Well, I guess I was just surprised anyone might take offense to me asking another forum members in the Skylanders thread to post an extreme close-up of their new, rare haul. While there are photos on the internet, there are not many good extreme close ups. Besides, if the tables were turned and somebody wanted to see the sweet new figures I just scored, I think I'd be more than happy to show them off (though I might have a difficult time figuring out how to host the images).

Furthermore, if anyone shouldn't mind, it's somebody who just posted extreme close ups of his own broken controller in another VG Talk thread just a couple of days ago, since clearly you're not worried about large images clogging up anyone's bandwidth.

That's my explanation of how those two things are related.

I didn't think much of Eruptor or Drobot either, Prism Break was the coolest looking of the initial wave, although I think the lc Jet-Vac looks neat though.

I was underwhelmed by some of the giants lighting too. Hot Head really looks like the fire in his hands should light up, but only the flame on his head does, and the legendary Bouncer was a little disappointing. Tree Rex is the best looking giant maybe because he has 2 different light colors (blue eyes/green gem), and Swarm looks okay.

Wow, it was a joke dude. Lighten up a little.

Crusher has two different colors too but I think it makes him look odd. He has blue eyes and green rock things on his shoulder. I think the granite crusher looks better as he has blue eyes and blue rock things on his shoulder.

Out of all the light up wave 1 characters, I think Granite Crusher, Tree Rex and Prism Break look the best. The holes on each of bouncer's hands should have lit up and both of the things on swarm's hands should have lit up.

They probably should have just skipped the whole lightup thing as it seems rather half assed... Although that would mean they wouldn't be able to cash in on lightcore figures.

Looks that way. I found a couple of videos that seem to show the Light Core Jet Vac chest medallion and gun/cannon "glowing" in game.

Regular: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0n6bIKKO-w

Light Core: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fljeEE2eAT4

I'm now wondering if in-game stats will be different similar to what is done with the Legendary figures.

When we looked at the figures in the store I thought it would be cool if the "gun fingers" on Bouncer lit up but didn't expect them to. However, it looks like the things on Swarm's hands *would* light up. If not, just what does? Seems very lame if those hand things do not!
Heck, the whole thing is a cash grab. Why else would the prices of figures go up 25% over the original game's release? That's why I informed the kids I'd only spring for the 16 "new" characters/figures and they'd have to purchase the others themselves. I already get questioned by my wife every few weeks on "just how much *have* you spent on Skylanders?" Everything I purchased this time will be Christmas. Hopefully that'll end that line of questioning...

Well my wife just told me the stupid dog chewed up the glow in the dark cynder.... Should have just bought the regular bundle and saved some money.

On swarm, only one hand lights up. I forgot what else lit up.

Edit: I would guess his eyes light up as well. It's stupid that his right hand lights up but his left hand doesn't (I might have this reversed).

Oh, no problem Corvin. I was just shooting a joke back at you, but then had to explain it, apparently.
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Back to Skylanders : My game hasn't arrived yet. Do the new figures have the Switchable paths and Pow Wow abilities like the S2 figures? If not are there any functional differences between the new figures and the new figures that have lightcore versions (Jet Pack, Shroom Boom, etc)? I'm picking up from you guys that I probably shouldn't even bother with the lightcore reposes, right? I'd be better off getting a few reposed figures than those, I guess.
Oh yeah, I did pick up the Game Stop exclusive Battle set I preordered. I like how the gold cannon looks. Does that light up? It looks like it might.

Man this stuff is confusing!

The lightcore reposes do not have wow pow or switchable paths so they're basically nerfed figures. So far 2 of the reposed lightcores also have terrible lighting effects (eruptor and drobot). The lightcore figures do an AOE attack when they are put on the portal.

The cannon lights up.

The new figures in series 2 do not have wow pow or switchable paths like the reposes.

Edit: After buying all of wave 1, I think I am going back to my original plan of only buying the 8 Giants, the reposes that I do not already have and all the new characters (lightcore version when applicable). I am not sure the wow pow or the switchable paths are worth the extra money if I already have the figure. I wasn't too impressed by Cynder's wow pow ability.

Ours came in today and I opened the package to check everything out. So... I'm going to answer my own questions.

The cord is hard-wired into the portal and has a length of 8-9 feet (did a rough measurement). For us this is too short by about 3 feet. The USB ports on the Wii are USB v2 which has a 15 meter max length (roughly 16.4 feet). I'm hoping a USB extension cable will work without issue should we have a need for this portal.

The portal can *not* be used with batteries. There is no door/access of any type on the device.

We use rechargeables and have had no issues so we'll continue with the original wireless version. It also is a strike off due to the Wii USB ports being on the back of the system. Both of the ones we have are inconvenient to get to the back of the unit so this could be a potential problem. Of course the intent is probably to connect the unit and leave it connected all the time, just coiling up the cable when done. That's a pain too as we have little room for this method. I really wish they'd have made it so it could work either way and let the purchaser chose their poison.

^
I have it on the 360 and I hate how the portal is always on if I leave it plugged in. None of the 360 portals ever had an option for batteries so I am already used to dealing with a glowing portal 24/7.

You could get yourself one of these. I use a couple in the house and they work great.

What happens when someone accidentally turns off the tv? Does it instantly turn everything off or is there some sort of delay?

I was just complaining about the portal glowing whenever the 360 is on. It needs an off switch. I gave up on unplugging it / plugging it in multiple times everyday as it seemed like a good way to break the usb ports.

^I agree about an "off" switch for the wired variety. The wireless one has this. If I wind up using the new wired portal I'll probably get a short (6') USB extension cable and just plug the portal in when it's needed, leaving the extension always plugged in. I just see issues with people walking back and forth when we're playing and catching a foot on that cable (especially kids) pulling the entire console out of the cabinet onto the floor or pulling the portal off onto the floor breaking it. Either way a bummer...

Yeah everything shuts off. I think there's about a 5 second delay.

Just found out that my 3 year old discovered some zook rock variant guy that's apparently worth a lot(not selling it). Crazy how much it's sold for on ebay. One single pack of the guy went for $180.

I heard that Hot Head was not supposed to have been released yet. For those of you that got him congrats!

TRU released wave 2 on Monday. Hopefully everyone else gets it soon..

Their wave 2 was only supposed to be Sprocket and Flashwing, which I got both of. Hot Head was not supposed to be released early in that wave.

They weren't supposed to release the reposes either?

Here is a grown man's Skylander collection.
http://t.co/xBUvi6F6

This man is a married adult with children, this is not his kid's collection.

I have no problem with someone playing the game or buying the figures, but the level of the specific OCD displayed here is troubling to me. Sure, I don't really care what someone who I don't know does with their time or money, but it's still disconcerting - maybe I'm afraid of it possibly happening to me!

I think the reposes were ok but the only new releases coming out early were supposed to be Sprocket and Flashwing.

'eh, it's not really that bad until you get to the last two pics... 20 starter packs?

I can't go to the link right now but is it the guy from darkspyro who buys multiples of everything so he can leave one packaged and hanging on his wall?