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Old 09-24-2019, 08:01 AM   #1
A Levine
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Default Mars Attacks: Uprising Coming To Kickstarter

THE CAMPAIGN WILL LAUNCH FEBRUARY 3RD, 2020!

In a unique partnership with Topps, myself and SideKick Lab will be developing, producing,
and publishing an all-new series of Mars Attacks trading cards via a crowd-funding campaign--

MARS ATTACKS: UPRISING.

Right now we are in the very early stages of planning the product and campaign, but wanted to begin,
like we did with Occupation, to open the floor for discussion. Currently Ed Repka and newcomers William Skaar and Carlos Valenzuela have begun work on the first 5 pieces of art.

Jason Crosby will return to draw a series of "Hot Rod" Mashup chase cards. Sketch artists are
currently being recruited, but all of your favorites will be returning, and no expense is being
spared in finding new and exciting names, and delivering the highest quality we can in every
aspect of the project.

For now, please follow SideKick Lab on Kickstarter
(https://www.kickstarter.com/profile/1514049470)
Follow the Facebook page Mars Attacks Uprising
(www.facebook.com/marsattacksuprising)
and the Instagram page @ToppsMarsAttacks.

But all the discussion with serious card collectors will happen here.


Last edited by A Levine; 12-24-2019 at 05:56 PM.
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Old 09-24-2019, 08:14 AM   #2
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Exciting news. I think the chase cards for me are the key as I assume the hits will be similar with nice quality sketches, etc. The chase for Occupation I thought was the best of all the recent MA releases. The subsets were difficult to put together but not impossible. A perfect combo for collectors. The chase for Revenge was convoluted and over the top with all the serial numbered color parallel cards - too much. The chase for Heritage were way too easy. Occupation struck a perfect balance. So hoping for that sweet spot of "challenging but not impossible" to complete chase sets.

Also liked the add-ons from Occupation like the DA stuff and the Dredd packs.

Good luck.
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Old 09-24-2019, 08:21 AM   #3
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Exciting news. I think the chase cards for me are the key as I assume the hits will be similar with nice quality sketches, etc. The chase for Occupation I thought was the best of all the recent MA releases. The subsets were difficult to put together but not impossible. A perfect combo for collectors. The chase for Revenge was convoluted and over the top with all the serial numbered color parallel cards - too much. The chase for Heritage were way too easy. Occupation struck a perfect balance. So hoping for that sweet spot of "challenging but not impossible" to complete chase sets.

Also liked the add-ons from Occupation like the DA stuff and the Dredd packs.

Good luck.
Thanks, Tim. Good insight. I will bear that in mind. I did not follow The Revenge closely, but from what I understand collectors felt there were too many chase items like parallels and variations that didn't amount to much? I don't want to criticize that project because I feel it's not my place to do so, but have been listening to what fans liked/didn't like about it to learn.

We aim for something much more similar to Occupation, but are also striving to do new things as well. Personally, I like to introduce new elements to every series to keep things fresh.
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Old 09-24-2019, 08:27 AM   #4
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Adam... call me.

I have a pitch. Something that's never been done.

Call me, maybe.
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Old 09-24-2019, 09:08 AM   #5
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Jason Crosby chase cards! Where is the bucket I throw money into?

This is great news. Thanks for posting.
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Old 09-24-2019, 10:09 AM   #6
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Jason Crosby chase cards! Where is the bucket I throw money into?

This is great news. Thanks for posting.
Thanks, root. Good to hear. Some exciting news on the way as we get this moving. We'll be distributing promo cards at NYCC and NSU, in the coming weeks.
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Old 09-25-2019, 08:07 AM   #7
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Old 09-25-2019, 02:04 PM   #8
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Very interesting. . . but I hate kickstarter. Will any product be available outside of kickstarter?
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Old 09-25-2019, 05:25 PM   #9
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Very interesting. . . but I hate kickstarter. Will any product be available outside of kickstarter?
We'd love that to happen, but probably unlikely. Hopefully a distributer or retailer steps up. We will probably offer price breaks on large quantities (5+ cases maybe? idk). Time will tell.
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Old 09-25-2019, 07:18 PM   #10
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Can’t wait to order this. Please let us know when we can get involved.
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Old 09-25-2019, 10:32 PM   #11
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Can’t wait to order this. Please let us know when we can get involved.
It'll be after the new year, but we are toying with the idea of a mini campaign with a sample pack in november (the idea being we print a pack to send to reviewers in January, but make it available to everyone if they want it).

