Swap Force Observations

As we play the game, I am noticing certain differences, both good and bad, in the game play from the previous versions. I wanted to keep a running commentary on them as I notice them because frankly, if I don't write them down fairly quickly, they get lost in the moment. I will try to tag them as "Observations" so they can be searched on the blog under that tag and reviewed as a group.

So anyway: The one I'm noticing at the moment is with Chill, or Blizzard Chill I should say. She looks great, as I think so far all have, in Swap Force. However, I am noticing a difference in the "feel" in the way she knocks the ice blocks around. They used to slide around fairly energetically. Now they are slower...which is too bad but not a major concern. The difference can be explained perhaps that VV (Vicarious Visions) have weighted them as more massive in the computer modeling. As I said, not a major concern but a diminishment to me. More importantly to me is her ice bashing them with her shield to get them moving in the first place. In the past, once she deployed the blocks, she could rapid hit them in sequence pretty quickly to send them off smoothly. Now she gets the first hit and the line moves forward slightly, taking the shield bash offline. She has to advance a step to continue hitting them. For me, this is annoying and takes away from her utility. I wonder if anyone else notices it...? It's too bad because I was just getting the hang of her in Giants.

A second observation is with Flashwing. Her Lightcore figure is brilliant!!!! ( nod to the British there) Upon observation, her proportions have changed: more stubby. Especially the wings . This, I'm sure is an attempt to make her more sturdy to encapsulate the LED and better propagate the light through her body (something they really achieved with her-she ranks up there with Lightcore Prism Break IMO). For sheer interest, if you have a Series 1 Flaswing, put them side by side and compare them. The most obvious difference can be seen in the size of her head....noticeably larger on the Lightcore version. As I stated earlier, the Lightcore is great and I'm on board with the potential reasons for the proportion change... I just hope it's for the Lightcore only and that if she ever gets a Series 3 or Series 2 (non-Lightcore) pose, that they go back to her original proportions. I think she was pretty well perfect in her first iteration.

More rumblings as I notice...I just wanted to get the ball rolling on recording the things we are noticing as we play....Enjoy all!

The Lightcore posters and collages:

Here is quick update of the Artisan Earth Island showing a bit of wear and tear and Skylanders. The text is on the picture...

The agony and the ecstasy continues....or should I say, the ecstasy and the agony: the Frito-Lay Fight Rider is a Done Deal!! Woo-Hoo! The Frito-Lay Rattle Shake...D'oh!!
Actually, this apparently happened to a lot of people on the first day. Which they have corrected...BUT....The system they seem to be using confounds the senses...codes on the outside of the packaging (haven't they ever heard of cellphone cameras?!? In 2 minutes a person can photograph every code on a wall full of packages. To boot, if they disabled their "This code has already been used" function...does that mean I can enter the same code everyday? Worse still, they diable the code after several uses by the same user and Don't bother to let you know!?! The jury is still out on this one.....

Addition: As of 11/17, we seem to have won a Rattleshake!!! They emailed a confirmation to us. Which is great and curious. Curious because we did not receive any confirmation yet via email about the Fright Rider we won....hmmm.

Here are some shots for all the Hot Dog fans out there. While he's not one of my "go to" Skylanders, He is fun and a lot of people like him. This is him on the Artisan Earth Island (hanging on our wall to display all of our Earth Element Skylanders and the first in what I hope to be a series of 8, one for each element. I'm presently working on the Artisan Air Island)
On an interesting note (at least to me!), the background skyscape is from the Dark Edition Swap Force Starter Pack we got from GameStop. It looks great and is a really handy portable backdrop for any Skylander pics. I plan to paint the wall where we are putting up our islands. I'm not master painter but I am going to give it a try. There are a lot of help videos on YouTube as examples. Believe it or not, Bob Ross is one of the best for this kind of project: encouraging, detailed, simplified as much as possible....And let's face it...Very Relaxing!,,,lol.

Here are some un-watermarked versions for anybody that wants to play with them. Use it in any way that you wish-Enjoy!

Not part of The Lightcore set, this is a shot of the artisan Earth Island we have hanging on our wall. After completion, I took the wall display out into the backyard in full sun and put some Skylanders into position. I created sunken display pads in various places to hold them in place and better conceal their often color mis-matched bases. A bright orange sheet was placed behind the model to act as a "green screen". I was able to remove the orange background fairly easily with editing software and substitute in the sky background. I don't mind doing this at all but I like to explain to you which pictures have been tampered with and which pictures are all "in camera" effects. 

This picture shows a downward looking angle that I like.

Enjoy!

Hail to the Whale!!! Just a great figure to photograph and not a bad angle to be found. The detailing on him is pretty impressive. I would love to see a variant on him (if for no other reason than a way to explore his second upgrade path). I am curious to see if they will continue with things like that for the Giants line now that Swap Force is out. They didn't seem to in the previous iteration of Spyro's Adventure to Giants transition but there are a few indicators-eg. The upcoming re-release of Dino Rang at ToysRUs  ( Nov. 17th, I believe).  As Pumpkin Eye Brawl shows up in game as the standard Eye Brawl, I don't expect an in-game variant. But still, another variation would be welcomed by me and mine. Perhaps he is a victim of his own exquisite detailing....Where to go with a variant? How to improve him? A pose of him in his belly slide would be pretty unique...Seaweed Thumpback?...Barnacle Thumpback?!?
Anyway he is an excellent Lightcore as well and deserved the multi-pose  picture. I have a few of him looking good, illuminated in the caves of our Artisan Earth Island. I will be getting those up after I fill in The Lightcore Album. Enjoy...