Share your "first" Skylanders story!

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Going along with our first forum giveaway, we'd like you to share one of your first Skylanders experiences. It might be how you learned about the game, what convinced you to buy it, the first time you played, the first time you got someone else to try... or some other first!

Even though moderators aren't eligible to win, I still encourage everyone to share! I'll get us started.

I kind of have a two part story to share. I don't know the exact date, somewhere in late October, I was at Target looking through the Legos. That's what we always do at Target. For whatever reason I found myself in the electronics section and was curious about this interesting device that turned out to be the portal of power. The first time I placed a figure on the portal I was blown away. I tried every single character that was there - and there were a bunch! (Remember those days??) The one that really caught my eye - and I showed my wife - was Flameslinger. At the end of his video when the flame circle explodes, that was just too cool!

So it was just the next week when my 13 year old daughter and I were at our local Walmart and I decided to buy it. As we were walking toward the checkout, I was looking at all of the characters on the back of the box. I looked over at her and said, "You know, I have an inkling that we might end up buying all of these..." And now I'm hooked!

[Radical Tropicon]

I first heard of Skylanders about a month before it was officially released. Being a video game junkie and toy enthusiast, I am often scouring the net for new information on any of those subjects.
I stumbled across Skylanders when I was looking for a new game to get excited for. At that point in time, I was absolutely tired of shooters and all the other generic titles being pumped out. I was looking for something new, fresh, and innovative.
That's when I stumbled across Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. The game had very little mentions about it on the sites I frequented, but I knew of Spyro and how he was a fairly popular character.
Intrigued, I researched this game that came from nothingness.

And my mind was BLOWN.

Toys?! Working with a video game?! SEAMLESSLY?!

It was as if the child inside me was exploding in delight and growing anticipation. Honestly, this was the game I had been waiting my entire life for, and the one I dreamt about as a kid. I just had to have it.

So I waited, and when the morning of October 14th 2011 came around, I went to my nearest EB Games, threw my money at the store clerk, and I ran out with all I could possibly grab.

I then had to wait 2 months before I could play it for the first time, being away from home and all

And that is my first encounter with Skylanders!

[dragonmk]

My first skylanders story was probably when i was playing my playstation with spyro the year of the dragon (third i believe) and then beating the boss and then im like they should make spyro toys and asked my mom is she has seen any toys of spyro and we looked on the internet no toys that i saw and then im like they better have one when im older and now here he is a small statue that has a brain

[nrocnuika]

I heard about Skylanders back in the day where the premise had just been thoughts of and the trailers just released, and everyone was bashing the game. While I was skeptical at first, I decided to try it before I knock it and waited for more pictures of the toys to come out. With each one I found, I began to like the game more and more, until I decided to get it. I promised myself I'd only get the characters that I liked the look of, but that went out the window and I felt the need to collect them all.

While on the topic of firsts, when I first showed the game to my friend, he chose to play as Wrecking Ball, and in the first level where the rock crashes into the peak you're standing on and you fall into the Chompie Pit, the way WB wiggles his limbs made us both crack up in hysterics. Just thought I'd share.

[dinohex]

I got into Skylanders in about November 2011, and I bought the 3DS game before I bought the console one later on. I bought Dino-Rang and Hex alongside the game, and I became an instant fan when I started playing. One of my fondest early memories with the game was when I played as Dino-Rang for the first time and he turned out to be incredible when I originally had low expectations for him. The other great early moment was when I was on the lookout for Drobot and Flameslinger because they looked cool, and found out that both of them were in a 3 pack! I didn't care about Stump Smash, but it was a huge joy when I finally played as him and he turned out to be amazing. Stump Smash is now one of my favourite Skylanders. XD

[Tashiji]

V and I were walking through Target when we noticed a "buy two games, get one free" sale. I wanted Uncharted 3, she wanted Sonic Generations, and we needed a third game. Lo and behold, right behind us, there was a Skylanders display. We tooled around with it for a little bit, resolved to read reviews in case it was secretly a stupid game, and inevitably wound up back there the next day to buy it. At first, we didn't want to get any "scrub" characters (I'm looking at you, Boomer!), but after actually playing the game that night... well, needless to say, we were all over the city the next day completing our collection. I had played the old Spyro games, but prior to this chance encounter, I was unaware that Skylanders even existed.

