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| 2 | %%Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1660058863042275200 |
| 3 | %%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread. |
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| 5 | [[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/box_skylanders.png]] |
| 6 | [[caption-width-right:250:A new generation of heroes have set out to make their own legend!]] |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ->''A great adventure awaits you, Portal Master. Behold.'' |
| 9 | -->-- '''Master Eon''' |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ''Skylanders'' is a video game franchise launched by Creator/{{Activision}} in 2011. Part ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' reboot ([[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro another one]]), part brand new franchise, ''Skylanders'' took a [[ToysToLifeGame radical new approach]]: The games come with a device called a "portal," plus a few toys. The idea is that if you want to play as a character, you put their toy on the portal and the game instantly switches to the new character. This can be done at any time, even in the middle of game play. With dozens of toys available, this does make this game MerchandiseDriven, but since the games usually come with some toys already you don't have to buy more unless you want to (or you want HundredPercentCompletion, and even then it doesn’t require every figure for any of the games). |
| 12 | |
| 13 | The toy gimmick is given an in-story explanation. An evil Portal Master named Kaos banished the Skylanders into the real world as statues, and it's up to the player, taking on the role of a good Portal Master, to stop him by summoning Skylanders into the game. Later games would also offer explanations for the various sub-groups that appear, such as swept away in a magical volcanic eruption or being caught in the explosion of a high-security prison. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The series was a smash hit with children thanks to its humor, top-notch voice actors, beautiful graphics and simple beat-'em-up gameplay. The toy gimmick drives the cost for the whole experience up (similar to Activision's deceased ''VideoGame/GuitarHero''), and while the more cynical may call this nothing but a cheap merchandising ploy, the idea was novel and well-executed, setting it apart from other video games (Well, until [[FollowTheLeader a bunch of other games started copying it, that is]]). It was so successful that it began a massive franchise spanning multiple sequels (each with their own unique spin on the formula), spin-offs, merchandise, and even an animated series. It grew so large that it managed to acquire some [[GuestFighter Guest Fighters]], such as [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex]] and Nintendo’s very own [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] and Franchise/DonkeyKong. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | As for Spyro himself, he is a CompositeCharacter with the move set of classic Spyro, the backstory of the ''Legend'' Spyro, and a new design based on a scrapped adult version of himself. Fan favorite Cynder from the ''Legend'' series also returns as a playable toy, and Spyro's trusty dragonfly Sparx appears as a non-playable item toy. Malefor, the BigBad of the ''Legend'' series, [[GreaterScopeVillain appears in several characters' backstories]] and shows up in person in the tie-in comics. However, most of the remaining lore from the previous ''Spyro'' games was largely abandoned for the main series past the first game, leaving the purple dragon as a mostly ordinary Skylander and largely irrelevant for many of the games. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Unfortunately, the sales of both the figures and the games had begun to decline by a significant amount by the latest game, a drop usually attributed to the oversaturation of the toys-to-life market. 2016’s ''Imaginators'' was the last major game in the series, and there have been no new projects for the franchise, though Spyro himself [[VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy continues to live on]]. With the closure of the series’ last remaining mobile games and no talks of reviving the series, it seems as if the ''Skylanders'' franchise is indefinitely on hiatus, although Microsoft has stated they are interested in reviving the brand upon their acquisition of Activision Blizzard. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Games]] |
| 24 | [[index]] |
| 25 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersSpyrosAdventure'' (2011; PC, [=PS3=], Wii, Xbox 360, Wii U[[note]]Exclusive to Japan.[[/note]]) - The original, with 32 characters available. Kaos has assaulted the Skylanders' base; banishing them to Earth, turning their mentor Eon into a spirit, and destroying the Core of Light that keeps the Darkness at bay. It's up to the player to send the Skylanders back and gather the parts needed to rebuild the Core.[[/index]] |
| 26 | ** ''Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure'' (3DS) - [[ReformulatedGame A different game with the same name]], more of a platformer than the console versions. A villain named Hektore is threatening a section of Skylands called the Radiant Isles, and the Skylanders have to stop him.[[index]] |
| 27 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersGiants'' (2012; [=PS3=], Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360) - With a 40-character toy line, introducing new versions of 24 characters from the original and adding 16 more; of which eight are "Giants" that are at least double the size of the regular Skylanders and have the in-game strength to match. Storywise, the Giants were lost 10,000 years ago after fighting the Arkeyan war machines. Now, while the Giants have been discovered on Earth, Kaos has returned to the Skylands after his own banishment and seeks to claim the ancient Arkeyan army as his own. |
| 28 | ** ''Skylanders: Giants'' (3DS) - Like with ''Spyro's Adventure'', it shares a name with the console versions but is a platformer with a different plot. The dread pirate Captain Frightbeard has escaped the Chest of Exile, and the Skylanders have to find the Chest before he can free his armada. |
| 29 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersSwapForce'' (2013; [=PS4=], [=PS3=], Wii, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360) - 48 toys split evenly between 16 returning, 16 new regular characters, and 16 Swap Force characters with figures that split in two so they can exchange top and bottom halves, using the attacks of the former and special movement capabilities of the latter. In the game, these characters gained this ability after being blown apart by a magical volcano in the Cloudbreak Isles - which, of course, Kaos wants to control. |
| 30 | ** ''Skylanders: Swap Force'' (3DS) - Like the previous entries, the 3DS version of this game has its own plot. In this one, Flynn's hometown, curiously named Boom Town, is under attack by the nefarious Count Moneybone and his clockwork army, with Cali being turned into his undead servant. Unlike the previous two games, you can switch between Skylanders you've already summoned using the Portal in the hub zone, reducing the need to use your own Portal. |
| 31 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersTrapTeam'' (2014; [=PS4=], [=PS3=], Wii, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360, tablets) - 60 new toys (36 new characters (18 regular and 18 Trap Masters, the latter of which can break special Traptanium Crystals with their special weapons), 8 returnees, and 16 Mini characters). The new gimmick are traps that can capture certain bosses (40+ in all) in "Traptanium" crystals (''also'' sold separately and divided by element) in a {{Mons}} mechanic. It also introduces two new elements, Light and Dark. Kaos caused the plot ''this'' time by staging a breakout at the infamous Cloudcraker Prison, so the Trap Masters have to lead the Skylanders in recapturing them. |
| 32 | ** ''Skylanders: Trap Team'' (3DS) - Hugo accidentally opens a portal to the Realm of Dreams, unleashing the Dream Sheep who puts everyone but the Skylanders to sleep. You can capture foes like in the console version, but you are unable to play as them, instead bringing them out for a powerful attack. |
| 33 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersSuperChargers'' (2015; [=PS4=], [=PS3=], Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox 360, [=iOS=]/[=tvOS=]) - 18 characters, ten new and eight returning but completely overhauled from scratch, along with a matching vehicle for each character for a total of 36 toys. Kaos has a new superweapon warship and the Skylanders will need to be {{Badass Driver}}s to fight it - driving segments are in every level and while any Skylander can use any vehicle, pairing a vehicle with its designated driver will "Supercharge" it, giving better stats, more unlocked parts and a new appearance. |
| 34 | ** ''VideoGame/SkylandersSuperChargersRacing'' (Wii, 3DS) - A RacingGame spinoff. These versions, along with the Wii U version of the main game, introduce two {{Guest Fighter}}s to the series (complete with ''their'' own vehicles): Franchise/DonkeyKong and [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]], whose figures also work with Nintendo's own Toys/{{amiibo}} toy system (but not with non-Nintendo hardware). |
| 35 | * ''VideoGame/SkylandersImaginators'' (2016; [=PS4=], [=PS3=], Wii U, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox 360) - This entry brings CharacterCustomization to the series, with "Creation Crystal" toys allowing players to design their own Skylander from scratch. For regular toys, there are 31 Senseis that custom characters can learn special moves and earn weapons from: 20 all-new characters including {{Guest Fighter}}s [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex]], and 11 former villains from ''Trap Team'' receiving their own playable toys for the first time. Unfortunately, Kaos has gotten ahold of the character creation magic as well and is using it to make his own Doomlanders, [[AndThatsTerrible which is a problem]]. |
| 36 | [[/index]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | !!!Spinoffs: |
| 39 | * ''Skylanders: Universe'' (originally ''Skylanders: Spyro's Universe'') - A browser-based MinigameGame with some MMO lite features such as the ability to wander around chatting with other players while using your Skylander as your avatar. It was [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames shut down]] halfway between ''Giants'' and ''Swap Force'', though the minigames were still available for a while. |
| 40 | * ''Skylanders: Cloud Patrol'' (iOS) - An arcade shooter similar to light gun games, but using the touch screen instead. Only supports ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Giants'' characters. |
| 41 | * ''Skylanders: Lost Islands'' (iOS) - A park-builder game. |
| 42 | * ''Skylanders: Battlegrounds'' (iOS) - A game featuring fairly linear stages a pair of Skylanders move around and try to reach the exit or level boss; sometimes with side tasks like sub-boss battles or collection quests before the final exit or encounter is unlocked. FixedEncounters are littered around levels, and trigger {{Real Time Strategy}}-type battles. |
| 43 | * ''Skylanders: Collection Vault'' (iOS) - Rather than a game, it's a toy collection-tracking app. |
| 44 | * ''Skylanders: Battlecast'' (iOS[=/=]Android) - A CollectibleCardGame. |
| 45 | * ''Skylanders: Creator'' (iOS[=/=]Android) - The CharacterCustomization aspect of ''Imaginators'', spun off into its own app. Unlike in ''Imaginators'', users can use the app to order cards or 3D-printed figures of their custom Skylanders (or they can be transferred from ''Imaginators'' to the app to make the order). |
| 46 | * ''Skylanders: Ring of Heroes'' (iOS[=/=]Android) - A "hero collector" RPG game. Something of a successor to the console games, as the main series had pretty much died off after ''Imaginators''. [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames The game's servers shut down]] in March 2022. |
| 47 | [[/folder]] |
| 48 | |
| 49 | There are also a series of [[Literature/SkylandersTheMaskOfPower tie-in novels]] that serve as prequels to the first game and some comics set between games three and four that expand on the Skylanders as characters (whereas in-game, they can't really interact with the story at all since you can play as any character at any time, and are usually generically referred to as “The Skylander”). |
| 50 | |
| 51 | As a part of Activision Blizzard's expansion into creating non-video game content based off their properties, a ''WesternAnimation/SkylandersAcademy'' spin-off TV show was announced, with [[Film/DodgeballATrueUnderdogStory Justin]] [[Film/{{Accepted}} Long]] taking over as Spyro, Music/AshleyTisdale as Stealth Elf, and Creator/NormMacDonald as Glumshanks, along with Creator/RichardStevenHorvitz (reprising his role as Kaos), [[Music/{{Metallica}} James Hetfield]] and Harland Williams as voices. It debuted on October 27, 2016 as a Creator/{{Netflix}} Original, and ended in 2018. |
| 52 | ---- |
| 53 | !!''Skylanders'' contains examples of: |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:Tropes # - D]] |
| 56 | * HundredPercentCompletion: Each level has a star objectives list that marks how much you've completed in a level. One star can only be earned by finding all the collectables in a single level. And most of these collectables are locked behind Elemental Gates that only a certain element of Skylanders can open. Along with that, many of the games have bonus levels that you can only obtain with certain figures, though they aren’t usually included in the in-game percentage counter. |
| 57 | ** In ''Spyro’s Adventure'', you only need one Skylander of each element (since the starter park contains three characters of different elements, this requires a minimum of five more characters) to access all of the content. |
| 58 | ** In Giants however, you don't need to buy any additional toys outside of one Giant (one of which in included in the Starter Pack) for 100%, as all Spyro's Adventure characters can open the elemental gates perfectly fine. |
| 59 | ** 100% completing Swap Force is absurd when you take all the side content into effect. The main story mode has objective stars as usual, but Bonus Missions, Survival Arenas, Time Attack, Score Mode, and all the accolades have more stars to earn. The dual-elemental gates might seem like they require Swap Force characters to open, but thankfully you can also open them with two regular Skylanders matching the elements in multiplayer. |
| 60 | ** To 100% Trap Team, you can't just use any past Skylanders to open the element gates. Now only the Trap Masters can do so. And a fourth star was added to the level completion goals, which you can only see [[PostEndGameContent after rolling the credits]]. |
| 61 | ** Superchargers thankfully calms things down. Now in order to get 3 stars on a level, you just need to complete each vehicle type's mission, lessening the need to buy all the toys since any Skylander can drive a vehicle. Element Gates were removed, replaced by Supercharger Gates, which any Supercharger of any element can access. And by Imaginators, the three-star goals can easily be accomplished with just one Skylander, without the need to buy any toys outside of the starter pack characters. |
| 62 | *** However, for true 100% completion in Imaginators, you're gonna need to buy one Sensei of each element to unlock the "Sensei Realms", short mini levels that have their own set of star objectives to complete. And the game also received a content update adding two more levels only accessed by other toys... which are now incredibly expensive due to their low print run. |
| 63 | * AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Mostly averted for the series. The cap started at 10 and increased to 20 by ''Swap Force'', but these were easy to achieve through dedicated use of a character. Played straight in ''Imaginators'', where every Sensei increases the Imaginator level cap by 1, meaning the cap would be a whopping 45 (46 if you have Kaos). It gets even crazier when variants are involved, which give another increase on top of their original, meaning the level cap would reach level 64 once all released figures were scanned in. |
| 64 | ** The Portal Master Rank in Swap-Force goes up to 80. Heck, there's more stars in the game then there is required for you to reach 80. |
| 65 | * AccidentalMisnaming: Mags calls pirates "blueberries" because she once met a pirate named Bluebeard. but misheard him when he introduced himself. |
| 66 | * AcePilot: |
| 67 | ** Flynn, the self-proclaimed [[BlatantLies "Best Pilot in All of Skylands"]] |
| 68 | ** In ''Superchargers'', any Supercharger associated with a CoolPlane is likely to be one. |
| 69 | * AchievementSystem: While the Platform/Xbox360, Platform/XboxOne, Platform/PlayStation3 and Platform/PlayStation4 versions have system-standard Achievements/Trophies, the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} version includes them too, where they are known as "Accolades" and accessible from the in-game menu. ''Giants'' also adds figurine-specific achievements known as "Quests" which are saved and stored with the individual toy (even those not officially promoted with the Series 2 lineup), and unlock metallic "Top Hat" items for the figure to wear. |
| 70 | * ActionBomb: Fire Fiends in ''Spyro's Adventure'' (replaced by En Fuego Chompies in ''Giants'' and Chompy Boomblossoms in ''Swap Force'') and Spiderlings are small, walking explosive packages. There's also the Tech Skylander Countdown and the Fire villain Grinnade. |
| 71 | * ActionGirl: Each game has at least one. ''Spyro's Adventure'' started out with only 5 out of 32, but later games tried to have a smaller ratio between how many male and female Skylanders there are. |
| 72 | * ActionPrologue: The opening cutscenes of the first four games all feature the Skylanders facing off against evil before the disaster that banished them happened. |
| 73 | * AdaptationalHeroism: ''Imaginators'' features a special VideoGame/CrashBandicoot themed level, Thumpin' Wumpa Island, and it features the tribesmen from Papu Papu's tribe, who served as enemies in the first game. Here, they are portrayed as friendly, with a distinct SurferDude vibe to them. |
| 74 | * AddedAlliterativeAppeal |
| 75 | ** Almost every level in ''Spyro's Adventure'' has an AlliterativeName: Perilous Pastures, Treetop Terrace, Cadaverous Crypt, and so on. |
| 76 | ** In ''Giants'', Charm items ("Clever Clover", "Bright Blade") and DifficultyLevels ("Chompy Cuddler", "Heavy Hitter") also have alliterative names. |
| 77 | * ADogNamedDog: [[spoiler: Brain, Kaos' new ally in ''Imaginators'', is mostly just that.]] |
| 78 | * AdvancingBossOfDoom: First phase of the FinalBoss battle in ''Giants'', against [[spoiler:Robo-Kaos]]. |
| 79 | * TheAllegedCar: |
