Unreleased TDD Molds, Variants & Cardback Misprints

G1 Unused Molds:

Not that many unused molds here:
This version of Fu-Man was echoed in his G3 mold, but was never a G1 figure.
This design was featured in a Magazine ad and on a binder.

There was a sticker of a more human living pharaoh version of Phinger Tut/Finger Tut that came with a Tech Deck sticker pack for PIG Wheels. All the other stickers were of used molds in the line, but this particular one was never made into a figure. Although, the same blue and gold Egyptian Nemes worn by him here was eventually used for his main variant/ Zoods Crew 1 variant in G3.



Arnie's concept art was bald, but his figure had a full head of brown hair and wore sunglasses.

Also, Sturgeon had an unreleased G1 mold, but was eventually made in 2006 as a G3 dude.  This concept art was on the back of all G1 and G2 8-Packs which bundled single pack dudes together to save the consumer a little money:

On TDD pencils, there was a dude with black hair (styled almost like Reginald) wearing red swim trunks, he is definitely not Sven or Fletcher (the only Dudes who surf in the line).
 

Unreleased G2-G3 Molds

TDD Designer, Chito Arellano, made a ton of great concept designs for the dude trading cards, website, and shirts. These designs were mostly made into molds and their toys were put on shelves.

But, a select few never made the cut! Either a G2-G3 of the figure itself mold never came out, or if the dude got a new release the final design saw a redesign and different figure.   

Let's start with the Dudettes, they were only released in G1 (2002), but didn't make the cut in G2-G3. However, they did have trading cards in the Series 1 cards  which came with G2 figures in G2. and stayed on the website which listed every figure by number.

Some of them did get concept art for G2 molds. 

There's a slight change to Laverne, who no longer has her hair up in a bun. 

The most interesting one is Barbie, who has a more feminine goth girl aesthetic compared to her figure, which looks like a dude and I think had facial hair. Perhaps they didn't decide until G2 to make Barbie a dudette? 

None of these were released unfortunately, making G2 and onwards not very diverse in terms of female representation.

Additionally, Andie had a G2 design which would've held a bass in the trading cards Series 1:

There were two molds of dudes in motorcycle helmets that would've been in the DownHill Challenge playset, but their molds/poses were instead given to Sumo San and Lenny. These dudes remain unreleased.

Billy has a record 3 un-used molds in G2-G3:

This gloved skater playset mold and the black eye boxer mold were not used in G3. 

Instead, he became a bald bare-knuckle boxer.

Billy on the Evolution logo you see on all of these cards, every G2-G3 package, and much more is a G2 version of a G1 Billy with a red hat he never had in G1. 

The same mold with a blue cap and white gloves was used for the BKG video game menu, which also never saw general release. 

Sven got a G3 mold in 2005 that had long hair, a Hawaiian shirt, and slip-on sneakers. 

But, his Series 1& 2 card concept art (2003 & 2004) weres shirtless, barefoot, and gloved. He also had curly hair and just wore swim trunks like his G1 mold.

Sumo San had a G2 design that was his G1 mold holding a turkey or chicken leg. 

But, his unused G3 mold was leaping mid-air, had a grin, and a long ponytail and flowing onesie: 

Sumo San did get a G3 Magnetic Action Series mold eventually and his super rare Santa mold.

Shik (#010) was originally going to be a jester again in G2/G3. But, instead we got a Mime in G3. 

Even though his Clash Cube game piece is his G3 mime design, they re-used his un-used Jester design for the "Flip Flop" piece. There's even a second variant wearing black and white.

Julio released as a mariachi guitarist, but his original trading card design wore a sombrero and sandals and played the maracas:

This one has such a great pattern, it could've been really vibrant on the shelf with other figures.

Duke was originally going to be re-designed in G3 as a Johnny Cash inspired outlaw country singer decked out in all black.

Instead we got a lengthy Woody-esque cowboy in Evolution Crew 4 and a John Wayne parody in the Zoods crew/G4. 

Compared to the E4 lengthy Woody one we got in 2004 instead, I wish we got the country music outlaw. 

As Flava Flav once said, "Mother **** him & John Wayne".

