2022 Marvel Fleer Ultra Avengers (Upper Deck, 2022)

[Marvel Card]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

This was discussed in another thread, theories about how UD divides up the epack. Not sure if anyone knows, but you're right some of that could be tested.

Am I reading that right, 300 cases? Um wow...that's a helluva lot of product, reminds me of 2018 FUXM. All physical, or epack? Sitting on them or opened? What does 300 cases even look like, does that fill out a small room?

As for epack/physical divide and print run, I have not really looked into this set's print run like I did MM. I will say that I thought UD would go 75% at least on epack for MM, but some signs in the Red Spectrum thread regarding 1/1 hit proportions are leading me to think the split might actually be closer to 50/50 than I thought. It might even be 50/50. Like FUA, MM seems to have a never ending supply of physical on the big retailers as well. Without looking into numbers at all, FUA hobby print run at about 2.5x~3x MM print run sounds plausible (MM print run is around 13.5k boxes). If I very vaguely recall, 2017FUSM and 2018FUXM were in the 20k-35k box range. One difference though compared to MM is FUA has a ton of retail out there also that MM doesnt have, but that's a separate thing in some ways.

Yeah, at least 300 cases for 3600+ boxes. I own a company and have been doing very well for myself and I just got back into collecting around the June-ish area of this year. I heard about Mr FUXM so I decided I’d do something similar because…why not. I literally have boxes scattered throughout one of my residences and another has a full climate controlled storage locker by itself. For me, I like the idea of owning a large print run of a set so I decided FUA was going to be the set for me. I opened a small portion on epack unlike Mr FUXM, most of mine was physical as I never even knew what epack was starting out. Obviously the value of boxes has declined significantly so it’s not for investment purposes strictly, it’s just knowing I own what I believe is to be 15-20% of the print of this set. I may buy some more my average per box right now I believe is at $210.

For me, I gravitated towards this set to do this because I opened a case and got a few colored medallions. They’re honestly the best looking insert out there, especially the amethysts, apphires and emeralds. The overwhelming majority of my cases are unopened. I only opened about 6 cases worth so far.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

Yeah, at least 300 cases for 3600+ boxes. I own a company and have been doing very well for myself and I just got back into collecting around the June-ish area of this year. I heard about Mr FUXM so I decided I’d do something similar because…why not. I literally have boxes scattered throughout one of my residences and another has a full climate controlled storage locker by itself. For me, I like the idea of owning a large print run of a set so I decided FUA was going to be the set for me. I opened a small portion on epack unlike Mr FUXM, most of mine was physical as I never even knew what epack was starting out. Obviously the value of boxes has declined significantly so it’s not for investment purposes strictly, it’s just knowing I own what I believe is to be 15-20% of the print of this set. I may buy some more my average per box right now I believe is at $210.

For me, I gravitated towards this set to do this because I opened a case and got a few colored medallions. They’re honestly the best looking insert out there, especially the amethysts, apphires and emeralds. The overwhelming majority of my cases are unopened. I only opened about 6 cases worth so far.

Are you sure you arent actually Mr. FUXM? I kid, I kid. That is an astounding amount of the product owned. As you no doubt have realized, even if the box has decreased in price, there is the possibility of a longer term increase after it dries up. Seems to be the pattern with many of these marvel sets.

This is quite a different situation from the FUXM. I cant remember the exact details, but I think he did physical and epack, and part of the thing was dominating epack on the set, to the frustration of many no doubt. But Im pretty sure he opened all of it. Can you imagine if he held the 100 cases or whatever unopened for FUXM? Im pretty sure that box is selling for $1000+ now. Now I think it's unlikely FUA will be quite like that (2018 FUXM was in an era before the pandemic and hobby explosion, the FUXM sealed box, like the FUSM box, achieved organic value on the market as people realized after the fact the boxes are now scarce. More people are probably holding FUA as investments for this very reason, plus the print run is no doubt larger. Then again it's a mainline Fleer Ultra Marvel set, so I will not be surprised one bit if this box creeps back up).

Anyway, I can barely hold one sealed box around the house because it's too tempting and I want to know what's inside, so it eventually gets ripped....but man, 300 cases!

[DynaEtch]

Also a side note on this set and COMC.

When you are buying base from FUA, look closely at the scans and make sure it's really the silver base and not the green foil parallel. It's hard to tell since the stripes for both are kinda dark.

I did my usual set-purchase with this set on COMC, bought the 90 base individually, and had them shipped to me. When I just got them in hand recently, lo and behold 4 of the 90 were green foil parallels and not true base (to my annoyance, since my OCD is not gonna let this set have 4 greens mixed in with the base). The little white slip on the back of the card says just "base", and I went back to my purchases on COMC and indeed they were listed as regular base, but the scans if you look real closely are the greens. So this will involve an extra purchase and shipment to just get this dang base set finished.

[nyisle]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Also a side note on this set and COMC.

When you are buying base from FUA, look closely at the scans and make sure it's really the silver base and not the green foil parallel. It's hard to tell since the stripes for both are kinda dark.

I did my usual set-purchase with this set on COMC, bought the 90 base individually, and had them shipped to me. When I just got them in hand recently, lo and behold 4 of the 90 were green foil parallels and not true base (to my annoyance, since my OCD is not gonna let this set have 4 greens mixed in with the base). The little white slip on the back of the card says just "base", and I went back to my purchases on COMC and indeed they were listed as regular base, but the scans if you look real closely are the greens. So this will involve an extra purchase and shipment to just get this dang base set finished.

this reminded me of shipping home FUSM PMGs and getting the rainbow parallel instead

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by nyisle

this reminded me of shipping home FUSM PMGs and getting the rainbow parallel instead

That sounds pretty egregious on COMC's part, shouldnt be crap shoot when getting the physical cards in hand, but it is sometimes apparently. This one is kinda on me since the scans *are* there of the greens listed as base, but since foil scans darker, you have to really look, and when Im doing a base set purchase on COMC, Im just going into each bucket, quickly selecting the cheapest option, and moving to the next (very tedious btw COMC! wish there was an easier method here).

But the FUA base on COMC are actual card scans, not stock images, since there wasnt base on epack it's all digital. Sometimes you get into situations where it's a stock image and the wrong card comes to you (be it a parallel or whatever)...that would be entirely COMC's fault since you have no card image to go off of.

I did rebuy the 4 FUA base I needed.

[1992UDFootball]

I've received Marvel Masterpieces achievement rainbows from COMC instead of the base or gold signatures, not to mention COMC often sends the wrong serial numbered card when they get that part right.

I've also had FUXM rainbows sent to me from COMC instead of the base cards.

[Marvel Card]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Are you sure you arent actually Mr. FUXM? I kid, I kid. That is an astounding amount of the product owned. As you no doubt have realized, even if the box has decreased in price, there is the possibility of a longer term increase after it dries up. Seems to be the pattern with many of these marvel sets.

This is quite a different situation from the FUXM. I cant remember the exact details, but I think he did physical and epack, and part of the thing was dominating epack on the set, to the frustration of many no doubt. But Im pretty sure he opened all of it. Can you imagine if he held the 100 cases or whatever unopened for FUXM? Im pretty sure that box is selling for $1000+ now. Now I think it's unlikely FUA will be quite like that (2018 FUXM was in an era before the pandemic and hobby explosion, the FUXM sealed box, like the FUSM box, achieved organic value on the market as people realized after the fact the boxes are now scarce. More people are probably holding FUA as investments for this very reason, plus the print run is no doubt larger. Then again it's a mainline Fleer Ultra Marvel set, so I will not be surprised one bit if this box creeps back up).

Anyway, I can barely hold one sealed box around the house because it's too tempting and I want to know what's inside, so it eventually gets ripped....but man, 300 cases!

Yeah, to be quite honest I’m not on that level at all. I literally bought maybe 2 cases on epack and that’s it, I just didn’t like the idea of my cards not being with me. I know he bought out a lot on epack and I know there’s special achievements and all but it just didn’t make sense for me to do that, especially given the fact I literally don’t get half the box because the base is digital. I know FUA has rainbow and gold rainbow but to me, that’s not a big deal. I’d much rather have half the cards in the box rather than exchanging 10 base for a single rainbow and especially 100 base for a single gold rainbow. Also, I put in a lot of time going to various online retailers to get these cases because most distributors have a limit per order. There were countless times I needed to go back to a certain distributor after they updated their stock when I bought their inventory out. What I don’t understand is I did this because I figured physical was only 25% of this print run, with the rest on epack. My thinking was I was going to own more like 30-40% of the physical cards of the set. It turns out the epack allocation was much smaller than anticipated and my own percentage is likely only 15-20%. I’m literally at my space limit with my current boxes unless I get more storage which I don’t anticipate on doing. It’s ashame too because boxes are so cheap now.

Most of my cases are laying around due to sheer laziness and lack of space. I opened 6 cases worth and that took up over 10 binders worth and a few toploader bins by itself. 6 cases of these cards are A LOT, especially given the thickness. I’m working on a custom display and will dedicate an entire room (or couple, depending) to displaying these. But yeah, around Christmas time I plan to open at least 5 more cases. The whole mess of this process is organizing the cards. In the beginning I separated all the inserts but after a bit, I only pulled the numbered cards, amethysts, UP die cuts, jambalayas. I now have to go through my 10+ binders and remove all the cards because the binders will now only be reserved for the higher end cards of the set. The organizing is the most off putting part of this whole process. It may take me years honesty to open all the boxes. I only plan to keep a few (maybe 100) unopened.

[PurplesaurusRex]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

My thinking was I was going to own more like 30-40% of the physical cards of the set. It turns out the epack allocation was much smaller than anticipated and my own percentage is likely only 15-20%. I’m literally at my space limit with my current boxes unless I get more storage which I don’t anticipate on doing. It’s ashame too because boxes are so cheap now.

Yikes! If I were you I would've saved that cash for Marvel Masterpieces. Less storage space and better long term value.

[Marvel Card]

Originally Posted by PurplesaurusRex

Yikes! If I were you I would've saved that cash for Marvel Masterpieces. Less storage space and better long term value.

Going all in on a set at $600+ per box was a no go from the very beginning for me. There are supply chain issues specifically with more exclusive product, and I was going to own less of a market share. I also prefer the base art of FUA over masterpieces. For me, FUA seemed more doable than MM and I don’t regret this decision at all. The fleer ultra line resonates more with me because that’s what I collected as a kid and if I could do over again, I’d choose what I did with FUA over MM any day.

I’m a set collector and I’m positive I’ve got a complete set of every FUA insert besides the 1:1s, emeralds, sapphires in those cases, including Autos. I couldn’t have done that with MM.

[PurplesaurusRex]

You probably have an amazing sketch card collection. The avg sketch quality in that set is fantastic.

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

Going all in on a set at $600+ per box was a no go from the very beginning for me. There are supply chain issues specifically with more exclusive product, and I was going to own less of a market share. I also prefer the base art of FUA over masterpieces. For me, FUA seemed more doable than MM and I don’t regret this decision at all. The fleer ultra line resonates more with me because that’s what I collected as a kid and if I could do over again, I’d choose what I did with FUA over MM any day.

I’m a set collector and I’m positive I’ve got a complete set of every FUA insert besides the 1:1s, emeralds, sapphires in those cases, including Autos. I couldn’t have done that with MM.

I would absolutely love to see some of it when you do open it if you take some pics - If I had the disposable income at that level I would love to be able to do a similar thing in the future. Love to just be able to give myself a case or 2 for my birthday / xmas every year for the rest of my life

[Marvel Card]

Originally Posted by Xazark

I would absolutely love to see some of it when you do open it if you take some pics - If I had the disposable income at that level I would love to be able to do a similar thing in the future. Love to just be able to give myself a case or 2 for my birthday / xmas every year for the rest of my life

I’ll keep your username and will contact you when I rip my next batch.

[Xazark]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

I’ll keep your username and will contact you when I rip my next batch.

Legend, thanks!

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

Yeah, to be quite honest I’m not on that level at all. I literally bought maybe 2 cases on epack and that’s it, I just didn’t like the idea of my cards not being with me. I know he bought out a lot on epack and I know there’s special achievements and all but it just didn’t make sense for me to do that, especially given the fact I literally don’t get half the box because the base is digital. I know FUA has rainbow and gold rainbow but to me, that’s not a big deal. I’d much rather have half the cards in the box rather than exchanging 10 base for a single rainbow and especially 100 base for a single gold rainbow. Also, I put in a lot of time going to various online retailers to get these cases because most distributors have a limit per order. There were countless times I needed to go back to a certain distributor after they updated their stock when I bought their inventory out. What I don’t understand is I did this because I figured physical was only 25% of this print run, with the rest on epack. My thinking was I was going to own more like 30-40% of the physical cards of the set. It turns out the epack allocation was much smaller than anticipated and my own percentage is likely only 15-20%. I’m literally at my space limit with my current boxes unless I get more storage which I don’t anticipate on doing. It’s ashame too because boxes are so cheap now.

Most of my cases are laying around due to sheer laziness and lack of space. I opened 6 cases worth and that took up over 10 binders worth and a few toploader bins by itself. 6 cases of these cards are A LOT, especially given the thickness. I’m working on a custom display and will dedicate an entire room (or couple, depending) to displaying these. But yeah, around Christmas time I plan to open at least 5 more cases. The whole mess of this process is organizing the cards. In the beginning I separated all the inserts but after a bit, I only pulled the numbered cards, amethysts, UP die cuts, jambalayas. I now have to go through my 10+ binders and remove all the cards because the binders will now only be reserved for the higher end cards of the set. The organizing is the most off putting part of this whole process. It may take me years honesty to open all the boxes. I only plan to keep a few (maybe 100) unopened.

I guess maxing out space with cases of marvel cards isn’t such a terrible situation to be in, haha. In all seriousness, that must be an incredible collection. A whole room/display for the set would be awesome.

I thought like you that UD would heavily weight FUA and MM towards ePack. I mean why not? The margins they get from that have to be so much higher than selling physical to middleman distributors. The signs are pointing towards this not being the case though.

I put my set in a binder (just a paltry mini master set- base and insert sets, not hit-inserts. Not in the same stratosphere as you’re doing). And this binder is freakin huge. I’d rather UD just go back to regular size cards for sets I think. Overall though this is a fun set. I agree with you about the medallions- they are very nice in person. I think just as good visually as PMGs, but I know some people just care about the name.

[Marvel Card]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I guess maxing out space with cases of marvel cards isn’t such a terrible situation to be in, haha. In all seriousness, that must be an incredible collection. A whole room/display for the set would be awesome.

I thought like you that UD would heavily weight FUA and MM towards ePack. I mean why not? The margins they get from that have to be so much higher than selling physical to middleman distributors. The signs are pointing towards this not being the case though.

I put my set in a binder (just a paltry mini master set- base and insert sets, not hit-inserts. Not in the same stratosphere as you’re doing). And this binder is freakin huge. I’d rather UD just go back to regular size cards for sets I think. Overall though this is a fun set. I agree with you about the medallions- they are very nice in person. I think just as good visually as PMGs, but I know some people just care about the name.

Very nice, how did you get that visual for the front of your binder? It’s looking like you have a tidied up binder for display. Interesting enough I also used ring binders growing up but was told it warps cards but unsure if that’s true? Mine seem perfectly fine but I moved to the ringless binders just in case.

One thing I’ll say is the cards are unnecessarily thick. I like it at first because it’s different, but then I thought “why is this even necessary?” I’d even prefer it if they were the thinner standard stock of the 90s cards. Having these be thick makes absolutely no sense to me, it’s a storage nightmare. I also think the cards would just plain and simple be better looking with the thinner stock like on the acetates or ultra stars inserts. Probably not something UD will change but they should. I noticed I have to double sleeve these cards when I topload them otherwise the whole top of the card gets subjected to air, which is going to destroy these over the long term.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Marvel Card

Very nice, how did you get that visual for the front of your binder? It’s looking like you have a tidied up binder for display. Interesting enough I also used ring binders growing up but was told it warps cards but unsure if that’s true? Mine seem perfectly fine but I moved to the ringless binders just in case.

One thing I’ll say is the cards are unnecessarily thick. I like it at first because it’s different, but then I thought “why is this even necessary?” I’d even prefer it if they were the thinner standard stock of the 90s cards. Having these be thick makes absolutely no sense to me, it’s a storage nightmare. I also think the cards would just plain and simple be better looking with the thinner stock like on the acetates or ultra stars inserts. Probably not something UD will change but they should. I noticed I have to double sleeve these cards when I topload them otherwise the whole top of the card gets subjected to air, which is going to destroy these over the long term.

