Jason, too cool, I like the way you snuck in your passion, package design. Of course, Wackys have big borders and others don't! But, playing devil's advocate here, I would love to see Coke in a blue can and the original Wackys are a bit old fashioned, at least according to my kids.
Well, they have put Coke in different color cans. Organic Coca-Cola came with a green background logo and was/is called Coca-Cola Life. So there are reasons. But they still kept that great old type-face logo and still called back to the classic bottle shape.
But you raise a great point and that is the perception that these are old-fashioned. We have someone perceives Wacky Packages as "a bit old-fashioned", and I'd say that's a great starting point to problem solve (if that someone is a lot of people). Does a thin border mean modern? I'd be shocked if that were the case, but I'm open to the information if that is what makes them "old-fashioned" somehow. To me, thinning the border (or getting rid of it entirely) seems more arbitrary than directed. But again, maybe there's a series of focus groups that decided Thick Border = Old, Thin Border = New.
My guess would be that, rather than an iconic border thickness being the thing that makes these old fashioned, it may be the fundamental nature of trading cards/stickers at all, that makes them that. And a border doesn't solve that fundamental problem.
I'd also posit that, if you look at what hip-hop artwork and graphitti artwork looks like - the design elements that are most often used within it; it all has thick BOLD borders. So, I would take the position and argue that the fat black border design element is the MOST contemporary aspect of Wacky Packages. And in an effort to make them "modern" (if that was indeed the goal of removing it) they have stripped away the singular aspect of Wacky Package that was already visually contemporary. :-) Ahem.
[Edit: Sorry guys, I just realized that we're having a style/design discussion on your thread where you're trying to work out the twists and turns of the On-Demand releases for the buyer's club - which I think is a great idea, BTW. Didn't mean to step on your thread.]