Line #26 Trivia/Skylanders


1	* AcclaimedFlop:
2	** Despite ''Superchargers'' receiving a generally positive response from both critics and fans, the game did not sell as well as Activision had hoped.
3	** Similarly, ''Imaginators'' performed well with the critics but sold below expectations [[note]]an early NPD report stated the game had only sold 66,000 retail units in the US, a 41% decline from ‘’Superchargers’’[[/note]], which led to Activision putting the franchise on hiatus in 2016.
4	* ActorAllusion: Kaos creating a guacamole monster in ''Imaginators'' brings to mind Creator/RichardStevenHorvitz's role as Dr. Chipotle Jr. and Sr. from ''WesternAnimation/ElTigreTheAdventuresOfMannyRivera''.
5	** Horvitz’s role as Kaos is quite reminiscent of his performance as a [[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim certain antagonistic, green alien.]]
6	* DescendedCreator:
7	** Alex Ness was one of the writers for the Toys For Bob-developed games, and he voiced [[ManOfAThousandVoices Drobot, Lightning Rod, Double Trouble, Chompy Mage, Tae Kwon Crow, Blaster-Tron, Brawlrus, Broccoli Guy, Chill Bill, Noodles and Drill-X]].
8	** Dan Neil, who worked in the audio department, voiced Thumpback.
9	* DuelingGames: To ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'', ''Toys/{{amiibo}}'', and ''VideoGame/LEGODimensions'', though ''Skylanders'' came first. Paradoxically, Bowser and Donkey Kong ''Skylanders'' figures are designed to double as amiibo. Disney eventually dropped out of the duel despite leading at one point, leading to the demise of the rest of the genre- first ''Skylanders'', then ''Dimensions''.
10	* DummiedOut: ''Battlecast'' has unreleased but finished cards and characters which could be discovered with exploits, but never went as far as having more than a few bug fix updates.
11	* FakeScot: Duff the Frost Elf from ''Swap Force'' speaks with a Scottish accent like the other Frost Elves, but is voiced by American Creator/CarlosAlazraqui.
12	* FollowTheLeader:
13	** ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'', featuring characters from Creator/{{Disney}} and its Creator/{{Pixar}} and Creator/MarvelComics subsidiaries, follows a ''Skylanders''-like format of physical figurines linked to in-game characters as well as character-buffing or item-unlocking "Power Discs", though with more of a focus on user-generated WideOpenSandbox creation.
14	** Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s line of Toys/{{Amiibo}} figurines and cards also intends to find similar success, though instead of having the products all tied to a single game, they have effects only on specific UsefulNotes/WiiU and UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 3DS}} games (primarily consisting of unlocking new optional features for those games), determined on a per-product basis.
15	** Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment's Japan-only ''Franchise/KamenRider [=SummonRide=]'', allowing players to use figurines of Kamen Riders from 2000's ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'' to 2014's ''Series/KamenRiderDrive'' as playable characters and Ride Chips (similar to ''Infinity''[='=]s Power Discs) for form changes and NPC ally summoning. Unlike the above two and like ''Skylanders'' itself, it has an explicit focus on dungeon crawling.
16	** Creator/WarnerBros's ''VideoGame/LegoDimensions'' combines the concept with a pre-existing toy brand: Franchise/{{Lego}}. The game's physical figurines are actual LEGO sets.
17	** This genre of games is now officially known as "Toys To Life", named after Skylanders' initial description of its gameplay.
18	* HeAlsoDid: Toys for Bob... [[VideoGame/StarControl Where do we know these guys from?]]
19	* MakeAWishContribution: [[https://youtu.be/hKicFuZAUSU?t=1497 This interview reveals the Gecko Chorus in Tree Rex's Heroic Challenge in Giants were voiced by a girl from the Make-a-Wish Foundation who wanted to learn about game creation.]] Octavius from The Oracle was also co-designed by her.
20	* MarthDebutedInSmashBros: Since most of ''[[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon Spyro]]'' games don't have releases in Japan [[AmericansHateTingle due to the franchise's unpopularity there]], [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro Dark Spyro and Cynder]] debuted in Japan thought this series.
21	* TheMerch: In full force through all the first six games. Excluding the toys themselves, tie-ins include [[Literature/SkylandersTheMaskOfPower children's books]], comics, costumes and a Mega Bloks line of sets.
22	* TheOtherDarrin:
23	** Jet-Vac has a different voice actor in Europe.
