darkSpyro

I can't even really put my finger on what it is about the newlanders that I don't like. I've gone from liking almost all the Skylanders in the first game, to about half in Giants, and now there are maybe five Swap Force characters I want, not including reposes of old ones. I think for me that it might be because they've become so reliant on goofy looking humanoid characters. There was a nice balance in the first game between humanoid and non humanoid characters. We've gone from less silly looking characters like Hex and Ghost Roaster to a boxing vampire and a snake that shoots...snakes. You don't see designs like Drill Sargent, Bash, or Warnado anymore. The only really unorthodox designs we've had so far are Popthorn and Slobber Tooth.

I'm not saying they're all bad of course, I like Smolderdash quite a bit, but overall I'm just kinda disappointed. I feel that I should like these characters as much as the others but they're just not clicking with me. I didn't care for Boomer or Trigger Happy in the first game but now it feels like every character is a Boomer or Trigger Happy type character. They just don't carry the same appeal for me.

I like a lot of them IMO...

OH MY THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I'VE USED IMO!!!!1111 THE OTHER TIME I ASKED WHAT IT MEANT!!!1111 PARTY!!!!111 *killed*

I feel it too, the designs just seem off. The first game was made up of things that were mostly borrowed from popular fantasy, same with Giants. But the newcomers (especially the Swappable ones) feel different. It's enough of a change that makes me wonder if they did change the entire character design team! (I'm not sure if they did)
It's not bad they're trying to be original, it just feels like they lost their familiarity factor?

I for one like a good deal of the new designs. Overall, I suppose I prefer the feel of the TFB characters, but the VV-landers are still pretty good in my opinion. And what they lack in design they make up for in gameplay.

the ideas have dried up, the guy is over worked and it shows in the creativity. to much humanoids and weak monster designs, also there is to much figurines being made and the paint is crappy done on most of them.... but what can we do?... we will just have to watch the skylanders go the way of guitar heros... we cant do nothing, its its their greed that kills it. you cant make a cod outta every game you make and that is a fact. i predict we will have two more skylanders game for the consoles and two more for the 3ds... then ripto.

I actually like a lot of them :
Fire kraken
Boom jet
Rattle shake
Night shiftt
Freeze blade
Stink bomb
Doom stone
Hoot loop
Trap shadow
Star strike
Scorp
Grim creeper
Popthorn
And zoo lou!!

i consider myself to have the good eye on art and design so here is the definitive good ones of swap farce so far....

night shift
free ranger
hoot loop
fire kraken
boom jet
countdown
zoo lou

It doesn't matter how the new Skylanders designs appear. What makes is how much stronger they've gotten. Besides, I don't see anything wrong with them.

I liked Scorp's somewhat more menacing concept art, but was disappointed with his final design.
I like most of them, but dislike Slobbertooth, along with several others.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: They're looking more like Ben 10 wannabes than Skylanders to me. Also, Scorp and Zoo Lou both show signs that they are running out of ideas. Scorp just looks like Slobbertooth on two legs, and Zoo Lou is Stink Bomb with more meat on his bones.

I am waiting to see them in person, but I have been thinking the same thing. The new figures seem less detailed than the old figures, and more "cartoon-like". When I first saw Wash Buckler I thought he looked more like a bath toy than a Skylander. They are growing on me, but it seems like they are going even more kid friendly with this one.

Slobber Tooth is a reptile or a mammal. Scorp is an arachnid.
Stink Bomb is a ninja skunk, and Zoo Lou is a sloth conjurer.
Only because the couples are from the same element, (and ony because Slobber Tooth and Scorp both have spikes or horns, and Stink Bomb and Zoo Lou are both bipedal mammals), do you think they look the same?
Then I have to say this. For the same reason Smoulderdash looks like a flaming Hex.
And Pop Thorn looks like a winged Wreckingball.
And Bumble Blast looks like Zook.
Also the whole antropomorphic concept thing is becuse of the swap. You can't make them look too different, from each other.

I'm actually liking the looks of all of these. The only ones I'm not liking as much are Roller Brawl, Grilla Drilla, Boom Jet, Stink Bomb, Bumble Blast, Riptide, Spy Rise, and Rattle Shake. The last too because they took the spot of my Undead Drider.

