What's going on everybody welcome back to stacking slabs this is your hobby
content alternative I'm Brett we are headed back to a product focus
conversation around Prizm got some really good feedback the last time I did this
and spent way too much time digging into an episode two on the Prizm brand we'll
also just say this in advance to set the stage Prizm is a huge part of my
collection I've got a ton of Prizm cards and part of the reason why I want to do
this is to understand from my perspective as a collector how this
happened why I got so infatuated by a single brand that it makes up a majority
of my collection timing is a key piece of this right we are transitioning from
tops or pinini to tops when it comes to the NBA and NFL licenses good time to not
just talk about what's coming new but to reflect on the past one of the biggest
opportunities I believe we have in the hobby is collectors creators whatever
you want to classify yourself as is paying homage to what has already come
and not just paying homage but spending time digging in and sharing the
information about products sets and eras I just think we need to do a better job
of this in the hobby and so I am trying to start that in a way and a good place
to start it is a product that I am deeply passionate about I care a lot about and
I want to make sure as kind of the dust fades we spend some time talking about
it so we are going to talk in this episode about the how a product like
Prizm or a brand like Prizm can go from obscurity to standard bear and I spent a
lot of time digging in I use resources I talk to people I have data I have a lot
of stuff to analyze and I don't know how long these are fun because I have no
idea how long they are going to be there is no set time limit I have a ton of
notes and a lot to say I want to first say thank you to all of you for being so
engaged in these product focus conversations a big reason why I keep doing
them is because I am getting really good feedback in the DMs and go figure a lot
of you want content around specific cards go figure that so you know you
can call these episodes and I don't know what direction this is going to go but
you can call this a node to Prizm you can call it a lot of different things but
today I want to take it all of us on a journey through the Prizm lifespan 2012
2025 from unknown underdog to undeniable standard in the hobby we'll
dig into some card ladder data quantify Prizms meteoric rise and explore all
types of forces psychological economic cultural all these forces that fueled
this ascent will share stories we'll revisit the boom the hype we'll try to
understand why this single product resonated with collectors investors
flippers alike and I hope by the end of this we all understand the full arc of
Prizms impact and why you've got collectors like me that want to spend
some time talking about it so we're gonna go buy them numbers we're gonna hit the
data right out of the gates a couple things on the data front so I started to
do the reporting myself in card ladder and then realized that I needed a level
or two of detail more granular so I hit up Josh and Josh helped me dive into some
numbers at a more sophisticated scale so I want to thank Josh and card ladder
for helping present and provide data for this episode the reports that I was
running in card ladder had to do with year over year data of Prizm products
that sold year over year that were a thousand dollars or more and we made sure
we took out as much nonsense as possible so trying to get rid of optic trying to
get rid of select trying to get rid of mosaic Prizm spelled with an ass all
those things try to eliminate that and really my goal of this was just to go
from 2012 to 25 and understand a thousand dollar sales or more how many
happened in that year and what was the total sales amount so there was
definitely a lot of compelling data and you know because you've heard us talk
about Prizm so much that or you've heard other people talk about Prizm so much
that when this product first came out people weren't running to it people
weren't going nuts for it and that's undeniable based on the sales data okay
so let's start here in 2012 the year that Prizm dropped there on record according
to card ladder there was only four total sales of a thousand dollars or more some
standouts here and man if you were collecting this stuff and holding this
stuff you'd probably be doing well you could have had a 2012 gold Prizm Kobe
Bryant for $1,125 how about that you could have had a LeBron 2012 gold
Prizm for a thousand dollars a thousand thirty four dollars and ninety nine cents
I think the last one sold for seven hundred and eighty thousand so how about
that so you go 2012 you got four sales for a total of sixty five hundred
dollars I'm gonna do estimates here so I'm not fumbling over a bunch of numbers
and 2013 we moved from four sales of a thousand dollars or more to 14 so we
had let's see if I document any of this you have a this one was fun to look at so
the first sale of the card that I own the Andrew Luck pylon one of one sold
for one thousand five hundred and twenty five dollars and then the Prizm
gold of luck one thousand two hundred and twenty five dollars so paid a lot more
in 2025 for the pylon and paid less for the gold a couple years ago so that is
kind of fun to dig into but I also like caveat this by saying when I explored
this data before the boom football is like almost not even existent like luck
because he was such a generational talent and because all the attention was on
him he hit that thousand dollar threshold but thousand dollars or more
like nobody was buying football cards for that much at this time which is so
interesting based on how we see things today so 2013 14 sales 21k 2014 11 sales
so we went back for 20k in 2015 15 sales for 25k think about that in 2015
