I know these have been around for around a month now, but I recently saw images of the new 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee hockey set.
It took Upper Deck seven tries, but they finally made an O-Pee-Chee design that I actually like.
OK, that’s not entirely true. I loved the 2009-10 design. But my biggest complaint has always been the gi-normous O-Pee-Chee logo that has dominated the design every year since 2006-07–when Upper Deck started making OPC-brand cards. Upper Deck always felt the need to hit us over the head with an OPC logo that was unnecessarily large.
But not this year. Instead, more important details–like the player’s name and team–take precedence over the brand logo. The design isn’t too shabby either–it looks modern enough, but feels kind of old school.
The inserts really have me excited about this set, though.
The Retro Parallel cards will be seeded 1-per pack, and have a 1950s vibe to them. I am currently building the 2011-12 OPC Retro Parallel set (want list here), and might actually go after these too.
STICKERS?!?! How freaking cool is this? As an American, I fondly remember getting a sticker in almost every Topps card set I bought back in the day, be it Hockey or a movie set like Star Wars. You’ll get one sticker in every 3 packs of the upcoming OPC set.This sticker’s design feels like a 1970s baseball card–simple, but colorful. Frankly, I’d rather get a sticker than a retro rainbow black die cut parallel.
And don’t worry–there will be 8 rainbow parallels per box, too. And harder-to-find black rainbow parallels. This is Upper Deck we’re talking about.
You’ll also get 2 pop-ups per box. While I’m not exactly a fan of the idea, I do like the fact that we are getting some variety in this year’s OPC product. Plus, I’m kind of tired of inserts like Trophy Winners and Team Checklists.
One idea I really like are these manufactured Team Logo Patch cards.
I guess these are going to feature different incarnations of team logos, or a team’s supporting logo, like the Red Wings’ cartoon octopus. Unfortunately, these will be hard to get–1 in every 96 packs–so I won’t hold my breath. I like the idea of collecting team logos, past and present. That would have made a cool insert set itself, even without patches. Oh well.
The 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee set will be released August 14. I’m definitely going to collect it. Now my only debate is, do I buy a complete set (like I did this year) or do I buy some boxes. One way is more effective, but the other way is more fun–and expensive.
Is anyone else planning on collecting the 2012-13 O-Pee-Chee set/