Topps – The Clone Wars: Widevision (2009)

Released in late November of 2009, this widevision card set showcases the first season of the Clone Wars animated television show. Widevision cards give the set a stronger look than the earlier Clone Wars movie card set, showing more of the action, and generally presenting more of the imagery that makes the cartoon television show interesting. Because the show tends to focus on action sequences, the wider space is often needed to capture fully what is happening in a particular scene.

Topps made some interesting choices with this card set, including having essentially identical chase cards in both the retail and hobby versions of the card set. Autograph cards for the retail set are not listed on packaging, but are available at much lower odds than those found for the hobby version of the set. Sketch cards are inserted similarly in the retail packs, making these normally high level chase cards more accessible for young collectors, or for the casual collector who might pick up a pack or two in Target or Walmart.

Common cards for the set have bright images, well displayed, from the Clone Wars television series. Chase cards range from the uninspired (Season Two preview cards) to the truly fun (Animation Clear Cel cards).

Season Two preview cards are technically chase cards, but with odds of one in two packs, the cards are quite common. Additionally, these particular chase cards are little more than common cards. There is nothing physically special about the cards. And since Season Two was already airing on television before the cards arrived in stores, the 'preview' aspect to the cards is a bit limited.

Foil chase cards feature characters from the cartoon series, but are not a high quality foil and have no embossing. Unlike other sets, the foil cards don't stand out well from the common cards. As a chase card, they have limited appeal for the average collector.

Flix Pix motion cards are becoming a standard chase card, and continue to have appeal. These cards are considerably thinner than traditional 3D cards, but still display multiple images when moved. These cards remain a fun addition as a chase card. A full set using this technology would be interesting to see.

Animation Clear Cel cards improve on technology previously seen in other sets. These are high quality plastic cards, and because this card set is based on animation, the cards are well used. The images stand out nicely on the plastic. It would have been interesting to have more of these cards created, with multiple cards being used to create a single scene (forground, background, characters, or multiple characters). Even without this level of creativity, the cards are a nice type of chase card.

The remaining chase cards for the set were silver stamped (a small helmet in one corner) sequentially numbered cards (80 possible to find for each common card in the set) and one of one gold stamped cards. Additionally, the now standard sketch cards and autograph cards were included. Autograph cards are for the voice actors who portray the cartoon characters. Use of strong images, and a single color focus for each character make these attractive cards in an album. The voice actors are a new set of actors for long term autograph collectors looking to expand their Star Wars associated autographs. Sketch cards came in two flavors, those by the general art community, and those by the shows animators. Sketches in both categories show a wide range of topics and styles. As with other sets, many collectors will complain about getting a 'bad' sketch, or will focus on collecting a sketch by a 'popular' artist.

Overall, the card set had a low price point (pack prices were kept at only $2 per pack at both retail and hobby shops) and the set is an attractive set. Whether the set proves popular with the kids who watch the television show, or attracts other non-traditional card collectors to the hobby, remains to be seen. Overall, early collecting of the set does not seem to be on a level with previous sets.

There are some interesting improvements to the card set. The overall presentation of the sticker autographs has been improved. The autograph cards look good. The stickers look good on the cards. Both front and back of the card reminds you who the voice actor and character are, with bright bold text. Similarly, the artist sketch cards have several improvements over other sets. Each artist has been given a space on the back of the card to write their name, eliminating guesswork based on signatures common with earlier sets. Most artists still signed the card fronts as well, and most seem to have made good use of the widevision format. While some images certainly would have looked just as nice on a standard sketch card, many take advantage of the wide format. Space on the front of the cards was left uncluttered, with only a small 'artist sketch card' in the right corner, and a logo for the set in the left corner.