Favorite Retail Product of the Year So Far: Bowman Platinum Value Pack

First of all, I was surprised to see Bowman Platinum and no Allen and Ginter anywhere. Last year, I wasn't
a fan of Platinum because of the weird silver framing and background. This year, I was extremely surprised
by a huge jump in quality.

I picked up a $9 value pack with 3 packs and 3 exclusive Purple refractors. The base look unbelievably better than last year.

Here is the 2011 Base I got in my packs.

They are hard to scan, but they all have the refractor finish common to topps and bowman products. They look great in real life.The backgrounds are crisp and the players really pop. Normally, refractors are about 1:3 packs in other Topps/Bowman products, but each card in platinum is a beautiful refractor. Also, each player I got is an all-star.

Here is the 2010 base.

The name at the bottom looks kind of cheap and the background is faded out by a boring silver/gray.

Here are the purple prospect refractors, which honestly are the worst cards from the value pack. The players don't stand out well against the purple at all.

Here are the prospects and rookies. The prospect have a bit of a curve to them.

I also got these two inserts in the packs. The Freddie Freeman Ruby is 1:20 packs and the Skole Prospect X-fractor is 1:4 packs. The Freeman is really nice and majestic.

All cards are for trade.