darkSpyro

Has anyone here heard of this website -> http://www.oneofswords.com/ ?

From activision support on facebook :

Unfortunately there is no direct public contact. We do have an official news site at www.OneOfSwords.com

If information is not posted here, then that means that there is no information available anywhere as it would be posted here first.

I have not and it appears to be a blog run by some fan. I am not sure if this fan is an actual activision employee or not.

cool I haven't seen that site before. here's the info from his facebook. Good to know.

"I'm Dan Amrich, Activision's blogger and social media cruise director. Check oneofswords.com/about for full info."

I just posted this on their facebook page :

Considering they have been selling on ebay for over a week, yea. I have yet to see them in a store but 2 stores local to me have said they have sold the Empire of Ice adventure set. One of the biggest gripes the players of skylanders have is the lack of figures available to them in stores. By having unscrupulous employees in some stores taking the shipments and then selling them on ebay makes matters worse. While asking about a release date, ask what Activision is planning on doing to accommodate us parents with children who are frustrated with hunting down new figures for their children to play with.

i asked about uk delivery ... http://www.facebook.com/oneofs..._t=feed_comment

he's not exactly very helpful

Calling the guy useless, in a round about way, won't get him to spill his guts. LOL. It seems that he is just another way to get "news" about activision out to the general public and to always make activision look good.

meh, i was hoping it would motivate him to justify why he is getting paid

Quote: Monsinour

I just posted this on their facebook page :

Considering they have been selling on ebay for over a week, yea. I have yet to see them in a store but 2 stores local to me have said they have sold the Empire of Ice adventure set. One of the biggest gripes the players of skylanders have is the lack of figures available to them in stores. By having unscrupulous employees in some stores taking the shipments and then selling them on ebay makes matters worse. While asking about a release date, ask what Activision is planning on doing to accommodate us parents with children who are frustrated with hunting down new figures for their children to play with.

Good Job

For those not following him, here comes the replies.

His reply to my question about production and distrobution:

Quote: one of swords

I suggest you read #2 here. http://oneofswords.com/2011/08...ming-questions/ I cannot make someone tell me something they do not want to tell me. Internal plans for production and distribution would likely not be things that ANY company would discuss about ANY of its products.

I read it and it makes perfect sense to not share company secrets like that. So I just replied:

Quote: monsinour

Ok, I completely understand the not wanting to tell us how they are made, where they are made, and how they get onto the store's shelves. However, The skylander page on FB stated that they were doing all they could to restock our shelves. I was wondering what that is. For example, based on the info I have found, whirlwind and drill sergent are no longer exclusives and are being released as a 3 pack with double trouble and should be "available" now. Its too bad that I cant find them anywhere at the moment while so many others have. Do I live somewhere (upstate NY) that receives shipments later than others? So what about the legendary 3 pack figures? Are those going to be released as singles at some point? Many people bought the game for their kids for christmas (like me) and did not fully understand how the figures worked in the game and did not purchase any extra for their kids at that time. Since then, these legendary characters have sold out and cannot be found on a store's shelf anywhere. Am I to believe that the only way I will ever get these figures for my kids is to pay the outrageous prices on ebay for them? What about some of the other figures that are so darn hard to find? I like collecting things and this kinda feeds my need. But the OCD in me wants to have them all and Its not looking like I can do that. I am OK with dark spyro only being sold inside a 3DS starter pack. It says exclusive right on the packaging. What about ignitor? He doesnt have that exclusive tag, is he going to be made available at some point? Why wern't the same figures included in all the starter sets? Ok, i am rambling, tell me to shut up now.

So maybe we can get some answers to some questions that so many here have asked.

one of swords is useless. when i asked if he could get specific dates for enland ...

One of Swords Check with your local store if you want to know when they will be in your local store.

... like people aren't already doing that

Quote: Monsinour

I just posted this on their facebook page :

Considering they have been selling on ebay for over a week, yea. I have yet to see them in a store but 2 stores local to me have said they have sold the Empire of Ice adventure set. One of the biggest gripes the players of skylanders have is the lack of figures available to them in stores. By having unscrupulous employees in some stores taking the shipments and then selling them on ebay makes matters worse. While asking about a release date, ask what Activision is planning on doing to accommodate us parents with children who are frustrated with hunting down new figures for their children to play with.

Good on ya

I posted about the legendary trio @ one of swords and this is what I got

Quote: one of swords

Not sure about Legendary Trigger Happy (I'm asking) but I believe the 3-pack should be back in stock at Toys R Us soon. It's exclusive to them, as far as I know, and it's not supposed to be a limited thing -- just scarce at the moment. Check with your local store for restocks.

