2020 Topps Project 2020 Baseball Forum

Many of the Project 2020 and Project70 artists created unlicensed "companion sets." I see that Andrew Thiele Heritage Series and Mister Cartoon Companions are already added as inserts to Project 2020. This feels like the wrong way to handle the companion sets, as they were separate sets for sale independently of the Project 2020 and Project70 main sets. After reading through the FAQs, I think the best way to track them as as individual Oddball sets, since they are unlicensed but many include their own parallels and inserts. Thoughts?

Similarly, would it make sense to "group" these sets via prepending a label to the title such as "Project 2020 Companion {artist set name}" or is that against the rules?

Feel free to share your thoughts. I'd like to add more of these sets, but I want to do so the right way and not the wrong way :)

If the companion sets were unlicensed and not issued by Topps and have any active players in them, then they cannot be listed in the database.

Yeah, I think listing them separately makes more sense than treating them as inserts for official Topps releases. Either under Oddball or Unlicensed, depending on if they're licensed or not. The release notes of each artist's own set could mention their involvement in the related Topps project. And C2Cigars makes a good point. It appears that the two you linked are okay to stay (retired players/more generic scenes appear to be depicted), but that rule could potentially keep something not yet listed out of the database for the time being.

That's my 2 cents, anyway.

None of the ones that I know of include unlicensed player NIL or MLB trademarks. At best they "hint" at the players they are companions to.

I don't see "Unlicensed" as a set type anymore, nor is it included in the FAQ. From the Oddball description,

Oddball
Regional or local releases or releases by smaller and/or unlicensed manufacturers. Can also include non-pack-based or collaborative releases by major card manufacturers

It feels like that's where these best fit.

This is what Chuck is referring to from the FAQ. Unlicensed does exist, but mosting in older years. Current years not so much because...

Are unlicensed/Broder, ACEO, or reprinted cards allowed to be listed?

Cards of this nature may be added in limited scope.

For unlicensed*/Broder** cards, the following criteria must be met:

• The cards cannot feature any current players as they would presumably be under current player association contracts for use of likeness.
• The year of release must be known.
• A complete checklist must be known.
• The set must be placed into the "Unlicensed" category.
• The set should have "(Unlicensed)" placed into the set's name.