darkSpyro

Uh...putting certain genders into a bucket is sexist. Telling little girls they can only be pretty (even the quadrupeds fall into this) instead of coming in the huge variety of cool characters that the male ones do (Countdown, the magnet guy, all the Swappers, Drobot, Fright Rider, Popthorn, Trigger Happy...) is honestly something we as a culture (and species) need to start moving past. The idea that only certain types of toys sell to certain genders is also a huge misconception on the part of toy makers (and is not true; lots of boys love Barbies and My Little Pony; lots of girls love Transformers and GI Joe). It's a sexist hold over from decades past and companies could make a lot more money by just cutting out this whole thing and making toys for everyone regardless of gender. I'm not saying girl characters can't be pretty, but some boy characters could stand to be pretty, too, and it'd be great to see some girl characters who aren't conventionally attractive as well.

If Funny Bone was female, that would be awesome and I would buy her for my figures shelf just on principal! :) Sprocket doesn't really break the mold; her body type is the same as Stealth Elf, Hex, Roller Brawl, Chill...every other humanoid female Skylander.

tl;dr: Girls and boys should not be treated differently. Even children recognize that as being unfair.

I'm a little concerned about the catchphrases already. The new guy's is "Croc and Roll" and Bash already has "Rock and Roll". Little disappointed in the creativity in that regard.

Quote: bestintheworld3

I'm a little concerned about the catchphrases already. The new guy's is "Croc and Roll" and Bash already has "Rock and Roll". Little disappointed in the creativity in that regard.

Well hey, Wrecking Ball has "Wreck and Roll", and he was from the same game as Bash. You could say the same with Ignitor and Fryno. "Slash and Burn" and "Crash and Burn"...

My only concern is how are they going to integrate the traps in future games? They can't not include those toys in future instalments if everyone else is playable, and they can't go putting a trap on every future portal. I'm starting to think this may be the first wrong step for Skylanders, since the whole thing's been pretty smooth sailing for them.

I guarantee, the moment they make one toy type unplayable in a future game, the franchise will take a very big hit that it will struggle to recover from.

Quote: Sboy13

Quote: bestintheworld3

I'm a little concerned about the catchphrases already. The new guy's is "Croc and Roll" and Bash already has "Rock and Roll". Little disappointed in the creativity in that regard.

Well hey, Wrecking Ball has "Wreck and Roll", and he was from the same game as Bash. You could say the same with Ignitor and Fryno. "Slash and Burn" and "Crash and Burn"...

I've got to admit, that's my only disappointment really. They've been getting really uncreative with their catchphrases. Snap Shot could easily have had 'Snap to it!' or something along those lines rather than a catchphrase which is technically already used twice.

Quote: Razz

Uh...putting certain genders into a bucket is sexist.

I stated that it wasn't about buckets, it's about selling product. Everyone on this board would agree that every decision made by Activision is about selling product, not about a social agenda of promoting stereo types. If anything, it's more of a reflection of where society is at that a driver of societies views.

Quote: Razz

Telling little girls they can only be pretty (even the quadrupeds fall into this) instead of coming in the huge variety of cool characters that the male ones do (Countdown, the magnet guy, all the Swappers, Drobot, Fright Rider, Popthorn, Trigger Happy...) is honestly something we as a culture (and species) need to start moving past.

It's a fighting game where the girls kick butt as much as the boys. How is that saying girls can only be pretty?

Quote: Razz

The idea that only certain types of toys sell to certain genders is also a huge misconception on the part of toy makers (and is not true; lots of boys love Barbies and My Little Pony; lots of girls love Transformers and GI Joe). It's a sexist hold over from decades past and companies could make a lot more money by just cutting out this whole thing and making toys for everyone regardless of gender.

Again, the idea that toy makers care more about pushing a stereotype then making money doesn't make sense. Yes, there are bronies and plenty of tomboy's out there and they often buy what they want. There are also plenty of gender neutral stuff out there that sells.

