Panini reflection etc

[Cardiac kemba pc]

I know Panini is not popular here but as it comes to a close I have found myself reflecting on the era. Particularly because my main PC Kemba is exclusively panini and rather unlikely he would carry any post playing cards.

Part of this reflection is to understand what might be missing from the collection I don't know about, or to try something new. Therefore I would like to get everyone's opinion on their favourite card, set, Parellel, case hit, rare pack odds from the era,

Your list or opinion could be a well known parallel however from a particular yr only. Do you like firsts? This is rather a very open discussion / thread that maybe can be extended on over the yrs post panini. This could be something we might learn from and can look back at like a time capsule to see what might have been popular now, might not be ten yrs from now.

I would rather not offer my opinions for now so as to avoid any potential bias and would rather everyone be able to openly express what they enjoy and like. However I would like to mention one particular card as the 2017 essentials platinum, I don't know much about them other than they look cool and are tough to find.

Thanks

What specific cards do you like from the era?

[mindcycle]

Great topic!

When I was reading through your post I was immediately thinking about Essentials Platinums, lol.

Below is a link to a post where I have a photo of one of my binder pages. I'm currently down to 9 left for my set!
viewtopic.php?p=973#p973

This is a photo I took of Tatum and Brown platinums after the Celtics won the championship last season.


The platinums were basically case hits. I think estimated print run is around 10. I personally like them because they remind me of the Flair legacy parallels from the 90's. While not quite as nice, they are still one of the better looking low print run "non-numbered" parallels that Panini has ever done. They flew under the radar for the most part due to being unnumbered and from a one and done product, so they were never super expensive (still aren't really). Once I have some time i'll throw up some more photos.

Another set I've always really liked is Optic. It was never as hyped as Prizm so you could generally get them for cheaper. In later years they actually look a lot better than Prizm as well IMO. Especially photography-wise. Prizm went close up dribbling or holding the ball for the most part while Optiic maintained the in game action photos. (Besides 17-18 Optic, that release sucked lol)

Here's my team set from the Nuggets championship season (22-23), minus the rookies Christian Brown and Peyton Watson, still need those.

[Cardiac kemba pc]

Great topic!

When I was reading through your post I was immediately thinking about Essentials Platinums, lol.

Below is a link to a post where I have a photo of one of my binder pages. I'm currently down to 9 left for my set!
viewtopic.php?p=973#p973

This is a photo I took of Tatum and Brown platinums after the Celtics won the championship last season.


The platinums were basically case hits. I think estimated print run is around 10. I personally like them because they remind me of the Flair legacy parallels from the 90's. While not quite as nice, they are still one of the better looking low print run "non-numbered" parallels that Panini has ever done. They flew under the radar for the most part due to being unnumbered and from a one and done product, so they were never super expensive (still aren't really). Once I have some time i'll throw up some more photos.

Another set I've always really liked is Optic. It was never as hyped as Prizm so you could generally get them for cheaper. In later years they actually look a lot better than Prizm as well IMO. Especially photography-wise. Prizm went close up dribbling or holding the ball for the most part while Optiic maintained the in game action photos. (Besides 17-18 Optic, that release sucked lol)

Here's my team set from the Nuggets championship season (22-23), minus the rookies Christian Brown and Peyton Watson, still need those.

Agree, great cards here. The essentials also remind me of the 90s legacies which are great. I also agree with the sentiment around optic vs prizm. I really like 2018 optic along with 2021 and 2023.

I do like the 17 and 18 status cards, 2017 blank slate, one and one along with photogenic. A set I particularly like the look of is the 2009 court kings base set. If only kemba was around then I would be grabbing that for sure.