darkSpyro

why???

Because they're rare

They're not in production anymore.

Because they were only released in the first few of waves of SSA, with Zap disappearing off shelves and Boomer warming them until (I'm guessing here) the stock was returned to Activision and used to fill all of the Frito Lay non-Sidekick/non-Flocked Stumpsmash promos that ran last year.

Zap was always rough to find after a certain point, but Boomer was everywhere in my area right up to the point where the Frito Lay promos started running, then the stock vanished and never came back.

-Doug

I feel your pain, friend. They are the last two main characters I need to finish SSA. -___-

I feel bouncer, flashwing and fright rider may be the new zap and boomer and ghost roaster.

I also feel your pain.... I still need boomer, dino rang and wham shell from SSA. Wish I could find them with out being gouged. I keep telling myself eventually they will pop up in one way or another.

Whamshell is always in stock at my local TRU. But it only seems to come in the cardboard castle case. Which you pay $25 for. I still don't have Bash, Dinorang and Ghost roaster. Upon getting those I will have at least 1 variant of every Character for both SG and SSA. I just started collecting in May of this year. I did not know how hard it was to collect them all. 0_0

Quote: lowdwn169

I also feel your pain.... I still need boomer, dino rang and wham shell from SSA. Wish I could find them with out being gouged. I keep telling myself eventually they will pop up in one way or another.

I don't understand this sentiment ... and I'm not picking on you, Lowdwn169 ... I've seen this sentiment among tons of Skylanders fans/collectors ... why do people feel they are getting "gouged"? These are collectibles. Like any other collectibles, there will always be some items that are rare, and some that aren't rare ... some that are popular and some that aren't popular ... some that are hard-to-find and some that aren't.

I can certainly understand that everyone likes to get a "good deal". The fact of the matter is that unless you can devote enough time in your life to literally full-time Skylanders hunting/collecting ... then you aren't going to have a complete collection unless you can swallow paying over-retail for at least a few figurines. To be honest, there's nothing magical about owning a full collection ... but if that's what you want, then buck up and be willing to pay for it.

I don't mean to sound belligerent or crass ... just stating some opinion based on experience, with the hope that we'll see fewer "I'm hoping to find [insert rare/hard-to-find character here] eventually" posts. Stop hoping. Take action! Put your money where your mouth is!

Now that that's off my chest, there are really only two regular SSA figures (excluding chase variant and store-exclusive stuff) that you, the consumer, could be "gouged" on currently ... Boomer and Ghost Roaster. That's it. Any of the others ... Camo, Warnado, Voodood, Sunburn, Zap, Wham-Shell, Dino-Rang, Wrecking Ball, Bash ... there should be no whining about any of these from collectors/fans on this site (in my opinion)! You can definitely purchase a used figurine of any of these characters, in excellent condition, for between $10-20 on Ebay, Amazon, or Craigslist (availability on Craigslist obviously varies by location). Frankly, in my opinion, that's not "gouging" ... that's a bargain. You're buying an out-of-production item that is among the most popular toy franchises in the world.

Am I saying that you MUST buy these characters? Heck no. No one NEEDS a toy. And again, while there is some odd sense of satisfaction or "victory" that accompanies finding a rare item on the shelf for retail price ... are you seeking that "victory" feeling? Or are you trying to complete a collection? It seems to me that collectors and fans here often believe they're entitled to both. And that's just unrealistic ... and leads to too much whining!

Because i saw boomer in indonesia

you guys forgot 'wham shell', he is even more hard to find....

I realize it depends on the area, but through visiting local used gaming stores and Kijiji (Craiglist in Canada) I've found several Darklight Crypt's and Ghost Roasters. They are generally being bundled with other stuff, and people fail to list them specifically in ad titles. I tend to look at every remotely possible ad, then in the pictures sometimes its shown. There are SO many little tricks to getting something without resorting to eBay, but as previously mentioned its almost a full time job. If you don't have the time or energy to put into it, you might have to pay over retail!

