darkSpyro

So... I've been thinking about building a database of Skylander terms; I'm pretty new to the game; only started with Trap Team; so I'm learning the lingo as I go along...

Which is why I think a database of terms would be very useful to anyone interested in skylanders... hope others feel this way too!

I'm going to shoot out some terms here; please feel free to reply with your own definitions, or for that matter your own terminology questions!


CORE: Core Skylanders are just the basic Skylanders figures. These are the figures that we refer to as Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, and now Series 4 figures.

In Spyro’s Adventure all 32 original figures were Core Skylanders. All 32 figures are also considered Series 1, but that differentiation was not made until the second game was released and Series 2 figures were created.
In Skylanders Giants, eight new Series 1 figures were created along with 24 Series 2 figures.
In Skylanders SWAP Force, 16 new Series 1 figures were created along with 16 reposed (Series 2 and 3) figures.
In Skylanders Trap Team, 18 new Series 1 figures were created along with five reposed (Series 2, 3, and 4) figures.

CHASE: A chase is a version of the regular figure that has been modified intentionally in some way by the company. This modification could be a different jersey, a different uniform or team, a hat rather than a batting helmet, leaving the helmet off entirely, or other differences. The chase version of a figure may or may not be pictured on the packaging. The key is that a chase is an intentional variation of the regular figure. The term “chase” comes from the fact that it is produced in smaller quantities than the regular figure and collectors are expected to chase it down at the stores to get it

GIANT: The Giants, also known as the Elder Elementals, are the original Skylanders, as well as one of the key playable characters in Skylanders: Giants. There are a total of eight Giants, one of each element.

LEGENDARY: Legendary Skylanders are stronger versions of regular Skylanders in the Skylanders series, though they have exactly the same upgrades, and Heroic Challenges. They all commonly take on the color schemes of navy blue and gold.

MINI: Mini skylanders are characters first introduced in Skylanders: Giants. Originally they were pet counterparts to their Giant figurines; in Skylanders: Trap Team they became playable characters. They posess all the strengths and abilities of their Giants counterparts but move slightly faster and have (arguably) less melee reach in combat.

NITRO: Nitro Skylanders are characters introduced in Skylanders: Swap Force that are mostly associated with speed. They have a yellow-and-white checker color scheme. Known characters include Head Rush, Krypt King, Freeze Blade and Magna Charge

REPOSE: Skylanders who are fan favorites from Series 1 that are given new re-modeling of their figurines. Series 2 reposes are given one Wow pow power. Series 3 reposes are given two Wow pow powers. Series 4 reposes are given three Wow pow powers.

TRAP MASTER: The Trap Masters, also known as the Trap Team, are a group of Skylanders who use special crystallized weapons to weaken villains in Skylanders: Trap Team. They were the ones who originally caught and imprisoned the villains, including the notorious Doom Raiders, in Cloudcracker Prison.


Trap
Portal
Wave
Wow Pow
Jade

WORK IN PROGRESS; THANKS TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE FOR THEIR INPUT!

Good idea. How about Jade?

So wait, is this like a "pitch in and help" sort of thing like with GigaCamo's arena tier list or something different?

If its pitch in, you can add...
Repose
Lightcore
Portal Master
Traptanium
Mabu

And also Wilikin and Evilikin

Phone-it-in... what Activision/TFB did making reposes instead of more/better new characters.

You could also add Nitro to the glossary.

Your piece on reposes is wrong

Please, correct me.

what about series and waves

They only have one wow pow each but it's a new different one each time

I don't think you need a definition for Jade, Granite, Molten, etc. Nitro is fine since it is now a series like the Legendaries.

Wow Pow: This is the additional ability that Reposed Skylanders have. It must be purchased like other upgrades to be used.

There is something wrong with the Mini part: The first set of Sidekicks were released in the summer of 2012 for the first game (they have a green base). They could be summoned in Spyro's Adventure.

Quote: newkill

I don't think you need a definition for Jade, Granite, Molten, etc. Nitro is fine since it is now a series like the Legendaries.

Wow Pow: This is the additional ability that Series 2, 3s and 4s Skylanders have. It must be purchased like other upgrades to be used.

There is something wrong with the Mini part: The first set of Sidekicks were released in the summer of 2012 for the first game (they have a green base). They could be summoned in Spyro's Adventure.

Lightcores are technically reposed :-P

Here are some things you might want to include

Giants: They can unlock special areas of the game in Skylanders Giants
They can open special 'Giant Chests' in Skylanders Swap Force

Minis: They were introduced as sidekicks in Skylanders Spyros Adventure and Skylanders Giants

Trap Masters: They are stronger against Trappable Villains

I'd say you should put Jade, Granite, and Molten all under one category like maybe, In-Game variants?

thanks for all the feedback, especially on the first day! I'll make edits tomorrow and I'd still like to hear more discussion on Jade, Granite and Molten; I'll do some research on my own as well.

