It's only a chore if you make it one.
Sorry, but as I see it, completists don't have a leg to stand on when complaining about how hard it is to find particular items or exclusives--particularly if you want all the card variations and/or both openers and carded items. When you decide to be a completist, you know what you're getting into, and have pre-committed to jumping through whatever hoops are necessary.
If you don't think it's worth the effort for this or any other figure, skip it and move on.
Just my 2 cents.
The reality is that it
is a chore. I don't feel that because some collectors’ habits don't match others can justify retailers abusing a section of the market in such a manipulative way.
I'd tend to agree with you if we weren't at the 10-year anniversary mark of the line, where the amount of exclusives, piled on top of each other on the same day and in limited quantities, are being released in a newfound aggressiveness never attempted in previous years. Never before have the toys been released in a way that makes it quite challenge (if not impossible for some) for collectors to get everything they want. Remember, Hasbro used to have a "policy" of
no exclusives during a movie year.
If this type of promotion and exploitation of completists was present from early on, there wouldn't be as many completists left to get upset by this. By the end of April 2, I can imagine there will be fewer completists out there, as well.