Thursday, March 22, 2012

Am I the only one?


I have a confession to make.

I actually don't think 1995 Fleer is a horrible set. It's okay. Maybe a little more than okay. You could even say I like it.

Yup, there you go, I said it. I like 1995 Fleer!

Whenever I've seen '95 Fleer get brought up in the blogosphere (which isn't often), it usually gets extremely negative reviews.

People just don't like them.

I can't say I blame anyone for having that mindset, though. It's about as over-the-top as you can get. If 1972 Topps was "Topps on acid", then this set is like '72 Topps on acid. I mean, come on, the height and weight are on the front of the card. What's up with that?

The signature quote for '95 Fleer: "What was Fleer thinking?"




Fleer had some pretty bland sets before 1995, and they had bland ones afterwards.

I just want to know what the heck happened over at the Fleer Co. in '95. Was there some kind of drug trafficking going on there? Why all of a sudden make cards like this? 

It's pretty much the polar opposite of what Fleer's '94 offering looked like.

While the cards are outrageous, there's just something about them that I like. I just can't exactly put my finger on what it is.

They're different, for one thing. I always applaud when card companies try something new. And they're colorful. 

We've never seen anything remotely close to these cards in the last decade or so.




I just wish I had more of these cards.

Like any other mid-'90s set, they're pretty hard to come by. They'll pop up occasionally, but not near enough as I'd like.

However, I was lucky enough to find a small stack of these in a dime box a year or two ago. Looking through about fifty of these cards one after another made me feel like I was on an acid trip. I kept thinking a 3-D picture was about to pop out at me.

Even though I kept seeing mysterious red and blue spots for the rest of the show, I loved flipping through them. 

You just don't see cards like these everyday.

There's got to be someone else out there that likes 1995 Fleer. Or at least I hope so.

I can't be the only one.

11 comments:

moremonkeys138 said...

It's just too all over the place really. It all seems random and there is no cohesion that makes the set stick together. Except that every card is as loud as possible. I too, applaud the different take but the set screams '90s eccentric' like no other.

William Regenthal said...

Jeez, I might have a box of these in my spare room. If I do, I'll let you know.

Cardhobbyist said...

For some reason these cards remind me of the tunnel scene from the original Willy Wonka movie

Robert said...

One word for those cards....bizarre

hiflew said...

As a whole, the set isn't too bad and I liked the idea of different backgrounds for different divisions. Especially since they were realigning the division that year. However, the NL West got the absolute worst card design in history. That means that in my case, that is what 1995 Fleer is to me. Very bad. I think I labeled it the second worst set ever on my site, behind 1997 Circa but that may have been overstating it a bit. Na I still hate it.

The Lost Collector said...

The first pack of these I bought, I thought I got a a Fleer "hot pack" which consisted of all I set cards. It was only after I noticed that all the players sucked that I realized it was just how the cards looked.

Dan said...

I collected it all....when i say all...i mean it....I have the 600 card set and all of the full insert sets except for team leaders and rookie sensations...i loved it when it came out...i was a weird kid. (always looking for team leaders from this year)

JediJeff said...

I may have a dozen or so of those....."things".... in a box. Holy crap are they aweful. Fleer must have had a carbon monoxide leak in the building when they green lighted that design.

jacobmrley said...

There actually is a cohesion to the set, to address the thoughts of another commenter. Each division had its own design. And each design was obviously approved by a panel of LSD-addled advisers.

I am ashamed to say, I have always had a quiet respect for this set, just because Fleer always had such simple, staid designs and this set is just so out there. It's like Fleer went away to college and wanted to change who it was but went way way too far.

moremonkeys138 said...

Ah. That makes sense. I've only seen a handful of the set and every card seemed to be an absolute casserole of nonsense, so I figured every card was almost unique in a weird acid trip kinda way. Guess it's silly to think that in retrospect...

Cory said...

NL Central had the best design.