darkSpyro

Hi everyone, I'm new here and also pretty new to Skylanders and I was wondering if anyone might have the time to answer a few questions I have. They are mostly about figures which is why I decided to put the thread in this section of the forum (hopefully that's okay?)

1) Coming into the franchise late in the game I've begun to realize that there are a lot more figures than I would have thought. I've also realized that I'm not interested in collecting every single one. I'm drawn more towards the dragon types or any that are aesthetically pleasing. I have only purchased series 1 and 2 figures at this point and am looking for recommendations on future characters I might like based on what I have. Which is (series 1 unless otherwise stated):

Spyro
Dark Spyro
Gill Grunt
Trigger Happy
Drobot
Camo
Whirlwind (S2)
Sunburn
Zap (S2)
Ignitor
Cynder (S2)
Sonic Boom (S2)
Flashwing (S2 right? Orange base but the first version of her so i'm not really sure)

Any must-haves based on my interests? Out of this list Gill Grunt, Trigger Happy, and Ignitor came with something else that I wanted, and I wouldn't necessarily have purchased them on their own. I'm also in the process of trying to get Bash since I don't have an earth character yet for Spyro's Adventure. But any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

2) Do legendaries have different abilities in game? Or any other variants? I know that dark versions apparently don't. And in the same vein what about different series? Is it worth getting all of them or is one enough?

3) What are the necessities for Swap Force and Trap Team? Aside from the element I was missing I found my collection more than sufficient for Spyro's Adventure, but realized almost immediately after I started playing Giants that I wouldn't enjoy it without a Giant. Bouncer, the first Giant I could find at a cheap price, is on his way to me. I'm wondering if there are any essentials I'll need to fully enjoy Swap Force and Trap Team when I get them, apart from what I have.

4) Where's the best place to get figures? Specifically for a poor grad student. I'm hearing Toys R Us has the best selection, but not sure about the prices. Gamestop has cheap used figures, but it has been really hit or miss for me. New or used - doesn't really matter as long as it's still in pretty good shape.

I think that's all, sorry this was long. Thanks in advance to anyone who reads and answers.

2. All variants are just different looking in game and can be considered rare. The one good use of them is to upgrade the opposite path when upgrading our character that way you can upgrade the standard version on one path and the variant on the other. But it is really up to personal preference an if you feel like spending the extra cash.
3. In swap force you'll need one swapper of every ability type like climb or sneak and so on to access all the ability zones. In trap team you'll need one trap from each element including light and dark to be able to access and trap all the villains including the kaos trap to trap kaos. As for trap masters, you'll need one of each element in order to open all the elemental zones and break the traptanium crystals.
Be aware that you can still complete the game and that these are just extra little areas that grants some hats or soul gems, legendary treasures.
4. If your in the US I can't help you there but I'd say amazon for some old figures considering here in the UK they have them very cheap, otherwise I'd suggest looking around online or waiting for replies from other users on the forums.

MOST variants, ImDoubleTrouble. There are chase variants,which look the same as normal ones in the game(plus 'special' tag ever since Giants) but are rare; special variants,which might or might not depending on which game they were released in and are much rarer since they're usually given out in events,and what I prefer to differentiate as palette swap variants,which are exactly what it means and show up in game.

Quote: ImDoubleTrouble

2. All variants are just different looking in game and can be considered rare. The one good use of them is to upgrade the opposite path when upgrading our character that way you can upgrade the standard version on one path and the variant on the other. But it is really up to personal preference an if you feel like spending the extra cash.
3. In swap force you'll need one swapper of every ability type like climb or sneak and so on to access all the ability zones. In trap team you'll need one trap from each element including light and dark to be able to access and trap all the villains including the kaos trap to trap kaos. As for trap masters, you'll need one of each element in order to open all the elemental zones and break the traptanium crystals.
Be aware that you can still complete the game and that these are just extra little areas that grants some hats or soul gems, legendary treasures.
4. If your in the US I can't help you there but I'd say amazon for some old figures considering here in the UK they have them very cheap, otherwise I'd suggest looking around online or waiting for replies from other users on the forums.

Quote: Bifrost

MOST variants, ImDoubleTrouble. There are chase variants,which look the same as normal ones in the game(plus 'special' tag ever since Giants) but are rare; special variants,which might or might not depending on which game they were released in and are much rarer since they're usually given out in events,and what I prefer to differentiate as palette swap variants,which are exactly what it means and show up in game.

Thank you both for your responses and the clarity you have provided. Having extra figures for different upgrade paths actually sounds really appealing, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Wow that's a lot of stuff needed for Trap Team, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I'd like to think I wouldn't care about accessing all areas but i've learned from SA that it frustrates me to pass an area that I can't access. I'm sure i'll end up getting most of that stuff eventually. Thanks again!

No problem! Having figures in different paths does sound appealing,but some paths are just not worth it(too button mashy,too OP,too awkward). Try browsing the Upgrade Path Recommendations in previous games' forums and even the Tier Lists and try going for what feels the most fun.

Quote: Bifrost

No problem! Having figures in different paths does sound appealing,but some paths are just not worth it(too button mashy,too OP,too awkward). Try browsing the Upgrade Path Recommendations in previous games' forums and even the Tier Lists and try going for what feels the most fun.

Thanks, I'll check those out.

ETA: I've just checked out the tier thread, and I'm just curious as to what it means if a character is "broken." I've gathered that it means the character is powerful, but just wondering why it's referred to as "broken."

Unfortunately it's really on a character by character basis whether or not the legendary variants are worth it or which series is the best to get. Some of the higher series versions get incredible new powers, while some get things you'll never use. However, there are so many characters in Skylanders that it's not a big deal if you happen to end up only owning a slightly worse version of one figure. The basic moves are always the same no matter which version you have. Of course, then there's the issue of some not being compatible with the older games.

I mean, I don't even know: is a Series 4 Gill Grunt compatible with SSA? I would think not. Not feeling like booting my Wii right now to check though.

Quote: Friendzie

Unfortunately it's really on a character by character basis whether or not the legendary variants are worth it or which series is the best to get. Some of the higher series versions get incredible new powers, while some get things you'll never use. However, there are so many characters in Skylanders that it's not a big deal if you happen to end up only owning a slightly worse version of one figure. The basic moves are always the same no matter which version you have. Of course, then there's the issue of some not being compatible with the older games.

I mean, I don't even know: is a Series 4 Gill Grunt compatible with SSA? I would think not. Not feeling like booting my Wii right now to check though.

Good to know, thanks. I thought the figures were all backwards compatible but I only have series 1 and 2 so I'm not sure. I think you're right though, it's probably not worth the money to get hung up on owning all the different versions with only slight variations.

As for the terminology, the series number of the figure only goes up if they released the character again as a core figure in a later game. Every Flashwing is considered a series 1, for example, because Flashwing was never remade for the subsequent games. Your Flashwing also won't work in Spyro's Adventure because Flashwing was introduced in Giants. The only cases where figures are at all backwards compatible is if the figure is a character that existed in the older game. Even in those cases, the older game will treat the character as if it were the old version. A series 4 Gill Grunt from Trap Team will be called Gill Grunt: Special in Swap Force and will be treated as if it were just a series 1 without any of the bonus features that the series 4 has in Trap Team. It's actually too bad that they don't patch the older games to use the newer figures, but they don't.

Hope that's not too confusing.

Series+ always work in the first game they were released in, but to be honest, S4 Gill Grunt won't be the first,or the best, you'll run into anyway. For some reason Trap Team reposes are glitched in SF but just there.

Quote: Friendzie

As for the terminology, the series number of the figure only goes up if they released the character again as a core figure in a later game. Every Flashwing is considered a series 1, for example, because Flashwing was never remade for the subsequent games. Your Flashwing also won't work in Spyro's Adventure because Flashwing was introduced in Giants. The only cases where figures are at all backwards compatible is if the figure is a character that existed in the older game. Even in those cases, the older game will treat the character as if it were the old version. A series 4 Gill Grunt from Trap Team will be called Gill Grunt: Special in Swap Force and will be treated as if it were just a series 1 without any of the bonus features that the series 4 has in Trap Team. It's actually too bad that they don't patch the older games to use the newer figures, but they don't.

Hope that's not too confusing.

That makes sense, thank you for the explanation. Flashwing was one of the first I got, and I'll admit I was a bit disappointed when I put her on the portal and she didn't work in SA lol. Yeah that's too bad, that would be really awesome!


Quote: Bifrost

Series+ always work in the first game they were released in, but to be honest, S4 Gill Grunt won't be the first,or the best, you'll run into anyway. For some reason Trap Team reposes are glitched in SF but just there.

Interesting, I wonder why that is. I guess it could be worse though, all the characters could be restricted to the game they were introduced in. That would be totally lame but it would sure make them some more money.

