Back in the middle of last year, we got our first taste of cards that used the original movie posters as a theme. Being that Star Wars movie posters are iconic and often described as some of the best around, it was natural for the fans to want to see them in SWCT. Luckily for us, they found a way to make the set work, and work well. The award card being the unreleased “Revenge of the Jedi” poster, changed to “Return” because Jedi should not care about revenge, was awesome.
Although I was upset that they felt the need to use a border on the card for variants, it was something I could live with. To this day, I still have the award card in my stash. There is just something about that set that spoke to me, and it remains one of my favorites.
When Episode VII’s posters started showing up in theaters, I almost wished they would have dropped Series II right then. Instead, we were left to wait until the hype from Rogue One is now more engaged than hype from TFA, and that is upsetting in its own right. One thing about the recent movies is that posters have almost become an art form again, after losing that element in the 90s and 2000s.
As mentioned a bunch of times on Twitter, the only thing I cared about was the five character posters that were used as teasers prior to the main poster being released a few months before the movie. That’s a set of six cards, and four others could be used from some of the other things created for special engagements. So far we are five posters in, and we have gotten 4 IMAX posters and a weird foreign poster from the OT.
This means that unless the character posters are coming five in a row, with the main poster being the award, something is going to go very wrong with this set. These character posters are some of the most recognizable marketing material of the movie, and to see a set go through with out their usage is something I would have a huge issue with.
When you also see that the set has 10+ variants involved, I think this whole experience becomes something that might have been a winner, and turned it into something that is confusing at its core. Although I LIKE the idea of using the Den as a way to get ONE variant of the cards, that cool gimmick is ruined by an insane amount of additional cards that seem to be perfunctory in nature.
I dont get it. I really dont. The fans would have gone NUTS for a set of posters based on the ones that WE wanted, added to some cool underground TFA ones that we would think were cool too. Doing so with the original setup from series 1 would have been a grand slam. Instead, through half of the set, im sitting here wondering why they are trying to get cute on a set that worked SO WELL the first time around. We should be able to have our cake and eat it too. Doing this set the right way would have been huge. Its okay to retread an idea if it killed the original way. This would have killed too.
I know we are not all the way through the set quite yet, but I am curious to see if this works out based on the first 5 cards released. This is something I have been waiting for since November, and if the checklist goes to waste over international original trilogy posters that very few of us have ever seen, we are going to have some major, major things to discuss. I already feel like some intense questions need to be asked about the need to use 12 variants, but this would set me off.
If the main character posters end up being something that Lucasfilms prevented from going into the set, that is a different story all together, obviously. However, its unclear if that will ever be discussed in a public forum. If this was a decision by the team to use the posters they are choosing to use, it becomes a matter of giving fans what they want.
All I have to say is this – I dont ask for much, and I rarely complain about the drama that comes with the SWCT community. However, if these posters arent done right, after many fans have asked for them to be created with care, I might have to stoop to a level I havent stooped to before. This is a set you dont mess with, and so far, we are not off to a good start.
Digital Card Central 
One hope that I have is that Topps is saving those for a different set. This set, with the 18 possible variant combinations, is just a mess IMO. 6 colors, only 1 of which is an easy pull (blue, 1:15), and even that is high for a 6-variant set. Green, at 1:35, is a challenge for most. then, there are 4 hard to get sets, two of which only drop at certain times, and even then have ridiculous odds (1:150, 1:300), and one is a pay variant.
Then, there are 3 types of frames for each.
I don’t mind the idea of the frames, I think it is a nice introduction. But if you are going to do that, go with 2 colors, one of them at 1:10, one of them at 1:100. Add the 3 frames, and you end up with 6 variants which is still a lot, but people can choose what to collect. Add in a pay color if you think it helps revenue that much.
Maybe, and again, this is just my hope, they are using this set to fine tune the specifics before releasing a TFA poster set with the posters everyone wants. Start a set with that Rey poster, announce early on that the movie poster is the award, and people will go nuts for it.
Agreed. Frame crafting is nice, but too many variants leads to confusions. As for the odds, they continue to be unfriendly to the F2P. I was a big fan of the recent TFA Portraits structure, hope similar odds structure pops up again
Being friendly to F2P on this release is about 1000th on the list of concerns I have. Not really a big deal, sorry my friend!
They could do 2 or 3 marathons worth of theatrical poster art cards, there is enough good material when you incorporate all the re-releases and international issues. Having the Polish ROTJ card as part of a poster set in SWCT is fantastic….but it is totally out of place with the first 4 cards of the TFA IMAX. They should’ve just had this a wave exclusively for TFA – the 4 Imax and the 6 you showed above would’ve been perfect (I’m sure there is another choice out there for an award too).
Then do a Poster series 3 dedicated to international artwork and include the Powrot Jedi card as part of that set. Instead it’s like they’re just picking random posters out of the hat (which is kinda true with the first series as well) and sticking them in these sets. Individually the choices are great, but I fear that the complete set will be less than the sum of it’s parts if they are going to continue in this manner.
I love the new set and the posters they’ve chosen through card #7 – the italian poster, that one is beautiful. They are just great looking cards and I love the different borders. If there’s too much for you, just pick the one you like and follow that one – problem solved. Wood is my favorite but metal is just too easy so doing all three types. Also, the Masters Pack is so freaking great because you get so many hits! I’ve got tons of green wood frames, they are coming out my ears lol.