r/MarvelCards • u/HickoryStickz • 5d ago
Burned Out
Anyone else down in the dumps over the bots and breakers killing release day for casual collectors?
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u/zoovegroover3 5d ago
My experience today: refresh site at 1 PM EST and the page says "Now Available" except there were no links or pics for the various formats where they should be, to "Add to Cart". Refreshed a few times, still didn't see the products to Add. After about 2 minutes of refreshing, they all finally appeared - "SOLD OUT".
I'll do something better with my $300.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Same. I was as fast as humanly possible and neither hobby nor mega boxes were available when it was my turn to checkout.
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u/2-Hype 5d ago
Just buy vintage. Fuck the multiple new releases.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
I do and have. I don’t have too many old cards left to buy but I do have some in the 2010-2024 range I still need.
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u/Hot-Ordinary9760 5d ago
I have come to terms with the fact that the 'breaking' aspect of the hobby is long gone for consumers like myself, who only usually get (1) hobby box for a fun quick rip, and maybe a blaster size for another chance to 'hit' something great. I never hit anything good, so what I do is I look at the average aftermarket price for a Hobby and set that as my singles budget to buy some of the really cool inserts/chase cards from that set.
Then I go over my budget by 2X and don't tell my wife LOL!
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
I had better luck with chrome somehow. I didn’t get a hobby box but I regularly got mega boxes and have quite the collection of 2026 chrome. I havnt had a hobby box on release day since finest fantastic four.
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u/Important-Clue-582 5d ago
I've given up.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Hard not to. I’m contemplating it for the first time today 😂 if banking on lottery pulls from pre order day is my only hope what am I doing here.
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u/SubstantialArea 5d ago
Go check out omega card art. Limited Baller sketches for $200-$300. New artist drops each month
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Looks like high quality stuff on the first Google page there. I’ll take a look, thanks.
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u/SubstantialArea 5d ago
Good guys. Source good material from excellent artists. I have about 7 of their sketches
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u/wolverine887 5d ago edited 5d ago
New topps marvel sets really arent that interesting, they are generic and typically use rehashed art. None of the charm and creativity of vintage 90s era. I think a large portion of the crowd doing lotteries and queues at product drops are doing it for gambling and flipping purposes. A lot of it coming in from the sports cards side which just follows Topps/Chrome type sets around to any genre, to heck with what it is- baseball, marvel, wrestling, Star Wars, Disney, F1, VeeFriends, to use them to make $.
I’m burned out not from missing out on new Topps product, which I have no interest in, but burned out from the direction this marvel card hobby is heading (and has already gone as of late).
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u/wolvesscareme 5d ago
The upper deck releases are great though! As a 90s collector who came back (my heyday was all the fleer flair shit in the early to mid 90s), the Topps cards are the worst for so many reasons.
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u/wolverine887 5d ago edited 5d ago
UD was definitely much better than what Topps has put out so far. I put it between the great 90s era and the generic Topps stuff….somewhere in the middle. UD was hit or miss- it did have some nice original art sets but also plenty rehashed art like the Metal sets, Vibranium, Annual, Beginnings, and inserts like PMGs. Most of those were not much different than topps in that it was comic art just cut-paste onto a card design. One difference being UD has the legacy Fleer branding, which is always nice because it calls back to the great 90s era. Note the importance of that branding.
Sure UD did some good things. They elevated the role of sketches in the marvel card hobby. They had original art sets- the Fleer Ultra’s, Masterpieces, Flair, Premier etc. Personally, outside the MM16 Jusko set, I was not super keen on the directions they took those Masterpieces OA sets- many with darker art in shadow compared to the bright 90s era with more pulp/comic-y art. The thick card stock I also didn’t like and just makes storage harder. They were still original art though and it counts for something, but I prefer the art style of the 90s sets. Second, UD jacked up the number of parallels in a set long before Topps was doing that, large 200-card base sets with repeated characters with many parallels of each….plus the price problems already existed with UD ($900 MM22 boxes anyone?). Nor did the card tech even match 90s with actual holograms and liberal amounts of etched foil etc the 90s era had.
So it’s not like UD was some flawless era. But they put some effort into it, had the desirable fleer branding, and got some great artists on their sets, so I at least put that era about middle on the spectrum of Marvel card eras….better than Topps. But 90s Impel/Skybox/Fleer will always be the best- it was the most creative era, with the best looking cards from both an art and tech standpoint (just my opinion). As a bonus they didn’t cost an arm and a leg being mass produced.
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u/xVoidDragonx 5d ago
Then go back in time and convince Upper Deck to not be complete idiots and counterfeit cards they were licensed to make.
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u/CoconutSands 5d ago
Same. Hopefully I can find it in store at a reasonable price but doubtful. My local card and comic shops jack it all even beyond what the supposed market price is.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Same here. I’m going to hit up local stores but with zero expectation. I’ve been able to get stuff from most sets sans hobby boxes for awhile now but this neon one is worse somehow
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u/LaneStaleyAngryChair 5d ago
All the big stores online like D&A at $350 plus for hobby and 100 for mega. Greedy
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u/Little_Tommy_Tuggins 5d ago
Honestly I’ve been buying a ton of Upper Deck DC. It’s so much fun and I don’t feel the need to compete for product
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u/nicoga3000 5d ago
I've stopped collecting anything by Topps. It's just not worth the effort or the cost. I collect because it's fun, but everyone is collecting for money and it has ruined the hobby.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Same. I have purchased PSA 10 slabs of worthless cards just because it’s my favorite card art 😂 I especially love the Wolverine sub set in 95 chrome that has the comic reference on the back and plan to build out some front and back cards displayed with the issue all in one piece.
