darkSpyro

It would be stupidly psycho in my opinion to release the new figures 2 days before Xmas. The only things that wouldn't suck about that is since it's a Sunday I could get there bright and early, and if they made sure all the stores had a bunch like they did with the initial release. That would be cutting it close to the wire, though.

I called TRU today and asked to get transfered to the Electronic department. The Manager picked up the phone. He has been very helpful to me in the past. ...Blast from the past... The day of Giants release he told me that they had Wave 2 in the back but could not release them til Monday (The next day). I was there Monday morning when they opened the doors and got the very first "HOT HEAD" along with the rest of Wave 2. They would only sell one Hot Head/Flash Wing/Sprocket/LC Jet Vac per customer, They only had 4 Hot Heads instock... Back to todays conversation: I asked him if they had got any new Skylanders in today or yesterday. He told me no. I asked him if he had heard anything about Wave 3? He said that they are expecting them soon. I asked him how soon and if they would be here before Christmas. He said "Absolutly, he saw the TRU Ad for December 23rd and they have Wave 3 listed." I asked him if there was going to be one per customer like DDay-2. He said at this time he does not believe so, it would be the same when Wave 2 came out 30 days after DDay-2 (When everyone was able to sell them). He also can not promise the one per customer rule will not apply since the word from Corporate has not come down yet. Since he has been very helpful and has not failed me in the past, I believe him and hope you do too.

FYI: Dec 23rd is on a Sunday and that is the day that TRU gets their new ads and typically when the new skylanders are released from TRU (i.e. Sunburn Adventure pack/Legendary Trigger Happy/Blue Bash)

P.S. I just went to my local Game Stop and pre-ordered my Hot Dog 3 pack. I am going to go out on a limb and say that they will be release the same day as Wave 3...

Thats great news for me.

I would point out that gamestop has the 30 day exclusive on the battle pack so regardless of wave 3 release date only gamestop will have the battle pack for the first 30 days.

hope that manager knows what he's talking about!

I forgot to ask/verify what figures will be in Wave 3.
I will call today to see if he remembers what figures were in the ad.

Quote: dinoah2005

I forgot to ask/verify what figures will be in Wave 3.
I will call today to see if he remembers what figures were in the ad.

Please let us know ASAP , hopefully it's true.. This would be GREAT news! Thanks for sharing.

YES,

YES!

Ok so, this maybe true. However, I just had a TRU employee tell me that wave three has been out since mid November and just hasn't hit very many stores.

But, we would have seen something on eBay by now.

I just called and asked to speak to the Store Manager (John) and sad to say that he is off today. I will try back tomorrow. The Supervisor I did speak to did not see the Dec 23rd Ad and he also asked another Supervisor but no luck.

Bazinga,
If they have been out since November, then they should be able to tell you what figures are included in wave 3. Otherwise I would say they are refering to Wave 2 but dont know it.

Still skeptical. Not impossible but seems like a slap in the face of parents. Make them try to scramble to get these for Xmas. Then again it would theoretically have them on the shelf dec 26 for all the gift cards. I'll believe it when we have real proof.

I was very skeptical of a pre-Christmas release, but this isn't the first time I have heard of the December 23rd TRU ad referencing a new Wave. And it has been from some pretty reliable people. The ad isn't in wide circulation yet, so mostly only managers have seen it (and not the hard copy, as I understand).

This really doesn't hurt most parents, as will have already gotten pretty much everything they intend to buy for Christmas. You have to remember most parents aren't in the "gotta get em all" mind set. They just want to have enough for the tree, which by now they do. What this does is get them on shelves for the post Christmas rush. It also lines up nicely with the Hot Dog Battle Pack on Jan 1st. That leaves Wave 4 and Hot Dog wide release for early February, 30 days later.

My guess it will be a scalpers delight and they'll be gone day 1 and up on eBay. Also we don't know for sure that the battle pack will release the 1st. A GameStop online placeholder is no confirmation. We've seen plenty of things up on their site with false release dates.

Recorded conversation with toys r us manager or it didn't happen. Just joking. But it does seem like we've gotten a lot of false employee wave dates

true about the false wave dates.

it is weird however that 2 different users have talked to a tru employee and they both mentioned the wave 3 on the 23.

so who knows. it would be awesome if this was the case.

My guess is January for US, while February for UK.

Quote: ThePunchPopFizz

My guess it will be a scalpers delight and they'll be gone day 1 and up on eBay. Also we don't know for sure that the battle pack will release the 1st. A GameStop online placeholder is no confirmation. We've seen plenty of things up on their site with false release dates.

Absolutely true. However a something to consider. The Gamestop placeholder date isn't just a date field on the item. They have a marketing graphic that specifically says January 1 (http://www.gamestop.com/collection/skylanders-giants). It's not just someone that has to plug in a not-null field in the database, they actually had their graphics people create an ad for it. They would have just said "January" in that if the exact date wasn't known. If it is accurate, then obviously they would ship prior to that street date - which would line up nicely with the possible Wave 3 release.

Secondly, yeah you get all kinds of strange, weird information out of TRU employees, but the one I heard say this has a long history of posting accurate information on deals in upcoming ads on a fairly large forum. He has a very long history and good reputation. I have less confidence in this than the Gamestop date, but it is something to take note. And he isn't the only one that mentioned this about the 12/23 ad. This isn't lots of people funneling from the same source, it several independent sources that have access to the ads. It isn't proof, but it is credible.

All told, there is a ton of wild speculation, but when several pieces align in ways that do not seem random, that's when things start to solidify. I was firmly in the group of "wave 3 in January", but it seems my speculation on the reasons for that may be wrong. We will probably know for sure in a week or so, because if it is true you will start to see "in hand" auctions show up on Ebay.

Oh and yes, if it is true, scalpers will go crazy. It sounds like a wide release, which they have been building up for close to two months. Wave 2 was a mess, because it was only at TRU at first and fairly small just to bolster their inventory on release. After the first couple weeks though when every store had it, they drowned out the scalpers. I find pretty much everything (even Hothead) regularly on the shelves in most stores. They sell out, but a day or two later the shelves are full again.

On my local Craigslist there isn't a single scalper ad, and last year there were tons. I don't think they are finding the profit they did last time to make it worth the effort and expense. For a scalper to succeed, they have to not only find it, but also make sure it stays sold out so they are the only game in town. The only real money in Skylanders Giants scalping appears to be right at the beginning of a Wave and for rare variants (and I'm ok with a finder premium on rare variants, personally).

Nintendo did the same thing with the Wii U, scalpers went nuts when it came out, but Nintendo has been shipping more and more regularly and it KILLED the second hand market for them. I just checked Craigslist and they sellers are practically begging people to take it off their hands, throwing in the Mario game and offering trades at or below cost. I saw one for a Deluxe and Mario for $425, when you count tax that is below retail. It isn't because they are not selling, stores are getting restock every other day.

Quote: defpally

Oh and yes, if it is true, scalpers will go crazy. It sounds like a wide release, which they have been building up for close to two months. Wave 2 was a mess, because it was only at TRU at first and fairly small just to bolster their inventory on release. After the first couple weeks though when every store had it, they drowned out the scalpers. I find pretty much everything (even Hothead) regularly on the shelves in most stores. They sell out, but a day or two later the shelves are full again.

On my local Craigslist there isn't a single scalper ad, and last year there were tons. I don't think they are finding the profit they did last time to make it worth the effort and expense. For a scalper to succeed, they have to not only find it, but also make sure it stays sold out so they are the only game in town. The only real money in Skylanders Giants scalping appears to be right at the beginning of a Wave and for rare variants (and I'm ok with a finder premium on rare variants, personally).

Nintendo did the same thing with the Wii U, scalpers went nuts when it came out, but Nintendo has been shipping more and more regularly and it KILLED the second hand market for them. I just checked Craigslist and they sellers are practically begging people to take it off their hands, throwing in the Mario game and offering trades at or below cost. I saw one for a Deluxe and Mario for $425, when you count tax that is below retail. It isn't because they are not selling, stores are getting restock every other day.

The scalpers will not be making a lot before Christmas but the situation after Christmas is something we'll have to wait and see. The prices of the figures actually skyrocketed at the start of the year for SSA. This was because the kids (and the parents) wanted more figures and almost no stock was available. Some of the figures have a potential to skyrocket in value (Ex. Granite Crusher and other exclusives) because they might be circulated only for the Christmas shopping season while the regular wave figures should be easier to find since the stock is holding up. Again this all depends on how much stock is available prior to Christmas. If the stock is really low then we can expect the price spike that we saw at the start of the year. January is also inventory season for a lot of retailers. Most retailers at this time of the year are trying to get rid of leftovers from the Christmas which could help trigger the crazy prices for the figures. Also another thing to take into account is the number of new players. I'm expecting more kids will be getting Skylanders this year with all the marketing that Activision has invested in the game. This might also trigger the crazy price hikes.

The bottom line is when the supply and demand gets unbalanced then the scalpers will eventually make a profit. I have duplicates that I want to get rid of and I am trying to predict the right time to get rid of them

The only people wanting wave 3, are the ones who care about Series 2 and those who bought the Portal Owners Pack. This is in terms of single core Skylanders, not Giants or Lightcore.

In my area, no one seems to give a spit about Series 2, so I don't imagine wave 3 Series 2 figures being hard to find.

Giants and Lightcores are the only thing that I am worried about, and even then, I have been tons of Hot Heads as of late. Lightcores are 50/50. Some care, some don't, but people seem to care more for these than Series 2.

But in terms of Jet Vac and Shroomboom single packs, the only people wanting those, are people who want 1 sealed, like me who already owns them, or people who have Portal Owners Packs.

^ I want wave 3, only for the Giants and Newlanders.

Quote: dinoah2005

Bazinga,
If they have been out since November, then they should be able to tell you what figures are included in wave 3. Otherwise I would say they are refering to Wave 2 but dont know it.

Yeah, I know. If I wouldn't have been so shocked and dumbfounded by his comment I would have asked him what ones were out in "Wave 3."

Quote: SkyDaddy

The prices of the figures actually skyrocketed at the start of the year for SSA. This was because the kids (and the parents) wanted more figures and almost no stock was available.

Yeah, that wouldn't be surprising.

What most of the "Waves 1 and 2 are easy to find, there are Skylanders in abundance everywhere" people fail to understand is that the number of copies of Skylanders: Giants that are being played - and the number of people who will suddenly want Giants, Lightcores and Newlanders but couldn't use them before - will increase by a factor of at least FIVE in less than three weeks. At which point the endless quantities of Swarms, Bouncers, Pop Fizzes and Chills will vanish from the shelves.

Releasing Wave 3 just BEFORE Christmas would be a timing disaster. You'd see parents braving the stores on December 23rd and 24th desperately trying to return the figures they DID buy to swap them for the Hot Dog or Thumpback that their kids want because they kept seeing ads for. The parents would get fed up, the STORES would get fed up with the increased number of returns they need to process, and the stores wouldn't buy as many Skylanders to stock next year as a result.

But if they release Wave 3 at the very BEGINNING of January, the stores make out better - the Christmas Skylanders will be opened and played with, and then they'll have to go out and spend MORE money for that Hot Dog or Thumpback.

Quote: weebbby

^ I want wave 3, only for the Giants and Newlanders.

Unless you don't own Jet Vac or Shroomboom, there are no newlanders in wave 3. Hot Dog isn't in wave 3, as he's in the next battle pack.

I do really want the shroomboom single.

