History Main / EnvironmentSpecificActionFigure

The reason for this is essentially a mixture of retailer demand and cutting costs. Large retailers don't tend to be [[SmallReferencePools too familiar with the franchise in question]], so they're naturally going to favor toys of Batman over toys of, say, Scarecrow or Poison Ivy, even if fans disagree. Additionally, most of the cost when making a toy goes into producing the steel mold, meaning that molding one or two accessories and [[PaletteSwap changing the color of the plastic]] is a relative pittance next to creating the molds necessary to design an entire new character. This also serves to keep "main characters" on the shelves longer; after all, if a fan gets into the line a few months later, it wouldn't do for them to find they can't buy the protagonist anymore, and it also wouldn't do to keep shipping identical figures to the toy shop for months or years on end (which would create the impression that the toys aren't selling). Paradoxically, this can create an effect where the character's "standard" outfit is much harder to find than the variants; it almost always comes very early in the line, and will usually be in the highest demand, meaning it tends to sell out quickly.

The longer a figure line continues, the more likely that it'll add some of these variants; after all, as long as the kids keep buying, the toy companies are happy to keep selling. Additionally, these extra designs will almost always go way off color scheme or character concept: it's not unusual to see Batman sporting bright blue, [[HighlyVisibleNinja green]], [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience red]], [[Franchise/MortalKombat orange]], [[OverlyLongGag yellow]] or [[RuleOfFunny pink]] armor covered in rocket launchers, or to see melee or magic-based characters with assault rifles. Also expect these figures to not make sense within the internal logic of the property, such as the stealth-based Batman in highly-visible gear, The Flash driving around in a racecar or Spider-Man with [[ThouShaltNotKill very lethal]] and very expensive rocket launchers. Many however can be [[JustifiedTrope internally justified]] by characters who have a habit of making many bespoke costumes, such as Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} or ComicBook/IronMan.

** ''VideoGame/LEGOBatman'' even acknowledged this when the game forced you to at least once per level change your suit to one of Glassbreaking-Batman or Thermosuit-Batman and Magneticfeet-Robin. The Franchise/{{Lego}} toyline the game was based off only has Batman in his standard grey/black, grey/blue and all black costumes.

--->'''Bat-Mite:''' Let's see how you like the Dark Knight in another one of those hideous variant Batman costumes you only find on store shelves!
** Taken to an extreme with Hasbro's ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' figures. The closest thing to a regular Batman in that line is the Power Cape Batman figure. Or the commemorative 200th Batman action figure produced by Hasbro, which does look right but is permanently mounted to a base and has for sole articulation arms that would raise at the push of a button.

** Heck, ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' in general has this in spades, especially in the Universal Century. They even have a term for it: "Mobile Suit Variation" is a model line specifically for environment- or mission-specific variants and {{Super Prototype}}s that don't appear in the series, such as "Aqua GM", "Desert Zaku", "Gelgoog High Mobility". Many of them even become {{Canon Immigrant}}s and appear in a sequel.

* The ''ComicBook/IronMan'' toylines ([[WesternAnimation/IronManTheAnimatedSeries 1990s]], [[Film/IronMan Movie]] and ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'') do this, with the caveat that some of the armors actually do appear in the comics, especially the Hydro, Space and Stealth models. In fact, a great many of the comic and cartoon armors do ''not'' have toys yet. Some of them would be nightmares even to adventurous toymakers.
** The toylines for the [[Film/IronMan movies]], ''[[WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures Armored Adventures]]'', and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' stretch the credibility by giving him vehicles to operate while wearing the armor. The environment-specific armors make sense and are true to the comics. Iron Man needing to drive a car, ride a motorcycle, or pilot a personal jet when he's effectively ''wearing a jet'' already? Not so much. But it is a bit justifiable, in that it's somewhat in-character for Tony Stark to make ARC reactor-powered, gold-titanium alloy racecars and jetskis for himself.

* The line for the 2000s ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' series was laden with these. In the show's entire run, with about eight waves and dozens of figures, only four characters outside of the original seven Leaguers were made (Darkseid, Aquaman, Lex Luthor, and the Ultra-Humanite), and all were in multipacks. ''Everything else'' was some variant of the show's main cast (usually Superman or Batman) with different colors and some rather flashy accessories. Thankfully, they lightened up on this quite a bit for ''Unlimited'', and even managed to put out a figure of pretty much every member of the Justice League's [[HeroesUnlimited extended roster]] (which is quite an accomplishment).