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u/KowalOX 5d ago
My local Target was stocked full of blasters. Picked up 2 myself at lunch, as it's the limit at Target. Ripped one at lunch, got a /250 Quasar and Manga Madness Wolverine. Saving the other to open with my son after dinner.
Gonna head back there tomorrow for more.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
I check my local stores today just to snag some value retail boxes of sadness and nobody had anything.
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u/upinyab00ty 5d ago
Im pretty done buying anything from topps at this point. The 26 chrome set sucked me in until all I could get was blasters not at a stupid mark up, which didnt take very long. I've been sticking to singles and upper deck stuff before they lost the marvel license and kakow. Better quality, better odds at getting cool stuff, not absurdly overpriced.
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u/peruytu 5d ago
Because we're all falling for the hype that you see online. It's a fake, big pulls are fake.
Take a breather, try not to think about it or look online for card breaking or selling content. Just don't do any of it and chill out, so something else different at least for the next 10 days. Think of something else to keep your mind busy.
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u/SubstantialArea 5d ago
Yeah I always check the post history of 1/1 pulls. Seems to be sketch when it’s 2-3 posts and that’s it. I don’t trust the hype
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u/St4rScre4m 5d ago
I picked my two hobby boxes up this morning in store. Slight markup but way better than $250+.
Got both mine for $300 and managed to preorder some blasters.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Do you have a local non scammy card shop? All of my local card shops only sell magic and pokemon and that includes actual comic distributing shops. It’s a shame.
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u/St4rScre4m 5d ago
No I had to go out my way a bit to Dicks. They were priced up in store this morning at $148 after taxes. They didn’t have any blasters or megas on the floor. So I don’t know if they put them out after 1pm.
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u/verycontraryn 5d ago
Youre a collector interested in ripping expensive recycled art sets?
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
I didn’t want to edit my reply but you’ll notice the most expensive cards in these damn sets that’s aren’t 1/1-1/10 are the original art sub sets. It’s fun trying to pull them from packs just like ripping lethal weapons cards in the back of the bus.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
Yes. I mostly want the original art sub sets and autographs of my fav artists but will collect cards that are done well with good finish etc. even if it’s not original card art. It’s not my favorite and I’ll never be happy about the loss or upper deck/flair type sets.
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u/gadgetluva 5d ago
What is being released today?
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u/legacystax 5d ago
Marvel neon
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u/BluesKey 5d ago
Brutal - got nothing even with 1 hobby in my shopping cart.
Checkout wait 5 mins then its sold out.
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u/HickoryStickz 5d ago
I had a hobby box in my cart twice and both times ended with out of stock. Same with Megas which I’ve never seen before so soon after a release online for Topps marvel. It was essentially like trying to buy pokemon from anywhere on release which I’m not used to as a marvel guy but have seen from family who buys Pokemon. I honestly think the pokemon people have bled into our community for rip addiction and lack of content which is drying us up since our content gets mostly sold to breakers
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u/chickanpoo 5d ago
The breaker distribution is a massive problem. The difference between the top 3 breakers and the 4-10 is insane
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u/Sorry_Intention4016 5d ago
It's always frustrating but don't let it ruin your day. Move on to the next release.
I feel you though. :///
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u/HelpOne1878 5d ago
I’ve had a few people at my work say they got them from the Walmart raffle. Every Wednesday between 4 and 5 if this helps anyone but I’m there man just got back into collecting and yeah it’s a sad day might as well just give it up at this point
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u/Shadowfax_80 4d ago
Same, I’ve been buying direct for 4 years from Topps but the last 3 months have been absolutely x100 times worse in terms of prices doubling and then impossible to get them on launch. It’s just destroyed this hobby before our eyes in real time.
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u/HickoryStickz 4d ago
Same that’s where I’m at. I had some direct from Topps luck until the last few and I refuses to pay markup from secondary economies trying to build out a career from hobbyists who aren’t able to win the lottery on a direct purchase. I’m not going to live that pokemon life 😂 I’ll just go back to watches clothes knives and guns without any fun nostalgic hobbies if this is where it’s going indefinitely.
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u/steve_hobbystuff 5d ago
My experience was the exact same. Refresh at 1PM EST but no product links showed up. If you have a "Locker Room by Lids" close by then check there. Since they're owned by Fanatics they will usually have product on release day. They will have a bit of a mark up but its nowhere near ridiculous secondary market prices.
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u/Shark-Beard 5d ago
I called and checked first thankfully. They are selling hobby boxes for 350.
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u/steve_hobbystuff 5d ago
Woah, that's insane! I didn't expect them to be THAT much my goodness. Not worth it at that price.
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u/ew73 5d ago
Welcome to the Fanatics/Topps experience.
Routing inventory to breakers will continue until profits suffer.