Seems like a reliable, yet truly uninformative source.

edi : The man works late, well late for east coast. I had said that i thought the exclusivity was over on 12/31/11. Just got this back about the legendary 3 pack

Quote: one of swords

I don't know; what is your source for that info? I know from my internal discussions that Whirlwind and Drill Sergeant are no longer retailer exclusives, but I thought the Legendary editions were TRU only. I will ask my team here, but if you have information, I can't tell you if it's real or not without knowing where you got it.

i still say he's useless

Quote: t7gga

i still say he's useless

I wouldnt go that far. He came up with solid info today. Being that he works for activision, this is as good as gold for everyone here.

Quote: one of swords

Okay, got confirmation of what I thought before: Legendary 3-pack is exclusive to TRU and is out of stock at the moment but will return to TRU in the coming weeks. It's not gone forever, but when it returns, it will only be at Toys R Us.

For all those looking for it, stop using ebay, be patient young padawan.

he may work for activision but still only gives generic answers.

he hasn't provided any information that isn't already available elsewhere. if anything he has provided less.

bigging up the fact that he works for activision and being "on the inside" then not providing real insider information. to me that equates to useless.

Quote: t7gga

he may work for activision but still only gives generic answers.

he hasn't provided any information that isn't already available elsewhere. if anything he has provided less.

bigging up the fact that he works for activision and being "on the inside" then not providing real insider information. to me that equates to useless.

So where else has it been stated that the legendary trio will be back on store shelves in a few weeks?

i'll believe it when i see it

Quote: Monsinour

Quote: t7gga

he may work for activision but still only gives generic answers.

he hasn't provided any information that isn't already available elsewhere. if anything he has provided less.

bigging up the fact that he works for activision and being "on the inside" then not providing real insider information. to me that equates to useless.

So where else has it been stated that the legendary trio will be back on store shelves in a few weeks?

Ahem here on the forums after I got off the phone to Activision:
Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

I just got off the phone to Activision UK phone line (+44 845 528 0269 (local rate) if anyone else wants to call). A nice chap called Gustaf wasn't allowed to give me dates but was able to confirm that the Legendary Triple pack is still in production, has been shipped to wholesalers and SHOULD be in stores within a month. Hope that helps Legendary hunters

Got my reply from him today.

Quote: one of swords

Geez -- reading over there, I know T7 was unhappy that I could not offer specific details on the UK retail side of things, but I do not work in the UK retail side of things. I don't think I'm useless, but I definitely could not offer her information that I personally do not have access to. Being an insider does not mean having carte blanche to all information, even when I ask politely. If my registration is approved, I will say as much there, but it was interesting to be painted as a useless villain.

Anyway, I got second confirmation today that the Legendary 3-pack will be returning later this year, and it is a Toys R Us exlcusive. So your bet is safe and you will be collecting on that in the coming months. I will try to find out if they are expecting a specific window for those to ship, but this is exactly the kind of stuff they generally do not a) share with me or b) sometimes even know themselves, because of the way the retail chain works. Internally, I have been discussing the differences between a game launch, which has a hard date, and a toy wave/refresh shipment, which often does not have a hard date so much as a loose window. This is so I can understand the difference.

Quote: Monsinour

...Do I live somewhere (upstate NY) that receives shipments later than others?

Where in Upstate? If you're anywhere near Albany, you should sign them up to be volunteer kid testers at Vicarious Visions. You can do that here: http://www.vvisions.com/games/kid_feedback.cfm

T7gga, sorry I could not answer your question to your satisfaction. You're basically asking me when the current wave of toys will show up in your neighborhood, and your neighborhood is several thousand miles away from me. I suggested you call your local store because they actually know when they expect shipments to arrive. I don't have any insight into that. I'm sorry if you feel that makes me useless, but my job is very much on a need-to-know basis, not a would-like-to-know. What I need to know is when Activision is shipping figures to the store. What I would like to know is when they will arrive. I know that the figures are en route because the Skylanders team has told me that the shipments are en route. The next update would, logically, have to come from the store itself saying "We got them." So that's why I recommend you go to the source that knows the most at the appropriate time.

As for the discussions about the Legendary 3-pack: Monsinour has reposted everything I've said in our conversation, but yes, I stand by it. The Legendary toys are TRU exclusives; the Target and Walmart exclusives were clearly time-limited, but the Legendary toys, being a completely different paint job and package, are only going to show up in Toys R Us. I asked the Skylanders team here at work on Friday and they confirmed it, then someone else from the team confirmed it this morning just to make sure I'd gotten an answer. They said more are being made now and TRU stores should get restocks in the coming weeks/months.

