News from Panini, one would almost think of an end-of-season album but in reality it looks ahead, to a 2024 that will be poor for the Modena house given that after 44 years it will no longer be the publisher of the album of stickers on European soccer championships. Men’s Euro2024 will in fact be branded Topps.
There is a fundamental fact that we appreciate a lot about this collection, the men’s national team and the women’s national team have the same spaces within the album. From a graphic point of view, perhaps it would have been more captivating to have first one and then the other but from the point of view of the message we are here, the players and the players considered in the same exact way, as it will always be more normal.
It is undeniable that women’s football, after so many years of darkness, with the birth of professional club teams has been able to get back on top, thanks also to the results of our national team. Who knows that one day I can’t even bring back a star for the Azzurre shirt, difficult but nothing is impossible.
The album presents 38 footballers in great prominence, dedicating a page to each of them. Here too there is alternation, there is not always the champion first and then the champion or vice versa, small but important details. In reality there are many more male and female players, the solution of the rookie sticker is nice, where not only potential new champions are presented, but also those who have recently started wearing the blue shirt and successfully, as in the case of Mateo Retegui.
The format is the one proposed every year by Europublishing for club albums (Inter, Juve, Milan and Rome). The captions are linked to memories, records and curiosities. Appropriate choice, in order not to make a mere repetition of what we already find in the other albums already released. The color of the spaces is nice, reminiscent of the colors of our flag.
The stickers are honestly a little repetitive, they portray footballers in the classic bust photo or in action. More could have been daring, for example by making shaped figurines. Among the most interesting are those that have the tricolor in the background, the departure from the cards is also appreciable, with the photos in action that have the real background, be it the training field or the stadium. You could also leave it visible and not blurry, but that’s something.
For thematic collectors, pay attention to the final pages, where stickers from previous competitions of great champions such as Roberto Baggio, Buffon, Cannavaro, Riva, Maldini, Paolo Rossi and the coach of the first World Cup Italy Vittorio Pozzo are re-proposed.
A non-essential collection but for enthusiasts and always looking for new stickers to attach, it can be a pleasant pastime.
box: 24 packets (4 stickers per packet) 0,90€ cad.
ecoblister: 5 packets + 1 card limited 4,50€
treasure box: album + 23 packets + 4 cards limited (only in some comics shops)
Second chapter of the quartet of albums that Panini offers for 2023 on the world of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. After the houses of Hoghwarts it’s time for magical creatures from the movies. Not very easy to write something new compared to the review of the first album and probably it will be the same for the next two.
The lack of particular novelties is not always a negative aspect, in this case, for example, it continues the good intentions of the first album. Good paper quality, one hundred stickers which are actually two hundred to attach. Above average photographic quality of the stickers.
The internal captions are interesting, sometimes reduced to give all the space to the stickers, but we still invite you to read the texts and perhaps answer the occasional quizzes that you find on some pages. Don’t know what to say? No problem, correct on the last page and find the answers. Don’t peek first though!
In addition to the 100 stickers, the presence of 10 limited edition cards has also been confirmed, which can be found inside the starter pack, the blister packs and the special box on sale only at comic book stores. A wise advice is to keep the rhythm of the releases and not wait for the end, although all the packets of the four albums should be available until the end of the year, the overlapping of the collections could have a significant impact from an economic point of view.
Small grumble that we would have preferred to avoid, opening a blister pack of 5 sachets we already found ourselves with several doubles. On a collection of just 100 stickers easier that can happen but if there was a way to avoid it, it would be much appreciated.
(EN)
MIRACULOUS – heroez in the world
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 306
album: Miraculous heroez in the world (Panini)
stickers: 192 (1-192)
starter pack: album + 2 packets + gadget 3,90€
box: 24 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Miraculous forever! Lady Bug and friends continue their close relationship with our beloved stickers as the years go by and new collections keep coming out. Not only that, we can also add that the quality improves and the editorial offer too.
Sometimes it’s even nice to repeat yourself and we do it. If you want to judge Panini, don’t stop at the static football albums (even by force of circumstances, we don’t even feel guilty about it, on the contrary, we like tradition in this case), but let yourself be carried away by the imagination and variety with which the albums are made on cartoons and comic series. Small and big jewels of the world of stickers.
The new Miraculous album follows the current line that we like to call the New Wave of Panini Albums. Satisfactory paper quality again, the price of the sachets which still settles on human figures, considering the period and without thinking of when the sachets cost 100 lire, other times, very distant, unfortunately, but not only for the cost of the sachets. Above all, it is the editorial proposal that convinces us, no useless and expensive cards, pages full of content, fun stickers to attach, a central poster that acts as an insert and somehow even a story in itself.
Total number of stickers 192, we are at the maximum limit of acceptable stickers for this type of album but we are still in a collection that is not impossible to complete.
The album is renewed giving little space to the individual characters but letting us be carried away in the heart of the animated series, each page is a story. No hesitation, you immediately enter the action! The right mix of captions and stickers that find ample space in the album, luckily at least with this type of collection the trend of not sticking the stickers has not yet arrived, it would be a real shame. The fun is reading the album like an illustrated book and then filling it with content through our little paper friends.
You’ll be spoiled for choice, forget the repetitive format, on this occasion we have rectangular, round, shaped, special stickers. Not as big as in other collections but with that charm that only comic and cartoon stickers can have, since the legendary albums of the 70s and 80s.
Central poster which is a real insert, dedicated to the special episode of the series set in Shanghai. Choice of quality, however, keep the same type of paper, always opaque and therefore resistant, furthermore the total opening of the pages allows to safeguard the album. It is not necessary to detach the insert, you can easily complete it and keep it intact within the rest of the collection.
Albums among the best of this first part of 2023, the “French cousins” are not only good with Asterix, Blueberry and the masterpieces (among others) of Moebius and Bilal, in addition to the classic comics, they can also have their say with animation series !
(EN)
Cry Babies magic tears (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 305
album: Cry Babies magic tears (Panini)
stickers: 180 (1-180)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 3,90€
box: 24 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
blister: 5 packets 3,90€
The return of the Cry Babies! Characters loved by the little ones are also once again the protagonists of a sticker album, excellent that this happens when it seems that Panini has finally found the right way in setting up sticker albums, starting with the quality of the paper.
It must also be said, in reality, that even with the first album released in September 2020, the choice of matte paper was good news. The clear conviction remains that it is often with these types of albums that the Modenese publisher demonstrates imagination and variety of proposals, much more than in static sports albums.
The album looks good, considering the target it is aimed at, we believe it is a product created for children and parents to play together, the many captions can be an opportunity to spend time with the family, with mum or dad who can read to children the story that accompanies the figurines. Take advantage of the opportunity!
Rightly so, the album is also full of moments of leisure, quizzes, games and more. On the first pages, a nice introduction to the world of babies, as if they were football players, each with their own card. Following are pages that introduce more and more details of this fun little world, while in others we can experience the adventures of our little heroes, complete with references to other myths of comics and cartoons.
Central part with opening poster, set up as if it were a photo album, to the point that there is also space to attach your own. The quality of the paper in this case is the glossy one, therefore lighter, to be handled with care. However, even this part, in the general context, is guessed.
The format of the stickers is the classic one, there are no shaped stickers but many special stickers, with special glitter and others to colour. In times of very light stickers that fly away with a breath of wind, a pleasure to discover in this case more substantial and very colorful and nice stickers. Perhaps born not only to be attached to the album but also to notebooks and a little everywhere.
Compared to other productions, the total number of stickers (180) and the relatively low cost, if compared to the rest of the products, make it a valid and interesting album.
(EN)
SUPER MARIO play time (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 304
album: Super Mario play time (Panini)
stickers: 176 (1-144, M1-M32)
starter pack: album + packets + 2 cards limited
box: 24 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,90€ each
special pack: 8 packets + 1 card limited 6,90€
blister: 5 packets 4,50€ cad.
The film released in cinemas is a blockbuster, as was the tradition in the good old days, the sticker album also arrives on newsstands. The King of video games has renewed, his universe of characters has multiplied, the charm is always the same. So long live Super Mario.
The album made by Panini has an excellent chance of entering the Top Chart 2023 which we publish at the beginning of December. There are many aspects that make it unique but hopefully repeatable, other superfluous aspects made to spend and for the few who are interested, but which do not affect the possibility of completing the album. This must be the main road, if Panini wants to continue to make a surplus, he is free to do so, but without this having to affect those who love the old, immortal, classic idea of wanting, perhaps even just “trivially”, to complete the album.
We add that fortunately the publisher is betting a lot on the Super Mario product, in 2022 the card collection was released, also one of the best of the year, now the sticker version is out. To each his own album, we are safe from terrifying and expensive mixes. However, here too there are 5 limited cards, perhaps more interesting for those who have collected the previous album.
Easily recoverable set of cards, three are present in the special packs (Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi) recognizable before purchase; two in the starter pack (Mario, Peach), while we write not yet available, we hope it will be available by the end of April. In this way, however, those who want to have the 5 cards can recover them, those who are only interested in the album and its beautiful stickers can simply avoid them.
Variety, this is the basic motif of the album. Many different pages, with many special stickers and a long and inspired introduction to the world of video games, indeed, we could say the video game par excellence, which covers different generations of enthusiasts.
It may seem that page after page a logical thread is not being followed, if you have this feeling it is because Panini makes the choice, in our opinion correct, not to dedicate the album to the storytelling of the film. It would have been a missed opportunity.
It is certainly a suitable product that those who know the video game universe will be pleased to recognize and find again the many characters, Mario’s power-ups, interspersed with references to the film’s adventure. The quality of the matte paper makes you forget the desperation with the productions of the last few years, we are really on the right track.
Since we are talking about a video game, the sticker album cannot be outdone, many opportunities to interact and all the charm of the splash pages, full of shaped stickers, which we had already seen in beloved albums such as Zagor’s. Great result and great fun sticking the stickers.
The cardboard solution of the central part with the 32 stickers numbered M, special both as stickers and for the heroes and villains of the video game that are represented, makes the album even more compact. Not only that, the message cards that can be detached are positioned so that, possibly, the rest of the album cannot be affected.
The attention to detail is certainly an added value, the second part of the album is perhaps less attractive at first glance, but has the advantage of presenting the Super Mario universe, a very classic solution which is not necessarily a defect for a sticker album. The first pages before the central insert, however, are really something else.
Grand finale with other games, tests and even the last coloring page. On the back cover, don’t go and peek first, find the solutions!
We wrote at the beginning of the parallel variants that are ok for those who want to dedicate part of their salary to these “Americanates”, but those who are not interested are not obliged and can easily collect the album. Out of a basic set of 176 stickers to complete the album, we even find 192 parallels, a blunder but in reality if you don’t get carried away in the madness of finding them all, it can be a nice and fun extra that also makes your album unique, having maybe an attached sticker that isn’t the same as that of your classmate or nerdy friend.
We never pretend or have the arrogance to think that our reviews and comments can even be food for thought for publishers, but we appreciate when good choices are made. In this case with multiple meanings: the quality of the collection, the limited number of total stickers, the same variety of stickers offered, the non-invasive extras for those who just want to collect an album. So many things in one album, which becomes not the exception but the rule!
(EN)
NINNA and MATTI 2023 (Idea Lab)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 303
album: Ninna and Matti 2023 (Idea Lab)
stickers: 164 (1-164)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,90€
box: 40 packets (6 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
Ninna and Matti do an encore! Second album for the web couple after the great success of the first, which sold out in a few weeks last year. The result was certainly due to the large following that the two boys have but also to an effective formula. Total 110 stickers, competitive price, easy to complete. The public rewarded Idea Lab’s proposal, rightly so, and now the Milanese publisher is repeating itself.
The formula is not exactly the same, in this new album the total stickers are about 50 more, in our opinion we are around the maximum number of stickers that a collection of this type should contain. The price of the packets has also increased, as has become the practice, however commendable that for each packet we find 6 stickers as opposed to the classic 5.
The album is not a mere repetition of the previous one, although since the setting worked, we find similar interiors. The two boys certainly like cartoons and comics, a lot of space is dedicated to their animated version. Not only in the comic story at the center of the album but also in many other pages.
Leafing through the pages you will be immersed in the world of Ninna and Matti, through a long story that unfolds page after page. A little mystery, lots of fun, let’s also add a little healthy “ignorance” and the final result is nice and will surely make the young fans of our two heroes happy.
The story intertwines between real stickers and animated stickers, a mix that works. The characters are the same as you can find in the videos, perhaps some of you will already know the ending, we are certainly not here to spoil the surprise even if, on the last page, there is talk of a “mystery solved”.
Sticker albums related to the world of youtubers have been a real category for some years now, whether you like it or not, they have largely taken the place of the cartoon albums with which previous generations grew up. Our thought is that if for a commercial product as recent as the world of youtubers, news always comes out on newsstands, they can only bode well for the future. Our little paper friends are still loved by the very young, not just by the more “old” collectors.
Another important aspect is the varied number of publishers involved in these products, good thing that there isn’t a monopoly and often the smaller realities present quality collections, from a graphic point of view but also as an overall proposal, in a phase of economic contraction like this. We are rooting for them!
(EN)
DINSIEME (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 302
album: DinsiemE (Panini)
stickers: 204 (1-192, P1-P12)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 figurine per bustina) 1,00€ each
eco blister: 5 packets 4,90€ c
special pack: 10 packets + hard cover album 14,90€
It is clear that Panini has focused a lot on this collection, so much so as to also create the hardcover version, an editorial solution that we have not seen the same care for important collections such as the 60th of Spider-Man and One Piece. They may have done their market research but it really seems like a choice to us, meaning it in a polite, questionable way.
Naturally we have nothing against DinsiemE, on the contrary! We liked the previous album, made by Promotional Srl in 2020 and found some interest from younger collectors. Panini puts its experience into play and creates a product that can stand out from the much competition in the world of youtubers. The result is undoubtedly remarkable.
The standard album is smaller in size and looks like a notebook with rings, so as to look like a product for school, after all the background of the pages is squared. The paper is excellent, if they wanted to hit the mark here we are. The hardcover edition mentioned at the beginning is only available in the comic shop circuit, at the price of €15.00 with 10 packets, it differs from the “serve a kidney” line of Panini products. In practice, with €5.00 you get the rigid version of the album. Another important aspect, another album without a card, thank you! Perhaps the editorial line that has battered so many collections in recent years has come to an end. If it’s just a lucky time, let’s hope it lasts.
The occasion of this new album is the arrival in cinemas of the film “The Legendary Journey”. However, the album is a general presentation of the web couple, with many references to their adventures and challenges that can be watched on Youtube.
The first part of the album introduces the characters, not only Dominick and Erick but also Isabella, Romeo, Doctor Giniu and Doctor Timoti. Below is a summary of some of our adventures around the web and around Italy and beyond. The third part of the album is dedicated to their most incredible challenges, the most magical jokes and journeys. However, a nice mix of fun and lots of crazy photos, both real and comics, within pages full of phrases and captions, as we all often liked to fill our school diaries.
Central gatefold poster that refers to the film to be completed with the 12 P stickers. Being the first album on the DinsiemE for Panini, it is appreciable that a wider choice was made on the setting and not to dedicate oneself only to the film. The stickers are nice and varied, including the special and shaped ones that you will have learned by now, if you read our reviews, they are our passion.
Album therefore very valid, have doubts about its effectiveness for the price of the packet, perhaps at least 10 cents could have been avoided (or add a sticker as other publishers have done) and for the total number of stickers. For products of this kind related to the little ones, in our opinion the right number is around 150, here we exceed 200. The album could have been absolutely pleasant even if less full-bodied. The real risk is to pass on the sly because it is too demanding to complete.
Some time ago a friend told us that he passed with his son near the square where the stage of the Panini Tour took place, he asked him if he wanted to stop, the answer was lapidary: “no dad, I can never complete an album anyway”. If this line of thought passes among the youngest, it is much more than a simple alarm bell, not only for Panini, but for all of our beloved world of stickers.
(EN)
VASCO KOM COLLECTION (Officina Edicola)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 300
album: Vasco KOM Collection (Officina Edicola)
cards: 100 (1-150) + card 0
starter pack: album + 1 packet 9,90€
box: 24 packets (7 cards per packet) 3,00€ each
Officina Edicola tries again! A few years ago he brought the first collection of cards linked to the youtube Lyon phenomenon to the newsstands, achieving a probably unexpected success that led the product to be among the most sought after in Italy and beyond (in our small way, we have helped collectors by sending the albums even In the USA).
Now it’s time to do an encore with Vasco Rossi, on paper a guaranteed success given the huge following of the rocker from Zocca. In reality, however, it is a gamble, the figurines and the singers have always had a rather troubled, non-continuous history. To go back in time to a “noteworthy” album, we go to the 1990s where another publisher from Modena, DS, released a now highly sought-after album of Ligabue stickers.
DS? Yes, the one that signed an exclusive contract with the Iranian federation and because of this agreement, the stickers of Iran were not distributed in the Panini album of France ’98.
Returning to Vasco, we would like to ask Officina Edicola why they chose to make an album of cards and not stickers. Perhaps even for an economic choice, we would have preferred the second one. However, we must give credit to the publisher who, as he did then with Lyon, offers a real album where you can insert the cards as if they were photographs. Not plastic binders (the environment thanks you), not a little edifying little boxes like others do.
The album traces the history of Vasco Rossi’s concerts, starting from the imminent and going back to the distant 80s, tour after tour, from tent theaters to arenas, from stadiums to arenas and the historic appointment of Modena Park. It is important to underline the choice of photographs, taken together with the artist’s entourage, which involve some of the leading photographers in the musical world.
The history of Vasco’s tours is also intertwined with that of our country, emblematic is the tour of Rock under the siege which referred to the terrible war taking place in the former Yugoslavia.
The cards are of good quality, equally divided between the classic and the metallic and holographic ones. They feature Vasco on stage, backstage, preparing songs in the studio. Also present are the most significant album covers. In the album there is no mention but there is also a card 0, printed in just 1000 copies and distributed through the fan club. It doesn’t find space in the album so it’s to all intents and purposes an extra card, we believe the collection can be defined as complete even without it.
Ambitious and important collection, price not immediately cheap but without knowing the agreements between the artist and the publisher, it is probable that this operation had a demanding cost almost as much as making the album of a top football player. Great that the total number of cards is still contained.
Who knows if there will be packets distributed during this summer’s tour and if we will find the fans who, waiting for the concert to start, will make the exchanges.
Long live Vasco!
(EN)
100 YEARS AERONAUTICA MILITARE (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 299
album: Aeronautica militare 100 years (Panini)
stickers: 164 (1-164)
starter pack: album + 8 packets 7,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
Important premise, considering the commitment in social affairs and in the issues of peace that our Association carries out: this album should be reviewed for its historical and didactic value, to celebrate the centenary of an important Italian reality and also for its charm that we will explain in details. Certainly not as a hymn to war or military spending.
Panini has made a big thing this time and looking towards the future has not forgotten the past, its past. We are sure this collection will be loved not only by aeronautics and militaria enthusiasts but also by the many who will feel they are savoring the legendary albums of so many years ago. We noticed it right away, we don’t think we were the only ones: the album is the direct nephew, in format, in the captions, in the proposal, of albums that have driven generations of teenagers crazy, above all when sticker albums, even before books, they were illustrated encyclopaedias, to know and learn.
Another important aspect, perhaps thinking precisely of the type of audience, the album is of good quality and above all of a limited number of stickers. We’ll repeat it over and over again, it’s no longer time for monumental albums, also considering the cost of paper, both for those who sell and for those who buy.
Surely this album is a multi-handed work, our Air Force has not only limited itself to authorizing Panini but has certainly been a useful partner and advisor for the realization. If it is true that the album recalls the past, it is certainly richer in terms of didactic content. It’s been years since we’ve seen an album with so much written inside!
The first part of the album traces the history that is not only military but also technological and social, Italy is changing, it was also noticeable through what flew in the sky. In the captions many curiosities and information that sometimes arrive unexpectedly. It is an institutional, appreciable album, it could not be otherwise, which manages to combine the passion for air with a certain necessary detachment from historical facts, or from what certain events have entailed.
Another important aspect, which renews the excellent consideration of the product, is however not a mere acclaiming our aviation but also considering the missteps. Without taking part or political considerations but renewing the sometimes daring and epic roles that our pilots had, especially in the first half of the twentieth century.
From the 1950s onwards we see rapid technological growth in aviation with ever more sophisticated and faster aircraft. On the other hand, the Air Force is not made up only of Tornadoes and F16s, it is very interesting to discover other aircraft that are also fundamental for the progress of the country and consequently also for that of civil air traffic. While we were all at the cinema watching Top Gun, our planes were engaged in many operations around the world.
This is followed by the second part of the album, didactic but also technical, but absolutely legible, where many planes (and helicopters) from the history of military aviation are presented. A real treat for all enthusiasts, we are sure of it. We would like to be aeronautical technicians to go and discover any errors, but our Aviation is certainly among the best in the world, it is difficult to think of finding any.
The last pages are dedicated to the myth, especially if we think of the past, with ocean crossings, in the highest skies up to even space and the most remote corners of the world, starting with the adventurous exploration of the Arctic in the 1920s.
The stickers are necessarily mainly rectangular, an incredible collection of photos that are worth the purchase for their quality and epicity alone. The photographic archive of the Military Aviation certainly does not leave one indifferent. There are a thousand reasons to collect this album, we have discovered some of them, collectors have the pleasure and curiosity to find the others.
Football is criticized from many quarters, the reasons are many, some exaggerated, others weighted. Surely the most beloved sport in the world has its fans as well as its detractors. This also happens with stickers and cards. Although we have been the first to collect football players since time immemorial, we believe that often they are collections that inevitably cannot but repeat themselves.
Panini, like many other publishers, demonstrates the best of its potential, graphics and ideas in other collections. On the other hand, if it is true that football, seen as the enemy, actually helps to financially support all other sports as well, in the world of stickers, if we still find so many products on newsstands and there is still so much interest, it is thanks to the collections related to football that with their turnover and always new (and many old) collectors allow publishers to create even more.
Titans reaches its second year, having to make a choice, it is a different but perhaps more interesting collection than the monumental Adrenalyn, it is distinguished by a greater variety in the graphic proposal. If it is true that 9 players per team are few (considering only the basic collection of the first 180 cards) this allows for a less demanding total collection, easier to complete.
The idea of not making it a single collection but connected to the previous one is certainly apt, not so much in numbers as in the game connected to it. However, we remain convinced that the game, unlike Pokemon cards, is of interest to a much smaller audience.
Graphically captivating colors and backgrounds of the cards even if clearly distant from the context of the match and even less from the social colors of the clubs. A detail that probably only the “oldest” among us are interested in. As always, the need to give a title to the cards makes the adjective with which some players are presented (most of them, actually) not very credible, for example as “Legend”. The legends, excuse us, are different.
More interesting in some way are the multiple cards, three per club, which allow you to form a horizontal puzzle with the most used formation in the first part of the championship. Maybe in the future Panini could be more daring, creating a puzzle that can cover all 9 cards on a page. If it was done for Frozen, it can also be done for Calciatori Adrenalyn.
Anticipating Calciatori stickers himself, we find 33 “new signature” cards. Rather poor and insignificant winter transfer market (except for the legendary Ochoa), as for several years, but in any case they are new faces or with different jerseys, players or coaches, from our league.
In the 27 “World Star” cards we find a reference to the national team of the players of our championship who are protagonists in Qatar, starting with the world champions Dybala, Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez, etc.
In general, the Titans cards are more captivating than the Adrenalyn series, we think that the road to reach the level of other publishers is still long, all uphill if we think of what is made in the USA and beyond, but in any case it is undeniable that slowly, for some years now, there has been some improvement.
For those who want everything, the Momentum Cards, new for 2023 (3 or 5, in the printed guide we find “three” written but online we speak of “five”) and the 23 limited edition cards relatively easy to find, just buy all various products related to the collection, including the Bomber magazine.
box: 24 packets (4 stickers per packet) 0,90€ each
ecoblister: 5 packets + 1 card limited 4,50€
treasure box: album + 23 packets + 4 cards limited
The dawn of a new era? Or simply the necessary research to propose something different? Maybe it’s the second one, but we like to think it’s linked to the first hypothesis. Certainly the HP phenomenon does not know the word end and indeed it is enriched with new followers, as the generations go by. Impressive if we think about how much the actors who play the various characters have become adults and those adults, unfortunately, some of them are no longer with us.
Panini’s editorial proposal is intriguing, in our opinion on the one hand it meets the now clear need to have albums that are not too abundant in stickers, on the other it also winks at collectors. For families the possibility of collecting an album with a limited number of stickers and therefore relatively easy to complete, for the large public of enthusiasts and fans having a collection of over 800 stickers but not in a single issue. This album is the first of four that thematically retraces the entire long saga, from the Harry Potter films to the Fantastic Beasts prequel.
The photos used are nothing particularly new for a Harry Potter sticker album, if the story is the same and the characters are always the same (even if, thanks to the Fantastic Beasts films, we are meeting new ones) then it is in the formula , in the format, in the proposal that you have to be original.
We don’t need to tell you the story, you know it by heart. The total number of stickers in the album could be misleading, from 1 to 100 but in reality they are 200, so the fun and pleasure that sticking stickers always gives us is guaranteed.
Even the choice to limit the texts and images printed on the album in other cases would have made us grumble, in this case it’s to give all the space possible to the stickers; once again, our little card friends are the absolute protagonists. We hope that in the continuation the charts will be able to amaze us, so as to make each album different from the other.
After all, the very title of the album leaves no doubts, this is a guide in stickers. Not sure what your house could be? The album opens with a nice test to find out, here too attaching the stickers is essential. Don’t you remember the other houses? Well, go to the last pages and maybe your curiosities will find the answers.
The general reasoning remains that brings us back to the sentence with which we opened this review. There was a need for novelty and to create new formulas to always keep the variegated world of stickers alive. Guessed the mix between two parallel but different worlds, that of occasional buyers and the most hardened collectors.
The interesting idea of offering a box set to contain the four albums (hopefully calculated with enough space for the complete albums..), a sin exclusively on the Panini site and also a limited set of 14 cards, irrelevant for the completeness of the album but an extra that will please those who “can’t get enough”.
The paper in the album is certainly of a much higher quality than the Panini average of recent years. The stickers are no different, large and shiny, as are the special metal ones and the many more or less small ones. A questionable choice was that of inserting only four stickers in a packet, the price of the packet is paradoxically cheaper when compared to other collections, precisely as a function of the quality.
On the other hand, a sticker could be added and the price left at 1 euro. Is it just an experimental project? Maybe yes, but if you read what is written on the last page “the first four collections”, it is a clear message that Panini are convinced they have got it right; this time, we too think the same.
(EN)
STUMBLE GUYS (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 301
album: Stumble Guys (Diramix)
cards: 162 (1-162)
starter pack: album + 1 packet 7,90€
box: 20 packets (5 cards per packet) 2,00€ each
Not just Dragonball. After “Brawl Stars” Diramix has taken a liking to it and presents a new collection of cards dedicated to the multiplayer game Stumble Guys on newsstands. The formula is the classic one, 162 cards, a binder that exactly contains them all and little else dedicated to the details.
The binder is minimal, little space for information and details, at least there is a rich check-list with images of all the cards. Here we can discover that the basic set consists of 128 cards, followed by 24 gold cards and 10 special rubies.
For us it is difficult to understand if all the characters of the game are present, but surely there are many. The cards in turn have information only on the front, including the sequential number.
The lack of a guide is probably a problem for those who, like us, are only now approaching the world of Stumble Guys, for those who know the game the icons present, including emoticons, poops, boxing gloves and much more, are more than enough to understand what we are talking about.
Collection for fans.
(EN)
SONIC PRIME (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 296
album: Sonic Prime (Diramix)
stickers: 184 (1-184)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,99€
box: 40 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
Sonic is back! The legendary hero of Sega games is now the protagonist of a series on Netflix, certainly not his first experience in cartoons but certainly a novelty, all thanks to modern high definition computer graphics, which has its positive sides, others less , but certainly well suited to a world that was born from video games.
Not just Marvel! The “fashion” of multiverses and parallel universes also involves our blue friend and here he is in the Shatterspaces, looking for friends to save, but at the same time meeting the counterparts of worlds very similar to his. Does it remind you of anything?!
The album has two purposes, on the one hand to tell the adventures that run through the episodes of the series, on the other to let us discover the many characters, old, new, alternative, parallels that the Sonic Prime world introduces us. A clever choice to infinitely multiply the possibilities, also from the point of view of the video game in the future.