With the humanoid thing with the Swappers, they really had no choice in the matter. If they wanted to make every single swapper swappable with each other, they would have to make them all the same waist size. They could have done a centaur-like swapper, but I guess it wouldn't fit so well in packaging. They had a great idea, just some limitations.

Yeah, I guess your right, but, I would've way preferred a spider-type skylander instead of Grim Creeper. He'd probably have been one of my favorites. Possibly even more so then Star Strike, who is my #2, after Hoot Loop.

Quote: Rickorio

Yeah, I guess your right, but, I would've way preferred a spider-type skylander instead of Grim Creeper. He'd probably have been one of my favorites. Possibly even more so then Star Strike, who is my #2, after Hoot Loop.

Spy rise?

Quote: Ninpire

Quote: Rickorio

Yeah, I guess your right, but, I would've way preferred a spider-type skylander instead of Grim Creeper. He'd probably have been one of my favorites. Possibly even more so then Star Strike, who is my #2, after Hoot Loop.

Spy rise?

No. I hate Spy Rise.

The only new skylanders that have appealed to me are:
Magna Charge
Freeze Blade
Wash Buckler
Blast Zone
Stink Bomb
Boom Jet
Roller Brawl
Grim Creeper
Count Down
Star Strike
Pop Thorn

I went from loving all skylanders from previous games to having a list of 11.

I wholeheartedly agree. I just doesn't feel Skylander-sy to me. It feels over-the-top kid-friendly, honestly. Smolderdash was a HUGE letdown, after all of the hype. Her name suggests something other than Medusa on Fire. >.>

To name a few that I just despise...
WASH BUCKLER looks like Davy Jones' child.
BLAST ZONE is the second fire knight... One is enough.
COUNTDOWN another bomb-related character? Just.... no.
SMOLDERDASH Ugly. It looks like Medusa and the Sun had a baby. :/
MAGNA CHARGE is VERY similar to Drobot, which is probably why Drobot isn't getting reposed. Rapid-Fire Attacks? Has a method of moving quickly? Drobot is the exact same.
FREEZE BLADE looks like his brain got exposed, and then froze over... plus he does NOT look like a cat other than his paws.
NIGHT SHIFT is just.... NO!
HOOT LOOP Now, I'll admit I like Hoot Loop quite a bit, but he just screams Jet-Vac with a Scepter, Cape, and Magic Abilities.
BOOM JET Are you serious?! This looks like a toy for a 3 Year Old! PATHETIC! Talk about kid-friendly...
POPTHORN Wrecking Ball with spikes. Nuff Said.
GRIM CREEPER seems like an undead version of Ignitor. UGH! Plus, his face is just... on second thought, I can't really see his face...
FREE RANGER seems like a repeat of Warnado, just with a chicken instead of a Turtle.

Like the post above, I went from liking all of the other Skylanders, to hating quite a lot of them.

You can please some of the people all the time. You can please all of the people some of the time. You cant please all the people all the time.

Oh man,for sure the designs look worse than the older ones to me. Not sure if it's just nitpicking or an actual issue,but the majority of Swaplanders are nearly the exact same overall design - big chest, stubby legs,weird rectangular chin,maybe some teeth that make the Oracle look normal. It doesn't look like it at first,but the poster with all of them together makes it really jarring.
The older designs have a lot more variety - maybe it's still a humanoid,but it's thin and has a lot of flow to it(say,Hex compared to Flameslinger),or looks strong in a silly way(Slam Bam),or just plain looks different than the other 50-or-so piles of pixels. The newer ones just look all the same,except for Hoot Loop and some others;the new corelanders don't seem too varied either. Scorp follows the Swaplander style,Grim Creeper is just disturbingly bland,Rollerbrawl seems to take Stealth Elf's shape down to the poses.
I'm not talking about their colors being similar or having different themes - no,these are different,but a few sillouettes repeat themselves over and over with the new Skylanders. I don't think this will bother younger fans and even older ones,but this way of reusing some shapes and features is known for being the lazy way of creating characters and in the long run can get really annoying.

Quote: Drek95

Slobber Tooth is a reptile or a mammal. Scorp is an arachnid.
Stink Bomb is a ninja skunk, and Zoo Lou is a sloth conjurer.
Only because the couples are from the same element, (and ony because Slobber Tooth and Scorp both have spikes or horns, and Stink Bomb and Zoo Lou are both bipedal mammals), do you think they look the same?