Quote: kappapopm

you guys forgot 'wham shell', he is even more hard to find....

Oh, no, Wham-Shell is MUCH, MUCH more common than Boomer or Ghost Roaster. Whammy can still be found.

^ I never saw a single Wham-Shell ever! I consider him rarest myself.

i did see Wham-Shell once and that was when i bought him, it was just pure luck i found him.... after that i have never seen him in any shops.... boomer and zap i see now and then in shops... i guess it depends on the area/city/country people live in.

i'm from the netherlands and i have seen wham shel 2 to 4 times and zap a lot but boomer not more than 2 or 3 times

^ Yep, it certainly does.

Yes I saw him 3 times at beginning of summer--wham shell that is

Quote: Iganagor

Because i saw boomer in indonesia

Well, Skylanders just released in Japan, so I suppose that this may not be uncommon due to the late official launch in the Asian/Pacific (non-US) markets.

Quote: kappapopm

you guys forgot 'wham shell', he is even more hard to find....

Nope, he still ships occasionally and, during this past Black Friday, my local TRU had one of their 3'x3' wheeled bins that was at least 75% full of nothing but Wham Shell. Scalpers tend to grab him up in bulk, though (I saw someone with what looked like half a cart of Wham Shell during the same Black Friday excursion), creating an artificial rarity/scarcity. He's been out there, you've just had to be dedicated and/or lucky to get your hands on him. With Giants having wound down and Wham Shell's release having been more than a year ago at this point, he really will begin becoming incredibly rare, but only because it's nearly unheard of for merchandise from a collectible toy line to still be on shelves more than a year after release.

Quote: Matteomax

Quote: kappapopm

you guys forgot 'wham shell', he is even more hard to find....

Oh, no, Wham-Shell is MUCH, MUCH more common than Boomer or Ghost Roaster. Whammy can still be found.

...exactly! (see above)

Quote: weebbby

^ I never saw a single Wham-Shell ever! I consider him rarest myself.

As many as I've seen on shelves (despite the amount of scalper/flea market activity in my area), I'd say that's just due to luck and/or not being around every time stock came in at your local hot spots and scalpers grabbing all of him out of his case assortments. He initially shipped in fairly limited numbers, but Activision did make a concerted effort to push him out in volume throughout the latter half of last year to make sure fans could get their hands on him.

With all the above being said, let me put on my "bad guy" hat for a moment. While I feel for anyone who wants to have a complete collection, the fact of the matter remains that the figures most complained about being scarce, expensive, etc. (outside of chase variants) are ones that were basically released 2 years ago, mostly at SSA's launch. If you're getting into the game late you should automatically expect to pay more for a figure or for them to be hard to find. I sympathize with your plight but honestly, I'm sick to death of posts of "why is this so expensive, why do I have to pay this, why can't I find..." You'd look at me like I was nuts if I started ranting about how I couldn't buy a new/lightly used '57 Chevy at 1957 sticker price because I got into the hot rod/car collecting scene late. My example is a bit more extreme (due to the number of years involved), but the principle is the same. If you get on the boat late, don't expect the same availability and pricing as those who got on early. Until Skylanders tanks and/or loses all its value (which probably won't happen, but is a possiblity), prices on discontinued figures are just going to go up, so those who are missing figures will just need to accept that they won't/can't get them, or buckle and pay a higher price than they'd like. I'm going to feel free to ignore any/all of the nasty remarks that may fly my way because of this statement, so if you're just going to tell me about how I don't understand or I'm mean/stupid/whatever--don't bother. As an example of being in the late-to-the-party folks' shoes, last year I collected a complete set of the 1977-1985 Kenner Star Wars figures that I'd previously had (and lost somehow) in my youth. You can't get much later to the toy collecting party than that, and I paid what I had to but as little as I could for the figures I got ahold of. I wanted to complete my collection, so I accepted that I had to pay more for a few things that I would normally be comfortable with ($175 for a Blue Snaggletooth, $200 for Yak Face, ouch!). I urge those still missing Skylanders figures to do the same. (removes "bad guy" hat)

-Doug

Quote: kappapopm

i did see Wham-Shell once and that was when i bought him, it was just pure luck i found him.... after that i have never seen him in any shops.... boomer and zap i see now and then in shops... i guess it depends on the area/city/country people live in.

