Disney Infinity Fans

A new feature of 3.0 is that the game remembers the figures you have placed on the pad during the playsession doesn't require you to do so more then once in order to play the character.
But how does this work?

I had assumed the game needed the character to be on the pad to write data to the RFD chip inside the base, information about ownership, level, skill tree and any other data that it might store.

If the RFD chip is just for identifying the figure and that data is not actually stored on it, then where is the data recorded?

Mind you, I prefer having the figure sitting physically on the base anyway, so I'll keep it there anyway and just ignore the softswap feature.
I assume that is still an option, that the game will allow you to change playable characters by physically replacing the figures on the base.

This "feature" is not real.

Read the section starting with Character Wheel:

This is where I got the information.
I assume being a professional wikia, they would not tolerate this level of misinformation.

See that [17] at the end of the section? That points to the source. Click on it or go down and see what that source is - a Game Informer article about the Inside Out Playset. That playset DOES have a feature where you can change into one of the other emotions for a short time to get past an obstacle.

So is there a timer limit or something?

I imagine the figure still needs to be in physical proximity to the base if it is writing data to the chip inside it.

As stated above, there is no "softswapping" feature. To use a figure it must be on the base. Period.

In the Inside Out Playset, however, it briefly allows you to transform into one of the other Inside Out characters to complete a task. It has nothing to do with the figures, however. It's like you are simply wearing a "costume" to look like them and temporarily have their abilities. Yes, there is a timer on this (it's very short). But you do not need to own any of the other figures, and if you do own them, it does not affect those figures/write to them/XP them/anything. Any XP/etc. gained goes to the character on the base, even if you are wearing one of these "costumes".