History YMMV / Skylanders

* EpilepticTrees: Due to it being the element to lack a Doom Raider, many fans speculate on who the supposed Magic Element Doom Raider is, with the most popular guesses being Pain Yatta, due to his overall popularity as well as the fact he got a special preview trailer (something that was only given to Kaos and some of the other Doom Raiders), Mesmeralda, due to her popularity as a boss fight as well as fellow popular villain the Chompy Mage returning and Bombshell, who was believed to be a retired member for a time.

** Kaos strikes again as Robo-Kaos in ''Giants''. Let's start with the biggest problem. He has ''no health bar''. You don't know what blow from your Skylander will finish him. The chase sequence that starts the battle isn't too bad as long as you keep running. It's when you have to fight him head-on that things get tough. He can only be damaged by attacking the Iron Fist of Arkus or his head, which are only hittable during certain parts of the fight. However, he will try to slam the Fist down on the player when they attack it enough. He will also summon tough enemies to distract the player from hitting his weak points. In-between the fist/head being hittable, he will summon this capsule that will fire an insane amount of bullets at the player. Woe to any slower Skylander. You also have to destroy the capsule if you want to make Robo-Kaos attackable again. He will also start firing lasers from the fist and have the capsule stay on the field as the fight continues And much like in the first game, it can drag on for quite a while.

** But if you think those Kaos fights are tough, they have nothing on ''Trap Team'''s FinalBoss, who is the absolute king of this trope in ''Skylanders''. He has nigh-impossible to dodge attacks, an absolute mountain of health (and he can ''heal''), and does a crapton of damage. Combine these and you get a boss that shreds through armies of Skylanders like wet toilet paper and takes a half-hour to kill. And this is just on Hard...

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: ''Trap Team'''s premise sounds incredible, the ability to capture and play as villains from the series. However, of the 48 villains, the vast majority of them aren't strong supervillains or Skylander nemeses, but instead minor [[{{Mooks}} enemies and foot soldiers]]. Also, of the 48 villains, all but 4 of them are brand new characters, so the player has no attachment or interest in them.

* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Many people had doubts that this series would be a success, with ''Spyro'' fans in particular believing the franchise would automatically fail based on their dislike of attributes such as Spyro's redesign and the toys-to-life gimmick. Instead, the ''Skylanders'' series has crossed the $3 billion in sales threshold, with over 250 million toys sold since 2011. Consequently, the series ended up being one of the top twenty highest-selling video game franchises of all time. Unfortunately, Activision milked the series to death, causing ''Superchargers'' and ''Imaginators'' to fall short of their respective sales goals. ''Trap Team'' also sold less than its predecessor, ''Swap Force''.

** Fantasm Forest in ''Swap Force''. It is one of the [[MarathonLevel longest levels]] in the game, as expected from it being among the last, and it ramps up in difficulty as you go along, with platform challenges around timed flamethrowers and flaming barrels appearing more and more. But what really solidifies it as one of the hardest levels are the [[DemonicSpiders new enemies]] you encounter. Chompy Boomblossoms (Chompies that rushes towards you and explode when they come near), Missile Maulers (Shoots powerful missiles that changes directions to you the first time you dodge them), Undead Spell Punks (Summons skeleton Trolls and doesn't stop until you defeat the punk), Evilized Screechers (Flies across the area with a wave that must be either avoided or jumped over) and Tech Gear Golems (Fires machine gun bullets), all of which are some of the strongest and trickiest enemies to maneuver. Even the optional Elemental Gates in this level are tough. The tech gate requires precise throwing of a orb that will warp you to the next area and the undead gate is a 2D stage around moving platforms and timed spike traps. Kaos decided to go all out on trying to evilize the last Elemental, and it shows.

