darkSpyro

Well I had a good day, possibly helped by the large latte I had during the two hour delay.

Anyway once the tour did get going there was a good amount to do, despite the small space.
Left of the entrance was a small stand with leaflets, a Matching pairs game, and behind that a Green Screen photo area.

• The Matching Pairs game was a large wall with turnable pictures, there was a little confusion over the correct rules on this game at the beginning (more on that later*), but officially the rules were that players had 10 seconds to match 2 pairs, winners would win a t-shirt. Players could only win the t-shirt on the first attempt.
  
• In the photo area you could have your picture "taken" with a Skylander of your choice and it would be printed out on the spot. Worth a go
  

To the right of the entrance was the "Main Desk" which give out blue Wristbands and a sheet of temporary tattoos and beyond that was the 12 demo pods, all demoing Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure on all three home consoles.

The Center was the main "Portal of Power" Stage, where only a chosen few could play or earn a play at the Giants Demo.

• At first there was a free play of the Demo of Giants, but this stage was officially for holding PvP battles with the top player winning a playthrough of the Giants demo. The winning player also had to stay to play on in a later PvP battle to be entered into a draw to win lots of goodies.
  

The Demo seemed to be the New York Toy Fair build, interesting enough it was a US (NTSC flashed up on the TV every time the staff switched the TV to the Wii with Giants) version. In this demo Tree Rex was called "Life Giant" and seemed to deal 100 damage to every Drow Spear enemy. The Demo did freeze/crash at the "Feat of Strength" (pull over chained island) section, but that was the end of the demo anyway.

*More on the Matching Pairs game:
At first myself and other fellow four 10am (two fans and two parents/guardians) attendees were informed that we could play, if we failed we could re-queue later and try again to win a t-shirt. Children only had to match one pair and adults had to match two pairs.
On my second try (I failed first, did the green screen photo and re-queued) I was now informed that the rules were actually the official rules that I have mentioned already in this post. I explained to the staff member that this wasn't the rules that were explained no more than 15 minutes previously, but she was strict on what she said stating that they only had a limited amount of t-shirts for the day and they couldn't give them all out at once .
I politely accepted when she said, but unhappy with this sudden change of ground rules decided to have a little word with the woman on the Main Desk. After explaining the confusion on the rules, she then called over the organiser, who happily decided that myself and the other 10am fan attendees should actually get goodie bags - result!


Swag:
My (own handmade) Trigger plush with my goodie bag, and green screen photo
Goodie Bag contents
Flip side of the poster
Exclusive Area Tour Spyro

I've properly skipped or missed the bit about talking with the Activision Rep and dropping this website's name into that conversation, but I'm tired and hungry now. Should anyone want to know about that story, you'll have to wait until I've caught up on my sleeeeeep

Seems like the Skylanders who have LightCore versions will have more promotional artwork of themselves promoting the LightCore characters.

My son had fun today at Birmingham, but I was ultimately disappointed. Two months after e3 and there's only one terminal to play giants on and only four kids per hour had one chance to win a go on it. None of the staff on hand seemed to have any knowledge of the sequel other than the cursory stuff revealed before e3. Fortunately my son forgot I'd mentioned goodie bags and figures, because there were none being handed out. We arrived at 3pm and stayed for two hours, leaving with some tattoos, a wristband and a photo. Thankfully my son did win his chance to take part in the on stage battle which got him a t-shirt. I'd have been pretty gutted if we hadn't gone home with at least one of those. Ultimately the blurb made it sound better than it was and had it not been oversold I probably wouldn't have been disappointed.

Also, the next stop on the tour will be identical but larger, with more spyros adventure terminals.

Ohh snap. An Arena Tour Dark Spyro? That's pretty cool. Was that in the Goodie bag, or were they just handing them out?

Quote: spyroflame0487

Ohh snap. An Arena Tour Dark Spyro? That's pretty cool. Was that in the Goodie bag, or were they just handing them out?

It was only in the Goodie bag. I have no idea what the actual criteria was to get a goodie bag other than how I got it, but I think myself and the fellow 10amers were to get ones for being first, but only after the shambles with the Matching Pairs game.

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

Well I had a good day, possibly helped by the large latte I had during the two hour delay.

Anyway once the tour did get going there was a good amount to do, despite the small space.
Left of the entrance was a small stand with leaflets, a Matching pairs game, and behind that a Green Screen photo area.

• The Matching Pairs game was a large wall with turnable pictures, there was a little confusion over the correct rules on this game at the beginning (more on that later*), but officially the rules were that players had 10 seconds to match 2 pairs, winners would win a t-shirt. Players could only win the t-shirt on the first attempt.
  
• In the photo area you could have your picture "taken" with a Skylander of your choice and it would be printed out on the spot. Worth a go
  

To the right of the entrance was the "Main Desk" which give out blue Wristbands and a sheet of temporary tattoos and beyond that was the 12 demo pods, all demoing Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure on all three home consoles.