This way for like $5 you can get an early wax pack sampler before the big campaign launches. Not for everyone, I know, but maybe it helps convince people to get in on it by giving them confidence in the product, while helping us recoup some of the cost of creating a pack for reviewers.

I know it's all a long way off but I was just too excited to keep it to myself any longer.

Last edited by A Levine; 09-25-2019 at 10:35 PM.
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Old 09-26-2019, 10:41 AM   #12
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Better now where Mars Attacks is concerned. Excited to hear of the plans for the new set. MA couldn't better hands!
Thanks, JD. Glad to start the new thread and get the party started! Waiting for all the collectors who frequent BO to start feeling the excitement, but until there's more tangible announcements, i'm sure everyone is taking a wait and see approach.

Would love to talk Occupation though, what people liked and didn't like about the final product after it shipped out. Tim's post was a nice starting point. Very interested in learning from the last product and making the next one better, closing some of the holes, fixing some of the weaknesses.
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Old 09-27-2019, 09:41 AM   #13
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Default Cool cool cool

Really loved the last Kickstarter set. Very well done and lots of fun. Glad to see this happening again. Also with Crosby art we are in great hands
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Old 09-27-2019, 11:42 AM   #14
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So far we have several chase sets planned, and several Kickstarter Exclusive sets in the making.

One is a set of 9 cards that mimic the old Outer Limits cards: "The Monster of Mars Attacks"-- in a seperate wax pack, as an add-on.

Another is "Martian's Life"-- a set of 9 mock magazine covers, which would be a free bonus stretch goal (or add-on if you want more than 1).

We will probably do a new set of letter press cards, as well as a small run of "cigarette" cards with skater-style art on them, as hits.

Parallels will be "Heritage"/"Concept"/"Scorched Earth".

Scorched Earth will be the entire base set with a special bronze ink over print.
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Old 09-27-2019, 11:55 AM   #15
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Parallels will be "Heritage"/"Concept"/"Scorched Earth".

Scorched Earth will be the entire base set with a special bronze ink over print.
Scorched Earth sounds awesome!
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Old 09-27-2019, 12:41 PM   #16
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Scorched Earth sounds awesome!
Once we hit a certain goal, we'll add rainbow foil parallels. But scorched earth is really cool!
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Old 09-27-2019, 05:58 PM   #17
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Like, today.

Sounds great already, count me in.
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Old 09-28-2019, 09:35 AM   #18
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We would like to do another Metal Edition set, as the 1962 reprint set on metal proved very popular.

What is a good set to reissue in this way? I was thinking 2013's Invasion, all 58 story cards. As a stretch goal we could add a reprint of Occupation to the mix (45), and even further, a parallel set of Uprising (minimum 18, as many as 45). If we hit all related goals, the metal set would be 148 cards, all of which would be thrown into the highest bundle level.

Or is there something else that would make a better option here?

For most collectors, the metal cards are just a fun hit, but for those bigger collectors who went for the top tier, it would be 148 cards vs. Occupations 55.

That said, I am uncertain if the newer sets hold the same appeal as the original set (and no, I am not considering reissuing the original again in any manner-- while there may be some fun nods to the 62 set, I think we've done all we can with it).
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Old 09-29-2019, 09:34 AM   #19
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ALSO: there will be some cut signatures in this product. Any guesses?
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Old 09-29-2019, 11:53 AM   #20
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Norm?
Wally?
Woody?
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Old 09-29-2019, 01:08 PM   #21
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Norm?
Wally?
Woody?
Good guesses! You'd be surprised how hard it is to find signatures from some of the original creators (that wouldn't also require cutting up some important documents/art). Well, except Len Brown. The market seems to be saturated after 2017.

