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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How Rarity Makes The Mundane Valuable, Twilight P1 Promotional Card!

The Good: Good image, Informative, Inexpensive enough, Necessary for collectors, Rare enough
The Bad: It’s just one card and can usually be found for free, Light on release details/inaccurate
The Basics: A single Twilight card, the Bella and Edward Promotional card is unimpressive but has value to investors and collectors.


Collectibles are a funny thing in a lot of ways. When something has collectible value or appeal, it can entirely change a product. Promotional cards, for example, are rather mundane collectibles which prepare card collectors for an upcoming trading card release. However, when a merchandise-starved crowd finds something they love, they tend to pounce upon any and all merchandise associated with it. This is, arguably, the only reason for the inflated prices associated with the Twilight P1 card, as well as the entire card series from Twilight produced by Inkworks (reviewed here!). The crowd of young women who made Twilight an international phenomenon in books and film was eager for other merchandise and when Inkworks came out with its card set, the value of it exploded because demand for it was insanely high. The P1 promotional card preceded the main card release as well as the theatrical release of Twilight (reviewed here!). The P1 card has maintained an uncommonly high value in the secondary market since.

To prepare collectors for the release of the Twilight trading cards, Inkworks produced a promotional card. Promotional cards are designed to give collectors a tease of the new set and generate enthusiasm for forthcoming card releases. Inkworks gave away tens of thousands of Twilight P1 promotional cards to collectors (who simply asked for one and sent a self addressed, stamped envelope) and to dealers to freely distribute to potential customers.

Numbered P1 (on the back) the Twilight promotional card prepares fans for the style of the common card set for the Twilight trading cards. As such, this is a standard trading card size and there is no gimmick to it. It has the Inkworks standard UV protective coating to prevent fading and after two years, mine shows no wear (though mine is nicely protected in a binder's poly pages!).

The front of the trading card a film shot that has Bella Swan and Edward Cullen remarkably far apart. Set in the treetops, this is a fan-favorite scene from the film and it is no surprise that Inkworks went with it for their promotional card. With the landscape format, it prepares consumers for the common card set and it features the murky cloud border that the trading cards possessed. This is the format of the common cards and it accurately predicts how the set would look.

The photography on the front is very clear and the color contrast is decent, which prepares collectors well for the actual set. As well, this illustrated the clarity of Inkworks’ screen capture technology. Those looking for something different to get signed should they have a chance encounter with Edward Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will find this works nicely. Having only the both main characters on the front is nice for fans, collectors and autograph hunters.

The back of the card simply announces the Twilight trading card set, illustrating that it will be a set that include autograph cards and piecework (costume segment) cards, and indicating that it would be available in November of 2008! The back features no other images and so the style of autographs and costume cards is a mystery to those looking at the promotional card. Given that the autograph cards did not materialize when the set was released, the P1 card sets up expectations that were not met with the actual set. Outside the most expensive cards in the set, the card does not tease potential buyers with much information and it is only insinuation and retrospect which lead those looking at the P1 to know that the common card set followed this style of card.

In the end, this card is underwhelming but nice looking. The Twilight Trading Card P1 card prepares the consumer for the actual full trading card set. From a production point of view, this card ought to be worthless. However, because so many fans found this to be one of the few inexpensive ways to get even a single Twilight card, it has retained a value as a collectible which makes it worth picking up if one can find it cheap.

For other Twilight or movie-themed cards, please visit my reviews of:
PW-7 Taylor Lautner Pieceworks card
Twilight In Pursuit set
Batman Returns Movie Photo cards

5/10

For other trading card releases, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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