there were only 15 recorded sales of a thousand dollars or more and it totaled
25,000 dollars that's just crazy 2016 we went back for 12 there were 12 sales but
they were bigger so there's 54k in 2017 we're starting to take up 95 sales for
147,000 in 2018 there was 329 sales for 573,000 now you can imagine we're gonna
start to increase is the pandemic boom and it's gonna be a part of the story in
2019 there's a thousand and two sales a thousand dollars or more for 2.2 million
we move in 2019 from a thousand to sales to 2020 where there's 16,287 sales for
41 million in 21 22,816 sales for 78 million in 22 there's 22,760 sales for
87 million in 23 we took a step back 15,720 sales for 47 million dollars in 24
22,726 sales for 62 million and right now in 2025 we have 21,631 sales for
74 million dollars on record so just in the data and just looking at the data it
is so interesting where you can move from literally single like single to low
double digits and then it just starts ticking up over time you know I was in
a chat with Joe low pop pop P and I asked him if I could share this but I
thought this was so interesting because we were talking about supply and demand
and he was talking commenting about one of my episodes but he said something that I
thought was good and I want to share this and I told him that I asked him if I
could share this and then I said I will it makes sense for something I'm working
on right now and what I'm working on right was working on was what I'm
sharing with you here but Joe said supply is mathematical it's for the most part
fixed it's a science it's measurable trackable and directly compared across
sets parallels years etc where demand is an art it's heavily influenced in the
short term by opinions and trends but over the long term demand is at its
most sustainable when it's driven by collector passion so I thought that was
really good the data is there it's undeniable and I thought Joe's
perspective on supply and demand would be would benefit everyone being shared
upfront because I was I thought it was really good so let's now that we know the
data let's dive into the the trends or the numbers and the the rise so from 2012 to
2025 it was it's a story and that's what I'm trying I'm trying to dig in in this
episode to explore how things ended up the way they did and honestly I'm not
even sure I'm going to like have a good reason but it all I can do is bring
together all these sources and we can be the judge of what happened and I love
all your opinions but I think to grasp Prizm's journey from obscurity to hobby
jugg juggernaut we need to look at that data and recognize that data and check
into card lighter look for it yourself but I think it paints a dramatic picture
of how Prizm went from barely a blip to big money in 13 in 13 years so 2012 to
2013 remember I said four sales a thousand dollars or more in 12 14 in 2013
call this the humble beginnings in Prizm's first year it was an underdog
replacing topscrum now how high dollar sales were rare maybe you know you had
you we can look at and we can literally pull the examples you had a couple
goals here and there make key rookies but most collectors didn't yet realize we
were in the Prizm era or this would be the Prizm era and the product even sat on
shelves you know people man and and I wish I could rewind the tape and go back and
I would buy everything and I'm sure many of you would too you go from 14 to 18 and
we start to see some steady growth right it's not hockey stick growth but steady
growth as years went on Prizm gained some momentum by the mid 2010 certain
Prizm cards especially rookie parallels of emerging stars started to creep past
the thousand dollar mark yet silver Prizms became coveted in chases and they
started to drive high dollar sales for example you have a card like the Mahomes
2017 Prizm silver and a high grade could flirt with four figures as his
start of them started to grow still I think Prizm was one of many sets or many
fish in the sea it was important but it wasn't quite the standard yet now not
2019 when you move from 2018 for with 329 a thousand dollar sales to tripling
that with a thousand in 2019 this is really the buildup right and and we know
in this hobby that when one person does something other people are going to
follow it's very much look at what's happening around you and that will give
people the confidence to take a plunge that they hadn't thought about before but
the hobby was heating up even before the pandemic and I think part of this was
you started to see players like Luca that were you know on highlight rails and
players on highlight rails who are young and who have potential we want to
gravitate towards and their Prizm cards started to trend up in 2019 dozens of
Prizm cards were selling for a thousand dollars regularly and it became a
preview of what was to come and Prizm had firmly become or was becoming the most
popular set in basketball and a dominant force in football and collectors were
gravitating to its consistency and its clarity year over year and I think that's
really important the consistency in the clarity year over year building legacy
for products that people not just want to hit in a break or cars that they want
to hit in a break but they want for their collection now 2020 to 2021 pandemic
era was the supernova where Prizm literally put its flag in the ground the
early covid era poured jet fuel on the sports card market you had an explosion
of four figure Prizm sales during the boom and we can just look towards 2019 you have
a thousand two and then 2020 have 16,287 that is crazy year over year growth now
granted at this time you had influencers you had individuals on this hobby that
when they were talking about cards and when new people were coming in they were
using Prizm cards as the example
um it it wasn't just a handful of grays anymore it became hundreds of Prizm cards