We are on the hunt for a Norm Saunders and Woody Gelman, but have already acquired some from others. Funny enough, we DID find a Gelman signature, but it was sold as part of a correspondence with Robert Crumb, so worth a a lot more because of that, and sold back in 2013, it seems.

Also seems like Saunders and Gelman didn't do a lot of signing. Surprising, given Saunders popularity by his later days. Wally Wood is not as easy as it sounds, because a lot of his signatures are on expensive hardcover books, rare prints, or original art.

The cut signatures will be in METAL if we can only obtain one of each, and be available as part of a special 1 of 1 "Autograph" pledge. Norm is our holy grail, our white whale.

Beauty is, we have at least 5 months to find more before the campaign, and we'll keep looking even after, and put them into boxes if we find them.
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Old 09-29-2019, 01:44 PM   #22
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Bob Powell would've been my fourth guess, but I already knew he'd passed a long time ago (1967 after I looked it up), so can imagine how hard it would be to find one of his, especially since people didn't really collect artist sigs in those days.

Good luck on the hunt!
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Old 09-29-2019, 06:25 PM   #23
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Good guesses! You'd be surprised how hard it is to find signatures from some of the original creators (that wouldn't also require cutting up some important documents/art). Well, except Len Brown. The market seems to be saturated after 2017.

We are on the hunt for a Norm Saunders and Woody Gelman, but have already acquired some from others. Funny enough, we DID find a Gelman signature, but it was sold as part of a correspondence with Robert Crumb, so worth a a lot more because of that, and sold back in 2013, it seems.

Also seems like Saunders and Gelman didn't do a lot of signing. Surprising, given Saunders popularity by his later days. Wally Wood is not as easy as it sounds, because a lot of his signatures are on expensive hardcover books, rare prints, or original art.

The cut signatures will be in METAL if we can only obtain one of each, and be available as part of a special 1 of 1 "Autograph" pledge. Norm is our holy grail, our white whale.

Beauty is, we have at least 5 months to find more before the campaign, and we'll keep looking even after, and put them into boxes if we find them.
Yep, I've had my eye on a Norm signature for over 20 years and never found one (at least, not one that could be authenticated). The closest thing I've found is his unofficial signature on the Wacky Packages artwork "Bum Chex". It's on the green check (see attached). Name:  chex.jpg
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Old 09-29-2019, 09:00 PM   #24
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I'm very excited about the sketch cards. Are you planning on the sketch fat pack add-on again? Also, I'd love to see oversize sketch cards like 5x7 box toppers or puzzle sketches.
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Old 09-30-2019, 07:50 AM   #25
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I'm very excited about the sketch cards. Are you planning on the sketch fat pack add-on again? Also, I'd love to see oversize sketch cards like 5x7 box toppers or puzzle sketches.
Yes, we will do the fat pack. I'm not decided on whether they will be limited to one per customer again. Not many people bought them (and that was perfectly fine with us, but the reason to limit them was to prevent people from buying TOO MANY and making it difficult to find enough high quality sketches).

I think the cost is so prohibitive it's a small market of buyers, so if a handful of those customers decided to pick up 2 or 3 more, I don't think it would kill us in terms of commissioning more high quality sketches, especially given the amount of time we have to create them.


In fact, looking back at the data, I was surprised at how popular the hot packs were. Format wise, there's not really much I'd consider changing about the campaign, most everything worked out very well. We may need to adjust some prices due to new and higher fees this time around though (we will be upping the fees to sketch artists, paying Topps a royalty, and Crowdox now takes a higher percentage for use of their survey software, certain paper stock has risen in cost since 2015, etc etc).

But any price increases in reward levels will be offset by more content.
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