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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.