darkSpyro

The last few remaining swappable characters from the upcoming Skylanders SWAP Force have been revealed by way of a poster on Amazon.co.uk spotted by jckelsall. Those last four stragglers are Rubble Rouser, Trap Shadow, Doom Stone and the previously leaked Boom Jet.


Also revealed today on Amazon.com was the packaging for the first Adventure and Battle Packs of SWAP Force. First we have the Tower of Time Adventure Pack in better detail with confirmation of the item names "Battle Hammer" and "Sky Diamond" along with Pop Thorn's name "Pop Thorn".


Then we have the Fiery Forge Battle Pack (previously known as Mulcan Forge) with a clear shot of the Bumble Blast toy as well as Knockout Terrafin.


You can find screenshots from both packs in the gallery.

Previously only seen in special Wii and PS3 console bundles, a single pack of Gnarly Tree Rex is about to hit the stores.


A few have already been found in stores but it is not expected to be properly released until a little later in the month.

The first of the new Giants sidekicks from the Frito-Lay promotion have been arriving so be on the lookout if you've ordered some of those.


And Skylanders: Lost Islands updated again this week. First with a new companion, Ruggles, who increases the number of Skylanders you can send in a Sanctuary, and today with the month's brand new Alter-Ego called "Grill Master Chop Chop" that you can win in the Wishin' Well (or just buy for 1500 gems).

As part of the "Heat Wave" event that lasts until the 4th of August you can also win previous alter-egos in the Wishin' Well as Top Prizes and hero points from all sources have been doubled for the duration.


Infinity Guru: Series 1 Power Discs and their abilities revealed in video form.

Thanks to Aura24 for spotting some listings for a whole load of unannounced Skylanders, they've since been removed by the retailer.


Another new Skylander that did not have an image is a Lightcore Skylander called Smolderdash and along with the other new returnees there were also Lightcore versions of Flashwing and Warnado but there were no images of them.

The first thing to remember is that the images that were used were clearly not intended to be published as is so the Skylanders will no doubt look a little different in their final designs. Their names too may be placeholders that have yet to be fully finalised as a Skylander we already know the name of, Pop Thorn, is listed as Gasteroid (of course it could be that Pop Thorn is the older name).

Bumble Blast, a Skylander we have actually previously seen in promotional artwork, looks set to be a part of a Battle Pack called "Mulcan Forge" along with the Series 3 version of Terrafin, the battle item itself being a cauldron pouring molten metal called "Cauldron".

As well as all that there a couple of listings for Double Packs which include two of the swappable Swap Force characters, one pack has Free Ranger and a mysteriously named Nitro Magna Charge while the other has Rattle Shake but also has Nitro Magna Charge. Again there were no images of these packs so it is unclear exactly how Nitro Magna Charge will differ from the regular single pack Magna Charge.


Infinity Guru: The Incredibles get their own set of Disney Infinity trailers.

Senpai Gamer have news of the impending release of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure in Japan. It will be released in just two weeks, on the 12th of July, for the PS3, Wii, 3DS, and, surprisingly enough, the Wii U as well.


You can check out the official website to read all about the game in Japanese.

Thanks to Nat Loh for the heads up.

In much the same manner as last year's promotion, Frito-Lay have begun the process of giving away the new set of sidekicks in the US, this time based on four of the Giants from Skylanders Giants.


You can get one of Thumpling, Barkley, Eye-Small or Mini-Jini by purchasing a promotional multipack and then entering your code on their website (once it goes live on June the 30th at least). There's a $2.50 shipping and handling fee however so it's not entirely free.

Also included is a coupon for $1 off a Skylanders Giants toy and a coupon which doubles up for either $5 off a Giants Starter Pack or $10 off a SWAP Force Starter Pack.

Another of those last few stragglers, Series 2 Drobot, has been spotted at several Walmarts across the US. With Polar Whirlwind about to be formally released on Saturday this means that only Lightcore Hex remains unreleased in the US - and you'll need to pre-order and then wait for SWAP Force to get her.


Further details about GameStop's event this Saturday, the "Ultimate Skylanders Festival", have been confirmed including free sidekicks with the purchase of any Skylanders Giants toy, a free SWAP Force poster for the first 25 customers, Giants Starter Packs for $39.99 and all Battle Packs for $9.99. Not to mention the release of Polar Whirlwind and the possibility of a few Scarlet Ninjinis turning up too.

Two stores will also apparently have a SWAP Force demo:

Quote: Swap Force Demo

Come to these Stores if you are in the area for a Skylanders Swap Force Demo!

Dallas Fort-Worth
Shops of Southlake
1251 E Southlake Blvd, SPC 351
Southlake TX 76092

New York City Broadway & 85th
2322 Broadway
New York, NY 10024

Remember the event only runs until 2PM so make sure to get there early!

This Saturday (the 22nd) folks in the US will be able to go down to their local GameStop and hopefully get their hands on the elusive Polar Whirlwind. In an event known as "Skylanders Day" Polar Whirlwind will see her US debut (although of course some places have accidentally put her out early) along with some other special items and discounts on things like the Giants Starter Pack.


To get Polar Whirlwind in Australia however you will need to pre-order Skylanders SWAP Force from EB Games, much in the same manner as the rest of the world is doing to get LightCore Hex.

