All four checks cleared Monday, nothing received yet though.
The Chop Chop in the Gamestop package is the repose of him, so that's good. He was on my list of rebuys anyways, he is my son's favorite anyways. The one thing I am wary of is what the makeup of the triple packs will be, and the game pack ins. The Shroomboom probably isn't the Lightcore version of him (and he is the Life one that gets that), so I'm a little disappointed by that. If he is, then that might explain the price increase.
Also, I've been thinking, while they will offer a "Portal Owners Pack", it only includes the giant Tree Rex. For $15 more though, you also get two other Skylanders (and knowing how they work at least one of them will only be in there until the last wave) as well as another portal (good for a backup). I believe the other two are repose Cynder (also a favorite for my son) and Jet Vac for the console version (and possibly Pop Fizz for the 3DS). So I'm leaning towards getting the Starter Pack instead. I probably won't get all of the reposes, just the ones I really, really like (Lightcore Prism Break, of course!) or ones my sons really like.
Eh, who am I kidding. I'll probably get all of them too.

Damn you Skylanders for tempting me and my son's love of video games and action figures.
Just a note though, it seems that at least one of each element will not be getting a repose. And Wham Shell is the Water one that is not at latest reports. So given that he is still rare (the only one that is still hard to find), one would hope they would put out more of him. So if you don't have him, don't sit around and wait for the Giants repose if you find him.