darkSpyro

So, there seems to be the occasional question of what to expect on SWAP Force launch day.

To you, I say - Expect the Unexpected. In spite of all the folks trying to determine patterns and methods behind Activision's plans, we've seen, time and time again, that either Activision likes to mix things up or they just really don't have a plan at all.

With that said, however, I though it'd be fun to have a post about our launch stories.

For Spyro's Adventure, it was kind of a weird thing for me. I knew, from early news stories and reviews, that the game was going to be a mega-hit. But I also knew it was going to be a HUGE drain on my wallet. The night before it came out, I was at TRU. They were giving out these awesome posters that had all the figures on them - but I didn't get one. At this point, I *wanted* the game (I mean, seriously, a video game and cool little figures? Hells yeah) but was avoiding it.

The next day, I went back to TRU. They were starting a big Buy 2, Get 1 Free sale on all video game stuff and I wanted to pick up a few titles. My wife came in with me. My sweet, precious wife who I love dearly.

Anyway, the store was *dead*. They had a *huge* Skylanders display set up and I'm sure more than one employee thought "Wow, that was a waste". Before I started looking at games, I gave the Skylanders display a once-over. My wife was all "wow, what's this?" - so I explained the entire concept. She goes "You should get it.", knowing that I wanted it. I told her no, because I knew it was going to be expensive. I told her I just *knew* they'd release all kinds of variants, store exclusives, etc., and that I'd have to get them all and that it would drive us to the poor house.

She said if I wanted it, to get it.

I love my wife.

So, I did. I started loading up the cart, got the 3DS starter and the Wii version, then started digging through all the figures to find one of everything.

This was the first (of many) times my wife then hesitated. "You don't have to get them all today, do you?"

Well... I explained that they were buy two, get one free, so I was getting a really good deal on them. Then, explained that when the game got popular (to which she mockingly looked around at the total lack of other customers) and it got closer to Christmas, that there would be a rush on some of the figures and that I'd have no way of knowing which ones were going to be popular in advance - so I might as well get everything now.

After calling her brother to determine if there was a game he wanted (to go with the B2G1 on the two games I bought) and getting my entire purchase in line, we went to check out - where they tempted me with a TRU credit card and an additional 10% off today's purchase. Normally, I wouldn't, but I was getting so much...

Anyway, after that, I got out my phone and started looking to see who had exclusives. Went to Target for a Whirlwind, went to Sam's and two Walmart stores and came up empty on Drill Sergent (got him a few days later at another Walmart). Went to Best Buy and was irked over their pack-in exclusive (which I ended up getting online cheap before everything Skylanders went crazy - think I paid like $10/shipped for it). Went by GameStop where they had nothing and was given a hard time for buying everything at Toys R Us.

Then, came home, and played the game.

Funny thing about that poster - TRU was completely out the next day when the game came out. A good friend eventually mailed me a couple, so it worked out in the end.

For Giants, I previously posted that whole fiasco here: //forum.darkspyro.net/spyro/viewposts.php?topic=62965

So, tell us your launch stories!

SSA: Didn't even know about the game.

Giants: Went to Target on day 1, there was a little kid with his grandparents, who bought him almost every different character. I bought just Bouncer, Granite Crusher, the Wii Starter Pack I had preordered, and the Dragonfire Cannon Battle Pack.

SSF: Nothing I think. Maybe Popthorn Adventure Pack and a couple Swaps. Not the game almost for sure.

SSA: Ordered waited to Christmas
SG: Ordered waited to Christmas
SSF: Pre-Ordered getting it the day it comes out, getting all new guys available at launch and as much S2/S3/Lightcore as I can before I run out of money.

SSA: Didn't know about it yet.

SG: Didn't know about it yet.

SSF: It'll be a bloodbath.

S:G:
It was awesome! Got all the new Skylanders and found both Rock variants!

SSA: I bought Whirlwind about a week before I learned of the game's release date. On the actual launch day, I don't think I got it, but rather the saturday or sunday after. I got it at TRU, and also picked up Darklight Crypt and Pirate Seas in a buy 2 get one free. (this was when the triple packs were cheaper! ;__; ) There wasn't anyone in the store and no one was quite aware of this "toys to life" craze. They couldn't have seen what would become. I wasn't originally going to get the 3DS version, but I ended up caving and getting it on sale on Black Friday.