It should be noted that the album rightly follows a logic, unlike other cartoons they are not disconnected pages, but the path is linear and allows you to enjoy the whole story. After all, the series itself has in some ways more the format of the TV series than the classic one of cartoons for the little ones.
You know by now our weakness for shaped stickers, in this collection we have so many, an album that certainly takes time to be able to complete it correctly. But that’s the fun, too, isn’t it? Non-classical central page of Diramix albums, no stick & stack or game, we can call it a “best of” of the main characters. The lack of the central game in an album entirely dedicated to.. a game.. even if to be played with the console, maybe it wasn’t necessary.
Very nice and funny stickers, as we have written, it is not so much the special ones that leave their mark but the many shaped ones that also point out a certain care in making them. Care unfortunately not found in the quality of the album paper, unfortunately really not sufficient. Diramix is not the only publisher, others prefer different solutions, certainly the current cost of paper leads to even difficult choices, we begin to fear that, for publishers who release a lot of material on newsstands, perhaps it has become the only way to survive on the market.
Fortunately, avoid the useless cards, the total number of stickers is acceptable to complete the album without passing out too much. In our opinion, the right number would have been around 160, we believe the era of too full-bodied albums has long since ended, perhaps suitable for mainstream with even a more adult audience (Diabolik and Spider-Man for example) but for a product intended for smaller better not to exaggerate. Also considering the average duration of a collection on newsstands, relatively short and which, indeed, for parents more sensitive to our world of little paper adhesive friends, could also allow children to collect more albums a year.
on sale at Coop Reno supermarkets, in the province of Bologna
A great new for all redandblue supporters, after many years an album of stickers entirely dedicated to Bologna FC is back available, as we already find in many other Italian cities that of the respective clubs. It is probably a request that came from many voices, ours included, often in our events and at the fairs we take part in in Bologna, it was a continuous tune “but don’t they make an album about Bologna?”.
The initiative is created by Coop Reno, the peculiarity is that the Bologna album is not available in .. Bologna! Understood as a city, the reason is plausible, the supermarket chain is widely scattered in the province but does not cover the capital. Not bad, as we did, Bolognese citizens, just move a few kilometers and you can find what you need.
As with crime novels, we didn’t go to the last page but leafed through from the beginning, the graphic layout reminded us of an editorial line well known to those of us who frequent newsstands. We weren’t wrong! The album is made by Euro Publishing, which has been involved for years with the albums of Inter, Juventus, Milan, Roma and others.
Every single footballer has his own dedicated page, with three stickers, one of which is special. The large photo has all its charm, there would have been some statistical details, but on the other hand (just see the photo above) space is limited. As many as 28 players from the squad are present in the album, starting from the goalkeepers up to the strikers. The album is closed by coach Thiago Motta.
A nice and interesting novelty are the traditional first pages with the stickers of all the players together, on this occasion with 30 initial shaped stickers which also include the BFC logo, also present in the center of the page. Choosing this not very happy, the two stickers naturally can only bend. The basic idea, however, is simple but guessed, to be repeated, this small detail aside.
Stickers linked to supermarket distribution often complicate collectors’ days. It is understandable that the goal is to increase sales, but the binomial amount of expenditure which is equivalent to a total of packets makes it difficult to complete the album, unless you are the Bradford Family (a joke that you will only understand if you are at least 40 years old..). Coop Reno opts for a different, applause-worthy solution. The packets are bought separately, not necessarily connected to the expense. They certainly believe in the result of this product and so do we.
Good quality of the stickers, to note the small number of stickers which allows for an, we believe, easy collection. For a product of this kind, it is always the guess to go just beyond the 100 stickers. Someone will turn up their noses at the fact that the album is entirely focused on Bologna 2023 without references to the past. Solution full of emotions but hardly practicable, on pain of creating an album that is too rich and not very suitable for this type of proposal.
Also because the history of Bologna is long and articulated, but an extra page with the stickers of the stadium, the Casteldebole Sports Center, the Curva Bulgarelli full of fans, would have been appreciated.
After all, maybe after a good success, next year we could make a different album, maybe to celebrate 60 years since the last Scudetto, the Bologna of Dall’Ara, Bernardini, Haller, Pascutti and Bulgarelli who won the play-off in Rome against Inter by Helenio Herrera.
In our own small way, within the solidarity sticker project, we have some ideas, you’ll see in the future 😉 (EN)
The Smurfs (Tridimensional)
EDICOLA NEWS: EDICOLA REVIEWS nr. 294
album: The Smurfs (Tridimensional)
stickers: 210 (1-210)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,90€ each
If memory serves us, it had been several years since an album of stickers linked to the famous comic characters created by the Belgian Pejo had hit the newsstands. From comics to animated series the step was short and if you were a child in the 80s you will remember that it was all a smurf.
The new Tridimensional album has the advantage of, of course, referring to the latest television productions but also retracing history through the presentation of the individual characters. Not all of them, it would be impossible but the most famous are there and space is dedicated to each of them. It’s like having a puffy little encyclopedia. The texts are targeted and effective, to know all the features.
Historical smurfs but also second generation smurfs. For years we have wondered how could it be possible that there was only Lucille Bliss? Now the “girl power” is dominant with other girls to lend a hand to the “queen”. Excellent graphic work by Tridimensional that makes the album fun to complete, indeed we could say exciting. If you like very dynamic albums, this is definitely bread for your teeth. Square, shaped, special stickers, puzzles .. no page is the same as another!
Could the Smurfs exist without Paul Winchell and the ravenous cat ?!? As with all comics, next to a superhero there is always a super villain. Over the years the family has expanded, the album does not forget him and indeed helps us to get to know him better.
Good job by the publisher also in filling the pages with additional content with quizzes and other games, often achievable only by finding the expected sticker, as it should be! Central apotheosis with the Game of the Goose, or rather of the Smurf. Not a separate poster but pages from the album to be completed in order to arrive first at the Blueberry Festival. Do you find the “bonus” stickers? Well, if you roll the dice and land on the right square, you attack the card and double the score.
Absolutely pleasant album, if you love or have loved the Smurfs it cannot be missing from your collection. Rough paper always chosen happier than the glossy one, a series of details that put together, in our opinion, make it a candidate for being one of the albums of 2023. A flaw? Perhaps the too high number of stickers, 210 for such a collection, make it a little challenging. However, leafing through the pages of the album we find it hard to choose which page could be defined superfluous.
(EN)
ME CONTRO TE – The movie 4 (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 293
in collaborazione con Edicola Birra Fumetteria album: Me contro Te – The Movie 4: Mission in the jungle (Diramix)
stickers: 180 (1-180) + 40 cards (C1-C40)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,99€
box: 40 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
special packet (1 packet + 1 pawn for game) 2,99€ each
Pokerissimo! Not only within a few years have MecontroTe reached 5 sticker albums (six, counting the one with only cards) but even now we have two different collections on newsstands: the novelty linked to the new film and the previous one linked to the TV series , released in October 2022.
Without a doubt they are the winners of the web world for the youngest, consequently they ride the success with many productions, initiatives and editorial releases. Wanting to look ahead and also considering bookshop releases, it would perhaps be fun to make an album of stickers entirely in comics. The fact remains, we admit it, that we are particularly nice and therefore we always have an eye for them.
Not only that, we are also fans of Diramix, although sometimes they jeopardize our loyalty a little. Prices are not just affected by the crisis; to (our thought) prevent someone else from trying to invent card collection, the same ones are present in the collection (already happened with the couple’s third film). But the whole is always interesting, a collection that you can reach the goal of completing without going crazy. Also thanks to the subsequent request service for missing stickers, simple and cheap.
The album is practically the story of the film, right from the first pages we are catapulted into the adventure together with Luì and Sofì. No introduction, the story is rich, the jungle is full of mysteries, doing the usual initial part by introducing the characters would have been repetitive. After all, those who follow MecontroTe already know them! It is also appreciable that, unlike many other “heroes” of cinema or comics, at a certain point in history the archenemy, Mr. S, takes the side of the good guys. It’s not a spoiler, it happened in the previous movie 🙂
Well done Diramix! Whether it is an obligatory or editorial choice, the 40 cards are not a separate subject, they are the heart of the album. In fact, in the central part it is possible to insert them in the appropriate spaces, a much more appreciable solution than the boxes of other publishers. It is certainly a feasible path when the number of total stickers is not too demanding, but this consideration that Diramix has for those who want to collect the album is appreciable. And in the end, even we, who are not lovers of this sticker + card solution, can almost be happy with it.
The central part also hides another pleasant addition, The Game of the Goose by MecontroTe! On one side the usual poster of the film, on the other the dashboard, not trivial but well structured. Not only that, at newsstands it is also possible to find special packets with all the characters, in the comic version, which can become the pawns to play with.
The album is the usual mix of real scenes and comics, a line that almost all web heroes use for their productions and that we support. It also serves to make the collection more articulated and less static, more sparkling and less repetitive.
The stickers are mainly taken from stills from the film, the backgrounds of the pages, mostly in turn large photos from the set create an enjoyable mix. Much better than having made choices with unicolor graphics, perhaps simpler, but certainly less captivating. Among the stickers they always make their own.. “figur(on)a” the shaped ones, even the most demanding ones to put correctly on the album. The always present special silver or glitter on this occasion we have among the cards.
An album that maintains the Diramix line: stickers enough but not too many, cards perhaps necessary but not too many and not separate, general quality above average, an album that is appreciated and we don’t hold back!
box: 100 packets (6 stickers + 1 card per packet) 0,70€ each
Welcome back Cucciolotti! The news is not always positive, in the case of the annual album by Pizzardi Editore the pleasant news is that, in terms of spending for us (small and large) collectors, nothing has changed. Despite the complicated period, applause to the publisher who met the finances of the families and kept the offer unchanged. Same price as the packets, always 6 stickers plus a card inside them, same format, same total number to complete the collection.
Rightly so, the €0.70 price makes a great impression both on the album and on the packet box, it seems to us to be the lowest on the market. On the contrary, the quality remains among the best, both on the paper front of the album (the hardcover, practically free, is a delight), and on the variety and work of graphics and contents of the album. Certainly Mr. Pizzardi put himself on the line, rather than playing defense he aimed to go on offense, in the hope that the public, the families, will be able to appreciate the effort, because it certainly was. Let’s hope the response is positive and widespread, this collection deserves it!
The other always pleasant aspect of the Cucciolotti is that, unlike the cost of the packets, especially in recent years the contents are not a mere repetition of previous years. Not an easy or obvious detail, considering that it is mainly an album about animals and the species, unfortunately, are decreasing over the years, not the other way around. As happened with others, curiosity grips us and with the Cucciolotti we leaf through all the pages avidly before starting this review, aware, we are sure, that certainly and while paying attention, many aspects of the album will need further viewings to be discovered and appreciated. That’s what stickers are for!
What is the big difference between an album of illustrations and one of stickers? The first is already complete, the second loses much of its charm and potential, without sticking the stickers. Without our little paper friends, it’s impossible to fully enjoy what the rather imaginative creators at Pizzardi have been able to give us in the new edition that hits the newsstands.
Flipping through the pages, the collection gives a feeling of continuity, as if it were a long and unique adventure, there are interiors dedicated to the various continents and their inhabitants, animals and humans. It actually remains an important part but still only one aspect of this very rich album. The whole is a successful mix of printed illustrations, didactic texts and other more impromptu ones, such as the interludes of the comic strips of our big noses.
The Cucciolotti albums have never risked being static and cold, in 2023 they are even less so. Several pages are “challenging”, there are questions to answer, curiosities to discover, animals and puppy friends to collect. The dynamic sense is also given by the stickers themselves, many shaped and naturally an explosion of colors. If we go back to the initial discussion on the cost of the packets, it is an aspect to take into account and which we will reiterate again. Same price and same quality and variety of stickers, including special, transparent, metallic, shiny, etc. The stickers in all their glory.
The didactic and encyclopedic setting of the album cannot fail to take into account the animals that “are no longer among us”. It is an important aspect, we also hope parents can devote some time to explaining to children. If Mammoths and Dinosaurs are distant ancestors, it is much more impressive to think of types of elephants or tigers that are at risk of extinction. They too, one day, damn close, could only find space in stickers and school books.
Bees are important protagonists of life on our planet. Well done Cucciolotti to always dedicate a page to them, the stickers are nice, the texts are necessary to understand the serious risk we are running. This double aspect, which you also often see in the creation of our solidarity stickers, is a trademark of the album: learning while having fun but also trying to change things, knowing and understanding the uniqueness of many living beings, also necessary for our future, not just theirs.
The pages that deserve a specific comment are too many for this review, but not for the completeness of the album. We chose “The History” because it deals with a delicate but fundamental theme: if on the one hand each of us is unique and alone, we are all children of “Mama Africa”, therefore we are not all the same but we are all equal. Perhaps in the future Cucciolotti could devote even more space to evolution, however well present in this 2023 edition, this page talks about men, in others about the evolution of animals.
Amici Cucciolotti has done a lot over the years to support non-profit organizations involved in the protection of the environment and the animal world. Indeed, as the years go by, not only do the projects increase, but also the space within the album. An original and significant way to introduce the world around us and those who work to make it a better place. How to help them? By following the advice for good habits both at home and away, 10 brilliant stickers remind us. Also by purchasing the Cucciolotti packets. Living on a peninsula, we are well aware of the importance of water and the sea, a suggestion for Pizzardi? Dedicate a year entirely or almost entirely to the underwater world, perhaps through a long adventure of our Nasoni for the seas and large rivers.
Dog or cat? Could we have been missing from the Cucciolotti album? They are friends of many of us, they have dedicated entire albums to them over the years. We like it better when they are involved with all other living beings, but a special dedicated part fits all right. Indeed, the advice you find written in the album can be very useful for understanding the behavior of our puppies.
Our friends but also heroes. Sometimes there are animals that also play an important role in saving people and other animals in emergency situations. Well done Cucciolotti to remember it. There is little room for imagination here, they are true stories, sometimes incredible but always real.
The 2022 cards had been a big step forward compared to past years. Those of this year continue the initiative and indeed we can define them as an expansion. In fact, the game explained at the bottom of the album is suitable for both 2023 and 2022 cards. This therefore allows you to have 144 cards to have fun! Not only that, for families who do not intend to buy more than a certain number of packets, they can also use last year’s ones to make a single deck, full-bodied enough for the playful aspect.
We have already mentioned the stickers, once again parents will tremble at the fear of finding these small paper objects scattered on the furniture or on the fridge at home. Naturally better not, but many stickers have a social purpose and a message that can also become a small gift to a friend or sometimes even to an “enemy”. Cucciolotti stickers are always something special, we can’t imagine having them different from how they are. With the “easy peel” method they are also easier to remove from the tissue and to attach. Details? True, but you know that we are crazy about details!
The central insert is also appreciable where the internal part remains “defensive” to reinforce the pins and not risk the dramatic detachment of the pages. Actually with the Cucciolotti albums we don’t seem to have ever noticed this problem, but they were keen to do it, the “save album” is also patented. Well, we can trust those Pizzardi big noses!
One last consideration: last year we wrote that a perfect album could also have fewer stickers, perhaps around 400. Looking back, it should be borne in mind that the Cucciolotti album is not a seasonal product; usually a sticker collection stays on newsstands for 3-5 months. The Pizzardi album remains available 10-11 months. It is therefore logical that it has a suitable number of stickers which, if desired, can be searched for throughout the year.
(EN)
MASHA and THE BEAR (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 291
album: Masha and the Bear (Diramix)
stickers: 190 (1-170, A1-A5, B1-B9, C1-C6)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,99€
box: 30 packets (5 stickers) 0,90€ each
Welcome back friends! In a slightly unexpected way, a new album on the famous Russian cartoon reappears on newsstands. A sign that the adventures of the little girl and her friend the bear continue to be very successful among the little ones. In reality, they are nice stories even for us grown-ups, although, admit it, we are all on the bear’s side, a bit like what happens with Wile E. Coyote and Beep Beep.
Someone could point out that the cartoon albums made by Diramix always follow the same pattern, with the central part dedicated to stick & stack stickers to create stories. It’s not bad! It’s a formula that works, Diramix is among our favorite publishers because it manages to create products that appear simple but are not. No extra useless additions, no cards (it rarely happened), a truly family-friendly product.
If we remember correctly, this album is the first released by the Milanese publisher on Masha and the Bear. It is therefore right to start from the beginning, in the first pages we find the introduction to the characters, the two absolute protagonists and their friends. Simple but colorful and fun stickers, if you wish you could have made some shaped ones that make the “work” of attacking more and more challenging but also satisfying, it depends on the result.
The rest of the album is a mix of tracks from the many episodes of the cartoon where, also taking a cue from the features and settings, Diramix doesn’t just tell but also tries to make children interact with the characters. You have the sensation of entering the cartoon a little, think how nice it is to go and visit Bear in his home, humanized as if it were the same as ours.
We live in difficult times, it is important to use every opportunity to try and teach the children (and also the adults who participate in completing the album) some good notions for safeguarding nature. Everyone has to do their part, pages 26 and 27, leafing through the album, maybe it’s right to go back and read them again. These are simple suggestions, but fundamental for our future. Well done Diramix to introduce this important novelty in their albums!
Fun album, the stickers are loved (we always need to love our little paper friends!), the images inspire sympathy. A little more effort could have been made by adding, as written, the always appreciated shapes. The central part with stickers to stick & stack are a Diramix trademark and are always welcome to us.
Price of the packet which unfortunately follows the trend of (almost) all publishers. Once with a Diramix box it was practically possible to complete an album, now with the 30 sachet box it is no longer possible. So let’s hope for a season of changes.
(EN)
Artonauti 4 – King Solomon’s ring (WizArt)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 290
album: Artonauti 4 – King Solomon’s ring (WizArt)
stickers: 192 (1-192) + 42 cards elements
starter pack: album + 3 packets 3,90€
box: 25 packets (5 stickers + 1 card) 0,80€ each
There was a lot of anticipation for the fourth chapter of the Artonauti saga, the album comes out with a slight delay compared to what was initially foreseen but we forgive them, the important thing is to have it here, in your hands! There are sticker albums that we get to know as we leaf through the pages to review them, others that we cannot resist curiosity and immediately go to peek up to the last page.
Artonauti is, of course, of the second type. The project is now a cornerstone of Italian sticker publishing, something to be proud of. Maybe at the beginning not even the creators expected such a success, even if the setting, since the first album, was clear to create a series of stories. Other publishers, with much heavier names, have tried to copy the idea but with little success.
Bringing the youngest closer to art and making it rediscover by the older ones, through stories, comics and stickers. Since the 1950s (even earlier, actually) our little paper friends have known how to be the protagonists of this good intention, they once were, they still are. The strength of Artonauti is also to meet the current interests of the younger generations, the choice for this fourth album to link the fantasy adventure to art is tangible proof of this.
We don’t want to reveal too much of the story, but this album contains all the hallmarks of a fantastic adventure, time travel, meeting a mythical king like Solomon, searching for a ring, safeguarding our land and its elements that are imagined here as realms: Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Will our heroes succeed? This is where art, or rather Art, comes into play. Through unique works we will be able to understand secrets, discover realities, places and protagonists of this adventure.
Naturally, Arcimboldo’s paintings from the 1500s could not fail to be present and indeed they are the natural opening of the four chapters of the album. It is an incredible method for discovering even details that perhaps, despite having possibly seen these masterpieces live, we have not stopped enough to study them. The stickers cover these gaps, the Artonauti album shows you how to discover the details, sometimes you just need to find the right sticker!
We have the pleasant sensation that, even more than in past albums, the Artonauti invite you to carefully read the captions, to follow the directions, to somehow follow the tracks. We are very (very very) rarely supporters of the theory of not sticking stickers, in this case not doing it really wouldn’t make any sense. Without the stickers, the album is not understood, it is like reading a book where the lines are printed only alternately.
The graphic setting of the four chapters is similar to each other, it follows a varied and linear scheme at the same time that we appreciate. Four chapters like the four elements that traditionally make up the unique and essential universe.
Let us add that we, great lovers of shapes, are put to the test with Artonauti 4. The stickers are classic rectangular but must be inserted within the image printed in the album. A job to be done with care for the collectors but also for WizArt who created the graphics, cuts with minimal defects would be enough to not assemble the sticker perfectly with the drawing underneath. Considering that we are facing wonderful paintings, the final result must take your breath away.
We are also put to the test by some interactive parts of the album, with quizzes, rebuses, sentences or words to complete. We collectors, of the old guard, tremble at the mere idea of finding pen marks on our beloved albums! Of course we’re joking (up to a certain point.. but it’s right that especially the younger ones have fun without thinking too much about keeping the items untouched “from newsstands”), our suggestion is maybe to get two albums. One to attach and the other to fill in, why not? 🙂
The paintings are never casual, they are part of a historical moment, an environment, a season, even a thought or a desire. The Artonauti are also good at giving notions that go beyond art but are somehow part of our daily life. Once again we have the sensation, pleasant, that everything is connected, when those 4 elements are part of us just like we are part of them.
If the 192 stickers are often “frames” of paintings alternating with the comics of our adventurers, the 42 cards re-propose the works of art as a whole. 42 like the playing cards, 10 per color plus two King Solomon Jokers (which we haven’t found yet! Could it be the rare one on the album?!?), perhaps not to be used to play poker but the interesting game explained at the bottom to the album.
Detail that we liked: on the back of the stickers it is also written which painting it refers to, the author and the year of realization. We like the details, by now you know it if you follow our reviews.
Considering our social commitment with the Adotta Con La Figurina project and the production of solidarity stickers, it is commendable on the part of WizArt to have linked the album to the fundraiser for Sightsavers Italia Onlus in order to save children living in the most poor of the world. In this case, no need to make transfers or deposits, to make your contribution, buy the Artonauti packets!
Unfortunately, the paper crisis has also affected our Artonauti friends, the album is slightly affected by the less than excellent quality of the paper (a few creases scattered between the pages) and the cost of the packet has increased by 20 cents compared to Artonauti 3. On the other hand however, it remains one of the most advantageous prices on the market, above all when considering the quality/price ratio and the incredible work of preparation and involvement of experts, teachers and scholars that every sticker adventure entails.
Long live the Artonauti!
(EN)
PAW PATROL – Rescue Knights (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 287
album: Paw Patrol – Rescue Knights (Panini)
stickers: 176 (1-149, F1-F27)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers) 1,00€ each
For the glory of Barkinburg! For about 10 years Paw Patrol has been a cartoon that warms the hearts of many children, generations go by but Ryder and his puppies always know how to conquer new fans who perhaps take the place of those who have “grown up” and so the cartoon has reached the ninth television season, plus movies, spin-offs and more.
Thanks also to the authors who have been able to create new adventures. The album refers to the new television season where our heroes are catapulted into fantasy, between dragons and princesses. An original solution and one can also say spot on, given the result.
The first pages of the album introduce the new characters, could a dragon be missing? Here comes Sparks! The only “wild beast” who is crazy about marshmallows. Already from this introduction it is understood that it is not only an album of stickers, but also of games, to be colored. Indeed, if you are a bit fanatical like us, maybe buy two albums, one to have the children attach the stickers, the other to fill it with colours, drawings and much more.
An interesting aspect compared to other similar albums is the presentation of some stories which in this case are best told. Not the usual classic 2, but even 6 pages! Nice graphics that also mimic video games. Fewer adventures but more space to get to know them better.
The interaction between young collectors and the album finds new life on each page, the breaks between the adventures told are in fact pages where stickers and games come together for a moment of healthy and light fun.
The central opening part is spectacular! In some way it is a summary of what was seen in the album, only having followed the stories carefully can you answer the quizzes, only by attaching the stickers is it possible to complete the rest of the games. We believe this is the right way for an album of stickers intended for a very young audience, effective, interactive, not too many stickers and no useless cards, very colorful and lively, without a moment of boredom from the first to the last page.
The stickers are appreciated, it almost seems like the Paw Patrol want to get out of the paper and play. We like the details and there are plenty of them here, the red frame stands out well, the special glitter with the silver frame just as well. Shapes are always a pleasure. Worth noting is the quality of the album, rough paper like it used to be. Too thick to be used in the monumental Calciatori but that should be a rule for all albums at least under 200/250 stickers.
Absolutely pleasant album to collect, a pity about the price of the packets, which denotes the fact that the presence or absence of the cards is no longer even an added value, but just a useless complication for those who want to collect the album.
hard cover + 5 packets (january/february 2023) 24,90€
The end of the year is the time for discussion of the Finance Law and the budgets of the Municipalities and Regions, an important moment at the center of a thousand debates. In any case, little if compared to the thousand discussions generated by the most awaited sticker album of the year. Of course, our statement is deliberately exaggerated, but up to a certain point. If Churchill stated that «Italians lose football matches as if they were wars and lose wars as if they were football matches», such an extreme concept can also be considered, given the due proportions, in the Panini album of the Calciatori.
Starting from the consideration that it is impossible to make everyone happy, for example among the nostalgics and the proponents of renewal at all costs. Calciatori always maintains its charm, it is an objective fact, even if going forward over the years it is increasingly similar to an album linked to Serie A and partly to Serie B. The rest is little, at least within the album traditional.
Necessary because the world of football has changed, the teams present squads of about 30 players, once half of the stickers were enough to present a club. Now there would be the risk of leaving out too many protagonists of the championship. Every Serie A club must necessarily have at least 30 stickers and even so someone is left out. The solution cannot be otherwise and the cause and effect on the album is a limitation of everything else.
Right? In our opinion, yes, but inevitably. We are sure that many will not agree with us, but we believe that Panini’s choice to limit the total number of stickers on the album is appropriate. Not counting the stickers that will come out later, we find ourselves with “just” 667 stickers in the basic set, the one found in the traditional packets. In the past years we had reached over 800.
The Calciatori album has a duty, perhaps even a moral one, to be a popular product, within the reach of everyone or at least the vast majority of the population. Which, mind you, does not coincide with a poor product concept, the Calciatori album never was.
For avid collectors, for those looking for more products, for everyone else, Panini has invented various products over the years, more or less appreciable. This year the Celebration Album will be added in June next year, too early to understand what it is. Definitely one more collection for those who can’t get enough. Where also, after so many years, the Film stickers of the Championship find space which leave the traditional album, perhaps only for a year, perhaps forever.
Note of merit for the first page, in life details such as memory are important, the exciting tribute to Bruno Bolchi, the first sticker ever printed by Panini, who passed away this year, is a gesture that should be appreciated and applauded. Even more so that it is the number 1 sticker and with this the album opens. Not considering the 00 sticker which is somehow extra to the collection, perhaps also for this reason it is not part of the classic numbering.
The Serie A chapter is largely the most substantial of the entire collection, 545 out of a total of 660 stickers. It’s always nice to find that the teams all have the exact same space and that the total number of stickers is equally divided for each of them. For each club, the total four pages have been confirmed, on the first two pages 22 stickers of the main players in the squad plus the Scudetto. A perhaps too abstract page seen empty but splendidly attractive with stickers attached (stickers are born to be attached! We are of the Old Guard, now and forever).
The attempt to change the sticker with a double image like last year did not last long, the sticker is however distorted compared to the classic one. Remember stickers from other publishers, we personally don’t mind. We are also convinced that it is a constantly evolving process, let’s perhaps expect something different in the 2023-24 season.
The other two pages have a completely different aspect, where the space for the stickers is limited to five but the colours, the captions, the printed photos make it attractive to then be, almost, perfect with the addition of the stickers. Why almost? We would have tightened everything to leave the player scores in this area and not relegated to the bottom of the album. We remain of the idea that everything concerning a team must find space in these pages, even to the detriment of limiting the stickers.
This year we find the special stickers of the top player (“Elite”) and for the most significant new arrival (“New signature”), in addition to the traditional stickers of the coach and the shirt. Squadra Primavera rightly present, but only as a photo. The P-Più amata stickers, confirmed after last year’s success, also present for 2023 and always available with the update set.
At the end of Serie A, the usual columns linked to the news of the championship. As already written, The Film of the Championship is no longer present. The nine PM and CM stickers have been confirmed, with the players and coaches voted for month by month. It is not specified exactly but the first three of both can be found in the traditional packets, the others with Sport Week. Followed by the 40 stickers of the Calcio Mercato. We checked, there doesn’t appear to be any Tim figurine or similar, thanks! Object forcibly useless, we will not miss it.
The novelty of this year is the lack of .. other. Every year Panini has invented several extra pages, last year the national team, the year before also the national singer (a page highly contested by many, not by us, in all honesty). In the 2022-2023 album from Serie A we go directly to Serie B and, if you are too curious to wait, and jump to the end of the collection, you won’t find anything there either. Necessary choice perhaps due to the lack of a winning idea, useful for maintaining the total number of stickers.
