The more I see the hype/greed centered around this whole project (and I'm by no means claiming to be innocent) makes me wish Topps and/or the artisits had partnered up with a charity. Something to promote art education to intercity youth or even some type of Covid relief effort (especially considering the positive impact on sales by so many people being home right now and the well documented re-exploring their childhood passion for cards).
There is a very entertaining thread over on Blowout that I'll admit I read too much of but many just boasting about how much money they are making on the secondary market each day and even some of the artists seem to be capitalizing on the explosion in popularity outside of the project (see "money bear" if you are not familiar). Even in the recent interview on Sports Card Nation podcast, Blake Jamieson (who seemed like a nice enough guy) admitted to how the project is part of his marketing strategy to increase his popularity and drive future art sales. I not saying any of this is necessarily wrong, I have no problem with people making money, especially the artists for their work and if people are willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money for a card they know the seller paid $20 for 3 weeks ago that is their choice. But I think the whole thing would have a slightly less of a "greed cloud" to me if Topps from the get-go had pledged like 20% of profits to some greater good. Obviously the insane secondary market profits would not be subject but they are the biggest driver of the growing popularity of the project on a daily basis and Topps selling more $20 cards each day.
It's not too late, as was said above I agree around card 150-200 I think there is going to be a significant drop in interest due to fatigue especially as the secondary market finally stabilizes for older runs. Topps is going to need some incentive to keep buyers interested and attract new ones. Why not something philanthropic?
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