MTG has the “UN-…” sets which basically did this. They were sets that were designed to be a parody and a novelty with many of the cards referencing external things and being intentionally silly. These are good fun to play with a group of friends, but they were never as successful or popular as the main TCG sets. They were also released with a different border so that they were easily spotted as they are not tournament legal for obvious reasons.
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Yugioh continues to surprise me. So many times in the past I’ve thought the game was near-death, only for it to keep marching onward with a large consumer base and (somehow) larger and larger events. I don’t get it lol. Maybe it’s because I’m an old fart still playing and collecting the original era.
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Few thoughts. I spend most of my time thinking about things from a publisher perspective these days:
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Metazoo was a financially successful TCG. Billion-dollar franchises are not the litmus test for success. The industry goal is closer to a $10M annual run-rate, which allows you to build out a proper support staff, maintain the aggressive consumer expectation of a quarterly release that supports all consumption metagames (play, collect, invest, LGS, big box, etc.). MetaZoo accomplished this for a period of time.
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The greatest sin of its management was actually the mishandling of industry partners, not its consumer base. When you mishandle Kuromi, you’re not getting other big hitter IPs. When you aren’t properly accommodating the needs of distributors, you lose access to markets.
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MetaZoo did a lot of innovative things in the space. You could do a dissertation on their handling of promotional cards. While they produced a ton of low-value ones (this is actually more like Pokemon than anything else), they aligned their promos with a lot of unique experiences. MetaZoo’s production was closer to the heartbeat of its audience than any other TCG I’ve ever seen. They also just did some stuff that is really cool. Sending some of your cards to space for a UFO set? That’s literally so fun lol. I wish that game had been more competently managed around those types of ideas. They also had some really interesting SKUs. I remember when their Valentine’s Day heart box TCG SKU dropped. I sincerely asked, “Why isn’t every game doing this?”
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The importance of multiple stakeholders - Ownership would have benefited a lot from the expectations and pressures of experienced investment from within the industry. They didn’t really have any problems that weren’t solvable. And some of their mistakes would have been easily avoided with some wiser input. Overprinting an early set? Anyone from OG WotC (all investors in the industry) could have provided a ton of experience in reading the feedback MetaZoo was getting through its sales channels. Magic made the same mistake. Mishandling big box? So many experienced investors that have seen that happen. In general, this is just not an industry where you want to get a big head. There are a lot of people who know a lot of things and it’s collaborate or die. There are other killer TCGs in the industry right now that I think are undercapitalized by 90%+ because they either don’t know how to seek legitimate/worthwhile investment or they do not realize they need it (Grand Archive, cough cough)
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Market feedback is not easy to read in trading cards - Take our favorite industry example of Pokemon. They had underwhelming performance for over a decade leading up to 2014. Messed up OP structure during BW. Messed up set design during SM. Messed up print quantities during SWSH. Messed up rarity structure during SV. Reading the market is hard. There is a ton of noise and it’s like sniping from kilometers out: There are a ton of atmospheric factors that you consider, but you still need some luck.
The industry learned a lot from MetaZoo. I believe that has value. I’d like to see the industry itself continue to grow, learn, and improve.
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Good to see you again Charlie 
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RIP Metazoo?!?!?
LOL
Mike has a four hundred and twenty step plan that will see all us TRUE METAZOO BELIEVERS exiting the market with at least sixty nine million dollars…
You guys just can’t get into all the next level smoke and mirrors shit going to maintain hype and presence…
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Is there a rundown of this somewhere?
What’s a run down?
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That’s a stare down.
Rundown = a report or summary
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This site seems to have a pretty good summary of the Metazoo promos and other releases:
Apparently this was originally purchased for around $12K.
And at peak hype I believe one of these sold for $2K.
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1/1 
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Damn that’s from that #1 metazoo fan youtuber guy that was discussed a few days ago on this thread. At a certain point, if you actually liked the IP it doesn’t even make sense to sell it if you’re getting like 10% of what you put into it
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I did this a few days ago, bought a ufo 1st edition booster box and am condsidering a seance one just because those two have the most art ive liked and as someone who likes things that came and went it would go well into my collection of random stuffs. For the price right now i was like why not
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You can be a fan of an IP & also make investments within that IP. We’ve all been there & done it.
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Absolutely. I’m not saying you can’t be both. But if you are both a fan and someone that has invested money into this product, having the investment sour is a strong test of where you land on this collector-investor spectrum. When the shit hits the fan like this situation, the actions taken speak to the motivation for particular purchases.
If it was really just about liking the item, presumably you’d like the item even it was 10% of the price. But if your actions speak to someone dropping a falling knife from as high as possible I have to question how seriously you enjoyed that particular item.
Speaking only to the “high-end” of metazoo, it just shows you how inorganic the demand was because as soon as the future value potential was in question, it was dumped buy the owners and the buyer pool shrank to more organic levels.
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There’s no purely organic high-end market. Whether it’s designer clothes, jewelry, luxury cars or even trading cards. It’s all propped up by validation, status or some possibility of appreciation in value. What made you buy those dpt cards? Did you just think they’re cool? Are you just a really big darkrai/cresselia fan or was it the idea of owning one of the rarest pokemon cards ever? Would you have had the same interest if it was as common as the l-p version?
Nobody is spending 5 to 6 figures on cards solely on the basis that they just like it. There’s recognition, status & validation that accompany those purchases. It’s pretty much the reason why PSA 10s have so much of a higher premium than 9s.
It’s also not crazy to think that some of the guys who bought into high-end Metazoo just liked the idea of having one of the greatest cards of a new emerging ip they like. With Metazoo pulling the plug & a now dwindling community there’s absolutely no validation in having a “1/1 mothman”, nobody cares. It just becomes a sign that you got played. Now you own one rarest cards of what is now considered a rug pull card game. Nothing close will ever happen in pokemon so we can’t relate.
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I think pfms point is it’s weird to see someone who was big into metazoo dump at record low prices. If prices tanked like this for pokemon it wouldn’t change most members affection for their cards.
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It’s a good example because I didn’t buy the Dppt promos exclusively because I liked them, there was a large speculative motivation. But I still like them.
The primary difference between organic and inorganic interest is that I would sell the Darkrai/Cresselia if they got too expensive for me to justify keeping them. But if they were falling in price and I’m forced to sell at a loss I’d rather just keep them because they are cool. If they became $1000 each tomorrow because Pokemon was over I would have absolutely no desire to sell them.
I know this statement below will be a huge generalization and not a rule at all but I just want to express the vibe.
Pokemon collectors sell when things get to expensive to justify keeping them. Metazoo collectors sell when there is no indication of future value.
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I think it’s unfair to compare Metazoo with Pokemon. We’ve been tremendously spoiled by the pokemon ip for many years. It’s very easy for us to have such a strong dedication to this franchise when so many of us have benefited financially & emotionally from it. Pokemon for the most part has rarely let us down & consistently delivered quality (minus the games).
Metazoo fans have gotten the opposite with horrible management. I think it’s understandable why these guys want nothing to do with the franchise anymore after everything. Like imagine if pokemon ended after gen 2 like they originally wanted? Chances are we wouldn’t be here right now.