Variant Watch-2014!!!...lol AND NOW: The 2015 Watch!

[Orion's Islands]

INTRODUCING the 2015 Variant Watch..uhhh...VARIATION !!!!!---the Core Variant!
(See Page 5 of this thread for the beginning of this new contest!)
The above is an edit to the original thread.

The original posting begins here:

At stake here is nothing less than the universal, life-long title of:
Official Skylander Variant Prognosticator

Apparently you can put it on your work Resume....

Anyway. Rules are simple. Pick the week when you think the first unannounced, unadvertised Skylander variant will be found "in the wild!" This is not the Legendaries, or the Nitro's or other pre announced in-game variants...this is a Metallic Purple Eyebrawl or a green crystal Scorp.
Final winner and qualifying entries determined solely by me. With one appeal and final say power granted to 1ofWiisdom to settle any disputes and to be called by any potential employers checking on the submitted Resume's.

I hereby officially pick the first week of December 2014.....
And just for fun, I think it will be some sort of Crystal clear Chopper.

[Orion's Islands]

[1ofWiisdom]

Haha...I am not sure we will see any of them given the "no action" from W1 and W2.

I will run with my own suggestion of making "special" figures that appear normal and will go with December 13th, 2014. I think it will be Chopper, or Fist Bump.

[Omenix]

Hmm I don't know, ive never seen a variant in my life, they dont come down under too often, ive only ever heard of silver variants here during ssa, although I dont follow the variant express much anyway. Variants can be fun, but they are mostly in America where all the scalpers are. If they want to fix the problem they should send them worldwide, that way there'd be less in America so less chance of finding them meaning scalpers wont know about them and more would reach the shelves, and audiences worldwide would have a chance of getting them. Win, win, lose (for scalpers )

[Orion's Islands]

[1ofWiisdom]

Nah, I'll keep it fair...

I kind of think they must have gotten a LOT of bad feedback on the chase variants...none of it is really within their control since they don't intend for a lady at Walmart, or the TRU stockers (note stockers, not stalkers lol) to raid shipments BEFORE they even shelve them. It happens with a ton of stuff...My local TRU and one Walmart never get "special" or "chase" hotwheels because an older guy works part time to pull them all. To his credit he actually does collect them and I've been told he trades the "extras" for others he wants, but it is still wrong.

It is like if McDonalds brings back the McRib and you and your family love it. They can only serve 8 right at 12, 3, and 6 PM. You go in a 1145 and are told they sold out. Then you ask what time to get there to ensure you make 3 PM. They advise 230. You show up at 215 and get fed a lie about the grill being down. Then you shuffle off from work, grab the wife and kids and pull up a seat on the bench in front of the counter. One of the employees tells you that you are in and will get your pick of 1-8 McRibs. Then, at the shift change at 530 you ask and an employee tells you they are sold out. All the while the employees are either eating them, saving them to take home, or hocking them out the backdoor like drug deals.

It is a stupid example, but I used that for a reason. I totally wouldn't mind if a store "stalker" (stalker, not stocker this time) winds up with all the variants. If they can be at TRU all day, every day so be it. But when no one (even the lovable stalker) has access to any because employees pluck them prematurely, it is sad. The worst part is there are so many of them (variants, not employees). If a girl at TRU loves Skylanders and wants to pull Rock Whirlwind and Rock Zook to take home, fine. If she pulls 2 to have 1 sealed and 1 open, fine. But when they hold EVERYTHING back it is a buzz kill.

Activision's intentions were to provide something special to the end user...and quite honestly to keep people coming in and looking, even though you might not "need" anything...The fact you are in the store, "hunting" makes you all the more likely to purchase something regardless. When you sit at home in August because you know that all the variants are pulled upon delivery, you aren't buying anything and aren't being rewarded for being loyal to the series. Their goal is for players to find them...the local store staff keeps that from happening. Subsequently, people learn of the variants, might hear/see the corruption in action and likely write in, or call. Add it all up and you've got a case study to avoid it entirely, outside of instances you can control (store specific figs, event specials, etc).

I'll still stick to my plain but "special" theory getting the greenlight and dub it for Chopper/Fist Bump as stated above.

You would hope individual stores would protect against that, but it is seldom the case.

[Omenix]

If I had to say a specific week id say early July (and not just because that's when my birthday is )it will be similar to green wash buckler packaged with wii, or gnarly tree Rex with ps4, and seeing as those two already have a special bundle I reckon it will be with the xbone, im guessing crystal snap shot (all traptanium) red (tomato) food fight or special traps. My reasoning with early july is for 2 reasons, 1 these bundles always come out just before the new game, 2 this date is just in time for out eofus (end of financial year sales) which always include toys.

Just in case you haven't noticed, I realised I have seen a variant, green wash buckler, in store, I say in store because at eb expo last year I got green gill grunt, but thats not in store.

[Orion's Islands]

Ok...so the picks to date are:
1ofWiisdom: December 13th
Omenix: July 1, 2015
Orion's Islands: December 1

Come One...Come All....Lock your Week in Stone....Be In IT, to Win It....
Just post up your week....And the honorary title with absolutely no financial benefit will belong solely to YOU!!!!

[Orion's Islands]

[1ofWiisdom]

I've been in this since launch day for SSA. Right before Christmas my Nephew found 2 SILVER DINO-RANGS! I found a Gold Flameslinger in a Triple Pack about a month later.

After that my next find was this past Christmas (or two ago) with a purple metallic Wrecking Ball.

The best times to beat the odds are Launch Day and Black Friday-Christmas.

Launch Day works in our favor because employees are often pressed to stock the night before AND they aren't as likely to notice that a certain character looks different from the rest (although my local TRU pulled all of the specials with Giants).

Black Friday and beyond is the same concept because you have a lot of temporary help (usually high school kids) who are brought in and the backroom scalpers can't always compensate for the newcomers "mistakes."

I think the reason I was able to find that Wrecking Ball is simply because it really does look a lot like the regular one...Had it been a translucent, or gold/silver I have no doubt it would have been plucked.