Quote: Razz

I'm not saying girl characters can't be pretty, but some boy characters could stand to be pretty, too, and it'd be great to see some girl characters who aren't conventionally attractive as well.

I don't think pretty is the right word, but Pop Thorn, Pop Fizz, Trigger Happy, etc are definitely more cute then burly or whatever. I don't think an unattractive female would sell well, same as an unattractive male.

Quote: Razz

If Funny Bone was female, that would be awesome and I would buy her for my figures shelf just on principal! Sprocket doesn't really break the mold; her body type is the same as Stealth Elf, Hex, Roller Brawl, Chill...every other humanoid female Skylander.

I'm sure they could make funny bone female, but I would bet they opt not too simply for the fact that it's not likely to sell as well. I wouldn't care. My son would probably not like it as much, and my daughter probably would want it slightly more. And no, Sprocket isn't fat.

Quote: Razz

tl;dr: Girls and boys should not be treated differently. Even children recognize that as being unfair.

Each child should be treated differently based on what they show interest in, so I agree with you there. However, I got no beef with a corporation that tries to appeals to the largest markets

The thing about corporations reflecting society's views regarding gender is that...they aren't. It's sort of a weird cycle where corporations tell us what we should like/buy, we buy it, and it influences us, and then that spiral just keeps going. Like I said elsewhere, toys on the whole were much less gendered 20 years ago (and even less so 30 years ago when I was little). And the way girls are portrayed in media directly impacts how they act in society (you can find studies with actual numerical data on all of this). So making a huge variety of male characters that super diverse compared to female characters who come in exactly two shapes, while better than some series, is still not ideal. Yes, it is very great that all the ladies in Skylands kick butt and I've got no beef with that whatsoever. I'd just like to see more ladies that have as much variety as the male characters. Corporations often just assume that sort of thing won't sell without actually knowing if it will or not.

For the record, grizzled, ugly male characters DO sell because they're in tons of game franchises and films. That same female character type might sell, but nobody is willing to give anything but the under 35, skinny, youthful, appealing to the white straight male female character a chance yet.

And I never said Sprocket was fat or should be fat. o_o Where on earth did that come from? I said Sprocket doesn't really break the mold of the Skylanders humanoid female just because she's a robot. She's still got the same general body shape as the rest of the humanoid ladies (by contrast, within the tech element alone the guys have characters as diverse as Trigger Happy, Magnatron, Drobot, and Countdown).

Quote: Razz

. . . instead of coming in the huge variety of cool characters that the male ones do (Countdown, the magnet guy, all the Swappers, Drobot, Fright Rider, Popthorn, Trigger Happy...) is honestly something we as a culture (and species) need to start moving past.
...
If Funny Bone was female, that would be awesome and I would buy her for my figures shelf just on principal! Sprocket doesn't really break the mold; her body type is the same as Stealth Elf, Hex, Roller Brawl, Chill...every other humanoid female Skylander.

Peacocks are another another sexist species.


Quote: Razz

. . .
And I never said Sprocket was fat or should be fat. o_o Where on earth did that come from? I said Sprocket doesn't really break the mold of the Skylanders humanoid female just because she's a robot. She's still got the same general body shape as the rest of the humanoid ladies (by contrast, within the tech element alone the guys have characters as diverse as Trigger Happy, Magnatron, Drobot, and Countdown).

This made me think of princess Fiona, who I presume is good example of what you mean?

Drobot - if he were female he would still fall into one of your two body types and you wouldn't be happy.

Trigger Happy, Popthorn and Countdown have the same body shape - head on top of legs, which excludes an important female identifier.

Magnatron - male of female? I don't even know who this is.

I agree with you that society still has issues with sexism and portrayal of girls in the media, I don't however feel Skylanders is the worst offender.

Hopefully they make Funny Bone female, as a skeleton would be a perfect way of breaking the two body type mould, but I'm guessing they won't.