Keep it coming!

Quote: isaac343018s

I'd say you should put Jade, Granite, and Molten all under one category like maybe, In-Game variants?

for example, what do you mean by in-game variant? I was under the impression that a Jade character's figurine was painted as such as well as their in-game variant. Do Jade character's in-game counterpart have any special abilities or stats? For example, Nitro characters are suppose to move faster than their core counterparts.

And from what I've read so far, lightcore characters do not have any in-game special features; just that their figurines light up.

Keep the discussion coming!

@Ilistar: I think you forgot to add info about the Swap Force Skylanders, or simply called "SWAPPERS".

Quote: Ilistar

Quote: isaac343018s

I'd say you should put Jade, Granite, and Molten all under one category like maybe, In-Game variants?

for example, what do you mean by in-game variant? I was under the impression that a Jade character's figurine was painted as such as well as their in-game variant. Do Jade character's in-game counterpart have any special abilities or stats? For example, Nitro characters are suppose to move faster than their core counterparts.

And from what I've read so far, lightcore characters do not have any in-game special features; just that their figurines light up.

Keep the discussion coming!

Make an over-arching group called in game variants including Legendaries, then a sub-group for in game variants with only one figure of that type. i.e. Granite Crusher or Love Potion Pop Fizz. Jade would go on the outer group since there is both Jade Fire Kraken and Jade Flashwing, but something like Punch Pop Fizz would have his own category.

Ilistar, I am giving you a butt ton of credit for basically using the term "chase" correctly, and mostly shying away from using the term variant, which most of the community does incorrectly. The terms "chase" and "variant" are interchangeable, and is even sometimes called "chase/variant or chase variant". This term, in Skylanders terms, is only applied to treasure figures and convention and Activision employee exclusives. The community, seemingly at large, tends to refer to something like, say, Nitro Head Rush as a variant, is IS NOT. The term you should be using as a catch all for these, Nitro, Enchanted, Legendary, Dark, is Palette Swaps. This defines any character, pre-existing, which is depicted both on package and in game with alternate colors, and also, universally carries a moniker, ie Enchanted Star Strike. You can note that every character with an alternate in game palette has a modifier word on package that denotes they are a palette swap. This is not true of treasure figures, or chase/variants.

Your description of Core is too all encompassing. Activision considers "core" figures to be the characters new to that particular game, at the $10 MSRP pricepoint. So, every character in Spyro's Adventure is a core Skylander. However, only those $10 figures new to Giants are core characters, not returning characters from Spyro's Adventure. You can can them reposes or Serie' figures, both are more correct. Repose is basically a catch all term for any figure that has previously existed, but is released again as a different mold. Having a wow pow would not be a prerequisite. Lightcore Drobot is a repose, as the mold is different from the original release of Drobot.

If Legendary and Nitro get their own sub category, then Dark, and Enchanted also deserve their own sub categories. There have only been two enchanted characters, but there have been 8-9 dark versions (counting Spyro once or twice).

Otherwise, if you can get this all to catch on, I would LOVE to witness the death of the term variant used incorrectly in this community. Thank you for this.

Thanks, LordElohim, I didn't knew about that difference at all!

From now on, I will try to use the term "variant" only when needed, and try to replace it with "palette swap", instead.

Honestly, it sounded like you mostly did know, so really good job faking it. When you were describing chase figures, you were using examples from when chase figures either began, or became prevalent, the early 90's. McFarlane toys was the company that really made it big, and may have invented it, though I am not sure about the latter. With Skylanders, you can further break it down, if you want to, which is the approach I take with my collection. I collect all Skylanders, except chase variants. So, I do not have any of the treasure figures or the convention/employee figures, but I do count and collect retail variants, ie TRU blue Bash, Best Buy silver Sprocket, any variant released at mass retail, in "normal" quantities. "Treasure Figures," by the way, is the term applied to the chase variants by either Activision, TfB, or TT, not sure which, but I heard them use the term in an E3 or Toy Fair video. So, the treasure figures, the actual chase variants, would be the things like crystal Tuff Luck, the "metal" figures, basically anything of a solid color or transparency scheme. Technically, the term "chase figure" is used to describe something that is either hard to find, or more typically shortpacked by the manufacturer. It would be correct to call Wallop a chase figure, as he was only one per case, until wave 3. The Kaos trap, on the other hand, would be a chase in that it was hard to find, but in shipping, it was packed 12 per case, in its own assortment. In traditional boys' toy lines, like Power Rangers, the pink and yellow rangers are typically chase figures, almost universally shipped one per case. I have been a toy collector since 1993, so I tend to take the terminology pretty seriously. I can't lead the crusade myself, because I am just some collector being anal.