The explanation works for SSA - TFB mentioned a few times that they actually never planned to make a sequel to the game, probably because they weren't really expecting the sucess(also caused a few funny tales,like their attempts to make Giants in the original game and breaking it apart because of the model sizes). Not so much for the other games,especially SF and TT which share the same graphics engine with little changes in textures and lightning.

well it looks like other people have covered you other questions minus the first one. With each game you get you get a poster that has all the characters on it, you can use that to easily figures out what characters you want. But from the looks of it you only have the first 2 games so heres a list of dragons and dragon like characters from swap force and trap team.

swap force:
Mega ram spyro
lightcore flashwing
fire kraken ( Chinese type dragon)
phantom cynder
thorn horn camo ( plant lizard thing)
horn blast whirlwind (wind dragon)
scratch ( flying cat but its shaded like a dragon)

trap team:
spry ( baby spyro)
echo (water dragon)
high five (dragonfly)
blades ( dragon with swords, hes one of my favorites)
breeze (baby whirlwind)
chopper (a t-rex with a helicopter backpack, not sure if it counts but i guess its kind of like a dragon?)
drobit ( baby drobot)
spotlight ( light dragon) not on the poster
blackout( dark dragon) not on the poster
Eon's elite spyro ( same figure as SA spyro but with gold trim and 3 times the power in trap team)

a few others that are dragon-ish but are more like dogs ( funny bone and bop) but i think you would like the ones i listed.

Quote: Bifrost

The explanation works for SSA - TFB mentioned a few times that they actually never planned to make a sequel to the game, probably because they weren't really expecting the sucess(also caused a few funny tales,like their attempts to make Giants in the original game and breaking it apart because of the model sizes). Not so much for the other games,especially SF and TT which share the same graphics engine with little changes in textures and lightning.

Oh interesting, well I'm glad they decided to make the sequel and beyond even if it's hard on my wallet. I'm really enjoying the collecting aspect as well as the gameplay. Can't wait to continue, it's just simply good fun.

Quote: Alphawolf

well it looks like other people have covered you other questions minus the first one. With each game you get you get a poster that has all the characters on it, you can use that to easily figures out what characters you want. But from the looks of it you only have the first 2 games so heres a list of dragons and dragon like characters from swap force and trap team.

swap force:
Mega ram spyro
lightcore flashwing
fire kraken ( Chinese type dragon)
phantom cynder
thorn horn camo ( plant lizard thing)
horn blast whirlwind (wind dragon)
scratch ( flying cat but its shaded like a dragon)

trap team:
spry ( baby spyro)
echo (water dragon)
high five (dragonfly)
blades ( dragon with swords, hes one of my favorites)
breeze (baby whirlwind)
chopper (a t-rex with a helicopter backpack, not sure if it counts but i guess its kind of like a dragon?)
drobit ( baby drobot)
spotlight ( light dragon) not on the poster
blackout( dark dragon) not on the poster
Eon's elite spyro ( same figure as SA spyro but with gold trim and 3 times the power in trap team)

a few others that are dragon-ish but are more like dogs ( funny bone and bop) but i think you would like the ones i listed.

Thank you so much for taking the time to make these recommendations, I really appreciate it! I will definitely be checking these guys out.

Thought of one more question - how do the traps work in Trap Team? I know that they essentially "trap" villains and make them playable, but why are there so many traps? I thought there was one villain per element but there are multiple traps per element so are there that many villains to catch? How many of the traps do you actually need to get to experience the game in full? Thanks!

Quote: emmkay

Thought of one more question - how do the traps work in Trap Team? I know that they essentially "trap" villains and make them playable, but why are there so many traps? I thought there was one villain per element but there are multiple traps per element so are there that many villains to catch? How many of the traps do you actually need to get to experience the game in full? Thanks!

11,10 for the regular elements and 1 for Kaos. There are many molds(sword shape, skull shape,etc etc) for people who like to trap one in each,but you can use the hub's Villain Vault to switch the current villain at any time(outside of a level),as long as it's from the same element. I think there are 40 villains total to catch,some in Adventure Packs.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: emmkay

Thought of one more question - how do the traps work in Trap Team? I know that they essentially "trap" villains and make them playable, but why are there so many traps? I thought there was one villain per element but there are multiple traps per element so are there that many villains to catch? How many of the traps do you actually need to get to experience the game in full? Thanks!

11,10 for the regular elements and 1 for Kaos. There are many molds(sword shape, skull shape,etc etc) for people who like to trap one in each,but you can use the hub's Villain Vault to switch the current villain at any time(outside of a level),as long as it's from the same element. I think there are 40 villains total to catch,some in Adventure Packs.

Oh I see, so you can play all the villains with only one trap from each element. That's what I was confused about, thank you! You've taken the time to answer so many of my questions, I really appreciate it.

No problem, always happy to help :3