| 80 | ** Flynn's ship in ''Giants'' gets marginally better throughout the game, as this time the Legendary Treasures act as customization options; but still, characters occasionally comment that the thing is ''cursed'' -- heck, during the second level's intro, Flynn remarks that the guy who sold it to him "...seemed pretty desperate to get rid of it, actually." |
| 81 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing'', if you haven't scanned a Land or Sea vehicle, Pandergast will loan you one of both in-game with subpar stats and no upgrades. |
| 82 | * AllThereInTheManual: In the first two games, Skylander bios were in the player's guide, on the website, or in the iOS games; not with the toys or the console games. ''Swap Force'' broke the tradition and finally included character bios in-game. |
| 83 | ** [[GoldenSuperMode Legendary versions]] of Skylanders are [[HandWave explained on the back]] as actually being [[{{Golem}} statues]] of Skylanders that fought well in arena tournaments that [[TheChosenMany only a few Portal Masters can animate.]] |
| 84 | ** According to the Master Eon's Official Guides [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration the hats you collect really are]] various types of HatOfPower. It even gets lampshaded: Eon admits that, while the hats give the Skylanders additional power, [[RainbowPimpGear they don't always look good wearing them...]] |
| 85 | ** The first three series of [[DarkIsNotEvil Dark Edition Skylanders]] each has a separate explanation of their existence: |
| 86 | *** Dark Spyro (from the 3DS pack of ''Spyro's Adventure'') is [[MythologyGag implied to be the same one from]] ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'', only now under control, thanks to Master Eon's training. |
| 87 | *** The ''Swap Force'' Dark Skylanders were caused by Kaos' attempt to [[VillainPossessedBystander evilize some of the Skylanders using Petrified Darkness]]. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard It worked against him]], though, [[ContinuityNod because Spyro just taught them what HE learned about how to control his dark side,]] leading to even stronger Skylanders going after him.[[note]]This is the backstory used for the ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and ''Imaginators'' Dark Editions. This is despite mentions of the [=SuperChargers=] being recruited between ''Trap Team'' and ''[=SuperChargers=]'', as well the villain Senseis being locked up in Cloudcracker Prison during the events of ''Swap Force'', meaning they’d be unable to be exposed to the substance while Kaos used it.[[/note]] |
| 88 | *** The ''Trap Team'' Dark Skylanders were made when Kaos tried to trap Skylanders inside a traptanium prison made of dark crystals. [[DidNotThinkThisThrough But since two of the trapped Skylanders were Trap Masters, they already had the ability to just simply shatter the trap, even from the inside]]. Unlike previous Dark versions, however, they didn't need training on how to control their new dark sides; [[IncorruptiblePurePureness they were already too pure-hearted to be evilized.]] |
| 89 | * AlternateUniverse: [[WordOfGod According to Toys For Bob, the developers of the ''Reignited Trilogy'' and ''Skylanders'']], this is in effect for the franchise, with Classic Spyro and Skylander Spyro being two different characters in their own universes. There's currently no word if ''Legend of Spyro'' Spyro and his world are included in this, though. |
| 90 | * AmbiguouslyHuman: Eon, Kaos, Chompy Mage, Kaos' Mom and Aurora are all about as close to humans as you'll find here, minus their FourFingeredHands. On top of that, both Kaos and Chompy Mage have some freakishly bizarre teeth. |
| 91 | ** Deja Vu is also possibly a member of this species, as her exposed fingers appear distinctly human. |
| 92 | * AmusementParkOfDoom: "Cutthroat Carnival" in ''Giants.'' |
| 93 | * AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:Kaos]] receives a very karmic one in ''Spyro's Adventure'': [[spoiler:After his defeat, he is sent to Earth, getting reduced to a mere toy figurine in the process]]. ''Giants'', however, shows that being a Portal Master lets him break out of it. |
| 94 | * AndYourRewardIsClothes |
| 95 | ** One of the types of in-game collectibles is a variety of nice hats for your Skylanders to wear. They actually provide stat boosts in the console versions of the games as well as the 3DS versions of ''Swap Force'' and ''Trap Team''. Of special note are the metallic Top Hats in ''Giants'', awarded for completing a Skylander's individual Quests; and the Knight Helm, the reward for beating the game on "Nightmare" difficulty. |
| 96 | ** "Legendary Ship Parts" in ''Giants'' allow you to customize Flynn's ship, including its paint job. They're mostly cosmetic, though one does allow you access to a door on the side of the ship. |
| 97 | ** In ''Imaginators'' you are often rewarded with new pieces for your custom characters. Some of these give stat boosts, but the rest just let you alter the character's appearance. |
| 98 | * AnthropomorphicFood: Food Fight, from ''Trap Team'', is an ambulatory artichoke. From the same game's villains, Chef Pepper Jack, Broccoli Guy and Tussle Sprout. |
| 99 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: In ''Giants'', if you fell off of a ledge, you would respawn, but take damage for doing so. Relatively fair, since falling was a rather rare (and usually avoidable) hazard. In ''Swap Force'', you don't take damage at all if you fall, which will happen ''quite'' a lot, and may sometimes simply spawn on the platform you were trying to jump to if you were close enough. This is retained in Trap Team and Imaginators. |
| 100 | ** In the Swap challenges, you are able to restart if you take enough damage to "die". |
| 101 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', you gain vehicle mods from toolboxes littered throughout levels. The mods you get are randomized, but the game will prioritize mods for vehicles you've scanned over ones you haven't, so you're more likely to get a mod for a vehicle you own than one you don't. |
| 102 | ** Similarly, in ''Imaginators'', Imaginite chests will tend to give you more weapons for classes that you have already made Imaginators for, and you are currently playing as one, any weapons that drop will almost always be for that Imaginator's class. Part Sets (which provide you with more unlocks) are also given priority, as once you find one piece of a set, you're very likely to find the others in short order. Getting dupes of weapons and armors is quite rare until you actually get all of the other possible drops at least once. |
| 103 | ** When using a Skylander with ranged weaponry, if you aren't actively aiming and directing their shots, they will automatically target the closest enemy within their fire arc. This is particularly noticeable with Quickshot and Bazooker Imaginators. |
| 104 | ** The UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version of ''Imaginators'' has a major one, a 300 Skylander big digital library, allowing you to scan in, semi-permanently, a particularly extensive collection, avoiding giving yourself repetitive strain injury when leveling all your Skylanders because you only need to actually scan them twice for the entire lifetime of the game. |
| 105 | * AnvilOnHead: The Anvil Rain item from the first game. There's also an "Anvil Hat". |
| 106 | * ArtificialStupidity: Once enemies are provoked into attacking you, they will rush at you no matter what kinds of obstacles are in the way. This means that if you stand on the opposite side of something that kills enemies in one hit, they will just run right into it, taking themselves out for you. |
| 107 | * ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The end of Chapter 9 in ''Giants'', after defeating Brute the Jawbreaker: |
| 108 | -->'''Brute:''' You'll never stop Master Kaos. He has an ingenious plan to get that Iron Fist of Arkus. Then he'll rule Skylands! Then he can finally take me fishing... |
| 109 | ** On Thumpin' Wumpa Island, one of the islanders mentions that they put in a set of moving stone faces to keep out bad guys, {{evil genius}}es, and traveling crate salesmen. |
| 110 | ** One of the Trouble Town/Calamity City missions has Gumbus alert you about a "creature of unspeakable evil" who has declared himself "Mayor, King, and even SUPER KING!" |
| 111 | --->'''Gumbus:''' He's got bombs and mines! ALARM SIRENS! Evil goons! Barricades and locked gates! MEGA-locked gates!! He's even got some guy named Edgar!!! |
| 112 | * AscendedExtra: The Chompy Mage. Originally, he was simply the boss of the Wilikin Village in ''Giants'', but he proved popular enough with the fans that he returned in CaptainErsatz form as the Sheep Mage in ''Swap Force''. Then ''Trap Team'' reveals he's a core member of the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom Doom Raiders]], one of the most dreaded gangs in all of Skylands, who all seem to regard Kaos as a [[LargeHam pompous]] [[SmallNameBigEgo amateur]] compared to them. He then appears in ''Imaginators'' as a Sensei of the Bazooker class. |
| 113 | * AsteroidsMonster: |
| 114 | ** Chompy Pastepetals in the Kaos' Fortress level of ''Swap Force'' split into two small, one-eyed versions when attacked. |
| 115 | ** Spellslamzer in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' splits into regular-sized Spell Punks when he takes enough damage. |
| 116 | * AttackItsWeakPoint: If an enemy or boss can only be defeated by attacking a specific part, the game helpfully identifies these for you with a color highlight or arrow marking. |
| 117 | * AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: |
| 118 | ** [[spoiler:Super Evil Kaos]] in ''Swap Force''. |
| 119 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', on the quest to retrieve the Eye of the Ancients, you're sent to get the Kolossal Kernel from Cluck, who is using it to raise an army. After you retrieve the Kernel Mags pops it, and in the next level you eat it to become giant, allowing you to go head-to-head with the Titans in the level. |
| 120 | * AutoRevive: Night Shift and Crash Bandicoot both has an ability that revives them once their health is depleted. To compensate, they both have some of the lowest max health of the entire roster. |
| 121 | * AwesomeButImpractical: Ghost Roaster's Ectoplasm Move shields him from damage from all enemies, but the cost of it is [[CastFromHitPoints him losing health over time while using it]], meaning he's not entirely safe while using it. Not only that, but this can also result in him being outright defeated if his health is depleted while using this move, something he's not even safe from in the ''hub worlds''. |
| 122 | * BackstoryHorror: Despite its lighthearted tone, many Skylanders have horrific backstories ranging from being hunted from birth to having their entire civilization genocided with them as the sole survivor. |
| 123 | * BadassArmy: The Skylanders. The description for Nightmare difficulty in ''Swap Force'' even explicitly calls a player's collection their army. |
| 124 | * BadassDriver: [=SuperChargers=] who typically utilize Land vehicles qualify. |
| 125 | * BagOfSpilling: Every single figure of the Skylanders have their own progress, so whenever they get reposes as a Series 2, a [=LightCore=], variants, etc., they start off with no upgrades bought and both amount of gold and XP at zero. There's no lore explanation as to why this happens, as it is implied that every figure of one Skylander is the same character and not any doppelgängers. |
| 126 | * BeatTheCurseOutOfHim: Beating an Evilized creature turns them back to their normal self. The only creatures this doesn't work on are the Greebles. |
| 127 | * BehemothBattle: [[spoiler:At the end of ''Giants'', Robo-Kaos square off against Ermit and the Machine Ghost in their Arkeyan Robot while the Skylander fights Kaos' Arkeyan minions.]] |
| 128 | * BerserkButton: Going by a couple of his exclamations, Kaos apparently hates ''trees''. |
| 129 | * BigDamnHeroes: The final boss of ''Giants''. [[spoiler:Kaos - by then a giant Arkeyan robot - cornered the player by destroying the teleporter; the only means to escape. All of a sudden, Ermit comes to the rescue - with the sudden re-appearance of the Machine Ghost and corresponding Arkeyan robot that was [[UnexplainedRecovery destroyed earlier in the story]].]] |
| 130 | * BigOMG: Dreamcatcher literally shouts "O! M! '''G!!!'''" during her capture sequence in ''Trap Team''. |
| 131 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: The games couldn't make this more obvious if they had tried. The Skylanders are protectors of the peace in Skylands and fighters for good, while villains like Kaos and the Doom Raiders wants to either spread mayhem or conquer Skylands. |
| 132 | * BoringButPractical: Stealth Elf'and Whisper Elf's Soul Gem "Sylvan Regeneration" is simply them being healed over time, but there are no requirements needed to achieve said healing, it just happens. And it's especially useful for them because they both have a very small health pool. |
| 133 | * BossBattle: There are several bosses to be fought, but a noticeable subversion occurs with Vathek in the console versions of Dragon's Peak in ''Spyro's Adventure'': As soon as he leaps down to fight you himself, Flavius sneaks in to grab the Dragon's throne behind him, and uses its power to turn Vathek to stone. Averted in the 3DS version where you get to fight him. |
| 134 | * BossRoom: In ''Spyro's Adventure'', there isn't much to note about the rooms you find Eternal Sources (or evil Skylander ambushes) in: Generally round rooms with no cover to hide behind. |
| 135 | * BottomlessPitRescueService: If the Skylanders falls off the island into the endless sky of Skylands, they are magically transported back to where they stood, and with the exception of ''[=SuperChargers=]'', there's no fall damage. This even happens in-story in ''Imaginators'', where Pop Fizz jumps over the edge in an attempt to get at Kaos, and after he has fallen for a bit, he's teleported back to the island he stood on. |
| 136 | -->'''Pop Fizz:''' Good thing Skylanders can always recover from a fall, huh? |
| 137 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: In ''Swap Force'': Whiskers gets Evilized in Motleyville. You need to beat him up to restore him back to normal. |
| 138 | * BreakingOldTrends: The 3DS version of ''Superchargers'' is the only one of the five to have Kaos appear and be the final boss of the game- the four previous games all featured an original antagonist. |
| 139 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Aside from the idea that the player is providing help FromBeyondTheFourthWall, Flynn tends to break the fourth wall during parts of the credits (though only in the Wii version for ''Spyro's Adventure''), congratulating the player ([[SmallNameBigEgo and himself]]) for saving the Skylands and encouraging the player to go into the PlayableEpilogue. And then in the ''Spyro's Adventure'' credits, this happens: |
| 140 | -->[[LampshadeHanging OK, so what we're doing now is something called "breaking the Fourth Wall"]]; and since I'm acknowledging that fact, does this mean that I am now breaking the Fifth Wall? I don't know. What I do know is, all this wall-breaking is making me hungry. |
| 141 | ** During the fight with [[spoiler:Kaos' Mom, after you've hit her, she vanishes. No attacks, she's not on screen, nothing. The solution? Remove your Skylander from the portal, thus revealing her hiding place.]] |
| 142 | ** In console versions of ''Trap Team'', [[spoiler:Kaos]] actually addresses the player, and [[spoiler:pushes a button, which results in the player's controller vibrating. This is supposedly to prove that Kaos can see the player in the real world and can attack that world if the player and the Skylanders are defeated.]] |
| 143 | *** [[spoiler: Later on, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou he attempts to actively drag the player into his world]] using the Traptanium that's empowering him at the time. But he just pulls in a bunch of random junk, thankfully.]] |
| 144 | ** Certain Skylanders will respond to the effects and narration associated with leveling up in the games, including Pop Fizz and King Pen, as will Chill Bill and Broccoli Guy while commentating in the arena. |
| 145 | * BribingYourWayToVictory: Tied to the toy gimmick, there are in-game bonuses for having more figures: |
| 146 | ** Unlocking new areas and hats (either one figure per element, or based on whatever gimmick the current installment is up to). |
| 147 | ** In ''Trap Team'', some towers in the Kaos Challenge can only be built by specific element Skylanders. |
| 148 | ** Each figure counts as one [[VideoGameLives life]]. |
| 149 | ** Scanning more characters of the same element increases the Elemental Power of that element. |
| 150 | ** Scanning Sensei characters in ''Imaginators'' unlock new equipment and abilities to use with Creation Crystals. |
| 151 | * BrickJoke: In ''Giants'', a Wilikin servant mentions that Kaos' family attempted to create their own line of soda, with flavors like Sand, Mud and Radioactive Suction Eel. Two games later, the Skylanders halt The Gulper's rampage at a soda festival by duping him into drinking the remarkably similar Bottom-Feeding Suction Eel soda. |
| 152 | ** While retaking the Sky Fortress in ''Imaginators'', Jet-Vac discovers that his lunch has disappeared from the fridge. [[spoiler: Kaos reveals he was the thief while taunting Jet-Vac during the final level.]] |
| 153 | ** Also in ''Imaginators'', at the start of an arena battle, Broccoli Guy will say he feels hungry and decide to order a pizza. Between rounds, he'll start to wonder what happened to said pizza, hoping it "didn't get sent to the wrong Broccoli Guy!" |
| 154 | * BriefAccentImitation: After asking himself [[WhatWouldXDo What Would Kaos Do]], Evil Glumshanks then adopts a ludicrous facsimile of his voice, screaming, "Minions! Stop the Skylanders!" He's pleasantly surprised when doing so summons a wave of MechaMooks. |
| 155 | * BulletHell: Though certainly not as intense as those of arcade shooter fame, there are many times you'll be required to dodge waves of incoming spells. |
| 156 | ** In the first game, Kaos summons swarms of elementally-themed obstacles during your battles against his minions. (The [[ThreateningShark Doomsharks]] even give you HP bonuses for "grazing" the side of one without taking damage!) |
| 157 | ** Kaos's Hydra, the Final Boss of the first game, not only features all four of the elemental spells Kaos used against you previously, but even mixes them up -- can you dodge, for example, [[EnergyWeapon deadly laser beams]] ''and'' swarms of doomsharks at the same time? |
| 158 | ** The Chompy Mage boss in ''Giants'' mixes it up with some ''VideoGame/{{Ikaruga}}''-style BulletHell: A mixture of damaging red projectiles and healing blue projectiles, while you utilize a device to invert which ones are which. ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44r8L6BHNLc video]]) |
| 159 | ** During the final boss fight in ''Trap Team'', [[spoiler: Kaos's Doom Sharks are back, complete with "grazing" bonus.]] |