* ThatOneLevel: Fantasm Forest in ''Swap Force''. It is one of the [[MarathonLevel longest levels]] in the game, as expected from it being among the last, and it ramps up in difficulty as you go along, with platform challenges around timed flamethrowers and flaming barrels appearing more and more. But what really solidifies it as one of the hardest levels are the [[DemonicSpiders new enemies]] you encounter. Chompy Boomblossoms (Chompies that rushes towards you and explode when they come near), Missile Maulers (Shoots powerful missiles that changes directions to you the first time you dodge them), Undead Spell Punks (Summons skeleton Trolls and doesn't stop until you defeat the punk), Evilized Screechers (Flies across the area with a wave that must be either avoided or jumped over) and Tech Gear Golems (Fires machine gun bullets), all of which are some of the strongest and trickiest enemies to maneuver. Even the optional Elemental Gates in this level are tough. The tech gate requires precise throwing of a orb that will warp you to the next area and the undead gate is a 2D stage around moving platforms and timed spike traps. Kaos decided to go all out on trying to evilize the last Elemental, and it shows.

*** On the subject of ''Trap Team'', the fact that elemental gates must be opened by Trap Team members. It certainly encourages the collection of the new characters, but it seems a tad unfair when ''Swap Force'' allowed you to bypass the dual gates via co-op and can make the other Skylanders seem less needed. Also like with the Mystery elements, before 2015 (The game launched in ''October'', by the way) Magic gates were an impassible brick wall.

* FridgeHorror:
** Like you, Kaos and his mother are portal masters... however, Kaos's mom actually ''uses'' her powers to InterfaceScrew, and speaks ''directly'' to the player - she ''knows'' how to fight a fellow portal master, and attempts to attack the ''player''. Just imagine if Kaos learned how to do this...
** In ''Trap Team'', he gains the ability to do just that. The horror is mitigated by the fact that he isn't very good at it, and he ends up pulling random junk through the portal instead. However, ''[=SuperChargers=]'' brings the horror back right from the intro cutscene and even outdoes his mom: Kaos uses his portal skills to ''cut the player off from Skylands entirely.'' The only reason the player even manages to get a Skylander into the game is because Hugo, Cali, and Flynn were resourceful enough to re-establish a connection, but if they hadn't, Kaos would be ''unstoppable''.
** One of the Story Scrolls in ''Swap Force'' mentions that Kaos' Fortress was used for him to experiment on living creatures. In the next level, Motherly Mayhem, you fight Bubba Greebs- a huge, mutated Greeble with eyes on its shoulders and back... Most likely the result of one of Kaos' experiments.
** Ghost Roaster's backstory mentions him eating ghosts. If ghosts are the souls of the dead in the Skylander world, what happens to them when they're eaten?

** Those Skylanders in ''Spyro's Adventure'' who didn't get reposes in later games. They actually became somewhat of a case of [[AscendedMeme Ascended Memetic Loser]] as, in the comics, there was a storyline where three of these Skylanders, Ghost Roaster, Boomer and Voodood, [[FaceHeelTurn briefly joined the villains]] all because they felt [[DudeWhereIsMyRespect they got no respect among the heroes]].

** The Golden Queen has an immense [[LovesOnlyGold love of gold]], [[MoneyFetish sees gold as more important than actually ruling]], has the ability to manipulate gold and even trap victims as golden statues, and [[MakeMyMonsterGrow assumes a gigantic form]] after being submerged in gold. Those traits sound a lot like [[Anime/OnePieceFilmGold Gild Tesoro]], who debuted 2 years after she did.

** Oh, and just to rub it in further in the Wii version, he heals himself right back to full HP after the last Skylander clones are outmatched. [[SarcasmMode Have fun with that!]]

** The Battle for the Enteral Fire Source in ''Spyro's Adventure''. For coming so late in the game, this fight was oddly easy. The elemental attack Kaos uses isn't too hard to dodge and while strong in their own right, the Fire Skylanders summoned (Eruptor, Flameslinger, and Sunburn) can be easily beaten with a Water Skylander, which most players will have (Gill Grunt). Compared to the fight that comes before (The Eternal Undead Source) and the fight that comes afterward (Kaos himself) and even the levels that come before and after it, this battle is a well-needed refresher.

