Skylanders Trap Team

The long anticipated announcement came earlier this evening and "Skylanders 4" has officially been revealed as Skylanders Trap Team!  It is available for Pre-Order NOW and will be introducing 16 Trap Master Skylanders, 18 New Skylanders, and a handful of Series 2-4 reposes.  What sets the game apart is the ability to utilize Trap Crystals to catch villains and then return them to the game as playable characters.  All your pre-existing Skylanders (Core, Giants, LightCore, and Swappers) can be used in Skylanders Trap Team.  The game is set to release on Sunday, October 5th, 2014 here in the US.



Background Story

Kaos' latest plot to take over all of Skylands involved acquiring the services of Skylands Most Wanted Villains.  Sadly, these powerful beasts were held in the most secure structure in Skylands the Cloudcracker Prison that was built with Traptanium walls.  Kaos blew the prison up and all the Traptanium wound up here on earth.  The task of saving Skylands once again falls into the hands of us, the Portal Masters.  We have to work with the Skylanders and help them acquire Trap Crystals to reign in Skylands Most Wanted and defeat Kaos.

Starter Pack

The Console Starter Pack will consist of the following:

-Game
-Traptanium Portal,
-Two Skylanders with Trading Cards and Sticker Sheets
--Trap Master: Snap Shot (Water Element)
--Core Skylander: Food Fight (Life Element)
-Two Traps
-Character Collector Poster

The 3DS Starter Pack looks to consist of the same contents, but it remains to be seen if the two characters will be different, or if they will follow suit and place a "special" character in the 3DS Starter Pack (Dark Spyro, Punch Pop Fizz, Volcanic Eruptor)

The retail price for all the Starter Packs is listed at the usual $74.99.

All Trap Team Skylanders will feature RED Bases.
All Characters will max out at Level 20.

Release Date
Skylanders Trap Team is available for pre-order now and will release as follows:

Australia/New Zealand: Thursday, October 2nd, 2014
US: Sunday, October 5th, 2014
Europe: Friday, October 10th, 2014

Developers

Toys for Bob is developing the game for Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Sony Playstation 3
Beenox is porting that to the Nintendo Wii U, Microsoft Xbox One, and Sony Playstation 4.
Beenox is also handling the Nintendo 3DS version of the game, which again is entirely different.

Trap Masters

Trap Masters are essentially new Skylanders with new crystal weapons.  You can think of them as Giants or SWAP Force Skylanders from the last two installments...

There will be 16 Trap Master Skylanders. Thus, it is pretty safe to assume that we will have 2 per Element.  There remains a good chance we will see "extras" from those (ie Legendary and other in-game variants), but overall for a base collection you are looking at 16 Trap Master Skylanders.

Just like Giants and SWAP Force Skylanders unlocked special areas in each level/chapter, that will be the case with the Trap Masters.  Additionally, when going against the Most Wanted Villains the Trap Masters will have a damage boost compared to other, non-Trap Master Skylanders.

Here are a few that we know of at this point in time:

Snap Shot, Water Element
Wallop, Earth Element
Wild Fire, Fire Element

Traptanium Bow and Arrow, Fire Shield with Wild Fire

Newlanders

If you are unfamiliar with the series or my own terminologies, Newlanders basically refers to the new, core characters in each game (Giants=Jet-Vac, SWAP Force=Scratch and Pop Thorn etc).  There will be 18 new Skylanders in Trap Team.

Here are a few that we know of at this point in time:

Funny Bone, Undead Element
Chopper, Tech Element: Baby T-Rex with Gyro-Copter, Rockets, and Roar Attack
Food Fight, Life Element: An Artichoke that uses the power of vegetables to defeat evil (tomato gun etc).

Villains and Traps

This is perhaps the biggest element in the game and no doubt the "game changer" that was teased in earlier interviews.  Trap Team allows you to battle Sklylands Most Wanted Villains, defeat them, trap them, and then release them back into the game as a playable character!

This takes the "Bring Toys to Life" concept and flips it to the point where you are almost doing the opposite by pulling a character out of the game and into your living room.  It is a very cool concept and perhaps more importantly adds a vast array of options and tag teams.

