An Exclusive That Never Held Its Value: The Twilight Hot Topic HT-1 Card Flops!

The Good: Good image, Necessary for collectors, Quite rare
The Bad: Low collectible value, Rarity is all that gives it any value
The Basics: Smartly appealing to its base, the Twilight HT-1 Who Is Bella? Hot Topic trading card failed to pop.


Even as Inkworks was in the process of collapse, it had some good ideas and some strangely strong fundamentals. One of its last products was the Twilight trading cards (reviewed here!) and it was a smashing success in the secondary market. I like the idea of the Twilight cards and Inkworks smartly appealed to its base with an exclusive card from Hot Topic. Unfortunately, the Twilight cards’ exclusive Hot Topic card, Who Is Bella?, is basically an unremarkable trading card that focused on the character that the Hot Topic crowd never really adopted or got excited about: Bella Swan. She may have been the star of Twilight, but the teen girls who made the film into a phenomenon did not flock to her in any meaningful way.

The HT-1 Who Is Bella? Hot Topic Exclusive card is an overly rare card produced exclusively for Hot Topic and was released only in the Hot Topic boxes of Twilight cards.

When the film Twilight (reviewed here!) was released, Inkworks won the license and began producing exceptionally limited trading cards. With their Twilight trading card series, most of the main characters were granted cards. Hot Topic along got the Who Is Bella? cards, which featured Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan.

The HT-1 Who Is Bella? card features a nice shot of Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in her jeans jacket from the promotional poster for Twilight. The back of the Who Is Bella? Card has text that has basic information on Bella Swan. The front of the card is nothing special; it is not an embossed card, foil, or anything special.

What is surprising is how the value of the card never held and I can only assume that it is because the subject is Bella Swan. The card is rare, but after the initial spike, the value plummeted. I suspect that the subject and the lack of anything exceptional with the card have continued to drive the price down. At this point, fans know all they need to about Bella Swan and it is unlikely the card will rebound in price, but for the die-hard fans, it remains an essential part of the Twilight trading card collection.

For other Twilight cards, please check out my reviews of:
PW3 Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen) Pieceworks card
In Pursuit Chase Set
Twilight P-1 Promotional Card

4/10

For other card reviews, please visit my Card Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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