Last night Activision dropped the media embargo and formally unveiled Skylanders Trap Team to the world at multiple events held on multiple continents (read our extensive coverage here). With the new game comes the introduction of separate physical Traps, and with those Traps a lot of controversy in how Activision will sell them to the public.
The fear amongst Portal Masters i.e. gamers is that Activision will follow in the footsteps of Disney Interactive and use a similar distribution model that the Mouse House uses for Disney Infinity Power Discs. The Power Discs are packaged in blind bags so it’s virtually impossible to buy them in these packages and complete a set without duplicates. Complete sets are available, but you’ll end up paying a premium for them.
Activision has confirmed with us that the Skylanders Trap Team Traps will not be sold in blind bags. They will not be sold with the Trap Master Skylander figures, either. At this time all Activision will tell us is that the Traps will be packaged separately, but the pricing and number of Traps per package has yet to be determined.
Anyone worried about having to buy blind bags in order to complete a full set of Traps can rest easy. With any luck we’ll have the full scoop on how Activision plans to sell the Traps by E3 in early June.
As far as how many Traps you will need, since each Trap is aligned to an Element, you will only need to own eight Traps plus Kaos to capture all the villains. With two coming in the Starter Pack, that leaves only six necessary to purchase to capture all the villains. At least for now. If you multiple eight by four (the number of villains each Trap can hold) you get 32, and there are at least 40 confirmed villains in the game (plus Kaos as the 41st, we think). Are there two new Elements yet to be unveiled to reach 40 villains? The liklihood certainly exists if the math is to be believed.
The Skylanders Trap Team reveal trailer clearly depicts a box with 15 Traps in it. The reason there are more Traps than Elements is because there are different designs to give players a choice. You can either choose to collect one of each Trap per Element and be done, or be the completist collector and snatch up every Trap design to complete the set. Nothing is finalized yet so there could be rare Traps, exclusive Traps, or who knows what. It’s simply too early to say one way or the other.
Here are some additional images of the Traps from the Skylanders Trap Force event in NYC last night, as well as a screen grab from the trailer that shows a box full of them, including the black Kaos Trap.
