The countdown to the October 5 Skylanders Trap Team release date continues with a new batch of officially revealed characters and villains.
Technically the following new Skylanders and playable villains aren’t “new” in a general sense as all appeared on the promotional poster handed out at conventions starting a couple weeks ago. The images, screenshots and bios that you will find below are entirely new.
Please note that I enjoyed extended hands-on time with each of these characters at a Toys for Bob studio tour last week. The bios will be accompanied by my quick thoughts about playing with each.
Also, a screenshot gallery of these characters and villains is at the conclusion of this post.
Lob-Star (Trap Master)
Water Element “Star Bright, Star Fight!”
Hailing from the depths of the undersea kingdom of Star City, Lob-Star was the head chef of his own five-star restaurant, often cooking for the King Fish himself. However, few knew that Lob-Star had secretly been training in a mysterious art of fighting known only to a few crustaceans. For a while, Lob-Star was able to keep the peace while still keeping his hidden identity. But when a giant Leviathan threatened to swallow up Lob-Star’s guests and capture the King Fish himself, he had no choice but to swim into action. Calling on every trick his mysterious training had taught him, Lob-Star defeated the Leviathan and drove it out of Star City. For risking everything, Lob-Star was recruited by Master Eon to join the Skylanders. Now, as part of the Trap Team, he uses his powerful Traptanium Throwing Stars to serve up defeat to anyone who threatens Skylands!
Meet Lob-Star, one massive Trap Master Skylander
Lob-Star throws his giant stars like shuriken in a rapid-fire motion so there are several of them flying on-screen at one time. The stars didn’t appear to inflict much damage, but he wasn’t leveled up in my demo.
Below is the Lob-Star I played with during my demo.
Skylanders Trap Team Lob-Star in action
Deja Vu
Magic Element “Did That Just Happen?”
On a remote island in Skylands, Deja Vu tirelessly worked on a machine that would make the perfect three-minute egg in half the time. After pouring over countless magic tomes, and even consulting the lost plans used to create the legendary Tower of Time, she finally completed construction of the huge machine. Unfortunately, a gang of evil giant sea slugs, searching for a way to acquire super speed, learned of her machine and set about to take it at all costs. Slow, but well armed, the massive slugs bore down on the island. But rather than allow her work be used for evil, Deja Vu quickly jumped into action and set the clock’s hands to thirteen – causing a time overload. Caught up in the blast, she was given an amazing power over time, which she then used to stop the evil slugs in their tracks and spin them home. Now as a Skylander, Deja Vu uses her incredible powers to turn back the clock on evil!
Deja Vu makes up for her lack of size with trickery and a powerful scepter. She can freeze enemies by slowing time, then use her scepter to fire ranged attacks at her defenseless victims. She’s the type of Skylander you can start playing with and forget to switch off of unless she dies.
Here’s a shot of the Deja Vu figure I played with. I also have some footage of her in action that I hope to make available in the near future.
Fist Bump
Earth Element “Knock, Knock…Too Late!”
Fist Bump had long been the sleeping protector of the Bubbling Bamboo Forest, but awoke from a long hibernation when a horde of nasty purple Greebles arrived with gigantic rock-smashing machines. Intent on building a new base, their machines wreaked havoc – chewing up the land and spitting out billowing clouds of smoke into the enchanted air. Seeing this, Fist Bump was furious. Using his enormous stone fists, he hammered the ground with all his strength, creating a massive earthquake that sent huge shockwaves towards the Greeble camp. This reduced the machines to mere scrap and sent the Greebles running off in a panic. The act of bravery caught the attention of Terrafin, who brought Fist Bump to meet Master Eon. Now as a Skylander, Fist Bump makes evil quake wherever he goes!
My impressions of Fist Bump as a figure was, “meh.” He shared too many characteristics with Prism Break for my tastes, from his posture and pose to the crystals on his face.
However, once I played with Fist Bump in Trap Team, I didn’t care what he looked like. This little guy packs a huge punch and he’s fantastic for melee combat against swarms of enemies. I can only imagine how powerful those fists are once he’s leveled up. I still think he’s too similar to Prism Break aesthetically, but man is he fun to play with.
Here’s Fist Bump sharing some Traptanium Portal of Power time with Head Rush, whom I found to play like a slow Giants character.
Chef Pepper Jack – Super Villain
Chef Pepper Jack was once the most renowned celebrity chef in all of Skylands – until he discovered ancient recipes for evil delicacies. That’s when he turned his thriving restaurant business into a formidable criminal empire. The scam was simple. He would fly his zeppelin fortress over a village and order the townsfolk to surrender all of their money. If they didn’t, he would promptly serve up a main course of spicy pepper bombs that would blow everything to smithereens! The Golden Queen valued both his explosive and non- explosive culinary skills and recruited him into the Doom Raiders at once. Now, when he’s not serving time in Cloudcraker Prison, he’s serving up atomic omelets of doom!
Chef Pepper Jack takes some swift moves to defeat and capture as he tosses peppers that spew out goo around him in a radial manner, followed by lovely laser beams that zoom around his kitchen in increasingly fast motions. Once you capture him, those peppers are now at your disposal and come in handy when surrounded by multiple enemies at the same time, as well as giant whisk beaters to dole out up close and personal punishment.
Hood Sickle Villain
Undead Element
A creepy shadow reaper that can slash when he winks and dash when he blinks!
Hood Sickle will end up being a favorite villain among the 40+ represented in the game. He has the ability to make ghostly ghouls appear all over the screen and looks fantastic with those glowing eyes. One of the best hero/villain combinations will be Hood Sickle and Enigma once the latter is eventually officially announced and released.
Bomb Shell Villain
Magic Element
Despite his affinity for destruction, this is one shady turtle that can’t seem to break out of his indestructible shell.
Bomb Shell is the first villain I captured during my hands-on time with the game. He marks the first time a turtle in Skylands serves a purpose other than to push around and clog a crevice to create a path. His bombs are obviously his strength and though he’s not swift on his feet, he lobs bombs continuously to wreck havoc on those who dare near him.
I did not get to play as the remaining villains in this reveal announcement due to limited hands-on time.
Cross Crow
Water Element
A notorious treasure hunter that is always in hot pursuit of Skylands’ most legendary artifacts… and a good key-lime pie.
Bruiser Cruiser
Tech Element
This former troll-boxing champion has a wicked one-two punch… and a very large mech suit that mimics his every move!
Here’s a screenshot gallery of several of these characters in action, as well as a look at Kaos Mode that offers waves upon waves of enemies to defeat and Element-based turrets to build in defense.
