darkSpyro

Challenge: Pick 8 Skylanders to form your Ultimate 8 who you play Swap Force with regularly. You may choose only one Skylander from each element but you can choose from all types of Skylanders available ( Lightcore, Core, Giants, Swap Force etc.).

Please place a description of why you chose each Skylander for your Ultimate 8.

Cheers

Definitely not a Toys and Merchandise topic. There's dozens of these "post your favorite!!" type threads in the fan and game sections. You may want to try there.

Magic: Trap Shadow

Trap Shadow has projectiles and stealth. You can control the length of his traps making him a great short range or ranged Skylander.

Earth: Terrafin.

This one is an easy pick. No matter if he's Series 1, 2, or 3, he has the ability to damage enemies while never getting touched. Series 2 offers the ability to burrow up to 3 times, keeping him hidden from damage. His Series 3 Wow Pow is almost the same, but adds a somewhat ranged attack as he lunges at enemies, making him the perfect Skylander to hit and run.

Water: Gill Grunt

I only pick this guy, due to his Water Weaver path. Having infinite water thrusters allows for Gill to quickly dodge enemies, while using his infinite water gun to dispatch foes.

Fire: Smolderdash

It used to be Hot Dog, but Smolderdash's abilities make her an excellent hit and run Skylander. Her added whip spin attack during her solar mode adds AOE to her attack, while also allowing herself to dash at enemies, or dash to avoid enemies.

Tech: Spy Rise

SO EASY! Drobot used to be the king of the Tech show, but Spy Rise takes the throne. Spy Rise down his A path, allows for him to be a total firepower powerhouse. Every shot he performs slows enemies, and when the fist icon shows up, killing enemies gives him back health. Spy Rise is an insanely overpowered Skylander, which isn't a bad thing.

Undead: Fright Rider

Something about him. I love his combo attacks. He has a good range with his spear that can keep him out of trouble.

Air: Free Ranger

His fury attack (charge attack button) makes him a force to be reconed with. What's awesome about this attack, is once he finishes off one enemy he automatically dashes to the next enemy.

Life: Camo

Melon Master path. Nuff said. His melons hit for insanely high damage.

Well for my list I'd say

Magic He is my absolute favorite in this game and is so powerful against enemies. As an added bonus, he's a bug and I love bugs.
Tech The biggest pleasant surprise to me in this game as he is astonishingly one of the most Powerful Skylanders this game has to offer.
Earth He isn't as bad as I thought he'd be and he's quite fun when fully upgraded.
Air A very versatile and very unique character with many options for attack and strategy.
Life Very OP and reminds me very much of Zook an old favorite of mine.
Undead One of my greatest dreams come true an executioner who wields a scythe. I've a;ways wanted a SKylander with a scythe and he very much delivers perfectly.
Fire One I didn't expect much, but was surprised to see a fun and interesting character in action.
Water Cute, versatile and very strategic. Truly a way more fun Zap and again I wanted an eel character.

Now I know you said only 8, but just for fun my Swappers of choice

Magic
Tech
Earth
Air
Life
Undead
Fire
Water

Have yet to try: Pop Thorn, Fryno, Punk Shock, Doom Stone, Scratch, Wind Up, Dune Bug.

But of the other 73:

Air: Swarm - His assistance in completing 100% for Giants makes him a fave. Fast, strong, can shoot and brawl effectively.
Earth: Scorp - I love this guy for arena challenges.
Fire: Blast Zone - Homing bombs...but then also bouncing randomness if you aren't facing a particular enemy...Hilarity.
Life: Stealth Elf - Quick and powerful.
Magic: Double Trouble - Boom Shaka lakka!!! Ooga Booga Boooooo!
Tech: Trigger Happy - No Gold No Glory! Mine Mine Mine! Shooting mayhem.
Undead: Rattle Shake - His bottom half is unreal and combines with the gun on his top half to make the epic.
Water: Wash Buckler - I've loved this guy from day 1 we saw him on the swap force reveal. Bubble Gun...Pirate...His leg-roll attack.

Of course..How boring am I? Half of them are from the starter packs. Ha ha. But hey...It's who I like.


Couple other random thoughts that I'll just plop down here, since it's the 100,000th thread:

They need to re-establish the epicness of Giants in the next game. Neither my son nor I like using them in Swap Force...They're slow and, well, off. Both of us feel compelled not to use them-which is a shame...and I need my Swarm fix. Ha ha.

Catchphrases when the Skylanders are put on the portal need to be emphasized better in the next game similar to the past 2. In Giants and Spyro's Adventure, it was loud and proud and in your face when you put the characters on the portal. In Swap Force it was definitely toned down. My younger (almost 3 now) always...ALWAYS...takes a double take when a figure is put on the portal for the first two games and I constantly hear him recanting catchphrases from characters from the first two games...but never do I hear him recant Swap Force phrases outside of one. Blast Zone. "BLAST AND FURIOUS" is done pretty well in that regard. The rest, at least that I can think of, seem to be pretty tame in the new game and definitely are not having that same kind of "Ohhhhhh yeeeaaahhhh...Here comes the Macho Man"effect.