* This was intended to be done with the action figure tie-in with the ''WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears'' animated series. The second season of the show put Mega Man in an assortment of suits and vehicles with the intent of introducing them into the toy line. However, a falling out between Capcom and Bandai led to the TV series and the toy line being cancelled, so this never saw the light of day.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'' had this when their toyline was big. The first series gave them their standard uniforms; later iterations featured "fearful" expressions, color-change paint, and glow in the dark features. The original figures were often reissued with [[PaletteSwap new paint jobs]] and different equipment (often bordering on the implausible).

* In-universe example in the ''Franchise/ToyStory'' comic "The Return of Buzz Lightyear". The duplicate Buzz sent by Andy's grandmother was desperate to avoid getting returned because he'd been overlooked for so long by kids wanting all of the variant buzz toys. There were a wide variety of them: Arctic, caveman, cowboy, ninja, undercover Buzz in drag, and the "All knowing Buzz from the future" supposedly tied in with the end of the series. That last one wanted to avoid all the adult collectors looking for rare variants because he wanted to be played with, not stuck on a shelf. He almost gets picked by a kid, but then is passed over for the second Buzz, who the kid thinks is a "battle damaged" Buzz due to the scratches he got fighting the "real" Buzz.

* Mocked thoroughly in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. Night Owl (who is a both a GadgeteerGenius and a complete and total dork with a costume fetish) is shown to have a closet full of different-themed Owl costumes, and is thus [[CrazyPrepared prepared for anything]]. Like underwater work, protection from radiation or having to visit the Arctic circle, for which he has a snow owl outfit and matching snow scooters. He even has a set of PoweredArmor (which never actually worked). The big joke is that, as Dan himself notes, none of it was [[AwesomeButImpractical really necessary]] to fight street-level crimes.

** The toylines for the 2 Amazing Spider-Man movies took variants to the next level, with such variants like "Iron Claw Spider-Man", "Slash Gauntlet Spider-Man" and "Hydro Attack Spider-Man".

* ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'': 2007, set in the underwater Mahri Nui, featured the Barraki, warlords mutated into sea-creatures, and the Toa Mahri, altered into scuba-themed water-breathers. 2008's first half, set in the skies, featured three of the Toa Nuva with various flight systems and the bat-like Makuta, while the second half was set in the swamp, resulting in a more "hover" themed aesthetic for the other Toa Nuva, and the insectoid Makuta.

** The ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' line all had a standard assortment of GI. Joe weaponry such as rifles, handguns, knives, etc., despite the video games exclusively revolving around martial arts and hand-to-hand combat. The ''Film/StreetFighter'' line had an Arctic Action Guile and a Swamp Guile. At no point does the movie ever leave a tropical climate, and a tank was briefly added to the movie as an excuse to have one as a figure.

** After IM's animated show in the 90s was canceled, the toyline was too.... but they'd already planned a fifth wave of figures. [[PropRecycling They took the molds]] and [[DolledUpInstallment instead turned them into new figures]] for the ''Spider-Man'' and ''X-Men'' lines instead. Spidey got himself a radiation suit (Radiation Armor IM) and had one of the Guardsmen from the superhuman prison the Vault (Lava Armor IM, albeit with the Radiation Suit's intended head) in the "Techno Wars" assortment. As for the rest, they formed most of the "Mutant Armor" X-Men subline (Magnetic Armor IM became Battle Armor Wolverine; Living Laser became Astral Armor Professor X[[note]]the Living Laser figure isr interesting in itself: it was a remold of a previously cancelled US Agent figure![[/note]], and [[CanonForeigner created-for-the-show]] villain Dark Aegis became Heavy Metal Beast).

*** During the second wave of figures, some of them, like Shikamaru, Choji, Kimimaro, Kankuro, Gaara and Kiba got brand new figures with much better articulation, while the figures of Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Rock Lee were just the figures from the first wave, just with new head sculpts, and different accessories (Naruto came with a nine tailed chakra base, Sasuke came with his coffin from the Sasuke Retrieval Arc, Neji came with a base to represent his 8 Trigrams 64 Palms move and Rock Lee came with his sake bottle).
*** Reportedly, the abundance of Naruto and Sasuke variants is what might have killed the line in the first place, as nobody was buying them since everybody at least had them, and people were buying the side characters and villains instead, so the Naruto and Sasuke variants sat on shelves for a long time.

