darkSpyro

Wait, does this mean these figures are going to be rare and hard to get? Blue Splat sold for $56 dollars according to that link...I was hoping she would be dirt common for at least a month for me to get one at a normal price...I don't want to spend more than what I had spend on SCs for the whole year just on a variant Splat.

Honestly I couldn't care if a satanistic cult was sponsoring my variant Splat, I'd still one. LOL But I do have a BFF who has Autism. I left him a Skype message and once he gets back online, I'm sure he'll tell me how all about the company.

Bleh, not liking Splat. Trigger Happy and Gold Rusher are ok but I really like the Splatter Splasher.

https://www.facebook.com/AutismSpeaks.OC/ anyone care to contact them about their "exciting opportunity"? lol

I've done some looking around and it seems TRU is in tight with Autism Speaks, so I'm guessing these will flood the TRUs like those Legendary Roller Brawls and will be enough for everyone for months or years. I'm guessing this ebayer got a hold of a bunch from their TRU and the other stores will be releasing theirs very soon? Just a guess.

I can say as a guy with autism I HATE how Autism Speaks try's to make autism sound like a humongous disease. However I LOVE the concept of a autism represented veichle. I love even more how it's the Gold Rusher of all things (2nd favorite veichle overall). I will DEFINITELY try to get this thing on launch now.

Dang....this actually hurts quite a bit. I'm autistic myself and pretty heavily involved in the autistic community. I've got a pretty good grasp on how horrible Autism Speaks is with their attempts to silence autistic voices, their borderline anti-vaxx stance, and their treatment of autistic people like they are a tragedy or a disease that needs curing. They prey upon frightened parents who think that autism took their 'real' child away, that there's a child underneath the autism rather than seeing said child for who they actually are. They prey upon desperation and promise cures that will never be. I could go on and on about this. Skylanders to me is what the autistic community calls a 'special interest', which is to say it's something that I have an obsessive passion for. I've endured an insane amount of criticism along the lines of, 'Why are you collecting these things? They're for little boys to play with, not a grown woman!' but throughout my life I've come to stop caring about what other people think about the things I enjoy. It really sucks to see a series that I enjoy so much teaming up with a horrible organization that is universally loathed by the community they claim to support. I honestly don't know if I can continue supporting Skylanders anymore, at least not in good conscious. This all just leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Honestly, I love the idea of there being figures for autistic representation, but not if Autism Speaks is behind it. There are much better organizations out there like ASAN that represent us better than Autism Speaks ever would. Autism Speaks treats us like we are some horrible tragedy instead of real people with different needs and challenges and that we are some disease that should be eradicated. I refuse to support them under any circumstances.

If TRU is known to partner with them,then it might be their suggestion and not Acti having stupid ideas for once. Still doesn't mean their marketing needs a reality check about the nature of the internet and how people won't stop at 'oh it's a nonprofit organization' anymore with so many scams out there.

Quote: fairyland

Wait, does this mean these figures are going to be rare and hard to get? Blue Splat sold for $56 dollars according to that link...I was hoping she would be dirt common for at least a month for me to get one at a normal price...I don't want to spend more than what I had spend on SCs for the whole year just on a variant Splat.

Honestly I couldn't care if a satanistic cult was sponsoring my variant Splat, I'd still one. LOL But I do have a BFF who has Autism. I left him a Skype message and once he gets back online, I'm sure he'll tell me how all about the company.

No, I doubt very seriously they would make a figure for a charity then make it hard to get or under-produced - unless they were going to do one of those charity auction things, which isn't what is happening this year. I'll bet they will be overstocked due to the charity angle.

By the way, regardless of the charity, doesn't it seem sleazy that someone would scalp a figure made for a charity for personal profit? There is a special area of hell dedicated to people that do things like that.

Well, by buying them, the money is going to charity anyway. It's not a good thing on this case, but the damage isn't as big as stealing them from the factories as it used to happen. Unless it's an employee stealing them, which then yeah all sorts of wrong.