Air: Lightcore Jet-Vac. Vacuum cleaner and leaf blower, good times.
Earth: Prism Break. Currently I guess it'd be the Series 2 variant, since Lightcore is maxed and haven't played Series 3 in SSF yet, only once in SSA. My favorite Skylander, although admittedly a bit clunky gameplay-wise.
Fire: Blast Zone. Fun to play what with the rocket charge and all, but might get sidelined by Fryno once I get him.
Life: Stealth Elf Series 3 Dark Edition. I like the SE model, though still gotta practise being effective with her.
Magic: Double Trouble Series 2. The Wow-Pow makes DT insanely good especially with beam path. Plus he's hilarious when he's just beaming everything, sounding like he's about to overload and explode.
Tech: Trigger Happy Series 2. Dakka. Lots of dakka. And lots of crazy noises.
Undead: Roller Brawl. The most fun Skylander gameplay-wise, and looks nice too. Good "crowd control", good attacks for just about any situation, and FAST. What's not to like?
Water: Chill. So far only really played Series 1, but I got the Legendary and Blizzard variants too. Nice to play overall.

For Cores:

Magic: S2 Spyro/Dark Mega Ram Spyro (Close second Pop Fizz). Awesome design, OP in Swap Force and a big childhood hero of mine. He's makin' Skylands proud!

Water: S2/Anchors Away Gill Grunt (Close second Rip Tide). Love his game-play, design and voice. Spyro and Gill are irreplaceable. He's a Gillman, and they NEVER give up!!

Tech: Countdown (Close second Trigger Happy and Drobot). THIS GUY IS THE BOMB!

Air: Turbo Jet-vac (Close second Light-Core Warnado). Love the black coloring and the Wow-Pow as well. Like me, he always enjoys a challenge

Earth: Ugh, this is hard. Terrafin( Close second Dino-Rang and Bash). He's strong, he's a shark, and he's King of The Ring!

Undead: Ghost Roaster. One of my favorites since his reveal. He's the Ghost with the Most!

Life: Thorn Horn Camo. Awesome new horns with an OP Wow-Pow. He's spicing things up!

Fire: Hot Dog. Ruff Ruff!, Hot Dog's hot on the trail to become my favorite Fire Skylander!

Swappers.

Fire: When evil's attacken' he gets Kracken!, Fire Kracken burns up the competition for best Fire Swapper!

Magic: Beyond the shadow of a doubt, Trap Shadow is my favorite my favorite Magic Swapper!

Water: He's got Eight Legs and No Pegs! Wash Buckler sails into my favorite Water Swapper spot (FB is still awesome)

Life: You know the drill! My love for Monkeys makes Grilla Drilla my favorite life Swapper!

Undead: Oppritunity knocks when Night Shift is in play! He teloported his way into my heart.

Air: Free Ranger is taking the world by storm! He soars his way in to my Fav Air Element.

Earth: Doom Stone is another smash hit for me (Based on Game-play)

Tech: I guess you could say he's in charge! Magna Charge speeds his way into my Tech spot!

All The Giants are great!

MAGIC-

Trap Shadow. his fast attacks and shadow kicks make him amazing.

TECH-

Wind Up. how can anybody NOT like this dude!?

WATER-

Zap. he was one of my very first skylanders, and i sill love him to this very day.

FIRE-

Fire Kraken by far. still haven't tried fryno, but he just might do the trick.

UNDEAD-

Grim Creeper. he's strong, powerful, and badass looking.

EARTH-

Scorp! unless doom stone is the most amazing thing since morgan freeman, scorp has the throne.

LIFE-

GRILLA. DRILLA. he can spam his drill attacks for MAJOR DAMAGE!

AIR-

Popthorn. just popthorn.

Haven't played: , , and
For Strength
Magic: his tongue is OP it does 55 damage per hit and it hits really fast.

Tech: he is just so amazing! If a enemy has low health they can die in one hit and this makes him OP in PVP.

Water: her balloons with electrified water stun enemies and then you can destroy them with your crossbow bolts.

Fire: he can use his motorcycle and keep hitting multiple enemies without stopping and sometimes they can fall of edges to death.

Undead: To be honest I don't know.

Earth: Not sure.

Life: / Stealth Elf is still pretty powerful and Camo's wow-pow is insane.

Air: Popped for running and Puffed for attacking enough said.

