Some people may ask why BBM would issue a set devoted solely to mascots in Japan. It didn't take me too long to figure out that mascots are important in this country. Everything here is cute, so every company has a mascot which is cute and friendly. Train companies, governments, cities, chain stores, and even point cards have mascots. So it's only natural that mascots would be much more important in the NPB than the MLB.
Forty different autographed cards were inserted into packs. Print runs range from super-rare 30 (Fighters mascots) to 240 (Hawks mascots) copies each. While just about anybody could have signed the autographs, they do have a nice variety of signatures. Some have simple sketches, others are styled writing, and there are some which are scribbles. The sketches can be very cute so I'll probably pick one up sooner or later. And I might just pick up the base set, if it's super-cheap...
I purchased the 2011 BBM Our Friends boxed set a few months ago off of Rakuten. One of these days I'll get around to cracking it open and reviewing it. I hope they inserted autographs into those boxes.
ReplyDeleteI wish BBM would just do the mascot set and not use the mascots on the team checklists for 1st Version every year. And Calbee did mascots for their checklists this year too. It is possible to have too much of a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this year's mascot set. That said, I don't need an annual set because nothing really changes. Or do the mascots change? If I can find the 2011 and 2013 sets for $5 each it would be interesting to do a comparison.
ReplyDeleteBut then I agree, I see mascots way too often. Not only did BBM and Calbee use them in their flagship sets, but BBM is including mascots in the team sets too. Plus, at least one of the CCG sets (Baseball Heroes, I think) had a mascot insert or subset.
I'd like to see more season highlights cards and cards for the stadiums. It would be nice to see a stadium history subset or insert set in one of the historical or anniversary issues. As far as I can tell, only 29 stadiums have been home to NPB teams (but cards for the regional "barnstorming" stadiums would be awesome too).