Skylanders Trap Team Wave 3 is out

Skylanders Trap Team Wave 3 is out but is probably gone by now. TRU released 3 Trap Masters and 2 cores on Sunday (along with the Light and Dark Element Expansion Packs).

A check of our local TRUs on Monday showed that one still had some in stock while the other sold out on Sunday.

So who is in Wave 3?

Trap Masters:
Ka-Boom
Tuff Luck
Blastermind

Cores:
Trailblazer
Cobra Cadabra
High Five (After Jan1)
Bat Spin (Later... maybe after Jan 1)

Minis:
Weeruptor
And WHAT? Pet-Vac?

Straight from Skylanders Lost Islands we see that Pet-Vac is a Wave 3 Skylander. Interesting!?

On the Lost Islands front... Winterfest Lob Star still doesn't show up as an in game character yet. He is just like the Dark and Nitro editions where you get an energy bonus but no Skylander. I have to imagine the code is recorded and when the game updates they will show up automagically.

Nitro Krypt King - Trap Master - Skylanders Trap Team

Target Stores are the place to be for Nitro Skylanders again. This Alt Deco version of Krypt King will be available on Day 1 or 5 October 2014.
Last year with Swap Force we saw Nitro Freeze Blade and Nitro Magna Charge. So will there be other Nitro Skylanders? You can almost bet on it.

Interesting to note that last year the term "Nitro" seemed to indicate a speed feature since the two Skylanders were both Speed ability. Krypt King doesn't come off as a speedy guy with that huge sword and all.

Pre-Order at Target.com

Skylanders Trap Team Poster

The Skylanders Trap Team Poster has been updated, but there are still some mysteries. This version of the posters is much more clear compared to the version we got a glimpse of during the tablet video. There have been some changes.
1. Names are now included and they are legible.
2. The villains have names and elements associated.
3. The Frito-Lay Skylanders are now missing.

Names that we now know, starting with the Trap Masters:

• Short Cut (Undead) - I think I have seen this guy in a horror movies. He has traptanium scissors. Can't wait to see his in game action.
• Enigma (Magic) - Grim Creeper meets the magic element. He would be a cool light core if he had eyes like a Jawa from Star Wars. 
• Tuff Luck (Life) - A female Trap Master. A chipmunk? She looks pretty vicious with those two blade thingys. 
• Thunderbolt (Air) - We can't tell if that is a beard or clothes but he could be the oldest Skylander. An look at that sword. 

New core Skylanders:

• Cobra Cadabra (Magic) - a snake like figure in a basket playing a flute
• Echo (Water) - A water looking dinosaur, possibly female, a cross between Zap and Punk Shock
• Trail Blazer (Fire) - A fire unicorn? Maybe that is just a helmet with fire coming out.
• Fling Kong (Air) - A surf board riding, frisbee throwing monkey

What are those 4 Question Marks in the top right corner? More Trap Masters? Giants Returning? Swap Force reposes? What happened to Spyro? No Trigger Happy? Trigger Snappy will have to do now that mini's or sidekicks actually fight in the game. More on that to come.

Here is the full list starting with the Magic Element

Skylanders Trap Team Tablet Edition

Skylander Trap Team is coming in October to all the major consoles. It was also recently announced that Trap Team is also coming to the Tablet, meaning iPad, Android tablet and even the Kindle Fire. 

The tablet requirements are a bit tight and cut out a few tablets that really aren't that old. Plus the folks that choose Android tablets, well if they can't upgrade the operating system to the latest they are out of luck. This does make sense since we are talking about console grade graphics. My iPad 2 struggles as it is. So we are on board with our iPad 4th Gen. 

A new Traptanium Portal comes with it. This is no ordinary portal. I has a slot on the side to support the tablet of your choice. Underneath it has a storage spot for the controller. Both portal and controller a Bluetooth based. It also comes with Snapshot and Food fight and two traps. The game will be the same as the console version which makes it very tempting but also hard to spend another $75 just to play on the iPad. They do have a special digital mode for Skylanders and Traps so you don't have to haul around the portal, figures and traps. That is a nice touch.

You can play with the controller or switch to touch controls on the screen. 