routinely or weekly we're fetching the number Prizm became the barometer of the
hobby's frenzy when new collectors were asked what should I buy the answer was Prizm
I'll never forget being in target when I was getting back into cards and
I was doing what we all do when we get back into cards going to target and looking for
blasters and I remember there was a guy doing the exact same thing as me and I
asked him I was like hey do you know if target if there's any Prizm cards or
uh you know you've seen any here and the guy just looked at me and laughed and then I went
over to a hobby shop and right next door and the owner I asked them about Prizm and why
I asked him if he had uh any more Prizm cards which were going to be marked up god knows what he
was literally on the phone with another dealer I think in Tennessee he goes and trying to buy
like a whole um a whole uh garage trunk full of Prizm 2018 Prizm blasters and that's just like
I'm thinking about those stories for the first time now and I haven't in a while and it just
brings me right back and I think you can consider the 2018 Luca uh Donchich um card you know a
symbol for this era you know it's sold for I think 780 thousand dollars in February of 21
with shattered records and Prizm cards were regularly breaking five six figures and the first
year of the pandemic was particularly wild time for sports cards with records being shattered
um and we were seeing things that we had never seen before in new collectors or re-emerging
collectors like myself thought it was normal and looking back on it now although we experience
a tremendous amount of uh excitement and growth this year what we experienced in 2021 was just
not normal 2022 to 2025 is really classified in my mind as the post boom and legacy the overall
market cooled off from 21 highs but Prizm really never lost its crown even as prices
normalized Prizm remained king it became the blue chip for modern cards high in Prizm sale still
grabbed headlines um in fact just a month ago we saw the uh LeBron gold Prizm sale uh which
it was 780 earlier maybe 93 I should open card letter but you get the point um becoming the
most expensive gold Prizm ever sold um think about that we have this mindset where we should only
buy rookie cards we should only pay up for rare and scarce cards but think about that sale that
this is not rookie this is non autograph this is the most rare and scarce parallel because there
was no one-of-one in basketball in the debut set of Prizm if that doesn't underscore Prizm dominance
I don't know what does even now in 2025 with new products and players emerging Prizms top cards
continue to set records and draw eyes think the numbers prove what many of us have felt Prizm went
from curiosity in 2012 to the hobby standard bear by 2020's early on very few Prizm cards
fetched those four figure prices by the boom everyone was chasing Prizms sky high sales became the
routine it's a data driven story of an underdog turned juggernaut and it sets the stage for us
to ask why this happened how did Prizm capture the hearts and wallets of of so many completely
I think what as I'm trying to think about organizing and doing this episode I think
talking through the evolution and diving into the conditions um can be very very helpful so
when I think about the evolution and the kind of the from unknown to unmissable
understanding Prizms rise we have to remember where things began rewind it all the way back to 2012
panini an Italian company known for soccer cards had already taken over the NBA and NFL card
licenses after tops about out in 0 9 10 everyone was familiar with tops chrome the beloved shiny
card was gone leaving a void for new flagship Prizm debuted in 2012 both basketball and football
it was trying to offer that shiny look that shiny card that tops used to that used to be
known by tops but at first I think many collectors weren't sure it was going to succeed and we
don't like new things or new things we we fear um when it arrived it was an underdog it was a
newcomer where a lot of the collector sentiment was not happy because most collectors had grown
accustomed to tops chrome initial reaction lukewarm collectors didn't immediately crown Prizm
you can see that by the data um it's in that data is so incredible um but I think Prizm had a few
things going for out of the gates that even if we didn't realize it at the time we can talk about
it now you have right concept right time undeniably because tops chrome opened the door for the
shiny chromium based product that became very a very appealing style of card to so many collectors
so whatever you put out that had the same um type of technology or the same type of cards
would gain some interest from collectors it's like me I like shiny cards I'm attracted to shiny
cards um I don't really care for the other stuff as much so if I were collecting during this period
even if I had a collection of tops chrome like I have of Prizm today I would at least look
we've also got the double rookie class and strong checklist and basketball 2012 was a special year
because it had combined 11 and 12 and so you've got multiple players in the same rookie class
kyrie, anthony davis, kwai, klay tomsen and for football you had guys like
rg3, andrew luck, russell wilson so you've got combined in basketball you've got multiple you
know potential hall of famer future hall of famers and then you've got maybe one of the most exciting
quarterback classes of all time with not only yeah of all time yeah one of the most exciting
quarterback classes of all time so that helps um where and I think that helps from even if you're
not looking at it from a product first perspective you're looking at it first from a player perspective
and it's like whatever andrew luck is in during this era we want and so people are going to rip that
stuff the I think the look in the parallel structure shouldn't shouldn't go unnoticed and I think
