Yeah, I think you're right there Jesse. The UGH stuff, although I haven't actively pursued it, has been very hit and miss here locally. I never saw any of the first round (foil card) ones, but did see a few gold coin ones from the second batch here and there. I think if they made "vintage colored" variants a chase figure, they would be next to impossible to find. And, although I hate to use the words, "scalper bait". You know those would be getting snapped up like crazy and going for ridiculous money on ebay. Plus, things like this (vintage color figures) would likely be something anyone collecting the vintage line would want to have, whereas the previous UGH things (card/coin differences) seemed to be hit and miss. Some chased them, some could care less.
In theory, the "chase figure" thing should make a line a little more fun. But, it just doesn't work in this collecting climate. These days, there are too many people buying them up just to make money, not to "collect". Although inflated prices would stink, if they could keep them normal, I'd almost rather see them be store/online/convention exclusives or something than chase figures. I don't think we've had much trouble getting recent HTS/SWS exclusives from SDCC or Celebrations, and store exclusives often aren't quite as bad either. Again, you could have the problem of one person clearing out a Target/WM/TRU...so maybe another way would be better. Mail away is another option, but then you're probably only getting 1 or 2 a year.