Speaking of novelties, the one linked to Serie B is significant. An option already seen in past years, no longer single stickers in blocks of 3 players but four large stickers with a total of 16 players. So we have 2 players less than in previous years. In reality, the number of stickers has decreased but not the players as a whole. Many others find space at the bottom of the page, complete with a small photo.
A detail that we are pleased to point out, on the Spal page, as for all the other teams, at the top we find a “frame” of the photo from the fans’ curves. The image is deliberately not clear, but in the case of Spal and the members of the Curva Ovest Ferrara, it is very easy to recognize the flag with the image of Federico “Aldro” Aldrovandi to whom we have dedicated two of our Solidarity Comic Cards (https://figurineforever.com/en/2022/09/22/fumetto-forever-card-29-aldro-lives/), in collaboration with the Ultras and Amnesty International.
Let’s imagine Panini inserted the photo without probably thinking about it, maybe the graphic designer doesn’t know the story. We do and we are happy if, even if unwanted, it finds space in an album that is printed in millions of copies. Aldro lives.
Serie C at historic lows, but since last year there’s a reason. In fact, the 3 albums connected to the Digital Collection have been confirmed, which we recall are virtual only if one wants to keep them as such, it is possible, when completed, to order them in Panini with the traditional stickers to attach. The figure of 50.00 euros per album is not entirely cheap but not prohibitive either. The big news for 2023 is that the album on the women’s Serie A is finally added. This is an absolute first, let’s hope it’s successful. In this way, the miserable 10 stickers with the women’s teams on the album find new life from this editorial initiative that we greatly appreciate.
Coupon as always present in each packet, this year with a double use. Not only the Digital Collections but also the return of Calcio Regali and therefore the collection of points. A further effort by Panini that is never taken for granted and therefore a pleasant return.
The Calciatori album has another feature, often unique in the panorama of stickers, its story never ends with a review. There are still many aspects that we will discover during the year, it should be renewed or at least communicated, as we will do on our social pages.
The stickers are much lighter to the touch than last year. A detail that will not go unnoticed, even by the most inattentive collectors. We believe it can be traced back to a Panini choice to keep the costs of the packets unchanged from last year, for the same reason the number of stickers is more limited.
Some have already asked us on past occasions why we don’t refer to the exclusive products of the Panini site. We have rarely done it, we are always on the side of retail, on the side of newsstands which are the heart of the country, they are the point of reference for millions of Italians. They are the Italy we like. Let’s add, for the record, that this year Panini has created 20 extra “cover players” stickers, they are not part of the collection (according to them, go explain it to the “completists” among us ..) things will find a way to be sold in other subsequent releases as well. Very likely they are only Parallels that are so fashionable now (image equal to the classic sticker, perhaps in a silver, gold or even limited edition version).
Everyone is clearly free to spend their savings as they see fit.
We all relaunch the invitation that is emphatically written on the cover “unleash your passion” and above all have fun! Perhaps by joining many other collectors at FIGUCON 2023, Sunday 15 January at Estragon Bologna, a fundamental day also for exchanges and hopefully the possibility of completing one’s albums.
(EN)
INTER 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 285
album: Juventus 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
stickers: 216 (1-216) + 30 cards (I1-I30)
starter pack: album + 24 stickers 4,00€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers or 4 stickers + 1 card) 0,80€ each
The World Cup in December somewhat upset the release of various sticker albums, including the now traditional albums of the Milanese house dedicated to Inter, Juventus and Milan. In fact, to be completely honest, we almost thought they wouldn’t come out this year. Instead here they are.
We have had albums dedicated to the big three (we don’t want the others..) of Italian football for several years. Difficult to be innovative, year after year, in fact it doesn’t happen. In recent years the similar structure is quite similar. We think more could be done. The potential ideas are plentiful. At least there are always different details between one club album and another, with the result that, in our humble opinion, some releases are more appreciable than others.
(n.b. these first two introductory paragraphs are repeated in the three different reviews)
The rather sparkling first pages of the album, the entire squad of players, the typical team in 8 puzzle stickers and the new arrivals to which great prominence is given. The choice not to repeat the giant photos that we will find elsewhere in the album is appreciable and successful. Emphasis for the return of Romelu Lukaku and also for the newfound attacking duo with Lautaro Martinez, one of the main architects of the 2021 championship. Victories that in part continued the following year with the victory of the Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup, celebrated with one page each.
The most abundant part of the album is, as always, dedicated to the presentation of all the players of the first team, in addition to coach Simone Inzaghi. The choice in this part of giving the same space and the same number of stickers (5) to all 26 different players, whether they are established champions such as Handanovic and Barella or hopefuls of international football such as Asllani or Valentin Carboni, is always appreciable.
The stickers reproduce the player bust or in action, single and double. The autograph, in the past as a stick-on sticker, is now printed on the album. Better. We have opened several packets without finding special stickers, we are not sure but they may not be present. For this type of album it’s not a duty, maybe renewing yourself a little yes.
The album ends with the Primavera and Women’s, a look at the fans and at the Curva Nord Milano, an appreciable page dedicated to Inter Campus. For many years, the club has been at the forefront of solidarity and support initiatives for children and young people from many parts of the world.
Compared to the Juventus album, the Inter album is certainly more dynamic. However, it shares the same problem, the total lack of references to the historical glory of the club born in 1908. These types of albums are designed for diehard fans but we also believe for children, bringing them closer to the world of stickers, perhaps waiting to try to deal with the much more demanding, also in terms of costs, Calciatori Panini. Let the kids know who not only Javier Zanetti or Ronaldo the Phenomenon were, but also Giacinto Facchetti, Walter Zenga, Sandro Mazzola, Giuseppe Meazza, etc. it is to keep the collective memory alive and strong. Football was not born yesterday and has a beautiful history.
In addition to the 216 stickers, we also find 30 cards this year. Nothing particularly significant, although of good quality. Also considering the unchanged cost of the packet, where you can find 4 stickers and 1 card or 5 stickers, we can accept this solution without problems.
In our opinion, this album has great uncultivated potential, where one could really indulge oneself even with different formats of the stickers, etc. However, if this leads to an increase in costs, then it is better to stick with the current proposal, which certainly pleases the most convinced Inter fans.
(EN)
MILAN 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 284
album: Milan 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
stickers: 216 (1-216) + 30 cards (M1-M30)
starter pack: album + 24 stickers 4,00€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers or 4 stickers + 1 card) 0,80€ each
The World Cup in December somewhat upset the release of various sticker albums, including the now traditional albums of the Milanese house dedicated to Inter, Juventus and Milan. In fact, to be completely honest, we almost thought they wouldn’t come out this year. Instead here they are.
We have had albums dedicated to the big three (we don’t want the others..) of Italian football for several years. Difficult to be innovative, year after year, in fact it doesn’t happen. In recent years the similar structure is quite similar. We think more could be done. The potential ideas are plentiful. At least there are always different details between one club album and another, with the result that, in our humble opinion, some releases are more appreciable than others.
(n.b. these first two introductory paragraphs are repeated in the three different reviews)
In the first part of the album, we find the pages reversed from the Inter and Juventus albums. Solution that to some might seem almost chaotic. The new arrivals are presented (allow us a joke: it seems that Milan have only looked for players with impossible surnames!) followed by the general roster of the first team.
Next, page after page, we find the individual pages of 30 players with the addition of coach Pioli. The large photos of the players, around 5 stickers each, certainly have an impact. Nothing special, player posing, in action, including one in two parts. Some important captions, including career and personal records, sometimes quite curious.
Final part of the album that retraces the classic sections of the Euro Publishing albums, with the Primavera team, the Milan Women and the celebration of the 2022 championship which, frankly, we would have seen well as the opening of the collection. 216 stickers focused on today’s Milan, we will be repetitive but we would have appreciated a few pages of the glorious Rossoneri history.
In addition to the stickers, there is also room for 30 cards. Collection that is certainly pleasant for AC Milan fans, but in our opinion there is always the feeling of not going beyond a quality work, but still relatively simple. Every year we expect something more, every year we see interesting details, but the road is still long. However, an absolutely collectible album for Milan fans.
The choice of eliminating the plastic of the starter pack in favor of a version where the album already contains 24 stickers ready to be attached is excellent.
(EN)
JUVENTUS 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 283
album: Juventus 2022-23 (Euro Publishing)
stickers: 216 (1-216) + 30 cards (J1-J30)
starter pack: album + 24 stickers 4,00€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers or 4 stickers + 1 card) 0,80€ each
The World Cup in December somewhat upset the release of various sticker albums, including the now traditional albums of the Milanese house dedicated to Inter, Juventus and Milan. In fact, to be completely honest, we almost thought they wouldn’t come out this year. Instead here they are.
We have had albums dedicated to the big three (we don’t want the others..) of Italian football for several years. Difficult to be innovative, year after year, in fact it doesn’t happen. In recent years the similar structure is quite similar. We think more could be done. The potential ideas are plentiful. At least there are always different details between one club album and another, with the result that, in our humble opinion, some releases are more appreciable than others.
(n.b. these first two introductory paragraphs are repeated in the three different reviews)
The Juventus album opens with a double page with the squad’s squad followed by the jerseys and new arrivals. Important names, well-known faces of international football, starting with the “Flaco” Angel Di Maria. Given the weight of the player, it is strange that a larger space has not been dedicated to this new arrival.
Instead, it is right to dedicate two pages to the Juventus stadium, the pride and avant-garde of Italian stadiums. We are among the supporters that stadium stickers should always be present in albums, together with the fans they are the absolute protagonists of the colors and passion of football, much more than televisions.
Each page below is dedicated to a player in the squad, which also includes the youngest, the great promises of football, several potential rookies. Beautiful giant photos of the players, posing, different from each other. In addition to coach Allegri there are 27 players. For each of them 5 stickers, classic bust photo, in action, double.
Every year we report it and every time we expect something more, because the Juventus women’s team has been giving a lot to football and to the national team in recent years. We believe that it deserves the right tribute, even at the expense of fewer stickers for men but with four pages which, as at the beginning of the album, presented the entire squad.
We haven’t opened enough booster packs to confirm, but it appears there are no special stickers. For a sports album we don’t consider them essential, we prefer the quality and variety in the choice of images, which is lacking a little here. The static nature of this album is rather cumbersome, we also wonder how it is possible not to dedicate space to the history of the club, to the great players of the past.
It is appreciable that the cost of the packet has remained unchanged compared to previous years, where, among other things, there is no difference in value between the stickers and the cards. Inside the packets you can find 5 stickers or 4 stickers and 1 card without distinction. Last year, where there was no card, there was a special sticker.
Albums only “for true fans” or to introduce children to the world of stickers.
(EN)
PRINCESS DISNEY – TODAY IS MAGICAL (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 282
album: Princess Disney – Today is magical (Panini)
stickers: 188 (1-188) + 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card) 1,00€ each
blister: 5 packets 4,90€
Another Disney Princess album?!? It is important not to make a copy of the previous ones, which are many. If this was the intention, it seems to us that the goal has been achieved. Very interesting, varied, bubbly, dynamic album. Too bad only for the 50 cards, although in this case at least, with a minimum of extra effort, they are appreciated and will certainly be a joy for the many passionate girls.
The album somewhat follows the Calciatori rule, if in the Panini “flagship” each club has the same space, here it seems to us the same happens with our Disney cartoon heroines. Also because, you can imagine the disaster of an internal battle between the Princesses!
In reality, the fun and original aspect of this collection (as of others previously) is that our beautiful girls interact with each other, they are friends, they embrace and take pictures together. The album does not separate one from the other, at least in part.
The quality of the album, its matte paper, its compactness make it appetizing even for older collectors. A multitude of colors invade the pages with many references to cartoons that have immobilized millions of children and families in front of the screen. The underlying concept says it all in the title: space for magic!
Magic is also involving little girls who will be enchanted by the large images of the Princesses, but also by the many small and large games to interact with that we find in the album. Not only thanks to the figurines, but also to the detachable central insert where you can detach the cards with the princesses and their skirts and create magical stories with them.
Then there are pages dedicated to individual Ladies, where in addition to attaching the stickers, you will need to arm yourself with felt-tip pens to color Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, Rapunzel. Among the many other gems of this collection, memorable page 20 where the shaped stickers of the 7 Dwarfs find space, naturally around their beloved Snow White.
The stickers and also the cards are a feast for the eyes. At the moment we have only seen a few packets, but either we have been particularly lucky or the work together has really been over the top. Even the cards, as mentioned, while adding to the cost of the collection, are assertive.
You don’t know what to get a granddaughter for Christmas. This could be a solution!
(EN)
STRANGE WORLD (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 281
album: Strange World (Panini)
stickers: 180 (1-168, P1-P12) + 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card) 1,00€ each
blister: 5 packets 4,90€
“Strange World“, for those who have seen the trailer at the cinema, has everything to be a film to remember, after some Disney missteps in recent years. Perhaps. Above all because personal taste is also touched here, in some distant way it can recall “The treasure planet”, a quality cartoon but which did not have great success at the box office.
Waiting to know whether or not it will be the Christmas film, we have serious doubts that the sticker album could be a success. Perhaps it is not the most appropriate way, but in this case the first part of the review is to point out the defects and the aspects that are not very appreciable for us.
First of all the quality of the paper, lately we have seen a marked improvement in the Panini house, perhaps for this publication they have used returns from stock. The result is visible to the naked eye, very low quality, wrinkled paper. Considering that it’s not even a free album (but even in that case it wouldn’t be an excuse), since with the price of the starter pack you pay just under 1 euro.
The other aspect that leaves us rather perplexed are the exaggerated 50 cards. Necessary evil? Apparently yes, if we think of the concept whereby, in order to maintain the rights, the publisher is obliged to print both stickers and cards. So out of necessity he burdens an album that could have been nice with 50 cards which only makes it that much more difficult (and expensive) to complete.
Cards that in this case really have nothing to be a pleasant extra to the album of stickers. We’d really like to know if that 50 card is the minimum wage that Disney grants to Panini to maintain the rights, or if it’s a self-defeating choice by the Modena company.
The album traces the history of the animated film, so “spoiler alert!”. The advice we give you is to run to the cinema and then attach the stickers so you can enjoy the highlights of the cartoon again. The graphics of the pages are well done, we find the places, the sets, the landscapes of the films.
The stickers rediscover their role, essential for coloring the various pages even more and making them complete. Appropriate choice because we are dealing with a film with many protagonists, an album divided by characters would perhaps not have been suitable.
Central poster with the film poster on one side and the space for the 12 stickers numbered with the letter P on the other. If you have any doubts about the names of the heroes of Strange World, this is the right place to make a quick summary!
The stickers are apparently simple but find, as just written, their rightful charm within the album. Worth noting are our beloved shaped ones that we always like a lot (by now you will have understood it, if you follow our reviews..) and the special ones, with the most sought-after details of recent albums.
Go to the cinema and Merry Christmas!
(EN)
BARBIE DREAMHOUSE ADVENTURES (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 280
album: Barbie dreamhouse adventures (Panini)
stickers: 180 (1-180)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 36 packets (6 stickers) 1,00€ each
Welcome back Barbie! In reality, the legendary Mattel doll has never left us, but as a sticker album we hadn’t seen a product on newsstands for a few years. The occasion is the recent animated series that can be seen on television on Cartoonito and Netflix. It is therefore not the classic Barbie, the stories are inside a college, but the blonde with blue eyes is always her.
First good news, no card! When a new sticker album comes out, we always tremble at this option which, only in some cases, is an added value. In most cases it is just an additional expense that also makes it difficult to complete the album.
Second good news, quality album! After all, in Barbie’s fashion world, class is everything. Large format, paper without creases or other problems, first part of the album dedicated to the presentation of the characters. Second part also dedicated more to the TV series, with the adventure told in some episodes.
Actually the first 8 pages are dedicated to Barbie and her family, her sisters and her animals. Perhaps it had already happened in the past, for many of us it is a shock to discover both Barbie’s last name, Roberts, and to see the parents for the first time. A page is not dedicated to them, but they are certainly there in the series and also in some images of the album.
By the way, did you know Ken’s last name is Carson?!? We and we discovered him by leafing through this album. To follow the other characters of the series. The pages are largely filled with stickers, but there is no shortage of captions that accompany us to gather lots of useful information.
Spectacular central poster dedicated to the world of Barbie, homes, sports, college and all school mates. The stickers are to be attached on both sides, somehow we are faced with a mini album.
The choice of being able to open it completely is excellent, so that, if desired, it is not necessary to detach it from the album. Problem that often grips us with the central posters in albums.
Final part of the album dedicated to some adventures that we can follow in the TV series. It is appreciable that, to maintain the limited number of total stickers, we find some (few, therefore irrelevant) substitute illustrations.
The final page, not having had the opportunity to view the stickers, could have some additional details. Girl Power can certainly not be something more!
Very interesting album, beautiful and large, even the stickers are appreciated, including the shaped ones and the special glitter ones. Although the packet is now at the standard price of 1.00 euros, there are at least 6 stickers in each. With the box of 36 packets, it is not said, but you could try your luck at having the complete set without subsequent purchases.
Long live Barbie!
(EN)
THE HISTORY OF SPORTS (Gazzetta dello Sport)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 279
album: The history of sports (Gazzetta dello Sport)
stickers: 144 (1-144)
starter pack: album + 6 stickers (with Sport Week, 19/11/22)
24 outings on Saturday attached to Sport Week
Celebratory album of sport but also and, in some way, above all of the historic Italian pink sports newspaper. Through the front pages that have followed over the decades, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. The stickers are found, six per issue, in the center of the Saturday magazine of the Gazzetta dello Sport. Avoiding unnecessary waste of plastic, the sheet of stickers is one with the staples of the magazine.
Interesting collection for those who want to remember the great moments of sport, which the Gazzetta retraces with a chronological but also in some ways mythological setting of the album.
The collection of stickers goes backwards, starting from the present day, the first stickers recall three important moments of 2022: the Milan championship, the exploits of Jacobs and the Azzurri at the Tokyo Olympics and the incredible European victory at Wembley. unfortunately interspersed with two even more historic failures to qualify for the World Cup of the national football team.
We take the opportunity to recall some events that find ample space in the pages, which the Gazzetta emphasizes with large nine-column titles. Impossible to mention them all:
2021/2016 Matteo Berettini, the first Italian to play in the Wimbledon final Sofia Goggia, Gregorio Paltrinieri, Niccolò Campriani Olympic gold medalists
2015/2010 Mourinho’s Inter conquer the historic Triplete Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, respectively queens of the US Open and Roland Garros
2006/2002 The sky is blue above Berlin, Italy world champion for the fourth time Filippo Magnini, Stefano Baldini, the Setterosa of the Olympic gold medals of water polo
2001/2000 “The Eternal City” dominates in football, Rome and the year before Lazio are champions of Italy After 21 years, Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari wins the world title
1999/1996 Juri Chechi is the “Lord of the Rings” at the Olympics Marco Pantani wins both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France
1996/1992 May 3, 1994, the death of Ayrton Senna Volleyball, water polo, athletics, years of triumphs for Italy
1991/1988 Sampdoria’s first historic championship and Milan champions of Europe August 17, 1988, the death of Enzo Ferrari
1987/1984 Maradona’s Napoli and Verona win the first Scudetto in their history Francesco Moser shatters the hour record
1983/1980 Italy at the mundial in Spain is world champion For the first time, Italian basketball is on the roof of Europe
1979/1975 Italy wins the Davis Cup Saronni and Gimondi win the Giro d’Italia
1975/1970 15th world title for the legend Giacomo Agostini 19 June 1970, Italy-West Germany 4-3
1969/1963 Italy, Inter and Milan conquer the European football In the only play-off in Serie A, Bologna won their seventh Scudetto
We don’t know if wanted or not, but the years from 1959 to 1962 are not mentioned in the album
1958/1942 The Italian expedition reaches the summit of K2 In London 1948 Consolini is gold medal in disc
1938/1909 Italy of football is two world champions in 1934 and 1938 Primo Carnera (who is mentioned on the album as Pietro..) is world champion Ondina Valla gold medal at the Berlin Olympics
The pink pages, instead, are tinged with blue to celebrate other sporting champions, always specifying the year but divided in a different way:
THE JOURNAL AND HISTORY The first issue of the newspaper (April 3, 1896), the first edition of the Giro d’Italia, the moon landing, the massacre at the Munich Olympics, the attack on the Twin Towers, farewell to Pope Wojtyla
MYTHS OF ITALY Tazio Nuvolari, Fausto Coppi, Gino Bartali, Nino Benvenuti, Pietro Mennea, Alberto Tomba, Valentina Vezzali, Federica Pellegrini, Valentino Rossi and other myths of Italian sport
WORLD SUPERHEROES Maradona, Merckx, Kobe Bryant, Muhamad Ali, Jesse Owens, Pele, Nadia Comaneci and other legends of world sport
IDOLS OF OUR FOOTBALL Grande Torino, Facchetti, Rivera, Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, Paolo Maldini, Giuseppe Meazza and other legends of Italian football
If you are a reader of the Gazzetta and of Sport Week, a pleasant and nice addition. If you are not, the low cost of the magazine (2.00 euros) allows everyone to easily complete the collection.
(EN)
ONE PIECE: summit war (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 278
album: One Piece: summit war (Panini)
stickers: 184 (1-172, H1-H12) + 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
blister: 5 packets 4,90€
Better late than never. Released in other countries for several months, the album of the bestseller One Piece finally arrives in Italy. What can I say, thank you! We would also like to underline a fact: in recent years we have often reported the poor quality of the album paper, in the same way it is right now to report a substantial turnaround that we are experiencing in the latest Panini releases.
All good intentions for the future, considering that at the same time the Spider-Man and Diabolik collections are on newsstands. It seems to be back to the 80s. Three different products, all of quality. Are we facing the “new wave of comics album”? Maybe, considering that Panini also has the rights to DC and Disney, can we dream of a celebratory album also for Superman or who knows for the 75 years of Uncle Scrooge? Too bad, in Italy, Panini did not believe in Asterix’s potential a few years ago.
Above all, the One Piece album makes you dream of seeing other products related to manga and Japanese animation arrive on newsstands, after only Captain Tsubasa, the eternal Dragon Ball and little else have been seen in recent years. If it is true that other collections have been a flop, by reading the titles questionable choices have been made. Maybe an album on Slam Dunk or My Hero Academy could give very different feedback and think what could be a celebratory album of robots, from Go Nagai (Grendizer, Mazinga, Jeeg Robot, etc.) to Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam, Daitarn 3 , Zambot, etc.) or the infinite spaces of Leiji Matsumoto (Capitan Harlock, Galaxy Express, Danguard, etc.).
As we continue to dream of future albums, let’s dedicate ourselves to this product that we think has a lot to say. The format is didactic and in some way encyclopedic, which takes its cue both from the cartoon but also from the manga. It is clearly a fan album, a story through some chapters of the long saga. There is no real introduction to the characters, as often happens, with the first pages dedicated to individual heroes and the corresponding villains.
After all, the same album does not start from the beginning but focuses on a certain period to which the sagas are connected, we are not experts in One Piece and we hope not to write inaccuracies. The choice seems optimal because it has its own logic, unlike a different product, we can say generic, which would have been suitable for newbies but less interesting for the many fans.
Given the number of readers of the manga and fans of the TV series, it is right to create a product that can be captivating for those who know the character and the story but which can also be a valid album for those who want to know One Piece better or, even just , wanted to have fun attacking stickers. Fun is guaranteed with this varied, colorful, dynamic album.
What sagas are there? Amazon Lily, Impel Down, Marineford, Luffy’s Childhood and 3D2Y. Predictable that some would have made different choices. Never mind, the message on the last page is quite clear: we are only at the beginning! (see image above)
To get to know the (many) characters of One Piece, in this case the 50 cards are useful. The album is not burdened by this presence, perhaps they could have been fewer cards, also considering the box of only 24 packets, but they are less approximate than other occasions. The not too high number of stickers is also good choice, which makes the collection even more attractive. Starting from the consideration that there is a very good chance that more sticker albums will arrive.
The cost of the packets is that of the market, but the quality of the stickers, starting from their size, should be emphasized, larger than the standard. The images, “frames” of cartoons or drawings, make a profit for this solution. Happy to find the shapes that we personally always like a lot, as well as the special glitter. Typical of One Piece are the “Wanted Dead or Alive” posters, do not worry, among the stickers you will find several, even for the central poster where the stickers from H1 to H12 find space.
The larger format of the stickers makes them the same as that of the cards, you can finally rest assured when opening the bags, no risk of tearing the stickers inside them. Thank you! Abroad it is also possible to find the hardback version, a collector’s item if Panini decides to do the limited edition as for Diabolik. More likely nothing will come out in Italy, as unfortunately happened with Spider-Man.
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THE THOUSAND FACES OF DIABOLIK (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 277
album: The thousand faces of Diabolik (Panini)
stickers: 276 (1-276) + 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
“Houston we have a problem”. A few weeks ago we reviewed with some enthusiasm the celebratory album of Spider-Man’s 60 years, pointing to it as a potential album of the year in our 2022 chart, leaving us only with the doubt that, who knows, there was still time, even at home. Panini, to overcome an already excellent collection. Attention, maybe they have really succeeded.
Diabolik is an iconic character in comics, not only Italian, he has a following of loyal fans and hundreds of thousands of people, both men and women, well to remember, who have read it and maybe, even after years, if it happens to do it again, they don’t back down. Finally, there are collectors, Diabolik has many, thanks also to its fan club which is one of the longest-running and active in Italy.
This album is for all of them, better, for all of us. It is an album that exudes myth and passion, curiosity and history of comics, a work certainly done in 4 hands, where the publisher Astorina sat at the table with the Panini staff, who know just a little about stickers and have thought “let’s create something to be proud of” and which, also or above all, is a tribute not only to comics but to its loyal audience.
The result is excellent, the previous album had already proved to be a good product, this far exceeds it, while maintaining a very similar editorial line. Same number of stickers, same size, special always silver and shiny, the shaped ones.
The encyclopedic setting of the album can be seen from the first pages, where we find references to the birth of the character, to the great actors of the time from which it was inspired, as always happens, at least until a few years ago, with the characters of Italian comics. Did you know that the beautiful Eva Kant is inspired by the Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly?
They are interesting drawings, where there is also an unripe trait, a novice Diabolik even for the cartoonists who will follow him over the years. After all, it is common practice for all comics characters, try to go and see the first stories of superheroes, Tex, Asterix or even Peanuts.
The pages dedicated to the individual protagonists are interesting, it is incredible how a comic can last without actually going out of the mold created since the 1960s, certainly renewing itself, but not denying itself. So here is the double couple, Diabolik and Eva Kant, Ginko and Altea. For each of them a rundown through the interpretations of the various designers. To this could only be added, of course, the legendary Jaguar, which also houses its alter ego, the inspector’s Citroen DS.
In general, the choice of the same stickers is appreciable, certainly not an easy job, much less immediate. We find images that for many will also seem unpublished, it is not a convenient choice, it is an opportune desire to tell the character, from his beginnings, up to the time of King’s Island, when Diabolik was not yet .. Diabolik.
In the album we find two comic stories, to be completed with the shaped stickers, an extra effort to attach them correctly, well. The first of these stories is unpublished, written by Mario Gomboli, the man who, after the Giussani sisters, we can define as the heart of the Astorina. Comic in 10 pages rather nice and spot on, where fans can discover cameos of known, real, not fictional faces. We anticipate one, Alfredo Castelli, creator (among others) of Martin Mystere, a comic also named in the story. So that three comic book publishers are involved in these pages, Astorina, Bonelli and of course Panini.
The comic story is a pleasant interlude of the album, which subsequently restarts with other aspects of Diabolik’s story, starting with the covers, difficult to choose a few among over 500. The “pencils and inks” page is certainly designed for lovers of the Ninth Art as a whole, less for occasional and unwary readers. Without going into too much detail, with a few words and some figurine drawings, here is how the drawings of the “king of terror” are born.
The album’s first trip abroad is to France, where in 1997 a cartoon was created designed for a young audience, not tied to the classic canons of comics.
Diabolik and cinema is not a recent novelty, there is the late 1960s film by director Mario Bava. Collectors have always looked for comic books at comic book fairs, as well as posters for this film. To which the current production of the Manetti Bros also owes a lot, despite the captivating scenery of a Bologna transformed into Clerville. The space equally divided between the two film productions is another symptom of how much we wanted to make an album as a whole.