The Center was the main "Portal of Power" Stage, where only a chosen few could play or earn a play at the Giants Demo.

• At first there was a free play of the Demo of Giants, but this stage was officially for holding PvP battles with the top player winning a playthrough of the Giants demo. The winning player also had to stay to play on in a later PvP battle to be entered into a draw to win lots of goodies.
  

The Demo seemed to be the New York Toy Fair build, interesting enough it was a US (NTSC flashed up on the TV every time the staff switched the TV to the Wii with Giants) version. In this demo Tree Rex was called "Life Giant" and seemed to deal 100 damage to every Drow Spear enemy. The Demo did freeze/crash at the "Feat of Strength" (pull over chained island) section, but that was the end of the demo anyway.

*More on the Matching Pairs game:
At first myself and other fellow four 10am (two fans and two parents/guardians) attendees were informed that we could play, if we failed we could re-queue later and try again to win a t-shirt. Children only had to match one pair and adults had to match two pairs.
On my second try (I failed first, did the green screen photo and re-queued) I was now informed that the rules were actually the official rules that I have mentioned already in this post. I explained to the staff member that this wasn't the rules that were explained no more than 15 minutes previously, but she was strict on what she said stating that they only had a limited amount of t-shirts for the day and they couldn't give them all out at once .
I politely accepted when she said, but unhappy with this sudden change of ground rules decided to have a little word with the woman on the Main Desk. After explaining the confusion on the rules, she then called over the organiser, who happily decided that myself and the other 10am fan attendees should actually get goodie bags - result!


Swag:
My (own handmade) Trigger plush with my goodie bag, and green screen photo
Goodie Bag contents
Flip side of the poster
Exclusive Area Tour Spyro

I've properly skipped or missed the bit about talking with the Activision Rep and dropping this website's name into that conversation, but I'm tired and hungry now. Should anyone want to know about that story, you'll have to wait until I've caught up on my sleeeeeep

Cool!

I hear there was no Tree Rex? I would have been sad, I kinda like getting my photo with the characters (pfft I'm such a kid).

By the way, does anyone know how I can contact the organisers? I'd like to ask a few questions about the Paris event should I be able to attend.

Quote: RadSpyro

I hear there was no Tree Rex? I would have been sad, I kinda like getting my photo with the characters (pfft I'm such a kid).

By the way, does anyone know how I can contact the organisers? I'd like to ask a few questions about the Paris event should I be able to attend.

When one of the other 10amers quizzed the organiser about the lack of Tree Rex (costumed character), the organisers simply stated something like "we don't have him because it's the first day of the tour", stupid excuse I know
My guess is they either forgot to load the costume onto the truck, forgot to unpack the costume, didn't have the correct sized person to wear the suit or something else like that.

You could contact the Skylanders Game Facebook page and get ignored. You could ring the location directly and hope they speak English or you speak enough French. Other than that I don't know, there is a distinct lack of email addresses going around on the Skylandersevent.com page +_+

Good luck though!


EDIT: Seems the local news have published an article on this event

Pfft. Go figure

Thanks, I'll try... Er... Well, I'll try something ;

And hey, is that Skylanders cap he's wearing in that pic? Do want!


I also noticed they've removed the 'free goodie bag' part on the site. Go figure

So much for us getting a look at Ninjini or Eye Brawl at this event... T_T

Maybe at the upcoming events?

The website seems to be in the process of uploading the photos from the event in Birmingham, but should anyone who went want to find their Green Screen photo (or not attendees what to know what they look like) have a gander at this

thanks for the review ... so basically in summary not much chance of getting the dark spyro with tour, not much chance of being able to play the giants demo and no new information that is already available

Quote: t7gga

thanks for the review ... so basically in summary not much chance of getting the dark spyro with tour, not much chance of being able to play the giants demo and no new information that is already available

In relation to the Birmingham stop - yes. The Lollibop stop is three days from Friday, so it will be interesting to see how the staff handle the goodie bags there.

Surely this makes the Arena Tour Dark Spyro the rarest variant to date?

noting that your tour dark spyro has the usa peg hanger sort of implies that the usa may actually be getting this version some time soon (but without the tour sticker) ... and based on your info i would agree that if you collect packaging variations this one with a tour sticker will be the hardest to find (well apart from the original firts announced loose in package ones)

I read on someone's blog that they were 'invited' by Activision and received a goody bag with Dark Spyro - But it was for a little girl, so whether or not she keeps it MIB or not I don't know.

I really hope someone here manages to get into Lollibop somehow, I'd like to see how they handle it.

Quote: RadSpyro

I read on someone's blog that they were 'invited' by Activision and received a goody bag with Dark Spyro - But it was for a little girl, so whether or not she keeps it MIB or not I don't know.

