Michael McNutt 
Checkout our Lightcore Bumble Blast Unboxing. We finally got our hands on the last version of Bumble Blast, and Conner is ready to rip him open. He is one of our favorites so you should stay tuned for a Bumble Blast review in the future.
Let us know what you think of Lightcore Bumble Blast.
Thanks to a poster on CheapAssGamer.com it looks like Kickoff Countdown could be out by at least 5/18 at Toys R Us. According to an Ad scan on the website Skylanders will be on sale once again at Toys R Us starting 5/18. Starter packs will be 50% off for $32.49 and there will also be a Buy 1 Get 1 50% off character sale for all Skylanders. In the ad, there is a picture of Kickoff Countdown and it says you can get him at Toys R Us first, but it doesn’t specifically list a date. So it’s possible the character might show up earlier or even a little later if at the time of the printing of the ad, they still were not sure of a release date of the character. Still all signs point to him showing up in the very near future at Toys R Us.
Blast Zone is a new Swappable Fire Skylander for Skylanders Swap Force. He is a Furnace Knight with the Rocket movement ability. His back story indicates that he swallowed 100 bombs thrown down his chimney by some trolls and then belched jet fire back at his enemies. As a result his body is now made entirely of flame. You can see this in his character as the parts that are not covered by his armor, his helmet, mid section and one of his knees, looks like flames. His black and copper colored armor covers most of his body and looks like he could be a walking furnace. He holds two lit bombs, one in each hand and is ready to use them. Even his stance indicates he is moving and is ready to jump into battle. Overall, he is a very powerful looking figure. Blast Zone also has an alternate version called Dark Blast Zone. Dark Blast Zone looks identical to Blast Zone in pose, but has a darker black armor highlighted in silver rather than bronze. I think this makes him look even more dangerous. Dark Blast Zone also starts with slightly different stats according to his card.
Blast Zone starts of with some abilities that seem to be slightly above average. He can throw bombs which gives him a bit of a decent ranged attack, and he is able to throw them fairly rapidly one after another. He also starts off with a dash move, which gives him that little extra burst of speed that allows him to get out of trouble quickly. Once you start throwing upgrades on to Blast Zone he becomes a very powerful Skylander in your collection. One early upgrade adds the ability to create a wall of fire to damage enemies. Then that can be upgraded to be able to fully surround Blast Zone. Other upgrades will also make your bombs more powerful and adds an attack to his dash.
As a swappable character there are two different upgrade paths to choose, one for his body and one for his legs. The body paths let you focus either on stronger bomb attacks or a stronger ring of fire. The leg paths both affect dashing, where you can either add a powerful heat wave when finished, or to create a momentary fire shield that damages enemies around it. Any of these upgrades are extremely powerful and useful in battle, making Blast Zone one of our most used characters.
Also as a swappable character he has two soul gem abilities. One doubles the amount of bombs thrown at one time, and the other further enhances the dash attack by leaving a trail of fire behind. Neither is a flashy upgrade, but both add even more attack power to what was already one of the strongest attacking Skylanders available.
It was surprising to see a character that came with the game become this powerful but Blast Zone is probably one of the best and easiest swappable Skylanders to use.
| Card Stats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack: | 180 | Max Health | 290 | |
| Defense: | 50 | Speed | 43 | |
| Speed: | 150 | Armor | 24 | |
| Luck: | 70 | Critical Hit | 6 | |
| Elemental Power | 25 | |||
| Card Stats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack: | 190 | Max Health | 290 | |
| Defense: | 90 | Speed | 43 | |
| Speed: | 130 | Armor | 24 | |
| Luck: | 50 | Critical Hit | 6 | |
| Elemental Power | 25 | |||
| Body Attacks | |||
| Bomb Throw | Press Attack 1 to throw a bomb at enemies. | Free | |
| Flame Breath | Hold Attack 3 while turning to create a wall of fire that damages nearby enemies. | 300 Gold | |
| Power Bombs | Press Attack 1 to throw bombs that do increased damage. | 800 Gold | |
| Sticky Bombs | Hold Attack 1 to charge a Bomb, release to throw a timed sticky bomb. | 1000 Gold | |
| Ignition Path | |||
| Flaming Bombs | Bombs catch fire when they pass through the fire wall created by Flame Breath, dealing increased damage in an area. | 1500 Gold | |
| Fired Up! | Flaming Bombs do even more damage in a larger area. | 2000 Gold | |
| Reaction Satisfaction Path | |||
| Ring of Fire | Creating a full circle with Flame Breath causes a massive explosion. | 1500 Gold | |
| Ring Blast | Ring of Fire does increased damage in a larger area. | 2000 Gold | |
| Soul Gem Ability | |||
| Bomb Party | New armor enhancements allow two bombs to be thrown at once! | 3500 Gold | |
| Leg Attacks | |||
| Rocket Dash | Hold Attack 2 to dash around with rocket boots. | Free | |
