Skylanders

This is the very first edition of the Skylanders franchise. There are 32 Skylanders in this game, and each has one of eight elements assigned to them, which allows them to open element-specific gates that are found throughout the game.

Skylander characters from this game have a green base.

Giants is the second installment in the Skylanders series set as a direct sequel to Spyro's Adventure. It introduces a new team of Skylanders called the "Giants," massive creatures who were the first Skylanders assembled to stop the reign of Arkeyans. Unlike the other Skylanders, the Giants can lift, throw, and destroy trees as well as walking over things that may contain lions. The players use the Giants when Kaos has found a way to reactivate the Arkeyan Conquertron.

Skylander characters from this game have an orange base.

Swap Force is the third installment. Taking place in another part of Skylands called the Cloudbreak Islands, the player takes control of a new group of Skylanders called the "Swap Force" who hold the ability to swap halves and abilities. Together, the Swap Force and the Skylanders fight Kaos and his mother Kaossandra.

Skylander characters from this game have a blue base.

Trap Team is the fourth installment in the franchise. It introduces the Trap mechanic, which allows players to “trap” in-game enemies in element-specific Trap Keys which are shards of traptainium called "trap crystals". The trapped enemies can then be summoned as playable characters for a limited time.

Skylander characters from this game have a red base.

SuperChargers is the fifth installment in the series. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the "SuperChargers" who pilot special vehicles that allow the Skylanders to create rifts to travel through like portals. Two characters included on the Nintendo console versions are Mario franchise characters Donkey Kong as Turbo Charge Donkey Kong and Bowser as Hammer Slam Bowser. The two also function as amiibo figures.

The Wii version of the game is titled Skylanders: Superchargers Racing and does not have adventure segments from the Wii U and PS3 versions. The Nintendo 3DS version also carries that same name and likewise focusses on the racing elements only. This was the last game to be released on tablets.

Skylanders from this game have an engine base.

A sixth game was released on October 16, 2016 in North America, October 14, 2016 in Europe, and October 13, 2016 in Australia and New Zealand.[4] In June 2016, Activision announced that the game would be titled Skylanders Imaginators, which allows players to create and customize their own Skylanders called Imaginators. The title was developed by Toys for Bob.[5]

Crash Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex are guest stars as playable characters in the game, marking their first appearance in a video game since Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 in 2010.[6] They are exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 starter packs, but are playable on all consoles. Crash and Cortex appear as part of the Sensei Skylanders whose job is to train the Imaginators.

The game that a figurine was released for can be determined by the color of the transparent plastic layer underneath the base, or by the shape of the base. There is no official term for this, "edition" is used here for convenience.

1. Spyro's Adventure – green
2. Giants – orange
3. Swap Force – blue
4. Trap Team – red
5. SuperChargers – base shaped like a stylised engine block
6. Imaginators – Senseis – on the front of each base there is an image of their element and their character class.
7. Eon's Elite - clear

Within each edition, figurines are released in a staggered fashion. For the first five games there were five waves each.[12]

Figurines are forward-compatible with subsequent games. Figurines for new characters are not backward compatible, but new versions of earlier characters are. For example: a Spyro's Adventure Gill Grunt is playable in all games; Trap Team Tidal Wave Gill Grunt will appear as normal Gill Grunt in the earlier three games, but will have an extra power in Trap Team and later.

Eon's Elite was a special group of figurines that do not belong to any particular edition, but were released alongside them. Eight figurines were released alongside Skylanders: Trap Team, and are playable in Trap Team and subsequent games. Six figurines were released alongside Skylanders Superchargers, and are playable in Superchargers and subsequent games.

Core figurines are the basic Skylanders (i.e. not Giants, Swap Force, Trap Masters, Lightcores, Minis, etc.). These figurines are referred to as Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, and Series 4. In Spyro's Adventure, all 32 original figurines were core skylanders. All 32 figurines are also considered Series 1, but that differentiation was not made until the second game was released and Series 2 figurines were created.

A new figurine released for an earlier character is called a re-pose (also spelled repose) or returning character. The original version is Series 1, the first re-pose is Series 2, and so on. The series number appears in-game and is printed on the corresponding collector's card.