| 160 | * CanonImmigrant: Cynder and Malefor are carried over from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro'' games, and Auric the Banker is Moneybags from the Classic ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' series down to the last detail. (He's a brown bear with a monocle and a black suit and is obsessed with treasure, for crying out loud!) Sparx the Dragonfly also appears, getting a toy at that, but as an item instead of a playable character. |
| 161 | * {{Cap}}: The gold and level counters for every Skylander have caps of 65,000 and 20 respectively. |
| 162 | * CaptainColorbeard: The series has several: the Pirate Seas bonus level features Captain Dreadbeard, and he and his crew play card games with cards like Two-Beard, No-Beard, and She-Beard. ''Giants'' 3DS features Captain Frightbeard and his lieutenants, Squidbeard and Rustbeard. And Mags at one point met a pirate named Bluebeard, but he's never shown on screen and is simply talked about for a [[AccidentalMisnaming gag]]. |
| 163 | * CartoonBomb: These are scattered all over the games for Skylanders to pick up and usually needed to blow up barriers (before they explode, of course). A few Skylanders also use them in attacks, and ''Swap Force'' even adds an anthropomorphic bomb character named Countdown. |
| 164 | * CatchPhrase: All toys have an official motto on their packaging. Beginning in ''Giants'', they shout their phrase whenever they're placed on the Portal. (In ''Spyro's Adventure'', characters either had multiple phrases or [[SpeakingSimlish just random gibberish]]; while ''Giants'' 3DS has them make [[TransformationNameAnnouncement Summoning Name Announcements]] instead.) Flynn is also well-known for exclaiming ''"Boom!"'' at various intervals. |
| 165 | ** Tessa is rather fond of "Ka-blam!" and "Dragon feathers!" |
| 166 | ** Buzz continues the explosive catchphrase trend with "Boomsticks!" |
| 167 | ** Brock has a habit of yelling "WRONG!" after asking a rhetorical question. |
| 168 | ** Actually a JustifiedTrope in the Skylanders' case (see GameplayAndStoryIntegration below). |
| 169 | * CentralTheme: ''Imaginators'' has a theme of how creativity need to take its time. [[SmugSnake Kaos']] constant failures created from him using Mind Magic stems from him too impatient to come up with anything effective and sets his goal on quantity over quality. The Portal Master can spend all the time Kaos took to create his ten Doomlanders on creating one Imaginator who can become a OneManArmy and defeat all of Kaos' Doomlanders, [[spoiler:and in the final boss, Brain thinks the Portal Master's imagination is so much better than Kaos (and also took issue with Kaos insulting him for his lack of thumbs) that he ends up turning against Kaos and giving Imaginators a massive boost for the last duration of the fight.]] |
| 170 | * {{Cephalothorax}}: Trolls, whose legs appear to emerge from their chin. Chill Bill appears to at least have a stubby torso somewhere, though that could just be an illusion caused by him being one of the few Trolls to wear pants. |
| 171 | ** The body type of all {{Ninja}} Imaginators, as their character class is actually forbidden from having torsos in their design phase. |
| 172 | * CharacterClassSystem: Used in ''Imaginators'', as custom characters have ten classes to choose from and there are two Senseis of each class. The classes include [[HeroesPreferSwords Knight]], [[WizardClassic Sorcerer]], [[GoodOldFisticuffs Brawler]], Bowslinger, [[{{BFG}} Bazooker]], Smasher, [[DoubleWeapon Sentinel]], [[DualWielding Swashbuckler]], [[GunsAkimbo Quickshot]], and {{Ninja}}. |
| 173 | * ChargedAttack: Many characters can purchase upgrades enabling them to charge more powerful attacks by holding down one of their Attack buttons. For some characters these charged attacks can really hit hard. |
| 174 | * ChekhovsGun: Downplayed. Drill Sargent and Chop Chop are both made by Arkyans. Guess who owns the Eternal Magic Source? |
| 175 | * ChestInsignia: Many Skylanders include their elemental symbol somewhere on their bodies or armor. |
| 176 | ** BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: Trap Masters also wear a "T" symbol. |
| 177 | * ChristmasEpisode: |
| 178 | ** For the 2012 holiday season, Toys For Bob created a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGT5KzbAxbA festive video]] centered around the ''Skylanders'' universe. |
| 179 | ** While it isn't particularly a full-blown episode, the "Empire of Ice" [[DownloadableContent DLC]] level contains a [[AndYourRewardIsClothes Santa Hat]] for the player to find. |
| 180 | ** ''Battlegrounds'' also got a Christmas-themed level added for the holidays. |
| 181 | ** Bumble Blast, Lob-Star Dive-Clops, and the Chompy Mage get holiday variant figures. |
| 182 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: |
| 183 | ** The various characters have been rotated in and out of the toyline, though no character has been dropped completely since older toys will work on newer games. It also seems unlikely that any "gimmick" Skylander will ever get a second toy release (though ''Swap Force'' kept the Giants relevant by including Giant-specific obstacles). |
| 184 | ** Most of the original supporting cast were missing from ''Swap Force'', though they came back later. |
| 185 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: ''Spyro's Adventure'' toys have a layer of green plastic at their base, ''Giants'' toys have orange, ''Swap Force'' uses blue, and ''Trap Team'' is red. Different versions of the characters are marked with those colors in the various games, and the console titles tie most of their collection achievements to specific "[Color] Base" figures. Averted for ''[=SuperChargers=]'' toys, as they're identified by an engine block base rather than a color. |
| 186 | ** All of the elements are assigned to certain colours as well. Typically, air is light blue, [[YellowEarthGreenEarth earth is brown]], [[FireIsRed fire is red]], [[WaterIsBlue water is blue]], [[GreenMeansNatural life is green]], [[DeathIsGray undead is grey]], [[TechnicolorMagic magic is purple]], tech is orange, [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine light is yellow]], [[PurpleIsTheNewBlack dark is dark blue]], magic items are teal, and [[spoiler:Kaos is black]]. |
| 187 | * CompetitiveBalance: Terrafin took a barely noticeable nerf to the rate at which he punches in ''Swap Force''. In the previous games, He would often dominate [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] with his dig which makes him untargetable, and how he would rush his enemies down quickly with [[LightningBruiser high damage, and fast punches.]] |
| 188 | * ContinuingIsPainful: |
| 189 | ** Losing a Skylander can either be a minor inconvenience or a serious problem depending on how well trained your other skylanders are. |
| 190 | ** This is an actual gameplay mechanic for [[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot Crash]]. He is the only Skylander to have lives of his own and can obtain 1-ups. Unfortunately, just as dying in Crash turned you back into a OneHitPointWonder, Crash revives just barely above critical health. Hope you can find food before taking another hit and another life. |
| 191 | * ContinuityNod |
| 192 | ** In ''Spyro's Adventure'', Kaos defends his HugeHolographicHead with "Fear my giant floating head!" Later in ''Giants'', he gets the Fist of Arkus and proclaims "Fear my giant robot hand!" |
| 193 | ** During ''Spyro's Adventure'''s credits (see directly below), Flynn refers to the game as "the whole enchilada", then later decides that he's hungry and enchiladas sound pretty good. Enchiladas come up again during the ''Giants'' and ''Trap Team'' credits. |
| 194 | ** ''Giants'' has an achievement for registering Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy - the three figures included with ''Spyro's Adventure'', and freebie for those who own it. It's one of the few achievements that doesn't require "orange base" figurines. |
| 195 | ** During the climax of ''Swap Force'' [[spoiler: Super Evil Kaos gets two of his teeth knocked out by the Skylanders.]] When he reappears in ''Trap Team'', [[spoiler: those same teeth are still missing.]] |
| 196 | ** Some of the Arkyan enemies appear similar to Chop Chop, who is also Arkyan. |
| 197 | %%* CoolBoat[=/=]CoolCar[=/=]CoolPlane: The primary gimmick of ''[=SuperChargers=]'' is a crew of Skylanders who have personalized vehicles. While any Skylander can pilot these vehicles, pairing a [=SuperCharger=] with their personal vehicle results in them granting it additional abilities. |
| 198 | %% Please split them up into separate tropes. Tropeslashing is not allowed. |
| 199 | * CoolVsAwesome: Ironjaw Gulch in ''Swap Force'' features [[ObviouslyEvil Evilized]] [[SkyPirates Sky Pirate]] Greebles laying siege to a city of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Gunslinging Cowboy Dirt Sharks.]] |
| 200 | * TheCorruption: The Evilizer in ''Swap Force'' does this to wildlife and Kaos' own minions, making them eviler and ferocious. |
| 201 | * CreativeClosingCredits: In the Wii version of ''Spyro's Adventure'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWpyB9uaHB8 Flynn engages in a little Fourth Wall-breaking.]] He does it again in ''Giants'', this time joined by the Chompy Mage, whom the player vanquished in level 7 (a point which Flynn explicitly notes). |
| 202 | ** ''Trap Team'' instead has Kaos [[spoiler:berate the player for beating him.]] |
| 203 | ** ''[=SuperChargers=]'' has the credits roll normally at first with a cheesy song playing in the background, [[spoiler:but about five to ten seconds in, The Darkness destroys the credits and forces the player to fight him. After he's destroyed, the credits roll as normal.]] |
| 204 | * CriticalStatusBuff: Acquiring the "Clever Clover" in ''Giants'' charm grants a Defense boost any time a Skylander is low on HP. Curiously, enemies seem to get this property as well.... |
| 205 | * CriticalHit: Attacks may randomly inflict an additional 50% damage, punctuated with a "!" and additional sound effect. In ''Giants'', collecting money can ''also'' receive critical hits (which doubles the money's value). |
| 206 | * CrosshairAware: Some Skylanders, several enemies, and most bosses, have attacks which display their area-of-effect as a crosshair or target icon before the attack actually lands. |
| 207 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: ''Swap Force'' for the Wii version. ''Swap Force'' adds the ability to jump, but it's put on the A button. In the previous two games the A button was the primary attack, the primary attack is now the B button and secondary attack moved to the C button. All of it could have been avoided by making the C button the jump. To make it worse none of the attacks can even be re-mapped. |
| 208 | ** On the Wii version of ''Trap Team'', the "1" and "-" buttons have switched controls from ''Swap Force'', as well as "C" and "Z". "1" was to view stats, while "-" was to interact; "C" was to use the secondary attack, while "Z" was to use attack 3. These can't be re-mapped either. |
| 209 | * DarkerAndEdgier: ''[=SuperChargers=]''. To put it simply, the game starts with Kaos ''winning.'' |
| 210 | * DarkIsNotEvil: The Skylanders will take anyone in, including Voodood the orc, Boomer the troll, and all of the Undead members. Dark Skylanders are also noted as being able to use evil energy without being corrupted by it. |
| 211 | ** TheSacredDarkness[=/=]CreepyGood: The "Undead" element qualifies as one of the good ones, or at least not automatically evil. |
| 212 | ** The aptly-named Dark element exists not only for villains, but for Skylanders as well. |
| 213 | * DartboardOfHate: In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', when Glumshanks comes to Skylanders Academy after being fired, he gives you a Kaos punching bag as a peace offering. |
| 214 | * DeadpanSnarker: Glumshanks to Kaos (see LamePunReaction), and Cali to Flynn. |
| 215 | -->'''Flynn:''' ''(in an ice level)'' I'm going to hang back and ... keep Cali warm.\ |
| 216 | '''Cali:''' Right; all that [[SmallNameBigEgo hot air]] should keep me nice and toasty! |
| 217 | * DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: This can be the case when you have a whole army of Skylanders. If the current Skylander gets defeated, you can simply switch to another and continue like nothing happened. |
| 218 | * DeathOfAThousandCuts: Tech Element Skylanders tend to specialize in this, as their primary attacks are typically high rate of fire, low damage ranged attacks which let them rapidly grind through astonishing amounts of HP. |
| 219 | * DefeatMeansPlayable: In ''Trap Team'', defeating a boss and capturing them allows the player to play as said boss. In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', Racing Action Packs unlock boss races, where knocking out the boss before they finish the race will make them playable while racing. |
| 220 | * DefectorFromDecadence: When Kaos acquires the Iron Fist of Arkus in ''Giants'', some Arkeyan soldiers declare that they won't fight for him, and choose to play Skystones instead. |
| 221 | ** A few Skylanders are this as well; most notably, Boomer, Voodood, Drill Sergeant and Chop Chop. The former two being members of races normally considered AlwaysChaoticEvil, and the latter two are former members of the Arkeyan military. |
| 222 | * DemotedToDragon: Kaos suffers this in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' at the hands of The Darkness. Speaking of Demotions and Dragons... |
| 223 | * DemotedToExtra: Spyro used to have his own [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon video game franchise]], including two trilogies, and at worst had to share the spotlight with Cynder at the end of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro''. With the initial ''Skylanders'' he still had top billing, was included with every copy of the game, and had three variations of his toy to boot, but he and Cynder were joined by 30 other guys. In later games, he no longer appears in the title (being upstaged by the gimmick du jour), and his new toys are not included with copies of the game (though Cynder's comes with ''Giants''). He still gets toys in ''Giants'' and ''SWAP Force'', but in ''Trap Team'' he only gets a Mini {{Expy}}, Spry, and as of ''[=SuperChargers=]'' he's gone from the toylines completely. |
| 224 | ** Spyro's back(kinda) as the protagonist of ''Skylanders Academy'', so at least he's once again in the public eye. |
| 225 | ** Spyro returns to the limelight in ''Imaginators'' as one of the primary allies in the story, along with Stealth Elf, Eruptor, Jet Vac and Pop Fizz. Interestingly, Gill Grunt, who prior to the game had gotten a new figure ''five times'', gets this treatment: he only appears in the opening of one early level and is immediately replaced by Eruptor. |
| 226 | ** A variant with Adventure Packs; the ones in ''Spyro's Adventure'' unlock their respective worlds in ''Giants'' and provide screen-clearing attacks in levels. In ''SWAP Force'' they're reduced to providing attacks, just as ''SWAP Force''[='s=] are in ''Trap Team'' and ''Trap Team''[='s=] are in ''[=SuperChargers=]''. Also in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', Traps are reduced to changing the element of your vehicle's attacks and granting you a Skystone depending on the villain trapped inside. |
| 227 | * DemBones: Count Moneybone, the antagonist of the 3DS version of ''SWAP Force'' and one of the antagonists in ''[=SuperChargers=]''. |
| 228 | ** The Skaletones are a jazz band composed entirely of skeletons. |
| 229 | * DenserAndWackier: ''Imaginators'', especially in comparison to ''[=SuperChargers=]''. Kaos' plan is less threatening, is much more comedic and has more goofy and weird set pieces. |
| 230 | * DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: One of the chapters in ''Giants'' takes place at the "Secret Arkeyan Vault of Secrets". |
| 231 | * DesignatedGirlFight: The title screen for ''Skylanders Battlecast'' shows two teams of three ready to fight with Stormblade matched up against Hex. |
| 232 | * DevelopersForesight: |
| 233 | ** Jet-Vac uses his vacuum device to fly, which is a limited duration. If you use his secondary attack (which is [[WeaponsThatSuck vacuuming]], it starts refilling the gauge. |
| 234 | ** Equipping Hot Dog with a hat that has a bone on it will cause the bone to appear in his mouth, instead. This is changed in ''Swap Force'', because his Series 2 Wow Pow that debutes in that game puts a bone in his mouth when it is bought. |
| 235 | ** One of the boss fights in ''Swap Force'' requires you to stay in the boss's line of sight to [[BullfightBoss provoke them into charging you]]. If Stink Bomb or Stealth Elf are stealthed, the boss can't find them. |
| 236 | ** Give a hat to Rattle Shake or Wash Buckler, who have hats already. Instead of putting hats on top of their own... they'll replace it with the new hat. |
| 237 | ** There are special crystal barriers that appear during ''Spyro's Adventure.'' They're normally invulnerable and you'll have to use bombs to break them... unless you have Prism Break, who's a crystal master, and can break them with his lasers. |
| 238 | *** Unfortunately, Prism Break cannot break Traptanium crystal barriers in ''Trap Team''. Though that has an explanation, at least. |
| 239 | ** Magna Charge, upon purchasing his Multi Barreled upgrade, which turns his blaster into a chaingun, gains a new idle animation where he spins the barrels of his new gun. Additionally, if he turns invisible as Magna Bomb or Magna Shadow, instead of the normal glowing eyes, his unique cyclops eye appears instead. He can even use his magnetic attack to draw in metal powerups in certain challenges. |
| 240 | ** You can give your Skylanders nicknames. For the Swap Force Skylanders, their names are a combination of their upper half and their lower half. So if you nickname a Swap Force Skylander, you can give their upper and lower halves separate nicknames to keep up with the Swap naming scheme. |
| 241 | ** The Elemental Gates in the first levels in the games that have them are of the elements that you get in the starter packs for their respective games. ''Trap Team'' differs a bit though, as the gates in that game could only be opened by Trap Masters, and you only got one in the starter pack. ''Swap Force'' also has an Air gate in its first level, which is an element you don't get in the starter pack, but you could at least use a figure from the two previous games if you had one. |
| 242 | * DifficultyLevels: ''Skylanders: Giants'' and onward allows the player to switch between three difficulty modes at any time, which mainly affects how much damage the player takes from enemy attacks. Nightmare mode in particular makes almost any enemy attack hit the player for a lot of damage, and unlike the other three, can only be selected when starting a new game. |
| 243 | * DiscOneNuke: Encouraged; your Skylanders' stats are saved to their figures, so once they're sufficiently leveled you can take them back to the beginning of the game, the next game in the series, or if possible a previous game in the series and make them this. |
