G3 Blastboards (2004-2005) and Ripboards (2007)

The Blast Board series was one of the first off-shoot lines of Generation 3 (G3 is dudes with bendable arms and magnetic feet). While the mainline for G3 dudes was the "Evolution Crew", BlastBoards and Magnetic Action came around in 2004 to give the new dudes with arms some fun accessories and play features.

Like Hot Feet and Deluxe Series for G1, both series served as fun play feature gimmicks with exclusive variants for the dudes.

However, what took Blast Boards and Magnetic Action a step beyond Hot Feet and Deluxe Series in G1 was that these new "variants" of established dudes were new molds compared to their single-pack crews.

Series 1 dudes are noticeably different from their Evolution Crew counterparts. Think of Whiplash and Snake (both first released of Evolution Crew 3 in 2003)— Whiplash in BB1 has a magnetic butt, and Snake in BB1 carries a foaming beer can. This is a kid's toy, so let's just say it's a "soda" can.

These new molds have more humor, crazy poses, and exaggerated features since the dudes are presumably flying by on their pullback boards.

Flake is the only dude in G3 to never leave the Blast Board mold in G3. For some reason, Flake was never also given a mold in the main series, Zoods, or Clash Crew series. All five of the other Blast Board mold dudes (Moto, Snake, Rusty, Timbo, and Whiplash) all had regular G2/G3 molds released in the Evolution Series line.

The series launched in 2004 and had a second wave in 2005.

BlastBoard Crew 1 (2004):

Blast Series 1 new in-package:

 

 

 

NOTE: While you could get these dudes in single packs, BlastBoard Series 1 also had all 6 dudes available in two 3-packs, giving you more Blast Boards, Dudes, and bang for your buck.

However, finding them in their 3-packs NIP/sealed is hard. But, don't worry they're identical and it's easy to find all six loose or new in the single packs. Thankfully, since X-Concepts just reused the single-pack variants, it's not like a collector missed out on a new color variant.

There was also a Blast Board Obstacle Course playset in 2004.

While the box art displays a new variant of Timbo with blonde hair in a color black tracksuit  - the actual figure included was a reissue of the same Timbo from Blast Series 1. 

A closer look at the Box Cover variant (which never hit stores): 

BlastBoard Series 2 (2005):

You may notice that only 4 of the original 6 Blast Board dudes were maintained in Series 2 (Snake, Whiplash, Moto, and Flake).
Likewise, the other 8 dudes are just Evolution Crew 4 figures with new variants. This is a bit of a downgrade given that the first wave the year before had 6 new molds. This marked a clear end to unique molds for each product line just a year after the concept was introduced. 

From now on, there would be mold-mixing. You began to see Blast Board molds recycled without their pullback boards in 3-Packs, 6-Packs, and the Clash Crew Series. Furthermore, Magnetic Action Dudes would be recycled in packs and the G4 Ridiculously Awesome line without their attachable accessories. By the time we got to Rip Boards in 2008, you'll notice all the molds are just evolution line molds rather than expressive new molds striking a riding pose or screaming on their boards.

Blast Series 2 is the first time we see this begin to occur. 

Cardback:

Dudes in Package:

New Variants Outside of the BlastBoard molds outside of the line include:

- Whiplash BB mold was used in the Toys R Us 6-packs in 2006 and 2007. This variant had blue skin with a purple jumpsuit instead of the red one in BB Series 2.
- Red Moto from BB Series 2 was reused in a 6-pack, with a grey helmet instead of a white one. In a 2008 3-pack, the same dude was reused with the same black helmet and white gloves instead of grey gloves.
-  Bronze helmet Snake from  Series 2 was recycled in two Toys R Us 6-packs in 2006 & 2007.

- Green Flake from  Series 2 was recycled with no differences in two different 6-packs.
- Timbo from Series 1 was reused in Clash Crew Series 3 with an orange tracksuit instead of yellow and white and orange sneakers instead of the yellow/black colorway seen in his original release.
- Snake from the Blast Board Series had his mold reused with 5 NEW variants in Zoods Series 1. This is the only time one of the six Blast Board molds was used in the Zoods Series. Since Zoods Series 1 had 2 single-pack color variants and 3 two-pack variants, you can get Blast Board Series Snake with 5 new colorways and 5 different variants of his Zood, Spitz (a cobra).

RIPBOARDS (2007)

While Blast Boards ended in 2005, Rip Boards served as a spiritual successor during the Spin Master era. These dudes still have magnetic feet and no plugs in their backs. 

Their boards are tremendous in size and come with giantic pull-back strings, likely making them more expensive to produce than G3's Blast Boards.

These boards had the same exact function as BlastBoards, so I'm unsure why they replaced the once sleek longboards with these oversized hard plastic ones with big wheels, a plastic pull string, and detailed back rockets.

Throughout 2007-2009, the Spin Master's off-shoot series had play features that often centered around tweaking old ideas by heavily increasing scale. Other examples include the Zoods Unleashed (Zoods were turned into gigantic pull-back motor versions of the once simple and small Zoods). The final offshoot line was Trick Dudes, hard plastic static dudes stuck to their boards which did a flip, twist, or board trick.

The Card back for Rip Boards:

The dudes are paired on the card back to show which two have which of the 3 boards. 

Only Fred & Ace are new color variants. The other four dudes are reprints from their Evolution Series variants, with slight color changes (e.g.: Booger's skin and shirt are lighter shades of green and blue)

All 6 dudes in the package: