darkSpyro

Ok, so i have a LC that has a different looking package. My first prism break i got on giants release day has his saying under his name. The 2 other LC i bought more recently have just their name. As the drobot on the left in this link.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/OTUz...uhJg~~60_12.JPG

Ok so first of all I can't stand people calling small differences such as this, a variant. I'm pretty sure we all know the real variants are the gold figures etc. So seeing "noobs" on ebay calling this packaging a variant drives me up the wall!

and second....how can these people call this super rare?? when i see both all the time. My assumption is earlier released skylanders have different packaging, or as my fiance suggested..it could just be different factories.

But wishing to see this nonsense stop is an over sight.

i agree. who cares about the packaging?

EVERYTHING people are selling on Ebay is called "SUPER RARE". People use misleading titles all of the time. They put completely unrelated terms or names in the title to generate search hits. They call common things "rare". They say "in hand" when they they haven't even bought it yet.

To me, the people that sell packaging errors aren't as big of a deal. There is a market for that, some people love that sort of thing. Some of the rarest stamps are nothing more than printing errors, for example.

The one that gets me is the Chill lips thing. It's not a variant. The only interest is from people that want something to be interesting and rare, even is it is common as dirt. TFB doesn't sit back and change the speck of paint on a 4 inch figure's lips in order to make it a variant.

The other one that made me laugh were the people that went crazy over Amazon Gold Flameslinger and GiTD Sonic Boom. Sure, they are cool - but it was obvious they were never going to be rare, but that didn't stop people from buying a bunch to save or treating it like it is the Holy Grail for a collector. Here is a tip: if a store pays for an exclusive, it isn't going to be rare. Enjoy it for what it is. I went out last weekend and bought several GiTD Sonic Booms for my son's sleepover birthday party - I'm going to put them in the goody bags. If I can walk into a store and buy several and not even put a dent in their supply two months after they came out, then it isn't anything more than a neat paint job that the boys will think is cool.

very well said defpally. My fiance bought an extra GITD sonic boom thinking it would be a hit but ended up giving it away for free lol. But yeah the chill lips drives me crazy too...its not a variant!! lol

lol good thing im not OCD enough, into this variants. I only care about what the figures appearance as figure and in the game. if it looks different then my money is in it.

To be fair, things like Chills lips and the packaging on the Drobot are factory errors. Not really variants per se but different. This happens in lots of different toy lines from time to time, usually due to what factory is making them. (And if my theory is right, there's 2 factories making the skylanders figures which is why there's such a difference between them). The one I bring up all the time is from the Ben 10 line: there was an error in early run Wildvine figures where the clear plastic coloring was accidently used from the Vilgax figure that was also released. This completely changed the look of Wildvine making him look all brown instead of green. I have 2 of those hanging up on my wall and they're some of my prized possesions. (Although that stems from my love of the series haha) They fixed it eventually but now you really only see a handful of them up on ebay at any given time.

It gets annoying when you see them up on ebay and stuff for like $300 though, but they are fun to look for and collect if you're a collector.

yes, i do appreciate a good factory error as i am a collector. But the fact that theyre calling it off as a variant is whats bothering me.

Some people appreciate errors. I kept the LC 3-pack just for the headless Prism Break I saw in it.

I find it funny how these factory control issues are considered to be cool, rare quirks for collectors. I can't think of any other toy/figure where an obvious manufacturing error would still be purchased and possibly passed on as a "rare" collectible.

i luv errors more than the actual variants. i especially like the figure errors. also, not sure if this is the right place, but someone is selling the:

xbox SSA game
portal
green gill grunt
spyro
triggs for $30 on craigslist! is it a good deal?

Good deal, but off topic. I also own a packaging error, Trigger Happy with Terrafin packaging.

yeah, i saw that. maybe the "T" skylanders are packaged together and a terrafin packaging back was attached to the triggs?

I remember a while back; I saw a S1 Prism Break with Whirlwind packaging. Didn't buy it, though.

Quote: Matteomax

I remember a while back; I saw a S1 Prism Break with Whirlwind packaging. Didn't buy it, though.

see now that stuff is cool! Id love to have a figure in the wrong package. Buutttt its still not a variant haha. I never said i didnt like any of the factory errors. Just people mis using and mis understanding the term.

Like the newer LightCore packaging. Scalpers consider them variants, even though they're not.

Quote: Tupelo

how can these people call this super rare??

There's only one of anything in existence. Even if they release two million Jet-Vacs, only one person in the world has #1,463,296. That makes that Jet-Vac "super rare" by definition - you can't get rarer than unique.

Doesn't mean anyone would CARE, or that it has any more value than any of the other 1,999,999 Jet-Vacs out there. But using semantics to make your product seem more worthwhile (but in a way that you're never actually LYING) is what marketing is all about.

The same thing with variants. By the dictionary, any two things that don't exactly match can be variants of each other. You take a standard Flashwing, you open it, you sell it as-is on eBay as a variant. Someone asks you why, you say "It's not in the package, so it's different than the standard in-sale model." Complete rhetoric? Sure, but it'd hold up in court.

