Trading Glances

A quick look at the latest from the amazing Red Dwarf trading cards.

4 October, 2002

Since the Red Dwarf trading cards first launched, there has been a flurry of activity as fans try to acquire the entire set. "Customers have been trading their spare cards mainly over the internet and amongst specialist trading card collectors and dealers," Gwyneth Glascodine, who heads up the Futera brand, told reddwarf.co.uk. "However, generally speaking, most customers have been buying a Display Box at a time, and from a Display Box one is likely to get an entire regular set."

There are 64 main cards in the set, but the excitement hasn't ended there. "Depending on a customer's enthusiasm he/she may wish to continue to build actual sets of the 'special' cards from the starting base they would already have obtained from their initial purchase; such as the exclusive Photoshoot set of Chloë Annett, or collecting all seven Autograph Cards, etc. The internet then becomes the most popular trading platform for customers worldwide with eBay being a commonly used vehicle for Red Dwarf traders."

The trading card market is filled with dedicated fans of its own, so the arrival of so many Dwarfers on the scene has come as a pleasant surprise. "There are the card collectors and hobby dealers who have collected Futera branded trading cards over many years whose reaction to Red Dwarf has been very enthusiastic. But there have been a great many Red Dwarf fans who have never purchased trading cards before, and that's great!"

Exclusive memorabilia inserts like costumes and props have been built into some very special cards - which is a lot tougher than it sounds. "With producing the Television Series collection retrospectively, sourcing costumes and props from the various Episodes for our special Chase Cards proved a bit of a nightmare for the Red Dwarf production team. Our thanks to everyone at Grant Naylor Productions for coming up with such an impressive range of memorabilia - oh, and apologies to Mr. Flibble for attacking him with scissors to complete the card set!"

And what have the Dwarf fans said about the cards? "The feedback has been tremendous, and thanks to all customers who have taken the time to write in, we really do appreciate it. We've even been put forward for an industry award which is very exciting!"

The future for Red Dwarf trading cards looks even brighter. "I'm thrilled that we'll soon be able to commence work on the Red Dwarf movie as our collections take considerable time and effort to formulate, never mind the actual preparation for print, manufacture and special finishing processes. We're very much hoping that there are 'cutting-room-floor' elements that Futera might be fortunate enough to claim for rare chase cards!"

Any final words? "The support from reddwarf.co.uk has been tremendous and we're really pleased with the exposure that this has given the release. It's clear that Red Dwarf fans check out the official website regularly - but then, who wouldn't - every time I look there's something new and exciting being featured... as well as our cards!"

You can view the entire Futera trading card set here.