An eye to collectors but also to the curious is the next part that navigates the variegated world of Diabolik, among those who over the years have wanted to pay homage through art, satire, alternative comics and objects, starting from works created by the same authors and up to the present day, including statues, board games, tarot cards and decks of cards.
If you enjoyed the trip to France in the previous pages, Diabolik was printed in different parts of the world, some of them are mentioned: Israel, Greece, Argentina, Mexico, Denmark, Turkey and the very rare editions in Tamil and Chinese.
Before the aforementioned pages, there is the second comic in the album, always to be completed with the shaped stickers. History entirely in black and white thanks to the texts by Tito Faraci and the drawings by Claudio Villa, many will also remember him for the splendid Tex covers.
New is the coupon found inside each packet, which allows you to participate in a competition to win one of the 60 sketch cards designed by the current Diabolik artists, alternating in the pocket and in the special volumes you find on the newsstands. Commendable initiative, on the site it is not necessary to register, just enter the code (including dashes) and only in case of victory will the details for the shipment be requested.
Speaking of cards, in the 2017 edition you could find unique sketch cards in lucky sachets, now those drawings are within everyone’s reach, becoming the 50 cards to collect to complete the album. It may seem like a comfortable choice, in reality it is extremely valuable. Instead of inventing cards on the spot, why not use a wealth of unpublished drawings that Panini was already “at home”? If we then consider that the cards of the 2017 collection were not particularly successful, these little jewels are welcome.
Everything splendid? For the most part yes, we like it when Panini, like other publishers, puts heart, soul and experience to create a memorable product. The real sticker albums are actually these, more than the sports classics, which we also collect, but they are very little compared to editorial works like this. Too bad for some unsuitable choices for a collection that promises to be very successful. The box with just 36 packets (with the joke that the box is made to contain fifty), understandable for low-profile collections, but inconsistent in this case. Above all, hoping that the stickers can be found even in a month, unlike those of Spider-Man sold out and, to date, never reprinted. At the same time that Panini invaded the newsstands with products that will obviously remain unsold.
The return to the hardcover edition for collectors is excellent, at a price (unchanged compared to Diabolik 2017) in line with the edition of 1000 copies. A gesture that we personally appreciate, the market has established that the “low cost” hardcover edition does not have encouraging sales figures to continue, but at least the “hard and pure” can be satisfied. We rarely give information on the exclusive products of the Panini site, believing that newsstands and / or comic shops must be the main point of reference for the public, but in this case we consider the choice understandable and acceptable.
We then, we admit, are among those who stick the stickers on the stapled album to keep the limited edition sealed. Improved quality of the album paper as we had already seen with the latest Panini productions, perhaps and finally the warehouses have emptied of the batch of unacceptable paper.
We are not. Before even analyzing this collection, we cannot fail to highlight a purely Italian issue: the cost of the sachets. In fact, for some arcane reason, in Italy the cost of the packet is 1 euro more than all the others. All. Both the European Union (France, Spain, Germany, etc.) and also for non-EU countries such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Because?!? We would very much like to have an answer, a fact that we had already reported for the collection of cards on wrestling.
The collection can be considered a continuation of the “Welcome to Hoghwarts” released in March 2021, where among other things the cost of the packet was 1.50 for 6 cards .. in addition to the fact that the collection had a total number of cards more congruous, 216. Here we have 300 and the binder is not enough. Missing opportunity considering that even the back of the cards have their own images and should be enjoyed all the way through.
A long preamble that can be summed up in a simple “sin”, the collection deserves in our opinion, certainly HP fans will not be intimidated by the higher cost of cards compared to the rest of Europe, but if you have friends abroad who plan to come and see you, let them make the purchase.
Evolution is a collection that somehow tries to free itself from what has already been seen previously, through the 7 years of the film saga by showing us how the characters have changed, consequently also the actors who impersonate them. For example Hermione, aka Emma Watson, from child to beautiful young woman.
The first long part of the collection is therefore dedicated to many images of our actors / heroes, the novelty is precisely that in the sheet of 9 cards we find only one character, starting from the first film “The Philosopher’s Stone” to the last “The gifts of death”. Which become 18 for Harry Potter (card 10-27). Following Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. After them they always follow with 9 cards each Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, Severus Snape, Draco Malfoy. With fewer cards Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Rubeus Hagrid, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black and Dobby.
Very interesting is the part that goes from card 124 to card 180 where we find all the others, from secondary characters to professors, to the many magical creatures. Following the second part of the collection, starting (from card 181 to card 225) from certain epic moments in the films, who has never dreamed of having a Quidditch match?!?
The subsequent choice of presenting the families, with 9 cards each, the Weasley and Malfoy families (from card 226 to card 243) was nice, appreciated and spot on. If magic is the protagonist of the saga, the collection cannot fail to be, too, at the end of a very rich series of cards. From card 244 to card 300 we find magical objects and places, with a grand finale at Hogwarts Castle.
The guide to the collection that we find in the binder is really excellent, first a long introduction that proposes the saga and its characters, to follow the very well structured check list where for each card we have a short and effective presentation. Next to the information on the type of collectible card.
In fact, if Harry Potter saved himself from Voldemort, he could not do the same with the “parallel” fever. The new fashion on which the main publishers (Panini and Topps) have thrown themselves, if they have done so, it is certainly because a part of the collectors goes after it. To us, old comic book collectors, it reminds us so much of the past fashion of variant covers that, at least in Italy, in the 90s they risked blowing up the market. Advise? The parallels are trivially just cards of different colors, but with the same subjects on the card, so if you find them well, if not so patience, you will still have the complete collection. Then, let’s be clear, everyone is free to spend their money as they see fit.
It is a valid collection, also for the care with which it was prepared, having the image on the back of the card, different from each other, is a not insignificant added value, often not seen. In our humble opinion the total number of cards could be limited, at least to 270 so as to be able to contain them all in the binder, being able to look at both the front and the back (267 actually, because there would also be limited ones, at the moment 3).
The heart pushes us to buy many packets and create the conditions for exchanges for our Association with many fans, the collection deserves it. The head instead tells us to go further, because that cost so unfavorable for us Italians compared to all other countries (remembering that the product is “made in Italy”) we cannot accept it and the only thing that Panini can understand is a negative data on sales. Will our gesture be of no use? By the way, done reluctantly? Probable, but it is the only “weapon” in our possession and we use it.
(EN)
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2022/23 (Topps)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 275
album: Champions League 2022/23 (Topps)
stickers: 765 (1-661, L1-L104)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 4,99€
box: 50 packets (10 sticker per packet) 1,00€ each
Topps wins? Yes and no, surely this new Champions League album is very rich and varied, but there are positive aspects as well as other negative ones, we will try to make the analysis as complete as possible. Going through the details of the collection and, you can’t do otherwise, comparing it with the football collections on sale at the moment, one above all, of course: the Panini World Cup album. Important analysis also considering that Topps will publish Euro 2024.
In a difficult phase from an economic point of view like this, undoubtedly Topps beats the competition by still offering a 1 euro packet with 10 stickers while Panini at the same price offers exactly half of the stickers inside. The quality seems quite similar to us but the cost difference is so huge that the American house wins hands down: Topps 1 Panini 0.
For a long time, we have been pointing out the gaps in the quality of several sticker albums with peeling center pages, folds and rather low-grade paper. The Champions album, on the other hand, confirms last year’s prowess, it should be checked completed but it looks absolutely good, you can also see it from its weight. Complimentary albums are welcome for those who just want to attach some stickers, but for others, if the mediation is to pay for the album (this actually costs 3 euros), it is welcome if this is the result. Without ifs and buts. Topps 2 Panini 0.
Game over? No, the Milan fans still have nightmares of a famous Champions League final that seemed to have already been won. Here too, as we have noted the merits, some defects must be pointed out, even quite evident.
The album is certainly the richest in the history of the Champions League, both in terms of the total number of stickers, both in terms of setting and in terms of columns. But can an album be defined as rich without all the leading clubs? Especially considering that one of these is Italian and at the moment he is showing great football in Europe: Napoli is not present in the collection. And he is not the only one, there are 7 teams that do not find space in the initial part of the album: Benfica, Dinamo Zagreb, Rangers Glasgow, Copenhagen, Viktoria Plzen, Maccabi Haifa and precisely Napoli.
We had already seen something similar in recent years, the substantial final part of the album with the updates affects these teams, to these 96 stickers are added 20 dedicated to players who have changed shirts. This choice and the general one to put the clubs in alphabetical order (and not only .. if you are looking for Milan do not go to M ..) does not convince us. So, Topps 2 Panini 1.
Last year, with great difficulty, someone managed to complete the album with the “live” L stickers, the “championship film” version of the Champions League was released on unannounced dates, immediately sold out and many find themselves with the album incomplete. Topps’ solution? Make a separate album, so those interested can (try to) order all the stickers, others can settle for the basic set. It does not drive us crazy as a solution, especially considering that the updated stickers, mentioned above, can also be ordered only on the internet and the Topps website, based in England, manages to be indigestible even to the most patient people. Above all, either for their limits, or for any (all to be demonstrated) looting by collectors, the L stickers last year were practically unavailable immediately. Not allowing newsstands to have at least the stickers updated (even by reservation only and aimed only at a small number of newsstands) will be a form of savings for Topps but it kills the local and basic market, which, although opposed by many publishers, still manages to have a good share of the market compared to the much loved (by others, not by us) market of the web. So although with all the flaws of the Panini site, there is an air of balance, Topps 2 Panini 2.
We liked the idea of the shield format of the players’ stickers last year and it is welcome that it has been repeated. Of course, it minimizes the information on the player but for that there is the part already printed in the album. The lightning and thunder effect as a background is tired in the long run, but it is still an alternative solution to the single-color of other collections. Each club has 18 stickers, perhaps for the first time we do not find those of jerseys, stadiums and above all badges, all printed in the album, as well as the photos of the coaches, however a nice novelty to find them on the album too. 16 players plus two extras, the great promise and a double with the great champions of the club, for PSG we find Neymar and Messi, for example.
From sticker 477 begins the second part of the album, quite interesting because it not only offers the current top players but in some pages we have the opportunity to find great champions of the past. For the Italians, the Milan players Baresi, Inzaghi and Maldini, as well as Del Piero. Mentioned but not present in the Francesco Totti album, too bad. Collectors of Messi’s stickers will be happy, there are several in the album, next year if it goes on like this it could be the same for Haaland. It is still a rich and rather valid part, although linked to recent years, perhaps due to rights of some kind. Finding samples from the 1960s to the 1980s would have been a significant added value.
“The global game”, “Best of the Best”, “All time records”, “UCL Legends”, a part of the album that will please especially the lovers of great champions despite the pleasure of finding the stickers of many supporting actors. “Dream Team” is the page to be completed with your doubles according to your tastes, “Top Superstars” with the best of women’s UCL, just 6 stickers but it is already something more substantial than in the past.
Challenging but competitive album in terms of economic proposal, not considering the extra album with Live stickers. Euro 2024 is still a long way off, but we believe Topps is also doing some market tests, that will be a unique opportunity not to be missed. The fact remains that after the fears of seeing the classic adhesive stickers reduced in a mini album regarding F1, with the Champions League we return to hope that the American house still believes in this classic product and does not work only to reset it in favor of modern ones card.
We have already said about the stickers, the format is not a novelty, the second part is interesting with the stickers that refer to the heading to which they are connected. The most avid collectors have launched on parallel packs where to find the variant stickers (in color), a new fashion that is catching on, partly thanks to the publishers, a little so much for the buyers who follow this formula and us, honestly, it continues to convince little.
(EN)
NBA 2022/23 sticker collection (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 274
album: NBA sticker collection 2022/23 (Panini)
stickers: 511 (1-511)
album 2,00€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Good news! At least from our point of view, which is clearly not the one most shared by collectors. Finally, the NBA sticker album separates from the cards and continues (temporarily?) The journey alone, creating the conditions for basketball to have a collection even with relatively low costs. Commercial choice? Need as the cards will go out with another publisher? Whatever the reason, fine.
Other good news comes from the quality of the album, although we found no creases or other problems in glossy paper, the three staples are a good omen for the final seal. At Edicola Birra, where we are based, only the sales version album has arrived, no starter packs. Too early to understand if Panini has followed the advice and improved the card in exchange for a financial contribution (and therefore no starter pack with free album), or if it is just a coincidence. We will find out with the next expected albums.
Too bad only for the quality of the stickers, perhaps with the baskets photographed in the bust as in the soccer cards (see last world championships or champions league) it would not be bad, but with the formula of the sticker in action the photos are very small and not only suffer from it a lot the quality but also the spectacular scenography that often have the game action in the NBA championship.
Going into the details of the 2023 album, the formula is similar to the previous ones but not the same. The first pages are the usual “best of” of the 2022 season, with particular reference to the top teams made up of the best players by position and the “rookies”, the potential champions of tomorrow.
With so many teams, the album naturally grants a large part of the space available to all the clubs. For each team we find two pages, large photos to highlight the actions of the 2 main players (not always ..), 13 stickers of which 9 with the team’s rose, three silver of the top players, the logo. Nothing sensational, knowing the incredible potential of Panini we can expect much more.
Last pages with the giant puzzle logo of the NBA and above all 20 “legends” stickers, a term often abused in the world of sport. Are we very curious to find out who we will find, Doctor J? Jabbar? Kobe Bryant? Michael Jordan? Larry Bird? And maybe even the oldest NBA. For example, applause would be the figurine of an absolute legend like Bill Russell, who died this summer at 88 years old.
If a good morning starts in the morning .. better go back to sleep! Perhaps even unexpectedly, a collection of cards from the legendary world of Wrestling arrives on newsstands which, since the 1980s, has also had many fans in Italy.
The unedifying initial comment is linked to what Panini writes, “debut edition”, so a subsequent one is already in the pipeline and as a debut it seems not exactly an idile. The total number of cards, 160, is appreciable, but honestly for how they were made we would have seen them very well as an album of adhesive stickers. Nowadays with the cards we always expect some small devilry, metallic, holographic effect or more.
None of this, the cards are classic that could not be imagined more classic. For the less young, a big leap into the past, it seems to have really returned to the last century, the problem is that in the meantime we have reached the end of 2022.
The photos show images of the fights in the ring and it is the positive side of the proposal, many make you feel the spirit of the action and the show. The collection consists of 100 basic cards, certainly the world of wrestling has also changed, compared to years ago there is now a substantial presence of female wrestlers.
Following 40 cards with the great legends, present and past of this sport show. Impossible to make everyone and impossible to make all fans happy, but the lack of Ultimate Warrior and Andre The Giant, for example, makes itself felt. More reference has certainly been made to recent years, with a few rare exceptions, perhaps the target is the youngest who have never seen certain myths of the past.
The last 20 cards are dedicated to the champions and their belts, the only part of the collection that portrays the athletes posing: Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Undertaker, etc. We have not had the opportunity to view the recent and previous Topps collections to make a comparison (also because they rarely arrived in Italy), certainly something more could be done.
However, there remains the doubt that this product is designed for abroad and that it arrived in Italy just by chance or almost. This can also be seen from the Panini logo used. Above all, it suggests the much higher cost of packets in Italy compared to other European countries, 1 euro more than in France, Spain and Portugal. Because?!? Surely there will be a reason, but considering that there are just 5 cards inside the packet, the expense really becomes important. Despite the total number of cards in the album, it is still contained.
160 cards that become 580 if one ever wants to jump into the very North American and rather crazy logic of parallels of different colors, whether they are red, green or gold. Logic that we honestly understand very little.
We would have expected a different job, as written at the beginning, the rather simple graphics of the cards would have left their mark better in a classic sticker album, with the cards we expect more. Perhaps adding a limited edition card in the starter pack.
Not great debut, we await the continuation.
(EN)
ME CONTRO TE – The royal family (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 272
album: ME contro TE – The Royal Family (Diramix)
stickers: 180 (1-172, A-H)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,90€
box: 40 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
We admit it, among the many protagonists of the youtuber world, Me contro Te remain our favorites, perhaps because more than others they believe a lot in the sticker product, with this we are on the fourth album, without counting the collections of the cards only. They believe in it but surely they also see the results, a team that wins does not change and here they are, again with Diramix.
Sore point is the 25% increase in the cost of the packets, a big blow. The comparison should not be made with the previous album “Lost in time” which also contained the cards (in a solution that we praised at the time, other than the boxes apart ..), but with the one linked to the second film “The school enchanted ”, where the sachets cost € 0.80.
Returning to the album, good Me contro Te to evolve, now proposing itself as a television series on Amazon and in some way abandoning the adventures and characters that had accompanied us over the years. A bit of freshness was needed, we haven’t seen the program yet but the album looks promising. Of course you have to be fans of Sofia and Luì and you must always take into account the target to which it is addressed, children and the very young.
We have entered a new phase of their adventures, the first pages of the album help to get to know all the protagonists of the series, who stand out for, at least apparently, the lack of the enemy on duty. Divina, Tronaldo, Emma, La Regina, Cornelia, Bruno are all positive characters, albeit with a fair multitude of defects. Obviously, otherwise the fun would be immediately lacking. Tronaldo, even just for the name, enters the favorites list by right!
Following the introduction to the first season of the series, also to try to understand how Me contro Te ended up in court. Dream sets, Sofì dressed as a princess, everything perfect? Not really, the youtuber couple has yet to learn a lot, nice and apt the page on etiquette, where we, like them, would certainly make a certain line of mistakes. Not to mention the “court style”, even if it certainly helps the success of the television series about the royals of England and France.
The pages have an effective structure, the captions give way to know what happens in the stickers, but without our little paper friends there would be a lot of curiosity. Fortunately, unlike sports albums, there are still no collectors who do not attack the stickers, you would lose the taste of history and the pleasure of reading it between texts and images.
In the third part, the album tells about some of the episodes of the series, which will probably be the main ones of the first season or those most suitable to be transformed into stickers. If Tronaldo has the most unlikely name, it is the rocker Emma who will surely be the favorite among small collectors.
The format of the stickers is the classic Diramix one, perhaps calling it a tradition is not the most appropriate term but the publisher likes it and we too. The right mix of classics, glitter and shaped to make the album fun to complete. As well as the central poster where they find the stickers with the letter. Thinking about Diramix products, in the next album (because there will be a next album, right Me against You?!?) Could you dare to insert stick & stack stickers in the center of the album? As in the collections of Bing and other cartoons where our heroes could come to life by moving in the sets printed on the poster.
If earlier we reluctantly reported the increased cost of the packets, it is due to Diramix to operate at least in a different way than other publishers. Buying the box of 40 sachets, in principle, you find yourself with a few missing stickers. If it is not possible to exchange them with other collectors, they can subsequently be requested from the publisher. In this way, with an expense of under 50 euros, the album is completed.
tba: packets Premium, Gold Premium, Tin Box, Bomber Magazine
If you follow our reviews, you will have understood that we are very retro in style, in love with the stickers to be attached and less enthusiastic about the most modern cards to be collected in almost always anonymous binders. Have we become a minority? Maybe not yet, but it is undeniable that this is the way. For this reason, compared to the classic sticker album, with cards we really have to be surprised to be carried away by enthusiasm, as happened with the latest Mario Bros.
The Adrenalyn collection on the World Cup has an advantage on its side, that the older brother, the stickers, is not an album that cries out for a miracle, on the contrary. What makes an impression, as old collectors, is the difference in price to the advantage of the cards. In the classic Panini packets we find 5 poor quality stickers at the price of 1 euro, in the Adrenalyn packets we find 8 good quality cards, also from the graphic point of view where Panini, for some years, in international tournaments, shows some interesting news.
One therefore thinks, with some fear, that on some collections there is a strong intention to move the public from traditional stickers to new cards. In short, to push in a direction putting, in some way, in difficulty those who would like to remain faithful to tradition. Maybe it’s just our suggestion, but the doubt remains.
The Adrenalyn collection has clearly improved if we think of the previous World Cup collections, giant steps compared to Brazil 2014, better than Russia 2018. We notice it in the graphic work that was certainly laborious. The problem, for example, of the Adrenalyn Calciatori is the repetition year after year often of the same cards, even if the names of the above players are different. Here we see something new, not entirely, let’s say that it seems to us a path born with Euro 2016 and that is continuing, improving.
The basic set, where nine players per national team are presented, manages to be original while following the already seen idea of having the colors of the national teams as a background. The big difference between the traditional sticker album and the Adrenalyn, to the advantage of the former, is the completeness. In the cards we find far fewer protagonists of the world championships, as well as of the Europeans. Imagine the blues of Espana82 or Berlin2006 and if there hadn’t been the traditional albums with all their stickers. Then of course, there were no updates and some protagonists are missing, but it’s always nice to see. Perhaps because we see sticker albums as educational encyclopedias of a particular competition and not just the set of many players, champions or not.
The basic cards start from number 28, from the favorite Argentina and go up to number 288, in alphabetical order, not considering the groups. Correct choice, for the cards, it is madness to do it with the stickers. The first 27 are a great starter with Top Masters, Rookies and Legends cards. Attention, in the basic set of 9 cards per team we do not find Australia, Costa Rica and Wales which are at the bottom of the collection in the 52 Contenders cards where we find them together with the others from the play-offs. The list does not include the cards from 442 to 450 which seem to have not really been printed due to rights problems.
Returning to the collection, after the basic set to follow the always classic and questionable Fan’s Favorite with cards from 289 to 342. The next 54 cards present the players divided by position, one for each team even if not all national teams are present. Titans the 18 defenders, Magicians the 18 midfielders, Goal Machines the 18 forwards. Beautiful shield-shaped graphics on the back, always in the colors of the national teams. The Top Keepers cards feature the 9 main goalkeepers. From these cards and subsequent ones, the graphics maintain the idea of the scudetto but in a different format. It is important to underline the visual effects that we find in the various cards, from crystal to metallized to the holographic of the rookie and legend cards.
We do not know if completely reliable, but it is interesting to give a rarity index to all the cards. It could also be a way to manage exchanges, based on the type, fair exchanges can be organized. Then the rules of the market as well as those of exchanges often take unexpected paths, but, even as the graphics of the cards, we find this index clearly visible in the center is guessed. Compared to the past, even that little bit of customization is welcome even on the back, we are light years away from the legendary Score of the 90s but you can glimpse something.
A few more considerations should be made on the guide insert to the collection, on which Panini often does an excellent job. The second part of the insert is in fact an album, only the stickers to attach are missing and it takes up different aspects that we also find in the classic adhesive version. Statistical data, vintage stickers of great champions, stadiums, moments of glory and more. A little to the detriment of the presentation of the collection, the information on the material that can be found on newsstands (and on the site) is sparse, but it is an interesting novelty, a little even disturbing, if we think about our fears told before ..
In general, a collection that is appreciated, even in its variety, nothing sensational but also for this reason more suitable for a wider audience, not willing to go crazy to complete it. Of course, if you are satisfied with the Italian edition, without looking for the cards subsequent to 495 distributed in northern Europe and all the myriad of limited editions scattered throughout the various countries.
Note of merit for having put in the starter pack three limited editions of real top players such as Dusan Vlahovic, Neymar and Lautaro Martinez. For the other limited, good research in the Premium packets, the Tin Box and the Bomber magazine (who knows if someone reads it or just takes the inserts).
Having put together teams that in the end do not take part in the world championship, we would have dared a little more, adding the cards of the great champions excluded. We don’t think so much about our Azzurri, but surely and for example Haaland’s card, the next big thing, would certainly have been sought after by everyone.
(EN)
SUPER MARIO TCG (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 270 album: Super Mario TCG (Panini)
Mario forever! Maybe the most loved videogame of all time, certainly one of the few that has been able to renew itself and always involve new and old fans. Not to mention that it has become cartoons, toys and much more merchandising.
Many years have passed since the legendary Panini album, almost 30 years. Back in 1993 they were classic stickers, now they have become card. Mario, Luigi and all the other characters are always them, not aged at all.
We are preparing an article that you will find in the coming days on our site, where we ask ourselves what future lies ahead, from our point of view, for our beloved stickers. Starting from the consideration of the settings of the new collections and the increasingly high cost of the packets. An important cost also in the case of Super Mario but an argument must be made. Staying at Panini and taking the World Cup Qatar 2022 album as an example, 5 ultra-light low-quality stickers at a cost of 1 euro. Here we find 8 good quality cards, also beautiful to look at, at a cost of 3 euros. If we have to “scream scandal”, the main problem is not the cost of this collection.
Another important consideration is the graphics work which in this case seems very good to us. What often makes us angry with Panini is when .. he doesn’t make Panini. There are important details that must be emphasized and appreciated. We refer to the insert attached to the binder where the collection is presented in an attractive and comprehensive way. This also helps to encourage you to continue shopping, other publishers limit themselves to a trivial check-list of the cards, wrongly.
In the insert we find the first pages dedicated to all the characters of the videogame, large images with brief characteristics of the good and the bad. Do you remember them all? There are the super classics and also the most recent ones: Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, Birdo, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Bowser and Bowser jr, Wario, Waluigi. Good and bad, monsters and princesses, all together!
The series consists of 252 cards, an important but not overflowing number, which allows you not to leave the possibility of completing the collection only to the dream. After the disasters of Fortnite (first series with practically 1/3 of the unobtainable cards), after the impossibility of ordering the missing Fantasy Riders, after the senseless series of Captain Tsubasa by Tomy, here it seems we can go back to the classic. Back when in Modena they boasted the famous phrase “a Panini collection is always completed”. Maybe not the limited editions, maybe not special or out-of-number variants, but, as you read in the insert, the great hope is that later you will be able to buy the missing cards on the Panini website.
We use once again the well-made insert to present the collection, consisting of 180 basic and 72 special cards. From 1 to 36 rundown on the characters, first in their image that we know well, then with a close-up as if they had fun taking selfies with the phone.
We hope you like Yoshi, Toad and Toadette or you will have problems with cards from 37 to 54, here you really find all the colors. The graphics are cartoonish, like modern video games. Following a real invasion of enemy cards, if you know the game an invitation to recognize and remember them all. There are 54 cards, from Birdo to Stordino. Shy Type our favorite.
The collection continues with 18 group cards (with the characters put together, both the good ones and the bad ones), as much object and to follow the gold and silver ones. Nice gold cards where our heroes (or anti-heroes ..) come out of a porthole, or try (Donkey Kong would hardly pass with his head!), The silver cards instead must be observed with care, do not settle for the image printed on the guide, the silver wall shows brick by brick many different familiar faces of the Mario Bros universe.
Over the years Mario has become a protagonist in the world of video games, including sports, making him play football, tennis, drive racing cars and much more. Could they be missing from this collection? Obviously not, from the large number of sports represented in the 36 cards, let’s say we are at the Nintendo Olympic Games.
From cartoon to comic, the 27 cards from 217 to 243 are drawings, a parallel but equally functional way for the world of Super Mario. The graphic layout, apparently simpler, actually allows you to give life to the characters in a really effective way.
Grand finale with the puzzle page where, after completing the 9 cards, we can enjoy a nice overall picture with Mario, Luigi and many others who almost seem to want to greet us, until the next opportunity at least. This solution is always welcome, in the Frozen album we had several puzzles and if you wanted you could also make the same choice here to create more than one, perhaps limiting some other parts of the collection.
Indeed, we dare to think that one day it would be cool to have a whole collection of just puzzles. Maybe double, to be enjoyed both on the front and on the back. About the back of the cards, mention for the choice to characterize them based on the type. We like the details and we like to point them out, it is a single strip of different color (silver card, sport card, enemy card, etc.) but it is functional, as well as having the card number on the back. The 9 puzzle cards on the back instead reveal the complete image, more than an improvised spoiler it seems to us an even stronger push to find them all.
Less than two months from our annual ranking of the best albums by category released between December 2021 and the end of November 2022, at the moment we can already anticipate what the card album of the year will be, except for sensational and unexpected news. A deliberate choice, it is not linked to the fear that otherwise Donkey Kong may come knocking on our door!
(EN)
SUMMER & TODD (Tridimensional)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 269
album: Summer and Todd (Tridimensional)
stickers: 160 (1-160)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packets) 0,90€ each
Essential! The collaboration between Rainbow and Tridimensional continues, after the Pinocchio album, available on newsstands. This too is an album to take into consideration, first of all as it is a “made in Italy” product, from Bozzetto (or even earlier) onwards, not everyone knows that Italy has a respectable animation school, so much as much as that of comics, for which we are famous all over the world.
These are complicated times, where many families are experiencing difficult moments, we have been pursuing our idea for some time that albums can also be simple, with a limited number of stickers, without for this reason being products of little value or interest. Far from it, essential, in fact, as we wrote at the beginning.
