The question of the day....

Yesterday I wrote about the increasing prices of Murad hobby boxes.  In the comments section was a great question from Zach - a frequent reader on the site.  And this is what he asked me about the rising prices of the hobby boxes:

Guy, do you think that collectors are buying up some of the more popular boxes from recent years b/c of their indifference to Panini products?

I guess I'd never thought of the problem in terms of the present state of the hobby making an impact on the past releases.

And my answer?  I really don't know.  But let me work through this and we'll see if I can come to an answer by the time the post is done.

I for one, like a lot of what Panini is bringing to the table.  I like that more of the releases are coming out with on-card autos.  I like that they've done an art set like Court Kings.  I like that their flagship release brought back some novelty to the first offering of the year.

But if we're being honest, there are a lot of people who don't like what Panini has done.  And truthfully, they don't like a lot of anything at all in the hobby anymore (you've read their blogs - you know what I'm talking about).  And that's fine.  It's the internet, for goodness sake.  If you don't find both ends of the spectrum on any topic, you're not using it right.

I guess what really strikes me about this question - is that it's applying to me.  In a way.

I started this blog back in December of 2009.  And at that time, Panini had the license and had products coming out.  But when I sat down to really think about what set I wanted to chronicle on this site, I could only choose one of my favorites from a past year - Murad.  Was that from indifference on releases available to me? 

No.  I really wanted to build a set of Murad since it came out.  I like the theme and the challenge.  For a retro collector and set collector - as I, and many collectors are - Murad is the obvious choice.

But let's say I couldn't build Murad.  Is there a set in Panini's first year of releases that's inspired me to go all out and collect the entire thing?  Not quite - but it's getting close.

Classics was good.  It had a solid SP chase, on-card autos and good relics.  But I wasn't so in love with the look that I had to re-direct my funds to obtain the entire thing.  Court Kings is about as close as I've come to want to build an entire Panini set.  It would be an awesome chase to collect all of the auto'd box toppers alone.  But the price and the number of cards per box makes that out of my price range. 

But let's put it this way, if I hit the Powerball, I'm getting all of those box toppers.  Believe that.

So back to the original question, is Panini releasing such sub-par product that people are forced to buy past releases.

To that I would have to say, no.  I really would.  Panini is actually listening to the consumer.  No other brand has tried to release as much on-card autos in one year as Panini has.  And Panini has released enough themes in their product lines to appeal to a greater audience.  I look forward to what could be done in the future years if they continue to put their customers input into practice.

So the verdict is that Panini is not at fault for Murad's price hike.  I think I've really convinced everbody to try out a box or two.