darkSpyro

Every place I've been too lately is filled to the gills with only one kind of trap - WATER. TRU has a sell right now where if you buy a water trap, you get a trap of any other kind, yet there weren't any other traps. Did they make too many despite the game coming with water? They aren't having the issue with life.
*confused*
- Unreall

Actually, you are correct. Not only TRU but Target as well. You still can get the Brawl N Chain variant trap. GameStop seems to be the only one with some variety.
However....the TRU in Buena Park (the other one I go to) has a bit more in variety of traps because it's more obscure than the Fullerton one.
It basically depends on the stores you go to.

Theory: The Water Trap is the only one to have all 6 sculpts released by Wave 3. So I would think that there are just more Water Traps out there than any other.

In my personal opinion, the Water Traps had the least enticing designs. I only have the Tiki from the Starter Pack and the Target Exclusive.

I think its more to do with which villians are what element. Water has literally not a single villan worth bothering with, so there is no reason to buy more- however life has a couple- including people wanting brocoli guy always on hand? Seems to be the most logical reason to me

I think large availability of traps combined with low demand is probably the reason. My TRU has 50+ water traps and nothing else. It's disgusting how no one has stock on ANY traps...forget the fact I've yet to see Wave 3 traps in the wilde except for one or two stores a few days before Christmas.

I guess my thing is, its seems weird for Activision to not understand they don't need as many waters due to pre-orders and packaging - they did just fine with Life, but I mean it is literally a sea of blue. You'd think the other elements were variants.

If we were talking 'a few more' - then I coudl get on board with "well people didn't like the villains", but like the Cary TRU and the Raleigh TRU both are just blue. I saw a life at the raleigh one, picked it up out of curiosity, only to find out it was a water trap taped to the back of a life trap. The inventory is preventing people from buying traps - I assume TRU has other stock in the back, but won't open it until they move more water.

They need a fire sell *pun*, buy 1 get 6 free. I've been painting Landers for fun lately, maybe I should make my own Water traps hahaha.
- Unreall

Calling it now - by late Sky 5, Water Traps will be impossible to get and will be going for 3-4x the retail on the secondary market.

Boomer. Magna Charge. Now, Water Traps.

Better run out and stock up on them now while you can.

They want us to catch Chill Bill 1000 times.

I finish my water traps collection before I even had any Earth traps.

Quote: Unreallystic

I guess my thing is, its seems weird for Activision to not understand they don't need as many waters due to pre-orders and packaging - they did just fine with Life, but I mean it is literally a sea of blue. You'd think the other elements were variants.

If we were talking 'a few more' - then I coudl get on board with "well people didn't like the villains", but like the Cary TRU and the Raleigh TRU both are just blue. I saw a life at the raleigh one, picked it up out of curiosity, only to find out it was a water trap taped to the back of a life trap. The inventory is preventing people from buying traps - I assume TRU has other stock in the back, but won't open it until they move more water.

They need a fire sell *pun*, buy 1 get 6 free. I've been painting Landers for fun lately, maybe I should make my own Water traps hahaha.
- Unreall

Good observation. They're probably not getting any new stock in. I'm guessing Activision messed up the balance...this is REALLY standing out like a sore thumb.

It's like that in Australia too , basically nothing but water traps. They definitely screwed up the water trap releases. Maybe they though they'd be popular coz they were blue and people generally like the blue things, or they did it on purpose so they'd always have some trap shelf presence and not be completely sold out between waves, but I'm still certain they released them wrong.

I think the water axe is in the wave 4 trap list again, but hopefully that's incorrect. Coz they really need to skip it and let the rest balance out.

Quote: UncleBob

Calling it now - by late Sky 5, Water Traps will be impossible to get and will be going for 3-4x the retail on the secondary market.

Boomer. Magna Charge. Now, Water Traps.

Better run out and stock up on them now while you can.

I'd sign onto this theory - however, a Water Trap is available in the Starter, therefore it limits the need to mold collectors down the road. And I imagine it will be futile to try and collect all the traps if you haven't started that by now.

I went to a TRU and there were exactly three traps that weren't a Water trap of any kind: a Magic Logholder, an Earth Orb, and an Air Gulp(or whatever it's called). It had a giant Skylanders section, the kind that took up too much space, if a Skylanders section can take up too much space.

Don't know about the US one, but on the Italian Skylanders Facebook page, they posted an image of all the Water traps molds, with this caption "Thirsty for Water traps? Which one is your favorite?".

No, I'm not thirsty.

I would just want a Spotlight to see during this Blackout of Waves, and Rocky Roll with it, but apparently, they won't use a Short Cut, and we'll have to wait a bit more.

