Environment Specific Action Figure: Difference between revisions
Environment Specific Action Figure (view source)
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{{trope}}
[[File:environment-specific-action-
The tendency for toylines of [[Merchandise-Driven]] (and sometimes otherwise) shows to also contain variations of the characters made up out of, er, [[Pun|whole cloth]]. Most variations fall under [[Stylish Protection Gear]], and virtually every toy line has at least one of these:
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* The ''[[Street Fighter]]'' GI Joe line all had a standard assortment of GI. Joe weaponry such as rifles, handguns, knives, etc. The [[Street Fighter (film)|Street Fighter]] line had an Arctic Action Guile. At no point does the movie ever leave a tropical climate.
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' does this all the time for their regular characters. Average soldiers get jungle uniforms, space uniforms, toxic waste uniforms...despite the large number of characters who are specifically trained to deal with these environments. In many ways this is
* [[Batman]] toys have so many technicolor backpacks that shoot missiles that it's surprising to find a toy ''without'' one. Not to mention the fact that he has a costume for every single biome on this planet and a few others. [[Crazy Prepared|Perhaps the only justified example of this trope on record]]--[[Memetic Badass|according to the internet, anyway]]. [[Batman Can Breathe in Space|For some reason]].
** Annoyingly, this makes it ''very'' hard to find a Batman that ''actually looks like Batman.'' Removing the snap-on armor and missile backpacks and such usually just left you with a white Batman or Batman with yellow stripes or metal waffle armor. Yes, metal waffle armor. Additionally, many of the accessories replace the cape, so you're missing that too if you remove them.
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** While, again, it's true to the universe, ''[[Star Wars]]'' produces a number of figures that use the same basic mold and look very similar to each other, but are in fact different characters and have different specialities. For example, anyone care to tell [[Pun|This Trooper]] the differences between the regular Clone Trooper and a "Coruscant Landing Platform" Clone Trooper? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? (The answer: unit colors, amounting to a couple of small stripes, and an antenna on the backpack.) See also ''[[Transformers]]'' below.
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' has more toylines than one would consider to be strictly necessary, so they had to fill them up somehow... The first cartoon's toylines, in particular, absolutely reveled in this sort of thing. Never mind noncanonical armors, the turtles were out there getting every conceivable job, from Green Beret to stage magician to, yes, [[Star Trek|Starfleet officer]]. (Does it scare anyone else that ''Raph'' is the medic?) There were movie monster Turtles, dinosaur Turtles, even ''clown'' Turtles. They're probably the [[Trope Codifier]] 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 [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|just how those versions were written]].
* While ''[[Power Rangers]]'' has begun integrating some of the armors from the toyline into the show, some of them are bizarre powerups and vehicles that never appear
** The series took it a step further for ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]'', creating whole new Rangers for the toyline and producing them with every armor variation that the canon Rangers get - that is, the male canon Rangers. [[The Smurfette Principle|The female Rangers aren't so lucky.]] And there's even a handful of Red and Sixth ranger only powerups, too. (The new Rangers have made a handful of appearances on the show to justify the toys' existence. ''RPM'' had its own toy-exclusive Rangers, but no variants for them and no TV appearances.)
** In 1993, ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' had a toyline of relatively sensible weapons, villain figures and Rangers. Fast forward to 2010's reversioning and Bandai gives you cycles, playsets, dragons and [http://www.bandai.com/powerrangers/mmpr/products things that would give Tony Oliver nightmares.]
*** Then again, both [http://www.rangercentral.com/toy-mmpr1.htm the 1993 toyline] and [http://www.rangercentral.com/toy-mmpr2010-1.htm 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 [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons|dragons(?)]] and stuff, but it's hard to get that worked up when the 1990s version had [http://www.rangercentral.com/toy-mmpr4.htm a girl's fashion assortment].
** For ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'', the "Mega Mode" armor variant is given priority over the regular suit in the merchandising. In the show, it's special armor for ''piloting the Megazord''. Later on when the proper [[Super Mode
* There were toys of ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' in desert camo (''over his regular oufit''), and scuba gear (''with built in water gun'') and a Spider-Car for...when he's not in the city? Ceremonial occasions?