These variants are still ugly even if they are for a good cause.

Quote: fairyland

I couldn't care if a satanistic cult was sponsoring my variant Splat, I'd still one. LOL

CRYING!!! I legit LOL'd. As long as the price point is $6.66 then it's all good.

Quote: Hexin_Wishes

These variants are still ugly even if they are for a good cause.

Quote: fairyland

I couldn't care if a satanistic cult was sponsoring my variant Splat, I'd still one. LOL

CRYING!!! I legit LOL'd. As long as the price point is $6.66 then it's all good.

LOL In for two then. I'll be doubly damned. I am probably the only one that thought of Baphomet when they saw Splat but really the cross marketing potential is totally there for an up and coming cult. I remember Pokemons being called Satanic at the height of their popularity by some nutter religious group and it made the news and there were concerned patents and all that. It was total baloney but it would make me think twice about associating a faun with a charitable organization. I mean they could have picked out a nice succubus (Bat Spin) or vampire (Roller Brawl) instead, right?

I recall people also being crazy over Magic and Undead skylanders for being satanic and keeping their kids from buying them, at least that's how I remember someone describing it years ago in the forums.

But hey, from the look of things,the cause isn't all that good,so the irony makes itself.

Am I the only one who isn't liking the variants this year?

Quote: LittlePunk

Am I the only one who isn't liking the variants this year?

I always enjoy the variants!!!

Quote: Bifrost

I recall people also being crazy over Magic and Undead skylanders for being satanic and keeping their kids from buying them, at least that's how I remember someone describing it years ago in the forums.

But hey, from the look of things,the cause isn't all that good,so the irony makes itself.

Oh yeah, I remember an article with Hex... the writing of that person was disgusting.

Well,same thing as arguing that Dark Souls is satanic because it also "misuses" the undead. It's kind of an entirely different world where your religion doesn't even exist. I even remember the Pope having to do a speech about the whole Pokémon is satanic thing which boiled down to 'things are entirely different there, you can't really apply the same rules to entirely different animals'.

But going offtopic. Wonder how are the stat changes with those figures; if it's just better overall or with some more focused differences.

Quote: Deja Vu

Quote: Bifrost

I recall people also being crazy over Magic and Undead skylanders for being satanic and keeping their kids from buying them, at least that's how I remember someone describing it years ago in the forums.

But hey, from the look of things,the cause isn't all that good,so the irony makes itself.

Oh yeah, I remember an article with Hex... the writing of that person was disgusting.

There was also the video of that lady... Ugh I'm Christian and have no problems I would love to go up to her and say " Help us satan is trying to support autism!!!!!" Lol

Regarding the "charity" portions of the Power Blues...

Generally how something like this works, while the agreement is being made, the company (in this case, Activision), crunches all the numbers, determines how much money is going to be raised/donated, then plans to donate that amount of money during the promotion.

Activision has already "sold" these figures to retailers, thus they've already raised the funds they're going to be donating to the "charity" in this case.

Buying or not buying these figures at retail won't send more or less money to the "charity" - on the other hand, if these figures are successful, Activision might take this as a green-light to continue supporting the charity.

My recommendation is not worry so much about buying or not buying these figures - but to make sure Activision knows that you are not a fan of Autism Speaks as an organization. Post on the official Skylanders Facebook, make a blog article on your favorite Skylanders site, email/tweet them, call 1833HELPEON, etc. Be nice, be detailed as to why you don't like them, and suggest alternative organizations that are worth donating to (I suggest St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Great work there!).

Anywhoo - just my two cents. :D

Brownie points to Activision for the effort regardless of how people may think of the charity.

That being said, I'm wondering if Autism Speaks will be the only distributor for these. I'd rather buy these at retail rather than off eBay. That definitely doesn't feel legitimate to me. as others have noted, maybe TRU will bring them out. In any event, the variants have been WAY OVERDONE this year. Officially burned out.