| Ready for Blast Off | Hold Attack 2 to charge a rocket dash and deal damage to nearby enemies. | 300 Gold | |
| Armor Plating | Armor is increased. | 800 Gold | |
| Fuel for the Fire | Hold Attack 2 to dash, dashing now lasts for as long as Attack 2 is held. | 1000 Gold | |
| Fuel Injected Path | |||
| Heat Wave | A rocket-fueled fireball is shot out at the end of a dash. | 1500 Gold | |
| Tempered Fire | A more powerful Heat Wave is shot out at the end of dashing. | 2000 Gold | |
| Temperatures Rising Path | |||
| Flamed | A fiery aura appears after dashing, which damages any nearby enemy. | 1500 Gold | |
| Too Hot to Handle | An even more powerful fire aura appears at the end of dashing. | 2000 Gold | |
| Soul Gem Ability | |||
| Hot Feet | A fire trail is left behind while dashing that damages enemies. | 3500 Gold | |
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Target is running another Buy 2 Get 1 Free on it’s Skylanders figures. This offer is only available in store this week 5/4 through 5/10. It looks like it covers at least all single characters, lightcore, and Swap Force. I’m not sure if it covers adventure packs or not.
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We dug deep in the closet this time to bring out a Lightcore Hex Unboxing. We got this character with the release of Swap Force, but have never gotten around to opening her until now. Conner realizes after this video how the box designs have changed since Giants as the plastic threw him for a little bit of a loop on this one. Let us know if you picked up Lightcore Hex, and what you think of her.
Lias and I take on our 9th Arena Battle on the Boarding Party Level. I use Phantom Cynder while Lias uses Lightcore Countdown. This level is the first to suggest characters between levels 11 and 15 be used. Despite the better enemies there really wasn’t much to this levels design that introduced any other kind of challenge. It might be a good level to use to quickly level up some lower level Skylanders in your collection. Watch and see how we did at Boarding Party.
Once again Toys R Us is having a Skylanders sale with their popular Buy One Get One 40% promotion. This time it seems to apply to all figures, Swap Force, Giants, core characters, triple packs and adventure packs. It does not apply to accessories this time. Also, if you haven’t heard, it appears that Lightcore Bumble Blast is now available at Toys R Us, so if you’ve been waiting for him. Now is the time.
I was visiting my local Toys R Us this morning checking out their buy one get one 40% Skylander sale as well as their 60% off clearance games when I saw Lightcore Bumble Blast on the shelf. He was not listed as available online or through other major retailers online websites, but Toys R Us definitely had a few of them. If you are looking to get a hold of this excellent Lightcore character then I would suggest a trip or a phone call to your local Toys R Us.
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The fourth installment in the Skylanders series is called Trap Team! It took awhile, but Activision finally made good on it’s promise to unveil new Skylanders information today. Trap Team introduces a new game mechanic to the series which borrows some similarities from Pokemon. Trap Team introduces new Traptanium shards that you use to “trap” or capture defeated villains and force them to fight for you. These shards can be bought in the store and have specific elements associated to them. You must match the right element to the villain you want to catch. Activision gave the example of catching the Chompy Mage with a life shard. Once you capture the villain you will then “own” that character and you will be able to use and switch to him in battle. Of course one shard holds one villain and there will be over 40 “trappable” characters so it looks like collectors will probably need at least 40 of these empty shards in their collection to capture all of the characters.
Of course no new Skylanders game would be complete without brand new characters and new versions of old characters. Over 60 new characters are promised, though I’m not sure if that includes new versions of old characters or just strictly new characters. Of course, the most obvious new characters are the “Trap Masters”. These characters are slightly larger than the regular Skylanders (not sure how they compare to the Swap Force), and sport special “Traptanium” weapons. These weapons will do bonus damage to “trappable” villains and will also be able to unlock new areas.
The starter pack will include a new Portal which is mandatory for the new “Trap Masters”. This portal will recognize the new red based Skylanders as well as have a place for the new Traptanium Shards. The portal will also make noise this time, much like the Wii remote or PS4 controller. The starter pack will also come with one Trap Master Skylander and one new core Skylander. The Trap Master is a new water element Lizard called Snap Shot. He wields a large Traptanium sword and bow. I’m not sure if he shoots swords with his bow or if they are two different weapons. The new core Skylander is a life element artichoke character called Food Fight. He shoots tomatoes out of a Bazooka. Hopefully after some upgrades he’ll fire other foods at his foes.
