EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 219
album: PANINI NBA 2021/22 (Panini)
stickers: 500 (1-500) + 104 cards (C1-C100 + 4 checklist)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
Return to Lilliput. Honestly for NBA basketball fans who watch games on TV and enjoy the spectacle of US sports, this album is a very small thing. The size of the champions in tiny stickers which, among other things, do not expect the players to bust but in action are even more affected by the measure … miserable. Someone points out that everything serves to equate the European edition to the American one, we hope that in the US there are perhaps better quality Panini products worthy of paying homage to the NBA.
We went to read the review of the last edition (actually released in February due to the delays in the championship linked to the health emergency), we like to try to be original but in reality the album is a very large copy of the previous one, about which we had already had a lot to say.
First pages, stickers from 1 to 104, dedicated to the previous season with Christmas Day, All Star Game, Playoffs and Drafts. “Nothing new on the western front”, in short, just a few changes in the graphics.
Second part of the album (stickers from 105 to 500) with the presentation of all the clubs in the NBA. For each team 13 stickers, logos, three specials of the top scorers and 9 players. For fans of basketball made in Italy, Danilo Gallinari, the only one of ours to have remained in the NBA, is sticker number 116.
In reality this is the least annoying part of the album, appreciable that each formation has the same number of stickers, certain that a minimum of hassle to make some different stickers .. perhaps Panini cannot do it but for example give some pearls on the history of ‘NBA would be interesting. Or stickers of the jersey (already seen in the past) and maybe sports palaces or other fundamental aspects of American basketball.
The cards are standard, here too there is no commitment to make them more attractive. At least, as happened last year, on the back we find some statistics but the same photo of the front! Has it ever happened to you that your parents at the meeting with teachers were told “it has potential but it does just the bare minimum to get enough”? This is not even the case because, dear Panini, the politician 6/10 does not even get there. Also because the quality of the paper manages to be even worse than last year where it was already a horror. Either our copy has taken on moisture or the crack and the folds when turning the pages scream scandal.
Is it possible that in Italy (Europe?) the beloved NBA cannot have an album worthy of its specific weight in the panorama of world sport? Is it possible that we cannot think of daring and creating something different instead of this mess? For example, a FIFA365 basketball version, perhaps combining overseas basketball with the European one of the top clubs, even if only for Italy with the most popular clubs (Milano, the two Bolognese, etc.). Okay, maybe this idea is impractical if not for a Star Trek episode, but at least from a graphic point of view is it really that impossible?
What can we humble collectors do? Very little except not supporting certain products. For this reason, unlike what was previously announced, you will not find stickers/cards from this collection for swaps at our stand at the Bologna Disco and Comics Fair (27-28 November 2021) and in our space during FIGUCON (15 January 2022). We will not buy packets, we prefer to dedicate ourselves to other more valid collections, talking about Panini Fifa365, Harry Potter and Lyon.
(EN)