Quote: Sesshomaru75I would argue that Skylanders doesn't need Spyro outside of Academy and the comics, as he isn't important or relevant at all in the games aside from the first one. And if it did, he hasn't really been helping much.
I sort of agree, I just feel like he's the cornerstone of all the jokes and the setting. Take for example Imaginators' cutscenes: I could not see any other character replacing him. Nobody else looks like a main character besides Master Eon or Kaos, but I wouldn't expect Eon to take Spyro's place or have as much screentime. This goes for Academy too (and to be fair I've not yet seen it, nor is it marketed to me). I may end up getting flak for this but without Spyro it would look like Minions or Rabbids (only with more than one joke that works outside of trailers) - they're fun, but not on their own because they were born to be supporting characters even if we personally have our "Mains". They need a strong lead role, and Spyro in my opinion is the only one that seems to fit the bill, Stealth Elf being a close second (and Gill Grunt if he was a bit more John "Hannibal" Smith).
My stance is a bit muddled up because on the one hand, I want Spyro to do his own thing, and on another hand I think he's the backbone of Skylanders. And then on another hand I think taking him away would do nothing bad for Skylanders, giving other characters more development. And then on another hand I think it's better he remain than be part of a series of riskier, less desirable games and go out without a bang. I have four hands. I am Mehrunes Dagon.
What I failed to consider earlier was that it's not as though we'll lose use of our Spyro figures, because it's not like they're being produced any more. It's quite paranoid on my part and a waste of time and resources on the developers' to stop his models working on future Skylanders games, so I'll be more flexible on my stance about that. But I still firmly believe that without Spyro, Skylanders would not have boomed in popularity quite like it did (and continued to do so for a while). I'm also being cynical about Activision - there's no doubt in my mind that they'll hold onto the rights of Spyro like a dragon clawing its treasure hoard close to its chest, and getting all weird about it. Ahem. There's few things that annoy me more than holding back licenses that people want to make use of that the owners don't. The tragic fate of Metal Arms is one such example, and I trust Activision would do the same with Spyro.