Mysterious character revealed in Hall of Heroes glitch

@Megadrive
From the way the majority of people on this board talk, I have a feeling they would just buy the classics and forget about the new versions. I personally like to collect every figure, so I would buy both no problem. I have no qualms with variants; the more the better imho. I'm just saying that going off of the vibes I get from people here I think both sides of the argument are just as likely. Especially if Disney keeps producing more than enough figures as they have been doing (in contrast to Amiibos/Skylanders being a little scarce).

@Vidia
That's a good point, Burton's Alice, as well as Maleficent, are more of re-imaginings of the classics than a simple retelling with a few changes. While the popularity for both versions would certainly be there, from a production stand-point it seems disingenuous to use (for example) Maleficant's Classic look to represent what Angelina Jolie did for her own version of the character (wether you like it or not).

Regarding the topic of whether a brand new sculpt is or isn't cost effective, I'm kind of the middle, I could see where it would cost more, certainly. 2 Sculpts will cost more than 1, obviously. But I don't necessarily buy the idea that it's a prohibiting factor. Plenty of toy lines exist that have variants ranging from small tweaks/repaints, to entirely new sculpts, and you won't ever convince me that Disney or Marvel lacks the capital to explore such concepts.

As an additional kernel of thought on the matter, I don't necessarily think they'd even have to be new sculpts in every case. There are many that could get away a minor or partial repaint/retool. Mad Hatter or the Red Queen, for instance, would be difficult, they have a very different look heard to toe. Maleficent on the other hand, I think would be easy to retool into an animated version. Her overall body/silhouette is virtually the same. You could make a convincing animated version with a simple repaint, and an even more convincing one with a bit of retooling. Infinity figures aren't a single hunk of plastic, they're just glued together to look like one. One need only look to the example of Spider-Man/Black Spider-Man to see what I mean. And we're not talking about the entire LINE here, just a few key figures here and there.

Marvel Legends (one of Marvels Flagship toy lines) has been doing this a great deal the last few years, actually, they've released dozens of dual-release character variants, which use most of the same parts, but get two characters out there in one "slot" from one wave. If one Disney-Owned merchandise line can do it, I'm not unconvinced another could find ways.

And again, in-game, I think they could get away with a mechanic similar to Spider-Man, where they're essentially just built with a costume swap.

As to whether or not YOU as a collector and a buyer like or dislike variants... eh, that's a matter of opinion. I've collected lots of toys (many of them Marvel and Disney) in my time, and been on both sides of that fence. It's okay when it's handled well. It's terrible when a figure is only available for hundreds of dollars on ebay, I'd never want to see that. I agree, they'd need to approach it delicately, so as to avoid a landmine like the King Mickey disc. BUT... again, other toy lines manage it, don't see why they couldn't.

I personally would buy both versions, I'll add, as the question was brought up. I prefer variants that bring new characters, or new essential versions of characters to the table, but tend to buy them all anyway as a collector. As such, I dislike the Crystal Variants and the Lightsaber Variants, as they're just gimmicky versions of the same character. I have no problem at all with Spidey or Hulkbuster, as they're classic, yet very different versions of those characters (even if Spidey's moves are unchanged, that costume is one that's hard for anyone to argue is desirable). I dislike Cap (even w/ new moves) as his new look doesn't seem in any way essential, more or less just a way to release Cap again.

Like I said, I see good and bad from all angles... it's certainly been good and bad in many cases for other toy lines. But if it means I'd get an animated Alice/Hatter/Maleficent that I'm not otherwise getting, I'd be fine with them exploring it.

Sure, there are toy lines that feature variants within a single wave, but it's usually 90% or more parts reuse with maybe a different head (masked/unmasked variants) or hands but mainly it's 100% parts reuse with a different paint application and/or material color (as is the case with DI crystal editions).

The problem with one scuplt being used to represent two interpretations of the same character is that a balance would need to be struck between the two versions that can lead to an overly compromised design where neither interpretation really shines through. In the case of live-action vs. animated Alice in Wonderland figures, there would be an incredibly small amount of parts reuse between the different versions of Mad Hatter in order for the design to not be overly compromised. The design we've seen for the Hatter, though, seems to have the proportions of the classic version and the design of the Burton version, which leads me to believe we will get a classic costume-change disc.

Personally, the pose for the Maleficent figure we have doesn't strike me as lending itself to redeco as the 'classic' version, so that's another rescuplt.

Obviously, resculpts happen - Star Wars toys are notorious for 'updates' that feature a single new articulation point, and we have them in Disney Infinity as well, but we've never had two Han Solo figures in the same scale with slightly different looks in the same wave, unless it was a running change (which, again, usually is only a different paint application or material color change). I just don't see it happening where two different scuplts of the same character appear in the same wave. That will only happen in subsequent waves. If it wasn't cost prohibitive in multiple ways, they would already be doing it by now.