Giants: I bought the game on launch day. I waited outside in the cold for it. (October in Cleveland is essentially winter) In front of me was about 4 people, all much older than I, but definite players as I checked my 3DS while in line and noticed that they were the exact same people who I had Streetpassed! Behind me was a few families with little ones and a few people as old as I was too. Inside, everyone was very cordial and grabbing the things they wanted, even people helping out if they were looking for something. Also on launch day, I went over to Gamestop to grab my preordered Battle Pack and Target and happened to grab the last Granite Crusher, plus S2 Gill Grunt who happened to be out early. Again on Black Friday, I hunted down the Walmart version of the 3DS starter pack to minimize doubles.

SF: I'm probably just gonna get 1-2 characters, depending on what sort of store exclusives there will be. I intend to get the game maybe in the week or so after; might hunt for a good deal on it. As for the 3DS version, I'll definitely get it on Black Friday if stores continue to have such awesome deals on it. The reasoning behind this is that I'm not made of money and don't really have a lot of it, since I'm still a poor college student. Also, because I'm going to be buying Pokemon XY the day before and I don't want to drop over $100 on things in the span of 2 days, ESPECIALLY because as we've seen, there's no rush to get anything except exclusives. It actually pays to be patient and wait for Skylanders and I'm in no hurry to part with my money just to be the first one to get something. Plus, hopefully JC Penney's (if they don't go out of business >___> )will hopefully have fantastic deals on figures for the holidays. I literally got half of my giants collection for free because of it!

SSA: Never heard of Skylanders.

SG: Went to Walmart and picked up a PS3 starter and two single packs (Pop Fizz and Slam Bam). Watched a man fill his cart with every Giant he could get his hands on ($600+ worth). Manager told me he would bring more figures out after that guy had left. Was there with my nephew, girlfriend, and her brother. Went home, slept, went to church, then went to Target afterwards to pick up two Granite Crushers. I think that is all.

SW: No plans as of yet. Will probably just see if there aare any store exclusives, pick those up and get the game on Black Friday with the Fritolay Lay coupon. Though the Dark edition is looking very, very tempting.

SG: i got to gamestop on launch day and picked up The game and Swarm Pop Fizz And Fright Rider
Ssa: got the game and like 3 triples a week after launch

What was the price od the game on Black Friday?

I don't recall getting either game at launch, I was pretty much casual when both started. It was after a month after Giants came out that I got the "fever" so to speak and got caught up. This will pretty much be the first game I get on launch day ever except for Batman Arkham Asylum.

Quote: shelly9871

What was the price od the game on Black Friday?

$40...

For SSA, I didn't get the game until pretty much the last wave had come out. I had considered getting it for myself as a Christmas present, but I talked myself out of it because the starter was expensive and there were other things I wanted more. But then that summer, I was living all alone since my wife had moved out to spend the summer at an internship for her new job on the other side of the state. I got bored having the whole house to myself and needed something to do. I had a little extra money, so I bought myself the starter pack, and all of the figures that my TRU currently had in stock. I loved the game right away, and since all the waves were already out, it was actually fun to shop around hunting to complete my collection. I managed to find everyone pretty easy, with only a few of the rarer figures giving me trouble.

Giants was also a great adventure for me. I made a great plan for that one. I tracked all of the stores around me that would be selling skylanders and visited the ones that opened earliest the first. On release day right at midnight I went to Walmart to pick up one of the GITD starters, and to see what I could get of wave one. I walked over to the skylanders display and saw nothing, thinking they just didn't have it yet. Then I saw a kid walk by carrying Fright Rider and asked him where he got it. It turns out they were giving them out from behind the register, so I managed to get pretty much all of Wave one there. The next day I got up early to go to Target and TRU. Since they opened at the same time, I decided to go to Target first since all I needed from there was Granite Crusher. I grabbed him right away and ran to TRU. I had a surprise when I got there. I had planned on only getting the Legendaries at TRU, but when I looked at the shelves, thru had already stocked all of their Wave 2 stuff a day early!!! I grabbed everything that I could from there.