| 244 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', for every Elemental Zone you complete, there's a cabinet at Skylanders Academy that you can open to have it dispense an amount of orbs based on the number of zones completed that will instantly boost your current Skylander's level. With several vehicles of different elements, you can do the Elemental Zones in the academy and have your Skylander around level 16-20 by the third level in the story. |
| 245 | ** Also in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing'', you can unlock the ability to play as Kaos in Sky races by simply scanning the Kaos Trophy into the game. He has higher stats than Wolfgang in ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing'' and has an absurd Top Speed stat, on top of being obtainable without having to race against him, letting you beat Sky races on Hard with ease. |
| 246 | * DiscountCard: One of the collectibles are Winged Sapphires, which gives you a larger discount for upgrades and in the shops the more you collect. ''Spyro's Adventure'' had them hidden throughout the hub world, while later games hid them in the levels. |
| 247 | * DismantledMacGuffin / PlotCoupon: The Core of Light in ''Spyro's Adventure''. Nearly every level has you retrieving an Eternal Elemental Source or some other component of it. |
| 248 | * ADogNamedDog: ''Swap Force'' introduces the scorpion Skylander, Scorp. |
| 249 | * DoomyDoomsOfDoom |
| 250 | ** All of Kaos' spells have this trope, most blatantly '''"[[LargeHam THE DEADLY]] [[ThreateningShark SHARK BATH]] of [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom DOOOOOOOOM]] [[ThreateningShark SHAAAAAARKS!!!]]"''', but one must also mention '''"[[OxymoronicBeing THE DEADLY LIFE SPELL OF DEATH!!!]]"''' (Well, he ''is'' WesternAnimation/InvaderZim, [[LargeHam after]] [[CloudCuckoolander all.]]) |
| 251 | ** There's also Whirlwind's "Rainbow of Doom" (yes, that is its official name). |
| 252 | ** In ''Swap Force'' there is a Skylander whose name is Doom Stone. |
| 253 | ** Kaos' Doom Challenges from ''Trap Team'', wherein the Skylanders must prevent Kaos' minions from reaching and opening the Mystery Box of DOOM! |
| 254 | ** Kaos' warship in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' is the Doomstation of Ultimate Doomstruction, and his racing vehicle is the Doom Jet. |
| 255 | ** In ''Imaginators'', Kaos' Imaginite-forged custom minions are known as Doomlanders. |
| 256 | ** His CatchPhrase for when being used as a sensei in Imaginators? "Behold my Catchphrase of DOOM!" |
| 257 | * DownerBeginning: |
| 258 | ** ''Spyro's Adventure'' starts with Kaos destroying the Core of Light, Master Eon getting turned into a spirit, and all the Skylanders being banished from Skylands to Earth. |
| 259 | ** ''[=SuperChargers=]''. See DarkerAndEdgier above and TeamRocketWins below. |
| 260 | * DropInDropOutMultiplayer |
| 261 | * DualBoss: When fighting Kaos for one of the elemental Cores in ''Spyro's Adventure'', after failing to defeat you using his minions one at a time, he eventually resorts to sending out three at once (albeit with [[ConservationOfNinjutsu less HP apiece]]). |
| 262 | * DualWorldGameplay: The Darklight Crypt DLC level in ''Spyro's Adventure'' is a level where the player switches between the "real" (day) and "ghost" (night) versions to fight enemies and solve puzzles. Wilikin Village in ''Giants'' also allows the player to switch between "real" and "facade" versions of the Wilikin's world. |
| 263 | ** ''Imaginators'' has Fizzland, where you switch between the "normal" and "fizz" worlds. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Tropes E - N]] |
| 267 | * EarthShatteringKaboom: |
| 268 | ** At the start of ''Spyro's Adventure'', Kaos finally manages to destroy the Core of Light after so many attempts, and the ensuing explosion completely wrecks the island and banishes the Skylanders to Earth. |
| 269 | ** In ''Trap Team'', Chef Pepper Jack raids the Phoenix Psanctuary to steal a Phoenix Chicken egg, with which he plans to make an "extra spicy omelette" that could destroy all of Skylands. [[BigEater Flynn]] has to be reminded at least once that said omelette, no matter how tasty it may sound, is still a bomb. |
| 270 | * EdibleAmmunition: Food Fight uses a grenade launcher-like weapon to pelt his foes with tomatoes. With upgrades, he gains a zucchini attachment which functions, and looks, like a masterkey shotgun. |
| 271 | * ElementalEmbodiment: Several of the Fire Skylanders look like they are made out of fire or lava: Eruptor, Hot Dog, Hot Head, Ignitor, Smolderdash and Blast Zone. Also, a few of the Earth Skylanders are made of rock and crystal: Crusher, Flashwing and Prism Break. |
| 272 | * ElementalPowers: Every Skylander is classified under one of ten elements -- [[PlayingWithFire Fi]][[MagmaMan re]], [[MakingASplash Wat]][[AnIcePerson er]], [[BlowYouAway Air]], [[DishingOutDirt Ear]][[GemstoneAssault th]], [[GreenThumb Li]][[TheBeastmaster fe]], [[TheUndead Un]][[{{Necromancer}} de]][[CastingAShadow ad]], [[FunctionalMagic Magic]], [[ClockPunk Tech]], and beginning in ''Trap Team'' [[LightEmUp Light]] and [[CastingAShadow Dark]]. But not every Skylander posesses an attack or ability matching their element -- for example, Spyro (Magic) wields fire breath, while Sonic Boom (Air) has no wind-based attacks whatsoever, and instead can use [[MakeSomeNoise sound]] attacks. See the [[Characters/{{Skylanders}} Skylanders character sheet]] for details. |
| 273 | ** ElementalRockPaperScissors: In [=PvP=]: Life > Water > Fire > Air > Earth > Tech > Magic > Undead > Life |
| 274 | *** ''Ring of Heroes'' groups elements into pairs: Life and Earth > Water and Tech > Fire and Magic > Air and Undead > Life and Earth. Light and Dark are [[InfinityPlusOneElement Infinity +1 Elements]] that are strong against each other and have no other weakness. |
| 275 | * EnemySummoner: Undead Spell Punks can summon Rhu-Barbs; they are replaced in ''Giants'' with Trogmanders, who summon Trog Pinchers. |
| 276 | * EssenceDrop: Enemies drop experience points when defeated. |
| 277 | * EveryEpisodeEnding |
| 278 | -->'''Eon:''' "The journey with your Skylanders (and the [gimmick Skylanders]) is only just beginning." |
| 279 | * EvilerThanThou: [[spoiler:The Darkness proves to be this when compared to Kaos in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', trying to consume all the sky and magic in Skylands so he can [[GalacticConquerer conquer the universe]].]] |
| 280 | * EvilKnockoff: Several boss battles in ''Spyro's Adventure'' involve Kaos summoning evil Skylander clones to attack you. He alternates this strategy with some BulletHell (see SequentialBoss). They appear in ''Giants'', too, as miniboss ambushes in bonus areas. |
| 281 | * EvilPuppeteer: Mesmeralda is a ringmaster/puppeteer spider who runs a circus with her "Puppet Chorus", a bunch of ghostly puppets who follow her every command, and even join in on her VillainSong! |
| 282 | * EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: To save on dialogue, most [=NPCs=] only ever refer to the currently-in-use Skylander as, well, "the Skylander". The exceptions are: |
| 283 | ** In the opening level of ''Spyro's Adventure'', Hugo will identify the starter pack figures (Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy) by name. Quigley also has a personalized message for each of the 32 Skylanders when you talk to him in the Ruins. |
| 284 | ** In ''Giants'', the Oracle can identify any of the 48 Skylanders by name. The crowd will also chant your Skylander's name during arena challenges. |
| 285 | ** Arena crowd chanting returns in ''Swap Force'', which increases the number of potential names to hear to somewhere in excess of '''300''', since all 256 possible Swappabilities are accounted for. |
| 286 | * {{Expy}}: For all intents and purposes, Kaos is WesternAnimation/InvaderZim. |
| 287 | ** His mother is a dead ringer for [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]]. |
| 288 | ** Flynn is remarkably similar to the Balloonists from VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998, right down to his uniform, service provided and initial choice of transportation. |
| 289 | * FaceHeelTurn: In the ''[=SuperChargers=]'' comics issues 1-3, Boomer, Ghost Roaster, and Voodood went missing after they were sent on a mission and now serve Spellslamzer. |
| 290 | * FacePalm: Cali does this a lot when Flynn is speaking. Glumshanks gives Kaos a few as well. |
| 291 | * {{Fanboy}}: A few show up in ''Lost Islands''. One who goes by "the Masked Mabu" idolizes the Skylanders as a whole, while a few Skylanders have their own "#1 Fans" that dress up as them and give them advantages. |
| 292 | * FantasticRecruitmentDrive: Several character bios make mention of being personally invited to join by Eon. |
| 293 | * FemaleMonsterSurprise: [[spoiler:Terrasquid]] in ''Swap Force''. |
| 294 | * FieldPowerEffect: Unusually, there isn't a flat ElementalRockPaperScissors mechanic in the story mode; rather each area has a specific type that gets an attack boost. In ''Giants'', areas behind elemental gates also provide free HP regeneration for members of that element. |
| 295 | * FinalBossNewDimension: [[spoiler:The Darkness from ''[=SuperChargers=]'' is fought in the dimensional tunnel between Earth and Skylands seen from the [[BookEnds beginning of the game]].]] |
| 296 | * FishPeople: Gill Grunt, and you meet some others while searching for the Eternal Water Source in ''Spyro's Adventure''. ''Swap Force'' newcomer Riptide also counts (and Punk Shock looks like one but is an anthro ''eel''). |
| 297 | * FlyingFace: |
| 298 | ** Dreamcatcher in ''Trap Team''. |
| 299 | ** The Darkness [[spoiler:initially]] takes the form of one in ''[=SuperChargers=]''. |
| 300 | * FollowTheBouncingBall: Molekin despise the gigantic Drill-X robot in ''Giants'' primarily due to its singing. When it finally shows up, a small robot-face icon bounces across its dialogue subtitles as it raps them out. |
| 301 | * FollowTheMoney: Gems can be found floating over Bounce Pads, movable blocks, and generally pointing to the next mission objective. Sometimes trails of money will appear after throwing a switch, hinting where the player should go next. |
| 302 | * ForcedTransformation: A stage in the 3DS version of ''Spyro's Adventure'' includes sheep statues you can destroy (and need to for a level objective), but doing so turns your Skylander ''into'' a sheep briefly. |
| 303 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: In the Cradle of Creation, the first level of ''Imaginators'', the Ancient temple features motifs of what appear to be brains. [[spoiler: Kaos eventually encounters an imprisoned Ancient, who turns out to be a free floating brain.]] |
| 304 | * FourFingeredHands: Most of the humanoid characters have three or four fingers per hand, while some have no fingers at all. |
| 305 | * TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: The player is repeatedly referred to, not only by Master Eon. However, note that this ''also'' extends to Kaos's mom... who, before confronting you, actually speaks to the ''player''. |
| 306 | ** In ''Trap Team'', Kaos expresses his desire to eliminate the one thing that stood in his way: the Portal Master from Earth (AKA, you, the player). Unlike the incident with Kaos' mom, Kaos makes it ''very'' clear that he's talking about the player and spends the remainder of the game taunting and threatening the player. |
| 307 | * FromBeyondTheFourthWall: The central game concept: the Skylanders were thrown out of their world and ''you've'' got to send them back. |
| 308 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: Sonic Boom's baby griffins have a tendency to not freeze during cutscenes, meaning that while you're talking to someone, they'll often be out attacking bad guys [[DieChairDie (or simply breaking crates and other breakable stuff)]] in the background. |
| 309 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: A lot of gameplay stuff was integrated into the game's universe, besides just the whole "toys in our world" thing. Those glowy bits that serve as EXP? [[spoiler:Kaos uses them himself during the final battle of ''Spyro's Adventure'', and]] in ''Imaginators'', one of Golden Queen's quotes has her threaten to make whosoever doesn't bow to her "[[NeverSayDie explode into XP balls]]". And how a Skylander says a phrase when you summon them? According to a story scroll that's not just a game interface thing, shouting a BattleCry is a Skylander custom. |
| 310 | ** In ''Giants'', we see that Kaos ended up [[spoiler:in a toy store]] after the first game, and he gets back to the Skylands through [[spoiler:the portal in a Skylanders store display]]. |
| 311 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: With the inclusion of several veteran Skylanders as [=NPCs=] in ''Imaginators'', it's entirely possible for them to be exhorting themselves onto greater acts of heroism while standing on the sidelines. This will never once get remarked on if it comes up. Especially bizarre when Eruptor stays out of fights due to being [[CowardlyLion afraid of certain enemy types]], only for his doppelganger to gleefully plunge headlong into battle. |
| 312 | * GameBreakingBug: ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Trap Team'' both have these that are only found in the Wii versions: |
| 313 | ** In ''Spyro's Adventure'', selecting "No" when asked to enter a certain level will cause the player to not be able to talk to a certain NPC. ''The same one to talk to in order to enter the level''. |
| 314 | ** In ''Trap Team'', failing to complete Telescope Towers in approximately 15 minutes will cause the game to freeze, turning it into a nightmare for those who wish to go for 100%. |
| 315 | * GhostPirate: Flynn's ship gets attacked by these in Chapter 10 of ''Giants''. The entire level is revolved around defending the ship. |
| 316 | * [[EvilCounterpart Good Counterpart]]: Eon and the player to [[BigBad Kaos]]. They're good "Portal Masters" while Kaos is an evil one. |
| 317 | * GoodOldFisticuffs: At least one new Skylander per game employs simple but effective brawling. Terrafin and Night Shift receive special mention, though, as both are former champion boxers. |
| 318 | ** Among the forces of evil, Jawbreakers from ''Giants'' and Bruiser Cruisers from ''Trap Team'' are quite the pugilists. |
| 319 | * TheGoomba: Chompies, weak, small plant things that deal little damage and usually take one hit to die. They also come in UndergroundMonkey variants. |
| 320 | * GoombaStomp: In the side-scrolling segments of the Spell Punk Library in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', you gain the ability to jump on enemies repeatedly to defeat them. |
| 321 | * GottaCatchEmAll: Sure, you ''can'' get through the game with just the two or three Skylanders in the box, but to get most everything you'll need at least one from each element and/or various gimmick requirements, and there are [[BribingYourWayToVictory definite incentives]] to get all the Skylanders available. And there's a bunch more variant figures out there. |
| 322 | * GratuitousNinja: At least one new ninja-style character has been introduced per game, including Stealth Elf (''Spyro's Adventure''), Ninjini (''Giants''), Stink Bomb (''Swap Force''), and Lob-Star (''Trap Team''). ''[=SuperChargers=]'' is the first game that doesn't add one. |
| 323 | ** ''Imaginators'' makes up for the pause by adding in two more ninjas: the bizarre Starcast and the far more traditional Boom Bloom, along with retooling [[HeelFaceTurn former villain]] Tae Kwon Crow into a ninja. Ninja is also a selectable class for the Imaginators themselves. |
| 324 | * GreaterScopeVillain: The Darkness takes this role in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', as it quickly becomes clear that it is manipulating Kaos, and eventually it drops the charade of equal partnership altogether, directly threatening him into obeying. |
| 325 | ** Malefor, meanwhile, serves as one for Spyro and Cynder (all carryovers from the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro Legend]]'' continuity) plus Hex; he eventually showed up in the IDW comics. |
| 326 | * GreenAesop: The trolls are guilty of multiple kinds of environmental damage in both character bios and ''Spyro's Adventure'' itself, including offshore oil drilling (Wham-Shell's bio) and deforestation (Stump Smash's bio, and witnessed firsthand when searching for the Eternal Life Source). |
| 327 | * GuestFighter: Exclusive to the Nintendo versions of ''[=SuperChargers=]'' onwards, it's now possible to play as the Skylander forms of Franchise/DonkeyKong [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros and Bowser]]. ''Imaginators'' introduces VideoGame/CrashBandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex to the series. |
| 328 | * GuysSmashGirlsShoot: |
| 329 | ** ''Giants'' has the two new Earth Skylanders, Crusher and Flashwing. Flashwing can shoot crystals from her wings and tail while a name like Crusher speaks for itself. |
| 330 | ** The two new Water Core Skylanders in ''Swap Force'', Rip Tide and Punk Shock. Rip Tide wields fishes as his weapons with one of them being a hammerhead shark and can also make a slam attack with a whale, while Punk Shock is equipped with a crossbow and throwable water bubbles. |
| 331 | ** There are also some GenderInverted examples, like with the Undead Senseis in ''Imaginators'', Chopscotch and Pit Boss. Chopscotch is a fittingly named Smasher Sensei who wields a giant axe while Pit Boss is a Sorcerer Sensei who shoots snakes from his staff. |
| 332 | ** Bouncer and Sprocket, the two new figures of the Tech element in ''Giants'', is another GenderInverted example. Bouncer shoots bullets from his finger guns while Sprocket swings around a giant wrench. |
| 333 | * HackAndSlash |
| 334 | * HarderThanHard: Completing ''Giants'', ''Swap Force'' and ''Trap Team'' once unlocks a "Nightmare" difficulty, which can only be accessed by starting a new game - and can't be changed later. In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', it's now available right off the bat. |
| 335 | * HealingBoss: ''Skylanders: Trap Team'' has a few: |
| 336 | ** [[FinalBoss Traptanium Kaos]] will heal a chunk of health at the beginning of every phase. |
| 337 | ** [[PreFinalBoss The Golden Queen]] heals if she collects treasure, which she drops when attacked. |
| 338 | * HealthyGreenHarmfulRed: Your Skylander will blink red when their health is low, and a green heart appears when they regain health via eating food (or for a select few, a health-restoring upgrade). |
| 339 | * HeelFaceTurn: |
| 340 | ** A mechanic in ''Trap Team'' lets you capture defeated baddies in special container-like traps and have them fight on your side. |
| 341 | ** [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser]] has either done this or is just pulling an EnemyMine, seeing as he's a playable "[[GuestFighter Guest Star]] Skylander" within the Nintendo versions of ''[=SuperChargers=]''. This isn't canon to the ''Mario'' series of games, however. |
