2012 Topps Archives Set. My Favorite Thing.

I am putting together a set of the 2012 Topps Archives set.  I've had a really good time trading for lots of cards and opening packs.  The heavy lifting in putting together any set is finding all of the short prints and inserts without paying an arm and a leg in trade or cash.  It's always a bonus to get something special from each set too.  I got a cool autograph.  I got a cool relic card.  The base set of the 2012 Topps Archives set has really caught my eye this year.

In the past Archives sets, the cards all had different designs from different Topps sets throughout the years.   This year's set though features four different types of base set designs with the majority of the players coming from today and a few older players thrown in throughout.  There are cards with designs from the 1954 set, 1971, 1980, and 1984.  The 1984 design cards really caught my eyes and attention.

My first full year of collecting was 1984 and I vividly remember the cards like it was yesterday.  It's one of those old sets that I look through a few times a year.  The last two weeks I have probably looked back through the set twice and yesterday picked out a cool card to compare with a current Archives card.  My winner?  (My scanner is being snarky today)  This awesome Floyd "Sugar Bear" Rayford card.  Polyester uniform, bad puffy facial hair, powder blue unis.  Did I mention Floyd Rayford?

I've also gone through the Topps Archives set and spent a long time looking at the cards.  I love how Topps got a lot of little details into the 1984 design.  The backs are perfect and the color schemes on the front match the teams color schemes from the 84 set.  The Nationals even have the design from the Expos.  My favorite is Allen Craig.