it looks like topps put some thought into this!

there are so many parallels these days that only exist as filler. the days of being interested in a differently colored border or background treatment are long gone for me, and i suspect, many other collectors. i still have an affinity for the gold parallels because they hearken back to a simpler time, but topps can take the holiday foil parallels, for example, and discontinue them immediately.

this year, however, i decided that i definitely wanted to get my hands on at least one vintage parallel from flagship. i wound up picking up walker buehler's card

usually these cards just have different stock and the old topps logo. this year, you should have noticed right away that there are fundamental changes to the design. here's buehler's flagship card for comparison

the vintage style card has become a "what if" sort of card. what if the 2024 design was produced in the 1970s? gone is the neon, and solid backgrounds have been added behind all of the text. the best detail, in my opinion, is the change from the black to white color gradation on the flagship card to a stipple pattern. it's very thoughtful in my opinion.

here's the back of the vintage parallel:

no changes there, but that's ok. the effort put into the design on the front is enough.