24	** Italian commercials and trailer often have different voices for some characters: as an example, Creator/ClaudioMoneta did Terrafin and Trigger Happy in commercials for the first game and Pop Fizz in the ''Giants'' trailer, but never voiced anyone in the games until ''Trap Team'', where he voiced Brawl & Chain and Wolfgang. At the same time, Creator/MarcoBalzarotti (Pop Fizz's ''actual'' voice) did Tree Rex and Wash Buckler in commercials, but the latter is voiced ingame by Creator/PietroUbaldi, who also took the role of Eruptor in commercials but not in games, and both him and Dario Oppido voiced Snap Shot respectively in the trailer and commercials for ''Trap Team''... a role Marco Balzarotti took in the actual game.
25	*** Also in the Italian dub, Flynn and Slam Bam were voiced respectively by Riccardo Lombardo and Creator/LuigiRosa in ''Spyro's Adventure'' but were replaced respectively by Stefano Albertini and Marco Balzarotti from ''Giants'' onwards.
26	* TheOtherMarty: Tree Rex is voiced by Creator/TomKenny in the initial Giants trailer and the "Obey" commercial and is voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson in the games and the "Easter Surprise" commercial.
27	* RefittedForSequel: Prototypes of Krypt King and Chopper were designed for ''Giants'', but were scrapped. Those ideas were later reused for an Undead Trap Master and a Tech Core respectively in ''Trap Team''.
28	* UncreditedRole: The credits don't tell who voices who, but it is revealed later via social media by either the developers or the voice actors. But the one Skylander who has never had a confirmation on who voices him is Chain Reaction. Many rumors say that it's Creator/CharlieAdler, but there's no official source from the developers or even Adler himself.
29	* {{Vaporware}}: Half of ''Battlegrounds'' was this for a while. It had a level select for four worlds - but only two could be played, and nearly a year after its release an update to add the other two had not yet materialized. It's been updated and has been completed now, though.
30	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
31	** Before the concept of ''Skylanders'', and before its predecessor ''Spyro's Kingdom'', Toys For Bob looked into different early concepts for the ''Spyro'' series after ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' trilogy ended. These ideas included a "realistic, gritty" Spyro, a tiny Spyro that ran around the real world on book selves, and an origami Spyro that can take shape. Eventually the idea of ''Spyro's Kingdom'' was came into light, with Spyro being the full-grown king of said kingdom and a non-playable character who you would go to for quests, and he'd tell you where to go and help you on your adventures. More info is [[http://bit.ly/2eYoN6W here]].
32	** An MMORPG version of ''Spyro's Kingdom'' based on ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' was proposed by Helios Interactive, but was rejected.
33	** Krypt King was originally conceived as the first Giant design, and was supposed to be a humongous version of Chop Chop, complete with shield. His name was even, during concepting, "Chop Chop Daddy". While he was eventually replaced with Eye Brawl, everyone at Toys For Bob liked him so much he was brought back, with a few aesthetic tweaks, as a Trap Master. Behold, [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140819073830/skylanders/images/6/64/KriptKing1.jpg his original]] [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140818043221/skylanders/images/2/29/KriptKing2.jpg concept art]].
34	** Similar to Krypt King, Chopper was first created as a concept for a Giant, and would've been a huge T-Rex with guns and armor strapped to him (very much in the [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140818043047/skylanders/images/6/60/Chopper1.jpg vein]] of Wexter from ''Webcomic/AxeCop''). Unfortunately, they ran into problems both packaging him and fitting him on a portal with another Skylander, since T-Rexes are horizontal rather than vertical creatures, and he got replaced with Bouncer. Once again, I-Wei loved the idea so much that he revived it for ''Trap Team''.
35	** Do you remember that wizard from the Kingdom of Ice Adventure Pack in ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Giants''? Believe it or not, he's actually the original concept for Double Trouble.
36	** Arbo, the absent minded ent, was originally a full-fledged Skylander. He got as far as the [[http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120612222906/skylanders/images/1/1e/Crabfu-model2.jpg toy stage]] before being relegated to his current supporting role.
37	** Splat was originally planned as a Dark Skylander who used her staff to create blobs of oil. She was changed into an ArtAttacker when play-testers noticed that her staff resembled a paintbrush.
38	** Smash Hit was originally a koala-like Life Skylander whose different weapons in development included a brush cutter, a chainsaw, a giant spiked wheel, and an ad-hoc flail made of a vine and two smaller wheels. He was also at one point going to be a female ceratopsian of the Earth element.
39	** Stormblade was originally a Magic element peacock. She was changed because one of the playtesters, a little girl, told Vicarious Visions that "girl peacocks aren't colorful, they are actually brown."