And that's how I completed the first two waves of Giants on release day. I'm excited to see what the waves will be like for Swap Force, I can only imagine that the release days for it will be even more chaotic.

SSA: I remember thinking the game looked awful and childish when I first saw it on release day and I thought, like many classic Spyro fans, that Spyro had been ruined. Then a few months later, I was at TRU looking for what I wanted for christmas. I was looking at the video games and inevitably came to the Skylanders section. I thought they were actually kinda cool so I picked up the Starter pack for christmas along with Voodood and Stealth Elf (2 of my faves). I decided to wait till christmas to see if I would buy anymore as I may not of liked the game. I played it a lot on christmas and boxing day and loved it but it was somewhat overshadowed by Skyrim ans LoZ: Skyward Sword so I didn't buy any more figures. Then later on in the year, I started searching this website and got back into skylanders so started collecting the figures again before SG came out.

SG: I was much more on the ball this time and got the game the day after it came out, along with many of wave 1 although I had to wait for Christmas again. I also picked up any giants I could find and any reduced S1 characters at my local GAME/Argos. I even managed to get my little brother into the game this time around so he helped me search for any figures we wanted. I also went to TRU and got the legendary triple pack.

SSF: I plan to be even more on the ball this time. I will be pre-ordering the Dark starter pack from GAME to get LC Hex and the mysterious upgrade RFID chip. I will also go to any shops in order to get exclusives/variants and will be going to TRU to get any launch legendaries and swappers.

For SSA: Didn't know to much about it....saw it on the shelve, and thought it would make a good christmas gift for my niece...got the Wii starter pack. Christmas we all played it. as the weeks passed(i went over every sunday)found out my brother played it more then she did...because she was kinda young and had a hard time with it. My brother got addicted to the game...as i watch him play i thought it was kinda cool....so i got one for my Wii. Didn't know anything about the varients till saw the 3DS version (never looked at it...thought how am i going to play a game this elaborate on that tiny screen) besides i didn't own a 3DS...but i wanted Dark Spyro, so i got it. and the collecting began

For Skylanders Giants: by the time it came out i was already hooked...And so was my brother....i had almost all of the SSA figures by then. Christmas was a Giants fest...most of the gifts my brother an i got where Skylander giants figures. he got some SSA's also....the only one i was missing was the Ghost Roaster pack...of witch i now have(was a nightmare to find by the way)...i know, i know undead ..pardon the pun

As for SSF: I can't wait for it to get here...have pre-ordered the Dark Starter Pack. And im sure it will be complete and utter chaos on 10/13/2013 at the stores.

SSA: I knew well of the game and bought it around the time at target for my sister and then a short while later I got mine for ps3 for christmas.

Giants: New the release date but had to work very early that day. Did some math when I got home which was to make a hilarious detour to walmart after looking up the info to get the low down on the exclusives. The GITD cynder packs were my goal along with getting granite crusher over regular along with legendary bouncer over regular. I got the ps3 starter at launch only to return it later for another when black friday rolled around. I also bought a wii u version at target when that was cheaper as well.

SSF: Preordered several at target for the cards but I don't plan on picking those up now since I have the dark editions reserved. I'll worry on which day 1 figures to accumulate since my starters are secure and i can take my time to get which ones i plan to, which compared to previous games is going to be drastically lower unless there's more sales like before. adding mega ram dark spyro and slobbertooth in the dark editions just made everything so much easier in how much i saved there.

SSA: bought a week before Christmas along with a figure for each element so my son could enter all areas. Passed on a silver eruptor in a three pack because I thought he would like the colorful one better. :/

SG: bought all figures available at TRU because of BOGO 40% off deal.

When swapforce comes out I will be picking up the dark edition and possibly chat with fellow portal masters picking up their copy and I might grab a few figures.

I don't have many serious Portal Masters in my area so I get a GameStop and two Targets to myself

Quote: Will171717

I don't have many serious Portal Masters in my area so I get a GameStop and two Targets to myself

I thought that myself until the launchof Giants... Again proven by the GameStop event...