Take everything that you read on eBay with a grain (or bucket) of salt, and it gets easier.

Quote: Matteomax

Good deal, but off topic. I also own a packaging error, Trigger Happy with Terrafin packaging.

yeah dude its class but that is rare.

on the subject of super rare people would sell there nans on ebay as super rare variants if they bloody could its getting beyond a joke now there an eyebrawl on ebay for £120 because he has a splash of black paint on the white part of the eye lol am mean come on people its a bloody **** up from the damn painter that did the thing but to the seller its SUUUUUUUUPPPPPPEEEEERRRRR RARE get a grip pull up your trousers tuck your peanuts back in and stop acting like there melons sorry had to say that.

It seems at times that "Rare" means manufacturing defect that Quality Control missed. At least you don't have to fight most of the people to get them if that is your thing, if I saw one I would (like most people) say weird and leave it right there. In fact, when I get figures if I am lucky enough to have a choice, I pick the one that is as close to perfect as I can get. I went through all of the Wave 3 boxes on 12/21 at TRU (since they just set the boxes out) to make sure I got the ones with the best paint jobs.

In fact, I am pretty sure I have never found a variant, but I *think* I saw a gold one waaaay back near the release of SSA. I passed over it because I figured they messed it up and it didn't go through all of the painters and was a defect. Of course, I am not a chase variant collector either.

I'll stick to just collecting in game variants and let others chase after ugly looking solid one color figures and factory errors. I've passed on the blue bash, red drill sargent, GILD sonic boom, Amazon gold flameslinger and all chase variants so far. I did have the chance to buy a stone zook the first day wave 2 was available (saw it at my local TRU) but left it on the shelf for someone else who I hoped would give it a good home. Other then that only factory error I've really seen besides the purple/red lipped chill was a S2 Gill Grunt in a triple pack whose jet pack was dettached from the base.

Yeah, I look for the ones with the most perfect paint jobs too. Random streaks of the wrong colored paint drives me crazy and i think they just looks bad.

Quote: Tupelo

Yeah, I look for the ones with the most perfect paint jobs too. Random streaks of the wrong colored paint drives me crazy and i think they just looks bad.

i do the same thing. i honestly think they need to up there quility control. i know they produce them in the mass's but with the new game it seems 7 out of 10 have what i would consider a bad paint job.

Quote: Hazard335

Quote: Tupelo

Yeah, I look for the ones with the most perfect paint jobs too. Random streaks of the wrong colored paint drives me crazy and i think they just looks bad.

i do the same thing. i honestly think they need to up there quility control. i know they produce them in the mass's but with the new game it seems 7 out of 10 have what i would consider a bad paint job.

The quality seems much better than Series 1. The figures have much more detail, and I would frequently find figures in the same lots that had glaring mistakes. First time I saw Wham Shell in the store, three different figures painted three different ways. One of them was even completely missing the gold accents on his arms. The mace also appears to be forced in his hands and bent to make it fit. You can tell it is off because it doesn't line up with the plastic filler piece in the packaging.

Quote: Hazard335

Quote: Tupelo

Yeah, I look for the ones with the most perfect paint jobs too. Random streaks of the wrong colored paint drives me crazy and i think they just looks bad.

i do the same thing. i honestly think they need to up there quility control. i know they produce them in the mass's but with the new game it seems 7 out of 10 have what i would consider a bad paint job.

I started hunting the first series near the end and bought a lot of them from a kid selling his collection. so i cant say whether or not the paints are better cause mine are all ok to me. But i find it very diffacult to find a well painted giant. My fiance and i must look like tools holding them all up to the light inspecting and comparing them hahaha

Quote: defpally

Quote: Hazard335

Quote: Tupelo

Yeah, I look for the ones with the most perfect paint jobs too. Random streaks of the wrong colored paint drives me crazy and i think they just looks bad.

i do the same thing. i honestly think they need to up there quility control. i know they produce them in the mass's but with the new game it seems 7 out of 10 have what i would consider a bad paint job.

The quality seems much better than Series 1. The figures have much more detail, and I would frequently find figures in the same lots that had glaring mistakes. First time I saw Wham Shell in the store, three different figures painted three different ways. One of them was even completely missing the gold accents on his arms. The mace also appears to be forced in his hands and bent to make it fit. You can tell it is off because it doesn't line up with the plastic filler piece in the packaging.

i agree that the newlanders have more detail. also, i very rarely see painting "mistakes"
my complaint is, the newlanders seem to have a much more "sloppy" paint jobs with marks and drips of paint everywhere on them

Just a note - packaging variants *can* be considered rare and worth money, depending on the toy line and such. And yes, this can include minor things like the tag lines on the Light Cores. Heck, some of ye ol' Star Wars figures can command bigger money based on the type of peg hook at the top.

With that said, I'm not bothering to collect all of the Light Core packaging variants - and I even keep all my figures in the package.