Giants Ninjini In Stock @ Amazon.com-$14.99

It's been in stock for days lol...

Am I the only 1 who thinks that the Skylanders fad will die out once Disney Infinity hits due to Disney having more known characters?

Just a thought since I'm wondering why people are still after figures.

^^ there's no reason why they can't co-exist, you'd be surprised how many kids love these things.

Super Metroid said:

^^ there's no reason why they can't co-exist, you'd be surprised how many kids love these things.

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This is true, I was at Toys R Us yesterday for their Giants figure sale and they were just a dozen kids around the Skylanders area just making noise. I thought that it would've died down a bit at this point, but there are still shortages of specific figures in the wild.

boogie4114 said:

Am I the only 1 who thinks that the Skylanders fad will die out once Disney Infinity hits due to Disney having more known characters?

Just a thought since I'm wondering why people are still after figures.

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Well, Skylanders have been around longer than Disney Infinity. In addition, parents have already bought the characters for their kids, which are transferrable to the new games, so they already have a collection going. The year it was released (about a year and a half ago), I remember everytime I passed the Skylanders section, it was always sold out. And lastly, at this point, it seems like Disney just wants to also milk the cash cow that Skylanders have been doing alone for the past few years, rather than establishing some new and creative.

However, the cash cow's gonna run dry sooner or later. I think it may be after the next Skylanders game that's gonna release some time in October this year.

Disney may be well more known as a franchise brand but Skylanders has a grip on the market and was first to the dance a year or whatever ago. 

While I do think the Disney Infinity will be fun the much higher prices of figures/playsets overall may be a turnoff to many parents.   Though it does seem to have an upside for the longterm since the playsets are the game basically.

It's the it fad right now for games but it will change eventually.  Just like FPS are on their way out.

boogie4114 said:

Am I the only 1 who thinks that the Skylanders fad will die out once Disney Infinity hits due to Disney having more known characters?

Just a thought since I'm wondering why people are still after figures.

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Nah, Disney isn't using any of their good characters in the game.

Disney Infinity doesn't sound like the same kinda game anyhow. Sounds more like a LittleBigPlanet type than a Skylanders type, from what I heard. Skylanders will be okay.

derrtaysouth95 said:

Disney may be well more known as a franchise brand but Skylanders has a grip on the market and was first to the dance a year or whatever ago.

While I do think the Disney Infinity will be fun the much higher prices of figures/playsets overall may be a turnoff to many parents. Though it does seem to have an upside for the longterm since the playsets are the game basically.

It's the it fad right now for games but it will change eventually. Just like FPS are on their way out.

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LOL @ this.

I do thing that these figurines are the next guitar hero--popular for a few years before interest fades. My kids saw infinity and they didn't even care. And they're crazy for skylanders. And personally I'm not going to buy a different collection of figurines where they kids have to keep them all near the tv and not play with them so they don't lose the chance to use the stupid characters in the game. So I think infinity is going to have an uphill battle where skylanders already have a footing.

You've got to admit that the basic premesis of these is genious. If you told me that I was buying a game where extra characters were $10 each--everybody would be up in arms. But you give them a physical "downloadable content" that isn't locked to a single game and people go crazy about them. Weird world we live in.

boogie4114 said:

Am I the only 1 who thinks that the Skylanders fad will die out once Disney Infinity hits due to Disney having more known characters?

Just a thought since I'm wondering why people are still after figures.

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Skylanders and Infinity are vastly different types of games. Many do not realize this, yet they will when it comes out.

Kids like Skylanders, it is a fun action adventure game with lots of personality. Even if you aren't going to go all in for Swap Force, the new game is compatible with all existing figures (although some of the "extra" pieces may not do anything) - so if you just get the game you already have a decent stable of content to continue to grow your characters. The "swap" thing also sounds interesting, if it has uses other than just opening gates (and given all of the little touches they added in previous games, it probably will).

