Fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones have come to expect a nice
balance of story telling along with all of the other explicit elements that
make it clearly intended for mature audiences. The violence and provocative nature of the show avoid being
gratuitous. It is difficult to imagine the show being the same without these elements. For that reason, 2012 Rittenhouse
Archives Game Of Thrones Season One Trading Cards falls somewhat short of the
mark in delivering the feel of the show as any trace of these elements are
absent.
But even in this PG form of presentation, Rittenhouse
Archives has done a thorough job of chronicling the characters and episodes of
this series' first season. Add to
that on of the most complete collection of leading character autograph cards out
there for any entertainment product and you have a set of trading cards that
fans of the show should not overlook.
Game Of Thrones Season One falls under our classification of
trading cards. Hobby Boxes contain
24 – 5 card packs and feature two autograph cards per box. The 72 card base set can also be
purchased as a stand alone at Rittenhouse Archives online site, scifihobby.com.
Here is a look at some of the cards we pulled.
Base Set - Episode Cards
Fire and Blood - Front and Back
Winter is Coming, Lord Snow
You Win or You Die, Fire and Blood
Base Set - Character Cards
Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark
Lady Catelyn Stark, Prince Joffrey Baratheon, Viserys Targaryen
Ser Jaime Lannister, Robb Stark, Queen Cersei Lannister
Sansa Stark, Khal Drogo, Jon Snow
Arya Stark, King Robert Baratheon, Bran Stark
Base Set Parallels
The Houses Die-Cuts
House Frey, House Targaryen
Quotable Game of Thrones
Lord Stark, Front and Back
Tyrion Lannister, front and back
Your Win or You Die" Cards
Cersei Lannister "Everybody But Us Is The Enemy", front and back
The Hits
Jack Gleeson Full Bleed Autograph, John Bradley Bordered Autograph
Overall Look
The episode cards have some nice write-ups with three cards
to cover each episode. The
photograph choices are mostly production stills of a cleaner nature. The base parallels, while impossible to
scan, are done well. The die-cut
Houses cards are smartly done going with the shield motif. The quotable cards, while not all that intriguing from a
design level, are a lot of fun to read.
No shadowbox cards were pulled from our box, but from pictures found online, these look great. As usual with Rittenhouse
Archives products, the autograph cards are well designed.
Quality and Variety of checklist.
From a checklist standpoint it is not that hard to cover 10
episodes, but dedicating three cards to each show is a nice touch. There were so many doubles from our
box, upping that for future releases might even be something to consider though
I’m sure it was done this way with the thought of 9 card binder pages in mind. What is impressive is the handling of
the character cards. This was so
complete iit makes me wonder what will be done for season two.
Do the Hits hold up?
Rittehouse Archives has done a great job here with the
autographs, providing an amazing amount of the lead actors, times two. Most autographs are offered in a Bordered
and Full- Bleed version. Signers include Peter
Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Sean Bean, Emilia Clarke, Aidan Gillen,
Alfie Allen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Mark Addy, Michelle Fairley, Richard Madden,
Charles Dance, Jason Momoa, Jack Gleeson, Esme Bianco and more.
Will you want to collect them all?
Each box with yield a complete base set plus an extra 30 or
more cards, so that is covered.
For diehard fans, going for the master set is within reason.
Rating
4 out of 5
2012 Rittenhouse Archives Game Of Thrones Season One could
have benefited and would have been higher rated if it had pushed the envelope just a little with images that closer matched the graphic nature of this show, but it still
delivers a complete set of trading cards that Thrones fans will want in their
collection.
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