darkSpyro

Me and gamemaster78 went into toysrus last night to try and get the wave 3 characters we walked over to a second location of skylanders and he noticed something interesting.

When I showed that to Crazy, I was on the phone with another TRU, trying to get them to sell wave 3 at midnight.

Stealth Smash?

it was quite funny to see that. i asked should i take a pic and post it. to show everyone on darkspyro. he said sure. it was a interesting find none the less

Toys for bob isn't to blame for the toy packaging.

But the question is....


DID. YOU. BUY. HIM/HER?

No left it for someone else

Where are you guys at? Near Jersey?

Oklahoma City.

Ok, NOWHERE close.
Darn, the only error I've seen was a broken staff Double Trouble.

I had the other half. It was at Best Buy in California 3 weeks ago. I showed my Wife at the time but there was no reason to buy it since we already had it. I know, no one is going to believe me but I think that is hillarious. I should not even say anything because my creditbility is pretty good but this might tarnish it. IF you dont believe me then just ignore this post, but I jsut think this is great that this post was created. Now I know who has the other half.

I'm not one to say pic or it didn't happen. That's what's wrong with this world. We are here to share different stories. If something is false don't have to call them out on it. Just injoy the story comment without negative remarks. Or don't comment

toy for boobs big mistake is all the crap variants they release, it is going to end as the failed guitar hero...

@kappapopm

thats what gamemaster78 has told me before. how funny you say that

WAIT! I never said that. The only way Toys for Bob will go under on Skylanders - in my opinion - is if they do these things -

- Never meet demand with the figures on each year's games

NOTE: They are doing a fantastic job with Giants, minus shipping more wave 2 of the Giants themselves as they send regular size Skylanders. If they could just keep Giants like Hot Head as supplied as they are regular size Skylanders, this would only further solidify that any figure could be found at anytime someone wants it.

- Stretch the release of figures out 7 months with each game.

NOTE: I have this theory that TFB is releasing something every month with Giants. We had wave 1 and 2 in October, L-Stealth in November, wave 3 core Skylander In december and - so far - the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack in January. However, I hope they release everything in wave 4 (ie the remaining 3 Series 2, the remaining Giants, the remaining Lightcores, and the remaining Triple Packs). Now, if they wanted to stretch it out further than 4 waves, save the rest of the ingame variants (Scarlet Ninjini, Jade Flashwing, Molten Hot Dog, and Polar Whirlwind) or any unreleased single packs of characters that were exclusive to Battle Packs (ie Hot Dog, Shroomboom, Chop Chop, Zap) or Starter Packs (Jet-Vac) for those waves. This allows everyone to get all unique characters, while collectors still flock to future waves due to the ingame variants.

- Lack of Adventure Packs in each game to keep the customer interested while they stretch out the release of figures.

NOTE: In the first game, after beating it, I would only turn it on during the wave 2 release, to register the new figures. Same with wave 5. However, during wave 3 and 4's releases, I knew I had 2 new chapters to play and experience. This at least made me boot up the game for about an hour to play those, in January of 2012 (Empire of Ice) and on March 21st, 2012 (Dragon's Peak). These games need new Adventure Packs, and I would be so bold as to say, maybe one per month, for as long as figures are being released.

- Raising prices.

NOTE: This is something that worries me, and I am seeing a pattern here. First game releases, figures are 7.99. January comes, and the figures are raised to 9.99 at TRU, followed by Gamestop and everywhere else when Giants releases. Second game releases, figures are 9.99. January comes, and the figures are raised to 10.99 at TRU. I expect Gamestop to follow, then everywhere else when the 3rd game releases. So, does that mean when the 3rd game releases, they will be 10.99 and when it gets close to January, TRU will bump them up to 11.99, followed by Gamestop, and finally everywhere else by the time the 4th game comes out? Money isn't the end all be all of this world. Nintendo doesn't raise the price of Pokemon games, because they know people will pay those prices. They don't raise the price, because they know it's just as popular now, as it was when it first debuted in 1998, here in the US. If Activision or Toys for Bob keep raising the price, or allow other stores to do so, they will definitely kill this off, because parents are going to say this game is too costly.

- Make each game the same length as Giants... or shorter.

NOTE: The idea of making a sequel, is to best what you did when you made the first game. Sure, they added quests, but some of them can't even be completed (L-Chop Chop; Ghost Roaster). Even if they could, 3 of them are universal for ALL figures, which leads to repetition. The other 3 are the same for each character in each element, while there is one unique quest per character. Even then, if one really wanted to work on that, it could probably be done within a month, if one had all characters. Heroics last about 2-3 minutes each, and while fun, I could blow through those in 50 minutes, if each Heroic was 2 minutes long. They need to make more chapters in each game, or at least raise the count through Adventure Packs, which could tell side stories and build good lore for this franchise.

- ONLINE... PLAY!

NOTE: I can't stress this enough... I am a person who values social get togethers over playing online, BUT, none of my friends are secure with themselves for playing Skylanders. They think, "AAA, M-Rated, gritty games or bust." So, any get togethers would have to be online. Sure, I know Crazyace on these forums, but he's only one person. I remember during the PS1 and Dreamcast days, my friends would host get togethers for games like Worms, Soul Calibur, WCW/NWO Revenge, Goldeneye 64, Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, or Power Stone 1 and 2. That's then, this is now. Now is online, as much as I hate to say it. Kids would play Skylanders more, and so would adults, if online play were a factor. Battle mode is easy enough for kids to button mash against each other, but if lobbies were made for kids and adults, adults could play adults and put some strategy into Battle Mode, which I know exists in Battle Mode. This could eventually lead to social tournaments in certain states, for those who qualify, which then comes full circle for Toys for Bob, who wanted this to be a social game physically, because now people are meeting in person. Online for this game has so much potential.

So, those are some of the ways the franchise could end up dead.

I just think that with each game being stretched out due to the way the figures are released, they need to keep people wanting to come back. Online would definitely help things, as I could forsee people playing through the story with others to level up characters (then it would feel like a mini-Phantasy Star Online as you travel through areas just leveling up with others from around the world).

If online never comes, because TFB is so dead set on thinking people will get together for the game, it really pains me to think that this game will lose its luster. This game needs constant expansions per game in my eyes (Adventure Packs and Magical Items) and online. Those two aspects will make each game last until the release of each game the following year.

Quote: kappapopm

toy for boobs big mistake is all the crap variants they release, it is going to end as the failed guitar hero...

Of course. And that's exactly what Activision WANTS. Ride the Skylanders boom as much as possible, oversaturate the market in 2013, and abandon it like a bad habit in 2014 when they push things further than people are willing to support. They'll make their profits - why should they care if Toys For Bob suffers for it?

It's exactly what they did with Guitar Hero, and despite the fact Rock Band "won" because they're still around, their victory has them supporting an unprofitable genre where you can't even buy the instruments anymore.

Dollar-for-dollar, Guitar Hero won the battle of the plastic guitars. They usually do, and that's why they're still around, regardless of their reputation of sometimes milking every last drop out of their latest cash cow.


It's up to Toys For Bob to prevent the Activision Taint from inevitably burning out the franchise. Give us the Gauntlet: Legends Clone where each Skylander can find unique "epic loot" and level up to 100, and you won't NEED another game for about three years.