[dreadwind]

My son got the game for his birthday in November. We were hooked! He spent all his money on as many as he could find. I went to grocery shopping one day without him and he had enough money for one more single pack. I stopped at Target and called and told him they had Stump Smash and Whirlwind. He picked Stump Smash. I walked away from six or seven Whirlwinds thinking I would pick her up later for Christmas. I finally found one much later but still in time for the tree.

[*~V~*]

I don't need to write my own, but I can give our son's first experience!
Eruptor. He just went crazy for him one day and grabbed him off of the portal, squealing happily, then shoved one of his "fists" into his mouth. Best day ever for him with Skylanders and to this day he still loves it and will calm down if handed the figure.

*edit* found this pic of these best friends

[chaosworrier]

My story is a tad different as my son discovered Skylanders and owned an Eruptor fig before the game came on the market. He participated in some "market research" for the game with a friend. Given that the game was due for release in about a month from that point, I still maintain it was more marketing, than research (grin!)

Anyway, he came home with an Eruptor and a poster and was excited about the whole premise. It also sounded interesting to me.

So, I pre-ordered on-line a copy from a larger retail chain store. It came with a bonus Drill Sarge - little was I to know how limited he was (I ended up with 2 of them and naively swapped one for a Stealth Elf in-store - not a bad move but still the potential I did not know I had...)

I originally unpacked the game (when it arrived) to test it as it was a few months until XMas. Haha, I fell in love with it and played it many nights after the kids went to bed.

[malouff]

Me (32) and my two younger brothers (6 & 9) first experienced Skylanders when my other brother (26) left his copy of the game for a week (back then just the Wii starter pack) and they loved it.

I then gave them a copy of the game (also for the wii) and have had to mostly order them online as we only have two stores in the area that sell them with very little stock as mentioned in the introduce ourselves thread.

We do however share the characters between both systems so that we get the elemental increases and the heroic challenge for each character and keep costs down.

Also, recently GameMaster78 posted a challenge that whoever found a Cynder and Double Trouble for him that he would exchange a Volcanic Volt. I was excited when I finally found them but then found out that he had found lots of them on his own.

I did end of keeping them as we needed a Double Trouble already having a Wirlwind and Drill Sargent. So wining this first contest would be nice as because we could each get a copy of the character instead of sharing the one.

However, because Cynder will be later coming out in a tipple pack I am willing to trade her for a Dark Spyro (PM me to trade).

I also don't know why everyone says this is new technology as Matel did it first with the Hyperscan system but with cards not figures.

[themorpheus]

I got the game for myself back in November. I opened it up and started playing as Spyro. Like everyone here, I came to those doors for water and tech and couldn't go in. When making the change to Gillium, that moment of moving a toy around and seeing the effects on the screen hooked me in. I was enthralled. I finished the included chapters on the disk that night. Next day I got the adventure pack and completed that chapter. Rounded out my collection of figures for one of each element and then played the game non stop, when there was time to do so. I got bit by the bug on the first night. The collector shark bit me after I had one of each element. I think the shark took off some of my behind, but I needed to lose some from back there. I now have all available figures but I do not have any gold or silvers. I dont get into collecting that much.

[copiousturtle]

My Skylanders story is full of excitement, heartbreak, triumph and even danger!

In early November, my wife and I were at Wal-Mart and discussing Christmas presents for my 7 year old step-son. Since we live in a state that is not where our families are from, he is with us always. We discovered Skylanders and decided to make the game (along with most of the figs) his big present from Santa (he is the ONLY 7 year old I've ever seen that has little or no interest in toys of any kind -- he's all about anything involving the television or outside though).

Anyway, we had to hide the game when we bought it and managed to keep it from him the entire time. Not too long after that, we found out that the game was going on sale for 20 dollars less and we decided to try to pick up a copy at TRU. We got one, but this time I was working and it was just my wife and my step-son. He was there when she paid for it, and he KNEW it was for him.

To trick him, my wife went to Wal-Mart with the other copy purchased there and returned it to get our money back. She let him see it happen (we try to encourage the whole Santa Claus thing, setting out cookies and milk, and he even insists on putting out carrots for the reindeer) to make him think we didn't get it for him.

Well, that was a big mistake (and cruel to be honest). He flipped out in the store, and my wife couldn't hold back the truth about the other copy of the game. He was crying uncontrollably and my wife had to take him out to the car and show him the other copy of the game in the trunk to calm him down. We had to say that was our gift to him and Santa was getting him the rest (because I emailed him).

At Christmas, even though he knew he was getting the game, he still freaked when he opened the present (which was the first gift he opened... he knew what he was going for). We actually had to make him open the rest of his presents while I unboxed and hooked up the portal. He played it all day. I got to play when he went to bed.

So here's my story, full of excitement (his face at Christmas), heartbreak (in the store), triumph (again, when it unwrapped the presents with the game and characters we got him) and danger (have you seen my wife behind the wheel?!)!

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Thanks for sharing your stories, those are a lot of fun to read! All of you (except for the mods) have been registered for our drawing next Tuesday.

[graz73]

I've been lurking here for a little while, but the contest got me motivated to actually register.

I heard about this game a few times online before finally seeing it demonstrated in a Toys R Us. My daughter (age 8)and I (age 37)both thought it was cool right away. Being a big toy fan AND a big video game lover, how could I resist?

Somehow "Santa" knew what to get her for Christmas. ;D

We did not know that there was a co-op mode but we just stuck a second skylander on the portal to see what would happen and were delighted to see that it allowed for several characters to play at the same time.

[Arcane Desperado]

I don't have any amazing stories, nor do I really have any touching Christmas stories involving children. I'm married but my wife and I have been unable to have any children at this point in time. That and she deals with children 5 days a week on a regular basis so shes certainly not without the insanity.

I got my wife into the game shortly after New Years. By that I mean the afternoon of. She'd been rather unhappy with her last few Nintento DS purchases, and I'd never really been able to get her to play any of the more intense games on the PS3 or 360 with me. We'd had a Wii for awhile but eventually traded it in because after she played and beat Paper Mario is laid untouched for nearly a year.

So I showed her the game again having remember Spyro from my younger years, and my wife had liked the one Spyro game I had purchased for her DS awhile back. She'd gotten frustrated with it at one point though and hadnt touched it for a month or so. Again as said my wife has never really been an avid gamer of any sort. Well board games maybe. Life, Scrabble, Battleship, Sorry. That kinda stuff but thats about it.

So I got her the main pack for the PS3 and she instantly went crazy with it. She loves the little figures and was actually able to get into the game play rather easily. I managed to find a single pack Hex at Gamestop the next day. With that it was all downhill and into the craze of figure hunting. By this point it was well after Christmas and the shelves were bare. Luckily however I know the people at my Gamestop very well, as well as the Best Buy across the street as both provide police discounts and the Best Buy does part time work with our department. So I was able to slowly get most of the figures outside of Stealth Elf, Whirlwind and Drill Sergeant. Target and Walmart were always bare and the exclusives were done by then so they were not getting any restocks anytime soon.

Then Wave 3 hit. By then we had been doing the rounds of Toys R Us, Target, Best Buy, Walmart, and Gamestop at least 3 or 4 times daily. Mostly at that point looking for *1* figure. Blasted Elf....

My wife got very lucky and managed to hit Target on her way home from work after I checked Target.com for availability and sent her a text they claimed to be in stock. With that I got a call from her giggling like she was 6 years old. She'd gotten Empire of Ice, the Whirlwind, Double Trouble and Drill Sergeant 3 pack and Cynder.

On Monday morning, I managed to actually snipe the Stealth Elf 3 pack on Gamestop.com. On Wednesday I promised my wife I'd get her the 3DS with our tax return this year. So I got the three pack in the mail last evening while I was at work. My wife proceeded to print off the online receipt and ran it back to Gamestop. She got the money back to put towards the 3DS game and came home back with her much needed Stealth Elf, Ignitor, and Dark Spyro.

I can actually say now that we're done hunting for at least a couple of weeks until wave 4 gets released. We're not to worried about the Legendaries. Though I do like Trigger Happy and the temptation is very high at the moment.


(In the unlikely chance I actually would have my name drawn. I'd like to donate it for another member that has a child without the Double Trouble figure in question. I already have one and don't need a second. Rather it go to a child that can enjoy it)