SSA: Bought the game just because Spyro was in it and then bought Bash and Drobot because they were the coolest dragons out at the time. Went on getting the rest of the ones I wanted when I ran into Slam Bam and his adventure pack. I figured that if I had one I didn't like then I should have all of them. So I just hunted until I was complete. I even managed to get 2 Toy Fair Cynders and a E3 Spyro :]

SG: Day 1 we began at Walmart bought mostly everything available there, then Target for Granite Crusher, then Toys R Us for ledgendaries, and finally Gamestop for the starter pack. Then after that we just checked here when figures we're going to be available and hunted them down.

SSF: Same Day 1 game plan then off to the NYCC :]

SSF DAY 1: Start out at GameStop buy Newlanders Swaps and Starter pack. Then go to Target buy any Variants and Any cores or swaps that I didn't find. Go to TRU and buy legendaries

clearly im not allowed to share my lunch stories here, since its been deleted. so beware guys there is a kid out there that ate to much sugar and are in a dazed state. that will delete anything without knowing the right from left.... just saying.

Ssa: I was at costco the first time i saw them... I looked the back and... Online game!!! So I played online!

Sg: bought L- for SSU... and at mars 2013, ordered Ssa for 20$ on amazon (PC), cuz we didin't had consoles in our house until april 2013 we bought the wii blue treex pack and then collecting started...

SF: Bring it

SSA: I actually got the game itself a day early, thanks to my family ordering a House party pack for Skylanders. It included nearly all of the Release Day figures, but we had to give them out as party favors to get my extended family into the game. I worked .

SG: My dad bought up all the figures that were new the day after release, even a Lightcore Prism Break. Though, I didn't get the game until a month or two afterward, waiting for the Wii U to release that way I could get the Wii U version.

SSF: I am hoping that this year the day after release, I will be able to hunt myself, as it doesn't give you the feeling that your money was well spent afterward if your dad hunts for you.

my memory of skylanders giants launch day was actually part of what got me back into skylanders, that and lost islands on the IOS. basically i had all of wave one of giants and all of spyros adventure figures, and i had hit financial difficulties and as a last resort i had to sell all my skylanders. naturally the next day or so, swap force was announced and i tried not to be interested. I found lost islands on my girlfriends iphone, downloaded it, and i couldnt help myself. Ordered myself an ipod touch, the battle grounds starter, and from there i have ordered every past skylander, i almost own them all now. ready for swap force.

but i hold fond memories of giants launch day for some reason, i just enjoyed the day. the night before launch glowing fright rider had begun to appear on ebay, i bid on him and THANKYFULLY didnt win. he went for about £18, i came on this forum on launch day and someone had announced argos in UK, was stocking a limited supply of him. i went straight online and reserved mine, for £7!

I went to city center and straight to argos, got my glowing FR first! two doors down is game (was then gamestation) where i had pre-ordered the glowing starter pack. here i expected to get some stick. i had a huge gym bag on my shoulder, i was going to get all of wave one. so i bought all the triples, all the giants, the battle pack, and a couple singles. went to the till, got my pre-order starter on xbox, and they were actually quite nice about it, we spoke about how everyone has 'their thing' and mine, spyro is from my childhood, so this game is for me. normally i would have got the 3ds starter too, but they messed up giants, and this meant i would have two duplicates for the sake of pop punch fizz, unlike the first where i got an exclusive and two other characters i needed.

after game i had to catch a bus, which takes us right out of the city and infront of tesco, where i went straight for my granite crusher. this journey was not a waste however, as about 20 mins walk from tesco (with a huge full bag now) was toys r us. popped in, and got my legendarys and legendary bouncer! the alarms went off on my way out which was embarassing, but the security guard was nice, had to be to have the patience to go through my entire bag full! but was an amusing conversation in the end and i left smiling.

the only things i had not purchased were the lightcores, i had told myself no. that lasted about a week and then they were in my possession too

it was a really nice day, im hoping swap force will be all the same. just i know with many more figures than giants this time, i may not be able to swoop in and buy them all this time. i may just have to go around and get all the variants. buy the regular figures when i can afford. i still have no idea how much this flynns ship playset will cost, and even though its just a storage thing, i really want it!!