Skylanders, Toys, Video Game

Skylanders Trap Team was Released Today!

MY Skylanders Trap Team Haul

Skylanders Trap Team was released to the world at midnight launches all across the country. I was at work so I watched the excitement via Twitter as each time Zone .Kaos took over the Toys R Us Twitter feed and I interacted with that and with the Skylanders Twitter as well. Check this out.

So, after all the fun all night watching people get their Skylanders I was finally done for the day and headed right to Toys ‘R Us for their 8am – 10am sale. While I was there I met up with a guy that I met the year before. We chatted in line and then went in to see what was on the shelves. Well, the shelves were still being stocked but Toys R Us was the most put together of all the store I visited today. I chatted with the people who were stocking the shelves because they weren’t Toys R Us employees and had no idea what Trap Team was all about. There wren’t many of us at the launch this morning so I was able to get every character that came out. I accidentally bought the same Trap twice and did buy two character that I may return because I’m getting them in other sets. One I actually got later at Walmart on the way to work. It was the Gill Grunt and Gill Runt Buddy 2-Pack

Gill Grunt and Gill Runt Buddy 2 Pack

There were a ton of traps and it was so easy to miss one or buy more than one of the same. There are a total of 46 traps (before there are any variants). I already have a couple of variant traps so I’m not sure where to put those. The Trap Case is a good deal because each trap will house a different trapped villain so in an effort to keep them organized you need something like the case.

Trap Team trap Storage Case

Toys R Us also has the Legendary sets. This time around they had the very first Legendary Adventure Pack. The character inside, Blades is in a single pack and in a 3 pack of characters. Character Gill Grunt is also in the same 3 pack and in a single pack and in the buddy 2-pack. You’ve got to do some juggling to buy everything and not get a double and also get the best prices.

Legendary Nightmare Express Adventure Pack

Toys R Us had a great sale of buy 1 get 1 for 50% Off. For the traps they had them as buy 1 get one for $1. I bought everything I could and then went up to the counter. They rang me up and it was a decent price. I had also gotten a couple other items that were not Skylanders but were on sale for Eva for her birthday.

Skylanders Trap Team Traptanium Trap 3 Pack

I’ll probably go back again tomorrow because I heard that Wave 2 was going to be released tomorrow as well. It’ll either be released tomorrow or Tuesday.

Oh, and I haven’t even played yet because I don’t have the game. That’s what happens when a game is released on a Sunday and you pre-order online.

TOP SELLING U.S. VIDEO GAME FRANCHISE OF 2014¹ INTRODUCES ANOTHER GROUNDBREAKING INNOVATION WITH SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM™ ON STORE SHELVES NOW

Capture Evil, Unleash Good! Skylanders Trap Team Lets Fans Trap and Play as Villains

Skylanders Trap Team Revolutionizes the Gaming Industry, Offering the Full AAA Game Experience on Both Tablet and Console — for the First Time Ever

Franchise that Pioneered the Toys-to-Life™ Category Leads Holiday Hot Gift Lists for Fourth Consecutive Year

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Oct. 5, 2014 – Behold, Portal Masters! Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is pleased to announce that Skylanders Trap Team is officially available at major retailers nationwide on Xbox 360™ and Xbox One™ video game and entertainment systems from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment systems, Nintendo’s Wii™ system, Nintendo’s Wii U™ system, and a completely unique adventure is also available on the Nintendo 3DS™ hand-held system. The launch of Skylanders Trap Team also ushers in the complete console gaming experience on Tablet*, introducing a Starter Pack that supports iPad®, Kindle Fire and Android tablets.

“The Skylanders® franchise was built on a foundation of creativity and innovation,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “And with Skylanders Trap Team, we’re taking that tradition of innovation to new heights. For the last three years we’ve allowed kids to bring their toys to life in a video game, and this year, we’re letting them reach into the game, and pull characters out into the physical world by letting players trap and play as the villains. Skylanders Trap Team is also the first console game to simultaneously bring the entire AAA experience to tablet devices. Overall, we think Skylanders Trap Team represents our most magical innovation yet. But most importantly, it’s just a great game.”

The latest installment of the franchise that pioneered the Toys-to-Life genre is already poised to become one of the top family games this holiday season. Toys“R”Us® recently named Skylanders Trap Team as one of the “Fabulous 15” on the company’s 2014 Holiday Hot Toy List, while Target named Skylanders Trap Team to their Top Toys for the Holidays List. In addition, the game was featured in Toy Insider’s Hot 20 Holiday Toys of 2014, which highlights the most sought-after and anticipated items of the holiday season.

Skylanders continues to lead and evolve the category with Skylanders Trap Team by letting fans seek out and defeat the most wanted villains in all of Skylands, pull them out of the game and into living rooms by capturing them in magical Traps. Once they’ve defeated the villains, players will be able to place a Trap into the new Traptanium Portal™ to capture them. Players can then send villains back into the game where they can play as them to fight for good, reversing the magic. They will also be able to hear the villains inside the Traps, an innovation that truly brings life to toys.