The longer a figure line continues, the more likely that it'll add some of these variants; after all, as long as the kids keep buying, the toy companies are happy to keep selling. Additionally, these extra designs will almost always go way off color scheme or character concept: it's not unusual to see Batman sporting bright blue, [[HighlyVisibleNinja green]], [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience red]], [[Franchise/MortalKombat orange]], [[OverlyLongGag yellow]] or [[RuleOfFunny pink]] armor covered in rocket launchers, or to see melee or magic-based characters with assault rifles. Also expect these figures to not make sense within the internal logic of the property, such as the stealth-based Batman in highly-visible gear, The Flash driving around in a racecar or Spider-Man with [[ThouShaltNotKill very lethal]] and very expensive rocket launchers. Many however can be [[JustifiedTrope internally justified]] by characters who have a habit of making many bespoke costumes, such as Franchise/{{Batman}} or ComicBook/IronMan.

* The ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' figures made for adult collectors included "radioactive" versions of the boys[[note]]technically, Beavis' figure was his Cornholio persona[[/note]] with glow-in-the-dark skin.

* You can buy toys of ''Franchise/TheFlash'' on ''[[http://speedforce.org/2010/02/batman-brave-and-the-bold-flash-action-figure/ a motorcycle.]]'' [[SanitySlippage Buh.]] Let's not get started on Franchise/{{Superman}}'s ''flying car,'' ([[SanitySlippage Muh?]])[[note]]Isn't ''any'' car a flying car if Superman is in it?[[/note]] which has grabbing arms extending from the sides that clearly have about a billionth of his strength. Like the Spider-Car mentioned below, this ''originates in the comics'' in defiance of all logic.

** The Flash in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' bought a van at one point. Franchise/GreenLantern John Stewart wanted to [[LampshadeHanging know why the world's fastest man would need]] a van. [[HandsomeLech To pick up chicks, of course.]]

** Also, ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk'' on ''ATV Trikes''.

** For those who prefer outies, there's Shinji and Kaoru. If your interest is less prurient, there are even {{moe}} versions of the angels. Yes, even [[http://www.e-life.youthinks.com/picture/eva/lel02.jpg Leliel]].

* For a hero who primarily swings around urban cities, ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' gets an unusual amount of themed outfits that don't quite fit in with his usual antics, including desert camo (''over his regular oufit''), an entire line of [[http://www.i-mockery.com/shorts/spiderman-splashers/ water themed toys,]] and several Spider-Cars and [=ATVs=] for...when he's not in the city? Ceremonial occasions? But it doesn't stop there. His [[http://www.thesneeze.com/2004/spiderman-3-the-quest-for-dignity.php "Adventure hero"]] line puts in a strong running for most hilarious toys ever, featuring him as, among other things, a baseball player (Worse, it's not ''quite'' the stupidest outfit on that page), a lifeguard, a golfer, a boxer, [[http://www.amazon.com/Artic-Spider-Man-Adventure-Hero/dp/B0064UD16U/ref=sr_1_24?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1341289756&sr=1-24&keywords=spiderman+adventure+hero a snowboarder,]] [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/andertoons-cartoons/sets/72157594198457695/detail/ a fisherman, and even an archer.]] Even crazier is the fact that someone [[http://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/spiderman_adventure_hero made bootlegs of an already crazy toy line,]] and they're just as hilarious.
** Another oddity was the "Insect Armor" line, where each figure came with a robotic bug that could transform into a suit of PoweredArmor. This was the only line that ever featured a toy of ComicBook/TheWasp's horrible 90's bug-lady redesign.

** The Battle Blasters line was only one of several instances of [=ToyBiz=] making a figure of ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} that included a firearm or other projectile weapon. Again, this would be Cyclops, the guy who can shoot concussive blasts from his eyes.
** Their X-Men Classics line featured a number of silly armors and weapons, such as ComicBook/{{Magneto}} wielding a magnetic gun.

