For detailed information about this series, see: Skylanders Wiki
Skylanders is a series by Activision consisting of action adventure videogames using toys to activate characters and other elements in the game.
The plot centers around the titular creatures who possess various powers and must protect the Skylands from the evil Kaos. One of the main characters is Spyro, former protagonist of the Spyro series, making this series a spin-off of it.
Video games
Six main games were released:
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (October 16, 2011) for Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.
- Skylanders: Giants (October 19, 2012) for Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.
- Skylanders: Swap Force (October 13, 2013) for Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation3, PlayStation 4.
- Skylanders: Trap Team (October 2, 2014) for Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation3, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS.
- Skylanders: SuperChargers (September 20, 2015) for Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation3, PlayStation 4, and iOS. A different version centered around racing was also released for Wii and Nintendo 3DS, titled Skylanders: SuperChargers Racing.
- Skylanders: Imaginators (October 13, 2016) for Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation3, PlayStation 4. Also released on Nintendo Switch in March 2017.
Additional minor games are:
- Skylanders: Spyro's Universe (October 2011), Online. A browser game based on Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, found at skylanders.com, it was later retitled Skylanders Universe and adapted to also include elements from Skylanders: Giants. The game closed on April 29, 2013 and was replaced with minigames.
- Skylanders: Cloud Patrol (March 28, 2012), iOS.
- Skylanders: Lost Islands (October 6, 2012), iOS, Android.
- Skylanders: Battlegrounds (October 14, 2012), iOS, Android.
- Skylanders: Battlecast (May 24, 2016), iOS, Android. A game tied to a series of collectable cards. Service shut down on September 1st 2017.
- Skylanders Creator (October 13, 2016), iOS, Android. Free app allowing players to create their own Skylanders, featuring compatibility with Skylanders: Imaginators. Also offered are additional services for the creation of character cards, 3D-Printed figures, and personalized t-shirts based on the user-created characters.
- Skylanders: Ring of Heroes (December 12, 2018), iOS, Android. RPG developed by Com2Us.
Toys
The Skylanders toys are a main component of the series, being used in the games themselves to unlock the respective characters. Each game is compatible with all figures in its sets as well as all from the previous sets. A total of 244 figures (plus 20 vehicles) were released in waves, and are:
- Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (32 figures):
- Wave 1 (October 2011), including 20 figures.
- Wave 2 (November 2011), including 3 figures.
- Wave 3 (January 2012), including 3 figures.
- Wave 4 (March 2012), including 3 figures.
- Wave 5 (April 2012), including 3 figures.
- Skylanders: Giants (48 figures):
- Wave 1 (October 2012), including 20 figures.
- Wave 2 (November 2012), including 12 figures.
- Wave 3 (December 2012), including 9 figures.
- Wave 4 (February 2013), including 3 figures.
- Wave 5 (May 2013), including 4 figures.
- Skylanders: Swap Force (56 figures):
- Wave 1 (October 2013), including 23 figures.
- Wave 2 (November 2013), including 11 figures.
- Wave 3 (December 2013), including 13 figures.
- Wave 4 (March 2014), including 6 figures.
- Wave 5 (May 2014), including 3 figures.
- Skylanders: Trap Team (57 figures):
- Wave 1 (October 2, 2014), including 22 figures.
- Wave 2 (October 12, 2014), including 9 figures.
- Wave 3 (January 2015), including 13 figures.
- Wave 4 (March 22, 2015), including 10 figures.
- Wave 5 (May 2015), including 3 figures.
- Skylanders: SuperChargers (20 figures and 20 vehicles):
- Wave 1 (September 20, 2015), including 11 figures and 11 vehicles (2 figures and 2 vehicles out of these are exclusive to the Wii U, 3DS and Wii versions of the game, with the figures also including amiibo functionality)
- Wave 2 (October 4, 2015), including 3 figures and 2 vehicles.
- Wave 3 (November 25, 2015), including 4 figures and 4 vehicles.
- Wave 4 (January 26, 2016), including 1 figure and 2 vehicles.
- Wave 5 (May 9, 2016), including 1 figure and 1 vehicle.
- Skylanders: Imaginators (31 figures):
- Wave 1 (October 13, 2016), including 15 figures (2 out of these are exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of the game)
- Wave 2 (October 16, 2016), including 4 figures.
- Wave 3 (December 2, 2016), including 7 figures.
- Wave 4 (February 27, 2017): including 2 figures.
- Wave 5 (April 2017): including 3 figures.
The series also includes additional figures for items and places, not listed here. Many figures also come in differently colored variants.
Also not counted are the Eon's Elite figures, special limited edition variants of existing figures that sometimes come in original sculpts and therefore could be considered new entries in the series.
There have been Skylanders-themed McDonald's Happy Meal toys multiple times to promote the games.
Promotional construction toys based on the series were also released by Mega Blocks.
Publications
9 books based on the series were released, all of them taking place before Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure:
- Skylanders Universe: The Machine of Doom (May 3, 2012)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Spyro versus The Mega Monsters (January 10, 2013)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Gill Grunt and the Curse of the Fish Master (April 4, 2013)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Lightning Rod Faces the Cyclops Queen (June 6, 2013)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Terrafin Battles the Boom Brothers (January 2014)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Cynder Confronts the Weather Wizard (June 2014)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Stump Smash Crosses the Bone Dragon (October 5, 2014)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Eruptor Meets the Nightmare King (January 1, 2015)
- Skylanders Universe: The Mask of Power - Trigger Happy Targets the Evil Kaos (March 5, 2015)
A comic series by IDW based on the games was also released, divided in sub-series, all forming a continuous stryline:
- Skylanders (July 27, 2014 - August 26, 2015): comic based on Skylanders: Trap Team, starting with issue 0, followed by issues 1 through 12.
- Skylanders: Rift into Overdrive (September 2, 2015): a one-shot comic serving as a prequel to Skylanders: SuperChargers.
- Skylanders: Unexpected Allies (September 20, 2015): a one-shot comic centering around the guest characters Bowser and Donkey Kong.
- Skylanders: SuperChargers (October 28, 2015 - March 2016): 6-issue series based on the game by the same name.
- Skylanders: Micro Comic Fun Packs (October 2014 - 2016): packs including collectable standees, cards, and a micro comic, originally only reprinting stories from the regular comic, but then also including original stories. These original stories were reprinted in regular comic format between August 2017 and March 2018, titled Skylanders: Spyro & Friends.
The Skylanders and Skylanders: SuperChargers comic series were also reprinted in 6 volumes consisting of 3 issues each (Skylanders #0 wasn't reprinted), divided by story arcs.
TV series
A computer-animated series based on the video games, titled Skylanders Academy, was released on Netflix, consisting of two seasons of 12 episodes each, the first season being released on October 28, 2016, and the second season being released on October 6, 2017. A third season has been announced.
Links to other series
| Direction | Series | Date | Description | Type
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Spyro | October 16, 2011 | Skylanders is a spinoff to the Spyro series. | 1
|
| Target | November 01, 2014 | Snapshot appears in a Target holidays commercials such as Target Holiday 2014: Alice in Marshmallow Land. | 1
|
| Mario | September 20, 2015 | Bowser appears as a playable amiibo in Skylanders: SuperChargers. | 1
|
|
| Donkey Kong | September 20, 2015 | Donkey Kong appears as a playable amiibo in Skylanders: SuperChargers. | 1
|
|
| Crash Bandicoot | October 13, 2016 | Crash Bandicoot and Dr. Neo Cortex appear as playable characters in Skylanders: Imaginators. | 1 |