Uh, what do birds with different plumage and not enough brain power to creature culture have to do with modern human society?

Princess Fiona is a good example, but not for the shallow reasons you're thinking. She's a female character who is tough, feminine, and doesn't choose the common standard of beauty over being who she is (twice!).

Actually, I'd be thrilled if Drobot were female, because a scrawny girl dragon who built her own robot suit ala Tony Stark is awesome! :) It's never good to just assume you know what someone will think about a thing. :D

Why does a cartoon character have to be identified as male or female at all? If you must gender something in that way, give them eyelashes. Bam, there's your identifier. And since when did Popthorn have legs? o_o Trigger Happy has a body, but Countdown looks like just a head with legs on it to me. Regardless, all three of them are still much more varied in design than Scratch, Whirlwind, and Sonic Boom.

I don't remember most of the SF characters, but I mean the magnet Swapper when I say "Magnatron". XD

I'm not saying Skylanders is the worst offender at all! :) It's very clearly not and it is making progress in terms of being more inclusive toward girls. That's a great thing and I hope other franchises will take note of it. But that doesn't mean it can't be even better or shouldn't try even more to break these silly "traditions" of gaming and toys.

Yeah, I suspect Funny Bone will be another boy, too. But I'll hold out hope until the end. Hot Dog deserves a cool undead sister. :D

I honestly dont have much of a problem other than the sheer amount of new characters coming out. 60+ is gonna hurt the wallet <.<
Were graphics and gameplay really THAT much of an issue last game that no improvement calls for abandoning the squeal? CoD has been doing this for years and people have only just now started getting tired of the same thing. The thing with skylanders is that it isnt the same every year like CoD. It has a new story and a new gimmick every year. I enjoyed the upgrade from standard figures to giants. I thought swappers was neat. I didnt see Trap Team coming but it seems interesting enough.

I just really hope they make the story even longer. Swap Force was actually decent length wise in my opinion. I just found that since they had so few levels that the levels were unnecessarily long. I would be happy if they had more levels and just shortened them a tad bit so i dont get tired halfway through a level. I'm glad they didnt do another level increase as well so that will cut down on grinding. I just really wish they would throw in a survival mode purley for leveling up characters. I get tired of repeating levels and challenges and would rather just have a nonstop horde battle to grind to the max level lol

Im also curious what they will do with the portal in future installments. I do like the making noise part. It gives the feeling of the villain being brought into the real world and trapped. Maybe give us an option to turn off the sound just in case? But for future games I think they could have a portal add on for traps <.< just an idea

Quote: Razz

The thing about corporations reflecting society's views regarding gender is that...they aren't. It's sort of a weird cycle where corporations tell us what we should like/buy, we buy it, and it influences us, and then that spiral just keeps going. Like I said elsewhere, toys on the whole were much less gendered 20 years ago (and even less so 30 years ago when I was little).

You mentioned "LEGO for Girls" - aren't you just feeding the frenzy by adapting to such standards? Who says boys can't play with pink LEGO?

Some time ago, I remember this article: http://www.nydailynews.com/new...ticle-1.1211575

Summary: A teenage girl was in an uproar because she wanted to get her younger brother an Easy Bake Oven and they were only sold in pink. She didn't think it was fair that they were only made in "girl" colors. Yet, the idea that her brother could just play with a pink toy... well, that can't be allowed because pink is a girl's color or something.

Instead of fighting manufacturers for making "girl's toys", how about we work on not teaching our kids that there are even such things as "girl's toys"?

Quote: SWARRM

Personally I will be skipping Trap Team for a few reasons. The first reason being the identical gameplay and graphics Trap Team has to Swap Force.
I skipped Giants due to similiar reasons. I purchased Swap Force because it allowed you to jump and had lots of minigames from the swap zones. The visuals were very different than previous titles.

Having the same graphics and gameplay in sequels! :O
How horrible!

