darkSpyro

Hey all --

Just curious, does anyone have information about how or when the two "unknown element" Skylanders and traps will become available to the public?

Right now, it's not possible to receive full "stars" for "portal master rank" from many of Trap Team's levels, because one needs a Trap Master and/or a villain from the "unknown elements" to do so.

I guess I'm just hoping that we won't be waiting until 2015 for these items. Any information that anybody has on this is appreciated!

Since there never is any idea of when things will become available, don't get your hopes up. But since they haven't even officially announced the "unknown elements", don't expect them to arrive by the end of the year.

While hackers have already revealed information, and glitches can allow characters to bypass the Mystery Gates, Activision has been completely silent.

"which most people already know about"

You mean people on the forums, which are a minority of all the people that play Skylanders.

#wave4probably

I'm fairly certain you will be waiting until 2015 for the unknown elements. And I would bet they do one, then wait a while and do the other. They'll hype the main game until Christmas, then use the new elements to keep interest up in the new year. Most kids won't play the game until Christmas, why waste a good reveal and publicity until your base is ready for it?

Simple answer: get what you can until late November then pick up Super Smash Bros. WiiU (and a WiiU if you don't have one). Holy crap that game is going to have an insane amount of content.

I'm willing to bet that at least one new element will be revealed in time for Christmas.

Quote: TrapShadowFan

I'm willing to bet that at least one new element will be revealed in time for Christmas.

Unlikely. The base game is enough to sell to parents. People forget that it is Wave 3, 4 & 5 that get the most attention from the main base - kids. that's because most of them don't get the game until Christmas, and anything out prior to that is just more stuff. Why waste the excitement of a new element on parents that don't know the difference? If the kids have it the first day they get the game is it really something they are going to get excited about particularly since TfB is being so secretive?

This comes up every single year. People insist that Wave 3 and new stuff will come in early December to amp up sales, and every year we get a minor release of singles right before Christmas and the really interesting stuff comes after the holiday. They don't need to amp up sales by releasing new stuff, anything that comes out prior to Christmas is just "more stuff to choose from" for parents that are holiday shopping. We will likely see something right after the holidays for the kids to spend their Christmas gift cards. "What I want to happen" isn't always a good estimate for marketing plans. TfB obviously wants to make a big splash with these things.

There is one variable being ignored here that was not present in past years - Disney Infinity releasing their Disney Originals line in November. I could easily see a new element being released to compete with that. Parents may not know, on their own, which Skylanders are which, but they can read piece of paper. My mother couldn't have told you one Transformer from another to save her life, but she could read "Optimus Prime" and "Soundwave" off my Christmas list easily enough. The vast, vast, VAST majority of gift spending takes place before Christmas. Sure there will be some gift cards and cash for kids to spend, but most of that goes to older kids. Activision and TFB could lose a lot of gift dollars to Disney Infinity, who will have a huge upsurge in publicity with the originals release right when Christmas gift spending really ramps up. Activision would be smart to do something big around that time to compete.

And don't forget, we know from advertisements and email blasts that Thumpback and Eye Brawl were supposed to be out before Christmas, at least at TRU, and got pushed back for still unknown reasons. They weren't just taken pictures of for the advertisements, the circular actually said "8 Skylanders", but only 6 were released.

I'm not saying it will happen, they could easily hold off until after Christmas. Activision is famous for making those kinds of mistakes (Guitar Hero, anyone?), as opposed to Disney, which seems to have one of the best marketing departments on the planet. I'm just repeating the same mantra I say every year. "Assume nothing. The only thing that constitutes proof of when a wave is coming out is official confirmation from major retailers or pictures in hand. Everything else is just speculation."

unfortunatly, i think Eon's Elite Spyro and Eon's Elite Chop Chop is the counter to the Disney Originals, both coming at roughly the same time.

though there may be an "official release" of the new elements and their figures around that time too.

its kinda sad Australia won't be getting wave 2 till the end of November, but that doesn't really impact on the wave releases over in the US.

Thank you to all that replied here. I appreciate the feedback and info.

A couple weeks ago when TRU was still having their buy a character get a trap for a dollar sale, I was there and overheard a mother talking to her child trying to decide on if he wanted a new trap team figure or something else (can't remember, something to do with matchbox I think). I let them know about the trap for a dollar deal so they could make an informed decision. The mother asked me if I had played the game yet this year and then asked why there were mystery gates you couldn't get in...I told her there were going to be two new elements dark and light and that you wouldn't be able to fully complete all parts of the game until they and a magic trap master were out. She said why would they do that, it's getting to be too much and had this perplexed look on her face. The kid put the skylander back on the shelf and I saw them at check out buying something else.

I would say right in time for scalper season.

Would scalpers really ruin this?

Would I have a hard time getting the 2 "mystery" cores?

To me, it would make sense to wait until after Christmas...maybe even a bit past it. Give people time to play the game (especially the kids who would be getting it for Christmas), then when a bit of time has gone by, release the new elements (which also have adventure packs...which means new levels and content). It gives hype and added play value back to a game that the kids have probably played through already. I know a lot of people don't like it, but from a marketing stand point, it makes sense. The game itself brings enough hype for purchases before Christmas. As others have said, there's no sense in wasting the hype of the new elements when you already have hype built up.

Quote: DragonShine

Would scalpers really ruin this?

Would I have a hard time getting the 2 "mystery" cores?

Of course you will.