Sludge had a G2 figure released, but only had G3 concept art . I wish they made this KISS parody figure with bendable arms, but alas it never hit shelves. This pic came from the TDD website. 

Simon's original G3 concept art was a more 1800's-inspired design, but his figure is much more colorful, wears lipstick, and has slicked-back hair.

 

I found this Unreleased Petey on eBay, he came with no magnets and no trademarks because this is a painted master of a playset figure never released publicly. 
The seller told me his friend worked at X-Concepts LLC and gave it to him as a gift!

UNRELEASED G3 Blastboard variant of Timbo:

2004 saw the release of the Blast Series, dudes came with new molds and pull-back Blastboards. There was an obstacle course playset released, which included a reprint of the Blast Crew 1 Timbo (in a clear Bruce Lee parody costume, with accurate Asics on his feet). 

NOTE: the box shows a blonde Timbo with a black jumpsuit and sneakers, this variant DOES NOT EXIST. As we can see, the playset includes the same Timbo in the single packs.
A closer look at the variant of Timbo on the box cover (which wasn't actually used for the playset):

Unreleased Trick Dudes mold of Hunter (#127)

Unused  Color Variants of Released Molds (2001-2009):

The Original 2000-2001 TDD promo poster featured prototypes with slight color differences from the ACTUAL dudes released in 2000-2001. 



Crash's goggles aren't yellow and red, Stevie J's chain was not yellow and his shoes for the first release were not blue, Flake had black shoes and goggles not white, and Lenny's mohawk colors were changed to green and purple instead of orange and red.

When the line first launched in 2000 and in 2000-2001, they had cut-out cards of the dudes in magazines. 

Nick and Tank had G1 cards show slight variations on their ACTUAL final variants.

Nick is near identical to his Deluxe Crew 3 variant which came out in 2002. The only difference was when the Deluxe Crew 3 came out, it had a white mask not a blue mask.

Tank has grey boots and a more olive green helmet here, instead his original figure came with brown boots and a helmet with a darker shade of green.

I'm unsure where you'd even get these samples, as they were unused in retail releases.

The X-Concepts Toy Catalog from 2002 included lineups of each crew. 

This included an unused Woody with added yellow highlights, this figure maybe didn't hit the market since it's an obvious reference to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team?

G1 Cardback Mold Changes (2001)
These plug-feet JCPenney Exclusive 3-Pack Dudes had 4 different versions of dude. 


Check out our 3-Pack page to see the REAL versions, not sure how you could even get any of the above plug-feet prototypes.

G2, G3, & G4 Cardback MisPrints (2003-2009)
Sometimes on the card backs of released figures, there was a misprint in their color variant. This is totally understandable, they had to make tons of variants per dude, so a few misprints happened.

A prime example is Blaze, Barney, and Moto in Hot Feet Crew 3:
 
The actual figure wears a red uniform, not purple and his donut isn't green. 
Oh, since Barney is a good example of this, this figure was a G2 figure with arms.
But, in 2003-2004 dudes from Evolution Crews 1-4 were sometimes presented on card backs of boxes with no arms, even though they HAD arms.
So, if you see a 2003-2004 date on the back of a box with a picture of dudes with no arms, it's just an error, as they had arms by this time period. date on a figure with no arms (unless it's G1 Crew 15).

  
The actual figure has a yellow visor and red flames on his helmet, not an orange visor with green flames.
Also, his vest is red on the figure and green on the concept art. 

 
The actual figure has orange gloves, and black shoes. 

NOTE: the box shows a blonde Timbo with a black jumpsuit and sneakers, this variant DOES NOT EXIST. As we can see, the playset includes the same Timbo in the single packs.
Spin 3 Pack (2006, and re-used in a 2007 TRU 6-Pack)
  
Spin's concept art on this 3-pack and its reissue in a 2007 6-pack wore gold and purple (Lakers colorway), but the figure wore a cobalt blue and purple (Hornets colorway).

Super Finger (Final TRU 6-packs in 2009)
   

I dig this Super Finger with the Robin colors, he would've complimented the Batman parody variant perfectly. Unfortunately, we just got a re-use of his variant in Spawn colors. 
This is the final TDD misprint, as it comes from the final set of  Toys R Us 6-packs from early 2009.