Girls can play with pink Legos if they want. So can boys. :) But when I was a kid, there wasn't some special Legos for boys or girls, it was just a big bucket of pieces for anybody to play with and that was awesome. And Legos for girls is a lot more than just the piece being pink; they have characters and sets focused around things that supposedly are "for girls only". While the boys can be builders and firefighters and astronauts, girls are homemakers and nurses and cooks. Which would be fine if girls could also be firefighters and astronauts while boys could also be cooks and homemakers, but the toys aren't marketed equally like that. It sets out stereotypes that get into kids' psyches and do have an impact, often for ill, on what these kids do when they grow up.

That's pretty sad. If her brother wants a pink toy or doesn't care, he should have that pink toy. Heck, pink was the color for boys in the 1920s. That teenage girl wasn't necessarily right and that article kind of highlights the bigger issue. It's not about have some things for boys and some for girls, it's about leveling the playing field so that anyone, regardless of gender, can enjoy what they want to enjoy, be it toys or equal pay or jobs as cooks or firefighters. (But it would be nice to have a choice of Easy Bake Ovens for girls who didn't care so much for all the pink, or non gender binary kids who wanted something more neutral. :D)

YES! And that's one great thing about Skylanders. Lots of little boys love Stealth Elf and Cynder, and I know plenty of girls who like Ghost Roaster and Eye Brawl. Most kids don't care about gendered stuff, they just get taught it by adults.

Quote: Razz

Girls can play with pink Legos if they want. So can boys. But when I was a kid, there wasn't some special Legos for boys or girls, it was just a big bucket of pieces for anybody to play with and that was awesome.

I was a kid at that same time - and there weren't $150 LEGO sets, Star Wars LEGO sets, Batman LEGO sets, electronic LEGO sets... The brand has changed and adapted to what sells to the market.

But what makes a LEGO set "for girls"?

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Razz

Girls can play with pink Legos if they want. So can boys. :) But when I was a kid, there wasn't some special Legos for boys or girls, it was just a big bucket of pieces for anybody to play with and that was awesome.

I was a kid at that same time - and there weren't $150 LEGO sets, Star Wars LEGO sets, Batman LEGO sets, electronic LEGO sets... The brand has changed and adapted to what sells to the market.

But what makes a LEGO set "for girls"?

Teenage girls.
Most girl toys now a days.

I would practically kill for just an ordinary bucket of Legos and a deck of classic Uno cards. :D I'm honestly not convinced that the $150 sets and themed sets sell any better (I'd have to see some actual comparative data). A lot of companies just assume that connecting things with franchises will make them successful by default; sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Quote:

But what makes a LEGO set "for girls"?

Lots of pastel colors and "gross, girly" things like community, teamwork, and friendship. Can't have our boys learning how to cooperate with their fellow humans too much, dontcha know. ;D

Quote: Razz

I would practically kill for just an ordinary bucket of Legos and a deck of classic Uno cards. I'm honestly not convinced that the $150 sets and themed sets sell any better (I'd have to see some actual comparative data). A lot of companies just assume that connecting things with franchises will make them successful by default; sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085Y3X3Y/

http://www.amazon.com/UNO-40th.../dp/B0049B4DNQ/

Quote:

But what makes a LEGO set "for girls"?

Lots of pastel colors and "gross, girly" things like community, teamwork, and friendship. Can't have our boys learning how to cooperate with their fellow humans too much, dontcha know.

Says who though?

Can we PLEASE drop the gender discussion, it is hardly thread appropriate.

This is TRAP TEAM not "SEXIST POLICE".

Also, I really do believe they will drop the traps totally in the next game. Just look at how Giants and Swappers went.
If they are going to do a new portal per game now then I can't see the trap staying.

The only other option is as the portal has a "hole" but doesn't say it's for Traps ONLY I guess other items could be put into it in the next game?


"The Gimmick IS the Game" is a catch-phrase I think we should all get to learn.

I hope it's cheaper to complete than Swapforce. By that I mean it costing less to 100% the game according to your save file (on top of your existing collection).
I know they want extra incentive for people to buy the new stuff, but Swapforce needing 8 $15 toys was a little too much. Their ingame perk should've been on the side like heroic challenges instead of needed for completion. If the traps cost $5 and you need 8, it's not as bad. Just hopefully they won't pull anything like element-specific traptonium gates.

As far as the actual game, I have total faith in TFB to do a great job. I'm not too worried about stuff like the Swapforce dialog/cutscene mistakes. But I am worried about the current-gen ports, especially since Beenox didn't do so well on the Wii version.
What's most worrysome is that they never released any patches to fix those bugs since the very beginning.

Quote: Nroc-Nuika

My only concern is how are they going to integrate the traps in future games? They can't not include those toys in future instalments if everyone else is playable, and they can't go putting a trap on every future portal. I'm starting to think this may be the first wrong step for Skylanders, since the whole thing's been pretty smooth sailing for them.

I guarantee, the moment they make one toy type unplayable in a future game, the franchise will take a very big hit that it will struggle to recover from.

The trap on the portal might not be the issue - populating the trap pieces could be.

For all the games so far you could just go out and buy an older figure and it would just work - but how will you populate a trap piece with a Trap Team villain if you start playing at Skylanders 5?

I guess it could come with a vault containing all previous playable villains. (With the justification that they were all recaptured during the previous game).

Quote: Pyrofer

Can we PLEASE drop the gender discussion, it is hardly thread appropriate.

This is TRAP TEAM not "SEXIST POLICE".

Understood, it's gotten off topic. I see Razz's points, I just don't fully agree with all of them.

To mute the bad guy in the portal can you simply not insert a crystal or have an empty one, drop off the bad guys in it at the jail or something. And if there is a skylanders 5 adding a small slot and speaker on the side might not be too hard for the crystal, but you deal with the issues of voice acting and programming/video game making. But every skylander has that issue lets just add 40+ to that list.

Yeah, I've said all I can say on the subject, really. If y'all want to know more, Feminist Frequency breaks down a lot of how this applies directly to video games in easily digested videos.

The gender stuff with Trap Team is more of a minor quibble for me. The real deal here is that I just can't work up the energy to be interested in this game. At all. *shrug*

Ermahgerd, thanks for those links UncleBob! 8D

Quote: HIR

Not a seasoned fan. But I am extraordinarily curious why it seems as though the main versions of the game are coming for last generation's consoles. I realize that not everyone has a PS4, Xbone, or WiiU (myself included), but I cannot understand why Toys for Bob is focusing on the Wii version as opposed to the Wii U. I'm not a graphics snob, I just feel like they could throw in more innovation if they had the greater power of the current gen systems. This feels like Activision pulling a Call of Duty: Ghosts on their Skylanders franchise. But what do I know? <.<;

Because the wii u aint selling that well and alot of ppl still have a wii. I know families that only have a wii for there kids and nothing more. Wii is still selling too as i saw 2 families within the past week buy a wii over the wii u due to cost and 1 thought the wii u was an addon.

He isn't asking why it is being developed for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox360, he is asking why TfB are developing those versions with the rest being ported by Beenox.

Quote: jckelsall

He isn't asking why it is being developed for the Wii, PS3 and Xbox360, he is asking why TfB are developing those versions with the rest being ported by Beenox.

I answered this somewhere already but the bottom line is Beenox totally hosed Swap Force Wii....look at the franchise's record of sales on the Wii as compared to other platforms...that's your answer. The new gen doesn't mean squat if they aren't selling. Right now this franchise depends on the Wii for sales so they cant have a repeat of Swap Force again.

It may also be TfB's lack of experience on the next gen platforms, but I doubt it.

Quote: UncleBob

Instead of fighting manufacturers for making "girl's toys", how about we work on not teaching our kids that there are even such things as "girl's toys"?