The starter pack will include a code to download the game from your specific app store.

As a side note, there will also be a downloadable trial version of the game that can be played with the touch controls. 

Questions that come to mind:

1. Will this be one player only? If not, then does the portal support more than one Skylander? The images only show one player and there is no mention of two player support. 

2. Will I be able to buy the controller separately, if something were to happen to the first one, say it got lost or if the answer to the first question is two player? 

It is available for pre-order today! Or in stores on launch day, 5 October 2014. 

Enchanted Star Strike only at Wal-mart

Enchanted Star Strike is at Wal-mart only. Pick her up while you still can. Last year Molten Hot Dog was a Wal-mart only Alt-Deco Skylander. He quickly disappeared. This year, Enchanted Hoot Loop hung around longer but I haven't seen him recently. Enchanted Star Strike was released in the last month and may quickly go out of stock.

We finally found her on Saturday!

Catch Phrase: 

"Shoot For the Stars!"

Her story: 

Looking for a way to magically banish the Skylanders, Kaos poured through every dusty scroll and ancient tome he could find. Upon stumbling across a rare and extremely powerful spell, he began to recite its words. However, he sneezed part midway through the incantation. As a result, instead of sending the Skylanders far away Star Strike was plucked from her home in the distant cosmos and brought into Skylands. Surprised, Kaos thought he'd won a powerful new ally in the mysterious and reserved Star Strike. But she knew evil when she saw it and promptly unleashed her fierce magical powers on him. Word of her victory over Kaos spread quickly and she was soon asked by Master Eon to join the Skylanders. 

Skylanders Happy Meal Toys

It's that time of year again. The lure of the french fries is too hard to resist. The apple slices are crisp and juicy. The variety of soft drinks at the fountain machine seems endless, when you are 11 and like to mix them. But the best part to most kids is the toy. Sorry San Francisco, kids like toys, especially free ones.

So maybe the food isn't the absolute healthiest but it's not the unhealthiest. 

Skylanders are back at McDonalds!!! 

Well at least their less in game playable copies. This year there are all new characters for the Happy Meal and even a bad guy. That's right a chompie is in the mix. 

Free Ranger

Rattle Shake 

Magna Charge

Freeze Blade

Wash Buckler

Eruptor

Prism break 

And a chompie

Get them soon as certain toys are quickly disappearing. We still need 3 more for a complete set. 

Giants Starter pack for less than $20

Last Friday I went to Sam's Club. I was minding my own business, eating pizza and drinking a soda when I was overwhelmed by a wall of Scarlett Ninjinis. They had some where around 40 Ninjinis all lined up and looking oh so lonely. Ha! and to think that a less than a year ago she was just coming out and for such a long time you couldn't even find one. Supply and demand my friend.

So then after working past the wall of Ninjinis, I noticed some Giants Starter packs for the Wii U under the main shelf. We picked up a Wii U for Christmas and I had been telling the boys we should get Giants for it. The showed little interest but it was a dream of mine. Then I saw the price tag.... $19.91... uh yes please. It was like Christmas all over again. And as it turns out we only needed the game disc because the Swap Force portal works and we already have the guys (Jet-Vac, Cynder and Tree Rex). Codes anyone?

When ever we get a duplicate/double figure we immediately start to think of what we can do with them. Give 'em away. Paint 'em. Play in the pool with them.

Why not both?

So we are going to give away Tree Rex to our cousins that started playing with Swap Force and don't have any Giants. But since it is two girl cousins we are going to paint the red parts of Tree Rex a sparkly purple.

Photos coming soon.

