Return of the Gedolim Album: Series 2

I wrote a few weeks ago about the phenomenon that has been sweeping through Yeshivas - the Gedolim Album. Well, as wholesome a conception as the album seemed, its execution was not exactly uncontroversial. Many children (and their parents) resented the fact that some cards were "held back", making it impossible to get all the cards in the series until they were released. Some said that this wasn't an issue at all, as baseball cards are distributed similarly. There will always be rarer and more common cards. However, this rationale was not accepted by many of the series' detractors, moving some to go as far as to take the producer of the project to Bait Din. You see, it was more complicated than just not being able to complete a collection. The whole thing was actually a contest, with those who finished their albums first being eligible for all sorts of prizes, such as trips to Israel, bicycles and Seforim. People felt that if the project's creator was actually doing what was alleged, holding back certain cards completely until he sold enough cards to make back his investment and then some, then there was actually no possible way to complete the albums at all until the cards were released at the marketer's whim. Aside from being, according to an attorney pal I spoke with, possibly illegal, one could certainly make the case that this was unethical, and contrary to halachic business practices. As a matter of fact, a local Rabbi who gives Gedolim stickers along with a lollypop every shabbos to children from the shul, actually stopped giving them one week, stating as his reason the Din Torah (he inexplicably chose instead to give out cards with pictures of aircraft on them, and reportedly told a kid who asked where the rebbe cards were, that "The Chafetz Chaim is on the airplane!", but I digress). In any event, this little kerfuffle, paired with the unhealthy level of competition that some parents felt in induced in their children, stories of enterprising (some would say price-gouging) kids selling the rarest of cards to their classmates at a huge profit, and the rush to spend untold sums in order to be among the first to complete the albums, gave the whole endeavor a whiff of unpleasantness for some families.

Well, to put an end to this saga, my kids came off the bus today all abuzz. It seems that Series 2 of the Gedolim album has been released. But apparently, the project has been taken over completely by new management, and has a whole new methodology. From the front page of the album:

The New Gedolim Album
Introducing the "No-Pressure" Series
1) All 300 cards are available upon initial release of the new series
2)No "first-to-complete" contest to be held
3) Prizes and awards meet educational standards

Children! No need to rush! This is not a contest!
Everyone has an equal chance to be a winner!

Looks like this time around, whoever is organizing this is hoping to avoid the ill will that was generated by the first series. Though I learned a long time ago that there will always be complainers, I would have to assume that the changes made will turn the project into one that actually acheives what so many had hoped Series 1 would - a wholesome hobby that teaches the kids about the names and likenesses of some of our great Torah Sages. Of course, I'll have to pretend I didn't hear my son just say to his brother: "I'll trade you 314 for 345!"