So Many Types of Refractors. Which Are Worthwhile Additions to the Hobby?

[eye4talent]

Composed portion of this post:

With the influx of refractor options, particularly in Topps Chrome (but wherever refractors are found), are there any additions that are welcomed additions? For instance, I find the mini-diamond/speckle look to be attractive. But I can’t get on board with the Lava/RayWave retractors or all the Lava Lamp color mixing.

I’m curious if people are finding all these additions to be adding to the collecting experience, or are we at a point where we have too many options?


Rant portion (optional reading):

It used to just be refractors. Then I remember a version of xfractors showing up in Finest, maybe around 1997. The Select Certified Mirrors and Fleer Brilliants sets no doubt inspired Topps/Bowman to add the gold refractor. All good things. And then eventually red, orange, and blue showed up, along with the superfractor. Green and purple, came a little later. Then 2012 introduced the wave refractor…

But now?

Not only do we have a full rainbow of colors, along with sepia, but the spectrum has expanded to include magenta and aqua, and there’s been an explosion in the kinds of refracting:

Aqua Lava. Blue RayWave. Gold speckle—or is it mini-diamond? Blue Sonar. Logofractor. Purple, blue, gold, orange, red, and pink Logofractor. Bowman Chrome even has a fuscia crater refractor. And there’s all those avant garde offerings from Topps Chrome Sonic. Heck, it’s to the point that Gilded base cards are actually gold refractors.

Oh, and don’t forget the Tacofractor!

????

I’m still annoyed that they added waves and shimmers, doubling or even tripling the offerings of a particular color.

I’m pretty sure we’ve passed the point of watering down the refractor—beyond retreating to the old refrain, just “collect what you like.” If a big part of the appeal is a gold refractor’s rarity, does that exist anymore if there’s a gold refractor of every sort out there, in every refracting variation across every product (A&G Chrome, Stadium Club Chrome, Sapphire, Ben Baller…..)

I still want to think that a basic color refractor (like the original Topps Chrome gold refractor, or orange or blue) will remain the one to have, but I’m losing hope.


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[Drew3000]

I really like the mini diamond refractors so I enjoy adding those along with traditional gold and red. Lava doesn’t do much for me. Oh, also like atomic/cracked ice/sapphire

[Akphillips86]

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[jduds]

I'm not a fan of the mini-diamonds. The wave refractors have grown on e over the years. Lava is a meh from me. I like the more creative ones like the Tacofractors, Lunar Refractors, and Frozen refractors. I guess I like the ones that stand out from the pack a bit more. My personal favorite are the Sepia ones as I just like the look and my least favorite are the negative refractors which I sell instantly lest they contaminate my collection with their ugliness.

[jayjones82]

The Lava/Wave/Ray Waves kinda annoy me. I'm not a huge fan of the shimmers, but I like them more than those three. I like the true gold and blue refractors the best (red and orange tend to be a little out of my price range or comfort zone for the players I want). I agree with Drew3000 that the mini diamonds look kinda cool, but I don't have any and doubt I will, unless they're pack-pulled.

I've always thought it weird that the green (usually /99) and purple (usually /250) comp at around the same prices.

I'd love for everything to go back to true color refractors only (Superfractor, red, orange, gold, blue, refractor...I'll even take green and purple), but that'd either require cutting production or extending the print runs on those colors, so it'll never happen.

All that said, I'm a fan of all the 90s refractors. But that's probably more a nostalgia thing.

[Akphillips86]

Originally Posted by Drew3000

I really like the mini diamond refractors so I enjoy adding those along with traditional gold and red. Lava doesn’t do much for me. Oh, also like atomic/cracked ice/sapphire

Definitely in agreement on the gold, as stated. Red is awesome, especially if it’s a color match but too pricey for the players I usually chase.

I also really enjoy the classic 90’s Bowman’s Best Atomic Refractors. I’m not as wild about the atomic parallels in recent years for the base set, but some of the insert versions really pop.


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[KhalDrogo]

Too many sets. Too many parallels. Too much overlap.

My interest in ultra modern has fallen off a cliff. For baseball, I keep the Scherzer Black run going, but that’s it.

[chester0711]

I believe it was a few years ago, but didnt someone post a chart that showed the basic escalation of refractor value as you want up in rarity?

The idea was based on the value of the base card and it's sale price and then worked through what the market value of each level of refractor would be based on some multiple?

Does anyone remember that? I remember it held pretty true or at least got close to market values....

[Scottish Punk]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Too many sets. Too many parallels. Too much overlap.

My interest in ultra modern has fallen off a cliff. For baseball, I keep the Scherzer Black run going, but that’s it.

Me too. I am finding myself getting less and less. It is a conundrum for me. Example: I collect HOF Rookies. For ultra modern, I like to pick up some guys that look to be a possibility. Now what rookie card to get? Just base seems to cheap and easy. When you are starting getting into low numbered parallels, the cost goes up. I still have a hard time paying $150+ or whatever for a current young player when I can spend that same money on a vintage guy already in the hall (or an auto of HOFer). I usually just stick to a moderaetly prices non numbered parallel that is a base color and not a weird spiral, lazer, mojo or whatever.

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

All of the recent glut of random new refractors have actually made it easier for me to ignore them and just focus on what I like.

[Bcr]

Originally Posted by eye4talent

Composed portion of this post:

With the influx of refractor options, particularly in Topps Chrome (but wherever refractors are found), are there any additions that are welcomed additions? For instance, I find the mini-diamond/speckle look to be attractive. But I can’t get on board with the Lava/RayWave retractors or all the Lava Lamp color mixing.