Yeah, I do. Slobbertooth is a quadrupedal creature with armor, a spikey tail, and two horns sticking out of his face. Scorp is a BIPEDAL creature with armor, a spikey tail, and two horns sticking out of his head. Stink Bomb is a furry creature with green and white fur and brown armor. Zoo Lou is a furry creature with white fur (And green eyes, which kind of makes it confusing), and brown armor. Frankly, I think the designs look too similar to each other, and that's my opinion.

Quote: Drek95

Then I have to say this. For the same reason Smoulderdash looks like a flaming Hex.
And Pop Thorn looks like a winged Wreckingball.
And Bumble Blast looks like Zook.
Also the whole antropomorphic concept thing is becuse of the swap. You can't make them look too different, from each other.

Both characters remind me of Hexadecimal from Reboot.
Round, blue, ugly creatures with big eyes.
...I think it's just the gun. They don't look that similar to me.

Really, that's not an excuse. You can still use different ideas.

Some Characters look very creative.................in a bad way ( Boom Jet, Slobber Tooth, Grilla Drilla, Doom Stone, Pop Thorn) But I'm okey with the rest.

The only one I'm not really liking is Star Strike. She seems like Hex. And I never really did like Hex...

^ Take that back NOOOW
Just a joke. I respect your opinion.

Quote: GhostRoaster24

I wholeheartedly agree. I just doesn't feel Skylander-sy to me. It feels over-the-top kid-friendly, honestly. Smolderdash was a HUGE letdown, after all of the hype. Her name suggests something other than Medusa on Fire. >.>

To name a few that I just despise...
WASH BUCKLER looks like Davy Jones' child.
BLAST ZONE is the second fire knight... One is enough.
COUNTDOWN another bomb-related character? Just.... no.
SMOLDERDASH Ugly. It looks like Medusa and the Sun had a baby. :/
MAGNA CHARGE is VERY similar to Drobot, which is probably why Drobot isn't getting reposed. Rapid-Fire Attacks? Has a method of moving quickly? Drobot is the exact same.
FREEZE BLADE looks like his brain got exposed, and then froze over... plus he does NOT look like a cat other than his paws.
NIGHT SHIFT is just.... NO!
HOOT LOOP Now, I'll admit I like Hoot Loop quite a bit, but he just screams Jet-Vac with a Scepter, Cape, and Magic Abilities.
BOOM JET Are you serious?! This looks like a toy for a 3 Year Old! PATHETIC! Talk about kid-friendly...
POPTHORN Wrecking Ball with spikes. Nuff Said.
GRIM CREEPER seems like an undead version of Ignitor. UGH! Plus, his face is just... on second thought, I can't really see his face...
FREE RANGER seems like a repeat of Warnado, just with a chicken instead of a Turtle.

Like the post above, I went from liking all of the other Skylanders, to hating quite a lot of them.

My thoughts EXACTLY

On the flip side, I think Star Strike is excellent, and Zoo Lou with his regular and legendary figures looks sweet.

EDIT: They also seem to have dropped dragon-esque creatures from their lineup, what's that about?

Wasn't Toys For Bob not designing the Skylanders this time around? Or were they just not making the game this year? Perhaps that's the reason for the drastic departure in designs.

Quote: Okaps

I feel it too, the designs just seem off. The first game was made up of things that were mostly borrowed from popular fantasy, same with Giants. But the newcomers (especially the Swappable ones) feel different. It's enough of a change that makes me wonder if they did change the entire character design team! (I'm not sure if they did)
It's not bad they're trying to be original, it just feels like they lost their familiarity factor?

Yeah, this. It looks and feels MUCH different than the first two games. I guess where rubber hits the road is will it grow on me. Many of these characters seem like leftovers...except it doesn't taste better the 2nd time around.

Most of the characters look great, EXCEPT for Boom Jet. He just looks.. blah. Not much detail ay all.

I like Night Shift, and Spy Rise (haters gonna hate.) the most out of the Swaps. They're both very original.

Quote: Drek95

Slobber Tooth is a reptile or a mammal. Scorp is an arachnid.
Stink Bomb is a ninja skunk, and Zoo Lou is a sloth conjurer.
Only because the couples are from the same element, (and ony because Slobber Tooth and Scorp both have spikes or horns, and Stink Bomb and Zoo Lou are both bipedal mammals), do you think they look the same?
Then I have to say this. For the same reason Smoulderdash looks like a flaming Hex.
And Pop Thorn looks like a winged Wreckingball.
And Bumble Blast looks like Zook.
Also the whole antropomorphic concept thing is becuse of the swap. You can't make them look too different, from each other.

