Variant Questions

[Warhawke]

How are variants released? Are they hard to find or does every other tray have the variant or what? I've also seen many auctions with people saying its a sealed box with a variant inside. How do they know that? I would like to collect the variants but am unsure how to collect them. Thanks for all the help!!

[FireMickey216]

From what I understand the artists submit figures with variant options and then Disney approves or disapproves.

Disney doesn't release when a variant is in a tray but, I saw a possible variant ratio as 1 in every 10 trays or 1 in every 120 figures.

As for the auctions you've seen I have no idea unless they lie or open the Box look and then seal it back.:rofl:

They are hard to find depending on what variant it is.

Hope this helps.:thumbsup:

Welcome to VN by the way :wave::wave:

[Carol]

How are variants released? Are they hard to find or does every other tray have the variant or what? I've also seen many auctions with people saying its a sealed box with a variant inside. How do they know that? I would like to collect the variants but am unsure how to collect them. Thanks for all the help!!

Variants (or lack of variants) vary from series to series and it is hard to work out the odds of getting them. Basically - yes, they are hard to find and this is reflected in the ebay prices of variants.

Some variants are of the chasers (Star Wars Obi Chaser vs Ghost variant, Animation Elephant clear pink vs 3 other variants, Cutesters Too Apple) and some variants are of some of the 11 common vinyls (Park 6 WDW signs, Wet Paint Donald) ( Urban 6 Green Thumb, Texting, Spirograph) (Urban 7 Alien, Splatter, Phone, Cyclops) (Animation Pinocchio) (Cutesters Too Lollipop, Bubbles) - each seem to have different pricing on rarity value and how desired the vinyl seems to be.

There is no way to know that a variant is inside a sealed box so any auctions that say this are fishy and probably not to be trusted.

The only way to collect the variants are to be lucky and blind box them, trade for them on the forum (once you get to 50 posts) or buy them off ebay. Good luck.

[lintman]

You also have to pay attention to auctions on ebay. Some people will make "Custom" variants and sell them. Most will clearly state that it is a custom variant but you should be careful if you are looking for them.

[Dmendel305]

I think those auctions on ebay just mention that there is a possibility of getting a variant not necessarily there is one in the box

[archie]

If the variant is of the animation series, its easy to tell if the figure is a variant and what variant it is because of disneys stupid coding system. I know we arent allowed to talk about it openly in the forum, so the details will be left out. As for other series and variants, its a hit or miss. I have heard of different things with the other series to know 100% but each time have proven the details wrong to people wondering.

[VintageOne]

I agree with the commentary that there is absolutely no way to know if the variant is in a case if it is truly factory sealed - so buyer beware if they are saying this is true 100%. As for ratios, Disney does not release production numbers or anything else related to them, so I'm not sure where the 1 out of 10 cases comes from (PS, it would be 1 out of every 240 boxes, not 120)...but if it were true, I would think the variants would go for much more money. I have heard 1 out of 4 cases, but have no way to prove it. Even at 1 out of 4 cases, box-wise it's 1 out of 96 or 1.04% odds.

Having the artists submit variant designs also seems odd, when most of the newer ones (unlike Obi-wan) seem to keep the exact same design but only change out colors. Doesn't take much design to do that....however, I just traded for the Blue Cycle variant and that one is cool because the colors are actually on opposite feet, etc.

[glassdezignz]

i got the alien variant last week.

[BTown]

I've also wondered about the odds of pulling a variant is. I guess the thing that I don't understand is why some seem to command such a higher price than others. The black telephone variant (which I was lucky enough to pull) seems to go for a lot more than other recent variants, which would indicate to me that it is somehow rarer than other variants. I just can't imagine people being that crazy about a figure that's just a different color.

[mbo516]

A lot of the time people put in the description or title something to the effect of "chaser? variant?." When you see this they do not know what is in there and are just trying to spark interest.

[CosmosApple]

My guess would be the quality of the design plays a big big part. The Urban 7 paint splatter and Alien variants both seem inferior to the common design, which may keep the resale value lower than the Black Phone variant which just seems kinda cool to me. For the Alien figure, if the situation was reversed, and the variant was semi-clear and the common was solid, I think we'd be looking at one of the higher priced variants.

I collect the park 6 series, and I can't really logically justify spending $150 on the purple wet paint variant when I already have the green & orange wet paint figures, but at some point I decided I had to have the entire set so I've left logic at the door.

Come to think of it, leaving logic behind is probably required to get involved in collecting vinylmation in the first place :bonk::bonk::bonk:

[VintageOne]

My guess would be the quality of the design plays a big big part. The Urban 7 paint splatter and Alien variants both seem inferior to the common design, which may keep the resale value lower than the Black Phone variant which just seems kinda cool to me. For the Alien figure, if the situation was reversed, and the variant was semi-clear and the common was solid, I think we'd be looking at one of the higher priced variants.

I collect the park 6 series, and I can't really logically justify spending $150 on the purple wet paint variant when I already have the green & orange wet paint figures, but at some point I decided I had to have the entire set so I've left logic at the door.

Come to think of it, leaving logic behind is probably required to get involved in collecting vinylmation in the first place :bonk::bonk::bonk:

I agree - anyone who collects VM can't be using logic, I think it comes from the emotional side of the brain!

[BTown]

I collect the park 6 series, and I can't really logically justify spending $150 on the purple wet paint variant when I already have the green & orange wet paint figures, but at some point I decided I had to have the entire set so I've left logic at the door.

Come to think of it, leaving logic behind is probably required to get involved in collecting vinylmation in the first place :bonk::bonk::bonk:

You know... a regular paint drip Donald and purple sharpie would have been a lot cheaper...

[brendonb27]

I have a question. What exactly is a chaser? Is it sort of a rare one you only get in the big box?
Is a variant a variation of another character? Thanks!

[Carol]

I have a question. What exactly is a chaser? Is it sort of a rare one you only get in the big box?
Is a variant a variation of another character? Thanks!

Out of 24 blind boxes in a tray there will be two sets of the common 11, one duplicate (called a filler) of one of the 11 and 1 chaser. So the odds in getting a chaser by buying just one single blind box is 1/24. The commons are 2/24 unless it is the filler, in which case it is 3/24.

Some series have variants - which are a variation on one or more of the commons and are more rare than a chaser. Some other series (Star Wars 1 and Animation 1) had a variant/s on the chaser.