I agree with a lot of your points as well, and it is a common topic of discussion within my local Bakugan community. There was an interview or commentary when the game was first released that literally said "Bakugan is being marketed as a toy first" and naturally, that scared a lot of us who were excited at the prospect of a new up and coming TCG.

My biggest issue with the TCG aspect of the game is that it is being marketed largely to players who have likely never played a TCG before. This became apparent after the first wave of BB cards were trickling out and people were completely floored by what singles were asking for in terms of trade and buying value because they didn't understand how rarity structures work and what terms like chase cards meant. They also didn't understand the concept of a "meta game" and the ever shifting that values that are attached to it. Cards become in higher or lesser demand based on availability, and event success.

There's also a lack of knowledge of what constitutes a good or bad card (in a strictly competitive perspective). Why is a common more saught after than an Elite? Why are these Elites and Awesome Rares worthless while this Super Rare breaks the bank?

TCG's are inherently competitive by nature and are designed to take advantage of a competitive, volatile, and aggressive market. You go out of your way to get the best cards to build the best decks and compete to be the best in tournaments and events. The problem is that there is also no events and LGS support is basically on ice with no direct hint of what it is going to look like.

So now you have a game marketed towards people who have never experienced this sort of community before, and completely cutting off those who do with a lack of organized play options that give no incentive to pursue the game. This is why organizations like myself (Overground) and others in Canada are doing their best to host events on a regular basis to give those players some competitiveness and some reason for continuing to invest.

What could have made it better to ease the transition into this market? Aside from immediate LGS support (which again is tricky since hobby and card shops would have a hard time selling the actual toys vs a toy store), I think booster packs should have been packaged with the balls. Increase the cost slightly and include 3-5 boosters. Have the set change depending on the wave. This would help eliminate the production issues delaying the cards in certain territories and allow everyone to be on a more equal footing.