LordElohim I don't quite think that you are correct. There are two things, in-game variants and Chase Variants.

In-Game Variants include Punch Pop Fizz, Dark Spryo, Nitro Head Rush, etc.

Chase Variants are figures that don't look any different in game than normal, ie. Clear Tuff Luck, Glow Fright Rider. All of them are Extremly rare except for 3, WERDS, Glow Sonic Boom, and Pumpkin Eye Brawl and depending on how you consider rarity a Pumpkin Fright Rider may also fall into this category.

I explained the difference in my first reply. You would not call Nitro Head Rush, for instance, a variant, as it is its own standalone character, and it is case packed "normally." In toy terms, a "chase" or "variant" is something any ordinary consumer or even uninformed collector wouldn't know about unless they saw it. In the McFarlane days, which I used as my example, it would be a sports figure, but in their away jersey instead of the normal home jersey. Every alternate palette Skylander has seen wide distribution, primarily because many of them are store exclusive, and are case packed as their own assortment. When Toys R Us gets Legendary Bushwhack, it would be incorrect to call it a chase, or even a variant, as it is neither. Being store exclusive does not make something a chase, as in this instance, every case that Toys R Us receives will contain only 8 Legendary Bushwhacks, and nothing else. It isn't correct to call it a variant, because being uniquely named means it isn't a variation of anything. Bushwhack is a character. Legendary Bushwhack is also a character, not simply a variation of Bushwhack. Essentially, if it has a "different" name, it is a different character. A variant, in the toy community, has no packaging difference at all, cosmetically, from its base version, you can discern a variant only by visual cues. You cannot consider the alternate palettes variants because they have their own, unique, seperately manufactured packaging. A crystal Tuff Luck is randomly packaged in a Tuff Luck package. A Love Potion Pop Fizz is not randomly packaged in a Pop Fizz package, it has its own mass produced and mass released package. It may all sound like I am just splitting hairs, but part of the reason Skylanders hooked me is that I have been collecting for a long time, and Skylanders appeals to every part of me.

Transformers is more my area, so I will cite a more specific example from there. Sometimes, Hasbro decides, mid production, to package figures in robot mode instead of vehicle mode. So, you can buy an Optimus Prime, and he is packaged in robot mode. Two months later, you can find that exact same Optimus Prime, same package type, same style, same figure, same everything, but packaged in vehicle mode instead. That, is a variant. Two identical figures, in identical packaging, no manufacturing alterations, but different from one another. It could be sitting next to a Silver Knight Optimus Prime, same mold, different colors, different package. Silver Knight Optimus Prime would not be a variant, it is a different figure. A big example from the Transformers universe would be Beast Wars era Cheetor. There were three versions; one with blue cheetah eyes, one with red cheetah eyes, and one with green cheetah eyes. I believe the one with red eyes was the "correct," mass manufactured version, and the other two were variants. By the same token, the three Frito Lay Fire Bone Hot Dogs are variants, but Fire Bone Hot Dog is not a variant of Hot Dog.

Sorry for my walls of text. I'm passionate about this stuff.

Your info about Reposes are completely wrong!
Someone please correct him

I got a couple for you...

Swap Force: A group of Skylanders with the ability to swap their torsos and legs with one another due to being exposed to an eruption from a magic volcano. Each Swap Force member has a special ability, ranging from climbing, flying, digging, and more.

Dark (Palette Swap): Skylanders who have summoned the darkness within them to make themselves stronger in battle. Dark Skylanders commonly have a black and silver color scheme. Most known example of this is Spyro.

Life: One of the original eight elements of Skylands. Skylanders of this element typically have powers or weapons that are related to plants or nature. Some of these Skylanders include Stealth Elf, Tree Rex, Stink Bomb, and Bushwhack.

How about adding traps?

Traps Traps are the small toys used to trap villains making playable. (you could probably do better than me)
also welcome to dark Spyro!

You got something wrong. The minis were introduced in Skylanders Spyro's Adventure. The minis made were: Trigger Snapoy, Whisper Elf, Terrabite and Gill Runt. They functioned like the giants minis did and they were called sidekicks.

I'm not sure if you want an entry for each element, but if you do, here's what I would put...

Magic is one of the original eight elements. Magic Skylanders usually have attacks based on sorcery, spell casting, and sometimes manipulation of other elements. A notable member of the magic Skylanders is Spyro himself.

Earth is one of the original eight elements. Earth skylanders are tanky by nature and usually have an armor upgrade. Their attacks usually aren't very long ranged.