| 342 | ** In ''Imaginators'' several trappable villains from ''Trap Team'' are now Senseis and have been promoted to having their own figures and some of them having their backstories established. These include [[{{Greed}} Golden Queen]], [[WasOnceAMan Wolfgang]], [[EvilGenius Dr. Krankcase]], [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Chompy Mage]], [[EvilParentsWantGoodKids Bad Juju]], [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood Hood Sickle]], [[LetsYouAndHimFight Pain-Yatta]], [[PrinciplesZealot Tae Kwon Crow]], [[TheBrute Grave Clobber]] and [[MoralityDial Blaster-Tron]]. |
| 343 | * HeroesRUs: The Skylanders don't seem very picky about who joins, so long as they're a big enough badass to help out. |
| 344 | * HeroicSacrifice: In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', when the Darkness forms a vortex threatening to suck up the main NPC cast, [[spoiler:Glumshanks lets himself get sucked up to let them escape safely. The next level shows that, while he survived, he's now being held captive, and the player has to win a demolition derby to rescue him]]. |
| 345 | * HijackedByGanon: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in ''Swap Force''. Kaos's mom takes over as the BigBad after Kaos is seemingly defeated, and then Kaos takes over ''again'' after you beat ''her''. However, Kaos's mom praises him for putting himself over her like a true villain. Of course, there's never any ''doubt'' that Kaos will be the villain. |
| 346 | ** Played straight in ''Trap Team'', where Kaos reclaims his place as the BigBad after all the Doom Raiders are defeated. |
| 347 | * HoldingOutForAHero: {{Subverted|Trope}} in ''Spyro's Adventure'', where instead of merely sitting around and letting the player save the day, the Mabu villagers from the first chapter go out and form their own militia to help fight Kaos' army. They actually help a surprising amount, locating several of the components of the Core of Light themselves (though actually retrieving it is, naturally, left to you). |
| 348 | * HubLevel: The Ruins in ''Spyro's Adventure'', Flynn's ship in ''Giants'', Woodburrow in ''Swap Force'', and Skylanders Academy in ''Trap Team'', ''[=SuperChargers=]'', and ''Imaginators''. Ghost Roaster is the only Skylander who can faint in these areas no thanks to his Ectoplasm Mode power. |
| 349 | * HumansAreSpecial: It seems that Portal Masters actually are a race, rather than individuals, which constitute Skyland's version of humans. The only ones we have seen have been Master Eon, Kaos, and his mother. Additionally, all the "young Portal Masters" who help out over the course of the games are, logically, humans. |
| 350 | * HumongousHeadedHammer: |
| 351 | ** Crusher, the Earth Giant, uses a giant sledgehammer whose head is the size of his own, which he also named Crusher. Crusher (the hammer) is also heavy enough that slamming it on the ground causes fissures to form. |
| 352 | ** [[Characters/SuperMarioBrosBowser Bowser]], in his guest appearance as Hammer Slam Bowser, uses a fire-infused spiked hammer as his primary weapon, and said hammer's head is about the size of his own head. While smashing this down, he's able to create shockwaves, and one upgrade path lets him slam it down hard to create fields of lava that burn enemies. |
| 353 | * HumongousMecha: Ancient Arkeyan robots tend to be pretty big. |
| 354 | * HurricaneOfPuns: A number of characters are fond of making them. During the battle over the Eternal Fire Source, Kaos even lampshades it by commenting "I could do this all day." |
| 355 | * HypocriticalHumor: When riding along the river in Chapter 3 of ''Swap Force'', Snagglescale refers to himself as the "strong and silent type". Silent, however, he [[MotorMouth actually isn't]]. |
| 356 | ** In ''Trap Team'', when Kaos is attacked by the player in the final battle one of his quips is "Hey, stop cheating! That's ''my'' job!". |
| 357 | * IKnowMaddenKombat: Terrafin, Bouncer, Night Shift and Roller Brawl were all sports stars before joining the Skylanders, with both Terrafin and Night Shift being boxers, Bouncer being the Skylands version of a basketball player and Roller Brawl being a roller blader. |
| 358 | * IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: ''Giants''' normal three difficulty levels are named "Chompy Cuddler", "Cyclops Crusher", and "Heavy Hitter"; they're accompanied by images of a Chompy, Cyclops, and Goliath Drow, respectively. |
| 359 | * IdleAnimation: In ''Giants'', Skylanders do various actions when you view their menu screen. |
| 360 | ** With ''Swap Force'' and its new graphics engine, Skylanders will now mess around during actual gameplay if left idle. |
| 361 | * ImprobableWeaponUser: [[LivingStatue Doom Stone]] and [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Fire Kraken]] from ''Swap Force'', who wield [[EmeraldPower a jade column]] and a Roman candle/parade baton thingy, respectively. |
| 362 | ** Trap Masters Gearshift and Short Cut are armed with a giant, chakram-like gear and an oversized pair of scissors, respectively. |
| 363 | ** In a way, all the Trap Masters are as well, as no matter what weapon they wield, it's always, ''always'' built using Traptanium crystals. This means that Snap Shot is armed with a crystalline ''bow and arrow''. |
| 364 | * InconvenientlyPlacedConveyorBelt: Seen at Drill-X's Big Rig and the Lost City of Arkus in ''Giants''. Flying Skylanders can at least avoid some of the hassle by flying over them. |
| 365 | * InescapableAmbush: There are many times where the first thing you do upon entering a room is fight off a wave or two of Mooks to unlock a nearby gate. Hidden elemental zones in ''Giants'' even have rooms where you are specifically ambushed by {{Evil|Knockoff}} Skylanders, sometimes two or three at once. |
| 366 | * InterfaceSpoiler: Averted in ''Trap Team'' in two big ways. |
| 367 | ** First, all trappable villains in the game have wanted posters, which, if you haven't caught them yet, give hints as to their location. Kaos also has a wanted poster, but his hint is, "Oh, come on, we're not going to give this away!" |
| 368 | ** Second, Light and Dark elemental gates and traps are listed as being "unknown elements" until they enter the story proper. Though, if you already have one of those new element figures, putting them next to one of the unknown element gates will spoil what they are for. |
| 369 | * IronicFear: In ''Giants'', Ermit the hermit has a fear/paranoia of clouds. And considering [[WorldInTheSky what Skylands is]]... |
| 370 | * ItCanThink: ''[=SuperChargers=]'' reveals that [[spoiler:the Darkness has a mind of its own]]. |
| 371 | * JumpPhysics: Depending on the version: Skylanders can't actually jump at all in ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Giants'' (when it's necessary, you'll find blue Jump Pads lying around), though they can in the 3DS games and in ''Swap Force''-onward. |
| 372 | * KaizoTrap: The "Dungeoness Creeps" Heroic Challenge[[note]]unlocked by Cynder in ''Spyro's Adventure'' and Chop Chop in ''Giants''[[/note]] tasks you with collecting 13 "amber medallions" in a catacombs. The last one is on a small platform you teleport to, with no enemies in sight ... easy, right? Except for nearly a dozen zombies that pop up out of the ground and swarm you as you attempt to get it. |
| 373 | * KeepItForeign: In the German dub of ''Swap Force'', Baron Von Shellshock is French and is renamed Baron de Shellshock. His German voice actor speaks fluent French and speaks German in a French accent. |
| 374 | * KillEnemiesToOpen: A staple of the series is the Enemy Gate, which will not open until all the enemies in the area you're in has been defeated. |
| 375 | * KillItWithFire: In ''Spyro's Adventure'', zombie enemies can only be killed by fire-based attacks (e.g. a Fire Skylander) or other sources of flame (like a candlestand, or the "fire"power of medieval cannons). When they appear in ''Giants''' Heroic Challenges, however, they can be defeated by anyone. |
| 376 | * LamePunReaction: When Kaos tells Glumshanks to sabotage some train tracks: |
| 377 | -->'''Kaos:''' There's more than one way to ''derail'' their plans!\ |
| 378 | '''Glumshanks:''' ''(FacePalm)'' Tell me you didn't just say that. |
| 379 | * LargeHam: Kaos. |
| 380 | ** Brock in ''Giants'' also shows hammish qualities: |
| 381 | ---> '''Brock:''' Who wants to start this battle up? YOU DOOOOOOO!!! |
| 382 | * LastLousyPoint: Want to get the achievement for collecting 85 hats in ''Giants''? Well, of the 89 total hats, three of them are awarded per Skylander (for completing their Quests) and one is a reward for beating the game on "Nightmare" difficulty. That leaves exactly 85 hats you can collect in normal gameplay (in shops or elemental areas) -- but eight are exclusive to the four "Adventure Pack" levels from ''Spyro's Adventure'' (sold separately and discontinued by that point), without which you can only collect a total of 77. |
| 383 | ** Want ''all'' of the Accolades in ''Swap Force''? Some are only given for having complete collections of ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Giants'' figures. |
| 384 | * TheLastStraw: In the intro to Cloudbreak Core in ''Swap Force'', Kaos is having Glumshanks fill Mt. Cloudbreak with petrified darkness. When Glumshanks adds one last crystal to the extremely high pile, it all collapses and falls on Kaos, turning him into his OneWingedAngel form. |
| 385 | * LaterInstallmentWeirdness: ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and ''Imaginators'' made changes to themselves that makes them stand out more compared to previous games, many of these changes being stopping with stuff that was previously present. |
| 386 | ** There are no Elemental Gates. ''[=SuperChargers=]'' instead replaces it with vehicle sections that requires a vehicle of the correct terrain to enter. ''Imaginators'' is an more interesting case. In the main levels, it has Sensei Shrines that when Senseis are brought to the Shrine that matches their class, they unlock their Sky-Chi ability. And in the hub world, there are the Sensei Elemental Gates. Extra levels that are unlocked when a Sensei of the same element is brought to them and unlocks them. |
| 387 | ** There are no Core Skylanders in the toy lineup, only Skylanders of the game's gimmick, and both games plays with bringing back previous characters. ''[=SuperChargers=]'' does bring back established Skylanders, but instead of making them the next in their series, they are completely reworked into having different gameplay. ''Imaginators'', on the other hand, brings back villains from ''Trap Team'' to be Skylanders. |
| 388 | ** The two games have unique bases for the Skylanders, instead of the same throughout the games with only a different colored underside. The [=SuperChargers=] does retain the elemental bases, but they surrond a Rift Engine that functions as the actual base of the figure. The Senseis have entirely new bases, which all look the same and the only difference being the colors and emblems on it. |
| 389 | * LavaMagicIsFire: Various Skylanders of the Fire Element are themed around lava, such as Eruptor (lava monster) and Hot Head (fire golem who can create lava as a tertiary attack). |
| 390 | * LawOfChromaticSuperiority: Prefix Skylanders (Legendary, Jade, Nitro, etc.) boast alternate color schemes and a boost to their baseline stats. [[RevenueEnhancingDevices They're also exclusive to certain retailers,]] making them a headache for collectors. |
| 391 | * LegoBodyParts: The gimmick of ''Swap Force''. |
| 392 | * {{Leitmotif}}: Every trappable villain in ''Trap Team'' has their own, which plays for the duration of the time you're controlling them. Kaos has one the recurs throughout the series. |
| 393 | * LighterAndSofter: Enemy designs in ''Swap Force'' are much less realistic and goofier than they were in the first two games. For example, [[http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140104175441/skylanders/images/d/d3/Chompy.jpg this]] is what Chompies looked like in ''Spyro's Adventure'' and ''Giants''. [[http://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131119010454/skylanders/images/0/0b/Chompy.png This]] is them in ''Swap Force''. |
| 394 | ** [[DiscussedTrope Commented on]] by Kaos in the intro to the second level of ''Swap Force''. |
| 395 | --> '''Kaos''': Are we seriously out of Trolls? These Greebles simply aren't ''evil'' enough. |
| 396 | * LightIsNotGood: The Light element does include villains, and the apex of this comes in Luminous, a rather heroic-looking, but still evil, Light villain. |
| 397 | * LiteralMetaphor: |
| 398 | ** In the Dragon's Peak adventure pack, Dragon Law says that "whomever sits on the throne" is proclaimed King. Apparently the throne itself is a source of great magical power, and anyone who literally sits (stands, lays down, etc.) on it can channel its power to do whatever they wish. |
| 399 | ** In ''Giants'', the Arkeyan King ruled his empire with an iron fist. No, really, it's the Iron Fist of Arkus. The strategy guide even lampshades it; saying that it happened because the Arkeyans were so LiteralMinded: they heard people say they ruled with an iron fist, so they figured they should make an iron fist to rule with. |
| 400 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', where we head to a library where there are books that can pull you into them, Flynn says this after accidentally demonstrating it. |
| 401 | -->'''Flynn:''' You know, I gotta admit that, first chapter really ''pulls'' you in. |
| 402 | * LivingToys: The characters are portrayed as this on Earth. It mostly only shows up in ads, but ''Giants'' shows it in its intro as well. And then there's the Wilikin - a race of living mannequin dolls. |
| 403 | ** SlidingScaleOfLivingToys: Skylanders are the immobile-but-sentient version. |
| 404 | * MacGuffinSuperPerson: The Ancient Elementals in ''Swap Force''. Every hundred years, they gather around the magical volcano of the Cloudbreak Islands to fill it with their magic. When the volcano erupts, it will spread that magic throughout Skylands so it will be refilled with magic. Kaos' plan is to evilize one of them, as just one will be enough to turn the magic into darkness when they gather, which will then be spread throughout Skylands, giving Kaos the chance to become Skylands' supreme ruler. So it becomes a race against time to get to the four Elementals and protect them from Kaos' forces, one by one. |
| 405 | * MagicVersusScience: In ''Giants'', Tech Skylanders have a Quest to kill a certain number of elemental mage enemies. (However, Magic Skylanders don't have a corresponding anti-Tech Quest, and magic and science are otherwise shown to [[{{Magitek}} work together]].) |
| 406 | ** In PVP, though, Magic Skylanders are [[ElementalRockPaperScissors weak against]] Tech Skylander attacks. |
| 407 | * MeaningfulName: All characters have one, even Spyro[[note]](from "pyro" (fire) + "spiro" (breath))[[/note]] and Cynder[[note]](from "cinder", as in "embers" or "burned material")[[/note]]. |
| 408 | ** PunnyName: Some characters' names are twists on existing English words and phrases, or outright puns; an egregious example being Hot Dog[[note]][[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a flaming dog with appropriate fire powers]][[/note]]. |
| 409 | * TheMedic: In ''Trap Team'', Broccoli Guy is a surprising villain version of this trope, being able to leave healing spots that heal him and the Skylander. |
| 410 | * MerchandiseDriven / RevenueEnhancingDevices: Despite the fact that the toys are integrated into the story, the fact remains that the game tries its darndest to get you to buy more stuff. When you pick up a Soul Gem for a character you don't have, you're even asked if you want to see a preview (read: advertisement video) for that character. The sequels invite owners of prior games to double-dip on characters they already have with new, upgraded versions of the same characters, and most of each game's collection-related (and experience-boosting) achievements only count figures from ''that'' game's toyline. Plus the toylines get bigger every year; with ''Trap Team''[='s=] count about double what ''Spyro's Adventure'' was - ''plus'' ''Trap Team'' adds secondary toys in the crystals to catch enemies in. ''[=SuperChargers=]'' thankfully dials back from ''Trap Team''[='s=] extremes. |
| 411 | ** BribingYourWayToVictory: Game advantages from buying toys include more elements to better take advantage of {{Field Power Effect}}s and get into secret areas with stat-boosting hats, more Heroic Challenges to boost other stats, more backup characters to replace those who fall in battle, and - in special multipacks - other items to use in-game. |
| 412 | ** AllegedlyFreeGame: [=iOS=] apps can be notorious for microtransactions, but ''Skylanders: Cloud Patrol'' averts it; in-game currency can be used to unlock new features instead of real money. Same deal for ''Lost Islands''. |
| 413 | ** ''Trap Team'' also alters the core gameplay mechanic of Elemental Gates to push the new gimmick Skylanders just a little more. In prior installments, any Skylander of a gate's given element could open it, but now, ''only'' a Trap Master can open an Elemental Gate. Of course, Trap Masters are also $15 US, as opposed to core Skylanders who are $10, and, at launch, Life, Magic, and then-super-secret [[spoiler:Light and Dark]] Elemental Gates were impossible to open, as none of their Trap Masters had been released yet. Again, ''[=SuperChargers=]'' pulls back from this, dropping Elemental Gates altogether; now the restricted areas are ''only'' tied to vehicles, of which you need just three total. |
| 414 | * {{Medusa}}: Present as the design on Doom Stone's shield, which is appropriate, since blocking with that shield turns whoever hits it into [[TakenForGranite a jade statue.]] With his soul gem upgrade, it even deploys snakes to bite at anyone unlucky enough to be in front of him. |
| 415 | * MightyGlacier: |
| 416 | ** Earth Elemental Skylanders, who typically have low Speed but high Power stats. |
| 417 | ** All the Giants are, as a rule, slower than normal Skylanders, but none of them have Power lower than 100. |
| 418 | * MiniGame: The "Pirate Seas" adventure pack features a card-matching mini-game. ''Giants'' features "Skystones" as a recurring mini-game, where the player takes turns placing tiles on a 3x3 board to flip opponent's tiles over, and acquires new tiles either from Auric's shops or by winning Skystones matches. |
| 419 | * MiniMecha: The Troll Stomper mecha is armed with a nose-mounted machine gun and ShockwaveStomp. ''Giants'' also introduces the Chompy Bot 9000, a Chompy-piloted mecha whose primary method of attack is shooting Chompies at you like machine gun bullets. |
| 420 | ** From ''Trap Team'', the Villains Bruiser Cruiser and Smoke Scream. |
| 421 | * MinionWithAnFInEvil: Glumshanks. |
| 422 | ** This is also Kaos' primary complaint with the Greebles in ''Swap Force'', and partially what motivates him to develop the Evilizer. |
| 423 | * MirrorUniverse: The Mirror of Mystery adventure pack takes place in a level where, according to Glumshanks, most everything is opposite. Eon is a Dark Portal Master named Evilon, Kaos is a nice person, the Trolls are peace-loving villagers, Mabu are an evil military force, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Flynn's catchphrase is "DOOM!"]] |