Please understand that my role at Activision is as a community manager for the entire company; I handle questions and information on Skylanders as well as Call of Duty, Prototype, all that stuff. I have contacts with each team who can help me get information, and I regularly say "this is what fans are asking me about right now" and "can we clarify this item, many people are confused" -- but I do not work on the Skylanders team here at Activision directly, nor do I work up at Toys For Bob. I just have some access to them as necessary, and I go through the proper channels. So while I am an inside source -- my desk is physically in the same building, on the same floor as the Skylanders team -- that does not mean I am in on their meetings, or that they can share all the information that fans want to know as soon as the fans want to know it. They tell me what I need to know when I need to know it, and I try to support their messaging as much as possible, clearing up rumors, pointing people to the authoritative sources for information, and basically helping where I can. That doesn't make me The Guy In Charge Of Skylanders.

So, that's who I am, what I do at Activision, and why I don't have all the answers -- but I do sometimes have some of them. I hope over time, I can go from "useless" to "occasionally helpful."

Thank you for you post, OneOfSwords.

Quote: OneOfSwords

T7gga, sorry I could not answer your question to your satisfaction. You're basically asking me when the current wave of toys will show up in your neighborhood, and your neighborhood is several thousand miles away from me. I suggested you call your local store because they actually know when they expect shipments to arrive. I don't have any insight into that. I'm sorry if you feel that makes me useless, but my job is very much on a need-to-know basis, not a would-like-to-know. What I need to know is when Activision is shipping figures to the store. What I would like to know is when they will arrive. I know that the figures are en route because the Skylanders team has told me that the shipments are en route. The next update would, logically, have to come from the store itself saying "We got them." So that's why I recommend you go to the source that knows the most at the appropriate time. ... I hope over time, I can go from "useless" to "occasionally helpful."

hi Dan, please let me say sorry for the useless comments. i guess i am just a very frustrated parent who has driven a lot of miles and made a lot of phone calls, all without reward. toys r us claim they have no idea when or what is arriving and the smaller stores are even less knowledgeable (if that is at all possible) ... in finding you i had hoped to find the oracle, when you suggested i contact my local store it was like BOOM!

... and it is frustrating that i know of at least one TRU supervisor that is himself checking through any of the limited stock looking for silver/gold skylanders before stocking shelves.

so, onto your hope to be "occasionally helpful." ... is there any insider information you can share about Skylanders Giants #skylandersgiants

Quote: anverc

Quote: Monsinour

...Do I live somewhere (upstate NY) that receives shipments later than others?

Where in Upstate? If you're anywhere near Albany, you should sign them up to be volunteer kid testers at Vicarious Visions. You can do that here: http://www.vvisions.com/games/kid_feedback.cfm

I know one of the testers there and set up a "field trip" for a few of my students to go there. I also applied to work there as I have the proper technical background. I will look into your link to see what I can find.

Quote: t7gga

so, onto your hope to be "occasionally helpful." ... is there any insider information you can share about Skylanders Giants #skylandersgiants

I saw the domain registration that the media reported on, like Giant Bomb, but I'm not putting any eggs into any basket until I hear something official. When I was in the media, I remember Activision grabbing domains like "GuitarVillain.com" and "DrumHero.com" and stuff that never came to be. The truth is, when it's this cheap to get a domain, you are better off registering every idea you have whether it becomes a real game or not, before someone else gets it and uses it against you.

So...I'll wait until I hear something for real. Toy Fair 2012 is coming up in a few weeks so I suspect that if there is anything to be announced in the world of Skylanders, it will be announced there, since that's where they debuted the game last year.

Interesting article on the oneofswords site - "The 27 hidden secrets of Skylanders". Sorry if its been posted already...

http://oneofswords.com/2011/12...-of-skylanders/

Coolest thing is the Stealth Elf and Undead figures glow in the dark. I confirmed all 4 undead figures, unfortunately I have not found stealth elf single pack yet.

Found an old post:
//forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=42807

Quote: Monsinour

Quote: anverc

Quote: Monsinour

...Do I live somewhere (upstate NY) that receives shipments later than others?

Where in Upstate? If you're anywhere near Albany, you should sign them up to be volunteer kid testers at Vicarious Visions. You can do that here: http://www.vvisions.com/games/kid_feedback.cfm

I know one of the testers there and set up a "field trip" for a few of my students to go there. I also applied to work there as I have the proper technical background. I will look into your link to see what I can find.