I just hope this did't Echoed like a whine, it's just that I can hardly wait for the new Skylanders.
I'm sure they will spark a new Thunderbolt in my experience.

Quote: defpally

I'd sign onto this theory - however, a Water Trap is available in the Starter, therefore it limits the need to mold collectors down the road.

Shhh! No, they'll be super rare and expensive. Everyone should go clear their local shelves now in anticipation of the crazy secondary market there will be on these. The fact that this would only increase the chances of restocking/stocking new traps has nothing to do with my valuable financial advice. ;)

No the traps have separate UPC codes? I ask because if the traps share the same code (or maybe 1 per wave or something), then you wouldn't be able to tell that you're out of balance from the database inventory. I'm not saying that it isn't an inventory problem, just that it may not be so easy and obvious to fix. Even if the manager is physically eyeing his inventory, he may not want to order more for fear of getting more water traps. Perhaps he/she's just waiting for the next wave.

The last time I went to TRU and the only traps they had were water traps.

I can't stop seeing Water Traps either, but not just any water traps, but the STUPID LOGHOLDERS THAT WON'T GO AWAY!!!!!!! Anyway, Its just like Head Rush and Gusto where you can't go into a game store without seeing mountains of these

Yeah, all I see at Walmart and Target is water traps... I have literally not seen any trap other than water out on the shelf of any store yet.

Oddly, the starter pack came with a Life trap...but I don't see too many of those out. I forgot the breakouts on the trap boxes...did they just overload them or what?

Here in Italy they are still the majority, but they also have a lot of Wave 1,2 and 3 traps for every other Element, except, of course, the Kaos one, but that goes without saying.

The problem with the water traps is this:

Traps come in an assortment of 24.

In Wave 1, there were 4 water traps per box (2 jugheads and 2 log holders). There were others that were less plentiful, like 1 air trap (jughead) and 2 life (torch).

In Wave 2, there are AGAIN 4 water traps per box (2 angel and 2 axe). There are also again other types that are underrepresented, like 2 fire (screamer) and 2 life (toucan).

What is happening is that people are buying up all the other traps, and stores aren't restocking because they have full displays of traps for sale (albiet most of them water).

When you add the oversupply of water traps in the first two waves, the delay of Wave 3 traps, and the fact that everyone got a water trap with their starter pack, supply FAR exceeds demand right now. It will probably even out in the later waves (which will be short on water traps because there are only two types left, and the one that is in the starter will presumably not be released in as large quantities).

The reason it is not also happening for life traps (the other type in the starter pack) is that Activision has released HALF the number of life traps as water traps. There will be a glut of life traps after the rest release in the later waves.

Sounds like Gamestop is getting desperate, they're having a special sale this week: Buy one regular trap, get a WATER trap for $0.99! Also, maybe one reason for the overflow of water traps is because Activision is marketing Chill Bill so much, and they REALLY want us to trap one of the worst villains in the game.

The only Water Traps I like are the Tidal Tiki, Frost Helm, and Soaking Staff.

I was at fred myer and there was only one life trap and the rest were water

Quote: BP

The problem with the water traps is this:

Traps come in an assortment of 24.

In Wave 1, there were 4 water traps per box (2 jugheads and 2 log holders). There were others that were less plentiful, like 1 air trap (jughead) and 2 life (torch).

In Wave 2, there are AGAIN 4 water traps per box (2 angel and 2 axe). There are also again other types that are underrepresented, like 2 fire (screamer) and 2 life (toucan).

What is happening is that people are buying up all the other traps, and stores aren't restocking because they have full displays of traps for sale (albiet most of them water).

When you add the oversupply of water traps in the first two waves, the delay of Wave 3 traps, and the fact that everyone got a water trap with their starter pack, supply FAR exceeds demand right now. It will probably even out in the later waves (which will be short on water traps because there are only two types left, and the one that is in the starter will presumably not be released in as large quantities).

The reason it is not also happening for life traps (the other type in the starter pack) is that Activision has released HALF the number of life traps as water traps. There will be a glut of life traps after the rest release in the later waves.

Good info.

So yeah, someone at Activision goofed, and bad.

I had some folks on Facebook actually frustrated because their son/daughter wanted a fire trap and ALL they could find at the stores they went to were water (I directed him to Best Buy, no one goes their for skylanders stuff *regularly* so they had a healthy stock of everything wave 3 including other types of traps.

What's worse, is this is going to sour the 'average' person to the point they may not buy anymore traps. This is 'turrable'[/Barkley] for business.
-Unreall

It's the same in the UK. Everywhere I go there's just Water Traps. If I'm lucky, I'll find a Life Trap. As for any others, I have to get lucky and find someone opening a fresh box just to get them.

