With amiibo figurines and Disney Infinity hot on its tail, Activison broke with tradition today and announced new Elements for Skylanders — the first since the original eight the game launched with in 2011.
The new Light and Dark element groupings bring with them new characters, quest packs, villains and zones in the game. Two new Trap Masters — Knight Mare and Knight Light — will be available from 26th December in the special Light and Dark Elemental Quest Packs.
Each pack contains a Trap Master along with a special Trap capable of capturing either Light or Dark villains. They also come with a location piece that unlocks a special level in the game. The Light and Dark Elemental Quest Packs will be available at all major retailers nationwide for a suggested retail price of $29.99 US.
The new packs enable players to access new levels in Skylanders Trap Team and trap new villains like the Luminous and Nightshade characters. Also, the new elements reveal additional back story of the Skylanders universe.
Here's what John Coyne, vice president of Consumer Marketing at Activision, had to say about the announcement:
It’s amazing to see how deeply engrossed and fascinated our fans have been with the Skylanders franchise. By unveiling new Light and Dark elements and heroes to the Skylanders universe, our fans around the world will have new ways of exploring all the magic, excitement and fun of Skylands.
With amiibo proving to be something of a hit with Nintendo players, can Skylanders keep up? Let us know if you're interested by posting a comment below.
Comments 21
Maybe Nintendo might win if they stop being idiots and shipping more amiibos to store,so we won't have all these people buying these figures for 50 or more that originally cost 15 dollars!
lol, but Darkness and light are all the same, Darkness is just the absent of light
So word is Santa will put Trap Team, a bunch of traps, and some Trap Masters under our family Christmas tree. And then there will be these MUST HAVES for sale immediately after Christmas. One word for Activision's marketing here: Savvy.
I always wondered if they were going to do more elements but Light and Dark seems a little silly to me since I thought Light and Dark were already supposed to be covered, at least to some extent, by Life and Undead.
Can't complain too much though, Knight Mare looks pretty cool.
Also, out of curiosity, I haven't played Trap Team yet, but were these characters visible in game through trailers like the rest of the characters have always been in the Skylanders games or is this a complete surprise announcement?
These look really cool. Can't wait to see them in stores!
Yeah, maybe Nintendo could compete if they actually sold more of the so called, "unpopular" characters to stores.
Hey look @sinalefa - it's the Bayonetta bundles w/ angels and demons Do want.
"With amiibo proving to be something of a hit with Nintendo players"
um, I think amiibo are a hit w/ eBay resellers more than players. I bet just on Wii U Skylanders toys log a whole lot more hours than amiibo collectibles. At this point amiibo are much more collectible than playable. I can't imagine Activiion is all that worried. About Disney Infinity, yes, but not amiibo. If 700 Pokemon amiibo release then Activision will have something to worry about.
Man these sets are going to be going for hundreds of $ each on eBay, I can't even find a Kaos trap. I'm extremly thankful to Activision for releasing them Dec 26 so no child can make their parent insane asking Santa to bring what will probably be a near impossible to find item. Probably easier than the Villager though.
My kid has a birthday mid-Jan, hopefully we can find them by then.
SkylanderDad is probably sh't'n himself.
Edit - now where's my Cereza amiibo? Maybe launch/link w/ SSBU Bayonetta DLC?
Edit 2 - Watched the vid, nice to see I'm not the only one who cares about the look of NFC bases.
I think it's easy to say Activision would do a better job at selling their Skylanders toys considering the current amiibo situation is just nuts.
@ikki5 no, they're really not the same, as you said darkness is the absence of light. They're closer to opposites than being the same, like hot and cold (cold is simply the absence of heat). Either way, I think these go for a different definition of dark and light, which is essentially "evil" and "good" (though maybe more like "chaos" and "order", I don't know enough about the game or characters).
@rjejr
I don't want it, but I can see the resemblance with the Lumen Sage.
I don't see the Cereza amiibo, though. As much as I would love to have one.
"will be available from 26th December"
Everywhere else I checked says Dec 21 at Toys R Us. Which kind of negates half my earlier post.
Not only are they not the same but I'd argue that amiibo would be vastly more successful if they took the sky landers route in their own core game (with the lure being bonus stuff in others). I am baffled by how hard they are to find considering how little they do. I am wondering if a lot of them are being given as gifts with no real knowledge of what they do in game by the purchaser.
@ShadJV Darkness is light, just less of it and is really all relative. So yes.. it is an opposite as you would go in a negative direction to get to one but it is still the same. For example, I could say the powered light bulb is in darkness compared to the sun and yet the light bulb still has light.
But yes, I do see that they probably are referring to Good and Evil but to call them elements.... is kind of dumb since it is more referring to intentions or just a description of what something is. But it is just me, I never liked it when anyone called Light and Darkness elements because t never makes sense to me.
@ikki5 So, that's why Pokémon doesn't have any "Light" type or anything. It only has Dark, which could easily be changed to "LIght" and vice versa.
And that principle applies the same to hot/cold for example.
The secret is that most Skylanders sit on a shelf, or in a box somewhere unused. Once you realize that, amiibo's success is much more obvious.
I think both DI2 and, to a lesser degree, Trap Team are wasted entries. Outside of the Toy Box (which is still unwieldy), there is little value in the DI2 set. And Trap Team is a neat idea that doesn't mesh with the Skylanders brand and design.
The market is ripe for Nintendo because the people who are comfortable buying figures are ready for something different and SSB is a far richer and enjoyable game, despite the limitations of amiibo. Plus you have the appeal of Nintendo characterers, which will draw new people into the market because most gamers are bound to have at least one character that entices them.
That's the power of amiibo that many ignore - deciding to jump in requires just the purchase of a figure, if you already own a compatible game. The other games require you to take an expensive first leap, then compounded by the pressure to buy more figures simply to unlock content in that one game. Next year, you have to do it all again with little to show for your investment.
Think about it, amiibo is a problem for Skylanders and DI because not only does it feature popular characters, but it highlights the major flaw in the competitors' game design.
@KoiTenchi: It has been announced for from time that there would be more elements, and for a shorter time, that the elements would be Light and Dark. At release, the game featured gates that could not be opened.
@all: loving the Bayonetta references. And yeah, a Bayonetta amiibo with SSB DLC would be sick! ***RUSHES TO STORE; ONLY FINDS LOKI AMIIBO LEFT :..( ****
Why does everything on this website always have to lead to a competition with Nintendo? Its really unnecessary and annoying. "Non Nintendo game is high up on charts, Nintendo game follows a few games behind"
Will there be any good dark element characters and evil light element characters?
@Clockwerk What's so bad about a little competition friendo?It's always about competition especially about selling figures like the one in the article,it all comes down which is better.
These are just like any other new characters to me. If Activision finally release all the figures we're missing in Australia, like Mirror of Mystery, then I'd be more amazed. We're so far behind this year, it's pathetic. We don't get these EPs until January, and haven't gotten a lot of Wave 2, and goodness knows when we'll get the Wave 3 Trap Masters like Blastermind or any more Minis. I was braced for bad releases, after SWAP Force, but this... My interest is very low with our release schedule.
This is actually pretty cool, but I stopped buying Skylanders after the 2nd game. It's just too much stuff to collect for one series =/
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