Magic - Ninjini
Tech - Drobot
Water - Slam Bam
Fire - Fire Kraken
Undead - Fright Rider
Earth - Prism Break
Life - Stealth Elf
Air - Pop Thorn

Flameslinger - Fast, ranged and hurts enemies with his trail of fire
Chill - Ranged, can spam her primary attack rapidly and has good defense
Flashwing - Strong and she attacks all around her at once
Bumble Blast - OP
Pop Thorn - Cute and OP
Drobot - Relatively OP when maxed out, can move fast with his thrusters
Star Strike - I like all her projectiles reflecting all around
Ghost Roaster - Strong primary attack, fast dash, knocks enemies away

Air: He's fast, he's a giant, and he's extremely useful in crowded situations.
Life: It's just satisfying to hold his melons down, walk out of them, and watch as you release from around you.
Earth: I actually only have Prism Break...but I played my brother's Terrafin and he was fun.
Magic: His Fireslam attack is strong and cool, and his fireball path lets your opponents feel the burn.
Tech: His magnet attacks are fun, and his blaster is practically OP.
Fire: Interesting combos and an extremely fun Attack 3.
Water: He was my favorite Swapper since Day 1, and his speed and ice attacks are very useful.
Undead: An extremely fast character with matching power.

Don't understand why we keep having these favorite 8 or ultimate 8 discussions. Must be a slow time.

... Oh screw this. I kept writing a post about why I liked each of my picks which I actually put a lot of detail into, and first time the iPad dies on me, and the second time Safari crashes as I preview my post. I'd love to rewrite the post I was planning to put up here to actually contribute some good reasons behind my picks, but I'm NOT rewriting what I did.

Hate how they nerfed some Skylanders in SF so I decided to do my picks for each game seperately. These are based on how much I enjoy them in the game they were introduced in. Also, person attachment, coolness factor (design etc.) and gameplay are all factored in with all Skylanders, not just one thing.

I bolded my overall favourite 8 (factoring in what I think of them in all three games) and if you see two bolded for one element it just means that I couldn't pick between them.

I haven't played Scratch, Doom Stone, Freeze Blade, or Trap Shadow yet because I don't have them so for the purposes of the list I just ignored them. (It seems like Freeze Blade would be my favourite for Water SF though, and possibly favourite overall Water, if I had played him.)

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SWAP Force
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Storm Bomber/Ace Gunner Lots of personal attachment trump Free Ranger/Pop Thorn gameplay
Bucking Boar Amazing design + fun gameplay
Deputy's Duty/Bone Herder Least mediocre Undead, only Undead I actually like very much
Escavator/Bolder Boulders Took me by surprise with how I enjoyed him, still holds up well
Ignition/Fuel Injected Best Fire ever, basically a more fun version of Flameslinger, + personal attachment
Bubble Buccaneer/Ink Artist Least mediocre Water
Hypno-Owl/Escape Artist Gimmick that works that no other Skylander can really fill in, good personality, good design, good backstory, great gameplay
Winder Gimmick that works, powerful but not boringly overpowered, personal attachment, design
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Giants
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Vac-Packeteer Enjoy more than Swarm, memories of trying to actually use Vac-Packateer effectively on Nightmare
Barrier Boost Personal attachment, fun mastering him
Sir Lance A Lot Better than Eye-Brawl
Rubble Master Good design + some personal attatchement + decent gameplay
The Burninator Better than Hot Dog
Up Close and Personal Love Chill too, but Thumpback holds up better
(Both paths tied) Better than Ninjini
Operator Personal attatchement + design + gameplay + favourite Skylander overall
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Spyro's Adventure
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Eye of The Storm Personal attatchment + unique gameplay + cool design, still holds up in SF
Forest Ninja Only Life I liked very much
Vampiric Warrior Memories of trying to master him + cool design
Crystaleer Only Earth I liked very much
Flame Lord Cool design + unique, fun gameplay
Tesla Dragon Generally enjoy gameplay more than the other Waters of SA, good design
Sheep Burner Spyro The classic, Dark was my first Skylander
Clobber Troll Personal attatchment, generally like him a lot

*suddenly realises how half of the Giants characters were mediocre or forgettable*
*and is reminded of how mediocre the entire Undead Element is*

If I must, I guess I'd pick Sprocket over Wind-Up for Tech, just because I have more personal attatchment to her, and same with Spyro for Magic. So my "Favoureight" would be:

Did you guys know this is topic 100000?

Air: he's just so cute and he's the most powerful of all.

Magic: she's my favorite. Like the style of the character.

Fire: he's my 2nd favorite cuz of his figure form, the jade looks so great on him.

Water: awesome character, lol

Life: Did not play has him yet but looks great. He's in my must buy list

Tech: . He was my favorite in giant and now he's my third favorite

Undead: , so powerful

Earth: is so powerful in pvp with the healthy shooting gems