| 424 | * MoCapMecha: Bruiser Cruiser, whose controls appear to consist entirely of a Troll on a treadmill. |
| 425 | * MoneyForNothing: There is treasure to be collected in every level and the hub worlds, and you can also get a ton from doing side missions. But once you've bought every upgrade for a Skylander and everything there is to buy in the in-game stores, there is nothing else you can use your money saved in on that Skylander for. |
| 426 | * MonsterArena: After completing Level 3 in ''Giants'', Brock allows you access to arena challenges where you fight monsters (under various rules) for cash and prizes, including monsters that you haven't encountered in the story levels yet. You can repeat the challenges as often as you wish, though the cash rewards are reduced by half after completing a challenge the first time. |
| 427 | * MontyHaul: Kaos Doom Challenges in ''Trap Team'' reward the player with staggering amounts of experience points and treasure. The former comes from the huge numbers of enemies that swarm you each wave, and the latter from the fact that, upon clearing a wave, the Doom Chest ''and'' all of your surviving towers barf out a solid 200 to 300 gold. Plus, clearing one for the first time is basically guaranteed to give you a Portal Master Rank Up, which bestows a further reward on you immediately. |
| 428 | * MoodWhiplash: The Skylander's backstories can vary wildly in tone. On one hand, there are characters like Sonic Boom (a full-on tragic backstory which deprives her of her children) and Wham-Shell (the troubled prince of an undersea kingdom) with serious and dark backstories. On the other hand, there are completely silly ones like Shroom Boom (a mushroom who escaped being turned into Kaos' pizza). |
| 429 | * MookMaker: There are several enemy types that will endlessly spawn other monsters (typically Chompies and Spiderlings). |
| 430 | * MookPromotion: With the exception of Kaos, the Doom Raiders, Sheep Creep, Chomp Chest and Tae Kwon Crow, all of the trappable villains in ''Trap Team'' are simply larger enemies fought throughout the game, treated with more seriousness and a health bar compared to the other versions of that enemy simply because they were previously locked up in Cloudcracker Prison. |
| 431 | * MorallySuperiorCopy: Downplayed in ''Imaginators''. Kaos uses his powers to create a copy of himself in the belief that Skylands wouldn't stand a chance if there was two of him. However, the copy wanted Skylands to himself and opted to side with the Skylanders against his creator. |
| 432 | * MutuallyExclusivePowerups: After purchasing six of a character's ten upgrades, the player is required to "Choose Your Path" for upgrades 7 thru 9, upgrading either their primary or secondary attack, but not both. "Series 2" figures can at least switch between these paths at any time, though they still can't mix-and-match upgrades from different paths. |
| 433 | * MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Boomer and Voodood, from the Trolls and Orcs, respectively. |
| 434 | ** Chop Chop, Drill Sergeant and Bouncer for the Arkeyans. |
| 435 | ** Dive-Clops from ''[=SuperChargers=]'', from the Cyclopses. |
| 436 | * MythologyGag: Sheep resembling those in the [=PS1=] ''Spyro'' games appear here and there as a RunningGag; they don't release butterflies this time, and are in fact completely indestructible, but they react in different, [[AmusingInjuries amusing]] ways to each type of attack. One of Spyro's upgrade paths is even called "Sheep Burner Spyro". |
| 437 | ** There's also two special "Dark Spyro" figures, with similar coloration to the SuperPoweredEvilSide from the ''Legend of Spyro'' trilogy. |
| 438 | ** ''Imaginators'' isn't the first time that Crash and Spyro have had [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootPurpleRiptosRampage a]] [[VideoGame/SpyroOrangeTheCortexConspiracy crossover]]. Spyro is even referred to as Crash's old friend. |
| 439 | * NearVillainVictory: Kaos managed to destroy the only thing keeping the Darkness at bay and all but destroyed the Skylanders before ''Spyro's Adventure'' even started. |
| 440 | * NeverSayDie |
| 441 | ** Hugo says "[Master Eon] survived the blast, but was changed: he became a spirit." Oookay, if you say so. Kaos refers to it as "bodyless oblivion". A tie-in book goes into more detail assuring readers he's not ''actually'' dead. Strangely, Kaos drills Buzz about the [[spoiler:location of Master Eon's body]] while he's [[spoiler:pretending to be a good guy]] in ''Trap Team''. |
| 442 | ** Character bios for undead Skylanders like Hex and Ghost Roaster merely say that they were "transformed" into their present condition. |
| 443 | ** Averted for Cynder, as in ''Spyro's Adventure'' when Quigley outright asks her if she came BackFromTheDead. One of her character quotes is "I'm to die for!" |
| 444 | ** Also averted for quest descriptions, which explicitly say to "Kill X number of Y enemy." |
| 445 | ** Also averted in the Thumin' Wumpa Islands adventure pack in ''Imaginators''; upon completing one of the chili pepper runs and achieving the highest objective for said run, a nearby islander expresses relief that Crash "didn't die! I knew you wouldn't." |
| 446 | ** Golden Queen, also in ''Imaginators'', plays the trope straight; one of her quotes has her threaten to make whosoever doesn't bow to her "explode into [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration XP balls]]". |
| 447 | * NeverShallTheSelvesMeet: This trope is Averted. |
| 448 | ** In ''Imaginators'', some of the veteran Skylanders are now [=NPC=] characters and there are no special interactions when you interact with them as the same Skylander. |
| 449 | ** In ''Trap Team'' it is possible to do the trappable villain fights with the same villain that is in the fight. |
| 450 | ** Throughout the series it has been possible for both players to use identical skylander figures with no issues at all. |
| 451 | * NewGamePlus: Starting a second save on the Wii version of Spyro's Adventure after beating the game once allows you to skip most of the dialog. |
| 452 | ** Completing the game once in every game from ''Giants'' onwards unlocks the game's HarderThanHard difficulty setting, Nightmare Mode... but you have to start a new save file to access it. Fortunately, your Skylanders' experience levels and upgrades are saved on the actual figures, and can be transferred straight to the new save file. |
| 453 | * NitroBoost: The Winged Boots gained from the Dragon's Peak Adventure Pack gives your Skylander a temporary increase in speed. |
| 454 | * NoDamageRun: The final challenge of each Arena in ''Giants'' is to defeat all enemies without taking a hit; to enforce this, your HP is reduced to 1 for the duration of the challenge. There are also Quests given per Skylander for completing a challenge and an arena without taking damage, though arena challenges where you're already forced to avoid damage don't count (as when your health is reduced at the beginnning, it counts as getting hit). |
| 455 | ** To get the final star for a boss battle stage in ''Swap Force'', you must defeat the boss without taking any damage at all. |
| 456 | * NoDeathRun: You get a star towards each level's completion if you can beat it without any of your Skylanders falling in battle. [[SurpriseDifficulty Not always as easy as it sounds]], especially on ''Giants''' Nightmare difficulty. |
| 457 | ** A more straightforward example is on the final boss of ''Spyro's Adventure''. There's a trophy/achievement given out if you're able to defeat Kaos with only one Skylander. |
| 458 | ** Also invoked in the quests in later games of the series. Drill Sergeant's personal quest in ''Giants'' is to beat Drill-X without dying or swapping Skylanders, and one of the Tech element quests in ''Swap Force'' is to beat Evil Glumshanks without dying or swapping Skylanders. |
| 459 | * NoSell: In Grave Clobber's Sensei Shrine Animation in ''Imaginators'', one of the fists is sent towards him while he is distracted by a bug, but all the impact does is flinch him. |
| 460 | * NonlethalBottomlessPits: Generally averted, as the Skylanders can't actually fall off of any platforms into a BottomlessPit in the first place. However, a few elemental bonus areas and the battle arenas in ''Giants'' do have them, and the 3DS game, being a platformer rather than a hack-and-slash, has them in spades. |
| 461 | ** ''Swap Force'', with the inclusion of jumping and primitive platforming gameplay, will simply teleport a Skylander who fails a jump back to the nearest piece of solid ground with no damage penalty. Serves as an AntiFrustrationFeature - if you walked off of the stage in ''Giants'' and ''Spyro's Adventure'', you practically had to go out of your way. |
| 462 | * NonMammalMammaries: |
| 463 | ** As part of her ''Skylanders'' redesign, the plates on Cynder's underside were modified so that her upper chest has two plates side by side and are noticeably round, while the rest of the plates are flat. Her design got tweaked a bit for ''Giants''; her new toy is [[AvertedTrope completely flat]]. |
| 464 | ** It seems that now only humanoid Skylanders have breasts, which is understandable but it includes Sprocket, a person [[ExtraOreDinary made of gold]], Smolderdash, who may be a [[ElementalEmbodiment fire elemental]], and Punk Shock, a [[FishPeople fish girl]]. |
| 465 | * NoOntologicalInertia |
| 466 | ** Defeating an Undead Spell Punk in ''Spyro's Adventure'' will cause any nearby deadly Rhu-Barbs to revert to midget Rhu-Babies. The same applies to Trogmanders and Trog Pinchers in ''Giants''. |
| 467 | ** What happened to Kaos' Hydra after the battle in ''Spyro's Adventure''? You didn't land a single blow on it during the fight.... |
| 468 | * NostalgiaLevel: The four Adventure Pack levels and most Heroic Challenges from ''Spyro's Adventure'' return in ''Giants'', with a few tweaks (like replacing enemies exclusive to ''Spyro's Adventure'' with their nearest ''Giants'' counterparts). |
| 469 | * NowBuyTheMerchandise: In the [[spoiler: Traptanium Kaos]] fight in ''Trap Team'', [[spoiler: Kaos]] attempts to kidnap the player but merely ends up "stealing their items" (random objects appear on the screen, supposedly having been pulled out of your room into the game). Among the stolen items is a Skylanders lunchbox and backpack. |
| 470 | [[/folder]] |
| 471 | |
| 472 | [[folder:Tropes O - Y]] |
| 473 | * OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The background stories of most of the Skylanders include quite a few; see the character sheet for details. |
| 474 | * OlderThanTheyLook: Kaos's Mom. She may have the appearance of a young woman, but according to her first appearance in ''Swap Force'', she tried to take over the Cloudbreak Islands 100 years before the events of the game. |
| 475 | * OldSaveBonus |
| 476 | ** Character data is saved to the toys, so any progress you made in one game carries over into others, regardless of what system it's on. This even includes forwards and backwards compatibility, with later games recognizing all older figures, and older games recognizing... well, just the characters that existed at their release (including upgraded versions from later toylines), but the fact that they can use ''any'' newer toys at all is impressive. (There are limits, though; the 3DS game only looks at levels and ignores other stats, earlier games ignore any abilities introduced in later ones, and iOS games don't share data at all.) |
| 477 | ** The "Faithful Trio" achievement in ''Giants'' involves registering Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy (the three figurines shipped with the first game) to your in-game collection. The "Series 1" versions aren't required, but it is one of the few (XP-boosting) achievements that doesn't require "orange base" figures to receive. ''Swap Force'' similarly has achievements that are tied specifically to older figures. |
| 478 | ** With the advent of ''Swap Force'', it is now entirely possible to have ''Spyro's Adventure'' characters who have played through all three games, and likely started the third game ludicrously overpowered. |
| 479 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', the Traps from ''Trap Team'' now unlock a Skystone depending on which villain is inside it. |
| 480 | * OneGenderRace: Trolls and Greebles. The latter are a remarkable version as no one is actually sure where Greebles come from. Their source (and method of reproduction) is known only to the proprietors of the Minions Monthly Catalog, where they can be ordered by the truckload (with bulk package deals). |
| 481 | * OneSteveLimit: Averted, the name Jawbreaker can refer to either a GiantMook from ''Giants'' or a Trap Master from ''Trap Team'', and the name Clunker can refer to either an NPC from ''Swap Force'' or a vehicle from ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing''. |
| 482 | * OneWheeledWonder: The legendary Giant Bouncer and the Swap Force entrant Magna Charge. |
| 483 | * OrbitingParticleShield: Some Skylanders (like Camo) have the ability to generate shields of orbiting projectiles. ''Giants'' also introduces the Crystal Golem, an enemy whose spinning crystals protect it from all but ScratchDamage. |
| 484 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: ''Spyro's Adventure'' has a dragon Skylander for every element: Spyro (Magic), Cynder (Undead), Zap (Water), Bash (Earth), Whirlwind (Air), Sunburn (Fire), Camo (Life), and Drobot (Tech). ''Giants'' and ''Swap Force'' add two more -- Flashwing the gem dragon, for the Earth element, and Fire Kraken the Eastern dragon for the Fire element. Plus the Dragon's Peak adventure pack level. ''Trap Team'' boosts the count to 15, with the addition of Blades, High Five, and Echo, of the Air, Life, and Water elements, respectively, and Spotlight and Blackout, who come from the Light and Dark elements. ''[=SuperChargers=]'' even has a "Dragon's Spine" racetrack, which goes on the backs of a couple dragons. |
| 485 | * OurGiantsAreBigger: The [[AccidentalPun biggest]] new feature of ''Giants'' is, well, the giant new figurines joining the character roster, who are roughly twice the size of other Skylanders. |
| 486 | * OurHydrasAreDifferent: A Hydra (or rather, a [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Hydragon]]) appears as the most powerful of [[BigBad Kaos']] minions in ''Spyro's Adventure''. This appears as a four-headed dragon, each head representing one of the four Eternal Elemental Sources Kaos tried to stop the player from getting and each head can use a different spell of BulletHell. |
| 487 | ** The [[PlayingWithFire Fire]] head has skin similar to cooled magma and summons moving fireballs that leave miniature volcanoes in their wake. |
| 488 | ** The [[MakingASplash Water]] head has blue scales and fins and unleashes a swarm of [[ThreateningShark Doomsharks]]. |
| 489 | ** The [[GreenThumb Life]] head has wooden horns and summons centipedes with orbs trailing behind it. |
| 490 | ** The [[{{Necromancy}} Undead]] head is skeletal and summons laser beams. |
| 491 | * OurVampiresAreDifferent: Roller Brawl and Night Shift. They're not AlwaysChaoticEvil and seem to be obsessed with sports. |
| 492 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: |
| 493 | ** Happened to the core Skylanders with each successive game's gimmick Skylanders. [[FranchiseOriginalSin It wasn't too bad]] with ''Giants'' due to players only needing one Giant for specific obstacles and could use core Skylanders to open the elemental gates. However, in ''Swap Force'' and ''Trap Team'', players needed Swap Force or Trap Masters of each element to complete the game 100%, which included opening the elemental gates, so every other Skylander was optional. Reduced with ''[=SuperChargers=]'' as the gimmick involves vehicles, and any Skylander can drive any vehicle, although the [=SuperCharger=] Skylanders are the only ones who can customize vehicles, and get a buff when they drive their personal vehicle. Plus the ''[=SuperChargers=]'' toyline doesn't even ''have'' "normal" Skylanders in it. |
| 494 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing'', you can race as Wolfgang by defeating him in the Sky Racing Action Pack. You can also get Kaos from scanning his trophy into the game, and he's basically the same as Wolfgang with higher stats. |
| 495 | * PaintingTheMedium: The boss fight with Kaos's Mom. |
| 496 | * {{Phlebotinum}}: Traptanium, the driving force behind much of the plot of ''Trap Team''. It's one of the rarest and most powerful materials in all of Skylands, but has myriad uses which make it extremely handy for magic-based law enforcement. Not only can it be fashioned into powerful weapons (which become stronger in the presence of raw Traptanium), but it can also be used to create prisons which are impossible to breach from the inside. And it smells kind of like mustard. |
| 497 | ** ''Swap Force'' had its own evil phlebotinum, petrified darkness. Kaos harnessed its power to create his Evilizer. |
| 498 | ** ''Imaginators'' features Imaginite, the material which forms the basis of the Mind Magic that [[{{Precursors}} The Ancients]] used to create Skylands. And which, more critically, both Kaos and the Skylanders are using to create customized soldiers: the titular Imaginators and their evil counterparts, the Doomlanders. |
| 499 | * PintsizePowerhouse: Mini Skylanders, who are precisely as powerful as their regular-sized versions, which gets quite impressive when dealing with the four of them who are based on Giants: Barkley, Thumpling, Mini Jini and Eye-Small. They barely come up to most baddies' knees, but hit like a ton of bricks. |
| 500 | * PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration: You are you as a Portal Master, and an advisor to your Skylanders. |
| 501 | * PlotTailoredToTheParty: The bonus sections of stages require Skylanders of a specific element to access. Normally this is to coerce the player into buying at least one Skylander from each element, but the first stage in each game has gates that can be opened by the pack-in Skylanders. |
| 502 | ** Distressingly averted in ''Trap Team'', which now requires a Trap Master of a gate's element to open them, as opposed to any Skylander of that element. While the first gate you come across is a Water gate (Snap Shot, the box-in Trap Master is Water element), there are still three more gates in the first level which you will be unable to open with the box-in characters. Even worse, the Magic gates was impossible to open at launch, since no Trap Masters of that element had been released yet. |
| 503 | ** Thankfully played straight again in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', which only requires ''any'' [=SuperCharger=] to access a gate and the right kind of vehicle (Land, Sea, or Sky) for certain missions in the levels, and ''Imaginators'' which allows your Senseis to unlock their Sky-Chi powers via a shrine of the matching battle class. |
| 504 | * PoliticalOvercorrectness: Happens twice in ''Imaginators''. |
| 505 | ** First, in the Golden Arcade, Sal grimly observes that Plushie Plaza used be called the Losers Pit, but had to be changed because "...we gotta be PC now." |