* The ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'' figures had tons of variants, including gold versions, clear versions, glow-in-the-dark versions and "haywire" versions. All of the variant figures were the same as the regular versions, just with a new coat of paint.

* The original ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' toy line had tons of variants of Naruto and Sasuke. Each version of them had a different action feature (like throwing kunai, "shadow clone" action, "tree climbing" action, "Rasengan attack", fireball launchers, some break apart training dummy, interchangeable heads, etc), but they all have the same regular costume (with the exception of the Curse Mark Sasuke with his Chunin Exams outfit) and some added "battle damage" marks. Keep in mind that most of these action features did not work at all, and some were rather pointless.
** The figures of Rock Lee, Neji and Gaara also had many variants (Gaara's 3rd figure may be an exception, as it is a completely new sculpt based off his Sasuke Retrieval Arc outfit, with the improved articulation) though they didn't get as many variants unlike Naruto and Sasuke.

* The original ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' toy line made every figure of Naruto and Sasuke have a different action feature (like throwing kunai, "shadow clone" action, "tree climbing" action, "Rasengan attack", fireball launchers, some break apart training dummy, interchangeable heads, etc), but they all have the same regular costume (with the exception of the Curse Mark Sasuke with his Chunin Exams outfit) and some added "battle damage" marks.

** After the cancellation of the popular ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' cartoon in the 90's, the company began coming up with increasingly ludicrous gimmicks to try and maintain interest in the franchise. These included sub-lines like X-Men: Water Wars (figures with water guns), X-Men: Monster Armor (figures with snap-on pieces that transformed them into grotesque monsters), X-Men: Space Riders (figures with personal space vehicles), Battle Action Mega-Armor Wolverine (a Wolverine figure piloting a MiniMecha) and X-Men: Battle Blasters (figures with spring-loaded weapons).

** Likewise, their X-Men Classics line featured a number of silly armors and weapons, such as ComicBook/{{Magneto}} wielding a magnetic gun.

* ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'' was at first relatively restrained; all of the designs in the toyline were in fact in the show, and [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy show accurate to boot]] (since the producers preferred the designs Creator/PlaymatesToys had come up with, crazy colors and all, to their in-house concepts, which they felt looked too generic). But as the toyline went on, all sorts of oddities cropped up, including an "[[TransformingMecha exo-converting]]" E-frame for TheLeader J.T. Marsh (which turned into [[https://exo-squad.fandom.com/wiki/J.T._Marsh_with_Exo-converting_E-frame a half-assed looking motorcycle]]), the "[[https://exo-squad.fandom.com/wiki/CyberView_Series Cyberview]]" series (where giant periscope-like sights were mounted over the tops of the E-frames to help kids aim the missiles), and bizarre designs such as a [[{{Vaporware}} prototype]] "[[https://www.figurerealm.com/actionfigure?action=actionfigure&id=6780 Gridiron Command]]" E-frame that was inexplicably football-themed, and another E-frame that was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyx7ywPvHbs shaped like a gorilla]]! There was even a line of re-released ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' toys!

* While the original ''[[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 He-Man]]'' toyline mostly didn't indulge in this too much (it compensated by reusing He-Man's body design for about 85% of the cast), [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002 the 2002 reboot]] positively exulted in it. We're talking Mega-Punch He-Man, Ice Armor He-Man, Shield Strike He-Man, Battle Armor He-Man, Wolf Armor He-Man, Snake Armor Skeletor, Battle Armor Skeletor, and Fire Armor Skeletor in the ''same wave.'' The most infamous of these was probably Samurai He-Man, because... well, [[https://www.toyhunters.nl/5742-thickbox_default/samurai-he-man-200x.jpg look at it]]. It's widely believed to have been a reason the line didn't last, as store shelves were so crowded with He-Man and Skeletor variants that it made it impossible to find anything else, as invariably any other character ended up being shortpacked.

*** Then again, both [[http://www.rangercentral.com/toys/toy-mmpr1.htm#axzz4HkU0KqHf the 1993 toyline]] and [[http://www.rangercentral.com/toys/toy-mmpr2010-1.htm#axzz4HkU0KqHf the 2010 toyline]] have roughly the same stuff - basic figures, play weapons, zords, and mini figurines. Yeah, the 2010 line has more vehicles and figures that transform into [[DinosaursAreDragons dragons(?)]] and stuff, but it's hard to get that worked up when the 1990s version had [[http://www.rangercentral.com/toys/toy-mmpr4.htm#axzz4HkU0KqHf a girl's fashion assortment]].

** ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' provide an in-universe example, strangely enough. One issue involved Sonic racing across the world with a chaos emerald in order to reverse a time paradox. At first Sonic goes into his usual super forms, but he starts changing based on what environment he's in, with Solar Sonic for deserts, Eco Sonic for forests, and Polar Sonic for the arctic. Sadly we don't get to see what any of them can do.

* ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' has more toylines than one would consider to be strictly necessary, so they had to fill them up somehow... In particular, the toylines for [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 the first cartoon]] absolutely reveled in this sort of thing. Never mind non-canonical armors, the turtles were out there getting every conceivable job, from Green Beret to StageMagician to, yes, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Star_Trek_Turtles_copy_1656.jpg Starfleet officer]]. (Fans would probably be concerned that Raphael is the medic.) There were movie monster Turtles, dinosaur Turtles, even ''clown'' Turtles. They're probably the TropeCodifier for this one. Interestingly, it took toymakers until about 2009 or so to actually make toys based on the 1st comic book incarnation of the Turtles...and they're all overpriced figurines marketed to the enthusiast collector market rather than kids, which makes sense if you consider [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids just how those versions were written]].

* In-universe example in the ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' comic "The Return of Buzz Lightyear". The duplicate Buzz sent by Andy's grandmother was desperate to avoid getting returned because he'd been overlooked for so long by kids wanting all of the variant buzz toys. There were a wide variety of them: Arctic, caveman, cowboy, ninja, undercover Buzz in drag, and the "All knowing Buzz from the future" supposedly tied in with the end of the series. That last one wanted to avoid all the adult collectors looking for rare variants because he wanted to be played with, not stuck on a shelf. He almost gets picked by a kid, but then is passed over for the second Buzz, who the kid thinks is a "battle damaged" Buzz due to the scratches he got fighting the "real" Buzz.

** Also, ''ComicBook/IncredibleHulk'' on ''ATV Trikes''.

** Another oddity was the "Insect Armor" line, where each figure came with a robotic bug that could transform into a suit of PoweredArmor. This was the only line that ever featured a toy of Comicbook/TheWasp's horrible 90's bug-lady redesign.

* The underwater version, [[AtlantisIsBoring which sucks]], and in some toylines will actually be made for play involving water. (See the Marvel example below.) Fires torpedoes.

* The ''ComicBook/IronMan'' toylines ([[WesternAnimation/IronMan 1990s]], [[Film/IronMan Movie]] and ''WesternAnimation/IronManArmoredAdventures'') do this, with the caveat that some of the armors actually do appear in the comics, especially the Hydro, Space and Stealth models. In fact, a great many of the comic and cartoon armors do ''not'' have toys yet. Some of them would be nightmares even to adventurous toymakers.

** While ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' is already extremely toyetic (Iron Spider and Spider-Cycle, anyone?), the toyline for the show take it UpToEleven. In addition to all the vehicles and variant costumes taken from the cartoon, there's a bunch of ridiculous stuff like a "Web-Copter" or "Turbo Racer Spider-Man."

* This was intended to be done with the action figure tie-in with the ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan'' animated series. The second season of the show put Mega Man in an assortment of suits and vehicles with the intent of introducing them into the toy line. However, a falling out between Capcom and Bandai led to the TV series and the toy line being cancelled, so this never saw the light of day.

** While ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' is already extremely toyetic (Iron Spider and Spider-Cycle, anyone?), the toyline for the show take it UpToEleven. In addition to all the vehicles and variant costumes taken from the cartoon, there's a bunch of ridiculous stuff like a "Web-Copter" or "Turbo Racer Spider-Man."

** WesternAnimation/TheLEGOBatmanMovie both parodies this and fits it into its MerchandiseDriven nature. Batman is shown to have many suits, most of which are only shown in a single scene in the Batcave (if they were even in the film at all), and they include such absurd gimmicks as Ballerina Batman (the minifigure of which has a visibly annoyed expression), Easter Bunny Batman, two swimsuit Batmen (one of which has a rubber duck floatie with a domino mask), Caveman Batman, and more. Robin's suit in the film even started out as a Rastafarian Batsuit! Batgirl even recives a few, though they were fairly embarresing, leading to her asking for something cooler, that being her main batsuit.

** Taken to an extreme with Hasbro's ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' figures. The closest thing to a regular Batman in that line is the Power Cape Batman. Or the commemorative 200th Batman action figure produced by Hasbro, which does look right but is permanently mounted to a base and has for sole articulation arms that would raise at the push of a button.

** Taken to an extreme with Hasbro's ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' figures. The closest thing to a regular Batman in that line is translucent. Or the commemorative 200th Batman action figure produced by Hasbro or Creator/{{Kenner}}, which does look right but is permanently mounted to a base and has for sole articulation arms that would raise at the push of a button.

* The line for the 2000s ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' series was laden with these. In the show's entire run, with about eight waves and dozens of figures, only four characters outside of the original seven Leaguers were made (Darkseid, Aquaman, Lex Luthor, and the Ultra-Humanite), and all were in multipacks. ''Everything else'' was some variant of the show's main cast (usually Superman or Batman) with different colors and some rather flashy accessories. Thankfully, they lightened up on this quite a bit for ''Unlimited'', and even managed to put out a figure of pretty much every member of the Justice League's [[HeroesUnlimited extended roster]] ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters which is quite an accomplishment]]).

* The line for the 2000s ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' series was laden with these. In the show's entire run, with about eight waves and dozens of figures, only four characters outside of the original seven Leaguers were made (Darkseid, Aquaman, Lex Luthor, and the Ultra-Humanite), and all were in multipacks. ''Everything else'' was some variant of the show's main cast (usually Superman or Batman) with different colors and some painfully oversized and ugly accessories. Thankfully, they lightened up on this quite a bit for ''Unlimited'', and even managed to put out a figure of pretty much every member of the Justice League's [[HeroesUnlimited extended roster]] ([[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters which is quite an accomplishment]]).

* While ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has begun integrating some of the armors from the toyline into the show, some of them are bizarre powerups and vehicles that never appear anywhere -- and thankfully don't. (''Skateboards? '''Seriously?''''') Really, if you think [[Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder some of the armors that were used]] were insane, swing by the toy aisle next time you're at Target.

* ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'' was at first relatively restrained; all of the designs in the toyline were in fact in the show, and [[ShowAccuracyToyAccuracy show accurate to boot]] (since the producers preferred the designs Creator/PlaymatesToys had come up with, crazy colors and all, to their in-house concepts, which they felt looked too generic). But as the toyline went on, all sorts of oddities cropped up, including an "[[TransformingMecha exo-converting]]" E-frame for TheLeader J.T. Marsh (which turned into [[https://exo-squad.fandom.com/wiki/J.T._Marsh_with_Exo-converting_E-frame a half-assed looking motorcycle]]), the "[[https://exo-squad.fandom.com/wiki/CyberView_Series Cyberview]]" series (where giant periscope-like sights were mounted over the tops of the E-frames to help kids aim the missiles), and bizarre designs such as a [[{{Vaporware}} prototype]] "[[https://www.figurerealm.com/actionfigure?action=actionfigure&id=6780 Gridiron Command]]" E-frame that was inexplicably football-themed, and another E-frame that was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyx7ywPvHbs shaped like a gorilla]]! There was even a line of re-released ''Anime/{{Robotech}}'' toys!
* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': Parodied when Armor Baron promises to make Shantae and Sky custom armor. He makes them {{Chainmail Bikini}}s that they can't even move around in, and then while they're immobile he packages them as life-sized "Battle Armor" variant figures and sells them off to a gullible collector.
* Discussed in ''Literature/RowleyJeffersonsAwesomeFriendlyAdventure''. When Rowley draws a map of the world his book is set in, Greg's first comment is about how the multiple different ambients found in the map would allow marketing-wise to release action figures and playsets depicting the characters as pirates, in the jungle, in the snow and so on.
* An unusual variant comes from ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' -- the trope is applied to ''stuffed animals'', with the numerous [[MyLittlePhony Rainbow Monkey]] variants that appear, typically pulled out or referenced by Numbah 3 that correlate to the plot at hand.