darkSpyro

I have asked this question before....and I'm going to ask it again as I believe some of our opinions have changed over time. Do you think these skylander figures will be worth something in the future? Will the chase variants be worth a lot more money in the future? I'll let you lot decide that.

Depends on the franchises success over a long period. If it falls after 3 then probly not. If it keeps going for years then perhaps.

Idc tho. I'll never sell my collection.

My collection at the moment is priceless....but I might be tempted to sell it in the future.

Do we have any other opinions out there.....will the variants be worth anything in 5 years time?

Yup. The 1975 Star Wars figures sell for over $10,000 for a complete set!

It all depends. I personally don't see them being worth much, because most of the collector's this day and age, are AAA franchise fanboys, who are too insecure to own a game with an E For Everyone rating and appeals to kids.

The only way this game won't make it very far, is if -

- TFB keeps making it the same every year, or adding minimal stuff each year. One only needs to look at some of the reviews, to see that reviewers are already worried that it will be the same thing over and over every year, which will make it grow stale sooner rather than later. Gameinformer, in particular, mentioned this game is already more of the same, and they said if it doesn't change after the third game, they don't see it being anything great anymore.

- If they keep releasing remolds of characters we bought in the first or second or future games. They need to focus on making unique characters in every game. How can Hex become a collector's item, when there are millions of her sold in the first game, and hundreds of thousands of her Series 2 version, which all add up to millions of a character called Hex. I don't see Series 2, 3, or 1000 Magic the Gathering cards based on cards from 1999, that's what makes those rare.

- They need to 1up their past games. First game had 22 plus 4 chapters. This game has 16 chapters, plus the same 4 chapters from the first game. It's awesome that DC, PS, DP, and EoI work on this game, but they should have given new Adventure Packs in Giants. Each game for now on, should be 22 chapters or more. Writers are paid to create good stories and I know the writers and those who planned the story for Giants, could have stretched the road trip out a bit longer.

- They need to allow characters to break their caps set from the past games. Example. I hate the fact that I wasted my time taking Ghost Roaster through all 32 Heroics in the first game, only for those stats to be nerfed when put into Giants. I would now have to do the unique Heroics from Giants, just to build up his stats to be what they are in the first game. It's almost like "Oh, hey, you did these Heroics, but now that you're playing as Roaster on Giants, you have to re-earn what you already worked for." That still makes me upset a bit.

But the killers of this franchise will be not changing the formula from time to time to make each game fresh, focusing too much on reposed characters one has already bought in the previous game, and if they keep raising the price.

I want so much for this game to succeed, but members of TFB are going to have to keep prices at 9.99 per single pack, and 24.99 per triple/adventure pack, and enforce those rules upon stores so not to hurt their brand, and bring the customers more new characters per game, than old characters, while releasing them at a faster pace.

I keep seeing parents mad because their kids asked Santa for Eye-Brawl. No Eye-Brawl from Santa = disappointed kid. This is why I think they should release everything between each game's launch in October, to say, December 15th of every year. This allows Santa to work his mojo.

Quote: Matteomax

Yup. The 1975 Star Wars figures sell for over $10,000 for a complete set!

That's amazing - especially given Star Wars didn't hit theaters until 1977.

I just recently poked through my old ones - they are well worn in because I played with them of course, but I've got a near complete collection up through Empire Strikes Back. The only ones I'm missing are ones that broke - namely the original Luke Skywalker (his head came off, I had one of the original bigger head versions, and it wasn't real stable and I was very careful with my toys, too). Right now they are sitting upstairs in my old Darth Vader head carrying case (why can't Skylanders have a cool case like that?)

Quote:

I keep seeing parents mad because their kids asked Santa for Eye-Brawl. No Eye-Brawl from Santa = disappointed kid. This is why I think they should release everything between each game's launch in October, to say, December 15th of every year. This allows Santa to work his mojo.

Ya for sure. My kids are all about Thumpback right now and are convinced the elves are making it for them at this very moment.

Quote: Yuckmouth

Ya for sure. My kids are all about Thumpback right now and are convinced the elves are making it for them at this very moment.

Oh that one is easy to field. Santa has to shop at stores just like mommy and daddy have to for complex electronics. After all we don't want Santa to get slapped with a lawsuit for pirating software and copyright violations. Santa is a slave to release dates just like the rest of us.

And if they are anything like I was when I was a kid, that one toy I was convinced was going to make or break Christmas turns out to be not that big of a deal when they see what else they got. I find it helpful to start early with diversion away from things that aren't out and don't have a concrete release date. I had to do that with Wham Shell last year, it was the first one he wanted when he saw the poster. And with Skylanders you don't seem to know for sure until a week before they hit the stores, if that much.

I like spreading them out to a degree. Last year I actually explained to a kid why Santa couldn't bring him camo. I was working at target and was the only employee who knew anything about it so I was always summoned to talk to the kids/parents. I explained it to the kid like this: Santa and his elves can only make what stores already have. I asked him for the next Xbox for Xmas but he said that the makers of it have to finish the plan before he can make it for Xmas. It's the same with camo. The skylanders makers haven't finished all his moves and stuff yet so they can't tell him how to make it.

The kid accepted it fully. The dad tried to give me a tip for solving this problem once and for all. I didn't accept it but it was a nice gesture.

Quote: ThePunchPopFizz

Idc tho. I'll never sell my collection.

That's right! I'm keeping my Skylanders collection until I die!

Quote: Victormaru

Quote: ThePunchPopFizz

Idc tho. I'll never sell my collection.

That's right! I'm keeping my Skylanders collection until I die!

Well in that case you have till 12-21-12 .. Haha!.. Just Kidding if you know what I mean..

The honest chances of value being worth anything close to what anyone had paid retail are slim. Manufacturers have more or less flooded the market to account for collectors that will hoard the items. Think baseball cards, you can buy a complete set of topps cards with every card direct from tops now, so whats the value of one special card if everyone who bought a set has it. Of course there are exceptions to every rule; I know sombody will say that the varients of skylanders will hold the value more but seriously do the math before you say that. This is a world wide product and the sheer volumn of toys made and sold will burst any monetary bubble associated with it. In time the value of a complete unopened mint collection from SA through SG and beyond will of course be worth much more than a single batch of unopened characters but only to a very very small group of people. Original Star Wars figures arent worth really anything even though people think they are until you try to sell one. Same will go with this. Just the way it is

I agree. Alot of these collecters, scalpers, or whoever might think that some variant they have is worth near $200 but in reality hey are the only ones who think that because nearly everyone, myself included won't pay that much. So I think in the end this will remain a hobby for true fans of the game. But if something doesnt change about how these are being produced then I dont see it lasting for any long period of time.

Really depends on the longevity of the brand though. I mean look at Pokemon. Sure, they are light years away in terms of brand recognition and popularity, but people will pay over $200 of a sealed pack of series 1 pokemon cards on ebay right now. There's always the chance that if the brand continues on for many many years that someday when we hit Skylanders 15 they add some kind of in game or online bonus powerup if you have one of the old figures that aren't available anymore.

Also consider that this "toys that come to life" phenomenon started with Skylanders, and if we see tons of other companies go that route (Disney already is) you may have something of value since these are the first figures that started this new "craze".

Quote: Yuckmouth

Really depends on the longevity of the brand though. I mean look at Pokemon. Sure, they are light years away in terms of brand recognition and popularity, but people will pay over $200 of a sealed pack of series 1 pokemon cards on ebay right now. There's always the chance that if the brand continues on for many many years that someday when we hit Skylanders 15 they add some kind of in game or online bonus powerup if you have one of the old figures that aren't available anymore.

Also consider that this "toys that come to life" phenomenon started with Skylanders, and if we see tons of other companies go that route (Disney already is) you may have something of value since these are the first figures that started this new "craze".

^ This is a very good point, because as it stand alone, Skylanders collections might not be worth too much in 10 years, however since we're starting to see other companies (like the new Disney game they're making) take Skylanders' concept for creating a game, this puts a historic importance to the Skylanders franchise. They would be known for revolutionizing gaming as we know it!! Then it becomes something different... when something is the first of its kind, it attracts different types of gamers and collectors which might put more of a value to a complete collection. Imagine what someone would pay for a complete, working set of Atari games/console; it revolutionized TV into playing games and helped develop gaming into what it is today (those games sold for about $15-20, not unlike figures for Skylanders- the console sold for around $100, Giants starter packs were about $80 so I think it's loosely a fair enough comparison for this topic's sake at least).

The bottom line is that we have no idea now... but how the franchise progresses and how it affects the gaming industry overall will be some of the major factors that would affect any kind of long term value on a complete set! I don't think there's anyone out there who is collecting these as a legitimate investment, that would be pretty silly, there's no reason to bankrupt yourself over some toys... for most of us, this is just a fun game to play, and the collecting/hunting aspect just adds another layer to the excitement!! Enjoy it for what it is; A GAME!!!

It's just like Beanie Babies. People see "1975 Star Wars Figures" selling for $10,000 like said above, and they think that'll be the case with newer stuff. But here's the flaw with that reasoning. Everyone else thinks that too.

If back in the 60's people knew that ComicBooks would be worth Hundreds of Thousands of dollars, don't you think more people would have collected them, and kept them in better condition? It's the rarity that makes something valuable, so as modern collectors know to keep things pristine, modern collectibles are worth much much less because the supply of them often outpaces the demand from hobbyists.

Supply and demand is timeless, so as long as they mass produce this stuff, it's not like your Blue Bash is suddenly going to be worth $10,000 if you hold onto it for 30 years, much in the same way that Beanie Baby collectors thought that was going to be a huge investment and as the demand died off, so too did the value.

I play Skylanders for fun, I collect what I can find, and I certainly have the income to burn on a $400 Skylander if I wanted to, but outside of getting my wife a Flocked Stump Smash for a birthday present, mostly just because it was "fancy", I'm not about to go out of my way and invest money on the scalper market for this generations equivalent of the Beanie Baby, that money is much wiser invested in a growth stock IRA than in toys.

Skylanders are awesome, but I wouldn't count on them being in the same demand even five years from now.

I work with toys for a living so I'll toss in my two cents.

Anything created in the present day is designed to be collectible - thats why we can play the game with the toys in their packages. Ten years down the road I think we'll be lucky to break even for most of these characters. The characters that are rare today, such as Wham-Shell, may be worth more than their retail, but I doubt they'd be higher than about $20-30.

If we say a complete set of S:SA goes for roughly $500, then a complete, sealed set, may go for $600 in a few years simply because its complete.

And as for the variants, most people don't think they're worth their asking price right now, so there's no way I see those as being worth anything to the common fan. That being said, the richest and most devout fans will probably keep throwing around rediculous sums.

The ONE thing I think could really shoot up the value of these characters is if these "toys with brains," idea catches on. I'm well aware that Disney is already planning a Disneylanders game, but between the two superpowers of ToysForBob and Disney, they may ultimately burn out the market.