*Finger snaps*

However, it's difficult to do that when the largest Toy Store (TRU) has them divided by gender "Girls"/"Boys".

My biggest gripe is there are just too many characters.

I brought all of the characters from the first 2 games (not counting variations and lightcore etc) and now with some Swap Force characters I have well over 150 (some double ups and some variants). But I only need a handful to complete each game.

So now I have at least 90 that almost never get used anymore. I should probably sell them, but who is going to want to buy them and what are they worth? The Series 2 characters from Giants sell for next to nothing nowadays as shops try to get rid of stock. So any Trap Team characters you buy will be virtually worthless in 12 months time. Same with your Swap Force, Giants and Spyro's Adventure toys.

Back when it first came out I loved their being 8 characters for each element and looked forward to using those characters in the next game. But then another 48 characters came out (I shouldn't have brought reposes) and now there were 80 characters when really it only takes one Stealth Elf to beat Kaos and 8 Skylanders to get 100% completion.

And now on top of all that they are talking about releasing another 60!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, but bit carried away there. Plus the crystals!

I like the idea of the new game but I need to try and sell some old unused characters and only buy the bare minimum of new characters. Ultimately I thought Skylanders would become collectible, but they have killed the golden goose with their greed.

You can still collect skylanders, just don't think they are worth anything.

Quote: Hexin_Wishes

However, it's difficult to do that when the largest Toy Store (TRU) has them divided by gender "Girls"/"Boys".

Don't let a toy store determine how you live your life?

^ I already responded to that and aren't we done with that bit off topicness by request?

Can someone please explain why getting a new portal is bad? I've seen it in this and other threads as it being a down side...why? It's essentially free and then some. A new console game costs $60 and Skylanders games (in the U.S.) have always been, and seem to continue to be, $75. If a new Corelander is $10 and let's assume the Trap Masters will be between $12-$15 (my money's on $15) that would mean the Corelander and portal are free? I could be wrong but we never pay for the portal. Before you bring up the "Portal Owner's Pack" that also only came with Tree Rex and not Cynder or Jetvac another $20 and a free portal for the $15 above the average console game price.

So far I'm digging the Trap mechanic but it's also my main concern for multiplayer co-op play. Specifically who gets to use what bad guy. Are both players restricted to one element? do we get to "equip" a baddy and change to a different trap? If they give us this new feature then it needs to be offered freely and without restriction to all players. If siblings, friends, couples, parents and kids need to share one element it won't be nearly as appealing as the mechanic seems and make the desire to obtain different traps fade pretty quick.

Tigorus ....


please never use the word free and skylanders in the same sentence ever again...


unless its doom stone

Back in Giants when there was a portal owner's pack, the price was at least $15 lower on average. Besides the need/decision to throw in a new gimmick that requires a new portal, I am guessing the portal owner's pack didn't sell that well and or was too confusing to parents or something.

Quote: melvimbe

Back in Giants when there was a portal owner's pack, the price was at least $15 lower on average. Besides the need/decision to throw in a new gimmick that requires a new portal, I am guessing the portal owner's pack didn't sell that well and or was too confusing to parents or something.

It didn't sell well for a couple of reasons - mostly, it just wasn't a good deal. It was $15 cheaper, but you lost out on $20 worth of figures - one being a new character that never got released in the US otherwise. Not to mention, the Starters went on sale *all* the time, often for cheaper than the Portal Owner's pack, which rarely went on sale.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: melvimbe

Back in Giants when there was a portal owner's pack, the price was at least $15 lower on average. Besides the need/decision to throw in a new gimmick that requires a new portal, I am guessing the portal owner's pack didn't sell that well and or was too confusing to parents or something.

It didn't sell well for a couple of reasons - mostly, it just wasn't a good deal. It was $15 cheaper, but you lost out on $20 worth of figures - one being a new character that never got released in the US otherwise. Not to mention, the Starters went on sale *all* the time, often for cheaper than the Portal Owner's pack, which rarely went on sale.