Infinity is a playset kind of thing with a limited story mode for each new set. It's longterm value lies in the "toybox" mode. Depending on how easy and flexible it is to use, it might hit big or splat miserably. The game is aimed at kids, but to create some more interesting levels you will probably need adult interest. My young son enjoyed LittleBigPlanet, but took no interest in the Create mode (he loves Minecraft/Legos), mainly because to make something moderately fun you had to be kind of dedicated. Fortunately it had a good story mode, and lots of people made some really good levels. If the tools aren't flexible/interesting enough then it won't get the fan support LBP did, and from early indications I don't think the game will last on the built in stories.

Also something about Infinity, I'm not sure what the figures are for other than unlocking content. Skylanders allow you to grow your character, level up, choose skills/attire and it kept the data stored in the figure. You could take that figure to a friend's house and play your character there. You could take your level 10 Wham Shell with your chosen upgrades and cool hat over to your friend's house and play it on his game or duel his Wham Shell, even if he had a Wii and you had a PS3. That had a lot of appeal, the figures were for more than just "enabling" the character. It also helped that the characters weren't just model swaps of each other, they play very differently. I haven't seen anything that indicates the Infinity figures do that. Sure they look cool, but do Sully and Mike play differently, or do they just give you a Monsters Inc. coat look in the game? Is there going to be a reason to take your Captain Jack over to a friend's house if he has one too?

And yeah, some figures are hard to find, particularly Ninjini. Not as hard as she used to be, but you probably won't see one on the shelves normally.

sevast said:

I do thing that these figurines are the next guitar hero--popular for a few years before interest fades. My kids saw infinity and they didn't even care. And they're crazy for skylanders. And personally I'm not going to buy a different collection of figurines where they kids have to keep them all near the tv and not play with them so they don't lose the chance to use the stupid characters in the game. So I think infinity is going to have an uphill battle where skylanders already have a footing.

You've got to admit that the basic premesis of these is genious. If you told me that I was buying a game where extra characters were $10 each--everybody would be up in arms. But you give them a physical "downloadable content" that isn't locked to a single game and people go crazy about them. Weird world we live in.

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Yeah, it will die down eventually. Leave it to Activision to beat a horse to a bloody pulp. I think they are already going a bit far with all the reposes and color variants. There are already 16 swappers, 16 new guys, 16 reposes and 8 lightcores announced for Swap force. That's more than either game already. Then you add in color variants, Eruptor in the 3DS pack (Volcanic Eruptor) is different form the retail repose one (Lava Barf Eruptor), although they share the same cast - only the color is different. You know TRU will have some Legendaries, and some stores will get exclusives too. But the worst thing they did is make the last Giants figure not available until Swap Force comes out (although you get it for free with a pre-order). By overlapping games, there will be no way to "Collect them all" - by the time you complete your collection there are even more figures coming out. For a collector, it is a never reachable, always moving goalpost. It may seem like good marketing logic, but it does frustrate people that they can never, even momentarily, have a complete collection. You end up just throwing your hands up.

Disney is definitely going to give Activision a run for their money.. and I believe Nintendo plans to do this with the Pokémon series in the future right? For now I think the skylanders vs Disney infinity showdown will be won by whichever ends up with a cartoon series first. That would cause sales to explode beyond belief.

Disney should be leading with their best characters.  They should have Marvel and Star Wars characters ready to go.  They need to make a big splash rather than holding their best in reserve.  Most people see Infinity, think Skylanders and look at how much they already sank into Skylanders.  Hard to start from scratch.

miyamotorola said:

Disney is definitely going to give Activision a run for their money.. and I believe Nintendo plans to do this with the Pokémon series in the future right? For now I think the skylanders vs Disney infinity showdown will be won by whichever ends up with a cartoon series first. That would cause sales to explode beyond belief.

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I don't think they will. They passed on the Skylanders premise which is why they went with Spryo

derrtaysouth95 said:

Disney may be well more known as a franchise brand but Skylanders has a grip on the market and was first to the dance a year or whatever ago.

