The Skylanders Franchise Is Kiddie Crack

Photo: Dwight Eschiliman

"Went to three stores yesterday—all sold out," the desperate tweet read. "Had to go black market. Help."

The frantic dad is talking about Skylanders (for his 5-year-old daughter of course, not for him, no, definitely not). Unless you're a tween or the guardian of one, you probably don't know about Skylanders, a new franchise from Activision that skillfully mixes the most addictive (and lucrative) features of Pokémon and Beanie Babies. It's a videogame series and a line of collectible figurines—cute toy monsters unlock new pieces of in-game content.

Since its debut in October, this opiate of the schoolyard masses has scored more than $200 million in North American sales alone. Here's how it gets its hooks into kids—and some grown-ups too.

Try it, you'll like it
Kids buy the game, which is available on PC and all consoles. It comes with a few action figures and a plastic "portal of power" that reads RFID tags in the toys. Plop any of the figures on the portal and poof—that character materializes onscreen in the game.
Cost of game: $60-75

One more can't hurt
Once your kids have played through the game with the three characters that came with it, they'll beg for an Adventure Pack. The additional figurines have new powers or can access new parts of the gameworld.
Cost of all four packs: $80

I can quit anytime
Each situation requires characters with different attributes. Players can trade figurines with one another, but a serious aficionado will want to own all 48 characters (including the forthcoming Giant and LightCore figures). They can be bought individually or in packs.
Cost of all additional figures: $381

It doesn't control me! I control it!
Activision has also released some limited-edition toys, like a version of Cynder the Dragon made exclusively for people who attend Toy Fair in New York. The unrepentant Skylanders addict turns to eBay for these hard-to-find items.
Cost: Up to $1,000

Don't look at me!
So that's a total outlay of at least $1,521 to be an elite Skylanders player. The next iteration of the franchise, Skylanders Giants, comes out later this year, along with several new lines of alluring action figures.
Cost: Your immortal soul

Adam Mann 19 Sep, 2012

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Source: http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/dKM1t0zIUOg/
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