Correct. Incredible disincentive. Makes me wonder why they bothered.

Because, just like we are seeing here and we saw on SWAP Force, people freak out when they think they're getting ripped off - so Activision wanted to offer people a choice. It flatly didn't sell well enough and retailers said "no thanks", so they're not going to do that again - but they at least tried.

SWAP Force was more amusing... It had $40 worth of figures *and* a $60 game for $75 and people *still* complained about the portal inside.

Here, we've got probably $35 worth of figures ($15 for the Trap Master, $10 for the Core figure, $5/each for the Crystals) and a $60 game, so $95 worth of stuff, not including the portal, and folks are all "Man, I hafta buy another portal?!?"

Yeah, I don't think people will complain about the portal this year however---it's been slammed into our heads to just "accept it". Kinda important this year since it's the only portal with a speaker.

The constant new portals make the games less appealing for some. If you want to keep playing all your older Skylanders games, you have to keep your old portals, and portals take up space.

Quote: Razz

Uh...putting certain genders into a bucket is sexist. Telling little girls they can only be pretty (even the quadrupeds fall into this) instead of coming in the huge variety of cool characters that the male ones do (Countdown, the magnet guy, all the Swappers, Drobot, Fright Rider, Popthorn, Trigger Happy...) is honestly something we as a culture (and species) need to start moving past. The idea that only certain types of toys sell to certain genders is also a huge misconception on the part of toy makers (and is not true; lots of boys love Barbies and My Little Pony; lots of girls love Transformers and GI Joe). It's a sexist hold over from decades past and companies could make a lot more money by just cutting out this whole thing and making toys for everyone regardless of gender. I'm not saying girl characters can't be pretty, but some boy characters could stand to be pretty, too, and it'd be great to see some girl characters who aren't conventionally attractive as well.

If Funny Bone was female, that would be awesome and I would buy her for my figures shelf just on principal! Sprocket doesn't really break the mold; her body type is the same as Stealth Elf, Hex, Roller Brawl, Chill...every other humanoid female Skylander.

tl;dr: Girls and boys should not be treated differently. Even children recognize that as being unfair.

oh god, here comes the person who complains about "gender sterotypes." this game has none.

we have gilrs who skate of sawblades, girls who summon narwhals, girls who breathe lightning.

i do agree, i'd like to have a female character with a body type similar to wallop or slam bam, but i don't think activision's gonna do that.

Quote: Razz

The constant new portals make the games less appealing for some. If you want to keep playing all your older Skylanders games, you have to keep your old portals, and portals take up space.

Huh? Obviously, I can't speak for Trap Team, but the SWAP Force portal works with Giants and Spyro's Adventure just fine. Between the nine titles across four systems, I only need two portals - SWAP Force USB (Wii/Wii U/PC - six games) and SWAP Force IR (3DS - three games).

Now, I have way more than that (Wii Wireless from SSA, 3DS IR from SSA, PC USB from SSA, Wii USB from Giants, Wii GitD USB from Giants, Wii U USB from Giants, 3DS GitD IR from Giants, Bluetooth from Battlegrounds, Wii Wired from SWAP Force, Wii U Dark Wired from SWAP Force, 3DS IR from SWAP Force) - but the only two I *need* to play any of the games I have are the two mentioned above (although I would need the Bluetooth portal *if* I had an iOS device that used the thing)....

ZapNorris: Actually read what I wrote and you might learn something. :) And we are done talking about that topic now as requested. Maybe you should read the thread before posting.

UncleBob: Oh! I didn't know that about the portals. I only have SSA and Giants, which (I think) have the same portals. But would, say, the TT portal work if you wanted to play SF but had gotten read of your SF portal?

Unknown about the Trap Team portal. I'm inclined to think it would work - but unless they say something before hand, we won't know until we try.

