Joker and the Thief Original 3 decks reprints

[Räpylätassu]

Joker and the Thief released the news on an update in the Street edition campaign that they will be reprinting the original Joker and the Thief decks (Blue, White Gold and Blood Red) by USPCC. The Kickstarter campaign will start at 3rd of August. Direct quote from the update:

Returning to Kickstarter - Friday, August 3rd, 6pm PDT!

Here's why we're bringing back the first 3 decks. We realise that its possible to cop some flack for bringing out colour changes of the same design - this is not our intention.

The original Joker and the Thief decks are going to be completely refreshed and brought up to our new standards of production. They will be the PERFECT versions of our signature cards.

We realise MANY of you never even got the chance to get your hands on the original trilogy. Especially the Blood Red Edition which was quietly released and in an extremely limited quantity.

That said, we want to respect the collectors of the Joker and the Thief Decks. The value of your original decks will remain the same, if not increase. There will be enough change on the new decks that will differentiate them from the first print runs - you'll be able to tell very easily. That was quite important for us to ensure.

Here's what's going to change:

Made in the USA! As you know, the first 3 decks were printed in Taiwan. We just don't think they handle well enough, and feel nice enough. We need to bring our original cards up to speed with the feel of Dystopia, Maidens and Street Edition. Everybody loves the handling of a USPCC deck, so why not give you what you want. We're betting the new White Gold Edition will be the best handling deck due to its minimal ink saturation.

Letterpress Tuck Boxes! Crafted with the most luxurious paper in the industry, with satin finish foil inside and out, and proper embossing. We found the original boxes just didn't have the same structural integrity as our newer decks. The blue decks also had a fraying issue on the inside flap. The boxes also weren't glued at the bottom, only folded in. We found the foil to be a little too reflective too, that's why we're going with a gorgeous satin foil instead.

Unique Seals! New high quality seals - Red for the Midnight Blue Edition, Gold for the White Gold Edition and White for the Blood Red Edition. Oh and they will have proper perforation for ease of access. These will be one of the main visual differentiations.

Thinner borders on all 3 decks!

New ad cards with never before seen, unreleased artwork!

PROPER Metallic Ink! The original decks just didn't have the shimmer we wanted. Dystopia and Maidens have killer luminous metallic ink. Imagine White Gold Edition with incredible shiny gold metallic ink all over! The other decks will look incredible with bright accents woven into the design.

The new versions are due to drop on kickstarter on Friday, August 3rd at 6PM PDT. We will have mixed deck options, plenty of early bird options and as requested, lower price per deck prices! And low shipping prices of course.

They also said that "decks 7, 8 and 9 are currently in the works." I just hope that all those three are new designs and not new versions of the Originals, Dystopia or Maidens.

[badpete69]

Hey Twopiece check that quote out "That said, we want to respect the collectors of the Joker and the Thief Decks. The value of your original decks will remain the same, if not increase. There will be enough change on the new decks that will differentiate them from the first print runs - you'll be able to tell very easily. That was quite important for us to ensure."

hahahahaha

[Bradius]

pass!

[theCapraAegagrus]

Hey Twopiece check that quote out "That said, we want to respect the collectors of the Joker and the Thief Decks. The value of your original decks will remain the same, if not increase. There will be enough change on the new decks that will differentiate them from the first print runs - you'll be able to tell very easily. That was quite important for us to ensure."

hahahahaha

IN WHAT F^&*ING WORLD!?

[vasta41]

I might actually trade all my J&T decks for the USPCC ones when the time comes. That said, they are beating this theme to death.

[CupcakeBaron]

I don't mind that they're reprinting the original Joker and thew Thief decks as I only have the white gold colorway but I'd much prefer that they released more original decks instead. They just released a recolor of the design so doing a reprint now isn't the best timing unless they're hellbent on design fatigue.

[Joker and the Thief]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for posting our next project here.

We believe that what we are doing here is necessary for the brand, seeing as a lot of people missed out on the original decks. To raise the quality of any product is a good move and a step in the right direction. We care about quality and want to do our first decks justice. And make them available. While we're getting Street Edition done, we might as well upgrade our old cards too.

We realise reprints usually diminish the value of the originals if they look exactly the same. We are tweaking and improving the decks so that they will be noticeably different from the original print runs. The first Joker and the Thief decks will remain collector's items.

We do have fresh designs on the way, sooner than you think. Two all new designs are in the works + developing plans for a third. We've got exciting stuff on the horizon that we hope you'll all love.

Thanks for your understanding, and if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Cheers!

[theCapraAegagrus]

Alright, alright. After digesting this for about a day... It's okay. I was initially just ticked off about the allegation that the original decks will retain or increase value because of this. I never really considered the original 3 decks super valuable or anything, I'm just generally not a fan of reprinting, especially when you've said that the decks won't be reprinted (regardless of any minor changes).

If these were being reprinted by EPCC, I would still be up in arms. However, I like having decks with similar designs being printed by both USPCC and EPCC, because it gives us a lot of ground to compare the manufacturers. Just please stop printing this design after this next run. The Street Edition sucks ass, and the design is old, despite not being that old in years.

[rorschach]

did I miss an update about release time?

[ICantShuffle]

Yeah, I was waiting for this, too. Don't know what's going on.

[Räpylätassu]

Yeah, I was waiting for this, too. Don't know what's going on.

New release date: 10th of August

[ICantShuffle]

Oh, same time?

[rorschach]

Yeah, I was waiting for this, too. Don't know what's going on.

New release date: 10th of August

Out of curiosity, how did you find that date out? Doesn't look like they posted it anywhere.

[Spectre]

Update #5 from Joker and the Thief: Street Edition Playing Cards mentions the new release date.

[Räpylätassu]

Yeah, I was waiting for this, too. Don't know what's going on.

New release date: 10th of August

Out of curiosity, how did you find that date out? Doesn't look like they posted it anywhere.

Their newest post on Instagram.

[badpete69]

Now live

[theCapraAegagrus]

I got in on an EB 9-deck tier. It was either ~$73 for 6 decks (originally wanted) or ~$91 for 9 decks. $10/each is a very good deal for these being printed by USPCC.

[akicer]

This is the first time I go crazy about what I got. you call this "Limited Edition Commemorative Boxed Set" and "letterpressed box set"?


Did anyone else get the "limited box set", help me upload some pictures to explain how upset I am please

[Bradius]

Not me. Just the three deck set. I did get them a couple of days ago.

[akicer]

Here we go. I paid $60 for this bag.

[akicer]

They replied my PM in a min - obviously they are prepared to explain.

btw, they are prepared to explain AFTER backers received the pledge, rather than BEFORE

The most scary thing on ks is the creator not delivering, either not delivering the item at all, or not delivering the item they mentioned on the campaign page.

I admit it was my fault backing the box set without seeing any pictures about the box, thought JT was some decent playing cards company before.

Anyway here's their reply:

"Hi there,

So sorry to hear about your disappointment.

Let us take the time to explain our change of direction.

We opted to switch from a box set due to manufacturing quality issues, minimum order quantity issues, and further delays on our backers.

We found it extremely difficult to find a box manufacturer that was able to create less than 72 units on custom dimensions. The ones that could offered cheap cardboard that wasn’t up to our standard. Most manufacturers require 250-500 units at a minimum, this is something we learned the hard way. On top of this, the manufacturing time for these cheaper companies would have been making you wait a couple extra months. This was unacceptable for us as we do not want our backers to receive sub par goods late.

So we decided to search for alternate solutions instead.

We found something that suited our brand imagery better. The cotton bags that we selected are of premium quality, and 100% eco and sustainable, sourced and made in Australia and are all screen printed by hand by us.

We decided that this would make for a more unique collector’s item than a box that was made on cheap labour, with cheap materials in China and delivered late.

We appreciate your understanding and apologise for any transparency issues.

Thank you,
James
Joker and the Thief Playing Card Co."

[Bradius]

Yikes! I generally don't get too upset when creators have to change things around due to such circumstances, like Lorenzo's shipping issue. However, this seems a bit extreme. So much so that I would think they should have discussed it with those that purchased the limited sets and at least given them the option to back out or switch out their pledge (some more decks instead of the limited set or such). It does happen and I am sure it was not an attempt to simply rip you off. I suggest you write to them. Most creators really do want to make sure backers are as happy as they can reasonably make them.

As for the decks themselves, I do like them and am pleased with my set of cards. I just couldn't go too wild on them due to so much spending on other projects.

[akicer]

I totally agree with you. I replied his PM already, waiting for a response now. Still don't want to put anything serious in the comment section yet.

This is what I wrote, trying to calm myself down.

"Well I appreciate your explanation, but 1. this should come out before the campaign ends, or at least before we receive our pledge. 2. no matter how "premium" the bag is, this worth $5 to me. I do not willing to pay $60 more for things like this 3. I like JT decks a lot. That's why I pledged a brick with my other account and pledged the collector box with this account, it's not like I'm just trying to mess things up. I have to say this is the most upset pledge I have ever get in my collecting history. I would like to get refund for this pledge for sure. 4. I feel bad if you are on the track of ruin JT's reputation, at the end of the day, I still like all your designs"

[hsbc]

Wow. They should absolutely refund everyone the extra cost of the box.

I only grabbed a street edition (might have waited for another color if I'd known the reprint was coming...) and it's okay - honestly I was expecting the tuck to be a bit more impressive, specifically embossed.

[phantom1412]

At least they could have throw in extra decks, maybe street edition to compensate this.
The cotton bag is really stupid. I'm glad i did not buy the expensive set.

[rorschach]

Also; They seemed to have shipped two different campaigns at the same time, but I paid for shipping on each campaign individually. Being international, I ended up paying about 30 USD to ship 4 decks, that should have cost about half that, if not less. Does anybody know if they can actually do that? I couldn't find any decent Kickstarter information on it, and of course they have not responded to my direct messages.

[othello]

I remembered almost backing for the box set, just because i liked having collectible boxes in general. But had to lower my pledge due to funding issues. Lucky to have dodged a bullet on this one.
Can't believe they thought this was okay, the box set was almost $60 more than the basic 3 deck set. I would have expected minimally Alex Chin Apothecary series type of wooden cabinet for that extra price, not some cheap cotton drawstring bag. And I am in awe at their response, particularly this part:

We began to find it extremely difficult to find a box manufacturer that was able to create less than 72 units for box of custom dimensions. The ones that could, offered cheap cardboard and processes that were not up to our standard. In this learning curve, we found that most manufacturers require 250-500 units at a minimum - this is definitely something we learned the hard way. On top of this, the manufacturing time for these companies would have been making our backers wait an extra 2-3 months. This was unacceptable for us as we do not want our backers to receive sub par goods, especially if they would be late.

Erm I would say this is exactly what sub par goods look like...

And the fact that they hid this until backers received the goods is just deplorable. Needless to say, I will not be backing any more of JT decks on kickstarter in future.

[Magic Tapp]

I am also one of those suckers that pledged for a limited set and, although my order is still in transit, I am absolutely livid that this happened.

The way this campaign was run at times made me very uneasy but, since those guys came up with the original J&T that I like a lot, I thought I would give them the benefit of a doubt.

And the worst thing of all is that they tried to sweep it under the rug and, when caught red-handed, could not come up with anything better than “oopsie, our bad”.

If KS were a proper platform, they would ban these amateurs from running further campaigns but, alas, they are not and I can only hope that, after this experience, their further projects would fail to fund.

[CupcakeBaron]

Wow! That's pretty messed up that they'd try to do this kind of bait and switch then pocket the extra money. I'd expect something like this from a first time creator but not an established brand like Joker and the Thief. Absolutely disrespectful to the backers. I suggest you guys get your money back because that bag is bullcocky doodoo.

[PipChick]

Wow! That's pretty messed up that they'd try to do this kind of bait and switch then pocket the extra money. I'd expect something like this from a first time creator but not an established brand like Joker and the Thief. Absolutely disrespectful to the backers. I suggest you guys get your money back because that bag is bullcocky doodoo.

+1000

Even though I wasn't a backer of this campaign, I'm absolutely appalled at this situation and it's has made me seriously reevaluate my impression of Joker and the Thief as a regarded & reputable producer; as CB best said it - that's total bullcocky doodoo!! and I sincerely hope they actually take accountability for making such a poor judgement call and in how they chose to go about handling it, which is, by not addressing the issue AT.ALL whatsoever at any point prior to backers receiving their pledges - this is totally unacceptable to me and I'd be demanding, at minimum, a partial if not full refund as that's not what the additional nearly 60 bucks was claimed to be going towards at the time when backers pledged during the campaign or was communicated that it was what was to be expected at any point thereafter - and they somehow find a remedy for the sake of those affected.