Water is one of the original eight elements. Water Skylanders are often aquatic or ice based in their attacks and character design. They usually are very balanced between toughness and attack power.

Fire is one of the original eight elements. Fire skylanders are very directly offensive, usually having alot of damage output, at the cost of having lower armor than other elements.

Tech is one of the original eight elements. Tech Skylanders often have a high multitude of different, powerful attacks, and are fragile in terms of HP.

Undead is one of the original eight elements. Undead Skylanders are very powerful, and are well rounded in terms of having balanced damage output and HP. A majority of undead skylanders have some sort of defensive ability. A notable member of the undead Skylanders is Cynder.

Air is one of the original eight elements. Air skylanders usually have the ability to fly, and because this often takes up a power slot, have to rely on their other two abilities to fight. They are usually a bit faster than other elements, either in terms of base movement speed or some sort of dash or flight ability.

Life is one of the original eight elements. Life skylanders often move slowly but hit hard, and sometimes have a self healing ability. This can make them surprisingly tanky.

...I'm going to skip on doing light and dark because... well... I don't have either of the expansion packs, and know nothing about them. I'll leave that to the other members of the forum.

What about series and wave

Scalper could also be added to this.

IMO...

The Spyro's Adventure and Giant's "minis" are sidekick.

All the Trap Team ones are minis.

Your info on Repose Wow Pows are all wrong. No skylander has more then one wow pow. Each series they change the wow pow.

@Ilistar: You forgot to add "SWAPPERS" and what they do in Skylanders games.

MoMS
Mirror of Mystery Syndrome
When a player buys an expansion pack, hoping that it would be awesome only to find out that it falls flat & disappoints the player for various reasons, i.e. Pay too much for such a short game, lack of story, etc.
A player usually wants his/her money's worth to keep them excited, otherwise boredom sets in, losing interest.

Quote: Insane01

MoMS
Mirror of Mystery Syndrome
When a player buys an expansion pack, hoping that it would be awesome only to find out that it falls flat & disappoints the player for various reasons, i.e. Pay too much for such a short game, lack of story, etc.
A player usually wants his/her money's worth to keep them excited, otherwise boredom sets in, losing interest.

That's only a personal opinion.

Don't think it should be an actual definition.

I personally liked the Mirror of Mystery, yes, it was short, but It wasn't bad, and I enjoyed it.

Quote: Insane01

MoMS
Mirror of Mystery Syndrome
When a player buys an expansion pack, hoping that it would be awesome only to find out that it falls flat & disappoints the player for various reasons, i.e. Pay too much for such a short game, lack of story, etc.
A player usually wants his/her money's worth to keep them excited, otherwise boredom sets in, losing interest.

I like it very much... I always wanted at least one level to be like it.

Fun.
Mostly fighting.
Not a lot of talking.
No Skystones.

And, Chompy!

Quote: Drek95

Quote: Insane01

MoMS
Mirror of Mystery Syndrome
When a player buys an expansion pack, hoping that it would be awesome only to find out that it falls flat & disappoints the player for various reasons, i.e. Pay too much for such a short game, lack of story, etc.
A player usually wants his/her money's worth to keep them excited, otherwise boredom sets in, losing interest.

That's only a personal opinion.

Don't think it should be an actual definition.

I personally liked the Mirror of Mystery, yes, it was short, but It wasn't bad, and I enjoyed it.

And that's only a personal opinion. I think it stunk along with Nightmare Express. The light and dark packs actually felt like what I consider to be proper quality efforts.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Quote: Drek95

Quote: Insane01

MoMS
Mirror of Mystery Syndrome
When a player buys an expansion pack, hoping that it would be awesome only to find out that it falls flat & disappoints the player for various reasons, i.e. Pay too much for such a short game, lack of story, etc.
A player usually wants his/her money's worth to keep them excited, otherwise boredom sets in, losing interest.

That's only a personal opinion.

Don't think it should be an actual definition.

I personally liked the Mirror of Mystery, yes, it was short, but It wasn't bad, and I enjoyed it.

And that's only a personal opinion. I think it stunk along with Nightmare Express. The light and dark packs actually felt like what I consider to be proper quality efforts.

Sure, and since terms are facts, we cannot consider personal opinions of any kinds to be objective.

We can agree to say MoM is short, because that's a fact.
We might not agree on the quality of it's contents, like the gameplay or the "fun" we had playing.

On the other hand, we cannot disagree on the fact that Minis are old and new Sidekicks that have been given their bigger counterpart's powers, in Trap Team, and that can now be used as regular Skylanders, with some differences in speed and attack range.

See the difference between opinions and facts?

I think you should add these-

Eon
Kaos
Villains
Doom Raiders
Eons Elites
Traptanium
NPC