I have a question.
The last three Wacky series that were sold retail all deviated from the norm as mostly established in 2004. They were, of course:
*MLB Wacky Packages (2016)
*Wacky Packages 50th Anniversary (2017)
*Wacky Packages Go to the Movies (2018).
My question is: did these three series sell well or not, in comparison to, say, the other 16 series from 2004-2015 (I'm including the two Flashback series and the Chrome series, but not the various print-on-demand series) which mostly stayed within the norm?
In other words, just when did the bottom fall out of the barrel, retail-wise?
Interesting point, Mike.
In my opinion, Wackys were steadily going downhill before MLB, and that series, as well as the subsequent two series, were Topps' (misguided) attempt to hold on to a market that was already slipping away due to a string of collective mistakes made along the way. The more ANS progressed, the more things seemed to spiral out of control.
The market, which was originally targeted at children nationwide, became more of a collectors' market for a small handful of adults. Online sales - postcards and OS, for example - featured alcohol and tobacco parodies. (Mind, I am not disparaging these, but simply mentioning that they cater to adults, not children, and have done so for years.) Additionally, online sales were more accessible to adults with credit cards, not children. Lastly, when I first began collecting ANS, I could find them at Walmart, Target, Toys 'R Us, Five Below, Party City, Dollar Tree, and even supermarket vending machines. Toward the end of ANS, one was lucky if one could even find Wackys at Target. Again, so much for the kids' market.
At one point, the number of ANS parallels became overwhelmingly ridiculous to the point of becoming a bad joke. Conversely, some of the parallels were so limited that it became nearly impossible to assemble some sets, even for the most dedicated of collectors (hence "rainbow" sets which were the best one could do.)
Additionally, as Jason Liebig and others have pointed out in other threads, the introduction of sketch cards created a false market and demand
for Wackys that just wasn't there - which left Topps precariously perched on a large pile of overstock.
As the years went on, products that were parodied before were spoofed yet again and again and again, 3, 4, even 10 times or more, thereby losing their novelty. (Again, there is another thread on this.)
Also, in the later ANS, Wackys suffered a decline in quality, particularly in regard to artwork. Some of these were just absolutely piss poor and probably should have never seen the light of day. Up until this point, the abundance of parallels annoyed me, however the inferior artwork was the icing on the cake.
I believe the writing was on the wall
before MLB, and I believe Topps saw the decline as well, hence their reaction, that is, the release of MLB, etc.. Rather than tinkering and messing about with things, Topps should have just stuck with basic sets instead of running in a score of diverse directions. Things became too messy, and the bigger the mess, the harder it is to clean up. I believe Topps should once again issue a basic modest Wacky Packages set - maybe promote it as cereal box prizes - and make it accessible so
children can readily and easily purchase the cards and collect them all.