dsa_shea

Yep, the Gamers Club Unlocked is worth having here as besides getting 20% off games you also get 20% off every Skylander, Infinity and Amiibo figure.

BobO'Link

^I looked at that as they currently have it on-line for $30. We don't purchase many games, but just a few figures would pay for the card at that price (there's no way it's worth the "regular" $99 price).

fujishig

I thought the new level packs are a TRU exclusive until next year?

dsa_shea

If you buy a new game every month as well as some figures then it is still worth the 99 bucks. The 30 dollar price tag is a steal and you should jump on it. You will get all of that back in your savings with your first batch of figures. I saved 15 bucks plus the tax difference on what I bought yesterday.

dsa_shea

I think TRU just wanted people to believe that so they could gouge their customers eyes and wallets. They might have been exclusive for a few days.

BobO'Link

I agree. Amazon has them "listed" with official place-holders but don't yet have them *from* Amazon. That typically occurs a week or so before Amazon has them for order. I plan to journey to Target later today with my granddaughter. She got some Christmas money and Target's supposed to have the Skylanders B1G40% off with the ad showing new Trap Masters. I'm curious as to what they may have received. Since BB is in the same mall I may visit there as well just to see what's available.

BobO'Link

I'll partially answer my own question. Yes - there are elemental pairings of Small Fry/Weeruptor and Gill Runt/Thumpling minis. Amazon now has both these new elemental parings listed making those WM "Exclusives" nothing more than a exclusive pairing of separately available figures and *not* a very good deal if you want the other minis in the elemental pairings. Fortunately I've not opened either so they're going back to WM. I'll pick up Hog Wild Fryno separately should I decide I need/want one of those - I already have a Tidal Wave Gill Grunt in a 3 pack I purchased some time back.

Target was mostly a bust. They had *no* new figures other than that one pack of minis (in spite of showing Tuff Luck in the 2 day ad but I expect them to be put out tomorrow). Were the racks not full of figures I'd have just thought they sold out of the new stuff by this afternoon with the B1G1 @ 40% off sale. The non-Trap Master singles did not ring up at the sale price but I didn't feel like arguing (even though the ad said "All single figures"). I found Gill Runt/Thumpling and took advantage of the sale to pick up it and the Trigger Snappy/Drobit pair. I had 3 grandkids with me (ages 4, 8, and 11) and didn't want to mess with Best Buy's narrow isles with them in tow so didn't bother checking for anything new there.

dsa_shea

Went to another Best Buy earlier and they were completely wiped out of Trap Masters both old and new. They did happen to have one of each of Cobra Cadabra and Trail Blazer, which we grabbed for 7.99 each.

Goldberg74

I'm so glad that I'm sitting this round out.

dadaluholla

Normally I'd have to pry my 6-year old off the controller when he gets the new Skylanders, but he really hasn't shown much interest in this years effort since opening it CHRISTMAS morning

dsa_shea

I actually think that this iteration has been rather cool but there are too many traps and then should have been the second game in the series and not the 4th entry.

BobO'Link

I've not yet played this one - the copy I purchased is still put away. My grandson got it from Santa and has "beat the game" (his words). He doesn't have 100% completion but has beat all the levels up to and including Chaos. He purchased the Mirror of Mystery expansion at Target yesterday because of that (plus having Christmas money burning a hole in his pocket ). I'm pretty sure that all he did on the 26th was play Trap Team. Of course I have no idea which difficulty level he played on so, which is significant- but still that seems fairly short for the investment made (Santa brought the Dark Edition).

Having not yet played I don't get the need to have tons of different traps. From what I gather, one of each element is all that's really needed to take advantage of the trapped villians. They really seem like something that's easily lost (my grandson has already "misplaced" one of the 8 pack I gave him) and geared towards getting you to spend money on a more regular basis by attempting to collect every trap variant created.

I'm still more than annoyed by the difficulty of obtaining certain figures. You'd think by now Activision would have worked out the kinks and have the supply/distribution chain fixed so the scalpers would have far less a opportunity to take advantage of the "scarcity" of figures.

fujishig

I was more worried about the collectibility of the traps before I saw that they're mostly from the same molds in different elements.

dsa_shea

As far as the length of the game goes, I think it is just as long as the other ones in the series if not a bit longer. The only thing is that they didn't put a bunch of other stuff to do outside of the main storyline. There is the Kaos challenge and not much else of substance.

Obi-Wanma

I bought Spyro's Adventure and Giants when they were on clearance for 70% off at Target a long time ago and stashed them in the basement. I just gave the first game to my kids for Christmas. I have 5 year old twins and a 4 year old. I was saving it until I thought they were old enough. They are enjoying the game very much. TRU still had some figures from the first game on their website, and they were 4.99 plus they were included in the B1G1 40% off sale. So I got them 6 more figures for about 30 bucks total including tax and shipping and managed to cover all the elements.