Forum member Tigorus has spotted the first of the new Adventure Packs thanks to a flyer given out when pre-ordering SWAP Force. The round, spiky, winged, core Skylander named Pop Thorn will be part of an Adventure Pack called "Tower of Time". And it appears to come with two brand new magic items just like the original Adventure Packs did.

E3 2013 has brought with it many new character reveals, gameplay videos and interviews with an assortment of Activision and Vicarious Visions staff about the upcoming Skylanders SWAP Force.

To kick it off we've been introduced to several new characters, some brand new Swap Force type and some regular "core" Skylanders.


Another brand new Swap Force type character, so far seen only in the newly updated version of the part swapping trailer, is a Fire Skylander called Fire Kraken. And for the core Skylanders you've got newcomers like Grim Creeper and, as shown off in various hands on play sessions, Fryno, a fiery rhino that has upgrades to get his very own motorbike (just like Hot Head).

We've also seen various returning Series 3 characters confirmed through brand new artwork like Spyro, Trigger Happy, Eruptor and Terrafin along with a few other brand new characters whose names have yet to be revealed.


On the gameplay and interview side of things you've got fairly extensive coverage from FamilyGamerTV showing off each of the new characters, like Fryno, as well as an interview with David Nathanielsz from Vicarious Visions the developers of Swap Force.

Coin-op TV too have a few videos and an interview of their own and The Skylander Kids have some up close videos on some more unnamed brand new Skylanders that were seen in toy form at the Skylanders' booth. GameSpot ran a live showing of the game and you can see the 25 minute recording of that to watch them show off of a wide variety of the characters and their combinations as they advance through a brand new level.

Today's Nintendo Direct had a few very brief seconds of video from the Nintendo 3DS version of Swap Force, it's at about the 17 minute mark but blink and you'll miss it.


And of course our very own Skylanders SWAP Force gallery has been updated with all the new screenshots and pieces of artwork that have been released.

It looks like Skylanders fans in the UK will finally be able to have a chance to get a hold of some of the sidekicks from Skylanders Spyro's Adventure. On promotional packs of Chupa Chups and Fruittella you'll find a code that you can use on their website to see if you have won. Oddly though the article says that only two of the sidekicks are up for grabs: Gill Runt and Whisper Elf.


The promotion runs from the 15th of June until the end of August giving away ten each day.

Last year it was Chrome Spyro, this time around it's a Bronze Hot Dog for the exclusive E3 variant. FamilyGamerTV have gotten their hands on one a little early and you can see them unbox it in the video below:



Kotaku have also got one which they've taken some nice clear photos of.

Pre-orders for Skylanders SWAP Force at retailers like Toys R Us, Target, Walmart and Best Buy now come with a free Lightcore Hex. Unfortunately it appears you have to wait until you actually get the game in October before you receive the Hex (despite being released in Australia recently).

The game has also now had its release date confirmed by EuroGamer as coming out on the 13th of October in North America, the 18th of October in Europe and the 16th of October in Australia.

It has also been announced for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but obviously with no release date for the consoles themselves there's also no release date for those versions.


Along with those preorders are some new images of the packs, confirming for the first time exactly which two SWAP Force characters are in the Starter Pack, it's Wash Buckler and Blast Zone along with the "Series 3" equivalent Ninja Stealth Elf.

The 3DS Starter Pack has a completely separate line-up of toys, instead you get a different two SWAP Force characters (currently no names known but they are Undead and Air elements) as well as Volcanic Eruptor. So no duplicates like last time with Cynder and Tree Rex.


And from the Toys R Us preorder pages there are a few new screenshots that are now in the gallery.

The last few of the new Skylanders are finally starting to appear. Polar Whirlwind has just hit Canada at EB Games, Lightcore Chill and Lightcore Pop Fizz are appearing across the US, and Lightcore Hex and Series 2 Drobot have turned up in Australia.


And in other news, a new mini-game has been added to the official website. Called Dreadyacht Defenders it is essentially Plants vs Zombies using Skylanders, instead of plants, to fight against various enemies from the games that slowly advance towards you.

In talking to MCV Activision's VP of consumer marketing John Coyne stated that there are no plans for a movie or a TV show based on the Skylanders franchise.

Quote: John Coyne

In terms of a TV show or a movie, no there are not any plans. We believe the game is the entertainment. You talk to kids who are real fans of the franchise, and they will be able to tell you Gill Grunt’s powers, backstory, what his friends are and generally what’s going on in the world of Skylanders. The same sort of things that they are able to articulate around a TV show or a movie.

Kind of an odd reason really, especially when you consider the ongoing series of books that already provides new stories about the Skylanders and their adventures in Skylands.

Forum member xangor recently spotted this brand new Skylander in an image for a cap on Amazon.de (the image has since been removed).


Unfortunately no name for this new Magic character was revealed so you'll just have to come up with your own for the time being.

E3 2013 is now just over two weeks away so it's not long to wait until Activision finally release some official new information on Skylanders: Swap Force.

In the UK and Ireland Scarlet Ninjini will be exclusive to Smyths Toys, it's due to be released next Friday (the 3rd of May), so not very long to wait. Remember that stocks will be limited so try not to miss out!


And even if you can't manage to get your hands on the Scarlet edition, the regular version of Ninjini has begun appearing on UK shopping sites like GAME so you won't have to miss out on the character herself.

Thanks to NAYHA for the heads up on Scarlet Ninjini.