I'm curious if the SWAP Force portal will work if you don't plan on using the Traps, or if the game will block it out, similar to how SWAP Force actively blocks the old portals, even if you're just trying to play with a regular figure.

they already said the new portal will work for previous titels

Quote: SWARRM

Tigorus ....


please never use the word free and skylanders in the same sentence ever again...


unless its doom stone

Too true lol...I should have said "mostly" free. Free Doomy would rock...Pun intended.

MAn, I see things so different than some of you. Maybe because I don't have a daughter *yet*.

NONE of the Skylanders seem marketed to girls or boys (to me).

When I think marketed to girls, I think of light colors like pink and the such. I think of minature-momming for lack of a better term - doll babies, cooking, home making types of things stereotypically pushed when I wsa growing up (80s). When I think marketed to boys, I think violence, I think 'macho', I think 'strong' colors like fire truck red. I think of female characters with outlandish proportions or who come off with loose morals if you will.

When I look at the Skylanders - I see NONE of that. None of the females have a huge chest. None are dressed provocatively. None are homemakers - instead as someone else mentioned - the only engineer *fist pump* in the game is a woman. The colors are so diverse, that if I pick up a figure with pink on it - like Scratch, it's obviously not a 'girly' pink. When I pick up a boyish 'blue', it's usually fish people or something associated with water, nothing more.

If you want to say they needed a female swapper - go for it. There was only one female 'Giant' as well. But outside of that - I don't see a real separation of the sexes in the series. I don't even see a marketing push towards boys. Granted I don't have cable so I don't watch TV - the ads that catch me are in the newspaper, on the web or in the store, and everything that I see seems aimed at the 'age' demographic more than the male/female demographic. I mean, what would make it marketed towards girls more? Stereotyped figures?
- Unreall

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: Hexin_Wishes

However, it's difficult to do that when the largest Toy Store (TRU) has them divided by gender "Girls"/"Boys".

Don't let a toy store determine how you live your life?

Listen Bobby, you must realize that kids deal with other kids who have other parents/teachers who reinforce the gender binary. It's a constant battle to unpack with the constant bombarding *uckery that is what "girls" are supposed to be like and what "boys" are supposed to be like. Not impossible, but it's not just as simple as you'd think.

Also, Bobby, You don't think Skylanders is violent? Amazing...

RE: The new portal thing, I think they fact we have no real way of doing away with the old portal is what is obnoxious. I don't want any of my old portals. They serve no purpose other than decoration. And even that they fail when two of them look the same!

When my 7 year old daughter plays, she normally uses Trigger Happy, Whirlwind, Hot Dog, or Jet Vac. I personally don't see any gender bias going on. Could they add a few more female type characters? Sure. My son plays with all of the characters (even the girls). He plays with the ones that he believes are the strongest. The figure's gender has nothing to do with his decision to play with a figure or not.

Marketing towards girls would basically mean swap the genders of everybody and put everything in pink, with round edges, humongous head, big eyes, cute looks. Nothing with sharp edges and no bulky types. Google search gi joe then bratz and you will see what i mean. It would not be an action game it would only be mini games and you could dress your sklyanders up with pretty accessories! All the swappers girls mind you they would not be monsters but all humans like those Monster High girls, 1 boy giant who is super cute and all the girls want him, and only few new male characters this game who all either be human or cute little animasl awwwww


If this game was marketed towards females it would be 100 different. Google girl toy and try to find one without pink in it on the first few pages. Activision's marketing department would not allow it to be as it is now. It not just a simple as different more female characters sadly. It shouldnt be that way. We should be individually allowed to like what we want and make our own opinions not based on a set standard.

Young girls feel and see it. Whether they are young enough to understand no. But really it is a deeper matter than plastic and wires.


Side note i would love to see a gender bent skylanders.

Marketing discussion aside, there SHOULD be more than an abysmal 18% of female Skylanders and, I personally think, there should also be less Ugly male Skylanders.