We FOR SURE know these are coming to TRUs because they're in the system.

I've read some things about people in California and Canada finding these. Provided these claims come from facebook and instagram.

But i live in california, and i'm goin to TRU today. I'll be sure to look/ask.

They're at retail. Confirmed to be in at least two different retailer's systems.

Quote: UncleBob

They're at retail. Confirmed to be in at least two different retailer's systems.

Ah ok. Didn't know that. Thanks for the 411.

Quote: UncleBob

My recommendation is not worry so much about buying or not buying these figures - but to make sure Activision knows that you are not a fan of Autism Speaks as an organization. Post on the official Skylanders Facebook, make a blog article on your favorite Skylanders site, email/tweet them, call 1833HELPEON, etc. Be nice, be detailed as to why you don't like them, and suggest alternative organizations that are worth donating to (I suggest St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Great work there!).

Anywhoo - just my two cents.

We need to frame this and tape it to the top of the board once they come out officially. Good or bad organization, never act like a jerk to whoever is associated, don't pull a tumblr. Bickering goes nowhere and Acti might get even stingier of community interaction than it already is if we react with yelling. Present the points, express politely that it's no good, and suggest solution.

Quote: Bifrost

Quote: UncleBob

My recommendation is not worry so much about buying or not buying these figures - but to make sure Activision knows that you are not a fan of Autism Speaks as an organization. Post on the official Skylanders Facebook, make a blog article on your favorite Skylanders site, email/tweet them, call 1833HELPEON, etc. Be nice, be detailed as to why you don't like them, and suggest alternative organizations that are worth donating to (I suggest St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Great work there!).

Anywhoo - just my two cents.

We need to frame this and tape it to the top of the board once they come out officially. Good or bad organization, never act like a jerk to whoever is associated, don't pull a tumblr. Bickering goes nowhere and Acti might get even stingier of community interaction than it already is if we react with yelling. Present the points, express politely that it's no good, and suggest solution.

Yep. And then watch the ignore occur.

Quote: Bifrost

But going offtopic. Wonder how are the stat changes with those figures; if it's just better overall or with some more focused differences.

I'm still wondering if Blue Splat will be scented any differently. It would be beyond cool if she smelled of Blue Raspberry instead of Bubblegum. Then again some autistic people are greatly effected by smells, so I'd be surprised if she has one at all.

Quote: UncleBob

My recommendation is not worry so much about buying or not buying these figures - but to make sure Activision knows that you are not a fan of Autism Speaks as an organization. Post on the official Skylanders Facebook, make a blog article on your favorite Skylanders site, email/tweet them, call 1833HELPEON, etc. Be nice, be detailed as to why you don't like them, and suggest alternative organizations that are worth donating to (I suggest St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Great work there!).

I'm wondering if it would work? I've looked at the AS and TRU connection last night and they've been partnering for several years now. I'd think if Activision had refused AS, then they would probably end up pissing off TRU, which would be obviously bad. This totally reeks of a TRU project to me and Actision is all too happy to make more variants for TRU. LOL

Personally I would love to see other color variants, like a Pink Stealth Elf for Cancer Awareness, Rainbow Smash Hit for LGBT, etc. LOL May as well have a point behind all these silly variant releases, you know?

Quote: fairyland

Quote: Bifrost

But going offtopic. Wonder how are the stat changes with those figures; if it's just better overall or with some more focused differences.

I'm still wondering if Blue Splat will be scented any differently. It would be beyond cool if she smelled of Blue Raspberry instead of Bubblegum. Then again some autistic people are greatly effected by smells, so I'd be surprised if she has one at all.

