2016 Topps - Second Look

Ok, I've got about 70 cards from the first blaster scanned and can now form a better opinion.

I have to admit that the design is growing on me, mainly because I really like full-bleed cards but I don't think I'm going to love this set.  Lets look a a few more.

Noah Syndergaard - #43

A good, well framed, close-up shot. Topps reintroduced the "Future Stars" subset a few years ago. I don't like that they sometimes combine it with the All-Star Rookie Cup.

Jhonny Peralta - #46

The percentage of fielding cards seems lower than usual but this is a good one.

Salvador Perez - #56

This is a goofy card. Is that Perez in the lower left with some guy's arm on his shoulder?

Adam Lind - #57

The big logo stripe makes me think of recent Panini cards. And this is a typical Panini card pose.  Not a good thing.

Edwin Encarnacion - #89

OK, so here is still a major beef about this design. The smoke, smog, fog, dust, whatever, is very distracting. I look at this card and think, OMG, the field is on fire. Run for your life! The Peralta card above makes me wonder how they can play baseball in such heavy fog.

Clayton Kershaw - #150

The effect isn't too noticeable on some cards. Here it just seems like a part of the out-of-focus background.

Tommy Kahnle - #245

There are a lot of dark cards as well. Another Panini trait.

Brock Holt - #280

A good outfield catch photo. Too bad the fans couldn't see it from the stands.

Carter Capps - #172

 I'm not sure the design works as well in the horizontal mode (as is the problem with many recent Topps sets). The logo slash is actually not any bigger than on a vertical card but it sure looks bigger.

And speaking of Carter Capps, as near as I can tell, he has exactly one other Topps card, from 2013.

Only his second Topps card in 4 years and it has the same pose as his first card (with out the smoke and the beard).

OK, one more card.

 Looks like Posey had some work done in the off-season. Think how effective he'll be behind the plate with 4 arms.