I got the binder inserts from a guy that does custom binder graphics (I didnt do them myself). You are right about ring binders, however it's usually the round rings, where the pages on bottom get smashed under the ring and cards warp. D-ring binders which this is are mostly ok (most sportcards albums and office binders have them now). However what I did here of overstuffing the binder is generally a no-no (I had to since this set with thick cards is so big)....but it actually doesnt really matter with this set because the thick cards. Unlike thin stock cards, these wont warp.

As a set collector I totally agree with you and would much prefer if UD went back to thin cards. These thick sets are too bulky and unwieldy in binders. It's a storage headache and also the cards are very prone to chipping and defects being thick (I got the cards direct from COMC for the above set, straight from UD, and several have white chipping on the back edges and corners). As a primarily Masterpieces collector, Im pretty much used to this since 2016, and think it should change. It allows UD to get away with putting only 3 cards in a pack, and charge a lot for it, I guess. I think most of us are nonsports card collectors....are these thick things even 'cards' really?

Seems like UD has decided all its MM and Fleer Ultra sets will be thick going forward, for better or worse. One of the few benefits I can think of regarding them is the non-warping in binders mentioned above.

[1992UDFootball]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I guess maxing out space with cases of marvel cards isn’t such a terrible situation to be in, haha. In all seriousness, that must be an incredible collection. A whole room/display for the set would be awesome.

I thought like you that UD would heavily weight FUA and MM towards ePack. I mean why not? The margins they get from that have to be so much higher than selling physical to middleman distributors. The signs are pointing towards this not being the case though.

I put my set in a binder (just a paltry mini master set- base and insert sets, not hit-inserts. Not in the same stratosphere as you’re doing). And this binder is freakin huge. I’d rather UD just go back to regular size cards for sets I think. Overall though this is a fun set. I agree with you about the medallions- they are very nice in person. I think just as good visually as PMGs, but I know some people just care about the name.

That's a weapon.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by 1992UDFootball

That's a weapon.

yea this thing is heavy Might not be a terrible idea to separate this set into 2 binders, now that I think about it.....oh well.

[jjas311]

79 cases left. Thats 13 cases in 6 days. Starting to pick up some steam!

[PurplesaurusRex]

Are the achievements really that big of a draw with this set?

[Campbelljh3]

Originally Posted by PurplesaurusRex

Are the achievements really that big of a draw with this set?

I thought they were but most are well gone aren’t they! The comic cut 16 panels were amazing imo

[imwonderboy]

I wonder if there are any high end Black Opal or Green Medallions left to pull??

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by imwonderboy

I wonder if there are any high end Black Opal or Green Medallions left to pull??

Why a 1/1 tracker would have been a good idea, at least for the black opals. I guess you can tell what's on the epack marketplace/comc for insights on epack. But who knows with physical ones pulled. This is why I've been keeping a thread for MM22 Red Spectrums and 1/1s.

One of the problems with the medallions is so many of them are C-list characters. The ones that really jump out are Thanos, Cap America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk....but 50's a lot, and you've got names like Korvac, Living Lightning, Malekith, Mantis, and even the mainstream avengers like Ant Man or Hawkeye dont exactly get lots of hobby love.

[imwonderboy]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

Why a 1/1 tracker would have been a good idea, at least for the black opals. I guess you can tell what's on the epack marketplace/comc for insights on epack. But who knows with physical ones pulled. This is why I've been keeping a thread for MM22 Red Spectrums and 1/1s.

One of the problems with the medallions is so many of them are C-list characters. The ones that really jump out are Thanos, Cap America, Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk....but 50's a lot, and you've got names like Korvac, Living Lightning, Malekith, Mantis, and even the mainstream avengers like Ant Man or Hawkeye dont exactly get lots of hobby love.

True - they would have made a much bigger hobby splash if they included characters like Spider-Man, Venom and Carnage. Missed opportunity for sure.

I still love the Gold Medallion set. They are super nice in-hand. Pretty affordable as well.

[jjas311]

76 cases today. A little over a case a day. This is about the slowest burn I have seen on a Marvel product under 99 cases. Makes me think most of this product is being opened by the pack...not so much the box or case.