Review: Panini Prizm Football 2012

The hottest product of the year finally makes its appearance here on Sport Card Collectors. Did it disappoint...you will have to read on to find out!

First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook. If you don't follow them at all..you should! They talk to you on Twitter, have contests on their blog and Facebook and the site is also fun to visit!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box, 6 Cards Per Pack
• (2) Autographs and (3) Prizms Per Box!
• Look for Finite Prizm 1 of 1's!
• Find (1) Red Prizm Die-Cut Parallel Per Box!
• $130 Per Box

BASE CARDS:  I quite enjoy anything that has the "chrome" technology so the base cards did not disappoint. I have got to say though I wished the border on these were a bit thinner as it takes up a lot of the card..but with this technology it doesn't kill it too much. Though a little less would be better.

The rookie cards in this product do have parallels which the Mark Barron is an SP version of his rookie card. I like that addition to the football product. I must also say I really like the RC logo Panini created.

Also, the base cards DO NOT BEND!

INSERTS: You gotta love the "Prizms" in the product. You get three per box on average along with one red die cut. The red die cut one is sweet in terms of color and its a die cut. Who doesn't love those? This was something that they needed in the basketball product. The other inserts in the product, thought they have Prizm parallels, I don't really care much for. They needed some more pizazz. They feel like they are lacking and all look the same. Other than that, the Prizm parallels look great. And the Prizms may be what this product is about.

AUTOGRAPHS: Two autographs per box. Thats one more than its rival counterpart. But with such a huge rookie checklist you just never know who you will end up with. It could be anyone. We landed I would call a lucky box hitting Kellen Moore which who knows whats in his future and a "Prizm" # to 99 of Trent Richardson. Thats a pretty looking card. I like the auto box they are in and once again sticker autos do not bother me but some would complain. On this technology the white box gives the autos more appeal. I know people will cover their eyes when reading this, but I think with Panini's version of this technology the cards would be lacking without the white box.

 

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: N/A Thought I think this would be great to see in this product.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Did this product disappoint? Well...in some ways.When I bust into a product like this, for me its all about the parallels. And only getting 4 in a box just gives you a lot of base cards. Which don't get me wrong, those don't look bad but I would love at least a couple more parallels. The good thing is with the parallels being limited like this it drives up their value which makes collecting inserts worthwhile again. Kinda reminds me of the 90's inserts. Hard to find, but worth the time when you do. You actually find yourself hoping for a good player of one. And instead of it being worth $5 they run up to $30 for some of the good ones.

I do like finding two autographs in the product but with 2 autographs and 4 parallels I am not quite sure what you pay for it might equal out to its value every time. It just depends who you hit in your box and which parallels you land. However, for a rookie run at this product I would say Panini did a good job overall and this one is much improved and has much more in it than the basketball one did. I think a sophomore version of this next year will be very impressive. I just hope they stick with the basics they have and add to it

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 5
                Base Design: 4
                Insert Design: 3
                Memorablila/Autographs: 4
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 3.5