Skylanders was nothing short of a phenomenon when it launched back in 2011. Selling a game was one thing, but selling millions of figures to go alongside it put it in another league all together. These figures, which act as your characters in the game when placed on a "Portal of Power", soon went on to be the number one selling action figures of all time, obliterating the record set by Star Wars in the process. Then came the super-sized sequel, which introduced new Giants - larger scale figures with larger abilities to match. But where could Activision take the series next? The answer it seems is a rather gruesome tale...
Who knew squids could grow moustaches?
You see, within seconds of landing in your child's (or perhaps even your own hands), the new breed of Skylanders toys will quickly come to resemble something out of Frankenstein's workshop, as the Skylanders: Swap Force toys can be pulled apart and freely re-arranged. For example, you can take the water gun-weilding character Wash Buckler and pop off his legs, swapping them for the wheels of the hot-headed Magma Charge, letting your new creation travel faster whilst still keeping his water pistols. There's some sixteen of these swappable characters on offer, giving you a staggering 256 different possibilities of unique Skylander - although we'd like to know which half gets to keep all the experience points and abilities you'll accumulate during the game.
Thankfully, all previous Spyro's Adventure and Giants models will be able to jump into the new game without any hitches - although you'll also be able to purchase sixteen re-done versions of old favourites with brand new upgrade powers to boot. There'll also be 16 new regular Skylanders and 8 new Lightcore figures (complete with screen-clearing special powers) to add to your collection - so it may be an idea to start saving now.
As of yet, there's no official release date announced bar a vague 'Autumn 2013'- although we'd expect Skylanders: Swap Force to land sometime this October, much like the previous two iterations have done. So far it's due out on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Wii and Nintendo 3DS, although more platforms have been hinted at - perhaps a next generation version for the Xbox and PS4, or perhaps simply a PS Vita port, but we shall see. In the meantime, we have a teaser trailer to whet your appetite:
