[ZSDOne]

I'm starting to think that the new ownership isn't going to be a good thing for Leaf - the new Leaf Metal Contiunuum Pop Century set shows that - while in the past, those sets had cards with different price levels, here you apparently are getting one random card of five people (which only seems worth getting if you somehow are interested in getting an autograph card of every one of the five people) - and of course, it's all about parallels too.

This isn't a good sign since for all of the well documented faults that Leaf under Brian Grey had, it was always clear that Leaf really was trying to be a collector friendly card company - thanks to Leaf, I have been able to add several low cost HOF autos from basketball, football, baseball, and hockey - in fact, I actually laugh that people actually complain that Leaf has lowered the value of Joe Montana autos so much by releasing so many of them - I wonder how much you have to hate the idea of card collecting to think that it's a bad thing that Joe Montana has worked with Leaf to make his autograph cards very accessible - I guess it's much better to sign an exclusive deal with Fanatics and get paid more money to sign a couple of cards that will not even be placed in packs but instead sold at Dutch Auction to assure the highest possible return.

Of course, the people complaining that Joe Montana has signed too many cards for Leaf tend to be DBN type collectors

[jplarson]

Definitely flippers and resellers mad about the Montanas. Of course it barely affects his actual licensed releases, and doesn't affect his 90s signed stuff at all IMO. Just people hoping they could get in early and buy at Leaf prices and sell at Topps/Upper Deck/Panini prices.

I'm glad there's a price point for most everyone for Montana now.

[rjcj2017]

Almost like it should be that way for all autos!

[jplarson]

I'm starting to think that the new ownership isn't going to be a good thing for Leaf - the new Leaf Metal Contiunuum Pop Century set shows that - while in the past, those sets had cards with different price levels, here you apparently are getting one random card of five people (which only seems worth getting if you somehow are interested in getting an autograph card of every one of the five people) - and of course, it's all about parallels too.

I took a look at the Pop Century offerings this week.

Michael Biehn - The Terminator, Aliens, The Rock, and a good supporting actor in a host of other movies and shows.  Even popped up for an episode for Star Wars The Mandalorian
Jason Isaacs - Notable roles in the Harry Potter universe and Star Trek: Discovery.  Excellent turn as the main villain in The Patriot.
Zoe Saldana - Fan bases from Marvel (Gamora), Star Trek (Uhura), and Avatar (Neytiri) would want this one easy.
Hailee Steinfeld - Acted as the excellent Kate Bishop in Marvel's Hawkeye on Disney+ and setup as a main character for future MCU roles.  Voiced Gwen Stacy in the popular Spider-Verse movies.  Did some other popular movies too.
Nutsa Buzaladze - Was on the country of Georgia's version of Dancing with the Stars, Georgia's Got Talent, and finished top 12 in American Idol in 2023.  Will be on Eurovision Song Contest in 2024.

Leaf says each celeb has an equal amount of signatures in each wave.  I'd hate to be the person buying 1 and not pulling a Marvel/Star Wars/Star Trek autograph.  But probably a good way for Leaf to sell out everything.  I'd think demand for the reality person is much less than the rest.

[ZSDOne]

I'm sure that the people who pay $100 for a random auto and get the Georgian reality television performer are going to be absolutely thrilled

I'd pay $5 for it because her name is Nutsa which I assume sounds better in the Georgia in Europe than the Georgia in America - if she actually wrote out Nutsa on the card, I might go $10

[ZSDOne]

New offering from Leaf - their first Padel autograph

I had to look up to find out what Padel is - it is some sort of outdoor hybrid between paddle tennis and squash (it is on a court more like tennis and has tennis scoring but you can play the ball off the walls - honestly, that sounds kind of cool)

[Speak917]

so a variant of pickle ball?

[ZSDOne]

so a variant of pickle ball?

No, pickleball is more like table tennis crossed with tennis with a completely different scoring system  - it is played on a  small court using a wiffle ball- it was initially created as a sport for children and is most popular in the U.S.

Padel is a variation of paddle tennis (which dates to the late 19th century and thus is much older than pickleball) with added walls and essentially plays tennis rules and scoring but in a walled environment where you can play the ball off of walls - it uses a ball similar to a tennis ball - it's played on a court almost as large as a regulation tennis court but due to being enclosed in walls it takes up less space since there is no need for an out of bounds area - it was designed for adults and is most popular in Spanish speaking countries 

So while related as variants of tennis played with paddles and both were created in the 1960s on the Pacific Coast (pickleball in the United States Washington state and padel in Mexico), they are much different sports 

And yes, I had to look all of this up because I had no idea

[dogger99]

So similar to handball but with a bigger ball and using a paddle instead of your hands.

[rjcj2017]

Even less interested in these than pickleball, which I didn't think was possible, other than the Pop Century autos.

Memo to Leaf ... just because you "can" ... doesn't mean you "should"