Maybe I'll give them Giants for their birthday, lol.

BobO'Link

Same here. There are a few designs I really like and may try to get but otherwise I think that 8 trap pack I picked up will suffice quite nicely. I *did* get two of the Target exclusive one (with a special villian inside) so my grandson could have one at home and one at my house. I'd also like to have a "regular" Kaos Trap "just because" but I'll not do any extra leg work to find one. It'll have to be a "Oh... there's one!" type thing when on a normal looking around type trip.
That's what I gathered looking over the game guide I picked up for him. I really felt Giants was rather short - even when attempting 100% on the levels. Honestly, I've not played Swap Force much, maybe a dozen or so sessions with him, so I really don't have much of a impression about length on that one although the levels *feel* longer than those in Giants. It's the only one I've not played by myself and the only one that still has at least half the figures and one level expansion unopened.

My grandson really likes those Battle Arena areas on the previous games. I really didn't notice they are not in this one - but, again, I've not yet played it so there's *lots* about Trap Team I don't yet know.

One thing I *do* have to mention is that we get *lots* of replay value with this series. We're currently going back through Spyro's Adventures with a rule that there must be 100% completion before moving to the next level. We almost did that the first time through but the pull to get to the end caused us to not get it done and then Giants came out which put SA on the back burner. I'd like to do this with all 4 games.

dsa_shea

I forgot that there are arena challenges in this one against the computer. I need to finish those for a trophy towards the platinum.

wlj

i am new to this whole toy collecting /portal gaming genre. i only have the Infinity 2.0, but i have noticed at least in my area. The infinity figures are much more easy to get your hands on. The local walmart has tons of the infinity figures but only a few Skylanders which is bizarre considering it seems to be the more popular franchise.

I would love to try out Skylanders, but it would be madness. I can't afford buying figures for Infinity and Skylanders. God, i can't even afford spending for Infinity.

BobO'Link

I snagged copies of Blastermind, Ka Boom, and Tuff Luck from Amazon earlier today. I was doing a quick check to see if Midnight Museum or Sunscraper Spire were available and checked those as well. They sold out shortly after I was able to check out.

I caved and opened my "house" copy of the Dark version this afternoon. Played about a half hour with my grandson because he had a villian trapped he wanted me to see. Some guy who attacks with music (? not real sure - just know it played if he did something) - it (the music) was quite annoying.

BobO'Link

All the new figures and expansions are currently available at Amazon:

Trail Blazer, Cobra Cadabra, Blastermind, Ka Boom, Tuff Luck, Midnight Museum, and Sunscraper Spire

I went ahead and ordered the expansions and non-Trap Masters.

And people are already selling their Frito-Lay copies of High Five claiming they are "Rare" with prices from $25-$50.

dsa_shea

Thanks for the heads up! I grabbed the Midnight Museum expansion, which is the last expansion pack we needed.

BobO'Link

My grandson just called to tell me he found a Light Rocket Trap at Target pre-loaded with Rebel Lob Goblin. He was excited as it was the only one he saw.

fujishig

The "problem" I have with this game is that there doesn't seem to be any reason to actually use the non Trap Master Skylanders. Like none whatsoever. Giants were slow and had limited utility outside of when you had to use them. I guess Swap Force were better than regular skylanders, but I was in full on collector mode and got all of them anyway. With this one, we only opened Trap Masters, and I'm actually thinking of returning some of the three packs we bought, because the Trap Masters are needed for certain levels/breaking crystals/trapping and play just like regular Skylanders. Am I missing something?

BobO'Link

I've observed the same thing with Trap Team. What I've played so far has been almost exclusively with Trap Masters because they're just as fast and far more powerful than the other figures we have - ridiculously so to the point I changed the difficulty to "Hard" and still had no problems.

I've not opened or played with any "regular" figures other than Food Fight, which came with the game. I've only played with that one a couple of times because it's open but it doesn't last long before I swap it out - mainly due to needing a Trap Master for something. Once swapped out it doesn't go back on, unlike Giants where I'd typically put a Giant on the portal for a specific task and quickly swap it out once finished.

I looked up the in-game stats which shows many of the Trap Masters are at least as good as, and in several cases better than, the "regular" figures. One of the "fastest" figures is Trail Blazer, but the Trap Master Tuff Luck is as fast with better health and armor. Even the minis have stats as good as or better than the "regular" figures (mini-Jini is one of the fastest - as fast as Tuff Luck) and I was under the impression they'd not be as powerful. I like the looks of some of the regular figures but they *do* seem superfluous.

I never really checked with Swap Force but seem to recall the swappable ones not being as "fast" - but I've not played that one as much and that could be that I assumed this as Giants are *not* typically as quick footed as the regular figures.

wlj

Do old skylanders work on Trap Team or do you have to buy completely new figures for each game and ditch the old ones?