Everybody likes a good deal, but unlike years past it seems that Day 1 deals may be harder to come by this year.
If you're a collector I highly recommend taking a closer look at Amazon if you haven't already. They may be the “go-to” Skylanders retailer this year…
Target
Target doesn't seem to be offering any kind of sale for the launch of Skylanders Imaginators.
They are simply announcing that it is now available.
Then like a few other retailers, it appears that they will still give you Kaos for free (even if you didn't preorder) while supplies last.
However, from the numbers I've been seeing, I don't expect each store to get very many Kaos figures.
Toys R Us
TRU has a few sales, but not nearly as good as we've seen in the past. Definitely not what I know a lot of you were looking forward to.
- Free Kaos with Starter Pack purchase
- Free Creation Crystal with Gryphon Park Observatory purchase
- Mystery Chests – 2 for $10
- Creation Crystals – 3 for $25
What I'm really happy to see is that TRU is not marking up their Skylanders this year. They're sticking with the MSRP of $14.99 for Sensei, $9.99 for Creation Crystals, and $5.99 for Mystery Chests.
So if they offer up some sales down the road, they will definitely be comparable to other retailers.
Amazon
I hate to sound like a broken record, but now more than ever the bundles available exclusively from Amazon are your best Day 1 deals.
You have three choices:
The Villain 5-Pack with the Amazon exclusive Chompy Mage.
The Hero 8-Pack which includes all the Wave 1 and Wave 2 Skylanders Sensei.
The Girl Power 4-Pack which include the four female characters (also found in the Hero 8-Pack).
Other Retailers
I will continue to update this article as we discover what deals (if any) other major retailers (Best Buy, Walmart, GameStop) are offering for Day 1.
Hey guys. I was searching for steel plated hood sickle at Best Buy (to no avail) and I came across an amazing deal. If you didn’t get the superchargers characters because $100 for 4 variants wasn’t worth it, now’s your chance. They have Xbox 360, Xbox one, and PS3 dark super chargers for $29.99. That’s crazy. I know you can’t find dark bowser or DK, but the other 4 for $30 is as low as I’ve seen it.
So, Starcast advertised at Target? Is there hope they have Wave 2 day one as well? The TRU sales are garbage, but I’ll probably buy a handful of crystals, my dark edition from Gamestop and Steel Plated Hood Sickle from Best Buy (if available). That’ll be enough to keep me entertained until my TRU opens from remodel on the 22nd and hopefully has actual sales going on.
I’m thinking this year might be a good year for the Skylander club at Gamestop. Skylander Day is awesome and they really always keep a good stock in rotation, even if it is a smaller amount of figures than TRU has, but really, it is hard to beat Buy 3 Get 4 free.
The deals on Amazon are best. Even compared to what toys r us MIGHT sell them for.
You can’t always go by the images used in the ads. Oftentimes the people making the ads are unfamiliar with the games and they have access to a lot of images.
However, in this case, yes it does seem as though Target will have some Wave 2 on Day 1.
Pictures are a pretty good bet to go on though. You rarely see figures in ads BEFORE their release, with the obvious exception being the snafu that was Nightfall, though of course it doesn’t guarantee stock. Plus, generally, if they ARE show in the ad, yet the store doesn’t have them, if you can manage to get the UPC or SKU you can get a rain check.
Is Skylanders Day really a reliable option? They seem pretty random, possibly fueled by a need to unload figures. I got the Power Blues at one for a good deal, but I had to check 2 stores to find them.
For me it is. I have 9 Gamestops to (at the moment) 1 TRU, 2 Best Buys and 3 Targets, and honestly, I would safely bet that if I went to all 9 Gamestops today, I could grab one of every Supercharger and vehicle, minus of course Thrillipede/Buzz Wing. My other stores are stuffed with Sky Slicers, Legendary Jet Vacs and Power Blues with not much variation to choose from.
I’m not saying I won’t shop anywhere else, but lack of good day one sales really cools my jets on getting everything right out the gate. Coupled with the App for created characters, I can probably make my ultimate character on my phone for 3d printing faster than in game anyway, so, basically, no real rush to get all the figures until the sales fit my budget is all.
Plus, who really isn’t just going to play Kaos for the whole first week anyway?
Any word on the sensei/creation crystal combo pack? This was how I was hoping to get Mysticat.
Also is there a chance crystal styles in combo packs are exclusive to combo packs? Because that would be lame for me, getting Wolfgang and Mysticat thru bundles already.
Not sure yet. I’m trying to work that out now and will hopefully have some results early this week.
No eyes on the Combo Packs yet, but hopefully that will change soon.
so are there any midnight releases anywhere???
No one has announced any yet.
I’m happy with the tru deals since all I need to supplement after amazon is crystals, chests, and the observatory anyway.
Would not expect the MSRP to stick for long around there. If it doesn’t start inflated, it’ll jump 10-20% after a week, or at least in time to make a sale look better than it is. Seen that with Lego releases all the time.
There are exceptions, but skylanders is probably just priced right for launch while every retailer has them prominently featured in ads.
As the release date gets closer, I start worrying that maybe I will regret not buying all available sets from amazon. I only have TRU, the gamestop store closed a year ago, no best buy and no target. There are many Walmart stores but their availability on skylanders is awful.
I have to see what TRU brings to PR for this release. TRU has already begun putting displays but they told me nothing will be out of the boxes before the 16th.
Do you think that the villain/sensei bundles will be available after Oct. 16?
It’s hard to say as they’ve never offered anything like this before.
I would like to think they’ll keep offering them, but I have no way of knowing for sure.
Thanks!!
As an employee for toys r us, I have seen great numbers of all characters coming in. With few exceptions: hood sickle and Wolfgang, I’m looking at you!
I feel there will be quite a bit of overthink else for a while. We got over 300 crystals. If you need me to check the quantity of a certain item at a cetain store, I’d be happy to.
Thanks, Erich!!
Have you gotten any of the Sensei/Crystal packs? Or any chance they have shown up in the system?
No. not in the store or system.
Thank you!
Wow thanks so much, this helps a lot especially with the Toys R us sales I was able to get more crystals with the same amount of money I saved. Now I am able to get 3 quarters of wave 1 on day 1.
Well after pre-ording the game and a couple of figures (assuming it even goes through in the first place). I can’t afford anything after that till next month. Hopefully I’ll be able to get something then.
Is anyone finding that certain retailers are not getting their Skylanders inventory in? Went to Target this morning and they received only 24 of the individual characters and no crystals or starter packs. Best Buy had starter packs but no characters. Toys R Us and Walmart seemed to be the only two that actually received all of their stock.