Gamestop has a buy 1 trap, get a water trap for $.99 sale. I guess they do realize that there's a big problem with the balance of traps. I wonder if they actually have any non-water traps so customers can use the deal.

http://www.gamestop.com/weekly...l_10001918&fq=3

Quote: Unreallystic

I guess my thing is, its seems weird for Activision to not understand they don't need as many waters due to pre-orders and packaging - they did just fine with Life, but I mean it is literally a sea of blue. You'd think the other elements were variants.

If we were talking 'a few more' - then I coudl get on board with "well people didn't like the villains", but like the Cary TRU and the Raleigh TRU both are just blue. I saw a life at the raleigh one, picked it up out of curiosity, only to find out it was a water trap taped to the back of a life trap. The inventory is preventing people from buying traps - I assume TRU has other stock in the back, but won't open it until they move more water.

They need a fire sell *pun*, buy 1 get 6 free. I've been painting Landers for fun lately, maybe I should make my own Water traps hahaha.
- Unreall

Sorry to be a bit OT, but I noticed you live in the Raleigh area? I do too, and I'm brand new to the franchise. Just wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing a few of the best stores you've found with either a wide variety or cheap prices, or both. At this point I have only SSA and Giants figures so there's a lot I still need. Thanks in advance.

In the UK, at least in the stores i've been in, the are loads of water logholder and life torch traps with the occasional water jughead (that I still haven't bought). Wave 3 is rarely seen. I bought a water helmet that was the only one of those in Tesco. I bought a life snake in Game the following week. After that, I saw both in Smyths but there was only one of each. There are quite a few other problems but this is one of the main ones.

Talking with an employee at TRU who seems tp typically be somewhat in the know, she said the strikes on the West Coast had prevented them from keeping stock up, apparently they hadn't received traps since December
(0_o)'
That was recently cleared up, so maybe we'll start seeing the problem clean itself up, including things likteh Light/Dark set which haven't hit shelves around me since...well December.
- Unreall

Maybe, but multiple sources have cited that the expansion packs are in fact DISCONTINUED.

Quote: GhostRoaster

Maybe, but multiple sources have cited that the expansion packs are in fact DISCONTINUED.

Being honest, I'm not too worried about them, as they will be purchasable in some capacity and I already have them, but for me, I still struggle to see Wave 3 stuff in stores, especially TRU which seems flooded with Water Traps and stuff from Wave ONE. So I'm wondering if the WC issues were gumming up more than just traps. As it stands, I'm hoping for better distribution on Wave 4 I'm honestly doing my last couple of laps on the game now.
- Unreall

I'm guessing the water traps aren't very well liked, except for certain moulds such as the Angel and Axe.

I've seen over 50 of the Log Holder at different locations and no-one seems to want them.

Quote: Greeble

I'm guessing the water traps aren't very well liked, except for certain moulds such as the Angel and Axe.

I've seen over 50 of the Log Holder at different locations and no-one seems to want them.

Well to be fair there are multiple reasons water traps shelf warm.
1. The water villains had to be one with 6 villains and most were pretty bland and unhelpful. They were even the one with the only Doom Raider you don't need to fight.
2. The log holders were too mass produced along with Outlaw Brawl and Chain to make even more of that trap.
3. Water was the first element to get all molds of the traps released before any other element.
4. Water suffers from having the least amount of unique traps from the elements.
5. Most of the water villains didn't even make sense for the element.

Overall the water element definitely wasn't as well thought out as the others and they really could have helped out the magic element more. I can even come up with three more magic villains they could have used. A Gazerbeam cyclops with the magnifying glass, a Spell Punk and maybe a puppet like Mesmeralda's or even herself as a villain.

try walgreens for traps

Let me chime in here from someone building their collection from scratch. I'm not rich with massive disposable income and can't afford 40+ traps at £5.99 each. So I am focusing on elements I don't already have. And water comes with the starter kit. Same with life. I can't wait for wave 4 and the chaos trap actually coming with the tripple packs because the online prices are making it impossible to buy right now.

Didn't you read the portal master guide in fine print? You must be independently wealthy to participate in this endeavor of freedom from the tyranny of the darkness.

But yeah, unlike last game things are slowing down and there's still some unequal distribution of product.

When I got Wave 2, it was two days after launch. I rushed to get them, thinking of how it would be to get them.
Other than traps, everything else made me want to kick myself in the butt. Wave 2 was the most overproduced, disappointing wave so far. Boy, did I look like an idiot rushing to get all of Wave 2 when traps were the most difficult and everything else was simple
Hate to see what Wave 4 will be like in the US.