Skylanders: WTF Is The Madness All About?

When we were children, we did childish things, but now that we’ve grown up, we put away those things. I think I heard that said somewhere… but, in theory, and in a mentally-mature world, sure! That’d work. But we like our video games. We like to see fantastic simulations of things that could never really happen, or shoot the crap out of the bad guys without ever having to tell Mom that we enlisted in the military.

Some people take their love for video games and bring it to the next level. Folks, I introduce to you the newest sensation for all ages, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure. I work in retail and1 out of 5 people that come in or call up ask for these stupid Skylanders figurines. I don’t even bother looking to see if we have them because I know we don’t, and I don’t bother to ask when we’re getting them in because my boss answers with the typical “who the hell knows?”

And so, I politely tell them we don’t have any. Onward they go to barrage the next store. Here I am thinking to myself, it’s like Turbo Man all over again! It’s true, but if there’s any implication that these things are the bee’s knees, the empty shelves would say exactly that. I have three questions: first, WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?

Secondly, where the EFF did they come from? Lastly, when are we getting these things in stock? While I’ll never get my answer to the latter, I can help unravel the skyrocketing popularity of the newest must-have. It started with a company called Toys for Bob who is owned by Activision. The team was given the opportunity to revive the Spyro franchise, and while they sat on the idea wondering if it would actually work or not, Alex Ness and Paul Reiche III believed that it was "so outlandish that it was the most promising idea the team sketched out for the brand."



Ness reminisces "We thought a lot about toys. ...When you played with action figures, you always imagined them doing stuff, and we thought 'What if we could actually bring that toy into the game and do stuff with it?'" And this is where the idea was born. When Ness and his crew brought the idea up to Activision, it was by no means an automatic OMFGLEZDODISSSSSS!

It was more like a "Yeah, I guess" kind of deal. Much like how many of you (myself included) might see Skylanders right now. No matter what you think, Toys for Bob and Activision hit (in Dante's words) "jackpot." People of all ages are obsessed with this. It's the new Pokemon. The game is multi-platform throwing your character into this fantastical world of magic and prehistoric adventure.

If you haven't seen any videos on it - whether or not you care about it - your opinion might just change after watching it. It's Spyro at his most badass, his Skylander buddies at their funniest, and world-saving at its most entertaining. Think Space Jam humor mixed in with some Jak and Daxter hilarity.

So okay, you're not feeling this yet, I get it. But think about it for a second - most games you play, you play the whole way through the story through the eyes of one character, snipets of multiple characters, or you get a really shitty storyline if you're fortunate enough to be able to play through every avalable character (like Tekken). Skylanders is a bit different; you grab Spyro, put him on your portal, and now he's in your game.






Want to play someone else, like Trigger Happy? Put him on the portal, and now you're playing as him. Each character faces the world in different ways, so we can already say that the replay ability is massive in Skylanders. It's a great way to incorporate toys and childhood imaginations and make it come alive again. In this game, you aren't just the player. You're what they call a Portal Master, and as the Portal Master, you take control of the currently available 37 figurines(and to think, my store can't even get one toy!), including Spyro.

You're thrown into this fantastical world and embark on a journey of exploration, battle, treasure-hunting, all while on a quest to save the world from their enemy Kaos. This "portal" refers to a portal that you get when you buy the game, and it comes with 3 characters. You set up the portal, place it near your tv, and now the portal and the console are connecting to eachother, much like how a wireless controller works. But you're not simply just some shark or dinosaur looking thing.

Who you play matters. Much akin to the D&D setup where each character belongs to a certain class or "element" and each have varying attributes depending on who you choose. Each character have a primary and secondary attack, and after you level up, you gain more attacks, upgrade your attributes, etc.

It's a sophisticated game that even 6-year-olds can understand, and appeals to the nostalgia and familiarity of those who were into Spyro and have a geeky love for Dungeons and Dragons. I've said my piece, now let's hear yours. Any of you guys play it? Do you guys think it's worth the hype? Let us know in the comments below.

 Quotes pulled from: Game Informer, Youtube