What is the correct number for a sticker album in the new millennium? If aimed at a very young audience, in our opinion between 140 and 160 stickers, no more. The album must be a pleasure, not a torture. The contemporary Pinocchio & Friends has 192 stickers, Summer & Todd “only” 160, an excellent choice that meets the difficulties of families but also today, where a product becomes interesting after a short time (general problem, not just the stickers) , without distorting the quality.
Applause to Tridimensional for the quality of the paper, considering what is often found on newsstands. In the starter pack, the album costs around € 2.50, but if in this way you can have a product worth collecting, so be it!
The structure of the album is a successful mix between the presentation of the characters and some episodes of the TV series on Rai Play and the very nice pages dedicated to the locations inside the “Raggio di sole” farm. In fact, the winning idea of the series is that, in reality, it is not about a farm with a traditional cartoon vision but about a real agricultural cooperative, where everyone has their fundamental role.
The stickers are appreciated, nothing particular, too bad the lack of our beloved shaped ones, but the “frame” images from the cartoon are of excellent resolution and the special silver ones do not disappoint. We always remember the reference target of the collection; in this regard, the many games that we find by leafing through the pages are an excellent choice, so that other moments of leisure are added to the fun in attaching the stickers.
Give this collection a chance, so that you can have more in the future!
(EN)
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 60th
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 268
album: The Amazing Spider-Man 60th (Panini)
stickers: 192 (1-164, F1-F28) + 60 cards (C1-C60)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
“From great power comes great responsibility”. In this case, the great power is being able to make an official Spidey sticker album for his 60th birthday (brought very well!), The great responsibility is to do it well, credible, complete, to satisfy both the occasional audience and the fans, young and old. old, from Marvel Comics. In the knowledge that making everyone happy is impossible.
Did they succeed? No spoilers, to know you have to read all the reviews 🙂 A premise is important, however, whoever writes this review is a long-time comic book enthusiast, impossible to tackle this article without being biased, the heart is not commanded and the glorious Spider-Man is a milestone in world comics, especially if you were children when the legendary books of Editoriale Corno and / or later those of Star Comics then Panini Comics arrived in Italy.
Curious about Panini’s marketing choice, this album recalls Spider-Man’s 60th anniversary, you can read it on the cover but not in the title. Perhaps to bring the younger audience closer to these celebrations. History is still present, indeed, from that “The Amazing Spider-Man”, the famous magazine where our hero was not born (first appearance is on Amazing Fantasy, a similar name, it cannot be a coincidence) but then it is become a legend.
Panini does not only make stickers but also comics, it is the Italian house of Marvel, this certainly allows him to have all the possible and imaginal material to pay the right homage to the character. The album is divided into decades where, as it should be, the first years, those who entered the myth, the so-called “golden age” of Marvel comics, find more space and even some more insight, with important captions to understand the evolution of the character but without undermining the role of the stickers, absolute protagonists.
Another strategic choice by Panini, the various decades of Spidey’s publishing history are interspersed with the “Focus on” pages which, as the term says, focus on a certain aspect of the comic, from great enemies, to great battles, to great alliances with other notes more curious, like the evolution of the costume, even in its most unlikely moments.
First part with the classic (and beautiful) stories of the 60s, 70s and early 80s. With the outside world rapidly changing (Spidey and Marvel comics in general have never been immune to it), in the second half of the 1980s, even comic stories decide to upset the characters. If you have never read “Secret Wars” it is a clear invitation to do so, from there comes the black costume and to follow one of the most beloved anti-heroes of the new millennium, Venom!
This path will be even more exponential in the 90s with the long saga of the clone, even today, 30 years later, there are very conflicting opinions among fans, between those who loved it, those who hated it and those who maybe he rediscovered in adulthood. All these “highlights” are not forgotten by the album, thanks to stickers taken directly from the comic strips. The Spider-Man saga continues and our little stickers friends do it accordingly.
Another touch of class, grant us the term, is to somehow separate the story of the traditional Spider-Man from that of the multiverses created over the years, even if far from all the variants we have known with the DC Comics Universe. They could not be missing in this album because it would have made it incomplete, but they are apart, in the central pages with a separate numbering.
Openable central poster summarizing the many Spider-Man we have known in the classic universe and in the alternative worlds. Shaped stickers that must be attached with care, to make them match perfectly with the image below. Not easy, but after all we are talking about super heroes, won’t you hold back for so little ?!
If you love comics, you also know how to appreciate the details, almost always nothing is left to chance. The central poster is also the appropriate detachment of the album, between the Marvel of the twentieth century and that of the New Millennium. New characters, new origins to try to approach potential new readers, for a comic that was still reaching 40 years of publishing production. In the second part of the album space for the last 20 years, from our point of view rightly proposed in a more summarizing way than in previous decades.
Grand finale with a comic story to be completed with the shaped stickers but absolutely legible even with an empty album. We did it, with 12 pages available you cannot create too complex scripts, the story is enjoyable, not at the level of the previous one that appeared on the Marvel Versus album but in any case it is good that there is, also because it traces the concept ” super heroes with super problems ”which has allowed us, at times, to be able to identify with a hero in costume.
The format of the stickers mirrors the one already used previously in the Marvel encyclopedic albums, however it seems to us with images that are all different and chosen with a logical and effective care. We are not great lovers of adding cards to the sticker collections, but here they are an added value. 60 cards or the 60 most significant covers in the history of The Amazing Spider-Man. Another detail that maybe not everyone notices but we do, Panini could fall into the error of inserting covers from other series (Web of Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man, etc.) and instead does not. 60 cover cards don’t even allow you to really have all the fundamentals, but that’s a nice representative number. The problem is to find them all, also given Panini’s choice to send the box of just 24 packets to newsstands. We hope at least, when requesting missing stickers, the rule of only 5 cards that can be ordered will be lightened.
Yes, they succeeded (haven’t you come to read the last line right away?!?), The album is beautiful, a passionate and overwhelming 60-year story of the iconic character of American comics. We appreciated, unlike other previous Panini collections, that the world of cinema has been completely omitted, now subject to a separate one, with a life of its own and more and more often with a different audience.
It’s just a pity that once again the unlikely quality of the paper degrades the great work of graphics and logical preparation of the album a little. Panini is wrong and continues to be wrong on this point, especially on a product of this kind which, more than collectors of stickers, could attract fans of comics, where the quality of the paper is an undisputed value.
(EN)
F1 2022 (Topps)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 267
album: F1 2022 (Topps)
stickers: 154 (1-154)
all pack inclusive: album + complete set 14,99€
This album is a potential huge wake-up call. If you are a lover of classic stickers, of course. The commercial agreements, between publishers and who owns the rights, are both on the stickers and on the cards. For this reason, several publishers make mixed albums, so as to maintain exclusivity on both and not run the risk that cards or stickers can be assigned to others.
So Topps, after having created the collection of Turbo Attax cards, rather rich and varied (for lovers of the genre), with the aim of not losing the rights to the stickers, creates a mini album that in substance, but not in form, it is similar to the previous two but there is a clear feeling that it is a convenient solution.
Of course, the offer is absolutely captivating, with less than 15 euros you have the complete collection, but in miniature versions, albums and even more stickers. The fascination of F1 loses a lot from this choice. Honestly and considering that Topps is closing several important contracts (see the European football championships) we would not want this to be the commercial policy of the next few years, to push collectors towards the cards of which, honestly, they are steps forward compared to the main competitor.
We will see. The album reflects the approach of the two previous editions, naturally limiting the number of stickers by force of circumstances. In the first part, after celebrating the highlights of the 2021 world champion Verstappen with 8 stickers, the drivers are presented, 4 stickers each: the special together with the car and their number in the race, the bust photo with the helmet next to it, close-up inside the cockpit and figurine of the racing car.
The mix is not bad at all, too bad the mini format is very little to enjoy the whole, although and paradoxically the stickers are still of good quality. It must be said that the graphics and texts are still legible and pleasant despite the format.
Following the very captivating pages with the stickers of the team managers and the team of mechanics “in action” in the pits during tire changes. The statistics work and the ranking of the fastest pitstops are valid, team by team. The next 10 stickers with the highlights of the 2021 championship are the continuation of the opening of the album, even if they do not repeat the Verstappen domination but are dedicated to the successes and results obtained by the other drivers.
The album closes with the double stickers of the F2 drivers and a platinum page where the best drivers of last season are celebrated. Not a fundamental page but it has the advantage of having the special stickers of Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas in the classic format (or rather more) that we would have had in a classic album, lean but pleasant consideration.
The graphic and varied quality of the stickers makes the bite of the missed opportunity even more bitter. Note, however, the repetition of the lack of circuit stickers, a fundamental paragraph considered by Panini for the Moto GP album.
Another worrying fact, the album is distributed on newsstands, which is excellent, but long after it was sold on Amazon and perhaps other internet channels. For us, who are always on the side of the newsstands, it is a further alarm bell. There is, however, and indeed we find, albeit a good choice, that the product was on sale at the Topps stand during the Monza GP and we imagine in other races in Europe.
The solution of the mini album, although at a competitive price, we hope is only a parenthesis and not a predominant editorial line of Topps for the future.
(EN)
PINOCCHIO AND FRIENDS (Tridimensional)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 266
album: Pinocchio and friends (Tridimensional)
stickers: 192 (1-192)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,90€ each
Pinocchio forever! Collodi’s masterpiece knows no age, no crisis, generation after generation new products and projects are born that keep it alive, strong, on the one hand in the name of tradition, on the other updating it in some way with the times with new characters that in the original book was not there.
The world of stickers has known several albums dedicated to Pinocchio, surely each of us has his memories and his favorites but it is undeniable that, perhaps even more than the Disney film (from which Panini made a historic album), for us Italians Pinocchio’s album linked to the RAI drama remains an unforgettable moment. Not only for a majestic Nino Manfredi in the role of Geppetto, but for an album that made history and trends, with the Panini brothers who decided to focus on this television drama, in the lack of conviction of many. We know how it went well, the album is among the 10 most important albums made by the Modenese house, aside from football (maybe).
On Pinocchio there are cartoons made everywhere, from the USA to Japan, this new production is an all-Italian pride, made by Iginio Straffi (the same of the famous Winx Club), which you can watch on RAI channels.
Inspired by the famous book, this series set in the new millennium and alongside the classic characters, Pinocchio, Geppetto, the Jiminy Cricket and the “villains” Mangiafuoco, the Cat and the Fox, find new characters, starting with the young pirate Freeda. History does not repeat the classic adventures, it renews them and also makes them suitable for the duration of the various episodes.
The graphic layout of the album is interesting, the publisher likes to mix the themes, there are of course the pages dedicated to the main characters but not sequentially. Of course, at first you will immediately find Pinocchio and Geppetto (could it be otherwise?), But to discover the others you have to browse the various pages.
In the other pages we find both the presentation of this updated world of Pinocchio and Friends, and references to some episodes of the TV series. The captions are minimal, graphic choice to give as much space as possible to the stickers. Each page does not need the intervention of the Blue Fairy to come to life, but stickers to be attached, larger in size than other collections.
Standing ovation for the album paper, no glossy paper but an excellent rough matte that prevents us from unpleasant creases or worse with which we often have a hard time living with other albums. The format of the stickers is varied, classic, glitter, shaped, puzzle, in short, for all tastes.
The quite small total number of stickers, without useless cards or other fancy flights, make this album pleasant and at the same time easy and fun to collect.
(EN)
WORLD CUP QATAR 2022 (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 265
album: World Cup Qatar 2022 (Panini)
stickers: 670 (00, FWC 1-29, 1-20 each team)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
priced album: 2,50€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
The most unlikely and discussed world championship in the history of football has finally arrived and with it the usual Panini album, present on newsstands for 52 years, from that distant and mythical Mexico70. Honestly, this review is not simple, the Qatar World Cup is the furthest thing from football that you can imagine, at least for the oldest of us, for many reasons, including social and ethical ones, also upsetting the times, the memories, the memories of those who, in their lives, marked the time that passed from world to world.
It is also the second consecutive album without Italy, a detail that is not such and is not a pretty sight. Clearly in our country, it was not possible to avoid taking it to newsstands (luckily, we add) but for Panini Italia it is not the flagship product, that will arrive in three months, the Calciatori, with all the anticipation and curiosity that has always distinguishes him, the subject of discussions, discontent but also emotions, year after year. It is his beauty, after all.
Returning to the Qatar2022 album we are aware and almost resigned to the current costs of stickers, between the paper problem and the increasingly expensive demands of those who own the rights, but also thinking about the more direct competition, the effort to put at least 6 stickers per packet it would have been greatly appreciated by those who, however, have supported Panini and its collections for many years.
Especially considering the quality of the sticker, in the beginning it was the sticker with the tissue behind it, now it is a tissue that acts as a sticker. Thickness to a minimum, if you open a bag even just breathing with your mouth open be careful, the stickers could fly away. On the other hand, the world card market must be considered, where Italy, unlike what many think, is not a leader. We also have Ferrari and Lamborghini factories in Italy, but we are not the main market for this, not even at a European level, and in Europe we are far behind England, Germany and perhaps others. It is an important detail and one that answers the classic question “we, who have Panini at home ..”.
The global vision of the “figurine” allows us to try to understand the choices of the Modenese multinational, things must be seen from a far broader perspective than that of the “Boot”. Basically, if the global market responds positively to the product, it is difficult to change things.
As already happened with the Anteprima album, there are some important improvements in the quality of the paper. We continue to dream of a return to matte paper, but on a product printed in millions of copies it is pure utopia. The presence of three central staples and a thicker paper make us say that the album is not a disappointment, then the hardback versions, limited, in human skin will come for those who want, even if we do not know how many of these will be available in Italy ( at the moment we do not know if there is a hard cover version of the Italian edition).
After this very long preamble, looking specifically at the graphics of Qatar2022, we notice some interesting and different aspects from the past, although, as far as we are concerned, we like the World Cup album has a classic style. Already in 2024 with the first Topps we will certainly have a different European album (even in size), at least this World Cup remains “faithful to the line“.
The increasingly massive presence of national teams can only lead to forced choices, limit the number of players per team or limit everything else, so as to avoid an album that comes close to 700 stickers, too many. What do you prefer? Difficult to answer, the memory of the albums of the past with the very rich introductory part between mascot stickers, official posters, stadiums, cities or, like now, 20 stickers per national team? Whatever the answer is, it makes someone unhappy, sure.
The introductory part then presents the stickers of logos, the world cup and the 8 protagonist stadiums, future “cathedrals in the desert” or parking lots, as has already happened for a country that thrives on football like Brazil. For us, stadiums are the heart of football, in sticker albums, at least those of international competitions, they should always be present, so great news.
Then the many pages for the 32 participating national teams start, with 20 stickers each, team, championship and 18 players. We wrote how much we like tradition in these types of albums, but we find the constant lack of the trainers’ sticker here too is truly incredible. Think of an Espana82 album with Bearzot’s sticker or that of Germania2006 with Lippi, just to think about Italy. A lack that makes itself felt and how.
The stickers are graphically different than in the past, goodbye classic frame in favor of the image of the player as if it were cut out, shaped. Around the logos of the competition and the national team and the basic statistics, such as the role on the pitch, the debut in the national team, the year of birth, etc. The club they belong to is not mentioned, on the one hand a non-fundamental fact because we are talking about national teams, on the other a curious and useful fact to sometimes discover where the players play, especially the lesser known ones.
We would therefore have added the detail of the club, reading the first comments on social networks we already know we are going against the tide, but we do not mind this graphic choice. The background has a more suitable color than the unlikely yellow or orange seen in the past. The image of the player stands out but also the statistical data around it, the logos are always a beautiful sight. Of course, the real background from the playing field remains the top, but difficult to see with national championship albums, let alone for a world championship.
On the other hand, we are sorry not to find any reference, printed on the album page, to the statistics of the national team at the previous world championships, you can see it above all in the pages of the teams that have won at least one and here there are many, indeed all of them, unfortunately only the ‘Italy.
Probably among the collectors there are those who appreciate the choice, but to us dividing the numbering of the album by team (except the beginning and end of the album) we find it almost “annoying”, a useless complication, except perhaps for those looking only the themes, so he knows that to have Argentina it is enough to find the stickers from ARG1 to ARG20. Modena likes the idea, we don’t, in this case we see no reason to have applied it (Russia is out of the World Cup when the playoffs were still in progress) but we can get over it.
The album closes with a brief history of the World Cup, edition after edition, great if it is edited by the Fifa Museum in Zurich, the detail of the object of the memorabilia under the photo of the team will perhaps be noticed by few but it is very welcome. Unless the choice was made not to transform all the national champions into stickers, only 10 out of 21 editions, less than half. The rest is printed.
A World Cup album, it could not be otherwise, must be collected regardless. We see flaws but also interesting aspects, certainly not acceptable to everyone. In our opinion, perhaps the economic effort of putting an extra card in a packet (considering the price of the packets and the box alone 50) could have been enough to make everything, even in our latitudes, more palatable.
For all collector friends of this World Cup 2022 we remember our appointments with the Figurine Day at Edicola Birra and the great events of Figurine Forever: FIGUCON ROMA c/o Music Day, 24-25 september 2022, Roma COMICS FAIR, 15-16 october 2022, Bologna FIGUCON X EDITION – 15 january 2023, Bologna
(EN)
Dragon Ball Super Hero TCG (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 264
album: Dragon Ball Super – Super Hero TCG (Diramix)
cards: 162 (1-162)
starter pack: album + 1 packet 7,90€
box: 20 packets (6 cards per packet) 2,00€ each
Easier to find Haaland’s rookie than to understand all the Lamincard collections released on the ever-beloved Dragon Ball character! Even just the Diramix editions, even worse if we start from the legendary Edibas which has the merit of being the first to truly believe not only in the character but also in this transparent version of the cards, the lamincard, Italian pride.
Finally, after so many years, Diramix creates cards that are recognizable from the previous ones, in a simple way. Not only for the title of the series that we find on the individual cards (which, however, might not be enough if another super hero is subsequently made) but because the year of production is finally reported, in this case 2022.
It is a detail that we have always reported in our reviews of previous collections, we do not have the bravado to think that this change is related to someone in Diramix who has read our site, but we were probably not the only ones to have reported the problem.
The 162 cards are the classic standard of the Diramix collections, the specials seem to us to be higher in number than the norm. We find them scattered in the collection and they are all from number 127 onwards. The choice, up to a certain point understandable, of having 9 rare golds, the last of the series from 154 to 162, is also renewed. only to give an indication on the development of the game which, honestly, we think interests a small part of the potential buyers.
Compared to the previous series, one card less for the same expense of 2.00 euros. Yet another collection of Dragon Ball cards?!? If they continue to release them and at an average of two per year, it means that they have a good audience of loyalists and true believers.
(EN)
BLUEY (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 263
album: Bluey (Diramix)
stickers: 190 (1-170, A1-A5, B1-B10, C1-C5)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,99€
box: 30 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Between stickers and kangaroos! The album of the successful cartoon TV series Bluey arrives, made in Australia and which owes so much to those beautiful and distant lands. The target is the very young, but the episodes use the charm of animation and animals to also tell about their country, its culture.
The protagonist is Bluey, a 6-year-old dog and her cheerful family, starting with her younger sister Bingo, from these two characters the structure of the album evolves, which follows the now classic canons of Diramix products on cartoons. The four Bing albums released so far are proof of this, although, fortunately, the mistake of the latest, maxi format, was avoided.
The first part of the album is dedicated to introducing Bluey’s world, family, friends, etc. We are fans of Diramix for the quality of the albums from a graphic point of view, their ability to bring products that know how to be simple but not trivial. The care of the captions, which accompany practically every sticker, allow you to entertain both the child who already knows how to read or hopefully the adult who can tell the story by helping the little ones to attach the stickers.
Second part of the album dedicated to the adventures of our friends, which reflect the stories told in cartoon episodes. The page we have chosen to show (above) is not by chance, in the first packets we have not yet found the right ones, but we are very curious to see what Bluey’s big dollar stickers are like. Another important aspect is creating interaction with the child, the album must be fun not only by attaching the stickers but as a whole.
Another typical feature of Diramix albums is the central attachment where you can attach the 20 stick & stack stickers and then create new stories with our new Australian friends. On the first page, the five stickers A to dress up as you like Bluey and Bingo, on the last page, the five stickers C to tidy up the bedroom. The central poster with the ten stickers A to invent stories in the four different scenographies. If Diramix always proposes it again, it means that you like it, go on like this.
Good quality album, nice cartoon and also modern, Diramix is one of the last stoic publishers that still presents packets at relatively low prices. Above all the right number of total stickers, we will repeat it to the point of boredom, it is no longer time for monumental albums, also considering the vast and extensive proposal on newsstands and the availability of families always contained.
“This is the way”, we are not in Star Wars, but in the real world and the world of stickers, which we adore, we want to have a future, towards infinity and beyond.
(EN)
Moto GP (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 262
album: Moto GP (Panini)
stickers: 240 (1-240)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ cad.
Panini takes to the track! More stickers publishers are welcome, they make the market more sparkling and interesting, with more proposals and with, not always but often, a preparation work to make the products more interesting and break through an important but very varied and fragmented market.
We like to think that without the Topps F1 albums, perhaps in Panini they would never have thought of an album on motorcycling (finally!) and without having the presumption that in Modena they read our reviews taking ideas, we like to think that the improvements in contents, on this album compared to that of F1, may also be the result of our comments and many other collectors on the internet.
Panini therefore takes its cue from the product of the American factory and makes it more complete, more varied and even more celebratory. The world of engines also lives a lot of memories, stories, myths, an album without this aspect is an incomplete album and so, despite the excellent Topps production (also in relation to quality / price), in the F1 albums it was always missing and strongly more than something.
First applause, the 20 single stickers of all the circuits of the world championship, with a brief introduction that sometimes seems to repeat itself but presents in a captivating way the historical and new tracks where the centaurs whiz by. If in the Calciatori albums we always want the stickers of the stadiums, in those of the engines not to include them the lack would be felt. With their characteristics, including curves, straights and ups and downs, they are the absolute protagonists with the riders and motorcycles.
All teams have broadly the same number of stickers and feature the pair of pilots with giant photos as an introduction. Each team therefore has a special silver sticker with the driver’s number, which is very much from the 1980s and the stickers that many of us kept attached to their scooters, simple (perhaps) but with a real passion. The classic sticker with bust photo of the rider with the detail of the victories between the three different categories, stickers of the helmet, the motorcycle and the rider with the motorcycle on the track. The overall sticker is also beautiful, with the bike on the track seen from the front and the face of its rider in the background.
The graphics of the pages are essential but unlike other albums we do not feel the need for extra colors and images, we are of those who “the stickers always stick” but really on this occasion only upon completion the album explodes with all the its charm. You could take a further step, perhaps with some shaped, possible ideas for the future, but perhaps the overall view of the pages would have been affected.
Final part of the album with the stickers of Moto 2 and 3. The riders are presented in stripes as we have seen in recent football albums. An appropriate choice to be able to insert them all without making the album too heavy. Second applause for the Legends stickers, it is impossible to put all the great champions of the recent or remote past, but being able to attack the stickers of Giacomo Agostini or Vale Rossi is always a pleasure. The world championship is also a legend, just to evoke it, just to be part of the album.
Personally we would have avoided the 25 stickers that trace the first part of the history of the current world championship. From Panini’s point of view it was certainly a need to make the album more full-bodied, from our point of view on the contrary it would have brought the whole to be just over 200 stickers, a number suitable for current collections. Also counting the cost and the choice that we do not share of the box of just 36 packets (luckily at least it is not 24), a box created to contain 50.
We remain of the idea that although we cannot hope that the collection can be completed with a box, the box should contain a number of stickers in line with the total of those on the album. Of course we speak as passionate collectors, not as a company that thinks about profits, but we must also create the conditions so that our beloved world can have a rosy future.
No (useless) cards, but in this case perhaps because an Adrenalyn series will also be released. The quality of the album paper is more than acceptable, perhaps Panini has emptied the warehouse with the previous paper. We hope, as we hope this album will have a following also in the next few years, the passion for the world championship deserved an album of stickers!
(EN)
MINIONS 2 (Topps)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 261
album: MINIONS 2 (Topps)
stickers: 160 (1-160)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 4,99€
box: 36 packets (6 stcikers per packet) 1,00€ cad.
Dear Topps, do you like to win easy ?! The Minions are among the most brilliant ideas in the animation world of the new millennium, the release of their new film is a perfect opportunity for an album that can have great potential. So we could limit ourselves to doing a standard job, maybe the product can sell regardless, instead we find ourselves in front of a really interesting collection.
The album graphics are very varied and fun, leafing through does not give you a feeling of something repetitive, on the contrary, each page is different from the previous and the next. An explosion of colors and lyrics that cannot leave you unharmed, it almost seems to have a minion leafing through the album with us and telling us in our ear “Do you think you’ve already seen everything? See what happens on the next page! “. With the backgrounds you have the feeling of visiting a modern art exhibition.
Spoiler! The album is closely linked to the story of the film, alternating with curious pages where Topps helps us get to know the world of Minion. We believe it is one of those albums where, at least for the older ones, we understand that it is impossible for children to do so, it would be better to wait, find all the stickers and then start attaching them following the layout of the album. Can’t you? So our advice is to complete it and then take a little time by rereading it from the beginning.
If you’ve seen the trailer at the cinema, great prominence is given to the Minions’ adventure in the airport world. We are not sure that anyone would really dare to get on the plane of such a company but who knows, in the current delirium of the transport sector, maybe it would even be fun. The album also dedicates space to this story in history and it is really impossible to remain serious.
An album that we certainly recommend, the quality of the paper is not exactly excellent, but much more acceptable than what is (sometimes) seen around. You know that we are fans of shaped stickers, in this case the format is only classic, even if in two sizes. It could certainly be an added value, but it would probably have changed the graphic layout of the product and honestly, we already like it that way to imagine it different.
At the beginning we wrote about “easy winning”, certainly in the individual stickers, many are beautiful and fun, really fun to open the packet to discover the new Minions that can appear. Speaking of packets, for some time now, with some exceptions, we have decided not to dwell too much on the cost, the cost of living is striking everywhere and the increase in card costs does not help. Topps makes some choices that deserve applause: packet of 6 stickers with always a bright giant present; album that does not become impossible to complete, no cards (THANK YOU!) that weigh down (not always but often) the product and make it more complicated and unrealistic compared to the current market. Even the total number of stickers (160) and the box of 36 packets, allows us to hope that with the purchase of a box you can have good hopes of going very close to the complete set.
In our humble opinion, the box must contain a number of packets strictly related to the total number of stickers, they are two aspects that cannot travel separately or the real risk is that after a negative experience, especially parents (but also collectors) will try somewhere else..
(EN)
ANTEPRIMA CALCIATORI 2022/23 (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 260
album: ANTEPRIMA Calciatori 2022/23 (Panini)
stickers: 216 (1-216)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 2,90€
box: 24 packets (6 stickers per packet) 1,00€ cad.
This album has very little to do with last season’s edition, of course it is a matter of taste, to us it seems a substantial and important improvement both in form and in content, so much so that seeing this edition, someone may look for the previous one.
This album has nothing to do with the classic Calciatori if not for some defects that unfortunately continue to grip the Panini collections in recent years, the folds in the pages are not a pretty sight. Someone has already written that the central page comes off easily, honestly in the copy in our possession we have not encountered this problem. We also tried to hold the page with the full weight of the album (empty) suspended in our hands and it holds up without problems. Maybe something changes with the stickers attached, but the presence of three staples for a medium-small album seems to us at least an attempt to improve. For the quality of the paper, at this point, all you have to do is wait for the contract with the current printers to expire (Panini hasn’t printed albums on site for years) and for someone from the Modena-based company, perhaps even spending a little more, to go to look for higher quality elsewhere. The short circuit between the (low) quality of the paper and often the excellent work of preparation and graphics of the Panini albums, sooner or later, hopefully sooner, will have to end, right?
We apologize for the long introduction, we only hope that in December with the new players we will already see substantial improvements. Having said that, “accepting” these small problems, the album is very interesting, we like it and we will try to explain why.
The greater number of stickers and also the greater space available, allows us to present our Serie A in a more complete and more articulated way. Last year each club had just 4 stickers and only four players, now we have two pages per club where, correct choice, you do not see a copy of what we will see in December. Indeed, we like to think that some stickers can also be tests to be used in the main album.