Quote: UncleBob

My recommendation is not worry so much about buying or not buying these figures - but to make sure Activision knows that you are not a fan of Autism Speaks as an organization. Post on the official Skylanders Facebook, make a blog article on your favorite Skylanders site, email/tweet them, call 1833HELPEON, etc. Be nice, be detailed as to why you don't like them, and suggest alternative organizations that are worth donating to (I suggest St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Great work there!).

I'm wondering if it would work? I've looked at the AS and TRU connection last night and they've been partnering for several years now. I'd think if Activision had refused AS, then they would probably end up pissing off TRU, which would be obviously bad. This totally reeks of a TRU project to me and Actision is all too happy to make more variants for TRU. LOL

Personally I would love to see other color variants, like a Pink Stealth Elf for Cancer Awareness, Rainbow Smash Hit for LGBT, etc. LOL May as well have a point behind all these silly variant releases, you know?

I know many LGBT people in my life, so I would love for there to be a LGBT support skylander. Maybe a whirlwind variant. But smash hit could work well, because that "is smash hit male or female" topic spawned a few posts that give me a bit of a smash hit headcanon.

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Yep. And then watch the ignore occur. :)

Maybe.

But if you don't speak up, they *will* ignore you.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Yep. And then watch the ignore occur.

Maybe.

But if you don't speak up, they *will* ignore you.

true.

Quote: fairyland

I'm wondering if it would work? I've looked at the AS and TRU connection last night and they've been partnering for several years now. I'd think if Activision had refused AS, then they would probably end up pissing off TRU, which would be obviously bad. This totally reeks of a TRU project to me and Actision is all too happy to make more variants for TRU. LOL

I'm sure TRU had*something* to do with it, but since the Power Blues aren't TRU exclusive, I'm not sure exactly *how* much influence they had.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: TakeYourLemons

Yep. And then watch the ignore occur.

Maybe.

But if you don't speak up, they *will* ignore you.

oh i agree. just my eternal optimism speaking.

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: fairyland

I'm wondering if it would work? I've looked at the AS and TRU connection last night and they've been partnering for several years now. I'd think if Activision had refused AS, then they would probably end up pissing off TRU, which would be obviously bad. This totally reeks of a TRU project to me and Actision is all too happy to make more variants for TRU. LOL

I'm sure TRU had*something* to do with it, but since the Power Blues aren't TRU exclusive, I'm not sure exactly *how* much influence they had.

Eh, it's just a tax deduction as far as Activision is concerned.

found at walmart in california.

Ugh! Why not OH?!

Were there any others (Splat, Triggs or Splatter Splasher)?

Quote: UncleBob

Quote: fairyland

I'm wondering if it would work? I've looked at the AS and TRU connection last night and they've been partnering for several years now. I'd think if Activision had refused AS, then they would probably end up pissing off TRU, which would be obviously bad. This totally reeks of a TRU project to me and Actision is all too happy to make more variants for TRU. LOL

I'm sure TRU had*something* to do with it, but since the Power Blues aren't TRU exclusive, I'm not sure exactly *how* much influence they had.

Wait there not TRU Exclusive? Do we have any proof (for USA)? Would love to be able to just order them on Amazon.

I don't know if Amazon will have 'em, but as you can see above, they've been found at a Walmart. ;)

I found Eggcited Thrillipede at TRU today. It looks like some TRUs have them street dated and some don't. My TRU didn't have them street dated so I picked it up, but apparently ZapNorris's TRU had them street dated for March 1.

Quote: 84skylanderdude

I found Eggcited Thrillipede at TRU today. It looks like some TRUs have them street dated and some don't. My TRU didn't have them street dated so I picked it up, but apparently ZapNorris's TRU had them street dated for March 1.

Mine had both the easter one street dated for the first, along with the power blues.

No street date w/ our local TRUs on Eggcited Thrillipede, bought today.

Mine has ET tonight - not register locked and sold on the spot.

With Amazon shipping these out and no street date on the box, I seriously doubt a street date of 17 days away will hold. Could be wrong.

Quote: GigaCamo

Ugh! Why not OH?!