Cool which position did you apply for? Who in QA do you know? We host a lot of field trips, they're both fun and informative to the students

Quote: OneOfSwords

Quote: t7gga

so, onto your hope to be "occasionally helpful." ... is there any insider information you can share about Skylanders Giants #skylandersgiants

I saw the domain registration that the media reported on, like Giant Bomb, but I'm not putting any eggs into any basket until I hear something official. When I was in the media, I remember Activision grabbing domains like "GuitarVillain.com" and "DrumHero.com" and stuff that never came to be. The truth is, when it's this cheap to get a domain, you are better off registering every idea you have whether it becomes a real game or not, before someone else gets it and uses it against you.

That's something that I considered when we first heard about it, but why would anyone else want to register a domain 'Skylanders Giants'? Also, if they wanted to, Activision could just continue to use the normal Sklanders domain for sequels; much like how Sierra used seasonofice.com for the main Spyro website until The Eternal Night - 6 years after Season of Ice was released.

Quote: bionicle2809

That's something that I considered when we first heard about it, but why would anyone else want to register a domain 'Skylanders Giants'? Also, if they wanted to, Activision could just continue to use the normal Sklanders domain for sequels; much like how Sierra used seasonofice.com for the main Spyro website until The Eternal Night - 6 years after Season of Ice was released.

See I don't think someone else registered it. In one of the threads that appeared, an article stated that the company that bought the domain was related to Activision, or was used by Activision to purchase domains in the past. I'd have to go look for the link though.

I think the best thing they could do is leave Universe on the original site, and then have a brand new one for the sequel. That'd allow them more space to show off any new Skylanders (which is probably inevitable) rather than have to either tuck them behind the originals or get rid of the original's pages.

i agree. given the short time that skylanders has been on sale it would make more sense to create a new domain for the sequel

Quote: anverc

Cool which position did you apply for? Who in QA do you know? We host a lot of field trips, they're both fun and informative to the students

The gentleman's name in testing was Mr. Stark, no not Tony. Last I had heard, he was let go after one game finished testing and was set to come back once testing was to begin on another game.

The field trip was select students from Glenmont Job Corps. I specifically picked Mr. Sealey to go for his artistic ability. I was hoping he would get the chance to meet some artists there and get a chance to show off what he could do. I lost my job @ Glenmont before the field trip occured so I did not tag along.

I applied for entry level tech support knowing full well I was over qualified. I just wanted to get my foot in the door of an up and coming company. I think my resume scared off some people and I got the "thanks we will call when we can" phone message. Its nothing I havent heard before.

Quote: spyroflame0487

Quote: bionicle2809

That's something that I considered when we first heard about it, but why would anyone else want to register a domain 'Skylanders Giants'? Also, if they wanted to, Activision could just continue to use the normal Sklanders domain for sequels; much like how Sierra used seasonofice.com for the main Spyro website until The Eternal Night - 6 years after Season of Ice was released.

See I don't think someone else registered it. In one of the threads that appeared, an article stated that the company that bought the domain was related to Activision, or was used by Activision to purchase domains in the past. I'd have to go look for the link though.

I didn't say anyone else did. I questioned why anyone else would want to register the domain Skylanders Giants other than Activision. I mean, Skylanders 2 or something like that would be a logical protection purchase, Skylanders Giants isn't.

I'm not suggesting that Activision didn't register it. I'm saying if it is an idea Activision is considering, there is no reason they would not get the domain, whether it turns into a domain they use or not. Because if they are considering multiple names for a project, and it costs a whopping $10 to register a domain, it's cheap insurance in case it turns into something.

Quote: OneOfSwords

I'm not suggesting that Activision didn't register it. I'm saying if it is an idea Activision is considering, there is no reason they would not get the domain, whether it turns into a domain they use or not. Because if they are considering multiple names for a project, and it costs a whopping $10 to register a domain, it's cheap insurance in case it turns into something.

$10 per domain is too much really. You should be able to register domains for $5 per year.

It makes perfect sense for activision to register possible domain names now as a just in case. Best example I can give happened a long time ago. Some guy owned bingo.com and had a parker set on it. A company wanted to actually host bingo games on that domain. They contacted the parker and asked how much he wanted for the domain. He replied 5 million. The company refused and contacted IANA about unfair business practices. IANA made 2 things happen. They brought about the .CC top level to allow for duplicate domain names for comercial purposes like bingo.com and bingo.cc. They also made it illegal to have a parker on a domain that has nothing to do with that subject matter. So now when you attempt to go to a domain that isnt quite right, you typically find a search engine that searches for whatever makes sense for the domain. Another example is the whole crap that went on not too long ago with diablo3.com and diabloIII.com. But that is another story for another time.