darkSpyro

Well, here I go. This will be the first of many reviews... hopefully.

So, I went to Best Buy today, and they had the Skylanders Giants Battle Arena by Power A. This is one of those accessories I had my eyes on, due to its potential to have some really cool lighting of the elemental symbols, thus making a perfect companion to my growing Skylanders Shrine.

So, was it worth. I am happy to say, YES! This is by far, the best accessory Power A has put out for Skylanders yet. It retails for 39.99, and you already get more worth out of it, than you would paying 39.99 for a Tower Case that only holds 8 Skylanders and doesn't light up.

Speaking of the lights. The symbols themselves have a very subtle lighting to it. That means that it is bright enough that each color is vibrant and shines through, but not so bright, it blinds you or makes it so you can't make out the symbol of each element.

This arena actually exceeded my expectations, though, when I lit it up for the first time and saw that the elemental symbols the Skylanders sit on, actually light up as well. Not only do they light up, but they cycle through all 8 elements just like a Portal of Power does. The colors aren't as bright on these symbols, like they are on a Portal of Power, but that's a good thing. If it was that bright, it would ruin the look of this excellent accessory.

I can't stress enough, how awesome this accessory is. Power A has put out one heck of an accessory, and in my opinion, it is worth the 39.99 asking price. Here's hoping Power A can put out more accessories for Skylanders, that has a lot of thought put into it, like the Battle Arena had put into it.

I give the Skylanders Giants Battle Arena a 9 out of 10. It is in stores as of this review, but I picked mine up at Best Buy.

Here are some pics of the Skylanders Giants Battle Arena, plus a small video (which cut off right before I could finish showing off the final color (Magic Element).

Pic 1: Here is a pic of the Battle Arena in the light. As you can see, the lights are bright enough, that the symbols still illuminate. You will also notice that the Battle Arena has a slot to put your wire, so it doesn't intrude on the base itself.



Pic 2: Here is a pic of the Battle Arena in the dark. When in the dark, it still manages to give off a bright light... but not too bright that it ruins the look of the Battle Arena. Also notice how the elemental symbols on top of the base light up.



Pic 3: Here is a pic of the Battle Arena with the Portal of Power not lit up.



Pic 4: Here is a pic of the Battle Arena with the Portal of Power lit up. For now on, this is how I am keeping mine displayed when at home. Lights on, Portal of Power hooked up to PC so it stays on for added effect.



Pic 5: Here is a pic while in a lit room. It still looks awesome.



Finally, here is a small video of the symbols on top of the base, cycling through the colors like the Portal of Power does when playing Skylanders. This was a nice touch by Power A in my opinion.

http://s15.photobucket.com/alb...;t=DSC_0753.mp4

EDIT: I made an oopsie. I mentioned this was made by BD&A, but it was made by Power A. I can't correct the video, but I have made the edits to the text.

Looks Cool! Might get one!

So what powers it?

Optimally, the thing is powered by USB and you could coil the portal USB into it so the whole kaboodle area/portal would be powered by the console and no batteries required (as the movie said - obscure movie reference for Gen X).

I am also keen to see how the coliseum add ons attach. I have the BA on pre-order to pick up next week but have not seen hide nor hair of the add ons yet...

4 AA batteries, Chaos.

Do you think it will make light cores light up?

I expect not; I presume that the BA has no NFC technology inside to do so but would be cool if it did.

How do you already have a Shroom Boom and S2 Chop Chop? I didn't think the canon pack was out yet.

TRU online made a mistake and sent out a bunch of orders a couple of weeks ago..

I'm so getting it.
It's just amazing.

That's ... actually really cool.
GameMaster, how many more reviews are you planning?

That thing sucks since it uses batteries

Rechargeable batteries are the way to go now a days, wouldn't have been able to afford to play skylanders if i didn't have them lol.

Quote: landbasered

That's ... actually really cool.
GameMaster, how many more reviews are you planning?

No clue, but hopefully more.

I will do video reviews of the Wii and 360 controllers (would do PS3 if it came out as well). If I get a hold of other things I think deserves a video review, I will do it.

Too bad it costs 60 dollars in Aus. 40 seems fairly fair, but they made it waaaaaay too expensive here for a lightup stand. Would have bought one if it were cheaper, but I honestly don't think the effect is that cool unless you really, really want to display your Skylanders a lot. (Which personally, I never do unless I keep them on my desk, cause I like moving mine around.)

It seems to expensive. It def looks cool. But id rather it cost less

Whats the radius I have to know

honestly this was kind of a let down for me.
would have been alot better if it communicated with the portal in some way, like letting you switch skylanders with a push of a button instead of have to move them to the portal. like say you want spyro, then you could just push the Magic button and the RF would turn on for that skylander.

The is a very innovative idea - I just wish I had thought of it.

So is this worth picking up?

Now that idea of this potentially being another POP would have been awesome.

Quote: L-Sunburn

So is this worth picking up?

Am I getting one? Yes...

Is it really worth it? Probably not, to be bluntly honest; it could have been much more and is not really cheap for what it does.

I also want to see how the arena add on parts work with it and how useful they are for fig storage...

eh, I'm not sure. I mean, it looks alright, but only holds what, 9 Skylanders? I'd like something that held at least 30.

The premise of the add ons is to provide more levels to store figurines but I worry about their usefulness - especially in terms of the large chars.

Thanks for the review Gamemaster, could not pass this up as soon as i saw it, waiting on my preorder. For Aussies looking for this I recommend heading over to www.ozgameshop.com.

Edit: To be a little bit more specific - $41.99 AUD -
http://www.ozgameshop.com/gami...ts-battle-arena

EB Games will have and are taking pre-orders but I think OzGameShop has it cheaper?

Chaos: EB is 61 bucks, so $20 bucks saved.

Ozgameshop is a great site if people have not used them before, sure the Skylanders are a bit more there, but they do free shipping to Australia from the UK.

For the record, OzGameShop are not profiteering on the fig sales. They are a smaller establishment and getting their items through some distributor who seems to be charging them more. The whole premise of that online store is to try to be cheaper than Oz retail whenever they can.

To show that I have no affiliation with them, I will also mention Zavvi who have nearly free shipping. In S:SA days I bought 5, yes 5, tower cases through Zavvi for quite cheap and paid something like one pound, all up, for shipping. We are talking 5 individual large boxes sent to Oz...