darkSpyro

Having been around since near the beginning of S:SA, I was curious if people were enjoying "the hunt" for Skylanders as much this time around?

When I compare the hunt for figures of S:SA with S:G, I find myself having enjoyed the hunt for S:SA more to date.

I think it goes without saying that Activision certainly made it more of a challenge to collect all the figures with S:G. I have no problem with that. I enjoy the hunt, and most true collectors do as well. That's the fun of it! However, with the amount of Console/Store/promotional exclusive figures that will eventually summarize S:G, I simply find myself acquiring new figures and NOT having the time to fully enjoy them or appreciate them for what they are. I enjoyed that part of the hunt SO much more with S:SA! The spacing between waves and figures as a working father and husband with responsibilities was much more manageable. I can definitely identify with other forum members who are eager to "take a break." My feeling is there is constantly going to be releases year round and taking a breather may not be as easy as it was last time...

When I think about the S:SF release later this year, it almost seems overwhelming. I fully expect this to be even more frantic than it is now! While I'm happy that there will be yet another hunt for us collectors, I'm not looking forward to having even less time to enjoy what I acquire.

Perhaps you feel differently? Let the discussion begin.

I agree that there's that magical balance between being enjoyable and simply hunting for the sake of the hunt. It was less about finding them (as they were easily available) as it was just getting them to check off a list, but as you say there's not a lot of breather given the number of characters...and it won't get any easier next time. I personally think they will hit the breaking point next time and the breakdown will cause them to rethink how much they are cramming down our throats...yes I say it like that because that's how it feels to me now...which saddens me because it didn't feel like that the first time.

They have enough characters that the game should be about 20 hours, with new characters unlocking TRUE content over the course of 18 months...if they did that they could justify ~50+ characters on the next go-round, add unique gameplay over time and I wouldn't feel so overwhelmed.

Still enjoying as u dont have norhing to do hehe and that feeling whenever you find the figure your looking for. Prolly might change once we get to conpkete both ssa and sg. Still looking forward to it tho. Plus I and my kids have fun going out after the hunt. Some bonding times with the kids.

You are looking at this from the POV of a completionist collector. The average Skylanders consumer (that is, a parent buying figures for their child) isn't buying every single one and isn't visiting the toy store every day in hopes of finding some rare figure. They are buying the figures their child wants. The point was that with more figures, there is a greater chance that some of those figures would appeal to a child, who would then ask their parents to buy the toy and the game.

The majority of people don't need every toy. They don't even need every character. they are content with just having the ones they like (or that their children like). Look at Lego. Lego has dozens of themes now. Very few kids try to get every single Star Wars lego set or every single Ninjago. they get the ones they like. Transformers. GI Joes. The shorter lived stuff like Beyblade. Skylanders is becoming like that. Not designed for obsessive collectors who must have it all. The more varied toys they release, the more chance of appeal.

So yeah, the hunt with SF will be even worse for the collector, but much much better for the parent with kids who just needs a few to play the game.

I'm absolutely looking at this as one who collects all the figures. I didn't start out that way, however. My children introduced me to the game once they received it for Christmas. That evolved into my desire to collect some of the figures. Since then, I've chosen to collect more and more. I don't think most of us planned to buy more than what was needed, but this game has that way of alluring you into buying more than you actually need. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, most of us have bought more than we needed with this game.

With that said, my point is simply I enjoyed the hunt more with SSA. Regardless if you're buying a few or many figures...

I think the hunt for Giants was easier but more tedious. It was harder to get the ones for SSA but there wasn't ten thousand exclusives and variants.

SG was easier because we all learned from SA how to hunt with the best results.

No doubt S:G has been easier, but has the hunt been more rewarding and fun?

Acti has done a much better job with keeping up with the demand as compared with S:SA. I also believe there is more available Skylander info than before. On this forum alone, info has come more readily and frequently than before. Not to mention more social media, blogs, and other websites dedicated to Skylander info...

I had more fun hunting for SSA figures than SG figures, mainly because I would almost always come home with a new skylanders during SSA, nowadays the main figures that warm the shelves are light cores and swarm, and the occasional bouncer, and for SSA I only got a few skylanders from websites, more than 3 quarters of the champions I found were in a store, online shopping annoys me, it's more money and the next day I always end up finding the wanted skylander in a store the next day

This is not a tough one for me at all.
Hunting for base figures in Giants is certainly easier and the variants aren't too difficult to acquire- just incredibly frustrating(I HATE YOU, !). Since I can now preorder figures, though, it's become a lot less enjoyable for me.

