I know this is a very easy question for those of you who have been following along since the game was announced back in February or March of this year, but right now there are a lot of confused parents out there.
Think about it. The game is called SWAP Force, shouldn't all the figures be swappable?
Unfortunately, as fun as that would be, this is not the case. Below you will find three simple ways to know whether or not your Skylander is swappable BEFORE you buy it.
1) Memorize Their Names
I know this might seem like a daunting task at first, but if you're only concerned about the swappable figures there are only 16 names to memorize.
List of Swappable Skylanders
Blast Zone
Boom Jet
Doom Stone
Fire Kraken
Free Ranger
Freeze Blade
Grilla Drilla
Hoot Loop
Magna Charge
Night Shift
Rattle Shake
Rubble Rouser
Spy Rise
Stink Bomb
Trap Shadow
Wash Buckler
2) Check the Packaging
Activision has always done a very good job of marking their packaging to differentiate each series and style of Skylander. However, you still have to know what you're looking for for it all to make sense.
In the picture above you will see the three types of SWAP Force Skylanders that are not swappable.
In this picture you will find an example of a swappable Skylander. As you compare the two pictures you will see a number of differences, but there are a few key characteristics you can look for on the swappable Skylanders.
1) The swapping wheel in the upper left corner.
2) The swapping arrows in the background.
3) The black and white SWAP Force symbol just above the name of the Skylander.
3) Physical Size and Price
Finally, perhaps the easiest way to tell is by comparing their size. The swappable Skylanders are a little bit bigger than the average Skylander and therefore they come in a larger package.
These swappable Skylanders also retail for $14.99 (as opposed to $9.99 for basic figures or $12.99 for LightCore figures).
With this knowledge I hope that you now feel a bit more comfortable shopping for Skylanders.
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BONUS – How to Find Swappable Skylanders WITHOUT Packaging
At some point in time I'm sure you will come across some Skylanders for sale that do not have their original packaging. If this is the case, none of the aforementioned methods will do you any good.
So here are a few tips for spotting swappable Skylanders without their packaging.
1) Pull Them Apart
If you're able to touch the figures, pick them up and try to pull them apart. You don't have to pull hard, they are held together in the middle by a simple magnet.
If it doesn't come apart, it's not swappable.
2) The Golden Hexagon
Perhaps you're in a situation where you can't play with the figures. Perhaps you are shopping online. Well, there's still one very simple way to spot the swappable figures. Look for the Golden Hexagon on the figure's base.
This Golden Hexagon denotes the figure's special movement type. This is an attribute that only the swappable Skylanders have. So if you see the Golden Hexagon, the figure is swappable.
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What other questions do you have about Skylanders?