the design of 2012 it's it's timeless there's a reason why those cards make us feel a certain way
today clean attractive chromium border action shots um there are the Prizms are excellent looking
refractors and out of the gates um they establish the structure where you've got the silver Prizm
you've got the gold and then football you got the black finite and then the one of ones would later
come in 2013 in basketball collectors love a good parallel trace chase and Prizm delivered that
um
I think too with football and you see this now I mean 45,000 for a 2012 marshall nunch non rookie
the cards look amazing they're incredible looking cards and there it's there's a reason why I've
dedicated so much of my money and resources to the black finite out of Prizm because I just
think they're beautiful cards no other cards really make me feel the way they do and that's
something and so throughout the mid 2010s I think Prizm quietly built momentum and each year
brought a new class of rookies and incremental tweaks on designs and we have these debates
which year do you like better and we have these arguments and they're fun arguments
but panini wisely kept the core formula the same familiar based design outside of 2014
uh a rainbow of parallels a sprinkling of autos and inserts and the consistent consistency
meant that by say 2015 2016 collectors started recognizing that were in the Prizm era
and I think that is maybe happened subconsciously
we are creatures of habit creatures of routine release cycles momentum people people talking about
it even if you didn't personally collect Prizm you could see the hobby at large was gravitating
towards it slow build obscure from obscurity to undeniable as I like to say but each rookie class
each big Prizm sale nudged the brand higher and higher now I'm a brand builder
it's what I've done my entire career career build and elevate the brands and the companies that
I've worked for so I think a lot about the little things the things that maybe CFO's struggle to
attach ROI to there are things inevitably that make us feel a certain way that give us a certain
mindset when it comes to anything in life and a lot of the instances it's brand it's like what
do people say about you or your product when you or your product aren't in the room and the
the most interesting thing that I've observed about Prizm is that you could put
a someone who's been in the hobby for six months a hardcore collector who collects nothing but Prizm
a flipper an investor into a room and you could bring out the uh 2025 a box of 2025 Prizm football
and you could have that group of four individuals open up the hobby box and there is going to be a
lot of fun and interesting conversations and connection points across each of those individuals
and Prizm as a brand is bringing that all together there is
a lot that we can dig into and I am maybe we'll we'll go here I want to go into
2019 and 2021 because I believe these are the years that really helped take Prizm to the next level
and I want to explore Prizm becoming the hobby standard and what are the factors that went into
that because by the time the boom hit late 2019 into 2021 Prizm had the wind at its back several
forces converge to propel Prizm from just a popular to absolutely dominant product so
some of the key factors that I believe contributed to Prizm being the standard bear
is a flood of new collectors the pandemic boom brought an unprecedented influx of new collectors
and returning collectors back into the hobby thousands of people were suddenly digging through
their closets and watching youtube breaks wanting a piece of the action these newcomers needed
a default starting point and that became Prizm why it was easy to understand
think about that people are why Prizm because it was easy to understand the structure and
organization around it was repeatable that's important anybody who's creating new product
and sets that they want to withstand the test of time having them be consistent across years in
terms of all of the factors that we like as collectors is really important
it became widely talked about because of it you have mainstream media outlets and big influencers
like Gary V mentioning modern cars they're talking about Prizm so naturally new collectors gravitated
to what they heard was the one to get everybody's looking at for Prizm they're hearing the loud
voices talk about Prizm it's like magnets the pandemic economics and hobby boom certainly play
a role people were stuck in home sports were on pause stimulus money was coming in and collectibles
boom sports cards were mainstream in a way that we hadn't seen in decades and Prizm benefited hugely
from that economic surge with extra disposable income and rising card values collectors started
chasing bigger cards and Prizms hierarchy of parallels silver various other colors golds
blacks became an accessible ladder we knew based on our financial means based on what the market is
where we could enter based on a specific color because that signaled rarity scarcity if you had
an extra bit of cash you'd probably upgrade a base rookie to a silver think about that so many of us
did that so many of us body based psa 10 and said you know what the next move is a silver
that was just how things worked and Prizm structured scarcity meant that there was a price tier for
everyone it accelerated the market it wasn't viewed as this is too expensive for me it was
damn these cards are cool let me see which level i can jump into let me see which runs i can
afford to create Prizm became a proven store of value it was the closest thing that we had to
blue chip stock and cards because people trusted that Prizm hold it value we needed during this time
a common benchmark the modern card market was overwhelming dozens of sets parallels one of