Each club has 10 stickers, the newly promoted Monza has the same number as the Italian champions of Milan. Exactly as it happens, albeit with a much higher number of club stickers, with the classic Calciatori. Right! And each club has a page with more engaging graphics than last year’s more basic one. It couldn’t be otherwise, thanks to the biggest album. Also interesting are the choices, the phrase of a player that reflects the values or love for the team where he plays, a brief introduction to the possible results of the new season and a photo with a detail of the curve. The choice to put some clear photos and others blurry, from Diego’s lovers, is a beautiful detail on the page of Napoli of a flag with the face of the Pibe de Oro.
We come to the stickers, after all they are always the absolute protagonists. Looking at the album, the first for the team is a close-up of the “flag” player, often not exactly as such, but the words that are written next to him are his. The sticker is unveiled on the album, Panini will not like the combination but they are reminiscent of certain albums by the South American publisher Navarrete.
The next three are the team roster, 5 players per sticker, fifteen in total. In other areas not suitable but in this preview album a valid way to present a good number of players. Of course, as with the cards, the release in August brings several players back to the wrong teams, for example Simeone no longer in Hellas Verona but moved to Napoli.
The following stickers are in our opinion the most interesting, we like the Club Identity stickers, which ranges from details of the curve to the game jerseys, it lacks a bit of uniformity between the various pages, but on the contrary it is precisely the differences that make the whole. more pleasant.
The next two are the news of the club (for Juventus, for example, we find the newly acquired Angel De Maria) with a double image of the player, with the game shirt and often on arrival at the new club, in civilian clothes, sometimes with the club scarf on display. The second sees the champions in training. The last three stickers on the page focus on the champions in action, in some ways they refer to the Adrenalyn cards but applause is the choice of leaving the original background where you can savor the smell and passion of the stadiums and stands.
Speaking of cards, the initial pages of the album are dedicated to the top performers, even here the players portrayed in action with an important statistic (after all there is a reason if we find them here). Particular graphics, as if the players had taken the super speed of Flash, perhaps it is a tribute to the DC Comics comics, recently passed to Panini.
Compared to the first edition, the album is larger, more defined, more colorful, more complex, for us a clear step forward. Of course it becomes a more challenging album to complete. Making a comparison between the costs of the packets is unrealistic, given the completely different format. The price of 1 euro for 6 stickers makes you tremble a little thinking about the players, but now and unfortunately that’s where we are going. The solution of the 24 packets box clearly makes it impossible even to approach the completion of the collection with a single box. For a product linked to football and with possible potential, it was possible to dare and make boxes of 36 packets.
The advantage for Bolognese collectors is that they will be able to come to the appointments of the Figurine Day organized by Figurine Forever at the Edicola Birra, a good opportunity to try, through swaps, to find the missing ones. Whatever happens, there are always Comics Fairs and for the most “true believers” our FIGUCON on January 15, 2023 in Bologna, without forgetting the appointment in Rome on September 24 and 25, 2022.
In stickers we trust, yesterday, today, tomorrow, always
(EN)
CALCIATORI ADRENALYN 2022/23 (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 259
album: Calciatori ADRENALYN 2022/23 (Panini) cards: 471 (1-471) + 27 limited edition + 5 cards momentum starter pack: binder + 5 packets + 3 cards limited edition 8,00€ box: 24 packets (6 cards per packet) 1,00€ each tin box: cards 41 + 4 limited edition 11,99€ special packets: Premium 5,00€ (tbc), Premium Gold 10,00€ (tbc.) packets PLUS: from october with cards plus, specials and trainers 1,00€ limited edition: read article
In a truly strange season for the world of us collectors, as well as the championship, the Adrenalyn collection also arrives on newsstands while many are still filling beaches and cities of art. Strange because the unlikely winter world championship is looming in Qatar, which has partly upset all the programs, apparently not those of Panini, both for the cards and for the classic players, the exit period remains the standard one. Choice also made easier by the encore of non-classified Italy at the final stage of the World Cup, which certainly makes the World Cup album uninteresting for the Italian market. Clearly not for us, collectors of the albums of the competitions by nations, who would buy the album even if in Qatar there were only Bolivia and Kazakhstan (with all possible sympathy for the two countries mentioned, of course).
The Adrenalyn collection, already last year, is trying to renew itself, with more captivating and different graphics, for this season with references also to the colors of the various clubs, following the line of the European cards. We are still a long way from other products, but it must also be said that they are born from a different perspective. This is The Collection of cards of the Italian Serie A championship, in addition to the substance, the form is also important, the total number of cards is always important and even if it is not as complete as the Calciatori stickers, it gives a good idea of our football.
After the preparation in July, he has some players who are no longer protagonists (for example De Ligt who moved from Juventus to Bayern), but it could not be otherwise. The confirmed presence of the plus cards is important in this sense, although the release in October is quite premature. On the other hand, the flagship Calciatori arrives in December and (luckily, we add it) it is still the most important collection of the year.
The sections of the collection find great classics such as Stelle or Portieroni and every year new sections come to light which then only time will tell if they will be appreciated to such an extent that they will remain the following year. For 2023, the new cards on which Panini seems to focus more are the Momentum, 5 exclusive cards outside the numbering and, unfortunately, cannot be ordered later. Italian football is not experiencing a moment of maximum splendor, even these cards highlight it, with all the good you could want from Bonucci or Luis Alberto.
Among the novelties, part of the numbering of 471 cards, we point out the Team Scudetto card that celebrates the 19th AC Milan championship and the Super Top Player, also linked to the past season. The Fantastelle can be potential future rookies, less captivating than the Magic 4 with precisely four players together, too many all together. More than the new and old sections, interesting the different realizations of the cards, including silver paint, metallic material, metallic gold. The presence of the 20 cards with the club logos is always a choice that we appreciate.
In general, it seems like a good collection for lovers of the genre. Rightly different from products more for “professional collectors” such as the Score or the Donruss. This collection is more designed for a young and very young audience that maybe, we hope, growing up also goes to the collection of stickers as their parents did. On the other hand, the novelty of indicating the rarity index (the Rarity Index) on the front of the cards is nice, who knows that it may not be a fundamental point in the great experience of exchanges, inevitable and also protagonists of our Figurine Days.
Worthy of note are the many promotional initiatives connected to the collection, from the completion of the virtual collection to the registration to Serie A Adrenalyn. Perhaps secondary aspects for the “older” of us, but certainly an added value for the younger ones.
Last thing, the very limited choice in requesting the missing cards is always questionable and hard to agree. While understandable on the one hand to limit “speculation”, on the other hand it is not very useful for those who simply want to complete their binder. Fortunately, there are events all over Italy such as those organized by Figurine Forever at the Edicola Birra in Bologna 😉
(EN)
SATANIK – all the covers (Gazzetta dello Sport)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 258
album: Satanik – All covers (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
stickers: 231 (1-231)
album and first 4 stickers: € 5.99 with Satanik in color nr.1
subsequent releases: € 6.99 per volume for 70 planned
It is predictable that after Kriminal also Satanik would have his own dedicated series and consequent sticker album. The two characters created by Max Bunker and Magnus are the history of Italian comics, interesting that after so many years there is still interest that leads to these editorial news.
The choice of color is questionable, which could make sense if the coloring was done by a team connected to the story of the character, who knows her. Here’s simple coloring that’s a punch in the stomach at work in black and white. Certainly everyone has their own tastes, but if a product is born in black and white, it must remain, unless there is the intervention of experts or enthusiasts.
The comment on the editorial choice is linked to the considerations of having a missed opportunity in front of you. As with Kriminal, if you are only interested in the sticker album, the total expense is demanding. Although more affordable than “the skull”, simply because the Satanik comic series has far fewer numbers.
The album is still interesting, the 1970s covers are small works of art, just think of those created by Luigi Corteggi, also seen at work, for example, with the covers of Bonelli’s Piccolo Ranger. The layout of the album is simple but effective, the stickers do their part.
Too bad only for the editorial choice, as a work we prefer the previous one in hardcover, more faithful to the original. Only for true fans or those who simply want to read the Satanik saga without looking for the original, rare and much more expensive books, without worrying too much about the quality of the print.
(EN)
MATCH ATTAX 101 UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE (Topps)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 257
album: Match Attax 101 Uefa Nations League (Topps)
cards: 224 (CD1-101, IS 1-99, YP 1-13, DC 1-10, MA1) + 15 limited edition (LE1-LE10, MW-MW 1-3, WW1-WW2)
mini tin box: 30 cards + 2 card limited 7,99€, variant red, green, blue
The world is often divided in two, even that of stickers is similar. Except for sporadic cases, there is an unwritten rule that for now continues to be such, for stickers contact Panini, for cards better Topps. Perhaps this collection is not fundamental, but it is Topps’ first since it acquired the Uefa rights and if a good day starts in the morning, Euro 2024 could have a collection of cards of a much higher quality than the recent Panini, even if, at unlike the repetitive Adrenalyn Calciatori, with European and World Cup more than something good Panini showed it.
Here, however, we are on another planet. An opportune choice not to make it very broad, for this reason it is part of the shorter series 101; probably obligatory choice but unfortunate to get it out in the middle of summer. However, if we take into account that from September to December we will have players, Champions League and above all the World Cup in Qatar, it could not be done otherwise.
The collection suffers, like that of the stickers, of not being able to use the official jerseys of practically the most important national teams in Europe, with the result that the players of Italy, England, France and Germany are very few and with unattractive unicolor jerseys. We really hope this problem can be solved, if only out of respect for the fans. Clearly they are questions of rights and consequently questions of money (a lot). We hope that Topps and Panini can find an agreement before 2024, perhaps also for Qatar 2022 because we would not like Topps not to give image rights to some of the national teams involved. However, taking into account that Topps has not given the go-ahead to Panini for 20 years for the English national team, it is understandable if Panini will do the same now.
The collection is above all a testing ground for what it will be, which is why it is interesting. We have the distinct feeling that the American publisher wants to tell us “guys, this is Topps!”. However, the basic cards have valid details, as did Panini, when it comes to national teams it is always exciting to see the flag in the background. The back is also appreciable, not the same for all, but where the national team and also the role of the player are specified. These are perhaps small attentions, which however make the collection more interesting and cared for.
Different speech for the specials, where we really find extremely intriguing news, in particular the relic coin cards that include a souvenir coin, we are very curious to find one to be able to touch with hand. Other very interesting cards are the chrome shields, 10 shaped cards that we had already seen in the Topps collections and we personally like them. The problem often (see Adrenalyn) is repetitiveness, here at least we try to present something different. Looking at the US market, there is still a long way to go, but it is a great start!
Those who decide to buy this collection, rather than try to complete it, will try to find the top players. With all the good we can wish for the European champion Chiellini, that he is seen as the most representative Italian player is a bit disarming. We miss the times of the Totti, Baggio, Zola and Del Piero, just to name a few.
multipack Max Verstappen: 25 cards + 1 card limited 4,99€
multipack Lewis Hamilton: 25 cards + 1 card limited 4,99€
value box: 25 cards + 1 card limited 4,99€
mini tin box 36 cards + 2 card limited 7,99€
F1 Turbo Attax are back! You can decide to collect in two different ways, complete the basic set, fortunately not too large, or embark on the adventure of really finding them all, a costly operation but not too complicated if we limit ourselves to the classic 21 limited. Just purchase all the different Turbo Attax releases, hoping to be lucky enough to find the missing ones. The autographed cards, the twenty SS, are not written in how many copies have been made but certainly few. Give up your holidays this year and maybe you can buy them all from the lucky ones who will find them in the bags.
In our card reviews, we don’t give too much consideration to the gaming part, knowing that most of us actually only care about finding all the missing cards. In this case, however, it does not seem a secondary aspect to us, the dashboard / poster where the cards are stored has the shape of a circuit but we older ones certainly also remind us of the mythical and immortal Game of the Goose. At the same time the rules are simple, the different cards can allow you to play again up to almost infinity.
The section of the cards related not only to the drivers, but also to the Team Principals as well as beautiful photos of the cars has also been expanded. All this, added as said to the different strategy cards, makes the collection very interesting. Perhaps for those interested in just collecting, they would have preferred more photos, but we find this solution more effective.
The graphics are very captivating, the 20 of the riders with the particular helmet also are a beautiful sight. For each team we have the card logo, the car, the team manager and three per driver. With the first 99 cards you will have this complete mini set, from 100 to 121 the drivers of the F2 and from the 122 to the 131 also those of the F3.
From 132 to 179 the “extras” that go into more details and curiosities, always very appreciable the 10 cards where the teammates are put together. Two important details, at least for us, the first is the photos of the drivers, posing as a card, which stand out well on our little paper friends, the second is the presence of the team logo on the back which does not make them all the same. It will be a detail but we believe it is an excellent choice and we appreciate it.
As with the sticker version (out in August), the album is affected by two aspects to which space is not dedicated, the circuits and the great champions of the past. If for the Turbo Attax it may be understandable to limit the number of cards, for the classic stickers it could be a not insignificant added value.
(EN)
BUZZ LIGHTYEAR (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 255
album: Buzz Lightyear (Panini)
stickers: 192 (1-182, H1-H10), 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per bustina) 1,00€ each
mini box of 5 packets 4,99€
“To infinity and beyond!”. From the legendary Toy Story animated films, finally revealed the true story of our favorite space ranger. Did we really need it? All the children, even us adults, in recent years we had already imagined him to travel in space and fight the bad guys, aliens and not. Now it is time for Pixar to dedicate the original film and we support the choice!
However modern animation, if you peeked at the trailer at the cinema like us, the film looks very interesting. The sticker albums dedicated to feature films can be of two different types, in one case they can take the place of a very pleasant preview, in the other they tell about it.
This album is the second case, at this point you can choose whether to attach the stickers and then go and see the film, like after reading the comic or the book that inspired it, or wait and, as we had already written for the album of Jurassic World, stick the stickers remembering the epic moments.
It is also the ideal starting point to appreciate this album, the funny cartoon story transformed into stickers. The rectangular format amplifies the cinema effect, the high quality “frames” like all Disney films also work well with our little paper friends.
In our opinion it is a well-curated album, important captions that accompany the story, the specials in particular to present the characters. Double central poster, with the inside for the ten H stickers. The album paper is a small step back on quality, but still acceptable compared to other horrors seen mostly in 2020 and 2021. Small, but effective stickers, albums that after being completed it certainly makes the impact well, to be browsed page after page.
It would have been great with a sticker-only version (so 5 and not 4 per packet), with a lower cost. The cards honestly do not excite us, also taking into account the box of just 24 packets, the solution of making “only” 36 cards could help.
The day when the market rules will no longer make it necessary to do so often (often, in fact, sometimes it is an added value) this mix of stickers and cards with the sole result of raising costs for buyers and making it much more complicated to complete the collection, that day will be a good day, but unfortunately we fear that we will never see it.
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
mini box of 5 packets 4,99€
Some albums make your heart beat faster, it doesn’t always happen, less often than we would like, but this time it did. Not because of a close encounter with T-Rex (luckily ..) but because of this new album dedicated to the latest film in the Jurassic World / Park saga. Curated, full of information, exciting, as if the domination of the dinosaurs were really a reality and finally with a glossy paper without creases or problems easily recognizable to the touch and sight.
“Where were we left?”, Thus the album starts and it could not be otherwise. Coexistence with dinosaurs is no longer utopia, in the previous film a little girl wanted to give them freedom and now they are among us, after all it is man’s greed and thirst for money to have recreated them, a sci-fi but damn current warning how much the hand of man, of the powerful, can affect the future of our planet and our very existence.
The strength of this album is knowing how to relaunch what has already been seen in previous albums making it more captivating, targeted and particular. If the Jurassic saga has not only been a success for many years, but it is a true passion for many, especially children, it is mainly due to the curiosity that these creatures arouse, because, let’s face it, everyone has wanted at least once to be able to see a dinosaur. live (let’s be satisfied with cinema, comics and literature, which is better).
This collection is therefore a perfect mix of science and science fiction, page after page the cards of the dinosaurs protagonists and alongside the salient phases of the film. The cards of the animals are really delicious, they are not abstract, like in a school book, but they are a guide to get to know these prehistoric beings, taking the “frame” of the film.
Classic rectangular stickers, but also shaped and illustrated. We know, the shapes are difficult to attach and it is an adventure to fit them exactly with the design printed on the album, but they are their beauty. Enthusiasm for the mini stickers, necessary for the classification of the dinosaurs and the sample of the skin, had it been embossed or rough to the touch we would have reached the apotheosis but even so the idea works. In short, it is certainly a fun album to complete for children of all ages.
We do not intend to reveal too much to spoil the pleasure of the film, it is difficult to understand if it can be more appropriate to browse the album, reading all the details, the locations, the secrets of the film and then get excited go and rediscover them on the big screen, or resist, wait to go to the cinema and then run home to attach the stickers to remember through our little paper friends all the emotions we experienced while watching the film.
Several times you have read in our reviews the doubts about making albums that are too long, even less if they are also connected to a set of cards. This is not the case, in the meantime the album has an acceptable number of stickers, considering that we are talking about a blockbuster, secondly there are no parts that could have been skipped, indeed of the two perhaps a few more pages could also fit, but better thus, taking into account that, if it is true that the album contains “just” 154 stickers, the gigantic poster must also be considered.
The central poster is, in fact, a second album, the inside contains 62 stickers, if we are not at a record we are certainly close. Are we the only ones who imagine having the original copy hanging at home?!? So follow the movements of the dinosaurs based on the sightings (for those who clearly have been able to come back to tell it). An alternative solution to create this maxi poster could be to make the printed map and the various dinosaurs as stick & stack stickers so to allow them to be moved, the children would surely have liked it. If anything, it is difficult to correctly attach 42 (forty-two) stickers next to each other. Here you have to rely on Panini quality, an incorrect cut would lead to disaster, worse than the passage of a Brachiosaurus!
The poster is a pleasure to read even in its external part, a real guide to recognize and if possible, when necessary, avoid the less tame dinosaurs. Does a sign prohibiting riding a Triceratops seem superfluous? Maybe, but when in doubt, better underline it. Brilliant poster, the mix between fiction and reality that almost makes us doubt where one begins and the other ends.
In addition to the 216 stickers, we also find 50 cards. We are often against this solution, because we fear that it is only a means of making the collection more expensive by adding something superfluous. This is not the case in our opinion. We do not cry for a miracle, but compared to other Panini productions, even the cards know how to be an added value. The album lived very well even without it, but they still make themselves appreciated. The top would have been to create a set of survival cards, taking up themes, texts and images from the central poster. Perhaps by creating a combination of the two objects, perhaps even a game, even a super classic one such as the “Gioco dell’Oca” (Jurassic Goose, of course). Dear Panini, take it as a suggestion for a possible future album; what will there be? In our opinion, yes.
The total of the cards is actually 55, adding at least 5 limited edition cards, 3 attached to the starter pack, 2 exclusively on the Panini website by purchasing a box of 24 (the same one that is on newsstands). To understand if more will come out, as already happened with the last Harry Potter.
The worst mistake you can make in collecting this album is just sticking the stickers, really enjoy it, reading all the captions, you won’t regret it. Another tip, for the central poster, to avoid possible problems, collect all the stickers and then give yourself to the completion or at least do it when you have found a whole row of stickers, horizontal or vertical 😉
(EN)
UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE 2022/23 (Topps)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 253
album: Uefa Nations League 2022/23 (Topps)
stickers: 244 (1-244)
starter pack: album + 30 stickers 4,99€
box: 50 packets (8 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
mini box of 5 packets 4,99€
Could you imagine the Euro 2024 album, the first published by Topps, without the stickers of Italy, France, Germany and England? For 20 years Panini was unable to use the official England logo and shirts for their albums (with unfortunate results, remember the stickers of the 2002 World Cup?). Now the situation has been reversed, we hope that Topps can find the necessary agreements, because an album of the Europeans without the official logos and jerseys of the four main European football teams (only the fifth queen, Spain, is missing) would really be a half album.
Or in 2024 we shall find the official Euro album made by Topps and another album, made by Panini, with direct agreements with the federations. It is not the first time, the most striking case was USA94 where the original and official album was that of Upper Deck, but no one remembers it and this fact, honestly, should make the American multinational’s legs tremble a little.
Meanwhile, here is this Nations League 2022/23 album, rightly Topps takes advantage right now to send a salable product to the newsstands (something Panini did not do with the European female, in Italy), he does it by upsetting the parameters of the classic album on a competition, it looks more like a version with sticky stickers of the cards, where the players are divided, more or less, by role and even the graphics of the pages reflect the Match Attax.
It is a pity that the players of the four main national teams are present in a very limited number and with unicolor jerseys (“shirt of health” model) like certain albums we have seen in the past and which, we hoped, not to have to see Italy again in a unlikely white jersey, Germany in an even less black jersey and then France and England. These limitations allow you to see different stickers of footballers often little considered by this type of album or collections, if you then only look for the stickers of Haaland or Cristiano Ronaldo, well, they are there.
On the coats of arms, Topps has found a trick, instead of using the logos of the federations, here are the flags, on those Panini or anyone else, of course he cannot boast exclusive rights. The first pages of the album open with these stickers, it seems to have returned to certain mythical albums of the 60s, if you have ever wondered what the Andorran flag was like, for example, you can find it here.
Subsequently, a large part of the album is dedicated to the players divided by role or by “impact” on the pitch, from goalkeepers to top players, passing through the great forwards or defenders. Precisely according to what was written above, the photos printed on the album do not consider the great champions of the four national teams. Strange feeling, it’s like we have a Footballers album without printed photos of players from Inter, Milan, Juventus and Napoli.
Afterwards, the shaped stickers with the uniforms (obviously four are not the officers) of all the national teams and the reference to the country, its capital and the inhabitants. Conclusion with a part dedicated to the very recent history of the Nations League, highlights, curiosities, statistics and various stickers.
The most interesting aspect, also in view of the future Euro 2024 album, are the stickers with graphics that may have potential but must be improved. We’re not big fans of the information-filled stickers printed above but in this case we are really at a minimum. In perspective and if he wanted to, Topps could upset the canons by making all the shaped stickers. An idea that on the one hand intrigues us, on the other disturbs us, loving in the European and world albums that basic tradition for which we do not welcome epochal upheavals (the transition from Panini to Topps already seems more than enough).
The cost of the packets is interesting, 1 euro for 8 stickers (in any case two less than the Champions League packs), compared to the Panini parameters, a really positive date, who knows if it will be maintained in two years. Of course, we hope that by then agreements will have been reached to have a complete European album in all its parts, but the more we think about it, the more we believe there is a serious possibility of having two, where maybe together, they don’t make one ..
Must-have album? It depends on the point of view, for us it is still and somehow part of the European family, but at the same time a good collection of albums. on major international competitions, it can also be valid without, especially due to its setting, also far from the Panini RTWCs.
Collectors friends, the road ahead of us is all uphill!
(EN)
WOMEN’S EURO ENGLAND 2022 (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 252
album: Women’s Euro England 2022 (Panini)
stickers: 370 (1-366, C1-C4)
album not distributed in Italy
While the world of football rightly goes, at least in this, in the logical direction by giving a well-defined role to women’s football, Panini Italia goes against the trend and snubs the event, limiting the availability of this album, in our fundamental opinion, to the world only of the web.
Understandable if, although extremely painful for us, the commercial policy had been to definitively sink the relationship with newsstands, closing even more within their four walls and dedicating themselves mainly to selling on their own site. This is not the case, currently on newsstands, we have wonderful Panini albums (Jurassic World Dominion, for example) and other questionable ones that we strongly doubt will have the appeal but also the sales of the European women’s.
Let’s dispel another myth, Italy has not been the heart of the world of stickers for many years, the strongest European markets are others, England, Germany, perhaps even Spain and France. We are just the country that hosts the most important sticker factory in the world, should we therefore deserve a little more respect? Difficult to say, for sure the players deserved more respect, especially those of the Italian national team and all the fans.
In fact, a not insignificant detail, in this album we find Italy, in the one at the end of the year of the men’s world cup in Qatar, as we well know no. Another detail, so to speak, is being the last album on Europeans (men or women) made by Panini, Euro 2024 will be branded Topps. It will probably be just a goodbye but the change is epochal, even if only in the format of the album, except, it would be beautiful, the American house did not maintain what we have known well since Euro 80.
The classic is what we want to find in the albums of Europeans as well as those of the world championships, here is everything. It is not in these collections that we expect big changes and, honestly, we tremble at the very idea. Not only that, in its small way, this Women’s Euro 2022 is better than the men’s Euro 2020, just as Women’s France 2019 was better than the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The first pages are a little limited compared to the beautiful albums of the 80s and 90s, but the calendar is always present and next to it the stickers with the logos of the cities that host the matches. Since the stadiums are not the usual ones in men’s football, the sports facility stickers would have been a nice addition. All special silver stickers, certainly intriguing page with the stickers attached (yes, we are still among those who attach the stickers ..)
The four groups are then presented, as has already happened, for example, with the men’s Euro 2016, here there are stickers that normally find space on the pages of the national teams. The 16 stickers of the teams are a good choice, the right introduction to the album.
Rest of the album that presents the 16 teams and where we also find the always beloved league titles, with the national team logos. Those are that we always want them together with the players (and players, as in this case). Each national team has 20 stickers (22 stickers, also counting the team and the shield).
There is a lot of information on stickers, having learned geography with “figurine”, we would have put their city of birth in place of the height of the athletes. Nice idea to keep on the sticker the drawing with the role on the pitch that we also find printed on the album, with also the info on the appearances in the international tournament or the announcement of the absolute debut.
16 teams, the graphic choice of giving the same space to the last national team is appreciable and guessed, given the disqualification of Russia for the war which was then replaced by Portugal. These stickers are available with the upgrade set. The coup de class is to provide the stickers to complete the album not only with the 22 stickers like the other clubs but also with the adhesive writings to make the completed album uniform. Gorgeous choice, which we really enjoyed. The Portugal stickers are therefore 26 (number 25, from 241 to 261 and from C1 to C4).
As we wrote, unfortunately the album is not available on Italian newsstands. We have pointed this out in other reviews as well. we understand the very high costs to cover the supply to the many Italian newsstands but the solution, in our humble opinion, is, if desired, simple: through distributors, Panini, like all publishers, can have the sales data of the individual newsstands of the whole Italy, therefore, as it did with the recent Score, could decide to supply only the “virtuous” ones. We hope this is the path they will want to take in the future.
At least, for once, Panini Italia presents a proposal on the web that kills the parallel market. We too have fallen into the “trap” of buying the set from foreign retailers (released 2 months ago, while here in Italy the web offer is quite recent), the offer of the box of 75 packets plus the priced album (english or german, Italian edition dose not exist) and, above all, the Portugal update set as an amount to 80.00 euros, which must be purchased separately abroad, is an advantageous economic proposal, given the times. Certainly more attractive than the prices found on the international market, at least until, it happens soon, the special pack will be sold out. Of course, everything is fine if it will also be possible in Italy to buy the missing stickers.
We thank Panini for the proposal and for main part of the choices on the album, but not having brought it to Italian newsstands, the house of stickers, even more so than the Modena factory, we just can’t accept it.
(EN)
FROZEN 2: Album story
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 251
album: FROZEN 2 album story (Panini)
stickers: 192 (1-192) + 50 cards (C1-C50)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 2,90€
box: 25 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
mini box 5 packets 4,90€
We have lost count, there are so many albums dedicated to Frozen, so much so that they can be considered an independent part of the Disney production. It is certainly a much loved product, probably the biggest hit since the time of the Lion King in Disney cartoons.
Could such a large production of sticker albums or cards make sense without a third chapter of the saga on the horizon? Of course yes, even if the story is now known. In fact, this album does not hide any secrets, a bit like illustrated books, it just tells the second adventure of Elsa and Anna, with a small preamble to mention where we were left after the first feature film.
The album is divided into chapters, faithfully reflecting what happens in the cartoon. Most of the stickers seem new to us, even if we remember several images in the cards, after all the “frames” of the film are those, they cannot invent others. But it is an album that you may like, especially the graphic layout is interesting, standard, special and shaped stickers that alternate.
The sore point is that Panini does not know how to go beyond the fixed pattern, the one already seen, perhaps not even with a certain foresight regarding the potential success of the album or it is simply more the obligation to release periodic products to maintain the rights. Hence the presence of the cards, which give a contribution to the quality of the album equal to nothing, essentially a repetition of what has already been proposed by the stickers.
With the pejorative fact that they only raise the cost of the product, making it unappetizing, also taking into account that we are towards the summer and The Kingdom of Ice has a much more Christmas theme. We think that an album with a much lower number of stickers (140? Even less) and without cards (50 are, almost always, an exaggeration, but perhaps it is the “minimum questionable” to maintain the famous rights) would have been much more suitable.