While I do think the Disney Infinity will be fun the much higher prices of figures/playsets overall may be a turnoff to many parents. Though it does seem to have an upside for the longterm since the playsets are the game basically.

It's the it fad right now for games but it will change eventually. Just like FPS are on their way out.

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Very true. FPS games like Call of Duty and Battlefield hardly make any money anymore. I don't understand why videogame publishers keep putting them out. These companies must like publishing games that don't generate revenue.

I'm going to admit, I flipped a Ninjini on eBay ;-)

cheeky said:

Nah, Disney isn't using any of their good characters in the game.

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It won't launch with anyone good, but they will add good characters separately for maximum profit.

sevast said:

I do thing that these figurines are the next guitar hero--popular for a few years before interest fades. My kids saw infinity and they didn't even care. And they're crazy for skylanders. And personally I'm not going to buy a different collection of figurines where they kids have to keep them all near the tv and not play with them so they don't lose the chance to use the stupid characters in the game. So I think infinity is going to have an uphill battle where skylanders already have a footing.

You've got to admit that the basic premesis of these is genious. If you told me that I was buying a game where extra characters were $10 each--everybody would be up in arms. But you give them a physical "downloadable content" that isn't locked to a single game and people go crazy about them. Weird world we live in.

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Guitar Hero largely died because the market was flooded by similar games (there was like 5 different series) and they released other awful hero games. They over time wised up and simply started offering DLC, which is the way to go for that type of game.

I don't think it's weird, since it makes a lot of sense. On one side, I can buy Krieg from Gearbox and pay $10 dollars for a simple unlock code. On the other hand, I can buy a displayable toy (people have paid 20+ dollars for a CE with just a figure), which might go on clearance and won't disappear if servers are pulled / eat up space on your HDD and will always be tradable / resellable.

boogie4114 said:

Am I the only 1 who thinks that the Skylanders fad will die out once Disney Infinity hits due to Disney having more known characters?

Just a thought since I'm wondering why people are still after figures.

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Unlikely, since Disney will appeal to a different demographic. The big one will be Pokemon, but thankfully the Wii U and playing rumble requirements will probably kill it.

Which characters are weak at launch? Monsters U, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, and Incredibles are weak? You lost me there, buddy. I think the opening launch of characters is just fine. Sure, there are plenty more I want to see, but I think it's not a soft lineup at all. 

My son loves Skylanders. and he's getting really excited for Disney Infinity, too.

spideymike said:

Which characters are weak at launch? Monsters U, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars, and Incredibles are weak? You lost me there, buddy. I think the opening launch of characters is just fine. Sure, there are plenty more I want to see, but I think it's not a soft lineup at all.

My son loves Skylanders. and he's getting really excited for Disney Infinity, too.

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It is kind of strange that there is no Mickey, Donald or any of the classic Disney characters at launch. They could even call them Mickey's clubhouse characters if they wanted to tie it in to something current.

my kids are crazy about skylanders. they don't even play the game most of the time, they just like the toys and action figures. i find them laying around the house and im like omg don't lose these! they are also great cuz we have ps3, but they work on their friends systems (360 and wii). my kids especially love the cute baby ones i got from that fritos promo, wish they had more cute ones like that on sale. 'cept my 8 month old almost ate gill grunt, lol. no baby, not food!

I don't see the problem with skylanders, you only need 9 figures to complete the game, and the one giant they included is enough to get through giants without any other giant purchases. There really is no need to get them all. The fact that all the stores here are full of skylanders make me think the series is dying down. I will wait till these get to a couple dollars each before I get more, but right now I have enough to play the game and that is all that matters.

If parents don't want to buy any more figures they can always say no, but I think parents get more into collecting these and getting the supposedly rare ones than the kids do, it's a case of the parents behaving worse than the children in some cases.