ones during the boom i think the hobby craved a common benchmark a way to compare cards in players
on an apples to apples basis Prizm helped fill that need it became the yardstick how is a player
x's Prizm rookie doing was a question that a lot of people would ask uh when they were trying to
gauge the health of the market standardization of this helped to reinforce it the more collectors
use Prizm as a benchmark the more accessible Prizm became there's something to be said about
flagship consistency and familiarity the Prizm's yearly consistency consistency turned out to be
a huge asset in chaotic times i'm a collector who loves tradition you can look back at even back
to tops baseball decades-long flagship run by 2019 Prizm had a seven to eight-year track record
of reliable releases same time of the year similar format same parallel structure and there's
comfort inconsistency during a fast-paced boom it helped everyone already it helped everyone
already knew the deal with Prizm silvers became a key rookie card gold became the ultimate chase
blacks became the holy grail the familiarity made it easy for collectors and investors to rally
around Prizm uniting those personas so important parallel appeal scarcity rainbow frenzy we all
love shiny and scarce things and Prizms parallel lineup is like a candy store for that by the boom
years pannini had expanded Prizms parallels but crucially the core chase remained the most iconic
true golds black finites or blacks and basketball collectors went absolutely nuts and still go
nuts for these the gold Prizm in particular became the defining parallel of this era and i'll
stand on that i will stand on that it is the scarcest and rarest yet most accessible or not most but
accessible parallel that i think we have and that lineage and legacy of the gold Prizm start to
finish being there out of ten is something that i want to thank pannini for because they didn't
mess that one up and i think Prizm offered something no other product did a universal chase card
which is the gold that ran every year every sport accessible ten copies that recipe
helped drive all the bidding wars that we saw that followed i think mass appeal across
segments is is important perhaps the biggest factor of all is Prizm appealed to every hobbyist
didn't matter what you do didn't matter your intentions everyone could speak the Prizm
language and i think all these factors created a perfect storm that thrust Prizm to the top during
twenty nineteen twenty twenty one the result is Prizm became a hobby zeitgeist or the hobby zeitgeist
when a new Prizm product dropped it was an event and i talked about this last episode how there
is no bigger event in this hobby than when Prizm drops
so let's spend some time digging into the psychology of Prizm and maybe why collectors love a shiny
standard i think Prizms dominance isn't just about economics or time timing it's also deeply
psychological i think as collectors were drawn to Prizm for a host of emotional and cognitive
reasons i think it'd be cool to unpack some of those so nostalgia is important emotional
resonance is important and i think for many of us returning to the hobby Prizm felt familiar in a
comforting way chrome refractors the kind of cards that we dreamed about in the late 90s and
early 2000s i talked a lot about in my content about seeing 93 finest for the first time in opening
a pack and how it absolutely destroyed it just blew my mind it's like why this is the future of cards
and so my i gravitated to Prizm because it brought back that same feeling reminded me of being a kid
and that nostalgia is powerful it gives Prizm cards an instant emotional renaissance
we attach our happy hobby memories to them and for newer collectors without the 90s background
Prizm created new memories a lot of like collectors who focus in on 90s or other areas just like
can't like they were there like how did this happen that well a lot of us didn't have that same
connection that maybe a 90s collector had with 90s cards but this is our connection
the visual appeal triggers that excitement it's the same thrill we get when we pulled cards
from chrome or finest as a kid there's the chase and the reward the dopamine the rainbow chase
it's addictive there's a clear goal there's gold Prizm runs there's player runs there's
pairings there's just so many ways to cut it over a long period of time
there's status and signaling owning high-end Prizm cards offers a certain status in the hobby
undeniably because of everything we just said and there are a lot of people myself included
that have spent a lot of time and energy and resources on Prizm and for that we're proud of it
and I think I'm always happy to show off my cards because they mean something to me and I think
they mean something to many of you because you collect similar stuff think psychology isn't just
feelings it's how we think about value Prizm has gained a reputation as a safe bet which
became a self-fulfilling prophecy collector saw Prizm cards generally held strong value and
rebounded well after dips so we trusted Prizm and if you're going to put hard-earned money into a card
it feels psychologically safer if that card is from a revered set this point is I believe
one of the most important points about collecting if you are concerned about money
many times I've thought to myself should I spend this much on a modern card
and I have felt reassured if it was Prizm because Prizm is a proven performer I'm not here to say
Prizm has never gone down sure there's some of the sales were outrageous in 2021 and those cards
have never rebounded but if you have a certain level of data passion and you spend time and
you're focused in Prizm makes a ton of sense to me it's a cycle of confidence Prizm is valuable
because we believe it's valuable and we believe it because we see other treating it as such I
think over the years Prizm collecting has created its own community and identity there's a camaraderie
amongst Prizm collectors a shared language silver gold blacks a shared passion for the product
people swap stories I could just do a podcast on all these stories I have with Prizm pickups
whether they're landing the cards failing to land the cards and just the stories in and of itself
there's a time and place in Prizm for me has all these memories and moments I think psychologically
being a part of a Prizm club whether it's a gold club it's it feels good it's like you're
on a winning team it's fun I think lastly I'd say that collectors and myself included in this
developed an emotional narrative around Prizm representing this era of collecting we've watched
Prizm rise alongside many playing careers and we talked about this I think a card ladder
confidential but like patreon my home the honest these guys are inevitably tied to the Prizm era so
I think the psychology behind Prizms appeal is multifaceted it triggers nostalgia satisfies
our cravings for shiny rewards prove provide status earns our trust builds community weaves in narrative
it hits us in the fields and in the fomo which is a very potent combo I can't overstate this
enough every road and modern collector seems to lead to a Prizm card eventually even
collectors who avoid hype or chase oddball sets often add a Prizm card
I think it's important because I'm doing this and I'm consider myself a member of the hobby media
in a way as having a media business that there's a hype machine media influencers and platforms
have to be a part of this story I think no product becomes the standard in a vacuum and Prizms rise
was boosted by a powerful hype machine in the hobby and in social platforms especially during
2018 to 2021 you couldn't consume homie content without saying Prizm you have social media
instances and instagram the more Prizm was hyped online the stronger its market became
card ladder and data other data platforms who validated the cost of Prizm content creators
and podcasts like stacking slabs I've always talked about Prizm because it's everything that
I've talked about in this episode to me and so naturally what I'm sharing and I'm passionate
about it and that's going to help add to the conversation there's community we get in groups
we are chasing the same stuff and I think that is a part of it the net effect of all of this is
Prizms dominance has been amplified and cemented by the very platforms we all consume media didn't
artificially create Prizms popularity the product earned its spot but media poured gas on the fire
by hearing Prizm Prizm Prizm everywhere even skeptics eventually acquiesced the that it's okay
this is the standard and I'll have to admit I'm a creator I contributed to this I started a
dedicated Prizm talk series on my patreon because I just wanted to talk about Prizm that's all I wanted
to talk about it's reflective of how captivating a brand can be uh or it can become that we fill
hours of airtime to uh have in listeners with you know listen in and tune it in
if anyone is creating any content like this like I'm doing here about Prizm I'm listening it's
number one thing I want to listen to because I care about it I think another thing we have to ask is
we're diving in we're only we're always I guess 42 minutes into this already is what about all
the other products the hobby wasn't lacking options there are dozens each year why didn't any of them
or why don't any of them hit at the same level for me I'm speaking just for myself as Prizm I think
during Prizms reign many other sets tried to claim the throne yet none of them have achieved
the across the board uh acceptance of Prizm you got tops chrome think about tops chrome pre-Prizm
and yes there are cards within that era of chrome mostly on the basketball side I think about
Kobe's rookie refractor but like there there's no way that run of tops chrome and finest you can
even compare it with what happened with Prizm just in terms of magnitude and that's why I'm interested
to see what tops has in store for this run because in order to have the same lineage and legacy that
and from to get a creator like me to spend way too much of my time to feel like I'm obligated to
do this you're gonna have to do something that kicks ass and then it's very special and there's
also an element of it being organic when tops lost the basketball and football licenses those
brands were effectively frozen in time collectors still adored tops chrome but in 2010 tens that
was a vacuum that's when Prizm stepped in and now the roles are being reversed you've got in
penny knee you've got select optic mosaic all these cards they all came out people like them
none of them ever matched up or even competed you've got high-end products in t flawless immaculate
and those cards are huge but there's this feeling of those cards are too expensive or I can't
bind to this break where in contrast Prizm was versatile in stores everywhere across multiple
sports I think in essence no other product combined all the elements that Prizm did historical
continuity cross segment appeal accessibility design Prizm became the reference point everyone
compared it to everything else and everything else never really measured up Prizm transcended
its peers by becoming both the flagship product of the company and a hobby wide landmark this
leads to an interesting distinction that the hobby sometimes debates and that debate is what exactly
makes something a flagship versus a landmark or maybe this is just me but this is the question
I have and I think it can be both and I think this is why Prizm is so powerful and important
because it's not only the flagship product of a manufacturer of an of an era that by being a
flagship platform or product of an era you become a landmark product and I think we often call
Prizm the flagship but I'd argue Prizm evolved into something much bigger and it's the landmark
product in the hobby history and let me clarify this because I don't think I was very clear up front
and I don't want to get minced I don't want words to get minced here
so the hobby lingo a flagship is the primary annual set that represents a brand it's usually
widely produced widely collected and sets the tone for that company think top series one in
baseball tops crumb the heyday upper deck series one in hockey a flagship is the go-to set each
year that most collectors will at least dabble into Prizm absolutely fits that bill for panini
debuting in 2012 it became the dominant flagship product in basketball and football it was the
product that panini built its calendar year-round and by the late 2010s Prizm release became one
of the biggest days in the hobby now landmark product a landmark in my mind is something that
changes the game it is the type of release that people were referenced for years it's a product
that isn't just an annual set it's a true hobby milestone I think about 86 87 flare bass well I
think of 0304 tops chrome or exquisite these transcend normal year releases they defined
eras Prizm over its run became a landmark when panini was introduced in 2012 they they likely
hoped it would be successful but I doubt that they would think that it would change sports
cards forever why does Prizm transcend the flagship label and I think it's because its impact went
just beyond being panini's main set it reshaped market behaviors collector preferences across
the entire hobby it set new standards for what a rookie card could be the fact that a non-numbered
Prizm silver rookie became as or more coveted than most numbered autos from other sets is telling
that is telling it also achieved cultural status even people who don't collect panini or modern
know what Prizm is and I think that's interesting one could argue that every year Prizm was just
the flagship release but taken together 2012 for 2022 that run especially feels like a big era
defining phenomenon the sum was greater than the parts consider this panini will likely continue
to produce Prizm at some level on license we don't know directed at other sports or maybe college
I would imagine that I saw um panini was sponsoring um something recently to lead me to believe that
they're going to be focused on nil and they're going to be focused in on probably Prizm of
these prospect athletes which if I were the move if I was running it based on the environment and
climate that's a really good move I think college cards are picking up steam um you've built the
structure around what you do that's the direction that I would pull um I would much rather have
panini point their energy at that then producing unlicensed junk cards that nobody likes that'll
just taint this this this stuff we collect I think Prizm started as a flagship but it became the
landmark and its flagship that it's the main set of its time and the landmark in that it will be
talked about for generations I want to make sure we highlight how collector behaviors and rituals
around Prizm reinforce its top dog nature and we'll be out of here soon but there's just a lot of
ground to cover in this episode and I want to make sure I'm giving this product it's due uh in making
sure I cover as much as possible I think one of the clear signs of Prizm's position in the hobby
is how collectors behave towards it over the years the community has developed certain habits and
traditions around Prizm that are continually reinforced gold Prizm fever 10 copies that's it
I think nothing illustrates Prizms grip on us like the collective obsession with the Prizm gold
everybody loves gold gold out of 50 seems way too much after being in the Prizm era gold Prizms
have an almost mythical status collectors structure entire projects around them myself included player
collectors would try to get a gold of their guy every year team collectors aim for gold team sets
and set collectors the truly insane amongst us attempt to build out a full 300 card set the Prizm
gold became the modern grill why because it hits this sweet spot that I mentioned small enough to
be elite large enough that you see one pop up now and then owning a gold Prizm is a thrill because
you know only nine other people can have that card during the boom gold Prizms of stars turned
into mini Rolex is in a way everyone flash and everyone looking at for the status it became
recognizable and universally coveted though the gold rush mentality meant that as soon as new
Prizm release came out people would immediately hunt the golds I participated in these scrambles and
will continue to and as a kicker even lesser player gold has got chased I don't even want to share
the amount of money I've paid for guys that you probably don't even know exist every time someone
embarks on a gold chase they're effectively pledging allegiance to Prizms importance it's
reinforcing the notion that these cards matter and when those chase stories are shared on
forums or podcasts like this it helps amplify Prizms lore which in turn boost demand and prices
it's a virtuous cycle of gold fever well we got to talk about the one of one holy grails golds
can be the access obsession but the black finite or the black one of ones become the step of legend
these are the ultimate chase in Prizm only one copy zips full stop collector behavior around the
black one of one is outright craziness in a way people will scour the earth for them I personally
but on wild goose chase is trying to track down black finite's of players I love sometimes
succeeding most of the time failing but always enjoying the hunt that time where I think I'm close
or have a lead and have it blow up in my face just makes me want it even more the existence of the
black one of one gives Prizm a boss level chase few other flagship project products have sure
other sets have one of ones but Prizms are special they're the card of record for a player in
that set when someone lands a Prizm black rookie it's like they caught a white whale
these stories ripple through the community people start chatting we see the astronomical
prices and the expectation shows how our collective behavior has elevated Prizm above other sets
you've got set building you've got rainbow collecting you've got the market behavior if
you got liquidity think in short collectors reinforce Prizms dominance through their passionate
pursuits of its cards the product not only generated excitement it sustained engagement year round
there was always other Prizm cards to chase another rainbow to finish another project another
auction to watch the persistent engagement has kept Prizm value strong high demand and ensured that
every year when the new Prizm drops there's a built-in army of eager participants myself
included getting ready to dive in I often think of it this way Prizm didn't just deliver cards
it delivered rituals the ritual of the hunt the trade the showcase of a completed chase
those rituals bonded us to the product and to each other that's a powerful thing and a big reason
why I believe Prizm story won't end even as the licensing does which brings us to the
finality of this episode Prizms legacy down the road you've got fanatics taking over the licenses
what happens now will Prizms legacy enders I'll start with a story here I had was talking to a
collector friend and we're talking about tops and what was coming out and this is no disrespect to
fanatics and tops but I'm just not that interested right now and the reason why I'm not that
interested right now is because I'm busy I'm busy building out here I just spent the last
let's see here seven years building this Prizm collection I'll be damned if I stop building it
now just because the licensing change I don't need what's new I don't need what's shiny am I gonna
buy a super factor here and there of somebody on the Colts because it looks cool or because I
like the player for sure am I going to collect that stuff this at the same level of detail I can
I can't afford it all of my chips are already in the prison basket and damn I love it I love it
I'm having fun I know what I want I know exactly what I'm doing this is my zone this is my sweet
spot I don't let undeniable forces that I have no control over influence the way I'm building
my collection I'm the freaking CEO of my PC baby I'm running I'm gonna continue to run and I'm not
gonna stop because this stuff lights me up inside and if I were just to say oh tops now you're gonna
light me up inside that'd be doing myself a disservice it is taking all of this time energy
content me on my own collecting to build Prizm to be this force with inside of me and if I just
abandoned it because of something new then I would be a fraud and I'm no fraud baby so that's my
story what's your story I think we stand at the end of 2025 looking towards a new era where Prizm may
no longer be the staple that we were used to and it's bittersweet right but one thing I think is
for certain is that the legacy will endure well beyond its license run and why am I confident for
one the hobby is a long memory for iconic sets just as 50 tops or 80s flare a future collector's
2012 to 2025 Prizm is a defining time in our hobby and those cards aren't suddenly going to be
forgotten I think it's quite the opposite and I think we might see Prizm cards become more revered
over time and I'm not saying this is going to happen out of the gates although it's been crazy
what's happened to a lot of these cards this year but I'm just saying it's something to take note
of I think we should also consider older licensed penny cards especially the top and ones are
expected to hold value moving forward I think it's really interesting and I think it's really fun
to think about think I'm rooting for it all I'm rooting for tops to do well I think they're going
to revive tops chrome introduce new flagships but they can't instantly replace the history and
aura of that Prizm is built it will take years for a new product to challenge Prizm secondary
market those people who are coming in who are new to the hobby they won't know Prizm and that's
okay and that's fine in tops chrome will have a dominant position with those that are new but
it's those that have of us that have been here I plan to continue to collect Prizm because I got
that passion it's what I collect the moment right now is we pivot towards fanaxes historical we're
not just at an ending a product line we're closing in on an era it's why I wanted to have this
conversation to honor Prizms impact and make sense of it it is something to go from no name
nothing to where we're at today I think Prizm cards will continue to break records I think Prizm
cards will continue to be topics of conversations so does this moment matter I think it does it's
our chance to appreciate what Prizm taught us power of consistency thriller chase unity of the flagship
and emotional connection we form with brands of cards it's also a chance to take those lessons
into the next era maybe the community will find a new standard bear maybe not but we all have the
blueprint now thanks to Prizm I for one will continue to be collecting Prizm we keep building
that I'll be trying to kick over rocks and find cards that I need I think there's always something
to be said about an underdog story something that went from nothing and rose from the
ashes to become such a massive influential product today I don't know how many more of these I'm
going to do this one felt good though I needed to let this out I can't believe I just went an
hour solo on Prizm hopefully you enjoy this I sure sure enjoy putting these together I'm Brett I
collect sports cards I have a podcast network called stacking slabs appreciate all of your
support we'll talk to you soon