Pleasant album, nothing more. Staying on the Frozen theme, the previous “Crystal Edition” is much more appropriate.
Exactly 2 years after the first series, the new collection of Lego Ninjago cards arrives on newsstands. The first was fantastic, the second is also excellent. One might wonder why two years go by, but if we think about what has happened in the world in the last 24 months, then we really understand if, by hypothesis, Blue Ocean has decided to postpone the release.
The German publisher has a different approach than others, if the request for missing cards follows the same line as the first series, limited and (perhaps) platinum cards aside, it is relatively easy to complete. Considering that the Italian edition is in any case less rich than the foreign one, with fewer variations, Germany from this point of view is a world apart.
Also of quality is the rich starter pack full of information with the confirmation of the central mega poster with all the photos of the cards. The information is many and varied to help not only understand the collection but also the different types of cards, divided, in order of numbering between heroes, villains, epic battles, action, trap and vehicle. As collectors of stickers, we give more weight to images than to the rules of the game.
Final part of the puzzle card binder, three different images for cards 226-252. Returning to the rare cards, the platinum cards (numbered from 253 to 256) are defined as “extremely rare”, the limited ones (numbered LE1-LE4) instead “super rare”. The Italian language is beautiful, it seems to us that “extremely” is a stronger concept than “super” and perhaps they are actually hard to find.
Especially if they cannot be ordered from the publisher, while instead the limited ones, in reality, it is probably enough to buy the upcoming tin boxes and perhaps, as already happened with the Series 1, two different starter packs even if the guide inside does not specify it. A detail that honestly leaves a little perplexing.
For LEGO fans almost a duty, for card fans a valid and above average collection. Lovers of small bricks, run to the newsstand!
(EN)
RAINBOW HIGH card book (OFFICINA EDICOLA)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 249
album: Rainbow High animated card book (Officina Edicola)
cards: 150 (1-150)
starter pack: album + 1 packet 4,50€
box: 25 packets (4 cards per packet) 1,50€
The way for Officina Edicola’s card collections is effective, we had already noticed it with the previous albums dedicated to Lyon, the first was so incredibly successful that Panini was forced to buy the rights for the future productions of the famous Youtuber. At least in our country without even remotely reaching the results of that first album.
By the way, Panini in January 2021 brought to newsstands a first album by Rainbow, accompanied by Unicorns, part of the same brand. It was a pretty good and colorful album, it seems to us that this collection also follows the line.
Lyon, Rainbow, two albums where the stickers are Panini, the Officina Edicola cards. Both companies are in Modena, more than a question of competition, we think that the link is different, perhaps on some products the multinational releases certain products for others.
The card container, instead of the ugly, obsolete and even polluting plastic pockets, is a nice format with the space to insert the cards as if they were photographs. Who knows, perhaps in 2050 Panini, Topps and other companies will have emptied their warehouses of plastic binders and will be able to devote themselves to solutions that are not only a smile on the environment, but that are objectively and far more pleasant to collect, more “cool” and in the end even more accurate, as in this case.
This is not possible for sports collections, both due to the high number of cards and because often (except for the dull Adrenalyn, for example) even the back has its importance.
It seems we have taken this review away but in reality we believe we have got the point, the interior graphics are not repetitive (as happened for example with the first Lyon) but rather they are an integral part of the collection, a bit like it happens with many of the albums. of classic stickers.
Finally, the cards are small but very nice, varied, special and will make little girls happy because they look good even alone, with their 3D or transparent images. Number of total cards which in our opinion could be even more limited but in general, for fans, a product that is still valid.
(EN)
COCOMELON (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 248
album: Cocomelon (Panini)
stickers : 192 (1-192)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 4,90€
box: 5 packets (5 stickers per packet) 5,00€
It may happen that seeing new albums on newsstands, some collectors ask themselves “who are these?”, As if the publishers were dedicating productions to unknown realities. Perhaps if you are no longer very young and do not follow the news.
Cocomelon more than a cartoon, in the classic sense of the term, is a YouTube channel. In 2021 it was among the most viewed programs in the US and in the world. So, right there is an album.
This review, rather than our usual analysis of interiors, details and stickers, is a brief analysis of the market for stickers in newsstands. This new Panini release gives us some ideas for reasoning, we are not marketing people and not even economics, we are passionate, so they are reasonings that start from the base, from the bottom.
The presentation of this album on newsstands, taking into account the new market rules, could lead the way. We are not sure if the problem is the decrease in newsstands or the turning point towards direct internet sales of Panini but the Cocomelon product offers a substantial novelty: instead of the classic box with many packets, less and less bulky (from the classic 50 we had reached 24), now the packets are sold not individually but in boxes of 5 each.
Basically you can no longer buy the single packet, classic for collections especially intended for children where those who buy are parents or grandparents. It is perhaps not wrong as a basic concept, we hope it is an evaluation in the case of albums that are not born to be completed, but only to cover a certain moment of market demand. So the parent buys a box and maybe some extra but doesn’t go any further. Although the very idea of the concept of “albums that are not meant to be completed” makes us horrified.
Impractical and disastrous if instead you want to try to complete it, because in the classic box of 50 or 36 there were usually a few doubles (in those of 24 it already works little), but buying boxes of 5 packets each, the risk of finding the same is very high.
It is likely that this formula will be adapted for all the albums on which Panini does not consider a potential success, so perhaps as to limit, on the one hand, the returns from the bulk sticker kiosks, on the other hand to push the purchase of a minimum of 5 packets. The cost of the packets is extremely questionable, 1 euro for 5 stickers, although of good quality, it will also be in line with the market, the Panini one, other publishers are cheaper, but we find it too high. But if we go back to the initial reasoning, that is to push the parent to a minimum purchase, knowing that maybe it will not go beyond 10 or 20 sachets, then from an economic point of view it makes sense.
However, and even more wrong at this point to make a useless and lengthened album of 192 stickers, better album with 110 maximum 130 stickers as we are finding on newsstands and that, with a box of 24 packets for a total of 20 euros (other publishers, such as written, they still sell the packets at 0.70 or 0.80) you can almost complete.
As collectors it leaves us perplexed, we fear this 5-pack mini box formula will be the novelty and probably, at least as far as we are concerned, it will also bring us precise choices on which albums to try to complete. Much more correct than done with the Score cards, which will surely be repeated with subsequent albums, or rather a reasoned choice of covering only the newsstands with good sales feedback. So the product is supplied only to those who have a market, perhaps the possible sales are limited but on the other hand the waste is also limited. Sergio Bonelli Editore, with comics, is moving in the same direction. Just read what was written in this month’s comic book editorial.
From our point of view, it is right to reward those who work well or simply have the good fortune of having a school nearby, even if you run the risk of burying a good percentage of newsstands, but the problem is much wider, with a lot of material sold only on Panini website. If this can lead to a “natural selection” of newsstands but those that remain will be strong subjects, let’s say that perhaps it is the only way forward, whether we like it or not.
Out of time? The doubt is there. Five days from the end of the championship, a new card album seems like a risky move, also taking into account that at the same time Panini has sent the Score series on newsstands. Collection that is enjoying great success, from our point of view because of superior quality, probably also for the search for “easy money” that has prompted many to buy the packets in search of the many, many limited cards to sell at high prices on the internet .
Not only that, if it is true that the Adrenalyn collection comes out in September to be available for the reopening of schools, it is difficult to think that it can have the same impact when schools close to just over a month.
It is also true that the Titans Series cannot be defined only as an expansion of the classic Adrenalyn, although it was created to be an added part of it, it is denoted in particular by the back of the cards. So the goal may be on the one hand to acquire new collectors, being much shorter than the previous one, on the other hand to entice classic collectors who want to have both series.
The fact remains that on newsstands there are the most captivating Score and that, as mentioned, we are at the end of April.
The Titans collection can be defined as a version of Italian football on what is seen with the europeans and world cup cards. In fact, we find the badges and jerseys, which are not found in the classic Adrenalyn series, as well as the cards with the Top 11 club by club, as happened with Euro 2020 for example, with the addition of being also 3D. In our opinion these 60 cards are the most interesting of the collection, they are also those not connected to the game, you can also see from the different and much improved back. For example, all three official uniforms can be found on the back of the shirt.
The following are variants of what has already been seen in the various years Adrenalyn, nothing particularly captivating. The Time Machines with the great champions of the past would have been much more interesting if they had extended to the history of Italian football, here are re-proposed players who appeared in recent years in the Adrenalyn collection. However, the idea of putting small images of different player cards next to the large photo is nice. In general, however, in our opinion, a superior graphic quality of the classic Adreanalyns should be noted.
If you are new to a good starting point, 9 players per club plus various specials for a total of 212 cards, limited not included. For us who are not even big fans of cards, which is also our limitation when we analyze these collections, a valid album, but still released too late and above all much less interesting than the Score collection. The cost of the sachets is appreciable, lower than the Panini standard of recent years.
A possible advice? Collecting only the first 60 (T1-T60: badges, eleven, second skin) as an extra to the classic series, but that’s just our idea, of course.
(EN)
SCORE SERIE A 2021-22 (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 246
album: Score Serie A 2021-22 (Panini)
cards: 400 (1-200, plus various numbers)
starter pack: binder + 2 packets Fat Pack 19,90€
box retail: 20 packets (10 cards per packet) 3,00€ each
box fat pack: 12 packets (30 cards per packet) 6,00€ each
Out of time?! Perhaps for a different collection, see Adrenalyn, not for the legendary Score. If you were young in the 90s, you will remember the cards of that time, which showed a product in advance for the Italian times, in the last 30 years, almost never Panini or Topps has been able to do the same, at least in football.
As big supporters of the world of newsstands, it’s a pity that the material on the web was in pre-order for much longer. However, although there are only a few days to go until the end of the championship, which is still very open, the Panini / Score idea is perhaps to use the passion of children for football and the “fuck” of collectors for all the news until the very last moment.
The collection consists of 200 basic cards, a set that is easy to complete thanks to packs of 30 cards. In this first part of the collection you can already see the basic quality of the cards, in our opinion much higher than the Adrenalyn series, both in form and in substance, thicker, with info and photos on the back. If such a collection had come out with the classic Panini series, it would have simply annihilated it.
Too bad for the solution of the initial 200 cards, it means that each team has 10 cards and this goes badly with the binder, which as always contains 9 cards per sheet. So the 180-card set would have been perfect. Sometimes we are a pain in the ass, forgive us. Of course, a set that is easy to complete unless you want to get involved with the project, to the limit of the impossible, of collecting all the Parallel Cards, a range of 15 variations of different colors!
The next 200 are a different, more complex discourse, it could not be otherwise. From this point, number restart from 1 with each type of card.
Breaktrough / Breaktrough Cd, 25 cards, with emerging Serie A players ready to break down walls to reach the top of football. All Hands Team, 15 cards, the best goalkeepers in Serie A, we would have seen good cards in horizontals engaged in great saves. Hot Rookies, 15 cards, need no introduction, to be kept aside, who knows that maybe one day they will not become coveted cards and are sought after by thematic enthusiasts. Score Team, 25 cards, that is the champions team by team, with all respect for the selected players, a part where the current Italian football pays the difference with the Premier League and the lack, except for some, of big names in football international. Next Level Stats, 20 cards, the best in their roles.
All the special cards above include Parallel Cards with Gold Lava, Black Lava, Gold Lasers, Black Lasers variants.
Game Face, 20 cards, in terms of graphics perhaps the best card of the collection, double photo of the face and player in action. Serie A logo and club crest in the foreground, really interesting. Intergalactic, 20 cards, football and science fiction meet. Like “Space Jam” could the chosen players represent us in a hypothetical match in the most remote space? 3D, 20 cards, present the defense trio of 20 teams, full-body action photos, side by side, interesting but can also be improved. For these three types of cards there are special super limited editions, just to make it even more unlikely to find them all, or maybe not?
The collection is completed by the Score Signatures, as many as 40 players and their autographs. Probably among all the most coveted cards for those interested in finding certain players or themes. The first 20 feature players from the current championship but the most sought-after are certainly the next ones where we find the great champions of the past. A few names? Roberto Baggio (Fiorentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Gabriel Batistuta (Fiorentina), Diego Milito (Inter), Diego Armando Maradona (Napoli), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Jurgen Klinsmann (Inter), Kakà (Milan), Gianfranco Zola (Napoli), Marco Van Basten (Milan), Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio), Daniele De Rossi (Rome), etc. Here too Parallel Card gold and black.
Interesting proposal also from a commercial point of view, with two different boxes and sachets. Above all, the Fat Pack for the little ones is valid, with 6 euros you have 30 cards, difficult to find the specials but still a good basis. It is a collection of clear American origin, where the goal is rarely to find them all (practically impossible and probably not even convenient in terms of a possible future resale), but to look for certain sports or types of cards.
The Score cards are born with a completely different idea from the Adrenalyn ones, connected to a hypothetical game, although in reality few consider them as such. If you take a trip to the USA or even just to England, you can find incredible material compared to what arrives on the Italian market (no comment on the forgettable Instant ..) but with Score even New York or Los Angeles seem closer.
(EN)
NINNA E MATTI (Idea Lab)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 245
album: Ninna e Matti (Idea Lab)
stickers: 110 (1-110)
starter pack: album + 3 packets 3,90€
box: 25 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Not just Meteheroes! At Idea Lab they got a taste of it, after the two albums dedicated to the cartoon of superheroes in defense of the environment, they launch into the world of YouTube. Personally a choice that always makes us happy, if the new idols of kids continue to appear on newsstands with sticker albums, it means that our little paper friends still have their market and their charm. Welcome, long live the stickers!
There are so many albums related to the internet world that even here, on our site, we have decided to create the “Web Heroes” category. Last album, but others will surely arrive, is that of Ninna and Matti. The young couple from Grosseto has largely exceeded one million followers on YouTube, thanks to their entertaining videos of challengers and small and big daily adventures.
The album proposes a formula that we have already seen with other web heroes, a solution we do not consider convenient but a choice because it works, alternating real photos with cartoon versions.
The album is an introduction to the world of the couple, how they met (“the origins”, a bit like Superheroes), their interests, travels, of course videogames and all their friends, including, interesting news , other characters of the web. In short, a sort of Ninna and Matti Universe, which also bodes well for possible future crossover albums (yes, our influence as comic lovers often makes itself felt!)
Speaking of comics, the final part of the album dedicated to a story, four pages with shaped stickers to complete the drawings. A very nice addition that almost concludes an album where another important aspect in our opinion should be pointed out. The total number of stickers is just 108, we fully agree with the choice. Both for the speed with which the market moves, and for the still high number of editorial proposals on the newsstands, essential albums are welcome, but not limited to them. You don’t get the feeling that something is left behind and on the contrary you can create the foundations to maybe make a next one, after all that “goodbye!” at the end of the album it looks promising.
In the packets that we have opened, the stickers seem to us the good complement of an album that will surely appeal to fans of Ninna and Matti. In addition to various animated images, the stickers give the feeling of not being “stolen” photos from the video set, but rather selfies and photos made on purpose, as if what we have in our hands were not just an album of stickers, but a real family album.
With 110 stickers in total and the box of 25 packets, if you are lucky, with a very low cost it is really possible to complete it easily. Let’s dispel the myth that sticker albums must always be monumental and complicated to find all the stickers, the rare ones, rookies and the multitudes let’s leave them for the Calciatori and a few others, sometimes not even these would be necessary.
Thanks to Idea Lab for the quality of the album paper, shiny but good and without creases, someone much bigger than this, they will excuse us, small publisher should learn to have more respect for their buyers and stickers lovers in general.
(EN)
BABY SHARK (PANINI)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 244
album: Baby Shark (Panini)
stickers: 196 (1-196)
starter pack: album + 5 packets 3,90€
box: 24 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Don’t try to cheat us, as soon as you read the title you sang the tune. Adults or children, parents or not, we all really know the hit song. About 9 billion views on YouTube, the most viewed in history, 11 million copies sold of the single in the United States alone, since last year the cartoon has also arrived in Italy on television and with it, the Italian version of the famous song.
“My first album” is written large on the cover and that’s it, because the target is aimed precisely at the little ones. Small collectors luckier than the big ones, since the album is offered with a good matte paper without creases or other problems, as opposed to other recent albums where bad glossy paper causes disasters. Well, Panini proves to have at least a good heart for the little ones!
The collection is very dynamic and nice, perhaps a little repetitive but seen by adult eyes, children will surely find it fun. Very colorful pages suitable not only for attaching stickers but interacting with games, sometimes coloring, solving quizzes. Each page tells a different story, so that each page is somehow unique and, seen from the eyes of a child, many adventures to live.
Certainly after this album you have a knowledge of the whole world of Baby Shark, since there are so many characters represented. We like to emphasize once again the graphic layout, which is really pleasant, as if it were an illustrated book for children with stickers to stick on.
The stickers, we are sure, will also fill diaries, notebooks and wardrobes, perhaps even some walls, to the delight of mum and dad. Larger in size than the standard, their, somehow, simplicity is also synonymous with immediacy. They are used to complete the album, but they also have their own charm on their own.
If you wanted, taking into account that it is aimed at children, you could have avoided many stickers, almost 200 are an exaggeration. It would have been a good album even with only 140 or 160 stickers, therefore easier to complete, even taking into account the boxes of just 24 packets. Despite being among the most popular brands in the world, perhaps Panini, after all, did not believe it enough to make a box of 36 or 50 packets.
(EN)
Fantastic Beasts: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 243
album: Fantastic Beasts – The secrets of Dumbledore (Panini)
box: 24 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
t is always complicated when an opinion is already negative, especially if in reality there are several interesting aspects. Our considerations cannot suffer the negative impact of the album paper which, once again, is a punch in the stomach.
We are not asking for top quality paper, but acceptable, collectible, decent, that is. The feeling is that there is really a total lack of respect not only towards the buyers but also the history of Panini, at least of the Panini family, of the four or rather eight brothers and of Nonna Olga, celebrated by us with a card.
The annoying point, beyond any other aspect, is that these shortcomings heavily affect those who, in the Panini household, have not forgotten history, tradition and seriousness. Result: albums that are interesting from many points of view, are eventually massacred by details where the paper crisis is just a mere excuse, if Panini herself, at the same time, releases albums with matte and non-glossy paper that do not cause problems. And other publishers, almost all of them, use glossy paper but without all these disasters.
It is really a big shame because the album linked to the Harry Potter Universe proves to be quite interesting. First of all in the formula, in our opinion winning, no more time for biblical albums (for those Calciatori are enough) but essential, to the point that the sometimes useless cards can also be digested. “Dumbledore’s Secrets” contains just 120 stickers, an excellent solution, especially in an era where the boxes that arrive at newsstands contain only 24 packets. To be (very) optimistic, we are satisfied that we can find an adequate number of stickers other than having to then only make a limited order of missing ones at Panini between stickers and card.
The album is divided into two parts, in the first pages (stickers from 1 to 44) space for the previous films, this also explains the background graphics to the minimum terms. There is, as the right change of style compared to the following pages where we get to the heart of the new film and where in the images we find beautiful and large photos of scenes from the film, in black and white which makes it all very fascinating, right contrast with the stickers above. which are obviously in color. An appreciable detail, by attaching the stickers, the images below still maintain vitality with the various characters / actors still clearly visible.
The stickers are certainly not trivial, the editorial line is similar to the previous albums, correct choice since the quality is excellent, as well as the larger format than the standard. The frame, also special silver or gold, allows you to have that picture effect that, you will see, will make you spend more than a moment enjoying the photographs. Photographs, not “frames” from the film, this is what they seem. Really beautiful.
The 30 cards are ultimately a good filler for a good collection. In the starter pack there are also 3 limited edition cards. Another detail that we appreciate, compared to other collections, is the size of the limited, equal to the 30 cards found in the packets, this should allow you to keep them all together in the dedicated box, attached to the album.
The stickers are beautiful, the limited formula of stickers and cards to complete the album is good, a pity, a real shame about the insult (sorry, we can’t find a more correct term) of the quality of the paper. And if Panini ever had the intention of releasing a hardcover version, it would not be remotely a solution for those who have the right to be able to collect in a curated, traditional and stapled album.
standard box: 18 packets (8 cards per packet) 2,99€ cad.
value pack box: 10 packets (26 cards per packet) 8,50€ cad.
Minecraft is back! In reality it is difficult to think that they had ever left, given the millions of fans that this game has all over the world, if we are on the third album (2 of cards, 1 of stickers) in a short time Panini probably also found interest. in the products made.
An important collection also in terms of costs, not exactly economic, but in contrast to other productions we can see a good quality, even in the details. As already happened in the previous collection, the back of the cards has a different image from the front. The not too high number of cards therefore allows them to be stored in the binder 9 per envelope, so as to enjoy both images.
While it is true that on the one hand Panini, for some time, has no longer considered newsstands the center of its universe, with exclusive or preview products on its website, on the other hand, at least in this case, there are also different products for the traditional market ..
In cases like these, the starting point is as important as the arrival, if the intention is to have cards to make the children happy, every single purchase can be enough, if the desire is to try to complete the collection, you need to be patient and .. a budget that is not impressive but still important. Incalculable if you decide to find all the variations.
The checklist included in the binder is essential to understand the collection which is not random, but well organized presenting the whole Minecraft world. The first 63 are mainly dedicated to the characters, from 55 to 81 space for scenarios, all nine cards are needed to get the complete image, from very interesting and original comic book fans the sketch cards, 18 and then to continue many other characters.
In our own small way, we believe fans will be pleasantly surprised by the quality of the cards, also by their variety, also taking into account that out of 207 total cards 108 are special, metal or mirror effect. Do you want to look for them all, really all? Well, there are even 53 cards in “parallel” version, holographic silver or gold.
It is appreciated that the checklist is also very useful for those who want to reach the final goal. Just browse the attachment to understand what they are and how to mark them. They are details, but important and we like to point them out. Although in reality, the variants are simply those between 2 and 54. All the stickers can, if lucky, be found in the standard packets, except for the limited ones that can only be purchased in the starter packs, the standard one and the online one. on the Panini website, actually the same with the addition of two limited packets (not exactly ethical move towards newsstands, but we have already commented before).
So summarizing 207 complete basic set cards + 106 parallel + at least 6 limited edition cards = 319 total cards .. but that’s not necessarily the end of it!
(EN)
THE GRUFFALO (Gazzetta dello Sport)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 241
album: Il Gruffalò (Gazzetta dello Sport)
stickers: 180 (1-160 + 20 A not numbered)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,50€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,70€ each
What a surprise Gruffalo! We often go around with albums to review, waiting to be able to do the review. In this case we were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of many mothers and fathers who read the books of this fictional character to their children.
Created by Julia Donaldson in 1999, this cute creature has been the protagonist of children’s illustration books, before becoming a cartoon as well. As you know, we believe in stickers and therefore we are very happy that it has also become an album!
It is also interesting that the editorial proposal comes from a giant like RCS and that the album is linked to Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera. Definitely an attempt to enter this world directly, made up of packets and stickers. In recent years, Gazzetta has made several albums, always as attachments to other products (comics by Tex, Zagor, Alan Ford, etc. or the DVDs of Holly & Benji, Lupin III), but this time it is an old-fashioned proposal .
The albums “attached to” were very affected by the quality, some more or less, especially the stickers were rather, if you allow us the term, cheap. Here it is clear that it is a test, but like all tests it must be done with a certain commitment and it seems to us that Gazzetta has hit the mark, although we have found some really avoidable errors.
The feeling of rehearsal is also in the setting of the album itself, a presentation of Gruffalo, of the leafy forest where he lives and his animal friends. The interpretation is therefore an introduction with the prospect, possibly, of making other albums that tell the adventures in detail.
If you are not new to our reviews, you know that we do not really like static stickers, here is an explosion of shapes, there are so many. Not only that, also transparent and hairy. Wanting album, it is not easy for children to attach, but today’s little ones are quite smart and with the help of their parents or uncles we are sure we can achieve excellent results.
At the center of the album is the poster for the stickers numbered A, the legendary “stick & stack”. Given the type of product and the target, a great way to make children interact with the characters and perhaps always create new stories. First big mistake: stickers A do not have any type of numbering, luckily we found them all by opening an entire box, so here is the image of the 20 special “stick & stack” stickers 😉
The album is a mix of fantasy, illustration and teaching. The captions tell about the oddities of our friend with the monster face, but also provide notions about the real animals his friends, the ones that really populate our planet. Useful and fun at the same time.
The stickers are well made, very light but full, specially made to be attached to the album. Given the giant RCS as a publisher, surely it can afford it, the cost of the sachet is an appropriate choice, in good contrast with products with similar targets currently on newsstands. The same number of stickers, 180, without the addition of useless and expensive cards, could entice parents to buy even more. Even the cardboard of the starter pack is not to be thrown away, it is possible to cut out the characters. Insignificant detail? We don’t think so.
Second (and third) mistake: in the album there is no reference on how and when to order the missing stickers, we hope it’s just a “sin of inexperience”, if it were through the classic service on the Gazzetta Store, not everyone knows how do. Furthermore, the big question is whether stickers A will be available and how to recognize them. Panini, at the time of Gorjuss made a similar mistake but then later saved himself by putting a pdf file on the site to find out which number the various stickers corresponded to. As other publishers do, however, it could be that the “attach and detach” simply are NOT orderable .. hopefully the others are at least!
In general, this “take the field” of Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere della Sera, an Italian publishing giant that could decide to make other products, who knows, maybe even sports products, is generally interesting .. in the meantime, one wonders if this product can do from forerunner to a new synergy between books and stickers (for the writer, I have always dreamed of the album of stickers of Richard Scarry’s characters, the oldest among you will know who I am referring to). Time will tell if it will be a success or not, we personally hope and cheer on it, the project must be supported but also the choice of quality, paper and economic proposal.
UPDATE: after some checks also made by other collectors, RCS’s crazy choice not to provide the missing stickers service, this necessarily causes not only the considerations on this collection to change suddenly but also puts a big question mark on any future collections. Bad, really bad and completely without logic, especially if you wanted to open a cycle.
Gruffalo Forever!
(EN)
METEOHEROES 2 (Idea Lab)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 240
album: MeteoHeroes 2 (Idea Lab)
stickers: 160 (1-160)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,50€
box: 40 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,80€ each
Welcome back MeteoHeroes! One year later, here is the new superhero album for the environment. In 2021 we, in our own small way, supported the initiative. Both for the quality of the proposal and for the charitable purpose, linked to Lega Ambiente and the protection of our friendly bees, fundamental for the ecosystem and for everyone’s future.
The cover can be misleading, it is not an updated version of the previous one but completely different. Certainly the setting is similar but the two albums have a life of their own, even if the second can be seen as a continuation of the first. In fact, the first 16 stickers speak of the “origins”, to find out more you can always buy the complete set of MH 2021, available among our SolidAlbum https://figurineforever.com/figurine-disponibili/
Save the bees. The theme is not marginal to the album but is its substance, its purpose. A wise choice, therefore, that the first pages, after the short introductory part, are dedicated to the campaign for the purchase of bees’ houses. Each packet purchased corresponds to a house, simple isn’t it?
The most substantial part of the album is connected to the many adventures around the world of our MeteoHeores, the same ones you can experience following the cartoon. From Ex-Yugoslavia to Brazil the whole world is covered, so that alongside fun and notions on climate and environmental problems, perhaps the youngest can also learn geography.
Excellent news to see the graphics of the first album confirmed, if it works, just don’t twist it. Each page is a swarm of colors, information but also stickers, different from each other: large, small, shaped, holographic. Completing every single page is really essential to appreciate the content, without stickers, it could not be otherwise, it would be missing too much.
An album made to involve the family but also the school. An important role is to help children not only to attach the stickers but also to follow the stories to read and understand the information and advice of our MeteoHeroes for a better tomorrow. Also life-saving tips such as the captions that we find in yellow at the bottom at the end of each adventure. “Better never play with fire ..”, good advice also for adults, mind you.
It is commendable to continue the operation by Idea Lab. 20 stickers less than the previous one, without the poster in the center of the album to be completed. Good. Let’s dispel the myth that a good album must have many stickers; the didactic ones and for the very young it is right that they contain between 140 and a maximum of 180 stickers; 160, as in this case, is a good solution.
Cost of the packet raised by 10 cents, too bad. But the stickers are bigger than the previous album. Great choice, the new format is more suitable. Among the many information that the album is worth, the important one on how to request the missing stickers is missing. Or is it an “easter egg” and we don’t see it? 🙂
A strong candidate for our Top Ten 2022!
