My 5 yr old already has Hot Head transforming into the motorcycle (his top level upgrade).

Sounds awesome!

Only 4 more left for me to get; Ninjini, Thumpback, Eye-Brawl and Hot Dog. Not sure what Wave they will be in or when they come out. I'm just getting the 16 new this time.

I still need to get boomer, dino rang and wham shell from the first set. Damn Activision putting Wham-Shell in those $30 cardboard storage boxes at TRU...

Thank you for that glimpse into madness.

^Absolutely! I should show that to my wife so that *maybe* she'll get off my back for purchasing *one* of each character!

It was probably either that or he would be collecting people heads in jars or something. Some people seem like they are just a pinprick away from insanity. This dude appears to be one of them.

I must be crazy too as the first thing I thought of was how he was hanging these all on the wall without damaging the packaging....

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the "Jars of Urine Room" is right across the hall.

I wonder if he has disposable income or went into debt... I'm thinking the latter.

Just the collection of normal figures couldn't have cost that much. I would guess it cost a couple grand for what he has at msrp? The variants however were probably expensive as hell...

Just in case you were worried that guy went broke before Giants, he's updated his page with new characters.

I showed the page to my son today and he pretty much freaked out. Moderation isn't his thing. Now he says he wants all that

The guy pissed away nearly a thousand bucks in just multiple starter packs. Holy crap!

The GS website says that wave 2 is arriving in stores now. It's on the main page in the rotating ad type thing.

From IGN:


Skylanders Battlegrounds Coming to iOS Next Month
All previous figurines supported.
by Justin Davis
October 29, 2012

Activision’s Skylanders franchise smashed onto the scene last year, capturing the hearts (and wallets) of youngsters and adults alike. IGN awarded the original title an 8 / 10 “Great” review. The game’s 2012 follow-up Skylanders Giants received equally high marks.

But Giants doesn’t mark the end of Skylander’s 2012 releases. Next month (exact dates haven’t been announced) Activision will release two Skylanders titles for iOS – Skylanders Battlegrounds and Skylanders Lost Islands.

Lost Islands is a freemium city builder that gives gamers the opportunity to develop their own sky island. The casual gameplay is reminiscent of Zynga's Farmville or EA's recent Simpsons: Tapped Out. Players are encouraged to “check in” on their budding island a few times a day to harvest crops, complete basic goals and send their Skylanders on multi-hour missions to bring back resources to further help construction efforts.


Will you play a Skylanders social city builder?

Although Lost Islands is sure to appeal to a broad audience of more casual Skylanders fans, Skylanders Battlegrounds is the title more likely to excite traditional gamers. The gameplay takes advantage of a unique, two-pronged turn-based and realtime strategy system.

Gamers start in a hexagonal overhead viewpoint, tapping on tiles to move their party of Skylanders. As players take their turns, CPU-controlled opponents are making simultaneous movements. When players collide with an enemy, the perspective zooms in and an arena-style realtime battle plays out. Players can issue simple touch-screen commands to their Skylanders to have them move, retreat, attack enemies or perform special abilities.

The game will be sold on the App Store as a stand-alone product, but Activision has bigger plans for Skylanders on iOS. Consumers will also be able to pick up a $49.99 pack that includes a Bluetooth Skylanders portal, the game and a handful of figures. The portal allows players to hot-swap Skylanders in and out of battle in realtime. As an added bonus, Skylanders Battlegrounds recognizes all Skylanders figurines placed on the Bluetooth portal.

Both Battlegrounds and Lost Islands will be available on iOS later next month. IGN will have more on these mobile Skylanders extensions soon.
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The Farmville clone does nothing for me, but that other one, with the Bluetooth portal? Damn, I could be into that, especially if it comes with figures I've yet to purchase. Will need to keep an eye on this before buying any more figures.

Even after my previous rant I caved and we now own the game and a few figures.

My aunt is notorious for getting shitty gifts. She wanted to know a gift that my son would enjoy for his birthday. Since she is constantly getting slack for the gifts she give to some other family members I wanted to make sure she got something my son would make a huge deal about. The gift was a huge hit and he already has all the available Giants and 2 other figures. Being able to use the older figures with the new game made the eventual blow to the wallet a bit easier to deal with.

The iOS version comes with Jet-Vac, Cynder (series 2), an exclusive Royal Double Trouble, and the Treasure Chest (from Pirate Seas).

I wish the iOS, 3DS and console versions all had completely different characters or at least different variants of Tree-Rex, Jet-Vac and Cynder.

My grandson just *had* to have the "Official" Skylanders Giants Strategy Guide. Based on the descriptions, screen shots, and "maps" in this book the Adventure Pack levels appear to be exactly the same as in the original game. As I still have the game put back (for Christmas) we've not played to see for sure but if this is the case it's a *major* disappointment!

Why would/should the adventure pack levels be different?

I don't know if you've already resolved this but if you go through Activision support, you can request a replacement. There is a warranty page. I actually had to call them though as I had a special skylander. I had to upload my receipt and mail them the glow in the dark cynder. I am not sure if they will require a receipt for standard figures.

My understanding is the actual level is on the game disk and all the item does is "unlock" the ability to get to it. For that reason I'd expect these to have be different in Giants, especially considering the amount they cost coupled with the shortage of levels in Giants. When you also take into account the "cash grab" many of us feel this game is you would think Activision would look at it this way too as an added incentive for those who passed on the original game to go back and snag a copy.

Now, if the level is actually stored on the toy... that's another story and, IMHO, kind of a lame way to implement the level addition.

It is all a cash grab. I am somewhat disappointed that this game is shorter than the first despite the inclusion of more figures than the first. How about for the next time they just focus on a well rounded, lengthy adventure and forget trying to sell us a bunch of new toys.

I saw double trouble and grill grunt from wave 2 at my local target today.

I read somewhere that the levels were redone in the new engine, and updated/fixed to accommodate the Giants. I believe though the level layout is the same, I haven't tried any of the adventure pack levels yet in Giants.


I did see wave 2 figures at Wal-Mart today, all of the small figures as well as the 3 packs, but no Hot Head figures.