SaraAB said:

I don't see the problem with skylanders, you only need 9 figures to complete the game, and the one giant they included is enough to get through giants without any other giant purchases. There really is no need to get them all. The fact that all the stores here are full of skylanders make me think the series is dying down. I will wait till these get to a couple dollars each before I get more, but right now I have enough to play the game and that is all that matters.

If parents don't want to buy any more figures they can always say no, but I think parents get more into collecting these and getting the supposedly rare ones than the kids do, it's a case of the parents behaving worse than the children in some cases.

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The series isn't dying down, lol. Activision just shipped a massive load of figures. You'll see supply dwindle after this, with Swap Force taking the (empty) shelf space when it releases in October. I'd recommend grabbing any figures you want while they are available at the store because there is no guarantee they will be there again. And they're never going to be $2 a piece lmao.

Also, how exactly is collecting "bad behavior"???

I think they're not including the classic Mickey and gang characters specifically to focus on it being more tween-focused game, but I do hope that you can add them in the future. As it is there's already a lot of promised characters that we haven't even gotten release dates for including Wreck it Ralph and the Phineas and Ferb cast.

As for $2 Skylanders - well, they were $3 on Amazon for Black Friday. One can always hope...

I have a ton of Skylanders, but Disney Infinity just doesn't interest me right now.

Of course, if they add some Star Wars and Marvel characters, that could change...

Upon thinking about it further here's my take on games like Skylanders and Infinity (and when you get down to it a whole long list of other games as well).

When I buy a game reg. dless of cost but for average sake say $60. What I am purchasing should be a complete full experience in the case. No futher money should be required of me to finish the game, see everything in the game, or do bonus stuff in the game.

$60 is still a good bit of money to people. I NEVER buy additional DLC because that shouldve been in the game when it shipped. Especially the on disc DLC? What a total pile of BS. Its on a disc I just paid $60 for and you want me to shell out more $$$ to play something that's already there? No way.

I wish people would of stood up for themselves when all this DLC crap started. Its to the point I don't even really enjoy video games anymore because its basically politics now.

Example if I want to fully play Skylanders I should expect to pay out at least another $50+. For Infinity you aren't even really buying anything because you need those playsets to have a game/episode. If i buy a racing game or Tiger Woods I have to pay more money to complete the game. Thats wrong.

The problem is in your logic.  You can completely finish the game with the included figures.  I'm sorry you believe you are entitled to everything related to a game simply because you buy the initial disk.  Is the disc heavier because there are some small areas on the disk you cannot reach with the included character, therefore causing you more work to lug it home?  You don't have to pay more money to finish Tiger Woods games.  They are complete games with meaty content.  You know how many courses there are in the base game of Tiger Woods 13?  Sixteen.  You know how many there were in PGA Tour Golf (Tiger game precursor) for the SNES?  THREE.  Both games cost $59.99 on release, without factoring in inflation.

This whole mindset is just baffling.  We are in the day and age when games are of unprecedented length.  The average SNES game was also $59.99 back in the 90s and many games could be beaten in a couple hours, including one of the best Metroid 3 which had a "best" ending for completing it in under three hours.  Street Fighter 2 was $75 retail when it came out.  Skylanders and Giants are both longer than that, plus has many extras including a versus mode, challenge modes, heroic challenges, mini games, etc.  In order to fund the much more expensive development of a game these days, they hire more people to add content they can sell individually AND optionally.  It does not deny you content by making something more for those that want more of a game they like and are willing to invest more.  Nor does it inconvenience you simply because they put the data in an unused portion of the disk you would never use otherwise - the disk costs the same whether it is half full or completely full (it isn't like back in the cart days when more data meant more expensive chips).  Would you rather have to download a character compatibility data pack every time you got a new one just so your precious disk doesn't contain anything you cannot see or use then use space on your hard drive that you might be able to use otherwise?

Skylanders figures cost about the same as many other action figures, and those don't do anything other than just stand there.  Me and my sons love the collecting, and giving us a new character to play in the game just adds to it.  It gives me something to share with them that I loved when I was young, video games and action figures.