(EN)
FORTNITE 3 Golden Frame Series (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 239
album: Fortnite 3 Golden Frame Series (Panini)
stickers: 248 (1-248)
starter pack: tba
box: 36 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
You can be passionate or not, but if you are in contact, even indirectly, with children and adolescents, you cannot fail to know Fortnite. Brand of such success that it also makes crossovers with some historical characters from comics, such as Batman.
Panini comes out with the third album of adhesive stickers, to which must also be added those of card. Fortnite’s success is evident, this allows us to save ourselves from the usual process of having a unique collection of stickers + cards, more complicated to complete, more expensive.
We liked the previous album very much, in terms of presentation and development of the album. This is why we have gone back many steps, it is not even a question whether the internal graphics can be liked or not, they simply are not there.
As in an 80’s album, space is simply for stickers. The first 33 pages are practically the same as each other, as you can see from the photo above, except for some gold or other brackets. It is true that the album features 100 different costumes, so the stickers are absolute protagonists, but a few splashes of different colors might suit us well. Short captions under the stickers.
After 196 stickers, the album takes a new turn with different shapes to complete the pages. Graphics reminiscent of the previous album. Showing the individual characters, the final part deals with the various series and their particularities: Oscura, Frozen, Lava, Ombre, Juicy. Ghosts against Shadows, vehicles and consumables close the album. It may be that to the fans everything seems perfect, for us who look more at the whole and less at the substance, it seems like a job done without too much impetus.
More articulated reasoning on stickers. Larger than normal size, lots of gold specials (after all it is the Golden Series ..) which also help to make the cost of the bag less indigestible at 1 euro. Now consolidated price for many releases, sure that an extra card in a packet would not have been bad. In practice, an album that is not exceptional, stickers that positively save the final judgment, however a step backwards compared to the previous one released in 2020.
(EN)
BING 4 maxi album (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 238
album: Bing 4 maxi album (Diramix)
stickers: 190 (1-170, A1-A5, B1-B10, C1-C5)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,99€
box: 30 packets (5 stickers per packet) 1,00€ each
This album is not only Bing but also .. Big! We are at the fourth collection dedicated to the cute rabbit and his friends, the first edition was already a large format album, in this case, however, the stickers are also the same. All big, all maxi.
This is the most significant news coming from the Diramix publisher. Maybe a different graphics could have been invented that did not follow the previous ones, a choice of tradition was made but in a different format. Much better this way than integrating it with cards or other devilry, not very suitable also taking into account the very young target of small potential collectors.
First pages dedicated to the birthday of our big-eared friend, a good excuse for a double page that also features the other main protagonists of the animated series. An introductory page that already makes the format of the album clear: many collage stickers, shaped and the inevitable hairs, always fun to the touch.
Subsequently, now a classic of the Bing albums, each page tells a new adventure, up to the central pages where, another classic, the “stick and stack” stickers with which to always invent new games. Three sets: dance party (numbered A), summer or winter (numbered B), pajama party (numbered C).
Not just adventure, the pages alternate with others of stickers including games, quizzes and notions for learning the alphabet, animal sounds or tools to become expert gardeners or cooks. At the end of the page the solution of the games.
The maxi stickers have led to a considerable increase in the cost of the packets, 30 cents more is really a lot, not justified by the quality of the stickers themselves. On the other hand, this giant format makes the album very fun, with huge images and close-ups that seem to almost enter your house. Fortunately, a not too high number of total stickers has been maintained, 190 like the previous one.
If you can almost complete the album with a box, often a practice in Diramix albums (and we thank them for this), even the more demanding price of the individual packets is acceptable.
(EN)
FANTASY RIDERS TCG (Panini)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 237
album: Fantasy Riders TCG (Panini)
cards: 396 (1-396)
starter pack: binder + 4 packets 8,00€
packets: 6 cards 1,50€ (box of 24 packets)
tin box : 50 cards 11,99€
metal box : 2 packets 5,00€
The Fantasy Riders world also arrives in Italian shops, after the great success in Spain and in other countries. We are in a period of great market linked to trading cards, fans are always looking for new games, they are not satisfied only with the classics, however always at the top of the sales, such as Pokemon or Magic.
The fact that it arrives later in Italy is yet another counter-proof that, unlike those who think and believe, the Italian market is not Panini’s main one, also applies to classic sticker albums such as those of the World Cup.
If we analyze the product from sticker collectors it seems to us very well done, the graphics are pleasant, the quality of the cards good, suitable for the game, resistant. They have prominent parts and above all, compared to other Panini productions, they are well aware of the importance of variety.
Important collection, having almost 400 cards. Suitable for game lovers, therefore without possibly the need to find them all. For the base game you need about forty cards. At the same time suitable for classic sticker collectors, with clear numbering on the front of the cards. An interesting detail is the back of the cards, not simply repeated but divided for the nine tribes, so that they are more easily recognizable.
Of course, the genre is fantasy, so he winks at Magic, hoping not to say a heresy, in terms of quality, they seem superior to us. Many specials, with different levels of rarity, from bronze to titanium. Six types of cards: heroes, creatures, riders, objects, places and spells.
We showed the collection to card players, invited them to play a game and tell us more. The substantial guide inside the binder is useful for knowing how the story is set up, a bit poor on the structure of the game, for that you need to try.
If in Spain they have reached the third edition, it means that the product works. A large company like Panini is right to try to enter directly into a very active market such as that of trading card games; we hope the search for the various numbers for those wishing to complete the collection will not be as complicated as with the collection of Captain Tsubasa by Tomy, where the numbers in the packets are always repeated. But also in terms of card quality, we are on another planet.
Long live the king!
(EN)
GENOA the stickers 2021/22 (Erredi)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 236
album: Genoa the stickers 2021/22 (Erredi)
stickers: 230 (1-230)
album: 1,00€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,70€ each
Also this year we have the opportunity to review the Grifone album. The oldest Italian football team, in its official album, made as in recent years by Erredi. Compared to last year, we have fewer stickers, the album is not affected that much. If anything, it’s a little bit of the whole that doesn’t make you cry out for a miracle.
Starting from the cover which, honestly, hardly not convinces us. We probably can’t understand the graphic choice but it seems really too abstract, also taking into account the specific weight that this club has in the history and the passion that distinguishes its fans.
Of course, making a rossoblu sticker album in recent years is not easy, given the high number of players replaced during the season. The same fate often happens to the coaches as well. Let’s say that for thematic collectors, those looking for the specific stickers of a single player, for Sheva fans a must have the stickers from 5 to 8 😉
In the album there are 34 players of the squad, no special treatment, for each of them a page with 5 stickers, the classic bust, the autograph, two full photos always posing (we would have preferred at least one in game action ) and the nicest and most captivating one with the player showing his game number from behind. No special stickers, the lack of stickers in action, as mentioned, makes the album very static and repetitive.
Do not call us nostalgic, even if in reality that is what we are, but the most interesting part of these monothematic albums is often the last where we leave room for history. This year we find many great former Genoa players represented, starting with the best goalkeepers of over in almost 130 years of history. Of course, Giovanni De Prà, the goalkeeper, the protagonist of our solidarity sticker Celebrative Sticker # 16, created in collaboration and in support of the Museum of the History of Genoa, cannot be missing (https://figurineforever.com/en/2021/11/22/celebrative-sticker-16-giovanni-de-pra-2/). After the 16 goalkeepers, it is the turn of the 16 great free throws and finally 26 stickers of Genoese footballers who have achieved great results in their city and their favorite team.
Final page with space for six stickers, updates. There is no further information. The stickers on the album have nothing particular or innovative, as already written the most interesting, even in terms of graphic choices, are those at the end of the album.
(EN)
SAMPDORIA the stickers 2021/22 (Erredi)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 235
album: Sampdoria the stickers 2021/22 (Erredi)
stickers: 252 (1-252)
album: 1,00€
box: 50 packets (5 stickers per packet) 0,70€ each
We find it fun to have the opportunity to prepare the reviews of the Genoa and Sampdoria albums together, so that we can compare them, without, who knows, the need to prefer one to the other. So as not to upset the fans of either team.
The graphic layout is similar, but not the same. Above all, this album has 22 more stickers than Genoa’s.
Very large space for the squad, 26 players. Taking into account that the cousins’ album has 34 players, as a result the final part of the album can only be richer. Each player is represented with 5 stickers, nothing particularly exciting, especially a useless repetition of the two whole stickers in pose, one in action would have been more appropriate.
From sticker 176 onwards we enter the second part of the album. Notion of merit is the presence of the female selection stickers, not just some as happens for example with the Europublishing albums of Inter, Milan, Juventus, but as many as 26 stickers! Bravi, who has been following us for some time, knows that we are great advocates of the right space, in all sports albums, even of women’s teams.
From sticker 202 to final 252 we dive into the history of the Sampdoria team, first with the Genoese players who grew up and became important in the team of their city, then with the Top 33 of the greatest players in the history of Sampdoria. Of course, it is impossible to put them all, just as it is to put everyone in agreement. Some names? Pagliuca, Mannini, Vincenzi, Morini, Vierchowood, Lippi, Lombardo, Frustalupi, the goal twins Vialli and Mancini, etc. Obviously, the idol of the curve par excellence could not be missing: Ernestro Bernardo Cucchiaroni, from whom the ultras take their name.
On the back cover, space for the 6 updated stickers. It is not known, at least on the album, how to recover these stickers. Probably in Genova, we hope, there is such a consolidated practice that it is not even necessary to notify it.
We recovered the album but not some stickers, however, being made similar to those of the Genoa album, we can imagine they are not particularly special. If not precisely those related to Sampdoria history and for this reason with an irresistible charm.
(EN)
DRAGON BALL ULTIMATE TCG (Diramix Italy)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 234
album: Dragon Ball Ultimate – TDC (Diramix)
cards: 162 (1-162)
starter pack: binder + 1 packet 6,99€
packet standard : 7 cards 2,00€ (20 packets per box)
How many albums have come out of Dragon Ball?!? Has anyone kept the count? Stickers we have had several Panini albums and other publishers. The cards first with Edibas then Diramix .. Probably there are at least twenty, maybe more. A sign that the myth continues to be strong and pleasant. All beautiful but, perhaps we are old, we still do not understand why Diramix (and Edibas before) insists on not personalizing the various collections, so that, subsequently, they are easily recognizable.
This detail, perhaps of little importance for card collectors, for us who come from the stickers, makes the collection unattractive, given over time the difficulty in recognizing the single card of which collection it belongs. Surely it is our limit .. be patient.
Of course, after so many releases it is also difficult to be original, opening just one packet different images seem to us already seen. The lamincards, gloriously born in Italy, are still a valid product, if kept with care. In fact, the transparent part is easy to get dirty.
162 is the perfect number, linked to the spaces that we find inside the binder, so there is no doubt that it does not undergo variations collection after collection. It is very appreciated that Diramix prints the numbering of the cards to be affixed on the sheets, other publishers have also eliminated the small adhesive to be attached. If you collect stickers or cards, you are probably aces with the 9 times table! 🙂
As happened with the previous “Ultra Power”, the last 9 cards are limited edition. The absolute protagonist is the dragon Shenron. To find them you need to buy the special packets. To check if by purchasing the box of 10 you will find the nine different limited cards. Probably not, so good luck swapping!
(EN)
ME CONTRO TE – The movie 3 (Diramix)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 233
album: Me contro Te – The movie 3 – Lost in time (Diramix)
stickers: 188 (1-180, A-H) + 40 cards (C1-C40)
starter pack: album + 2 packets 3,90€
box: 36 packets (4 stickers + 1 card per packet) 1,00€ each
Topper packets (topper + 1 packet) 3,50€ each
Once again Sofì and Luì! Fourth sticker album in a few years plus one of just cards. Now for the publisher Diramix it is time to do a mix of the two, following the editorial line of many others. Solution of which we are not big supporters but at least in this case the solution found is interesting.
As the album is linked to the third film, it retraces the new adventure of our heroes. So it is a wise idea to go to the cinema before starting the collection or you will have already discovered all the secrets of the story. We can only anticipate that the setting is fun and bubbly, as often happens when the protagonists go for a walk in time.
The classic characters we have come to know are all there. As has already happened in the past, the layout of the album is very varied and dynamic, alternating frames from the film with cartoon stickers, many are shaped and fill the images below. The line is similar to the previous albums but always winning, also taking into account that we are talking about characters born with social media and youtube, an album that is too classic with static stickers and the same in format would probably have been affected.
As written at the beginning, the novelty is the presence of 40 card. This has led to an increase in the cost of the packet and probably to greater difficulties also in completing the album. We are not very fond of the stickers + card proposal, often irrelevant for the quality of the collection, but it is undeniable that Diramix has found an interesting solution and that we hope that it will be followed by other publishers. Simple but effective. There is no box linked but the possibility of collecting the 40 cards right in the center of the album, inserting them using the cut corners as for the photographs and even the environment thanks. In the center poster for the 8 stickers numbered with the letters.
Another novelty, following what other sticker albums have done, are the gadgets that are not strictly connected to the collection. A bit like Sbabam does with TPOC or Panini with Gommaglie Calciatori (luckily they avoided this year ..). If you are crazy about McT, look for them all, otherwise you can buy the normal packets.
Nice, colorful stickers and cards and also the frames taken from the film in general are of good quality. The 40 cards are also different on the back, a detail that should be emphasized. Of the 40 cards, 10 also have the autographs printed on them. We have not yet found them in the packets that we have opened, but they are not limited edition, as is the case with Lyon’s latest album, for example.
Normally the purchase of a Diramix box helps a lot in completing the collection, being the 36 packets per box and the 40 cards, even if you are very lucky you will certainly need a multiple purchase. On the other hand, with stickers, it could happen.
(EN)
LYON 2 (OFFICINA EDICOLA)
EDICOLA NEWS: THE REVIEWS nr. 232
album: Lyon 2 (Officina Edicola)
cards: 150 (1-150)
starter pack: album + 1 packet 5,50€
box: 24 packets (5 cards per packet) 1,00€ each
Four albums in just over a year, after the incredible success of the first card album made by Officina Edicola, the two (very beautiful) stickers and cards made by Panini, return to the origin with a series of cards again for Officina Edicola. Album that has many things in common with the one released in November 2020, but there is no shortage of news.
In general it seems to us that Officina Edicola has listened to some of the suggestions received from enthusiasts and collectors, while maintaining the same editorial line, the album is better constructed, so much so that, unlike the first, in this case we feel we can say that it is not it is only a card binder.
This is not a secondary aspect, the first series had virtually non-existent graphics on the internal pages. There remained only the valid aspect of a choice to keep the cards without having to resort to plastic binders, also valid in this case. An excellent and appreciable choice, even from an ecological point of view, clearly feasible when it comes to collections with a limited number of cards. This second series, on the other hand, has a much more refined album, different images on each page and above all that refer to the card game connected to the collection.
The album is inspired by the Lyon series “Extreme Survival” and is equally divided into two parts, both at the card level and at the level of thematic pages. The first 75 cards and first 15 pages to the adventures at the Polo, the following 75 cards and 15 pages to the adventures in the desert. In reality, the variants allow you to participate in 10 different missions and the ability to play both alone and with friends.
On the back cover you will find a valid explanation of both how to play and the value and use of the various cards. The much more dynamic presentation within the album also upset the numbering compared to the first series. In the first album we had first the common cards, then the specials and then the rare ones. Here, however, by force of what they are mixed, as the album is divided into two parts.
This random sequence between cards of different values is easily understood thanks to the checklist on the back cover. It starts immediately with a bang, number 1 is an Ultra Rare! As for the first series, the ultra rare, which cannot be ordered from the publisher as missing cards, are four and exactly the numbers 1, 30, 79 and 96. In principle, by purchasing a box of sachets you will find an ultra rare, but it is not a rules, a safety. It can also happen that you are particularly lucky and find more than one. Also in this series in each pack you will find 2 common, 2 special and 1 rare cards.
In general, the cards seem to us improved compared to the first series, in particular to the touch they give us the impression of being more resistant. In terms of graphics we note that, despite having two adventures, we do not find a mere repetition with the different scenography in the background. Polo cards and desert cards are not the same images, of course the characters repeat themselves but with different designs. In short, a new collection that is appreciated, above all while maintaining the costs of the previous one. The album is also more compact.
The “Lyon” passion does not seem to know pauses. Strange to see two publishers working on the same character, but the collections are hugely different. The two Panini are probably among the best productions of the Modenese house of 2021, the two Officina Edicola (also from Modena ..) have a more classic and simple impact but no less interesting.
Adventure is also finding one of the 100 ultra rare cards autographed by Ettore Canu, if by chance you find them send us a photo and we will publish it on our social networks!
box: 100 packets (6 stickers + 1 card per packet) 0,70€ each
“Welcome back Cucciolotti!”, A nice Christmas present. We hope it is a good omen for a finally peaceful new year, we all really need it so much. Someone would like two Cucciolotti a year. Perhaps an exciting idea, but not very practicable. Leafing through the album we can only renew the beautiful sensations and the incredible work behind it, you can understand why it takes a long time to think, conceive and realize it. Better one a year and well done, perhaps with several new features, this year is not lacking.
The total number of stickers is downsized as it did last year, from 512 we went to 476 including extras. Right number, indeed it could still go down to around 450 so as to make the collection easier to complete. The quality would not be damaged, the album setting could allow you to “delete” some pages without the general substance being affected. It is also a choice in line with the times we live in, with fewer opportunities to swap the stickers.
At this point, buying a whole box, we think that we could really complete the album. Not only that, with 600 stickers (6 per packet) you would still have over 100 stickers to swap or stick on diaries and notebooks. After all, this has always been a winning aspect of the Cucciolotti collection, many stickers are effective even beyond the album itself, for their images, phrases, mottos. In practice, even if you complete the album more easily, you will have a thousand other reasons to continue playing with the Cucciolotti.
The 2022 album seems to us more like a container of many stories, didactics and good intentions, more than a product structured by chapters, especially in the second part. Not being a Marvel comic it doesn’t need to follow the “continuity”, indeed this aspect makes it more interesting, because you don’t know exactly what you might find on the next page. In the first part, however, we have many pages dedicated to specific areas of the world and its inhabitants, of earth, sky or water. We have chosen to publish the page with the large image of a Gorilla, an animal in danger of extinction. To think that one day children can no longer see a living one, but only in photos, should make us think and a lot ..
The text is an integral and fundamental part of the Cucciolotti, it is not only didactic but an attempt, successful for us, to make children interact with the world and the beings that populate it. The choice to always set the story as a journey of the Nasons is effective, also because we can all take part in it, just work with imagination and dreams, qualities of which all children are healthy carriers, fortunately. By doing so, alongside the didactic notions, you can have fun with the many games and quizzes that the album offers. We adults should try too, to find out how little we really know about nature and its splendid protagonists.
Of course, there is also plenty of room for adventure, comics and the fantastic. As aficionados of comics we have chosen this page dedicated to superhero Nasons, that “magnificent 7” is also a tribute to a milestone in western cinema, of which we are equally lovers. What can I say, thank you!
We wrote that the album is a container of good intentions and important messages. Often the mistake is made of considering the Cucciolotti collection linked “only” to the protection of animals and the great work in support of ENPA. In fact, taking advantage of the fundamental playful concept of stickers, Pizzardi also uses the album to give space to equally important issues, such as the fight against bullying and racism. Because we are all the same, a concept so simple that children understand it well, much better than us adults, too involved and influenced by taboos, preconceptions and often unfounded fears.
Another necessary aspect is the culture of environmental protection, of our seas, our trees, our friendly bees, etc. Cucciolotti dedicates several pages to this commitment which has a solution only if it is daily; even through the stickers, these little paper friends of ours, children can learn how to live more in peace with what surrounds us.
The most significant novelty are certainly the cards. Goodbye little talkers! It was about time, sorry but we think so. We do not know how much children liked to find these small paper objects to deliver messages, but there are certainly many more children attracted to card games, just note not only how many products are on the newsstands, but how many other sticker albums are there. they made a fundamental aspect.
The 72 cards 2022 are graphically far from the past, they are very close to traditional trading cards. It is not just a matter of images but of the information we find on the sticker. The first 51 feature our animal friends, complete with different levels of strength, energy and value points. From 52 to 60 here are the Super Nasoni, from 61 to 65 the dangers and the last ones the specials, especially the 72. To find out more it is useful to complete the pages of the album with stickers from 451 to 458, because in the end stickers and cards are a whole, you cannot collect stickers without taking care of the cards and vice versa.
The stickers are always the added value of this collection, they are so varied that it is useless to point out, as others do, the special ones, they all are, in some way. Although the price of the packets has increased (from 0.60 to 0.70), the offer always remains among the cheapest in the panorama of stickers, taking into account, as just written, that the stickers are well-finished and with many different characteristics, a choice that certainly involves a higher cost in producing them.
Also noteworthy is the promotion on albums, last year, although low, they had a cost, now no longer. For both the normal album and the hardcover album, the expense is that of the packets it contains. Unfortunately, in terms of paper quality, the hardcover album is not valid. Unfortunately, the hated folds are present exponentially, a problem that we now find in many products from many publishers. However, it must be said that in the case of Pizzardi, they can be forgiven, given that the album is distributed practically free of charge.
“Sorry for delay”. We can forgive Panini, we are his lovers, we could not do otherwise. The delay to which we refer is that this epochal change in presenting the stickers in the Calciatori could coincide with the 60th anniversary. At the same time it is right that it went like this, somehow close a period with a celebratory album and start the following year with something different.
Let’s start with a fundamental aspect, the keeping of the album. We will only have proof of it when it is weighed down by over 800 stickers but it looks absolutely improved after last year’s havoc. We took the central page and lifting it up, suspended, with all the weight of the album on it, it holds! And it holds very well, clearly we do not recommend doing it as a complete album. Unfortunately, many have already reported the exact same problem as last year (see photo above), too many to think of some flawed copies. What can I say .. making mistakes is human to persevere is diabolical, pay close attention and let’s not comment further.
The world of the web is colorful and interesting, sometimes it is deceiving. We had said everything and more, we too had commented with regret the “announced” disappearance of Serie C, but there is, as well as women’s football and a due tribute to the Azzurri Champions of Europe. Of course, like others, we dreamed of a cover that referred to that of 1983 with Bearzot lifting the Cup, it had not already happened in 2007 after the World Cup in Germany, it does not even happen this year after the Europeans and the final victory at Wembley. Cover that in any case live, with the parts in relief, is less ugly than it seemed only on the internet.
Substantial part of the album dedicated to Serie A (from sticker 1 to 524), rightly so, but the presence of the other professional leagues makes the Calciatori beyond any reasonable doubt always one step above (for us a mountain) compared to the Premier album League.
Serie A is presented in a different way from the last 40 years, even beyond, those who have always looked at the Spanish Liga album with a little envy have been satisfied. Each player has a double image, the classic bust and the one in game action. Finally! We are lovers of tradition, but it has been clear for some years that the Calciatori album needs a refresh, marrying, among other things, two distant generations. Who remembered the 70s albums and who among the younger ones prefer the cards because they see the player in action.
Not only this, the pages have been completely renewed, for obvious space requirements. No more a page with the players and the other with specials, team and coach. Now the players are equally divided into four sides, it loses a little the spectacularity of the album, but it becomes more effective. The number of players is still 22 stickers, to which are added the championship, the coach, the team. In addition to the “most loved Panini” sticker, this year dedicated to the great bombers, stickers not present in the packets but within the update set from March 2022.
The scores of the players are an integral part of the pages, statistics and captions reduced to a minimum, but the essential is sometimes enough. We really like the box on the last page at the top right where the history and curiosity of each individual club is found. Non-trivial information, therefore interesting. The egamers are also present, we are old and we do not understand it, but as long as they are a small non-invasive detail we can bear it.
With the clear aim of limiting the total number of stickers, the Primavera team, second and third kits, the stadium are only photographs. For the more technological, however, you will find a QR code to learn more about the temples of football. In general, it is a solution that we understand, especially if this still allows you to have Serie B, C, Womens in the album or on the contrary avoids reaching almost 1000 stickers as happened in the past.
Gigi Buffon is the sticker number 654a, so the collectors of the thematic stickers of the great champions is in place. Serie B (stickers from 561 to 701) is the same as always, excellent. Scudetto and 18 players divided into 9 stickers, The novelty of Serie A allows even more to differentiate the players of the top division from the cadet one. Only in photos jerseys, teams and coach. Here too it is an understandable choice in order not to overload the album with too many stickers. It is appreciable that, as for Serie A, they are still photos that reproduce the format of the stickers, standard or shaped, even the coach who closes each page with a mini sticker like the players of his team.
Womens, Serie C and Serie A are there! Their disappearance was hypothesized on the web, we too fell into fake information, but they are absolutely confirmed and indeed this year presents a great novelty. The Serie C (from 702 to 716) has the stickers of all the championships, small (four per sticker), but let’s be satisfied. Especially for the first time, in reality we also have the stickers of the players of the third national series. In each packet there is a coupon to download the codes and obtain the digital stickers. A very interesting aspect is that, once the album is completed, you will be able to receive the paper version of the 3 albums (one for each group). Of course, the extra expense is not painless, 150 euros (49.90 euros per album) but for a total of 1320 extra stickers to attach and also considering the low circulation, it makes more sense than, for example, buying the limited copy in “human skin”on sale from January. If desired and in the future, the initiative could also be extended to women’s football, currently only present in the album with the stickers of the teams (from 550 to 561).
An important page because it was important, the right tribute to Mancini’s national team, European Champion. Not really really, for those who want the stickers of all the Wembley champions, a poster with dedicated stickers has come out. Here we find strip stickers as already happened in past footballers, numbered from 525 to 539, which give space to the young Italy, you will not find Bonucci or Insigne, but only players born from 1998 onwards. Somehow more a page dedicated to the Under 23 team than to the senior national team, Panini’s original and in some ways risky choice, not everyone will agree. We were a little confused but even so it has its reason.
The extra part of the Calciatori album has always been at the center of great debates among collectors. Getting everyone to agree is practically impossible. Who would like a memorabilia part on the history of football, who would like subjects out of the classic (in the recent past the Disney characters or last year the singers), who would not want extra pages, who would like them closely linked to the players themselves. For example, the 20 Top Performers (from 540 to 549), one per team, in the strip format that Modena seems to like very much.
This year the most interesting news is the Avatar page (from A1 to A20), in collaboration with TIM. Very particular figurines, in some ways futuristic, are not bad, certainly they are very far from the classic stickers with mascots or caricatures seen in recent years. Be careful not to fall into the trap of what is written on the album, these stickers (A1-A20) are attached to the bill or in Tim stores but are also found inside the packets. Fortunately! Only the one on the left, not numbered, will be distributed at the Tim stores or arrive with the bill.
The extra part closes with all the stickers found in the Film Del Campionato packets (4 packets between January and June), the PMs with the top players confirmed, and the CMs that will award the nine coaches of the month are interesting news. The Cs with the history of the championship are always distributed with the Gazzetta dello Sport, the first 5 in the packets, from C6 to C20 with special packets.
After many years Panini says goodbye to Sky and the famous “Calciomercato” program, too bad, the update stickers are linked to the Dazn platform. From the traditional 48 we go down to 40 cards (M1-M40), an opportune choice, given that in recent years we have not seen a few important names in the “repair market”, perhaps precisely this year will be different!
We have already said of our appreciation for the decision to renew the Calciatori with double-image stickers. The statistics may be affected by being less legible, but we would be about to remove them and therefore it is a fact that excites us little. If you see the differences it is because the players who can count successes in their palmares, also have details on the right and not only on the left. Definitely thumbs up for the coaches’ stickers, beautiful with the background, the tactics board and the club colors.
Special stickers a little at an all-time low, nothing particularly exciting, the most intriguing certainly the Avatar Tim. The rest is all very standard, it is the less successful side of the album. We would have liked to see more variations, maybe even shaped ones or more. If you look at what Panini can do in other non-sporting albums, a precise choice has probably been made with the Calciatori. Perhaps also to avoid having to touch the cost of the sachets, if so, the better. We like to emphasize a detail, if the badges are classic, the choice of not putting the name of the club at the bottom but re-proposing the paint-effect stripes with the social colors as the whole album is already set up is nice. Maybe next year we will have the stickers that glow in the dark 🙂
In general, it is an album that, while it is certainly innovative on the one hand, is very traditional on the other. An essential album, not exaggerated in terms of the number of stickers, which tells about football as it should be told without too many frills. Can it be an excellent album even essential? For us, yes, this Calciatori 2022 is a great product for us, pity only for the renewed problem with the card, perhaps not as widespread as last year, but still present. That the world leader in stickers doesn’t find or doesn’t want to find a solution is at least embarrassing.
