darkSpyro

Here you can rate the gimmicks so far by 1 is best and 3 is worst. Here is mine,

1. Swap force
2. Giants
TIE
2. Trap Team


Updated:
1. Bringing Toys to Life- This was just awesome at the time! This has never been done before! I was so excited for this! Putting toys into a video game. Just awesome!
2. Swap Force- This was pretty awesome too. Swapping the different skylanders with the tops and bottoms was fun. There were so many possibilities! Although I love this concept, I only played 3 times! I know this is crazy, but during the holidays, my Wii U had my attention. But I plan on playing more of it soon.
3. Giants and Trapping Villains- This one is a tie. Giants was pretty cool. They were like bigger versions of Skylanders!(I know. Thats obvious) They were like legendary pokemon! The Trap Team, ehh... I still have a ton of questions and I dont really know too much about it. Mayby it will go up once I learn more about. But for now, it is a tie with Giants.
4. Lightcores- This was a kind of cool, but it was more of a show thing. All it did was a lightcore blast in the game. It was a little useless because the Giants already had this and your looking at the screen most of the time. You never really look at the skylander on the portal.

1.Swap Force
2.Lightcore
3.Trap Team
10000.Giants, it was stupid

1. Trap Team
2. Swap Force
3. Original SSA
4. Giants
5. LightCore

1. Trap team
2. Giants
3. Any other gimmik
4. Swap Force

Trap Team (Could be cool)
Swap Force (They get boring after a while and most combos look ugly)
Giants (Just more expensive Skylanders)

1. Trap team (Chompy Mage ftw)
2. Swap Force (Brought more customization to the table)
3. Giants (o.o better then lightcore and it is just fun smashing people)
4. Lightcore (Aka worthless repose most of the time. Rather get an actual repose with wow pow. Only good for newcores)

1. Trap Team
2. Giants
3. Swap Force
4. Core
5. ...
...
999. Lightcore Pay 2-3$ more for a little light...?

1. The original concept
2. Trap Team
3. Swap Force (Really I mostly like the small amount of articulation provided by the division)
4. Lightcore (it's cool, but not worth the extra money, I like it on my giants)
5. Giants

1. Toys come to life
2. Trap Team
3. Giants
4. Lightcore
5. Swap Force

I wasn't a fan of the Giants... they're just clunkier, slower characters that can deal with melee attackers, but struggle fighting ranged ones since they're such large, slow targets.

The swappers, on the other hand, were incredibly customizable, allowing the player to essentially create their own character with the pieces they had.

Given those factors, here's my list:

1. Swap Force
2. Trap Team
3. Lightcore
4. Giants

Here's my list, not including the first game.

1. Trap Team - So far, this looks brilliant. I can't really say much else as it hasn't come out yet, but I'm super excited. :-)
2. Giants - I really like the giants, they are just really enjoyable for me. I think it's great to go around with Thumpback, smashin' everything.
3. Swapping - Although the characters were really enjoyable, the swapping aspect was alright for me. I like them in their original form, but there were those combinations that were stunning. Yeah but I do think swapping is a clever idea.
4. Lightcore - Ehhhh. Clever idea, I guess.

EDIT: added descriptions.

1. Core
2. Trap Masters
3. Swap Force
4. Giants
5. Lightcore

My list
1.Trap Team ( Awesome Trap Masters and villains FTW!)
2.Swap Force (Versatile, original and creative gameplay)
3.Giants (Not nearly as fun as I thought they'd be, rather have faster and more fun characters)
4.Lightcore (Most are just lame, uncreative and lazy poses and lights. Plus no wow pows or path switching)

1. Original "Toys to life" SSA
2. Swapping Skylanders, though I never use them because they just look weird
3. Trap team. I don't care about playing as villains I'd rather just get some more decent skylanders!
4. Giants Worst gimmick makes worst game and the only one worth getting was Nijijni
5. Lighcore figures = worst idea! Paying a load more for some light?

1. Bringing toys to life(SSA) - it was something that had never been done before, and felt truly magical.
   
2. Trap Team - they look pretty awesome, but it isn't hard to beat the Swap Force, Giants or Lightcores
   
3. Swap Force - the characters look truly horrible when swapped
   
4. Giants - useless
   
5. Lightcores - they are a good idea for the younger audience if it is a newly released character, and they look awesome, but they are a massive waste of money if it is a reposed character.
   

At the moment, the Trap Team look like a really awesome idea, but the thing I really hope for is improved gameplay. There have been minor changes, but the core gameplay has stayed the same throughout the first three games, they need to change it - it is beginning to get boring. With Giants, it felt like an expansion, but that was understandable due to TfB only having one year to develop it. With Swap Force, it is still partly understandable - VV were new to developing a Skylanders game by themselves. Now though, TfB have been given two years, and have previous Skylanders experience - Trap Team is the time for them to up their game, and create something totally new and exciting.

1. Trap Team - This looks like the best gimmick yet. Trap villains and play as them? Yes please!
2. Swap Force - If Trap Team didn't exist right now, this would have been first. I liked the idea of swapping a lot, as it gave a fun new aspect to the game and there were many possibilities.
3. Giants - Ehh, they were okay I guess, but nothing really new brought to the table other than them lighting up.
4. Lightcore - My least favorite, purely because of the fact you pay more for less. This was especially true in Giants. Why would you pay 13 bucks for a figure with no Wow Pow or path switching, which are better (to me at least) than lighting up and sending out a shock wave, when you could get the Series 2 that's basically vice versa for 10? I have to admit though, some of the lightcores light up pretty awesome, like Prism Break's.

Wow i didnt think about lightcores and original concept.

1. Bringing Toys to Life- This was just awesome at the time! This has never been done before! I was so excited for this! Putting toys into a video game. Just awesome!
2. Swap Force- This was pretty awesome too. Swapping the different skylanders with the tops and bottoms was fun. There were so many possibilities! Although I love this concept, I only played 3 times! I know this is crazy, but during the holidays, my Wii U had my attention. But I plan on playing more of it soon.
3. Giants and Trapping Villains- This one is a tie. Giants was pretty cool. They were like bigger versions of Skylanders!(I know. Thats obvious) They were like legendary pokemon! The Trap Team, ehh... I still have a ton of questions and I dont really know too much about it. Mayby it will go up once I learn more about. But for now, it is a tie with Giants.
4. Lightcores- This was a kind of cool, but it was more of a show thing. All it did was a lightcore blast in the game. It was a little useless because the Giants already had this and your looking at the screen most of the time. You never really look at the skylander on the portal.

1. Trap Team
2. Swap Force
3. Original SSA
4. Giants
5. LightCore

1. Swap Force
2. Trap Team
3. Lightcore
4. Giants

1. Bringing Toys To Life
2. Trapping Villains
3. Dynamic Swappability
4. Lightcores
5. Giants

While most people share my opinion that Giants was the worst gimmick, I'm surprised to see that a good number of people rated it pretty high. The Giants really didn't add anything to the game, they were just bigger. The worst part? They were incredibly slow, making them painful to play.

I personally miss the added utility the first game added with water/swimming, flying, lava walkers, units immune to everything but fire, rock breakers, crystal breakers.......it added a lot more to your Skylanders.


1- First game utility (as above/needs to come back)
2- Giant utility (unlocking different paths)
3- Swap zones (8 swap abilities)
4- Elemental zones
18- Pokemon non-sense