I hadn't seen the GameStop ad before. Interesting no one else gets it til February. A variant pack I could see but complete exclusivity somewhere that doesn't at least include tru is pretty cool.

all i want is my streewhale-i mean thumpback
that's it
activision why must you do this wave crap

Quote: Osbor

activision why must you do this wave crap

Pure profit, of course. If you've bought even ONE Skylander that you "didn't really want" while waiting for the character you do, you understand why they do it. (All the while advertising Hot Dog and Thumpback all over the place, potentially "ruining" the holidays of children everywhere, and DEFINITELY ruining them for the parents running around looking for something that doesn't exist.)

Quote: ThePunchPopFizz

A variant pack I could see but complete exclusivity somewhere that doesn't at least include tru is pretty cool.

True. Wal-Mart claimed they had that with Drill Sergeant, but by the time I got into the game he was everywhere, so I never did know if they were talking about exclusivity with the normal figure or just the Gummy Version.

TRU still wins the exclusivity wars by having the Legendary Skylanders - they're always statistically superior to the normal versions and they're always recognized by ALL the games. And with Legendary Chill on the horizon, that breaks the "one of each color and one giant" deadlock, so we're guaranteed at least seven more Legendary Skylanders at some point (although all may not be supported by Giants).

Legendary Chill is a lightcore, so that will mean one Legendary of each element, one giant and one lightcore. It doesn't break the "champion of their group" aspect of them.

Not related to Wave 3 but my EB Games mentioned Hot Dog and Zap Singles on their systems which may mean they will be in Singles in the future- then again I may have misheard them

Quote: GamingMaster_76

Not related to Wave 3 but my EB Games mentioned Hot Dog and Zap Singles on their systems which may mean they will be in Singles in the future- then again I may have misheard them

You didn't mishear, they are listed as single packs in EBs system.

There will be singles just like with shroomboom.

Im so glad that hot dog will be out soon! He looks like a great character. Kinda looks like Eruptor...but a doggy

Ok, I am wondering if TRU will have Wave 3 first seeming how two have confirmed it.

If they don't get it "first" I still bet they may be the easiest place to find it. Around where I live it is usually the best place to find it for awhile even if they don't have exclusive rights to it.

Quote: defpally

Legendary Chill is a lightcore, so that will mean one Legendary of each element, one giant and one lightcore. It doesn't break the "champion of their group" aspect of them.

So wait. Is it a Legendary or a Lightcore? If it was just Lightcore there's no reason for Cloud Patrol to be advertising it as Legendary Chill coming soon - the game doesn't acknowledge Lightcore Skylanders as separate from the Series 1 / Series 2 versions in terms of Gameplay.

And if it's both a Legendary AND a Lightcore, that STILL means that Water has two Legendary Skylanders, even if one of them is pulling double duty, which unbalances the numbers. (Although you could argue Tech has already done that by having two Legendaries in its own right.)

The number-cruncher in me wants nice, clean ratios in terms of variants, Lightcores and Legendaries. I'm obviously not going to get it if they're going to start playing "you put your peanut butter in my chocolate!" with combos like a Legendcore (Lightdary?) Chill.

I called today and spoke with the Store Manager and asked if he could remember what characters are in Wave 3. He told me that he could not recall. I was bummed that I could not produce the answer. I still have faith that on Dec 23rd they will have wave 3 with at least 2 Giants, a couple of LC and a few more S2 figures and last but not least, a variant (i.e. Jade Flashwing/Molten Dog/Scarlet Genie/ ???).

Walmart has a pre-order for single pack Cynder. Ships 12/31...

http://www.walmart.com/catalog...ner=MfQy8kfx*Gk

Quote: Peridot Weapon

Quote: defpally

Legendary Chill is a lightcore, so that will mean one Legendary of each element, one giant and one lightcore. It doesn't break the "champion of their group" aspect of them.

So wait. Is it a Legendary or a Lightcore? If it was just Lightcore there's no reason for Cloud Patrol to be advertising it as Legendary Chill coming soon - the game doesn't acknowledge Lightcore Skylanders as separate from the Series 1 / Series 2 versions in terms of Gameplay.

And if it's both a Legendary AND a Lightcore, that STILL means that Water has two Legendary Skylanders, even if one of them is pulling double duty, which unbalances the numbers. (Although you could argue Tech has already done that by having two Legendaries in its own right.)