Hi I have noticed in the past that Walmarts here in OHIO have items 7 to 9 days after California gets them. I will be hunting all of my Walmarts real soon. I have 10 all within 30 minutes of my house its going to be a hunt coming up. Best of luck to you on your OHIO search.

Quote: trixster68

Quote: GigaCamo

Ugh! Why not OH?!

Hi I have noticed in the past that Walmarts here in OHIO have items 7 to 9 days after California gets them. I will be hunting all of my Walmarts real soon. I have 10 all within 30 minutes of my house its going to be a hunt coming up. Best of luck to you on your OHIO search.

Thanks for making me hope I can get my favorite veichle!

http://m.toysrus.com/product/i...F:87953526:TRUS

Easter thrillpede is up


As for the blues being for austim thats cool, i hope they are donating the sales or something.

Quote: henryszuch

I hate how many Skylanders aren't TRU "exclusive" but are rarely seen outside of TRU. I have a GameStop really close to me, and a Target and a Best Buy at the mall but there's nowhere nearby with a TRU.

Ya, the nearest TRU to me is about 4 hours away.

Boils down, as I've said plenty of times, to horrible product distribution.

I never once saw Walmarts or Targets get in the new Eon's Elites that weren't exclusive, and I've only seen GameStop get in Missletow Dive Clops, never Walmart, Target or even Best Buy.

But for reference, you don't see these issues with Infinity or Dimensions. They have set release dates and all stores, even Walmart (which is sad by all standards as Walmarts are horrible at making sure shelves are stocked), have new product out on those dates, if not earlier.

Not Skylanders though. Poor distribution of figures to all stores, no communicating release info to customers and no setting specific dates for figures is just driving is franchise straight to the grave. I'd hate to see the founding TTL franchise be the first to die, while others reap the benefits of what Slylanders started, while Skylanders fails miserably due to Activision not caring about the brand, and TFB/VV going along with them, instead of telling Activision "look, we love this brand, and things need to be done better." When hey say nothing, they show as much care as Activision, which seems to be slim to none.

Oh, and the release of wave 4, the Easter figures, and Power Blues only support my claims. No Easter variants have been spotted at all retail stores, and the Power Blues are very YMMV, as usual. Again, they show up in certain regions, but not all regions. But, on 3/15, I'll walk into Best Buy, or any store of my choosing and guess what I'll find? Zootopia and Marvel Battlegrounds Playset for Infinity, as well as Midway Arcade Level Pack, Stay Puft, Aquaman, and whoever else is releasing for Dimensions that day.

Called my local TRU. No Power Blues or Easters. Guess March 1st is still holding up in my area.

What you say is not correct. My local Walmart got a few Infinity 3.0 items in at release and that's it. The only Dimensions stuff it got was some stuff at Thanksgiving (and no starter packs).

Yes, Activision sucks at announcing releases and such - but retailers do share some of the blame. If Walmart, Target or Best Buy had ordered the non-exclusive Eon's Elite figures, I'm sure Activision wouldn't have said "Naw. We're doing pretty good right now, I don't think we'll take your money."

Got the power blue gold rusher.

Activision is responsible for its franchise. At any given time they can make sure the sections they're paying for are amply stocked. if Activision wanted to make sure all stores had product, they could. Are they? No, because if the stores ordering was an issue, and Activision cared, guess what they'd do, they'd tell the stores drying up on Skylanders why they should continue to support their product and alert them that new product is waiting to be ordered.

Actually, this exposes a flaw in Skylanders.

Maybe they don't order, because back in the day, they ordered a lot and were left with a lot of shelf warming product because Activision doesn't want to set specific dates for new items. This means while some stores kept getting older product that wasn't selling, some stores sold enough to get new product.

Again, though, had they set specific dates, maybe stores would order in confidence they're getting new product and not months old product.

Quote: ZapNorris

Got the power blue gold rusher.

At which store?