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Spot on here! I like the basic refractors as well as the Atomic/Cracked Ice/Sapphire look. Parallels are already overproduced and Fanatics is only going to continue to add more to make it feel like you are getting "hits".

[evileddie]

I really like Mini Diamonds, Atomic, and Raywave. That being said the traditional true color refractors should be in most chrome type products. Super, red, orange, gold, green, blue, and purple.

[eye4talent]

Originally Posted by chester0711

I believe it was a few years ago, but didnt someone post a chart that showed the basic escalation of refractor value as you want up in rarity?

The idea was based on the value of the base card and it's sale price and then worked through what the market value of each level of refractor would be based on some multiple?

Does anyone remember that? I remember it held pretty true or at least got close to market values....

I remember something like that. But now that chart would need to be a 3-dimensional matrix, considering all the variations, derivatives of those variations, and crossovers.


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[OhioLawyerF5]

Different designed refractors goes way back. The 96 Bowman's Best set had atomic refractors (and the atomic refractor previews had a speckle pattern rather than the atomic pattern). Many of the designs we still see today, like atomic/cracked ice, speckle, scope, etc... are all just rehashes of designs from the 90s/00s. I love them all. And I like the new ones like lava as well.

The problem isn't the influx of designs, but putting every different design variation in a single product. Where 96 Bowman's Best had the refractor and atomic refactor, and the 98 PMGs were the scope design, each set seemed to only have a few refractor variations. Even the 96 Select Certified offered what was then a massive rainbow of 6 parallels. There is room for all the cool designs, we just don't need every possible design in every set. A handful per release would be great.

[MoreToppsPlease]

From a collecting standpoint, the more the merrier. Plus it makes busting wax more fun.

[tconte]

Originally Posted by Drew3000

I really like the mini diamond refractors so I enjoy adding those along with traditional gold and red. Lava doesn’t do much for me. Oh, also like atomic/cracked ice/sapphire

I agree with this for the most part but also agree with Khal's comments.
The insane amount of options has made me less of an ultra modern collector
to where I stick to a select few cards.

[Mister2Bits]

For me, nothing beats the OG refractors.

Refractor
Blue Refractor
Gold Refractor
Orange Refractor
Red Refractor

I try to think of the new refractor parallels the same way the PMG's did it back in the day. The first 10 were green, then blue then red.

Adding sparkle, wave, or lava of the same color just turns the traditional color refractor into a x4 print run with the first true color more desirable.

For example - Gold Refractor /50 > Gold Sparkle /50 > Gold Lava /50 > Gold Wave /50

There are now 200 golds, with the first 50 the more desirable.

It doesnt always work and I'm sure there are holes in this logic, but I try to use this factor in the back of my head when determining how much to pay for a specific card.

[mfw13]

None are really "worthwhile" additions to the hobby because the lack uniqueness.

I personally like black refractors because they appeal to me visually, but that's about it.....

Most everything else is junk designed solely for the purpose of adding financial value to products in order to justify ever-higher box prices.

[f2tornado]

Team color matches work for me. I'm ordinarily not into Orange Refractors but they look sharp with the right Astros or Mets uni. Likewise with Green for the A's. Blue is nice since it fits a lot of teams. Black goes well with anything. The Wave Refractors add some depth. Mini Diamond adds some bling. The Speckle versions are cool but Topps could do better than pairing it with Purple and Magenta. One nice thing with all the colors is the card show bargain bins are frequently populated with them. It makes for entertaining digging and the occasionally big flip.

I'm also still a fan of the classic refractor.

[StateEx]

I really love wave refractors. That said, pricing for refractors generally is wild; given the profusion, most just don’t seem that rare or special. Case in point, the Pitchers thread convinced me to buy an aqua Eury Perez. I found 3-4 different versions in a quick search. Instead of buying one of them, I overpaid a bit for Topps Black.

[towerymt]

Challenge: compile the complete list of all refractor colors, patterns, styles, variations, textures, whatever you want to call it.

Challenge 2: identify the first time each was offered.

Refractor: 1993 Topps Finest.

[eye4talent]

Originally Posted by StateEx

I really love wave refractors. That said, pricing for refractors generally is wild; given the profusion, most just don’t seem that rare or special. Case in point, the Pitchers thread convinced me to buy an aqua Eury Perez. I found 3-4 different versions in a quick search. Instead of buying one of them, I overpaid a bit for Topps Black.

It’s the Bowman Chrome Sapphire aqua refractor that we’ve been discussing. It’s not a future value thing, though. That’s all about the eye appeal of that particular card, between the color match with the throwback uniform and how that photo pops with that design.

The Topps black purchase actually leads to the next step of this discussion: with this inundation of Chrome products, does that turn the hobby’s focus back to flagship and place more emphasis on those parallels and image variations?


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[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by towerymt

Challenge: compile the complete list of all refractor colors, patterns, styles, variations, textures, whatever you want to call it.

Challenge 2: identify the first time each was offered.

Refractor: 1993 Topps Finest.

This might be a lot of fun.

For instance, the mojo refractor we all know was the Row 0 pattern for 1998 Flair Showcase.

Nearly all the current patterns have their history with one company or another back in the 90s.

[fabiani12333]

Mini diamonds is basically just another name for the 2011 Topps Diamond Anniversary refractor design.

To add to your list of refractor parallels, I believe the first black refractor parallel was in 2001 TC basketball and football.

I also think 1999 Finest had the first Topps gold refractor parallel.

[OhioLawyerF5]

The superfractor pattern looks an awful lot like the 1996 Finest Embossed Silver Refractor.