The number-cruncher in me wants nice, clean ratios in terms of variants, Lightcores and Legendaries. I'm obviously not going to get it if they're going to start playing "you put your peanut butter in my chocolate!" with combos like a Legendcore (Lightdary?) Chill.

It's a legendary and a lightcore

Quote: Peridot Weapon

Quote: defpally

Legendary Chill is a lightcore, so that will mean one Legendary of each element, one giant and one lightcore. It doesn't break the "champion of their group" aspect of them.

So wait. Is it a Legendary or a Lightcore? If it was just Lightcore there's no reason for Cloud Patrol to be advertising it as Legendary Chill coming soon - the game doesn't acknowledge Lightcore Skylanders as separate from the Series 1 / Series 2 versions in terms of Gameplay.

And if it's both a Legendary AND a Lightcore, that STILL means that Water has two Legendary Skylanders, even if one of them is pulling double duty, which unbalances the numbers. (Although you could argue Tech has already done that by having two Legendaries in its own right.)

The number-cruncher in me wants nice, clean ratios in terms of variants, Lightcores and Legendaries. I'm obviously not going to get it if they're going to start playing "you put your peanut butter in my chocolate!" with combos like a Legendcore (Lightdary?) Chill.

Yeah it is both. The Legendary mold used is identical to the lightcore version, not the regular one.

One could also argue only some Legendaries have Wow-pows, and some do not (since some are series 2). Also, while the lightcores are of particular elements, it could be pointed out that they are considered "special" in their own regard, no Wow Pow but they all share a special power - therefore deserving of their own "champion".

What it comes down to is TRU gets one of each type of packaging in Legendary - both last year and this year. A 3 pack, a giant, a lightcore and a single pack. I don't think it is any more complex than that. Be happy they at least tried to give some story relevance to the concept of a store exclusive.

Defpally,.I've established that. he doesn't need two answers. LOL JK.I'm not that much of a b****

I'm not sure why anyone wants Wave 3 so soon. When I last counted (8 series 2, 4 LC, 1 L-LC, 3 Giants, and 1 Noob) we only lacked about twenty or so characters.

Twenty characters divided across 10 months for the new Skylanders game (assuming we get one and assuming it would come out in October). Each wave in Giants usually has about 7-8 characters in it. That means wave three should give us roughly half of what we're missing in Giants if it follows this pattern AND we would still have several months to wait for a new cast of characters from Skylanders 3.

I understand people wanting new characters now but you've got to think about this line in the long term. A new character tomorrow means more of a dryspell between Giants and Sky3.

^This.


Someone finally gets what I was talking about a month ago.

Scorpion Striker is absolutely confirmed for January, and Wave 3 will ship this month IF and ONLY IF stock of the first two waves is depleted to the point of empty shelves, I'd wager. They will not be letting supply dry up, regardless of what that means for "intended" wave-by-wave release dates. Waves 1 and 2 will drive Christmas profits fine if they've made enough, trust me.

I still think wave 3 will be January. From what I heard/saw after Christmas was the problem for figures last/this year.

One thing I can say for certain - you can't use last year as a guide. Activision made it very clear they are doing things differently this year.

Thats why I think no wave 3 until after Christmas, that way should have stock on shelf after christmas.

They said supply would be different this year. That was the problem. That has been solved. Next question?

I still believe they will have wave 3 on the shelves on the 23rd (Sunday). Most Christmas shopping will be done on the 21-22. This will leave plenty of skylanders ready for the day after Christmas and for those die-hards that want them for Christmas. Do you agree or disagree?

I disagree. That is not good marketing. With Christmas being on a Tuesday this year, a lot of people will leave on Friday or Saturday for traveling. That means if they release them on the 23rd, a lot of people will have already be done and not shopping.

I am really hoping for the 23rd because I really need to know if S2 wrecking ball is in that wave. I need to get him for my sister for Chirstmas.