“Since it launched four years ago, the Skylanders brand has continued to captivate young fans around the world who eagerly crowd our stores every time a new collectible character is introduced,” said Richard Barry, Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer, Toys“R”Us, Inc. “In preparation for the debut of Skylanders Trap Team, which truly reinvents the franchise’s signature gameplay, our teams across the globe have worked year-long to ensure Toys“R”Us is THE destination for Portal Masters ready to experience all the fun the new game – and our exclusive Legendary Skylanders toys – have to offer.”
Portal Masters everywhere can get into the Skylanders Trap Team spirit by taking advantage of exclusive Skylanders products at retailers nationwide:

  • Get Legendary at Toys”R”Us – Toys“R”Us stores in North America and online at Toysrus.com will be the only places fans will find the limited edition Legendary Series of Skylanders toys at launch. The Legendary Series features alternative versions of new Trap Master characters and packs, such as Jawbreaker, Déjà Vu and the Nightmare Express Adventure Pack, all of which feature in-game stat boosts.

  • Meet the Minis at Walmart – Skylanders fans can visit participating Walmart stores or go to Walmart.com to participate in the ‘Meet the Minis’ program to unlock special content featuring the fully playable and upgradeable Minis, including Gill Runt, Stealth Elf, Weeruptor, Pet Vac and Small Fry via the official Skylanders Collection Vault™ app. Walmart will also be the only place fans can find the Skylanders Minis Buddy Pack, featuring Tidal Wave Gill Grunt and Gill Runt.

  • NITRO Trap Masters at Target – U.S. Target stores nationwide and Target.com will once again be the only place where fans can get their hands on the Skylanders NITRO series of toys, which features the powerful Trap Master NITRO Krypt King.

  • Portals for Punch Pop Fizz at GameStop – During the first week of launch, fans that bring in a Portal of Power® from any Skylanders game can trade it in to receive a free Punch Pop Fizz character, a bright red version of the fan-favorite Skylander.

  • Three Skylanders for Two at Best Buy – Players that purchase any two Skylanders Trap Team game products at Best Buy will receive a free Volcanic Eruptor character, who’s unique appearance is visible in-game. This promotion is available only at Best Buy.

Skylanders Trap Team introduces heroes known as Trap Masters that wield powerful Traptanium™ weapons used to defeat Skylands’ most notorious villains including Kaos, as well as brand new Core Skylanders characters and reposed fan-favorite Skylanders characters. The game also features a variety of elementally aligned Traps with unique and interesting designs. In addition, Skylanders Trap Team welcomes Skylanders Minis, 16 small but powerful Skylanders now fully playable, who join the battle against Skylands’ most nefarious villains. Coming to Skylanders fans worldwide on November 1, Eon’s Elite collectors’ toys feature never-before-seen decoration with a distinct, metallic finish and a golden base that sets them apart from other Skylanders toys.

Skylanders Trap Team is compatible with more than 175 unique toys from all previous games — Skylanders SWAP Force™, Skylanders Giants™ and Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure® — every character also will be able to defeat and trap villains using Traptanium Traps, providing fans more ways to enjoy their collections.

To celebrate the launch of Skylanders Trap Team, Activision hid a “villain” inside a seemingly normal Skylanders Trap Team demo kiosk. Starting October 6 at 10 a.m. PDT, watch what happened here on the official YouTube channel: www.YouTube.com/SkylandersGame.

About the Skylanders® Franchise
The award-winning, $2 billion Skylanders franchise pioneered the Toys-to-Life™ category in 2011 with the debut of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure®. The game originated a new play pattern that seamlessly bridged physical and virtual worlds across multiple platforms. In October 2012, Skylanders Giants™ further evolved the genre and added the mega-sized Giant Skylanders and LightCore® characters to the collection of interaction figures. Skylanders SWAP Force™ launched in October 2013 and introduced an all-new play pattern – swapability. Skylanders was the top selling kids’ videogame franchise of 2013² worldwide, and is now one of the top 20 videogame franchises of all time3. Skylanders Trap Team™ reverses the magic of bringing Toys-to-Life — incredibly letting kids pull characters out of the digital world into the physical world.

About Activision Publishing
Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Activision Publishing, Inc. is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and leisure products. Activision maintains operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, mainland China, Hong Kong and the region of Taiwan. More information about Activision and its products can be found on the company’s website, www.activision.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Statements: Information in this press release that involves Activision Publishing’s expectations, plans, intentions or strategies regarding the future, including statements about Skylanders Trap Team™ are forward-looking statements that are not facts and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause Activision Publishing’s actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements set forth in this release include unanticipated product delays and other factors identified in the risk factors sections of Activision Blizzard’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements in this release are based upon information available to Activision Publishing and Activision Blizzard as of the date of this release, and neither Activision Publishing nor Activision Blizzard assumes any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements believed to be true when made may ultimately prove to be incorrect. These statements are not guarantees of the future performance of Activision Publishing or Activision Blizzard and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond its control and may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.
© 2014 Activision Publishing, Inc., SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS TRAP TEAM, SKYLANDERS SPYRO’S ADVENTURE, SKYLANDERS GIANTS, SKYLANDERS SWAP FORCE, SKYLANDERS COLLECTION VAULT, TRAPTANIUM, TRAPTANIUM PORTAL, PORTAL OF POWER, LIGHTCORE, TOYS TO LIFE, and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc.
¹ According to The NPD Group, including toys and accessories January – August 2014
² According to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Activision Blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories.
3 According to The NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track and Activision Blizzard internal estimates, including toys and accessories. All time since NPD and GfK Chart-track began recording data.