darkSpyro

I know that some traps come pre-installed with variants of certain villain, and I have some questions about them.

Who are the variants and what traps do they come in?

Which ones are still available to buy normally, and where are they found?

What happens if another villain is placed in the trap? Can we still get the variant back easily?

The Variants are
- Red Hot Tussle Sprout (Earth Totem trap)
- Riot Shield Shredder (Life Torch trap)
- Steamed Broccoli Guy (Life Toucan trap - only found in the trap 8-pack)
- Steampunk Shrednaught (Tech Flying Helmet trap)
- Outlaw Brawl & Chain (Water Log Holder trap)
- Rebel Lob Goblin (Light Rocket trap)

I guess which are still available depends on your location. Personally, I see Riot Shield Shredder, Outlaw Brawl & Chain and Rebel Lob Goblin all over the place here in Norway, but the others are long gone from the stores.
EDIT:
If you're in the US, GameStop will start selling the Steampunk Shrednaught trap on their Skylanders Day on June 27th - you could even get it for free if you preorder SuperChargers.
http://skylanderscharacterlist...nk-shrednaught/

Haven't actually tried putting another villain in, so I don't have an answer for your third question. I'm sure somebody does, though. :)

A variant villain is written to that specific trap, meaning that if it is overwritten, it can be brought back by simply loading in the regular version of that villain. This also means that variant villains cannot be transferred to other traps.

With the way that villains work, this also means that a variant villain in a trap will not unlock that respective villain to be put in other traps. If you overwrite it, you won't be able to get it back until you defeat and capture the regular villain in the story mode.