This is especially true of Hot Toys' attempts with DC. Ever since the Justice League line, I've felt Hot Toys have looked at DC as inconsequential. It's no surprise that out of all the licenses, that's the one InArt (and likely JND) was able to get. Marvel and Star Wars are treated about as well as you could hope from Hot Toys, sure there are misses and figures we've had to wait on for years like Padme and Mace but it's not at all like DC where Hot Toys completely skip whole movies, or only make the titular character and that's it (even when the movie makes a billion!). Even the Batman situation shows it, they marginally improved a headsculpt that, honestly, won't matter for many. With Batman, people usually keep the cowl on, and InArt have nailed the aesthetics of the suit overall. Hot Toys cannot compete with that. So where do they turn to try and create a higher level of quality? Spider-Man final suit from No Way Home, and Anakin and Padme from AOTC 20th anniversary. Marvel and Star Wars. I'd be extremely surprised if they ever made a 3.0 Joker because these Dark Knight remakes have just about been repackages with minor improvements. Catwoman will be the same.
He's using Hot Toys logic, to me that's foolish. We have no idea how many they made, we have no idea how the reseller market will play out, but this idea that it will end up extremely cheap is weird. This isn't Hot Toys with the easy distributor in Sideshow, where figures can go beyond the collecting community. This is how you get figures like that Battle Damaged Vader, like the Anakin and Padme, like Tobey. Friends who don't collect are messaging me about them and that they might be interested in picking one of them up to have just because they love the character or what not. Who is coming in like that to buy an InArt deluxe Joker? That's how you get those massive batches. And even Sideshow realises that this strategy of batches isn't working- and thus you get the waitlisting of preorders. I personally feel InArt is going to fulfill their orders, maybe make a few extra, and then this thing is going to be gone. Then people who have this 'bargain bin' opinion will be scrambling if they want this piece in their collection. Could I be wrong? Sure. People could cancel preorders, and then resellers could have stock. But skeptics are already beginning to be proven wrong by how the first batch has turned out AND the fact that they hit their December 2022 release date. And once video reviews start coming out...I think there will be people hoping to just get the opportunity to get one in their hands.