The Yak Shack Forum

hear ye! hear ye! hear ye!! read all about it!! online Lord of the Rings Guide blasts the last Topps card set blaming bad collation leading to a bad ending!! maybe this will make topps listen!!
here's the link:
http://www.figures.com/databases/action.cgi?setup_file=lotrnews2.setup&category=lotr&topic=5&show_article=178 (http://www.figures.com/databases/action.cgi?setup_file=lotrnews2.setup&category=lotr&topic=5&show_article=178)
but READ ON!!!

Bad collation sabotages the "'R.O.T.K.' Collector's Update Edition"

What would you think if you only found half of the available cards?

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

For several years now, the Topps company has been publishing gorgeous trading cards based upon director Peter Jackson's “Lord of the Rings” films. To date, two sets have been produced for each movie (another, covering the entire trilogy, is due in the fall), each offering the best qualities of both a photo album and an insider's guidebook, as well as rare, valuable mementos unavailable anywhere else. Topps' most recent "L.OT.R." release is “'The Return of the King' Collector's Update Edition,” and while it follows the awesomely beautiful visual template set by previous installments, it’s hobbled by pitiful collation. Good luck trying to build a full set.
By their very nature, trading cards are supposed to be randomly packaged, giving each collector an equal chance of finding any particular card. We cracked open a sealed box of 36 seven-card packs and didn’t even find one of everything.
Instead, this box contained merely 36 of the 72 cards in the basic set. How could this happen? Well, six packs contained duplicates of the same cards (Two of #91 plus two of #139, two of #93, two of #99 plus two of #152, two of #117, two of #121, and two of #157 respectively). Beyond that, packs yielded multiples of the same cards over and over again. Of the 36 cards we did find, we pulled six or seven duplicates of everything, except for cards #99 and #139. There were eight of each of those. Meanwhile, the other 36 cards needed to build a full collection were not to be found at all. That’s ridiculous.

Trading card history is riddled with horror stories about shortprints of some cards (making it difficult or literally impossible to finish a set), and bad collation of others. Traditionally, the distribution of the “L.O.T.R.” cards has been pretty darn good. We averaged two full sets of cards in each box of the previous five editions, but the “'Return of the King' Collector's Update Edition” has ended that wonderful record of quality control.

To be fair, it's doubtful that all or even many boxes are so disproportionately packed. Still, that's no consolation to a fan putting money on a counter at some store, hoping to assemble a full collection.

We did uncover an autographed card, which are available one in 240 packs (ours was signed by actor Sala Baker), but did not obtain any of the Memorabilia Cards, seeded one per 38 packs. Wrappers promise one autograph or Memorabilia card per box, so we the did meet the odds in that capacity.

It's a real shame that somebody (presumably at whatever factory packages these cards) effectively undid the hard work of everyone involved with this project. Veteran card text writer Gary Gerani has gotten better and better with each "L.O.T.R." set, finding increasingly creative and evocative ways to express the story and how it was brought to the screen. The Mada Design team has consistently given the artwork a classy presentation. Editor and Project Manager Matt Saunders particularly deserves the thanks of all LordOfTheRingsGuide.Com readers for repeatedly granting extensive interviews which have explored the development of the cards. His devotion to the project is exemplary, his willingness to so graciously extend himself to this site is humbling. Somehow, somewhere along the line, the outstanding efforts of these industry professionals has been undone, apparently by another's laziness or oversight. It wasn't supposed to end like this. It wasn't supposed to end like this.
by Claude Flowers [

LOL - do you think that review would have been half as bad if they hadn't had such a mix up with the collation?

I have to say in ours we were farrrr luckier with my collation :)

Probably they were just unlucky - if alot of boxes were like that I don't think base sets would go as cheaply as they have! This will change with the chrome set though... :P