*** How about [http://www.thesneeze.com/2004/spiderman-3-the-quest-for-dignity.php a baseball player? (''Yes, over his friggin' costume!'')] (Worse, it's not ''quite'' the stupidest outfit on that page.)
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* Similar to the billion stormtrooper/clonetrooper variants mentioned above, sort-of a reversal in ''[[Transformers]]'': characters that are completely different from one other can be the same toy with a different colour scheme/minor gimmick/face sculpt.
** Played straight with the ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' movie and ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' lines, in which toys that might have been presented as new characters in years past instead became "Nightwatch Optimus Prime" or "Bandit Lockdown" so as to preserve the relative uniqueness of the main characters, though they do sneak in a few new-character redecoes (for instance, both lines' Bumblebees have been turned into Cliffjumper).
** ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' turned an (originally) smallish couple of toylines into [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] through repaints, sticking new heads on otherwise identical figures, and occasionally putting the same parts in a slightly different configuration. Later lines follow suit, even if the character the new paintjob represents isn't actually in the show or comic. (For example, ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]'' had a white Optimus Prime called Ultra Magnus. ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' doesn't, but one of ''Armada'' Optimus Prime's toys got rereleased in white with the name Ultra Magnus anyway.) Therefore, where there's a Starscream, you can bet a Skywarp (black repaint) and Thundercracker (blue repaint) won't be far behind, on the shelves if not in the show. Lately, the radioactive berserker Sunstorm from [[Dreamwave Comics]] has been added.
** Similarly, any construction vehicle will be painted green and purple and called a Constructicon.
** It extends to different toylines than the one the original design was created for, leading to some interesting questions, like "What is the significance of a [[Transformers Armada|Mini-con]] in the [[Transformers Film Series|Movieverse]]?"
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* Mocked thoroughly in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. Night Owl (who is a both a [[Gadgeteer Genius]] 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 [[Crazy Prepared|prepared for anything]]. Like underwater work or protection from radiation. Like having to visit the Arctic circle, for which he has a snow owl outfit and matching snow scooters. Which still work perfectly twenty years after he's stopped fighting crime. Of course, he ''does'' mention doing routine checks and maintenance on all his equipment. His [[Powered Armor]] never actually worked, though.
* ''[[The Real Ghostbusters]]'' had this when their toyline was big. The first season gave them their standard uniforms; later iterations featured different costumes and "fearful" expressions, different equipment (often bordering on the implausible), color-change paint, and glow in the dark features.
* ''[[Gundam SEED Astray]]'' is an amusing example of this trope occurring within canon. The Astray series Gundams of the title have, between the 6 or so of them, literally dozens of [[Mid-Season Upgrade|Midseason Upgrades]], [[Mecha Expansion Pack
** Heck, ''[[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
* The figure line for ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures|Jonny Quest the Real Adventures]]'' didn't even ''have'' "regular" versions of the characters. You could get Race as a skydiver, Johnny as an astronaut or Jessie as a [[Badass Cape|cape-wearing]], [[Spy Catsuit|catsuit-sporting]] [[Ninja]], but good luck finding them in anything they actually ''wore on the show''. The closest to being [[Show Accuracy, Toy Accuracy|vaguely accurate]] were the [[Cyberspace|Quest World]] figures, but these featured [[Rainbow Pimp Gear|candy-colored paint jobs]] that were in stark contrast with the dark-colored suits on the show, and featured a toy of the motorcycle from one sequence with ''giant yellow training wheels''.
* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' toy line has an "invisible" (transparent purple) Espio, a [[Sonic Colors|Sonic with Wisps]], a [[Sonic Storybook Series|Sonic with Caliburn the Talking Sword]], and a Shadow who comes with [[Shadow the Hedgehog|his bike]]. Plus more [[Sonic Unleashed|Werehog]] merchandise than is really justifiable. That's not even getting into the plush line...
* Though not action figures, ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' has become infamous for a merchandising empire built, largely, on figures of Rei and Asuka doing...well, ''anything''. Yes, [[Rule 34|even that.]]
** 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].
* ''[[Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad]]'' was particularly horrible with this, considering all the variants of Servo were mere [[Palette Swap
{{reflist}}
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