The last important piece of information from Activision was the release date. Skylanders Trap Team will hit the stores in the US on October 5th.
Here is a trailer from the SkylandersGame YouTube channel.
Pop Thorn is a new core Air Skylander for Skylanders Swap Force that only comes with the Tower of Time Adventure Pack. He is a creature called a Pufferthorn which sort of resembles a puffer fish. Like a puffer fish he has a puffed state where he is bigger, slower, and uses his spikes as an attack. His other state is popped or deflated where he is faster and uses his breath for an attack. He is a simple looking figure with a light and dark blue color and a yellow underside. He is covered in spikes and has two little wings which help him fly and move in his puffed state. Pufferthorns are known for their quiet and timid nature and this comes across in his pose. He holds no weapon and he doesn’t look very menacing. The only thing you can tell is that he has spikes which look like they are used for defense. Make sure you check out our unboxing video where you can see his spikes in action. Overall his look is somewhat unique but rather plain.
If you haven’t really though much of Pop Thorn because he doesn’t look like he’s powerful or exciting then you will be in for a big surprise when you play with him. A fully upgraded Pop Thorn might be the most powerful and dominating core Skylander that I have used. He is one of my go-to characters whenever I need to get through a difficult part. His basic attack while puffed is to shoot spikes at his enemies. These spikes are homing spikes which means they will always hit an enemy, no matter which direction you are moving. If you need to move faster to get out of trouble, then you want to “pop” and become smaller. This removes the spike attack but adds a wind attack similar to Spyro’s fire breath. Many of his upgrades are also not very exciting but they are extremely useful and powerful. Spike attacks become more powerful and add more spikes. Wind attacks become more powerful and can add multiple blasts at one time. He can even learn a Mario like ground pound which will damage and knock back all of the nearby enemies. The ability to attack with spikes from at a distance or while running away is very powerful. But combine that with an upgraded wind blast that occurs when you “pop” or a ground pound if too many enemies close in and Pop Thorn can clear an area in record time.
Despite Pop Thorns lack of Flash or complicated attacks, Pop Thorn deserves to be in every Portal Masters army.
| Card Stats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack: | 90 | Max Health | 280 | |
| Defense: | 110 | Speed | 43 | |
| Speed: | 45 | Armor | 24 | |
| Luck: | 65 | Critical Hit | 6 | |
| Elemental Power | 25 | |||
| All Attacks | |||
| Puff | Press Attack 1 to Puff and damage nearby enemies. While puffed, rapidly press Attack 1 to shoot out homing spikes at nearby enemies. | Free | |
| Pop | Press Attack 2 to Pop and shoot a large wind blast. While popped, hold Attack 2 to shoot gusts of wind at enemies. | Free | |
| Fresh Breath | Press Attack 2 to Pop. After popping, hold Attack 2 to shoot more powerful air projectiles for a short time. | 500 Gold | |
| Puffball Pound | Press Attack 1 to Puff. Press Attack 3 while puffed to slam into the ground, damaging all nearby enemies. | 700 Gold | |
| Polished Spikes | Press Attack 1 to Puff. After puffing, press Attack 1 rapidly to shoot more powerful spike projectiles for a short time. | 900 Gold | |
| Wind Trap | While popped, press Attack 3 to leave behind a spiny mine. The mine puffs and explodes when enemies approach, launching them into the air. | 1200 Gold | |
| Tough and Puffed Path | |||
| Rollerpuff | While puffed, hold Attack 3 to roll forward, damaging all enemies in the way. | 1700 Gold | |
| Bounceback | Puffing deals increased damage and reflects nearby projectiles. | 2200 Gold | |
| Prickly Body | While puffed, taking damage releases a spike projectile that damages an attacker. | 3000 Gold | |
| Controlled Breather Path | |||
| Aero Trampoline | While puffed, hold Attack 3 to charge a powerful slam attack, release to bounce multiple times, damaging all enemies in the way. | 1700 Gold | |
| Deep Breath | While puffed, press Attack 2 to shoot three air blasts instead of one. | 2200 Gold | |
| Scattered Winds | While popped, air beams now shoot multiple projectiles that spread. | 3000 Gold | |
| Soul Gem Ability | |||
| To Puff or Not To Puff | While popped, speed is increased. While puffed, armor is increased, which reduces damage taken. | 4000 Gold | |
