your quite judgmental aren't you. No one was precluded from getting one. No one is precluded from getting one now. One of the reasons for buying "collectible" items is that they go up in value. When a company releases a limited run statue, you would expect them to honor that limited run and not try to bypass their commitment to the customer by re-releasing it in a different color. People complain on here all the time about edition size. I couldn't give a crap about the edition size of something. But once you decide on an edition size you should stick to it.
That is if the ES is set and final.
Never looked for the ES myself, more after the color and the sculpt. I got the blue one for a bargain.
Cant talk for DC, but as far as what my associated company producers, we set the ES higher than we produce so then we can revisit later if we like. This way there are no misunderstandings. Its not lying or deceiving people if you tell them the first edition is sold out and then revisit a few years later for a second edition to complete your run.
Now was DC ES set? Well then, you may have a point. Or, was it set only for the first run?