darkSpyro

It seems we have an Activision Rep on the forums, so it seems it might be easiest for them to keep track of all questions if they are in one thread instead of scattered around the forum.

Should this topic get popular, I will open other Editions and link to them.


So I'll start with my question (which is really more Spyro's Adventure, but I'll ask it anyway)...

When can fans outside the USA expect to get access to the Sidekick characters without paying crazy prices on eBay?

I'm pretty sure the Activision Rep is from their Technical Support team. I don't think they'll be able to answer marketing questions like you've asked.

It's worth a shot UncleBob, the worst they will do is ignore me - that's what TRU UK (Facebook/email) and SkylandersGame (Facebook/Twitter) do.

Seeing that makes one word come to mind... Troll.
No, seriously, we need to get some questions answered, and sidekicks in the UK is a must.

I'm not "trolling" - just pointing out that the Technical Support team is different from the Marketing team.

If we end up with a bunch of threads asking for marketing answers, the tech support guys (and gals?) might just move on elsewhere.

^No, I wasn't talking about you, I was pointing out my disgust towards acti over the US UK Skylanders divide.

Buzz - Toys R Us wouldn't likely be able to answer Activision's marketing plans and the Facebook/Twitter account is operated by a third party to promote Skylanders. It's not even ran by Activision.

Have you considered writing a friendly*, well written letter to the local Activision HQ?

Activision-Blizzard
3 Roundwood Avenue
Stockley Park
Uxbridge, Middlesex

*When I say friendly - and don't take this the wrong way - but your initial question in this thread is slightly hostile, even if that's not how you intended it.

Quote: UncleBob

Buzz - Toys R Us wouldn't likely be able to answer Activision's marketing plans and the Facebook/Twitter account is operated by a third party to promote Skylanders. It's not even ran by Activision.

Have you considered writing a friendly*, well written letter to the local Activision HQ?

Activision-Blizzard
3 Roundwood Avenue
Stockley Park
Uxbridge, Middlesex

*When I say friendly - and don't take this the wrong way - but your initial question in this thread is slightly hostile, even if that's not how you intended it.

In relation to Sidekicks (kind of a brief history of what I have done), first I contacted Frito-Lays - they say try the UK version of Frito-Lays/Walkers, contacted Walkers - first time they said they didn't know and call again, rang at a later stage they confirmed they were not doing any promotion.
Another company Honey Monster Foods did another Skylanders promotion and asked if they were doing any further ones, they confirmed they were not.
Rang Activision customer support - they said ask the retailers - asked retailers, no response from most and one confirmed they were not going to do these figures
Spoke to an Activision Rep at a tour - she had never heard of the sidekicks and promised to email me - never did
Rang Activision asking to speak to the UK Skylanders Rep (yeah I made that up on the spot), I got through to a voice mail. Re-rang and asked for a direct number - got the number for a Rep in the Netherlands - the number rang out.

So so far the only response/s I have gotten in relation to Sidekicks is from Activision Assist's Twitter, it was something like "Stay Tuned", and on Activision Assist's Facebook page where I have to re-explain that I am not in the USA and can not avail of the promotion.

UncleBob if you think this is me being hostile, you are quite wrong - this is me getting slightly annoyed with still not getting a solid answer after almost 6 months spent contacting Activision over these figures.

I will not write a letter until I have a name to address it to. I have previously written emails to Activision UK which have ended up in the void of the internet and never been replied to.

Don't take this the wrong way, but...

Quote: Buzzthebatgirl

first I contacted Frito-Lays

US Frito-Lay wouldn't have anything to do with the UK.

Quote:

contacted Walkers - first time they said they didn't know and call again, rang at a later stage they confirmed they were not doing any promotion.

Sounds like they gave you a true, honest answer regarding their association with the product.

Quote:

Another company Honey Monster Foods did another Skylanders promotion and asked if they were doing any further ones, they confirmed they were not.

Same as above.

Quote:

Rang Activision customer support - they said ask the retailers

Not sure if you asked Activision US or UK, but they may have been looking for a partner to release the sidekicks with in the UK - having you bug the retailers may have been their way of getting them to open up to the idea of carrying the product.

Quote:

asked retailers, no response from most and one confirmed they were not going to do these figures

Most retailers probably wouldn't be able to give you a concrete answer anyway. Slightly surprised one told you "No".

Quote:

Spoke to an Activision Rep at a tour - she had never heard of the sidekicks and promised to email me - never did

Can't speak for that particular rep, but a lot of these folks are temps hired for an event or such - they'll likely not be privy to such information until there's an official announcement.

Quote:

Rang Activision asking to speak to the UK Skylanders Rep (yeah I made that up on the spot), I got through to a voice mail.

Did you *leave* a voice mail?

Quote:

So so far the only response/s I have gotten in relation to Sidekicks is from Activision Assist's Twitter, it was something like "Stay Tuned", and on Activision Assist's Facebook page where I have to re-explain that I am not in the USA and can not avail of the promotion.

The first being US Technical Support and the second being an independent group that was hired simply to promote Skylanders in the US?

Quote:

UncleBob if you think this is me being hostile, you are quite wrong - this is me getting slightly annoyed with still not getting a solid answer after almost 6 months spent contacting Activision over these figures.

Your annoyance is showing through in your question though - For example, instead of asking "If", you're demanding to know "When". The word "expect" implies that you believe you have some kind of right to get the figures. Finally, you finish off with an unpleasant comment about eBay prices, as if Activision has *anything* to do with that.

There are a couple of "style guides" out there on the internet that give suggestions on dealing with customer service. You might check into some of those, should you choose to write a letter.

Quote:

I will not write a letter until I have a name to address it to. I have previously written emails to Activision UK which have ended up in the void of the internet and never been replied to.

First, e-mails aren't letters. Don't equate the two.

Second, you don't *need* an individual name to address it to. "Skylanders Rep" or something similar should work fine. Besides, didn't you have the name of the Skylanders Rep when you tried calling?

i think it would be nice if dark52 was able to confirm the authenticity of ATVIAssist as a genuine activision representative for us first

I doubt they will. Activision are money sucking jerks who make games we can't resist.

thanks dark52

Quote: WUMBOSIMPSON

I doubt they will. Activision are money sucking jerks who make games we can't resist.

Comments like this are why he won't...

Um, no. They won't because it's how it works. I bet this Activisor is only here to steal ideas from us, or possibly find out which characters are in favor by fans.

like the hot dog name

i stil liked it more when it was just a nickname ah the good times

Here's a new idea. Maybe they are trying to make money because... they are a company!!!

The guys from TFB are not jerks. They genuinely seem to care about the fans.

Of course not! TFB is awesome! Activision are the ones that suck money.

I had the idea of calling Hot Head by the nickname Headburn! It's 2 puns in one!
Pun #1:Headburn instead of heartburn.
Pun #2:His head is on fire so he must suffer from HEADBURN! BOOM!


That's what I'm going to nickname mine if I get one. (which I hope I don't but everyone has those relatives that get you the wrong toy or toys that you'd want and never realize it.

Give the guy a break Wumbo, of course he's here on business, that's why he signed up with a username that explains who he is. If he was just here to steal ideas would it not make more sense for him draw less attention to himself?

It's an exaggeration.

Not to mention you wouldn't need an account to lurk for ideas.

Oh yeah... still. Why does someone like that come here?

To answer questions, of course.

Cavan Scott, the author of The Machine of Doom, also joined on here and asked us some questions on which Skylanders we wanted to see for the next novel.

Quote: WUMBOSIMPSON

Oh yeah... still. Why does someone like that come here?

Because they want to be helpful instead of being a jerk?

Geesh.

They want to be helpful? Take a look at Activizzy's history.

(They created CoD AND unfairly distribute Skylanders)

A.) Call of Duty is a popular game that has brought many hours of fun to many, many people. Also, it was created by Infinity Ward - merely distributed by Activision.

B.) Life isn't fair, get a helmet.

C.) This is one guy who works at Activision. He doesn't represent the entire company and there's no reason to be a jerk to him because he has taken time out of his day to try and give helpful technical support.

CoD is a game that ruins the genre of FPS and ruined lives by killing people in obsession.

I live in America, I support sidekicks in the other countries or continents.

I don't see him doing anything.

Looks like we got a dedicated Activision hater.

DEATH TO KOTICK!

And I don't think the ATVI Assist doesn't care what mean things you say about him and Activision.

A.) CoD hasn't killed anyone, so far as I know. And it sure hasn't ruined the FPS Genre. There's a myriad of FPS Games out there, from Rage to Halo to Bioshock to Borderlands, etc., etc.

B.) Life isn't fair. Get a helmet.

C.) He's answered a handful of technical support threads here on the forums. While his answers may not have always been the best, they're all technically accurate as far as the company line goes (like, the game only officially supports a singular Portal or that the 3DS portal doesn't officially work on other systems...)

This topic... Is seriously derailed. Oh well!

Why do I need a helm-*head smacked by Kotick*

And to Aura, Of course he doesn't!

Hello All,

Just wanted to pop on this thread and clear up any confusion to our presence here. We are part of a social media support team that is actively trying to help fans of our games where they are. We exist on Twitter (@ATVIAssist), on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ActivisionAssist) and in various forums in the wild. The community here at Dark Spyro is fantastic, and we have been coming here for a while to check things out. We have been popping on recently to try to help where we can, which is what you may have seen from us up to now. As with any customer support department, there are things that are within our scope to answers, and some things that are outside of it. If we do not know something, we will try to find out for you, or at the very least try to point you in the right direction. We will try our best to get you the most accurate information we can, in the most timely manner we can and appreciate your willingness to allow us to participate in your awesome community.

To answer OP's question, unfortunately we are not sure why the Sidekicks were not released in your region. Often promotional items are only available in certain regions where a PR campaign is taking place. We will try to look more into this for you to see if we can get any further detail, and forward your question to the proper parties as feedback/suggestion to bring them out there to you. Thanks for your input.

If anyone has any issues, please feel free to post them in these forums and we will try our best to help you out. To shoot us a more direct line, feel free to hit us up in the various social media channels we exist in, which we mentioned earlier.

Thanks for playing our games!

Okay then, seems fair enough. As long as he's not a CoD worker. But anyways, how about

Why is Skylanders figures distribution so unfair and held back? IE Why don't you ship out popular ones?

Like for example...

OKAY NOBODY MOVE SO I CAN JUST TAKE THOSE SPROCKETS BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU'LL ALL BE DEAD!

Quote: Nibelilt

Like for example...

OKAY NOBODY MOVE SO I CAN JUST TAKE THOSE SPROCKETS BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU'LL ALL BE DEAD!

Yeah something like that is bound to happen. Someone ends up shooting up the place

"Today on CNN: A 'scalper' opens fire on Skylanders fans with a 44. magnum over a rare toy..."

Quote: ATVIAssist

Hello All,

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with us all.