In Spyro's Adventure I actually looked forward to calling around then hunting for new figures. However, with Giants, a lot more are exclusives and a couple just are not coming to my area(my one closeby TRU did not get the Legendary Triple for Giants and I needed to go to another hours away for it, and obviously I never recieved the opportunity for Royal), which means now I feel obligated to call every store, not just TRU, and it gets very tiring.
If I found a character I needed at a store they could put it on hold for me and I knew I was done with the wave. With Giants, anyone could get Jade or Polar and I could have to go even further out of my way than I did with my horribly stocked TRU, and the Legendaries as exclusives are flusterating enough.

There was actually a thrill when I went to search for SA figures, not to mention that less people knew about it then so it was also more relaxing to look. From a collector's view, Giants really was easier, wether you view that as a good thing. I view it as a bad thing- personally- I KNOW that I will get everything because my EB Games hold onto the very last toys for me so there is no rush to get them, therefore I lack excitement and it's simply tedious for me, which makes me prefer the SA hunt by a milestone. Giants is hardly a hunt, even, which really makes the figure thing seem more gimmicky than cool to me like it was with SA's search which was fun in itself.

The only figure I can remember having trouble finding was Whammy, and I had to find him in June! Skylanders Giants really got everyone going for this. The only reason I am still collecting now that I have my Ninjini is that I want to get the 40 figure mark. Then I can truly say I completed the game. Once I am done with Swap- Force, I'm done. All that money I have spent is too much to ask for a full collection of figures. If they had the core skylanders $8 and the Swaplanders $12, then I might get back to the game again after I got them all.

Quote: DluA

I'm absolutely looking at this as one who collects all the figures. I didn't start out that way, however. My children introduced me to the game once they received it for Christmas. That evolved into my desire to collect some of the figures. Since then, I've chosen to collect more and more. I don't think most of us planned to buy more than what was needed, but this game has that way of alluring you into buying more than you actually need. I think if we're all honest with ourselves, most of us have bought more than we needed with this game.

With that said, my point is simply I enjoyed the hunt more with SSA. Regardless if you're buying a few or many figures...

I think me and you both have the disease.

With Giants, I think we've had a much easier time acquiring characters. With SSA, new releases would come and if you weren't at a store on opening and the moons weren't aligned, you'd be waiting 3-4 months before the figure would pop up on amazon or another retailer at 3 in the morning.

Thankfully with Giants, if you happen to miss a release, they'll have more the next week after (in the case with Thumpback and Eye Brawl). Now those two have become being pretty common which is great for people who don't follow the forums religiously.

With things like exclusives though, I think we may be in an "over-saturation" realm right now. With SSA, it felt like the releases for special things would be out over the course of a good number of months outside of the normal releases to keep us happy and giving us plenty of time to play through and use them. Currently though, we've got Molten Hot Dog and Jade Flashwing who've dropped, not to mention a brand new wave PLUS the possibility of the remaining variants being released soon.

So we've got a large amount of characters that to be honest would have been better being released over the next few months instead of all at once. Now I know someone is going to chime in saying that they like having all of them released at once, and while that's good and fine, there's a looming possibility of it draining interest away from the series. I can't say exactly why, but to me it seems like they're rushing to drop characters out ASAP with Disney Infinity being released in June. (June will probably be where we'll see the Sidekicks and that's not exactly something to capture the interests like a new character would)

Quote: GamingMaster_76

This is not a tough one for me at all.
Hunting for base figures in Giants is certainly easier and the variants aren't too difficult to acquire- just incredibly frustrating(I HATE YOU, !). Since I can now preorder figures, though, it's become a lot less enjoyable for me.

In Spyro's Adventure I actually looked forward to calling around then hunting for new figures. However, with Giants, a lot more are exclusives and a couple just are not coming to my area(my one closeby TRU did not get the Legendary Triple for Giants and I needed to go to another hours away for it, and obviously I never recieved the opportunity for Royal), which means now I feel obligated to call every store, not just TRU, and it gets very tiring.
If I found a character I needed at a store they could put it on hold for me and I knew I was done with the wave. With Giants, anyone could get Jade or Polar and I could have to go even further out of my way than I did with my horribly stocked TRU, and the Legendaries as exclusives are flusterating enough.

There was actually a thrill when I went to search for SA figures, not to mention that less people knew about it then so it was also more relaxing to look. From a collector's view, Giants really was easier, wether you view that as a good thing. I view it as a bad thing- personally- I KNOW that I will get everything because my EB Games hold onto the very last toys for me so there is no rush to get them, therefore I lack excitement and it's simply tedious for me, which makes me prefer the SA hunt by a milestone. Giants is hardly a hunt, even, which really makes the figure thing seem more gimmicky than cool to me like it was with SA's search which was fun in itself.

Completely agree with this! There truly was a thrill when you went out to search for SSA figures. Whether it be that it wasn't as popular at the time, less available on store shelves or online, or perhaps even the newness of the game.

As I think about it, both of my kids were into it with SSA. Now, even my youngest son's interest has waned. Perhaps that's part of the reason why SSG hasn't quite done it for me?