darkSpyro

You read correctly... Skylanders was mentioned in the movie American Sniper.

The child had asked the dad if he wanted to play.

Yeah, turns out Activision made a good choice for once.

Which Skylander toys do you see? Or is it just mentioned by name?

Well, can't say I expected Skylanders to be referenced in a movie about war veterans.

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Which Skylander toys do you see? Or is it just mentioned by name?

It was just mentioned by name

Quote: AdamGregory03

Well, can't say I expected Skylanders to be referenced in a movie about war veterans.

Yeah... me either...

They are also mentioned in the beginning of the french movie Le Père Noël, when a kid writes them on his Christmas list.

I would like to know if he actually has Skylanders, Activision shouldn't be messing with true stories imo.

Quote: JetVac96

I would like to know if he actually has Skylanders, Activision shouldn't be messing with true stories imo.

The movie depicts a lot of made up stuff just for the movie. Sure, the premise is based on an autobiography, but they changed it drastically from what i hear. Haven't actually seen it myself, don't plan to.

It would have had to have been SSA. Chris Kyle (who the movie is about) was killed on Feb. 2, 2013. SSA would have only been out a few months at that point. More than likely they just made up a scene where the kid wanted to play video games with his dad and picked a popular series. It could even be that his son does like Skylanders, but whether there was an actual moment where he asked his dad to play that is anyone's guess. Even if the family agreed that happened, they probably don't really recall a specific game that he might have asked him to play.

Quote: obidawsn

It would have had to have been SSA. Chris Kyle (who the movie is about) was killed on Feb. 2, 2013. SSA would have only been out a few months at that point. More than likely they just made up a scene where the kid wanted to play video games with his dad and picked a popular series. It could even be that his son does like Skylanders, but whether there was an actual moment where he asked his dad to play that is anyone's guess. Even if the family agreed that happened, they probably don't really recall a specific game that he might have asked him to play.

No Giants would have been out for 4 months and SSA for 16 months.

Being mentioned and being advertised are 2 completely different things. Skylanders were not advertised. If you want to see product placement for advertisement, watch all the blatant Pizza Hut references in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie which was out last year. Besides, children aren't exactly a target audience for a movie like American Sniper. If Huggies diapers are mentioned in a horror movie, are you going to run around telling everybody that Huggies is advertising in horror flicks? Lastly, the mention of Skylanders in the movie will likely have zero effect on Skylanders sales.

I saw the movie and am currently his book (quite tragic this happened to him). The only character I saw was Thumpback.

Quote: ninja9351

No Giants would have been out for 4 months and SSA for 16 months.

Heh. You're right. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was going back 3 years from 2015 instead of 2014. Though I looked up release dates just to make sure my thinking was correct, and I thought it said 2012 for SSA. But it's definitely 2011.

Quote: xXBeavcoonXx

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Which Skylander toys do you see? Or is it just mentioned by name?

It was just mentioned by name

Quote: AdamGregory03

Well, can't say I expected Skylanders to be referenced in a movie about war veterans.

Yeah... me either...

I saw a Jet-Vac.

Quote: Mesuxelf

Quote: xXBeavcoonXx

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Which Skylander toys do you see? Or is it just mentioned by name?

It was just mentioned by name

Quote: AdamGregory03

Well, can't say I expected Skylanders to be referenced in a movie about war veterans.

Yeah... me either...

I saw a Jet-Vac.

I didnt look very close so...

Quote: JetVac96

I saw the movie and am currently his book (quite tragic this happened to him). The only character I saw was Thumpback.

Yeah, Thumpback was the character I spotted. Perfect advertising for Activision to parents considering how well the movie has sold in the US.

Quote: wideawakewesley

Quote: JetVac96

I saw the movie and am currently his book (quite tragic this happened to him). The only character I saw was Thumpback.

Yeah, Thumpback was the character I spotted. Perfect advertising for Activision to parents considering how well the movie has sold in the US.

But I don't understand the logic of small advertisements like that. They pay hundreds, maybe even thousands of dollars just to have 3 figures and a name drop in the movie. It's not like kids will go "Wow, Chris's kids have Skylanders, maybe I should get some too!"

Quote: xXBeavcoonXx

Quote: HeyitsHotDog

Which Skylander toys do you see? Or is it just mentioned by name?

It was just mentioned by name

Quote: AdamGregory03

Well, can't say I expected Skylanders to be referenced in a movie about war veterans.

Yeah... me either...

I saw the movie and I think I saw thumpback and I think a couple of swappers but I saw thump back for sure

Oh wait I'm sorry it wasn't any swappers just thump back.

It's not product placement. It was probably written into the script and they got permission to use them. They might have even paid for the rights to use them in the movie. This happens all the time. Eventually studios figured out that you could just get companies to pay to put their product in the movie. It's usually completely blatantly added (i.e. Inspector Gadget) or can be subtly added (like a person drinking Coca-Cola) but not have anything to do with the plot. The screenwriter may have just wanted to put in a scene with him and his son and wanted to make it more specific by picking a game. He could probably have easily picked Mario or some other game. Again, it may have even been a specific game his son liked to play. Either way, I seriously doubt it was meant to be advertisement. It probably would have been a bit more obvious than just mentioning it with some focus on the game, logo, etc.

Have to agree - it was less likely to be some kind of advertising, more likely to either be based off a real event *or* put into the movie to make it more real. I mean, kids like video games, Skylanders is an extremely popular video game among kids, and kids want to play video games with their parents. Throwing that in the movie would make for a more realistic connection.

If you want to see video games being advertized in a movie, go watch The Wizard. You can borrow my VHS copy, if you'd like. :D

The third character was Crusher - he is turned sideways and kinda hard to see, but on the Blu-Ray you can pause and see him. Jet-Vac and Thumpback were the other two. It didn't feel like product placement, more like they were setting the scene for it to be a normal day in the family.

Can someone get some pictures? I couldn't find the scene on Youtube or Google Images

Trap Team was mentioned in a show.

What show?

At least they were not playing Skylanders and from the TV they had Atari 2600 Pac-Man sounds. Countless times in films and TV shows I've seen that. Realize that music rights is probably the reason but it's so insulting as a gamer to see them playing on a current gen system and hearing ancient beeps and boops instead.

Quote: fairyland

At least they were not playing Skylanders and from the TV they had Atari 2600 Pac-Man sounds. Countless times in films and TV shows I've seen that. Realize that music rights is probably the reason but it's so insulting as a gamer to see them playing on a current gen system and hearing ancient beeps and boops instead.

Yeah that annoys me too.

Just like when they show someone playing a videogame (especially young boys): all they do is pressing random buttons as fast as they can.
I know there are some games where you can mash the controls and win (with some Skylanders it can happen) but it's a horrible depiction of gamers that doesn't play respect to the strategy, timing and skill required to play the majority of the games...