I TOTALLY believe you.

I saw a Zap just a month ago at Walmart myself. Last time I saw Boomer was probably 9 months ago though.

Zap i found easy i just need boomer though

Look at my forum here for links to a website where you can get zap, camo, warnado, boomer... for £5.39

Link 1 //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=87047

Link 2 //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/vi...ic=81508&page=3

They're discontinue.

I picked up Wham-Shell (stand alone) at TRU last year during Black Friday's BOGO deal!...I knew next to NOTHING about Skylanders and had blind bought the Giants Starter Kit for super cheap at Wally World for my kids...I figured they needed more figures and the kids seem to generally like his "look" (later found out most fans really DON'T like his look...I guess my kids have odd taste!)

I did see 2 Wham-Shell figures maybe a month or two ago (also at Wal-mart), not really thinking twice...had I known its "rarity", I would've scooped them up! I tend to subconsciously "ignore" once we own the figures. The one I regret passing on was a Darklight Crypt...now I'm after it like a mad man..but refuse to pay $100+ for it!

Zap is not rare... and Boomer, I hate is rarity!

Quote: jorgito2001

I picked up Wham-Shell (stand alone) at TRU last year during Black Friday's BOGO deal!...I knew next to NOTHING about Skylanders and had blind bought the Giants Starter Kit for super cheap at Wally World for my kids...I figured they needed more figures and the kids seem to generally like his "look" (later found out most fans really DON'T like his look...I guess my kids have odd taste!)

I did see 2 Wham-Shell figures maybe a month or two ago (also at Wal-mart), not really thinking twice...had I known its "rarity", I would've scooped them up! I tend to subconsciously "ignore" once we own the figures. The one I regret passing on was a Darklight Crypt...now I'm after it like a mad man..but refuse to pay $100+ for it!

I share your kids odd taste, I biught whamshell cause I thought he looked cool and he's one my favs. 3rd to hit 15 after leg spyro and flameslinger.

In my personal experience zap s1 has been very difficult to find in retail stores. Is this not the norm?

Never seen one, had to go to ebay and after like 4 failed attempts at finding a us peg one, i finally did.

I bought 3 before I got the us peg zap. Total pain...

For me in my area..Washington state..(I have full collection.. Except light core hex..)I started collecting skylanders on 12-26-2013 and I have never seen boomer, DLC, s1 zap, or s1 legendary 3 pack . I have had to buy them off eBay...that's it though.... I have found everything else in the wild.... I have only seen 1 true chase in the wild...pearl "silver" Hot Heat....my first Skylander....I didn't even know he was rare until I got home and looked him up on eBay...

Quote: largemarge133

I started collecting skylanders on 12-26-2013

And you came back in time to tell us of the future? Excellent! But first, how did you manage time travel???

Lol my bad 12-26-2012.

For me in my area..Washington state..(I have full collection.. Except light core hex..)I started collecting skylanders on 12-26-2013 and I have never seen boomer, DLC, s1 zap, or s1 legendary 3 pack . I have had to buy them off eBay...that's it though.... I have found everything else in the wild.... I have only seen 1 true chase in the wild...pearl "silver" Hot Heat....my first Skylander....I didn't even know he was rare until I got home and looked him up on eBay...

Why is the sky green? Why is the grass blue? Why are the clouds red? Just thought id add some more dumb questions. Thanks Activision. They could have at least released the ones tjat dont have reposes with giants. But NA why would a company want to make money?