[quote name='io']That doesn't make sense to me. For people who haven't opened the game yet why do they need to hold back on waves?
All they need to do after Christmas is make sure there are tons on the shelf (the more varieties the better - so it would be better to have them out already) so there isn't a repeat of last year (when every last Skylander disappeared within 3-4 days after Christmas and they didn't restock for a few weeks).
It's fine for one or even two waves to come out post-Christmas. But really they ought to have released something else by now, or certainly before Christmas. We still have 3 unreleased little ones (Hot Dog, Light Core Chill, Light Core Shroomboom) and 3 unreleased big ones. You'd think 1 of each of those could come out before January.
See the problem I have is that I do not have anything Skylanders-related to give the kids for Christmas. I am holding off on Chill and ShroomBoom till the lightcore variants come out. I just gave Fright Rider (and the Terrabite sidekick) to my son who's birthday was on Black Friday. For cripes sake, I had expected some new ones to come out before then, even, but there was squat... They better release something before Christmas at least.[/QUOTE]
Ok, look at it this way. You have quite a few figures already out. Not counting variants there are 5 giants, 7 new singles, 4 lightcore and 16 reposes on the shelves. Add in the store variants/legendaries for another 10 or so. This can be considered "stuff already out". Now, their primary customer right now are parents buying Christmas presents. Another wave means a few more of each one. The vast majority of parents that are getting Skylanders are going to be more like my neighbor that bought the Starter and 4-5 singles (mix of old and new) than like us that have everything out so far. My neighbor is done with Skylanders for Christmas, a new wave means nothing to him, it's just more figures just like the ones already out - in other words, more "stuff already out". I picked him up a Wham Shell at TRU on BF because I knew his son would love it, but to him it was just another figure to toss in the box.
Come Christmas you now have a whole bunch of kids with gift cards from granny ready to spend. They got Giants from their parents, and unlike their parents they know what they want. A new Wave means something to them, as it does to us. Now do you think Activision wants to blow the publicity of a new Wave on a few of us and a bunch of parents that don't care and have already bought from the large selection already available? Or do you wait until January when you still have us AND all of those kids with the game now AND with gift cards to spend on it?
Don't get me wrong, I would like a new Wave as much as you would. I was fortunate enough to be able to resist and not give it to the boys before Christmas, but I totally understand your situation. I just keep reminding myself I am not the typical consumer of Skylanders (or video games in general). And the fact that Viewtiful Joe 3 is very much wishful thinking is a constant reminder of that what works for me isn't always the best business plan for a game company :lol:.