| 506 | ** Later, Buzz conducts a commando raid to acquire some Cap'n Cluck's fried chicken, admitting that the brand isn't very PC, but he still loves it. [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior And he's old, so he's allowed to ignore that sort of thing.]] |
| 507 | * PostEndGameContent: Swap Force has Time Attack and Score Mode that unlock after beating the game. Time Attack tasks you with finishing the level as quickly as you can, and Score Mode has you trying to score as many points as possible. Both of these modes reward stars for your Portal Master rank. |
| 508 | ** Finishing ''Trap Team unlocks'' a fourth star to the level completion goals. |
| 509 | ** Superchargers has side missions given by Tessa and Hugo. Tessa's missions take place in levels you already played, namely Battlebrawl Island, Ridepocolypse Demo Derby and The Bandit Train. Hugo tasks you with completing the star objectives of certain levels. |
| 510 | ** Like Superchargers, ''Imaginators'' gives you multiple side missions given to you [[spoiler:by the Brain after he turns good.]] Most of these are repeats of the cake missions towards the end of the game, now rewarding Imaginite Chests. |
| 511 | * PowerCreep: ''Imaginators'' introduces a pretty bad case of this, as it's the first game where stats actually increase as you level up. This applies to all Skylanders, but the Imaginators and Senseis are the most powerful. Add onto that the fact that hats can no longer be equipped on anyone but Imaginators, who themselves have access to multiple types of gear that give stacking bonuses on the order of several times what a hat ever could, and any past Skylanders simply end up feeling uselessly weak. |
| 512 | ** It's even invoked as a gameplay mechanic for the titular Imaginators. Leveling up gives them access to gear that very rapidly becomes astonishingly powerful, and their level cap is set by the number of Senseis you have in your collection. See AbsurdlyHighLevelCap above for just how high that number can climb. |
| 513 | ** Even the Eon's Elite Skylanders are weak, while their health is boosted, their stats are the exact same as the regular Skylanders. |
| 514 | * PowerGlows: One of the new features for ''Giants'' is that the Giant and [=LightCore=] toys light up when on the portal. In the case of [=LightCore=] figures, the same parts on the in-game character model glow as well (compared to their Series 1 or 2 versions). |
| 515 | ** The Traptanium weapons of the Trap Masters will start glowing and dealing greater damage when in the presence of raw Traptanium crystal formations or in battle against Villains. |
| 516 | * ThePrankster: While not shown in-game, some of the info books say that the dragons, especially [[TeleportSpam Sunburn]] and [[PlantPerson Camo]], enjoy playing pranks on the other Skylanders. |
| 517 | * {{Precursors}}: The robotic Arkeyans. ''Giants'' highlights how they were AbusivePrecursors. |
| 518 | * PrecursorHeroes: The Giants, SWAP Force, and Trap Team Skylanders were some of the Skylanders in times of old. The Giants were the first Skylanders who put a stop to the Arkeyan regime 10,000 years ago, the SWAP Force were responsible for guarding the volcano of the Cloudbreak Islands every hundred years, and the Trap Team were responsible for capturing the Doom Raiders and locking them up in Cloudcracker Prison. |
| 519 | * PricelessPaperweight: The hats, themselves, due to serving no purpose in the 3DS versions than as a form of BraggingRightsReward. This goes to the extreme in ''Giants'', where the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Knight Helm,]] a hat only gained by [[AndYourRewardIsClothes beating Nightmare mode in console versions,]] is found on level 2 of the 3DS version. |
| 520 | * PromotedToPlayable: The Mini Skylanders, who were previously just sidekicks who tagged along with you, become full-fledged characters in ''Trap Team'', complete with upgradable abilities and stats. |
| 521 | * PropellerHatOfWhimsy: In ''Spyro's Adventure'', there's a cheerful, curious young Mabu named Quigley who wears a propeller hat. |
| 522 | * PsychopathicManchild: |
| 523 | ** Kaos, full stop. He has an HairTriggerTemper, screams in anger whenever his plans go awry, and refuses to hold himself accountable for when that happens, no matter if the plan was doomed to fail or he himself caused his downfall. |
| 524 | ** Golden Queen might seem to be a more [[VilerNewVillain compentent and capable]] villain than Kaos, given how much more collected and calmer she is compared to him, especially when the other Doom Raiders are getting defeated. But as the Skylanders gets further and further in stopping her plans, [[MaskOfSanity she drops]] it all and starts being just as much of a LargeHam as Kaos is. It's pretty telling that she has not one, not two, but ''three'' [[VillainousBreakdown Villainous Breakdowns]] at different points in ''Trap Team''. |
| 525 | * PublicDomainSoundtrack: The music during the final boss against Kaos in ''Trap Team'', the third phase is based on "Mars, The Bringer of War", while the final phase is "Night on Bald Mountain". This extends to all of the Villain themes as well as all of them are stock music. |
| 526 | * RakeTake: In Cloudbreather's Crag in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', there are rakes lying around that will smack your Skylander if you step on them. You can also buy one as a Legendary Treasure. |
| 527 | * ReformulatedGame: The 3DS versions (and Wii version of ''[=SuperChargers=]'') are compatible with the same figures as the console versions but are completely different games with different plots and villains. |
| 528 | * RefugeeFromTVLand: The figures are supposedly the actual characters torn out of their world and into ours by Kaos (or, in sequels, by other magical events). |
| 529 | * RememberTheNewGuy: The new Core Skylanders introduced in ''Giants'' to ''Trap Team'' get no introduction, as opposed to the gimmick Skylander whose backstories are explained at the beginning of the game. The Core Skylanders are simply there with no explanation. And according to the prequel book series ''Mask of Power'', they (or at least some) have been around before the events of ''Spyro's Adventure'' even took place, despite the fact that they didn't make their debut in that game. |
| 530 | * RemixedLevel / CopyAndPasteEnvironments: Heroic Challenges take place in areas of otherwise-normal levels that have been tweaked to suit the goals of the challenge. For example, Spyro's challenge level takes place in the Cadaverous Crypt, while Jet-Vac's occurs in the Empire of Ice. |
| 531 | * RepulsiveRingmaster: Mesmeralda is an anthropomorphic [[SpidersAreScary spider]] who runs a circus with her chorus of creepy puppets. She is one of the most [[EvilIsHammy hammy]] villains in the games, even getting her own VillainSong before her boss battle in ''SWAP Force''! To top it all off, she's got GlowingEyesOfDoom and a suit that's RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver! |
| 532 | * RightBehindMe: Upon seeing all the birds in ''Trap Team'''s Phoenix Psanctuary, Flynn wistfully remarks that they remind him of someone. Cue Whiskers squawking rather loudly in his ear and Tessa enthusiastically greeting him. |
| 533 | * RingOut: Arena challenges in ''Giants'' feature a match mode where enemies are shielded; the only way to defeat them is to knock them off the edges of the arena (or into arena hazards). Water Skylanders also have a Quest to knock a certain number of enemies into pits. |
| 534 | * RPGElements: Though the game is primarily a HackAndSlash, you can collect experience points to level-up your Skylanders. The only real benefit, however, is increased HP; increases to other stats are acquired by completing challenges and purchasing upgrades. |
| 535 | * RuleOfThree: In ''Giants'', there are three different points where the Dread-Yacht gets attacked by something or get damaged, forcing the heroes to take a detour. A lightning bolt at first, an Arkeyan Copter following them from the Arkeyan Vault second, and lastly ghost pirates, but for the last one, the heroes fight back, and chapter 10 is built around defending the Dread-Yacht. |
| 536 | -->'''Flynn:''' Oh, we are NOT getting shot down again! Not without a fight! Let's get 'em! [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything Well, maybe you can get 'em. I mean, someone's gotta steer this thing]]. |
| 537 | * RunningGag: In ''Trap Team'' a fair few Villains, upon being captured, remark that the inside of the Traps smell like mustard. |
| 538 | * ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: In ''Trap Team'', '''''KAOS''''', of all people lets out an uncharacteristic shriek in the cutscene at the Skylanders Academy after the Time Town level, when Da Pinchy mentions travelling into the future and pulls out a giant stopwatch. To be fair, he did spend most of that level in Wolfgang's clutches, tied to a giant cog wheel in the level's clock tower. |
| 539 | * SecretCharacter: Although they are prominently featured in the ''Spyro's Adventure'' character lineup, there is no way to watch the preview videos for Terrafin, Ghost Roaster, Slam-Bam, and Sunburn from within the game, because their Soul Gems are contained in their sold-separately Adventure Pack levels. |
| 540 | ** In the same game, Skylander "Sidekicks", AssistCharacter mini-versions of regular Skylanders (Whisper Elf, Gill Runt, Trigger Snappy, and Terrabyte). Most toys (beyond the main Skylander list and those available at release) were spoiled fairly quickly, either [[AllThereInTheManual in the strategy guide]] or by the 3DS game's InterfaceSpoiler. The Sidekicks' existence wasn't known until ''months'' later, shortly before the promotion that would make them available. |
| 541 | * SecretLevel: Four levels are unlocked with their own toys: Pirate Seas, Darklight Crypt, Empire of Ice, and Dragon's Peak. These tend to be based on gimmicks; Pirate Seas is broken up by Concentration-style card games, Darklight Crypt features DualWorldGameplay, Empire of Ice is a SlippySlideyIceWorld and Dragon's Peak includes UnexpectedShmupLevel segments. ''Giants'' doesn't have any Adventure Pack levels, but ''Swap Force'' has a couple more: Tower of Time and Sheep Wreck Islands (the former of which features a time-freeze gimmick). ''Trap Team'' adds four more: Nightmare Express, Mirror of Mystery, Sunscraper Spire, and Midnight Museum. |
| 542 | ** There are also a few secret Battle Mode arenas, unlocked with these toys: Volcanic Vault, Dragonfire Cannon (and its Golden variant, which unlocks one extra reskinned arena), Scorpion Striker, Fiery Forge and Arkeyan Crossbow. |
| 543 | ** It's not a level, but the UFO Hat can only be obtained by using a special pre-order card for ''Swap Force''. Likewise, you can only get the Jolly, Kickoff and Springtime Hats by registering their respective variants: Jolly Bumble Blast, Kickoff Countdown and Springtime Trigger Happy. |
| 544 | * SedgwickSpeech: In the Lost Imaginite Mines level, [[spoiler:Blobbers]] gives one when he decides to [[spoiler:use the pure Imaginite to bring forth a new age of Skylands.]] Unlike most examples of this trope, however, he doesn't die, but gets flung out of the mines when he tries to [[spoiler:touch the Imaginite.]] |
| 545 | -->[[spoiler:'''Blobbers:''' Naturally, we can't have the Imaginite bringing just ''anyone's'' dreams to life, Skylander, but... [[WhamLine I'm not just "anyone."]] I could use my braininess to right the wrongs of Skylands! Don't you see!? I can make a difference! My whole life [[ButtMonkey I've felt helpless, underappreciated, and even... ignored.]] But, with the power of this Imaginite, I'll do more than the Ancients ever did! We stand on the verge of a new age of Skylands! I, Blobbers, give you SKYLANDS, '''2.0!''']] |
| 546 | * SequentialBoss: Battles against Kaos's minions in ''Spyro's Adventure'' generally unfold in these phases: 1st minion, 1st obstacle swarm, 2nd minion, 2nd (tougher) obstacle swarm, 3rd Minion, (sometimes with a third obstacle swarm), then finally [[DualBoss everything at once]]. |
| 547 | * ShapedLikeItself: Among Cali's various congratulations for completing a Heroic Challenge in ''Giants'' is "Please take this reward as ... a reward!" Then there's the Great Pancake Slalom (Chill's Heroic Challenge) in which you avoid balloons representing danger while collecting pancakes that represent ... pancakes. |
| 548 | ** When Kaos was playable for the first time in ''Trap Team'', he got his own element simply called "Kaos". A glitch involcing the magical stones around Skylander Academy shows that of the normal elements, Kaos' would've been Magic, which would explain why Magic only has three villains. The Kaos element is also the element for Kaos' Doom Jet in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and for the Kaos clone in ''Imaginators''. |
| 549 | * ShootTheMedicFirst: Life Spell Punks can heal themselves and other enemies, quickly and often. |
| 550 | ** Broccoli Guys aren't quite as much of a priority target as Life Spell Punks were, since there's a very long cooldown between their healing spells, but eliminating them early on is still a very good idea. |
| 551 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: In ''[=SuperChargers=]'' [[spoiler:you spend two levels trying to obtain the Eye of the Ancients to weaponize the Core of Light and use it to destroy The Darkness, but it turns out it to be pointless in the end because Kaos suddenly appears and uses the Sky Eater to destroy the Core of Light]]. |
| 552 | * ShoutOut: Skylanders features many shoutout to all types of media, so many it's got its [[ShoutOut/Skylanders own page.]] |
| 553 | * SlippySlideyIceWorld: The Empire of Ice Adventure Pack has ... a ''lot'' of ice to slip and slide on. ''Giants'' features the Frozen Wasteland, which also has slippery ice, though not quite as much. Skylanders with flying abilities can also fly themselves across the ice without having to slip and slide across it (though their flight abilities are a bit slippery anyway). |
| 554 | * TheSmurfettePrinciple: On average, each element has only one female character in the group, some of whom (Flashwing, Sprocket, Ninjini and Chill) were only introduced in ''Giants''. Also, Ninjini is the only female giant. This has, however, been getting better as of ''Swap Force'', which introduced many new female characters, including the first female Fire and Magic Core Skylanders. |
| 555 | ** There are no female Swap Force characters, though that one's intentional and justified since exchanging body parts cross-gender could get awkward. |
| 556 | * SoLastSeason: The original versions of the characters are left in the dust by their later versions: They don't have upgrade-switching and "Wow Pow" abilities, they don't count towards most later games' collection goals, and they don't unlock new Heroic Challenges. However, ''Giants'' and ''Swap Force'' raised the level cap for all Skylanders, old and new. |
| 557 | ** Largely [[AvertedTrope averted]] with ''Swap Force''. While Series 3 Skylanders gain a ''second'' Wow Pow, the Giants, however, are still every bit as useful as in the previous game, and still have unique obstacles only they can overcome. |
| 558 | ** And in ''[=SuperChargers=]'', a Portal Master Rank that's near maximum allows you to switch upgrade paths when talking to Persephone, saving the Series 1 Skylanders from their lack of upgrade-switching abilities. |
| 559 | * TheSomethingForce: ''Skylanders: Swap Force'' |
| 560 | * SpotlightStealingTitle: Reviewers were quick to point out that the first game was not really Spyro's adventure as the title suggested - he's no more important in the grander scheme of things than any other playable character, and so his name was likely just used in the title because he's [[CashCowFranchise a well-established video game character]]. |
| 561 | * SpreadShot: Quite a number of Skylanders get these as a projectile attack, often as an upgrade. |
| 562 | * StarterMon: Every console pack inclues up to three figures alongside the game and the Portal, with one or two figures more if you buy the Dark Editions. These include: |
| 563 | ** ''Spyro's Adventure'': Spyro, Gill Grunt and Trigger Happy comes with the console version, and Dark Spyro, Ignitor and Stealth Elf comes with the 3DS version. |
| 564 | ** ''Giants'': Tree Rex, Series 2 Cynder and Jet-Vac comes with the console version, and Punch Pop Fizz replaces Jet-Vac for the 3DS version. There is also a pack for those who already have ''Spyro's Adventure'', which only includes Tree Rex. |
| 565 | ** ''Battlegrounds'': Jet-Vac, Series 2 Cynder and Royal Double Trouble, as well as the Platinum Treasure Chest magic item. |
| 566 | ** ''SWAP Force'': Wash Buckler, Blast Zone and Ninja Stealth Elf comes with the console version, and Free Ranger, Rattle Shake and Volcanic Eruptor comes with the 3DS version. The Dark Edition Starer Pack has the Dark versions of Wash Buckler, Blast Zone, Slobber Tooth, Mega Ram Spyro and Ninja Stealth Elf. |
| 567 | ** ''Trap Team'': Snap Shot, Food Fight and one Water and one Life Trap comes with the console version, and Gusto and Barkley comes with the 3DS version. The Dark Edition Starer Pack has the Dark versions of Snap Shot, Food Fight and Wildfire. |
| 568 | ** ''[=SuperChargers=]'' and ''[=SuperChargers=] Racing'' has a total of ''six'' different starter packs, which is because of the Nintendo characters replacing Spitfire and Hot Streak for Nintendo consoles. (*inhales*) Super Shot Stealth Elf is included in all starter packs, alongside Spitfire and Hot Streak in the Playstation and Xbox packs, Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Barrel Blaster in the Wii U pack, and Hammer Slam Bowser and Clown Cruiser in the racing starter pack on Wii. The different Dark Edition starter packs has Dark Spitfire, Dark Hot Streak and the Kaos Trophy in all of them, with the other Skylander and vehicle varying. Dark Super Shot Stealth Elf and Dark Sea Shadow for Playstation and Xbox, Dark Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Dark Barrel Blaster for Wii U, and Dark Hammer Slam Bowser and Dark Clown Cruiser for Wii (*exhales*). |
| 569 | ** ''Imaginators'': King Pen, Golden Queen and one Fire Creation Crystal comes with the normal pack. The Crash Bandicoot edition includes Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex, and the Dark Edition has Dark King Pen, Dark Golden Queen and Dark Wolfgang. |
| 570 | * TheStinger: Lampshaded by Flynn during the credits of ''Giants'', when he says the player is probably just waiting to see if there's anything special after the credits. There is. In fact, there's two of them: |
| 571 | ** In the first, Kaos is seen retreating to his family home (which you raided earlier in the story), only to meet: |
| 572 | --->'''Glumshanks:''' Uh, Lord Kaos, is that who I think it is?\ |
| 573 | '''Kaos:''' ...[[spoiler:Mother]]?! |
| 574 | ** The second one is played after beating the final boss on Nightmare Mode, and is a short DancePartyEnding featuring a swarm of Chompies dancing on the remains of the Iron Fist of Arkus. |