We have seen several of the 40 plus villains and the basic concept goes as follows...

You battle the villain, defeat them, place a trap crystal into the portal, and then a magical vortex pulls the villain in...There is a struggle, screaming, and all that good stuff.  When the vortex wrangles the defeated villain the sound leaves your TV set and goes to the built in speaker on the new Traptanium Portal!  (I have read there is an adjustable volume level as well).  You then hear the villain's voice right from the portal adding an personification to the trap crystal.  The voice of the villain will beg for you to release them and even offers to fight for good.

As soon as you turn them back into the game, the villain is a playable character with a move set just like they had when you battled them.  At the touch of a button you can switch from the villain to your Skylander and back again.

The villain will also make comments on what is going on and remind you to let them play if you haven't in awhile.

The Traps are rumored to hold "multiple" villains, but I have yet to see anything definitive.  The Traps are element specific, so if you are battling an Air Element Most Wanted character, you will have to have an Air Element Trap to catch it.

From what I have read, regardless of the trap's capacity, there will be a prison in your main hub that you can use to swap the villains back and forth, to-and-from the traps.

Among those villains we know are playable we have:

-Wolf Gang: a really cool looking rock-and-roll werewolf
-Chill Bill a frozen looking troll that uses a Freeze Ray to turn enemies into ice.
-Shrednaught: A tank/chainsaw hybrid commanded by two trolls
-Chompy Mage: He can summon Chompies, has a chompy walloping staff, and can turn into the Mega Chompy and do Shockwaves!
-Kaos: Enough Said...I did see a custom trap shaped like Kaos in the trailer

As for the traps...they are, as mentioned, element specific, but look to have different designs (Hammer, Tiki Torch, Hand, etc).  The bottom end looks like a Crystal and plugs into the Traptanium portal.  It is unknown how they will be made available, how many there are, and how many figures they can each hold.

Enemies (Outside of the Most Wanted)

I didn't see this enemy, but I heard him mentioned in an interview...It honestly sounded like the guy said "Eggsecutioner" so I am picturing a troll or something similar that throws eggs...I am very well aware of the fact we have Axecutioners, I just know I heard "egg."

My Questions

If I could, I would ask these questions:

-Will there be a difference between the Toys for Bob and Beenox versions of the game?
--Will the Wii U still utilize the GamePad for Character stats?
-Will the 3DS Starter Pack incorporate different characters?  Also, will one be exclusive to the SP?
--Will the 3DS version still feature the character roster found in SWAP Force?
-How will the crystals be made available outside of the 2 in the Starter Pack?
-How many villains can be held per crystal?
-Is it possible in 2P Mode to both play as a villain?
-Will there be a Single Player Battle Mode (ie P1 vs CPU)?
-Is there a special role for Giants and SWAP Force Skylanders?
-Please bring back the original SSA Castaways! (Not a Question, but who cares?).
-If LightCores still exist, will you give them WowPows or a recharge of the LightBomb?
-Will there be Adventure Packs or Battle Packs?
-Is the portal wired?  (Assuming this would be yes).

Conclusion

This is just a quick recap of what I have been able to gather.  Some info may change.  I have a ton more in the way of questions and things I'd like explained further, but that list above is a good start.  I have to say I am very excited for this installment...much more so than Giants or SWAP Force.  SSA remains my favorite in the series and I feel that good level design, a bit more emphasis on action and battles, coupled with the ability to play as villains gives this title the foundation it needs to become a truly great game!

As for pre-ordering now, I would wait.  There are currently no known bonuses or special editions, but that can change quickly.  I would hold out for the best deal and ensure you have the best version to begin with...

As for me, I plan to pick up the Wii U version (unless they have canned the GamePad features, in which case it would be a toss up between Wii U and XB1) and the 3DS version.

When new info is made available I will update here, or make a new post.  Check back often to stay up to date with all things Skylanders Trap Team!!

Here is the longer YouTube video just discussing the reveal and various aspects of the game: