In February Topps will release Lord of the Rings: Evolution, an all-character trading card series similar to Topps' Star Wars Evolution series from 2001. All seven of Topps' previous LOTR card releases have been story-based, but LOTR: Evolution, which will be printed on silver foil stock and feature double-image designs, will encompass the vast range of the entire LOTR trilogy by including 72 cards highlighting the most interesting and amazing creations of J.R.R. Tolkien, which will be divided into Characters, Races, and Creatures subsets.
The LOTR: Evolution series will also feature a number of cool insert cards, which are not part of the regular series, including Evolution A and Evolution B subsets depicting some of the key characters in different costumes. There will be 20 Evolution A cards (one per every 4 packs) and 12 of the even rarer Evolution B inserts (one per every 12 packs). Topps is also including 10 different Stained Glass cards (one per every 6 packs) -- and like the Evolution inserts, the Stained Glass cards will be included in both the hobby and retail versions of the product.
The key difference between the hobby and retail versions is that the hobby version includes unique 'sketch' cards featuring all new art from at least 47 different artists such as Brian Rood, Dave Dorman, Rafael Kayanan, and Sarah Wilkinson. The retail version will not have the sketch cards, but it will contain 9 all-new relic cards, based on material that was not used in previous Topps' LOTR releases. Topps hopes to include one of these special sketch (hobby) or relic (retail) cards in every box, but cannot guarantee that ratio at this time.