| 575 | * StockYuck: Broccoli Guy in ''Trap Team'', who is a villain. He is also joined by Tussle Sprout, a mutant Brussels Sprout. |
| 576 | ** Food Fight of the Skylanders is an artichoke. |
| 577 | * TheStormbringer: The Darkness, as well as many of the characters empowered by it, are constantly surrounded by storm clouds, meant to symbolize how dangerous it is and why it's so feared. |
| 578 | * StoryDifficultySetting: The Beginner difficulty in ''[=SuperChargers=]'' is described as being "for younger players who just want to enjoy the story!" |
| 579 | * SuddenlyVoiced: In ''Spyro's Adventure'', over half the Skylanders were SpeakingSimlish. As of ''Giants'', all of them have proper voice clips - even the ones who aren't part of the "Series 2" line (such as phoenix-dragon Sunburn). |
| 580 | * SuperHeroSchool: Skylander Academy, the HubLevel of ''Trap Team'' and ''[=SuperChargers=]''. Since the only actual staff members we see are Buzz and Mags, it's also a TwoTeacherSchool. However, with the introduction of Senseis, they may add a few more bodies to the staff count. |
| 581 | * SuperMode: The Legendary versions are this as shown in the IDW Comics, which is why only a select few gains it after they win a traditional gladiator tournament. Plying as them in-game isn't any different from playing as their regular counterparts, however. |
| 582 | * SurprisinglyCreepyMoment: |
| 583 | ** Prism Break's [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily teeth]] are rather creepy, and given that from a distance he looks like he's completely toothless, they can be startling when you first get a good look at his [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111129183649/spyro/images/thumb/d/d6/PrismBreak_01.jpg/290px-PrismBreak_01.jpg character portrait]] -- especially if your first good look is his [[http://www.skylanders.com/sky/elements/earth/characters/prism-break page on the official website]], which shows the portrait in extreme close-up. |
| 584 | ** Many Skylanders have disturbingly dark or horrifying backstories for such a lighthearted franchise. This includes Sonic Boom having had her children cursed to a perpetual cycle of hatching, living a few moments, and then being returned to their eggs (forever), Sunburn having been relentlessly hunted for his power ''from birth'' to the point of being unable to stay in one place for long and joining the Skylanders as much for his own protection as to be a hero, Ignitor being ''burned alive'' by a dragon and cursed to forever live as a fire spirit bound to his armor, Voodood having his entire tribe being genocided, and more. |
| 585 | ** Special mention goes to Ghost Roaster who went from a regular chef to a cannibalistic undead who gleefully eats and consumes the Undead; his name even references this fact. Combined with his unsettling design, it's quite a jump in the spook level in comparison to the other Skylanders, even the Undeads. |
| 586 | * TakenForGranite: Doom Stone can turn opponents into jade statues for a short while using his {{Medusa}} shield. |
| 587 | ** One of Crusher's upgrades is the ability to petrify enemies for a short period of time with a ray of light from his eyes. |
| 588 | ** [[spoiler: Kaos is turned into a gold statue after challenging the Golden Queen to an evil-off.]] |
| 589 | * TeamRocketWins: ''[=SuperChargers=]'' [[spoiler: starts with Kaos as emperor of Skylands, and The Darkness being unleashed.]] |
| 590 | * TechnicolorMagic: The elemental color of Magic is purple, and most Skylanders of that element feature purple prominently in their color scheme, most obviously Spyro himself. |
| 591 | * TemptingFate: Occurs a few times in ''Giants''. For example: |
| 592 | ** After rescuing Ermit, Flynn comments that their ship will be okay just as long as, say, they don't get hit by lightning ... (ZOT!) "Whoa! Now what are the odds of that!?" |
| 593 | ** During the final battle against Kaos: |
| 594 | -->[[spoiler:'''Machine Ghost:''' "...And let's just hope (Kaos) doesn't realize (the Fist of Arkus) has [[EyeBeams eye lasers]]."]] |
| 595 | -->[[spoiler:'''Ermit:''' "Oh... well he probably does NOW!"]] |
| 596 | -->[[spoiler:'''Machine Ghost:''' "Oops... my mistake."]] |
| 597 | * TheOneGuy: Duff, the lone male Frost Elf seen in ''Trap Team''. He's also enormous compared to the more [[HugeGuyTinyGirl Skylander-sized females]] around him. |
| 598 | * ThisIsSomethingHesGotToDoHimself: Quoted almost word for word in ''Spyro's Adventure'' before [[spoiler:you head off for Kaos' lair.]] |
| 599 | * ThisIsADrill: The console versions of the first three games each had a character with a drill or drill-related ability: the core Skylander Drill Sergeant from ''Spyro's Adventure'', the boss Drill-X from ''Giants'' and the Swap Force character Grilla Drilla from ''Swap Force''. |
| 600 | * TimedMission: |
| 601 | ** All of Cali's Heroic Challenges are explicitly timed, but you can sometimes get extra time added to the clock (particularly with Sonic Boom's challenge, where the timer starts at just 15 seconds). |
| 602 | ** A few hidden areas in the console versions of ''Spyro's Adventure'' consist of collecting artifacts on a timer. |
| 603 | ** Most levels in the 3DS version of ''Spyro's Adventure'' end with a timed dash for the exit. |
| 604 | * TimeForPlanB: When Kaos' initial invasion in ''Spyro's Adventure'' is repelled by the Skylanders, his sidekick suggests going to Plan B. Kaos nixes it, skipping all the way to Plan Z. Which, surprisingly, works perfectly. He also claims to have "at least" 38 or so alternate plans for conquering Skylands (after his defeat at the end of ''Giants''). |
| 605 | * TooDumbToLive: Apparently, Troll leaders actually have to tell their soldiers not to ''juggle live grenades'' in the middle of a battle, among other equally insane things. In actual gameplay, "D.Riveter" trolls aren't particularly smart about running away after laying down mines either, often getting caught in their own blast. |
| 606 | * TookALevelInBadass: The Mabu villagers from the first chapter of ''Spyro's Adventure'' who you have to save? Later on, they've formed their own military and prove surprisingly helpful storywise. Many Skylanders themselves also progress like this. Depending on their upgrades, some characters can be [[MagikarpPower rather weak at first but extremely powerful after purchasing all their upgrades]]. |
| 607 | ** Happens in ''Swap Force'' when Kaos starts questioning Glumshanks' commitment to evil, [[CorruptTheCutie and uses the Evilizer on him]]. The blast turns him into Evil Glumshanks, a now-competent fighter with [[{{Technopath}} control over machines]]. However, even despite all that upgrade, he's still only the first boss you fight. |
| 608 | ** Kaos (or at least his clone) is a master of ALL battle classes in Imaginators. To put it in perspective, it's shown that each Sensei had to spend years to master an individual class. |
| 609 | * ToysToLifeGame: The TropeMaker. |
| 610 | * TrappedInAnotherWorld: OncePerEpisode, some of or all of the Skylanders get banished to Earth to justify the toys, as the player is a Portal Master who found them and can send them back. |
| 611 | * UncannyValley: The Wilikin are a race of wooden doll people who creep out almost everyone who interacts with them. Their level doesn't help alleviate that sentiment. |
| 612 | * UndergroundMonkey: The various different versions of the toys qualify. Many are denoted with {{Palette Swap}}ped colors: |
| 613 | ** "Series 1", the basic version of the character. |
| 614 | ** "Series 2 and 3", who appear the same in-game but their toys represent their upgraded versions. In ''Giants'', these characters can purchase exclusive "Wow Pow" abilities and can switch between their two upgrade paths at any time. As of ''Swap Force'', these figures have more unique appearances and special names. |
| 615 | ** [=SuperCharger=] Skylanders, who are denoted by a completely redesigned base featuring an engine block, can unlock additional powers when paired with their signature vehicle. |
| 616 | ** "[=LightCore=]" Skylanders, whose toys light up while on the portal and release a damaging blast of light when summoned. Their in-game appearance also has extra glowy bits matching the toys. |
| 617 | ** Blue-and-gold "Legendary" variants have slightly better stats than their regular counterparts. |
| 618 | ** And unique {{Palette Swap}}s like 3DS version exclusives "Dark Spyro" and "Punch Pop Fizz", whose different colors are even acknowledged in-game. |
| 619 | ** Aside from Skylander variants, there are eight Spell Punks in ''Spyro's Adventure'', color-coded one per element, each with different abilities. ''Giants'' also features fire, ice, and undead versions of Chompies. |
| 620 | * UnexpectedGameplayChange: Kaos' Doom Challenges in ''Trap Team'' turn the game into a TowerDefense scenario. |
| 621 | ** To a lesser extent, Skystones in ''Giants'' and ''Trap Team'' is a collectible strategic card game, but it doesn't overtake whole levels. |
| 622 | ** There is also an optional music game challenge area hidden in the Academy in ''Trap Team''. |
| 623 | ** In ''[=SuperChargers=]'', the books in the Spell Punk Library detailing the rise and fall of The Darkness have side-scrolling segments and an UnexpectedShmupLevel. |
| 624 | * TheUnfought: Captain Dreadbeard and Vathek from the Adventure Pack levels aren't actually fought in battles; Dreadbeard has to be beaten in a card game while Vathek sends a large swarm of minions to fight you. [[spoiler:Then when he tries to take care of you personally, Flavius takes the throne while he's concentrating on you and turns him to stone with the throne's power.]] Out of the three bonus-level-exclusive {{Big Bad}}s, only Occulous of Darklight Crypt is actually fought in the console version (you do get to fight Vathek in a proper boss fight on the 3DS version). |
| 625 | * VerbalBackpedaling: Kaos ''tries'' not to be surprised when you defeat his minions in battle or dodge his elemental magic attacks, but it doesn't always work. |
| 626 | -->'''Kaos:''' (during the battle for the Water Source) "Impossible! You survived my best water spell! ... Ahem. I MEAN, you survived a very MEDIOCRE water spell, that I found [-lying around ... somewhere-]. I AM NOT IMPRESSED!" |
| 627 | -->'''Kaos:''' (during the battle for the Undead Source) "I didn't want to do this ... scratch that! I TOTALLY want to do this!" |
| 628 | * VersionExclusiveContent: Bowser and Donkey Kong are, naturally, tied to the ''Skylanders'' games published on Nintendo platforms. |
| 629 | * VictoryFakeout: [[spoiler:At the end of ''[=SuperChargers=]'', The Darkness is banished away by the Dark Rift Engine after Kaos turned against it and in turn, destroyed the Sky Eater, freeing Skylands from its threat for good. Kaos, Flynn, Cali and Glumshanks take a moment to revel in the victory as the credits starts playing with a cheesy song. All of a sudden, the music starts slowing down as a rift appears behind it, sucking the letters into it, and The Darkness comes out, donning the remains of the Sky Eater as armor and boasting about how fearsome and unstoppable it is, preparing the Portal Master for their final battle.]] |
| 630 | * VideoGameCrueltyPotential: The sheep from Perilous Pastures are invincible. You can zap them, burn them, soak them, flatten them (and they'll soon recover from it), even knock them off a cliff. On the other hand Hugo thinks that sheep are evil, so... |
| 631 | ** This is averted in the 3DS edition, where the sheep can be killed. |
| 632 | ** There is also a part where you have to attack them to prevent them from eating the apples off a tree. |
| 633 | ** Almost every NPC in the first game can be attacked, and they all shout in pain when you do. Averted in sequels. |
| 634 | ** In ''Giants'', Jet-Vac gets a Quest to vacuum up the harmless birds that populate various levels. They are otherwise invincible. |
| 635 | ** In the Rainfish Rivera level in ''Trap Team'', there is a part where you are supposed to use a crane to drop Mags over to another side so she can open up a bridge there. But if you'd like to, you can drop her into the ocean below, as many times as you want. [[DudeNotFunny Mags doesn't appreciate this]] and tells the Skylander off for doing it, including one line where she [[TranquilFury calmly]] informs them that she is undead and ''will'' be haunting them. |
| 636 | * VideoGameFlight: Skylanders with the ability to fly essentially just hover above ground level; it's faster (but less precise) than normal movement and offers a slight defensive bonus. They can also cross water while flying (similar to water Skylanders), though ''Giants'' generally lacks actual water to do this on. |
| 637 | * VileVillainSaccharineShow: |
| 638 | ** [[spoiler:Kaos' Hydra]] is actually surprisingly frightening for such a lighthearted game. |
| 639 | ** ''Trap Team'''s Dreamcatcher sports MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily on top of being a disembodied floating head. Her gimmicks are eating dreams, {{Reality Warp|er}}ing and implied MindRape. |
| 640 | ** Malefor in the IDW comics is ''very'' evil and ''very'' effective- given what his ''Legend'' counterpart did, it's not surprising. |
| 641 | ** [[spoiler:The Darkness]] is by far the most evil villain in the series (on par with the ''Legend'' Malefor), especially when we learn that his plan is to [[spoiler: ''destroy every dimension.'']] |
| 642 | * VillainOfAnotherStory: The villains in the Adventure Packs have no connection to the plot of the game they're featured in and are only plauging the area the Adventure Pack is based on. |
| 643 | * VillainSong: Though it's not much of a musical production per se, when you arrive at Drill-X's Big Rig in ''Giants'' the first thing you learn about the level boss is that everyone hates his singing. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROhZJ_AIFTY When you meet the robot himself....]] |
| 644 | ** A musical production, however, is ''exactly'' one could make of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8_3Dr0wrx4 Mesmerelda's]] pre-boss appearance in ''Swap Force''. |
| 645 | * WaterfallIntoTheAbyss: Some of Skylands in ''Spyro's Adventure'' has this. Of particular note is the main hub, where you have to go on a ship with a Gillman and drive off the island in a waterfall. |
| 646 | * WeaponizedOffspring: The first two games have Sonic Boom, a griffin whose children are cursed to constantly be reborn as eggs. Because of this, she decides to train her children to fight as soon as they hatch, so that they can be able to defend themselves at any time. It can be upgraded in various ways, including the ability for the eggs to inflict damage before the babies hatch from them. They also manage to inherit her sonic abilities. |
| 647 | * [[WhamEpisode Wham Game]]: ''Trap Team''. You finally get to play as Kaos and new elements are introduced. |
| 648 | ** ''Superchargers'' counts to mostly because the game [[spoiler: [[DownerBeginning starts with Kaos winning]], the Core of Light is destroyed for good, along with the Darkness]]. |
| 649 | * WhamLine: From ''Imaginators's'' final boss. We get two back to back. The first after Kaos takes a jab at Brain for having no thumbs. |
| 650 | -->[[spoiler:'''Brain:''' I like to think of myself as a tolerant guy, Kaos. But bringing up my lack of thumbs? Well, that crosses a line for me. And you know what else? The portal master has a much better imagination then yours! [[HeelFaceTurn Especially now that I'm on]] ''[[HeelFaceTurn their]]'' [[HeelFaceTurn side!]]]] |
| 651 | ** Then, after Brain casts a spell: |
| 652 | -->[[spoiler:'''Eon:''' All Imaginators are ''[[EleventhHourSuperpower amazingly]]'' [[EleventhHourSuperpower effective in this zone.]]]] |
| 653 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Invoked in ''Trap Team'' when Flynn, upon learning that the Skylanders once again have no idea what the villains are up to, inquires what happened to Mags' Information Squid (an all-knowing squid which the player spent a whole level retrieving). She promptly ignores him. |
| 654 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman/[[spoiler: ImAHumanitarian]]: Two of the villain quests in ''Trap Team'' involve a chef asking you to bring them a specific villain to use as an ''ingredient''. Both of them are "cutscene" quests, so you don't even hear a reaction from the villain. One of the two villains is ''[[spoiler: Kaos]]''. |
| 655 | ** Several quests involve stopping trolls from capturing and eating the walking, talking, friendly Gillmen. This is treated as a RunningGag. |
| 656 | * WilliamTelling: Hats sometimes appear on the trolls in ''Cloud Patrol'' so that you can blast them off. Played with in that you're trying to shoot the trolls ''and'' their hats. |
| 657 | * WiseSerpent: Pit Boss was a member of an order of snake philosophers that were so renowned for their boundless wisdom that travelers would make the treacherous climb up the mountain they lived on just to get an answer for one question they had. However, when the question of how to deal with the BigBad Kaos appeared several times, Pit Boss elected to become a BadassBookworm and [[BadassTeacher Sensei to Imaginators]]. |
| 658 | * WizardDuel: Kaos challenges the Golden Queen to an "Evil-Off" for leadership of the Doom Raiders. [[spoiler: We don't see the competition itself, but Kaos ends up as a gold statue for his trouble.]] |
| 659 | * WrenchWench: Mags, head engineer of Skylanders Academy and proud inventor of about "87 million other things." She can be a bit [[MadScientist ...eccentric at times]], but there's no arguing with the results of her work. |
| 660 | * WorldInTheSky: They don't call it "Skylands" for nothing. |
| 661 | * YouBreakItYouProfit: In ''Skylanders: Universe'', breaking respawning crates, bottles and such not only gives you coins, but sometimes also EXP. The main games also feature RewardingVandalism as well, though in a lesser quantity. |
| 662 | ** The crew quarters in the Chef Zeppelin seems to be the only place your behavior is even ''remarked'' on. |
| 663 | * YouHaveFailedMe: As the final battle of ''Spyro's Adventure'' wears on, Kaos smites his own minions and gives their experience points to his ''next'' set of minions; when the last group fails, he collects all their experience points to refill his own HP, and relies solely on his hydra to fight you. |
| 664 | * YouShouldntKnowThisAlready: If you're playing on a new safe file, the Soul Gem abilities of the Skylanders who debuted in the game you're playing will be locked until you've found their Soul Gem on that file. As such, you can't perform the attack even if you've already bought it on that figure previously. |
| 665 | * YourOtherLeft: In Chapter 10 of ''Giants'', Flynn would at one point warn the player that there would be an enemy ship attacking the Dread-Yacht on the starboard, though then he'd wonder if he actually meant port. It would happen again during Chapter 1 of ''Swap Force'', this time thinking the enemy ship approached the port side before questioning if it was actually the starboard. In both cases, the ships approached along the starboard. |
| 666 | [[/folder]] |
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