darkSpyro

So you've probably seen the occasional GITD Sonic Boom at your local wal-mart, or happened to run across an oddly green colored Chop Chop when looking through toys and wondered what was up. Well, these figures are what's called chase variants (or 'treasure hunts' by Activision's crew, though chase variants has persisted over that title). Of these only certain figures will appear with a different descriptor in game (similar to 'Lightcore') and count separately from their regular counterparts while looking exactly the same, and of those they are either orange or blue based figures. This list is meant to give you an idea what appears as what in game, and a means to figure out just how many figures to accurately 'have them all' within Skylander Giants or Swap Force.

For the sake of sanity this will be focusing on Giants and Swap Force console versions only. There seems to be some oddities between the 3DS versions and what's stated here, so until further testing can be done this'll just cover XBox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii, and Wii U games for those two. The Special flag was introduced in Giants to differentiate the chase variants from their regular versions, and count towards your overall total number of Skylanders in game. 'Rare' was a new version of the Special tag introduced in Swap Force, appearing for figures for the most part not regularly available in stores as mass produced items but inserted in random assortments for people to collect.

A distinction about Skylander Giants:
-If you have two 'Special' characters, the game will register both but only count one for the total Skylander count. This happens even if the toy is different looking entirely, and possibly why the 'Rare' tag exists in Swap Force.
-Series 2/3 characters in Swap Force will actually count as Special for Giants, meaning if you're simply after filling all possible figures that will count separately for your save file this may be the cheaper route. Swap Force named variants (or alter-egos) of existing characters in giants, such as Dark Ninja Stealth Elf, will appear as their closest counterpart in that game (in this case Series 2 Special Stealth Elf), as will Lightcore characters that do not have a Lightcore counterpart in Giants.

Now for the list. Characters are denoted as Special or Rare, though not all characters have been tested at this time. As mentioned above, they'll all appear as Special in Giants if their character appeared in that game:
============
-Bronze S2 Flameslinger (US Amazon exclusive): Special
-GITD Fight Rider (UK Argos, Australia JB exclusive): Special***
-GITD Cynder (US Wal-Mart, UK GAME exclusive): Special
-GITD Sonic Boom (US Wal-Mart exclusive): Special
-Pumpkin Fright Rider (Frito-Lay Contest): Special***
-Sparkle Sprocket: Rare
-Sparkle Sonic Boom: Rare
-Sparkle Hot Head: Rare
-Stone Zook**: Rare
-Stone Whirlwind**: Rare
-Snow Flocked LC Prism Break: Rare
-Snow Flocked Eruptor: Rare
-Snow Flocked Stump Smash; Rare
-2013 NY Toy Fair Metallic Blue Chop Chop: Rare
-E3 Hot Dog: Rare
-Iridescent Eye Brawl: Rare
-Iridescent S2 Lightning Rod: Rare
-Iridescent S2 Wrecking Bal: Rare
-Pumpkin Eye Brawl: Special
-Metallic Wash Buckler: Special
-Metallic Shroomboom: Special
-2013 Dev Exclusive Fire Kraken: Special
-Green Series 3 Chop Chop: Special
-Green Scorp: Special
-Green Rip Tide: Special
-Metallic Series 2 Sprocket: Special****

These are unknown, and further testing needs to be done:
===============
-Metallic Gill Grunt****

-2013 Employee Exclusive Smolderdash

The following do not:
===============
-All green-base Skylanders. Most will instead appear with 2100 gold and be at level 5 when brand new, but other than that there's no way to confirm they're the real deal. This is a buyer beware situation, as a loose figure is much more difficult to be able to tell if it's genuine or not and, as a result, counterfeits exist. As these don't count as special in game or towards your total skylander collection, they may be best avoiding.
-Employee Exclusive Prism Break
-Platinum Treasure Chest (Skylanders Battlegrounds item)*

*Despite being a uniquely named item, the Platinum Treasure Chest does not behave any differently. In fact, you can use a regular Hidden Chest and still reap the same benefits. This carries on into Swap Force, where the game expects it to be added to the inventory but obviously it can't be.
**Not all Stone Zooks and Whirlwinds will register due to an issue with certain particular ones. Your mileage may vary.
***While both appear as 'Special' in game, they do get separate entries in your collection.
****Cannot switch paths despite being a series 2 figure.

E3 hotdog comes up as rare.

I thought that Pumpkin Eye Brawl didn't show up as special in either Giants or Swap force. If I had known that I would of gotten him why he was still on sale.

-Iridescent (Purple) Eye Brawl: Rare??

Is this confirmed i could have swear this showed special when i had him

A few notes:
The GitD Fright Rider does, indeed, show up as "Special".
"Color Change" or "Metallic" Wash Buckler shows up as "Special" as well.
The first wave of chase figures from SSA did not have the 2,100 Gold/Level 5 at start.