40	** Golden Queen's origins lie as far back as ''Spyro's Adventure'', as a concept for the Weapons Master being a LivingStatue. The team was quite fond of the concept and tried to revive it for ''Giants'', with some of their proposed designs serving as the basis for what would become the [[MiniBoss Arkeyan]] [[{{BFS}} Duelists]], albeit as a much more svelte, female golem.
41	** Related to the above, the Sentinel Sensei Barbella is actually based on yet more early concepts for the Golden Queen from ''Giants''.
42	** In the original concept for the Spell Punk Library from ''Superchargers'', the Skylanders were originally supposed to be able to shift between Present and Past versions of the library, as well as interact with friendly Spell Punks who ran the facility. In fact, the original idea was that the Library as it exists now is the last remaining piece of a sprawling city, which the player could explore by shifting into the past, perhaps hinting that the Spell Punks as we know them now are the desperate survivors of the Darkness ravaging their society or were twisted by it to serve it.
43	** Activision planned to update ''Battlecast'' by releasing more content and cards later on but nothing ever came of this. The fact that [[https://www.reddit.com/r/skylanders/comments/5d5bmv/pretty_chuffed_with_todays_delivery_considering/ the dev team behind the game was fired later on]] suggests that the remaining content would never be released.
44	** The health bar in the first game was originally blue instead of green.
45	** Early trailers for ''Spyro's Adventure'' show several unused areas. One resembles Tech Gate from ''Giants''.
46	** The Necropolis was originally just named "Battle Island". It's also implied that it was unlocked by using characters as it's also referred to with "Cynder's Expansion".
47	** Treetop Terrace was originally "Tree Adventure".
48	** Camo was originally a cuter looking design with a long snout. He was known as "Sun Dragon" in that state. You can actually see him in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yYMw0TnZRY&t=100 Beginnings Director’s Cut trailer]], though oddly enough the final Camo also appears in it.
49	** Spyro's opening animation in a 2011 trailer is simpler. It shows him being activated, looking around, then running off.
50	** Prism Break originally had red and purple crystals.
51	** Prototype figures seen in a 2011 trailer bare differences from the finalized versions. Most are colour differences such as Spyro's wings and horns being golden, not bronze.
52	** Bowser was originally intended to turn into [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Giga Bowser]] for his special in Superchargers, but Nintendo insisted on the developers to do something different.
53	** [[Franchise/StarFox Fox McCloud]] was proposed as a Nintendo exclusive character for Superchargers, but Nintendo shot the idea down out of fear of it conflicting with the release of ''VideoGame/StarFoxZero''. Franchise/{{Kirby}} and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]] (who would have become a full on WarriorPrincess had she been picked) were also in consideration, but HAL Labs didn't sign on the dotted line for Kirby and Nintendo didn't like the proposed idea of Peach using a sword, saying it went against her personality.
54	** According to software engineer [[https://youtu.be/4uCmIEDpP3I?t=1930 Robert Leyland]], a second year of Imaginators Content was planned that would’ve included adding the ability to create quadruped characters.
55	** During the Spyro's Kingdom phase of the first game's development, placing a character on the portal for the very first time [[https://twitter.com/ToysForBob/status/1449065853018796038 would play a "mini-story" about that character]].
56	** There exists a figure of Cynder that was meant to be the re-pose undead Skylander in ''Trap Team'', being a series 4 Skylander alongside Gill Grunt. This was scrapped alongside the tech and earth reposes for unknown reasons.
57	** The PlayerVersusPlayer arena Slime Pipe in ''Giants'' was originally named "Slippery Tunnel". [[https://youtu.be/Gnvq_fKpV2o The arena's theme is still named that in the official soundtrack.]].
58	** [[https://skylanders.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Blue_Ember Ember was supposed to get a Power Blue variant in ''Imaginators'']] like Power Blue Splat and Power Blue Double Dare Trigger Happy and their vehicles in ''Superchargers'' but it got cancelled.
59	** The infamous Heartbreaker Buckshot was intended for a Valentine’s Day release. He even had a page on the now-defunct website. A trailer was even made for him, but the day came and went without him. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiZSItFwkKQ&t=870s According to a QA manager]], he went unreleased because he looked “too evil” and to this day the only remnants of him that have surfaced are prototype figures and his mostly unusable files.
60	** Hunter from the ''Spyro'' series was considered to be a Skylander around the time development of ''Giants'', but after mixed reception of Spyro's design, Toys for Bob didn't want to risk more backlash and the idea was dropped.

Context Trivia / Skylanders