[trebleshot]

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Originally Posted by Peteparker

It sounds like a running change is a correction while a variant is a pre-planned and purely intentional difference.

So a packaging change cannot be a variant, or we've just never seen that yet?

Correct. Changes to the packaging, while still deliberate, are not usually preplanned and result after the manufacturer gets packaged samples back and finds something wrong. Or license-holders request a change. For example, during the production of TF Power Core Combiners, a 5-pack was set to be released as "Spastic & the Stunticons". All the packaging read Spastic as the name of the Commander figure (the others being unnamed drones). That is, until Hasbro found out that spastic is a very offensive term in Europe. So they put stickers on the already-made packaging that covered up the original name and replaced it with the name "Over-Run". If you get one, you can actually peel off the stickers, revealing the original name. That is a running change.

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These are tough. First the Blue came out, then the white, then Blue and White shipped at the same time with half in some cases and half in another.

I still have a handful of Walmarts that have both, albeit at the $23 price tag.

The Blue version has been verified to be re-released with a transparent Sue later this year, so even if the white version was a change and they're not currently producing the blue, they will be by the end of the year.

Sounds like those changes are both intentional and pre-planned though, making those sets Variant sets by our definition.

Yes, they would all still be considered variants of each other. As for which is the original, it's generally assumed to be the first one released. Or if they are released together, then whichever one is considered the default look of the character. For example, the regular outfits were first in the comics, so that version of the set is considered the original, while the Future Foundation outfits are the first variant and the transparent Sue version is the second variant.

EDIT: But it's not a hard and fast rule. Sometimes the variant is considered the harder-to-find version and the regular version is the more widely-available version, regardless of who came out first. It can definitely be a gray area, like the two versions of Absorbing Man.

EDIT 2: Pardon the pun.

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Thanks for the link to the guide, I don't think I've looked at it before. Is this kind of thing printed in a collector's handbook somewhere? Seems like good information for toy collectors in general...

Nope, just information I've gathered from years of collecting and participating on the forums. I decided it would make a nice shorthand to reference and help out anyone new to collecting toys.