You speak of one set, where there are three, plus four exclusive minfigs (well Bard may not be exclusive - we'll see).
You can leave that LEGO Movie comment at the door. There is no long line of children at SDCC that will be picking up their exclusive minifigs today and going home to open and play with them. In fact, the "Lord Business" stereotype that LEGO uses as a point of their movie is exactly the type that will be getting these exclusives, or even worse speculators that won't even let these things see the light of day again once they have their hands on them.
The point is that there is another way to do this, and other companies have figured that out. LEGO still hasn't, despite being banned from one Comicon already due to their process.
LEGO knows exactly what kind of fervour they create with their limited availability product, especially when it is tied to a licensed franchise. That's why they frequently offer them as incentives for spending x$ at their stores or in their site.
This is just bad marketing decisions.