I really hope someone here manages to get into Lollibop somehow, I'd like to see how they handle it.

That girl is the official blogger to the tour organiser and was indeed invited to the tour. VIPs got orange wristbands and I think were supposed to get to play the Giants demo and possibly the goodie bags without competing in the tournament.

I think the links are Little Girl and family's blog, but feel free to correct me!

The website has all the images uploaded now, but I'm still waiting for the video.

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

The website seems to be in the process of uploading the photos from the event in Birmingham, but should anyone who went want to find their Green Screen photo (or not attendees what to know what they look like) have a gander at this

Thanks for that link. I'm pretty annoyed to find a picture of my son on their website when I signed no waiver to let them use it and was never asked at any point.

^There was a sign at the entrance saying "By entering you agree to having photos taken to be used by Activision" or something like that.

My son won one of the skylander battle competitions in the London skylanders arena tour. He also received an exclusive dark spyro after getting tested in his general knowledge by an activision representative. He is in the draw for hopefully a big prize full of skylander goodies. Let's hope that he wins. He loves skylanders.

Quote: wideawakewesley

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

The website seems to be in the process of uploading the photos from the event in Birmingham, but should anyone who went want to find their Green Screen photo (or not attendees what to know what they look like) have a gander at this

Thanks for that link. I'm pretty annoyed to find a picture of my son on their website when I signed no waiver to let them use it and was never asked at any point.

As mentioned (in Birmingham) it was right by the entrance at eye level on two or three (I can't remember right now) points. It's common practice at events to put up signs like that, if you don't want your photo to be used, don't walk in. Should you (or your son) have been interviewed for the video, you (as the adult) had to be filmed stating you gave permission to be filmed.

did you get any high quality photo of that poster??...

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

As mentioned (in Birmingham) it was right by the entrance at eye level on two or three (I can't remember right now) points. It's common practice at events to put up signs like that, if you don't want your photo to be used, don't walk in. Should you (or your son) have been interviewed for the video, you (as the adult) had to be filmed stating you gave permission to be filmed.

I didn't see the sign at the entrance as my son basically ran into there and I was chasing him. My bad I guess, but it would have been nice for the people to mention it or have other signs inside, especially for the green screen photos which I wouldn't have expected to be on their website. My son is thrilled however.

Quote: kappapopm

did you get any high quality photo of that poster??...

It wasn't present at the event unfortunately. It was very lacking in Giants marketing materials.

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

Quote: wideawakewesley

Nothing says it's be exclusive. It may just be a regular figure or maybe a sidekick.

My guess it's a sidekick as they are packaged in plastic baggies rather than full blown packages.

So Australia will never get them. Great.

As I said...my son received an exclusive dark spyro....it has an exclusive arena tour sticker on it.....it is only given to VIP's from the media.......so very few made......will be very rare I think.....would do you think?

Quote: MRskylanderT

As I said...my son received an exclusive dark spyro....it has an exclusive arena tour sticker on it.....it is only given to VIP's from the media.......so very few made......will be very rare I think.....would do you think?

Oh, well I think it will then.

Still doesn't make it any better. At this point, everyone may as well give up hope of getting them. Such a simple thing to send out that should be available everywhere, and they can't even make it in limited numbers for the PALs out of America

Quote: Aura24

Seems like the Skylanders who have LightCore versions will have more promotional artwork of themselves promoting the LightCore characters.

I had that thought a while back as well: "Does anyone think the characters with two new art pieces might be the LightCores?"

Quote: t7gga

noting that your tour dark spyro has the usa peg hanger sort of implies that the usa may actually be getting this version some time soon (but without the tour sticker) ... and based on your info i would agree that if you collect packaging variations this one with a tour sticker will be the hardest to find (well apart from the original firts announced loose in package ones)

Pearl Hex.

Quote: MRskylanderT

As I said...my son received an exclusive dark spyro....it has an exclusive arena tour sticker on it.....it is only given to VIP's from the media.......so very few made......will be very rare I think.....would do you think?

I believe some regular people obtained it too. I've just managed to get my hands on one via a friend who went to the Lollibop event. But IMHO, yes, Arena Tour Dark Spyro is, at the moment, the rarest 'variant' there is.

And that sign sounds familiar. They had one on last years event. That's why I always check any signs listed outside, no matter how small - It's like a fine print.

At 6m15s there's a brief look at the external view of the tour at Lollibop



None of the giant Giants characters were at Birmingham

Aw That's a shame. I'm curious to know what the overall 'grand prize winners' received, though.

^Well, shirts were mentioned Probably a skylander or two, maybe one of them skylander storage case bag things.

Someone who visited the LolliBop event mentioned a copy of the game or a figure from the new game in the grand prize bag. It wouldn't be the first time they've given out the figures a month before release, after all