The cards can also be used for playing and the comics for reading. They escape the Howey Test because they can and are used for non-securities things.
Any securities lawyer worth their salt will tell you that mere possible utility does not make something not a security. The distinction of “utility token” vs “security token” is not an official dichotomy. Something could be a utility token AND STILL be sold in securities sales.
For example, concert tickets are useful to attend a concert. But if you buy thousands of them, and scalp them, you aren’t doing it to attend a thousand concerts. You’re doing it to resell and make a profit. You have a common enterprise with the people putting on the concert.
Similarly if you buy too many utility tokens for you to conceivably use in the next few years, that could be a securities transaction by the Howey Test.
Look no further than LBRY case recently decided in SEC’s favor. I read it and spoke to the founder recently (randomly met him in a car shop LOL).
And I am not even talking about the Risk Capital test, used in California and a dosen other Western states, by which most Kickstarter campaigns are technically unregistered securities sales!
That's like saying "The USD is used as fuel for the US economy." Even talking about more crypto-concepts as gas fees doesn't negate this. It's not some "other purpose" and courts won't buy such disingenuous spins.
What level of detail do you want?
People have a need to secure their transactions from double-spends and stealing etc. I personally think blockchains are a first-gen technology but the network requires ETH to pay for transactions. What is your point?
But about whether it can never be considered a security? In theory I agree with you. Just because something has utility, doesn't mean it's not a security by the Howey test. Today the SEC says one thing (ETH is not a security). Tomorrow under different leadership they can turn around and say it is. Good luck convincing a court, though.
And Howey is just on the federal level! As I have already said -- most Kickstarter campaigns are actually unregistered securities offerings, according to the Risk Capital test of California and a dozen other states:
https://www.cuttingedgecapital.com/what-is-a-security-and-wh...
Proceed at your Peril: https://ir.law.utk.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1828&cont...
Silver Hills case established the Risk Capital test:
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/silver-hills-doesn-t-mute-...
And in fact, nearly everything can be a security if you try hard enough:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/everything-security-chris-har...
So "how it works" is whatever the system happens to come up with in court cases and precedents. The definitions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and are vague as it is. After all, capital invested into anything is "put at risk", even if by the Howey test it's not. While in Singapore, the definition of security is a lot more narrow. And FINMA in Switzerland seems to have a much more sane system specifically for tokens:
https://www.finma.ch/en/news/2018/02/20180216-mm-ico-wegleit...
This is why blockchain and Web3 innovation is leaving the United States