Skylander Day was a success

We headed out early to make sure we were going to get a Sidekick. We have them all but wanted to get one for our cousins that just got Skylanders Swap Force for Christmas.
Mom and Tucker went to a play at the library with the Cub Scouts. I took Grant to a merit badge clinic with the Boy Scouts. So that left me with Evan and Lindy for two hours. <evil Ha Ha Ha> Oh the fun we could have.
First stop: GameStop. Interesting side note: The particular store we went to only had one employee scheduled for the first hour the store was open. There was a long line with lots of technical questions, it wasn't all Skylander stuff either. As soon as we walked in the door Evan saw series 2 Bash and he let everyone in the store know with a very loud scream. A quick look around soon told us that the Swappers we were after would not be found here. GameStop was doing a special of by $20 of Skylanders and get a free "mini" Skylander. Yeah, they lost some credibility on that one. Hello! They are Sidekicks. To get above the line of $20 I gave in and bought Lightcore Flashwing. We picked out Barkley as our sidekick and plan to send it to our cousins as they recently started into the Skylander world.
Next we headed to Toys R Us. They had a deal of buy 3 guys for $35 dollars (on figures priced 14.99 and above). So that pretty much left Giants and Swappers. And we have all the (standard) Giants. Everyone knows who we were looking for: Spy Rise, Rubble Rouser and Stink Bomb.
The first 2 were easy finds sitting on the shelf with the rest of the Skylanders. Also in the aisle with us were two other families. One boy was trying to pick out a Swapper for his birthday. He didn't want Rubble Rouser and I could tell he was an amateur because he wasn't looking deeper on the racks. I stepped in front of him and nabbed Spy Rise that was hiding behind someone on the front row. Oh well! It turns out he was after Stink Bomb. And so was the boy from the second family. He wanted the deal of 3 for $35 but couldn't find Stink Bomb either.
So there we are, three families staring at the shelf, all looking for the same guy that wasn't there. I have done this enough to know that staring at the shelf doesn't help the figure appear. I grabbed the Arkeyan Crossbow battle pack and made a quick exit.  This is where it gets interesting. In looking for the best line to check out from I glanced around the front of the store. My eye caught something I hadn't seen before, a very small section of Skylanders hanging out in the iPod/Tablet area. I took off immediately to see the selection. I moved so fast (because I was excited) that I left my two little ones by themselves to figure out where I was going. The packages were high which made it easier to see behind the ones in the front. It only took a second but I found him, STINK BOMB! There was only one and for a split second I thought about giving it away to one of the other kids looking for it. I don't think Evan would have taken too kindly to that as he was hugging the box and saying, "My Stink Bomby!" After quieting him down we uneventfully checked out.
Next to Toys R Us is another GameStop. I was feeling generous and wanted to get 'free' sidekicks we went in. I made the observation that normally their prices for Skylanders are higher than today (10.99 vs 9.99) so to exceed $20 I would have to get more than two regular guys. Two at 9.99 just wasn't going to cut it. We would have to get another lightcore or Swapper. After seeing the customer in front of us fail at talking the employee into letting 2 @ 9.99 qualify, I didn't want to waste my time or breath. We called it a day and left.

Our haul for the day:

• Series 2 Bash (finally)
• Lightcore Flashwing
• Arkeyan Crossbow with Grim Creeper and Thorn Horn Camo
• Stink Bomb
• Spy Rise
• Rubble Rouser

Skylander Saturday at GameStop - January 11

So is tomorrow the day to get Wave 3? Let's hope so. GameStop is having a special Skylander Day starting at 10AM - most stores open at that time.
The have 4 special offers going on.
1. The first 25 Skylanders customers get a FREE SWAP Force poster (not the pale skinned, pimple faced teens that play Call of Duty all night in the basement). The poster showing in the email is new to me. It has some Wave 3 guys in it.
2. Spend $20 and get a free Sidekick from last years Frito-Lay promotion. They call them Skylanders Mini, like there are iPod or iPad or something. weird.
3. Get $20 off a SWAP Force starter pack. Really? Who still needs a starter pack? Well at least this is GameStop and you can pick up the Dark Edition starter pack.
4. 50% off select SWAP Force accessories.

Don't for get to join their Skylanders Adventure Club. For every 6 characters you buy you get a FREE Skylander. The other stuff you should already get if you are a regular GameStop customer.

But here is the reason to get excited about Wave 3. On their site they now show Stink Bomb, Spy Rise and Rubble Rouser... with release dates of January 11. That is great marketing if true. Get me in the store then spring on me that you have new guys to buy. "Well, of course I'll take them all." But it really would be more effective if they just came out and said, "Wave 3 characters will be available during our Skylanders Day this Saturday."

Let's do this thing!