I was buying this at first, it now seems to me that the overall rectangle consisting of the artwork and the copyright line will have the same dimensions for 8-Lives and Putrid. In the case of 8-Lives, the artwork is taller, but it's the same height if you include the Putrid copyright line in the comparison. Similarly, the 8-lives is the same width as Putrid if you include its copyright.

So I once again don't see why 8-Lives should always be off-center on the bottom. Tom, can you clarify your theory?

[Gurgle]

As I was reading this, I was all ready to respond about including the copyright line in the size of the image... then I saw you mentioned it.

I didn't realize 8-Lives was more likely to be off-center and have no theories.

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

Some of the hardest original series wackys to find centered are the ones that are landscape oriented. Particularly 8-Lives and Sweathard come to mind.

off center in which direction?
and what orientation are you holding the card?
if you're talking off center left/right, with a landscape image held vertical, my initial instinct is that it's just a trick of the mind that we would see that type of off-center more readily than we would notice a top/bottom off center for a portrait wacky.
the copyright next to the image forces the images off center
when the copyright is to the side, it's very easy to see that the image is pushed to the side
when the copyright is underneath, you don't consciously notice that the image is pushed upwards

[Paul_Maul]

off center in which direction?
 

8-Lives is almost always off center with the border space on the left side (when held horizontally) being very narrow. So on the uncut sheet, this would correspond to the bottom of the sticker.

This impression is only anecdotal, but I believe it is shared by many.

Edit: here are the first four copies I saw on ebay:

[slamjim]

Dave, can you provide a bigger image of the first pic you posted in this thread? Is it also possible to include the sticker next to it on the right as well?

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

8-Lives is almost always off center with the border space on the left side (when held horizontally) being very narrow. So on the uncut sheet, this would correspond to the bottom of the sticker.

(Image removed from quote.)

a picture is worth a thousand words. thanks

if that's the predominant condition, then it makes me question the centering of the image on the uncut sheet.
you posted that small image of the sheet earlier, and it does almost look like the image is off center low in its space.
evidence to correspond with that is that the edge of Gloom is not seen in any of the cards you posted. If the sheet was miscut, then it seems you should get a piece of the border from the card above. but that's not the case.

I'm thinking of how there were numerous complaints of Dr Peeper being miscut in the Flashback set, when it wasn't. The image was just too large for the card and placed too low in the space

[slamjim]

a picture is worth a thousand words. thanks

if that's the predominant condition, then it makes me question the centering of the image on the uncut sheet.
you posted that small image of the sheet earlier, and it does almost look like the image is off center low in its space.
evidence to correspond with that is that the edge of Gloom is not seen in any of the cards you posted. If the sheet was miscut, then it seems you should get a piece of the border from the card above. but that's not the case.

I'm thinking of how there were numerous complaints of Dr Peeper being miscut in the Flashback set, when it wasn't. The image was just too large for the card and placed too low in the space

This is why I asked Dave for a larger pic with the other image next to it. I think it might have been placed off center as well.

[Paul_Maul]

Alas, I have no larger picture, I just took what Greg had of the uncut sheet. I guess the image being shifted on the sheet makes the most sense. To tell for sure I guess we'd need a blow up and exact measurements since even being off a tiny bit could result in what we see here.

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

Alas, I have no larger picture, I just took what Greg had of the uncut sheet. I guess the image being shifted on the sheet makes the most sense. To tell for sure I guess we'd need a blow up and exact measurements since even being off a tiny bit could result in what we see here.

you mentioned Sweathard as well, and I notice that both 8-Lives and Sweathard are in the bottom row of the proof/base set (we don't have a pic of the 3rd series proof sheet, but I'm assuming it's the top 3 rows from the uncut sheet just like it is for every other series)
I wonder if the method topps used for image alignment was slightly off for the landscape images on that bottom row. It wouldn't be apparent on the proof sheet because of all the white space underneath all the images in that row, whereas row 1 and row 2 are constrained by the images below them. would

[Dr Popper]

Alas, I have no larger picture, I just took what Greg had of the uncut sheet. I guess the image being shifted on the sheet makes the most sense. To tell for sure I guess we'd need a blow up and exact measurements since even being off a tiny bit could result in what we see here.

I don't know if you guys know this already but Rusty has some pics of the series 2 sheets on his website.............

http://www.lostwackys.com/Wacky-Packages/2nd-series/2nd-series-sheet-a.htm

[Fanatical_and_Sickly]

I don't know if you guys know this already but Rusty has some pics of the series 2 sheets on his website.............

those are mostly just taken from Greg's site, and have a reduced resolution
Greg's site is my primary online reference for all things 70's wacky

[Dr Popper]

those are mostly just taken from Greg's site, and have a reduced resolution
Greg's site is my primary online reference for all things 70's wacky

Yeah, most of Rusty's images on his website are pretty grainy.