Green Series 3 Chop Chop shows up as special.

Quote: artican

-Iridescent (Purple) Eye Brawl: Rare??

Is this confirmed i could have swear this showed special when i had him

I know for sure that Purple Wrecking Ball and Purple Lightning Rod are "Rare" (I have them and tested), so it must be the case for Purple Eye-Brawl too.

Quote: UncleBob

A few notes:
The GitD Fright Rider does, indeed, show up as "Special".

Do you own both it and Pumpkin FR, and if so do they count separately in Swap Force? Pretty sure they'll only count once but making sure.

Quote: wreckingballbob

Green Series 3 Chop Chop shows up as special.

Just to double check, is it Special or Rare?

Quote: newkill

Quote: artican

-Iridescent (Purple) Eye Brawl: Rare??

Is this confirmed i could have swear this showed special when i had him

I know for sure that Purple Wrecking Ball and Purple Lightning Rod are "Rare" (I have them and tested), so it must be the case for Purple Eye-Brawl too.

they show up as rare in swap force do they also show as rare in giants

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Quote: UncleBob

A few notes:
The GitD Fright Rider does, indeed, show up as "Special".

Do you own both it and Pumpkin FR, and if so do they count separately in Swap Force? Pretty sure they'll only count once but making sure.

Quote: wreckingballbob

Green Series 3 Chop Chop shows up as special.

Just to double check, is it Special or Rare?

It is special.
No rare.

Quote: Kung Fu Man

Do you own both it and Pumpkin FR, and if so do they count separately in Swap Force? Pretty sure they'll only count once but making sure.

I have both and they each show up as "Fright Rider: Special", so I have 3 Fright Rider entries (original and two specials).

Quote: artican

Quote: newkill

I know for sure that Purple Wrecking Ball and Purple Lightning Rod are "Rare" (I have them and tested), so it must be the case for Purple Eye-Brawl too.

they show up as rare in swap force do they also show as rare in giants?

They appear as "Series 2 Special" in Giants.

The "Rare" tag didn't appear until SWAP Force, so we had no way to tell the difference between GITD Sonic Boom and Glitter Sonic Boom.

Metallic Green Gill Grunt shows up as Special, if I'm not mistaken.


Developer Fire Kraken shows up as Special.

Updated with new info, can anyone else confirm Metallic Gill as Special?

Oh yeah, Toy Fair Chop Chop is Rare.

Additional data
These are the 'special' tags that are stored on the figures themselves:

-Bronze S2 Flameslinger (US Amazon exclusive): Special (0x02 - note, this is the same code 'in game' variants use)
-GITD Fight Rider (UK Argos, Australia JB exclusive): Special*** (0x11)
-GITD Cynder (US Wal-Mart, UK GAME exclusive): Special (0x11)
-GITD Sonic Boom (US Wal-Mart exclusive): Special (0x11)
-Pumpkin Fright Rider (Frito-Lay Contest): Special*** (0x15)
-Sparkle Sprocket: Rare (0x13)
-Sparkle Sonic Boom: Rare (0x13)
-Sparkle Hot Head: Rare (0x13)
-Stone Zook**: Rare (0x12)
-Stone Whirlwind**: Rare (0x12)
-Snow Flocked LC Prism Break: Rare (0x14)
-Snow Flocked Eruptor: Rare (0x14)
-Snow Flocked Stump Smash; Rare (0x14)
-2013 NY Toy Fair Metallic Blue Chop Chop: Rare (0x04)
-E3 Hot Dog: Rare (0x15)
-Iridescent Eye Brawl: Rare (?)
-Iridescent S2 Lightning Rod: Rare (?)
-Iridescent S2 Wrecking Bal: Rare (?)
-Pumpkin Eye Brawl: Special (0x15)
-Metallic Wash Buckler: Special (0x18)
-2013 Dev Exclusive Fire Kraken: Special (?)
-Green Series 3 Chop Chop: Special (?)
-Metallic Gill Grunt (?)
-Green Scorp (?)
-Green Rip Tide(?)
-2013 Employee Exclusive Smolderdash (?)

You can add Metallic Shroomboom, he is "Special".
I have him and tested

Green Rip Tide is a Special Tag

S2 Metallic Gill Grunt and S2 HD Sprocket are both Special

Best Buy Exclusive Heavy Duty Sprocket actually just shows up as Sprocket Special. She cannot switch paths, but she has a Wow Pow.


Metallic Gill Grunt can't switch paths in SWAP Force, either.

Quote: Matteomax

Best Buy Exclusive Heavy Duty Sprocket actually just shows up as Sprocket Special. She cannot switch paths, but she has a Wow Pow.


Metallic Gill Grunt can't switch paths in SWAP Force, either.

Wonder what happened there lol

Just curious, are they able to swap paths if you upgrade them in Giants? Pretty sure Sprocket can't but GG might.

No clue, I'll attempt to do that.