I tought that zooloo is a bear

We don't know what he is, we're just speculating.

looks yeti-ish to me.
Anyway, popthorn looks adorable.

I like the designs but i have to say they lost their imagination

Quote: Kevin16

I like the designs but i have to say they lost their imagination

yah that is what happen when you make to many to fast... the imagination will be gone.

the only one that I don't like is Smolderdash... And Slobber tooth look more like a monster than a Skylanders...

Quote: 0TheSkylanders0

the only one that I don't like is Smolderdash... And Slobber tooth look more like a monster than a Skylanders...

Parts of it brims with promise, but the coloring looks cheap and hurried. Bottom half design looks rushed, coloring of it all sad. Nice to see something in fire category that just isn't red though.

Slobber Tooth does look like a monster to me. Not sure if half this motley crew would be on my A team.

I am disappointed with most of the Skylanders this time because most of them look humanoid and some of them look the same. I like Star Strike and Fire Kraken looks like a Chinese dragon but I think the other new humanoid Skylanders look boring. I know a lot of people hate Slobber Tooth but I quite like him, probably because he's the only quadruped Skylander to be revealed so far in Swap-Force.

Am I the only one that think swap force graphic and characters look more childish them the previous games?

i guess the moar kiddie look noaw is because of the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors. maybe they make them more kiddie looking so the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors will stay away, and there will be moar for us that actually play the game.

Quote: Kevin16

I like the designs but i have to say they lost their imagination

Vicarious Visions is the developer of Swap Force and the creators of the new Skylanders. When a game in a series is being made by a different game developers, you got to prepare for some changes in character design.

Quote: kappapopm

i guess the moar kiddie look noaw is because of the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors. maybe they make them more kiddie looking so the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors will stay away, and there will be moar for us that actually play the game.

I'm not sure the target of any capitalist enterprise is to REDUCE their fan base and income. I'm guessing this is just where they took it. I personally like the dungeon crawler perspective of the first one, and to the smaller extent the 2nd one. Not sure how it will play out this time, but the designs are more kid friendly for sure.

Quote: kappapopm

i guess the moar kiddie look noaw is because of the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors. maybe they make them more kiddie looking so the 35 year olds scalpers/collectors will stay away, and there will be moar for us that actually play the game.

You clearly have no idea how scalpers mindsets work. Never mind the fact that the collectors included continue to help make the game actually sell as well as it does.

Ok, I respect your opinion.
But let me point out just a few things:
Slobber Tooth doesn't have two horns, but two fangs and one horn, and Scorp's horns are actually mandibles. Just like real scorpions. Also Scorp's tail hasn't got a spike, but a (probably) poisonus stinger.
That's all.
Didn't want to seem rude.

Honestly... They just seem bad. They don't seem more childish to me. The only new character I really like is Hoot Loop. The psychotic owl is kind of cute in a derpy sort of way. Riptide's okay too, I guess.

Riptide and Bumble Blast are my favourite core figures so far. I don't know if they are the most unique, but I like them :3

I'll wait till i see them all in person before I make that call, thou they do seem different.

I really dislike the new Stealth Elf, but other than that I kinda like the new look. It is different to the original style, but different isn't bad. The cartoony models look great in-game and the toy forms have grown on me.

As for the individual toys, just like the last two games there are some I love (Star Strike/Ninjini/Camo) and some I loathe (boomer/Whamshell/Shroomboom). I do think there is a overuse of humanoid monster-men, but given the premise of Swapforce I guess that was predictable.

Quote: Hot Dog 542

Riptide and Bumble Blast are my favourite core figures so far. I don't know if they are the most unique, but I like them :3

I have to agree. They got a lot of potential, I know it.

Quote: Aura24

Quote: Kevin16

I like the designs but i have to say they lost their imagination

Vicarious Visions is the developer of Swap Force and the creators of the new Skylanders. When a game in a series is being made by a different game developers, you got to prepare for some changes in character design.

Yeeeh, but i like the designs but they just lost their ''thing'' that the older characters had but hey, i can get used on them