The series number does not necessarily correspond to the edition. For example, Series 1 Shroom Boom was part of the Giants (2nd game) release cycle, and Series 2 Shroom Boom was part of the Trap Team (4th game) release cycle. An exception is Gill Grunt, which had a new pose released for each of the first four games.

For the fifth installment, Skylanders SuperChargers, there were many returning characters but they were completely overhauled with new looks, abilities, and upgrades. Because of these changes, they no longer carry over the series numbering.

From Skylanders Spyro's Adventure to Trap Team,[13] each character figurine comes with a sticker sheet, collector's card, and unique code. Superchargers and Imaginators figures don't include these, likely due to the massive decline in the popularity of web-based games at the time. The code can be used to unlock the character in Skylanders games that don't use the Portal of Power (mobile and web-based games).[14]

The majority of NFC toys for Skylanders are playable characters, but there are also magic items, level unlockers, and game-specific items (traps, vehicles, creation crystals). In Imaginators, there are a few characters (Crash Bandicoot, Dr. Neo Cortex, Wild Storm, and Ro-Bow) that act as level unlockers.

While the Skylanders are the main playable characters in the series, they are aided by many supporting characters and face many villains throughout their adventures. The players act as "Portal Masters" where they place the Skylander figure on the portal to operate them.

Spyro the Dragon is a popular Skylander where he is the number one defender of Skylands. Each of the Skylanders were discovered by a Portal Master named Master Eon, Spyro, or another Skylander after they were shown fighting off threats to their homeland. Some Skylanders, like Camo, are based off artworks or media.

Known allies of the Skylanders include the Mabu pilot Flynn, the Mabu adventurer Cali, Master Eon's Mabu assistant Hugo, the Woodburrow inhabitant Tessa and her bird Whiskers, the fairy Persephone, and the veteran Mabu Buzz.

A Dark Portal Master named Kaos serves as the primary antagonist of the series. Outside of being served by his Troll butler Glumshanks, Kaos is served by armies of Cyclopes, Drows, Chompies, Greebles, Spell Punks, and Trolls, as well as numerous other supporting characters such as Kaossandra, Mesmerelda, the Darkness, and Brain.

The Skylands is the main setting of the series, a world lying at the very center of the universe. It consists of many floating islands where each one has its own ecosystems like forests, rainforests, deserts, arctic areas, swamps, mountains, and oceanic areas.

Each of the games has a hub where the Skylanders can start their missions from:

• For Spyro's Adventure, it is the ruins as the Hub where Master Eon's citadel was located and was slowly restored when the Core of Light was reassembled. In the Nintendo 3DS version, it was replaced by the Sanctuary.
• Giants has Flynn's airship, The Dread-Yacht.
• Swap Force has Tessa's homeland of Woodburrow, the capital city of the Cloudbreak Islands. In the 3DS version, it was replaced by Flynn's hometown called Boom Town.
• Trap Team, SuperChargers, and Imaginators have the Skylanders Academy established by Buzz where those who want to become Skylanders get their education. By SuperChargers, the Skylanders Academy was redesigned following recent attacks.
• Along with the Academy, Imaginators has the Mysterious Ancient Place (M.A.P.), the place where all creation was created and serves as the Ancients' headquarters. It connects the game's chapters and the Academy.

A series of books in the Skylanders franchise started with Skylanders: The Machine of Doom that takes place before the events of Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure. It was written by Cavan Scott, who would later write sequels to the novel under the Skylanders: The Mask of Power series, which also serve as prequels to Spyro's Adventure.

IDW Publishing created a comic series associated with the Skylanders franchise that has events that take place in between the games.[15]

Activison has commented on the possibility of a movie and TV series based on the Skylanders reboot as something that they could look into in the future.[16] On May 6, 2014, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg announced that the Activision team had an interest in "jumping on the film adaptation bandwagon" and adapting Skylanders into a film.[17]

In 2015, it was announced that Activision Blizzard Studios would produce an animated television series based on Skylanders.[18] The first season debuted on Netflix on October 28, 2016, the second season on October 6, 2017 and the third and final season premiered on September 28, 2018.[19][20] On April 30, 2019, it was announced that Skylanders Academy was cancelled.[21]