* BreatherLevel: The Golden Arcade from ''Imaginators''. The only challenge is at the end of the level with the Doomlander. Other than that, it is a mostly simple level with few enemies and lots of ways to get money. This is after the MindScrew, enemy-heavy Fizzland, and before the very long and full of annoying puzzles and enemies Dragon Temple.

** In ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'', Creator/KeithSilverstein voices Zhongli, the [[DishingOutDirt Geo]] [[PhysicalGod Archon]], who has an elemental skill that lets him summon a pillar of stone. Dino-Rang and Bash, who are also voiced by Creator/KeithSilverstein and of the [[DishingOutDirt Earth element]], can also summon pillars of stone.

** From ''Spyro's Adventure'', we have Terrafin and Ghost Roaster who are really good at dodging, Hex who can set up a super-powerful wall while she safely fires away from behind it, and Boomer whose ground pound attack hurts a lot of targets at once and stuns.

** From ''Swap Force'' [=PvP=], we have Bumble Blast. His bees can be fired at a good rate, ''home in on the enemy'', and hit more than once. He also has honey and mines which make the opponent slow for some time and also makes them take more damage from bees. Then there's Jolly Bumble Blast, who is Bumble Blast wearing a Christmas hat that boosts his speed and armor by a '''huge''' amount.
** Dune Bug in ''Swap Force's'' Story Mode. An early upgrade allows his Dune Balls to trap up to 5 small/medium enemies (bypasses shields and hits flying Rip-rotors), then he can roll them off the edge for a OneHitKill. As Skylands is a WorldInTheSky, he has ''many'' opportunities to do so, and if there isn't he can fire the ball at a wall to stun the trapped enemies. As such, the only Mooks Dune Bug usually has to worry about are [[GiantMook Geargolems]]. This ability is mostly useless in [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]], though.
** Chef Pepper Jack in ''Trap Team''. He's absurdly powerful, being able to rain down explosive peppers over a wide radius (each of which does 120 splash damage) at a mind-boggling pace (roughly 1.5-second cooldown, 5 per shot), precision kills enemies with his fire breath, AND rapidly move about the battlefield with his whisk charge. Additionally, upon completing his Wanted Poster, the mitigating factor of his summon time is tripled in length. He turns Arena Battles and Kaos Challenges into cakewalks at best and "Mash Primary Attack To Win" exercises at worst.
*** Also, Broccoli Guy. This villain is not only easy to find, but also has a useful ability to create a magic healing circle. Additionally, as he is a Life Element villain, you won’t need to buy another Trap since your game comes with one Life Trap.
** Eon's Elites. Super powerful versions of fan-favorite characters from the first game, such as Spyro, Chop Chop, and Trigger Happy. Noticeable traits are triple stats and having their card values cap at 500 while Trap Team series characters only go up to 250. At max level, Spyro has 2700 health!
** Kaos himself, once trapped, though it's pretty clear this is intentional as a reward for clearing the game and managing to acquire a Kaos Trap. His basic attack has different effects based upon what elemental symbol appears, which hit a wide area for staggering amounts of damage. That is unless he pulls a Magic symbol which ''completely refills his summon meter'', making him the only villain in the game able to be played indefinitely. Add to that his Doom Sharks, which home in on enemies while packing a solid wallop (and can't heal enemies if they miss, unlike when you face them) and the ability to turn into his Awesome Giant Head from ''Spyro's Adventure'', and it's easy to see how he could solo the entire game.
** In ''Imaginators'', the titular Imaginators are often flat out better than everyone else for multiple reasons, but mostly because they are either stupidly fast, or stupidly strong. Getting enough Senseis will have them eventually start reaching Eon Elite levels of HP.

** Pretty much every Female Skylander with a humanoid design (specifically Stealth Elf, Hex, Ninjini, Roller Brawl, Sprocket, etc.) Tend to be among the most popular of the Skylanders, [[SelfFanservice especially among older fans.]]