science

Skylanders

Skylanders is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Skylanders rather than just read about it. In short: Skylanders is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game franchise developed by American video game developer Toys for Bob and published by Activision. Skylanders games are played using NFC-enabled collectible figurines of playable characters, alongside a specially themed NFC reader dubbed the "Portal of Power", which reads and writes data stored on a microchip within the base of the figure.

Key takeaways

Skylanders belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Skylanders to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Skylanders from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Skylanders is a toys-to-life action-adventure video game franchise developed by American video game developer Toys for Bob and published by Activision. Skylanders games are played using NFC-enabled collectible figurines of playable characters, alongside a specially themed NFC reader dubbed the "Portal of Power", which reads and writes data stored on a microchip within the base of the figure. This includes the corresponding character to use during gameplay, as well as ingame upgrades and statistics, allowing figures to retain their game data across different games in the series. Each Skylander is associated with one of ten elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Magic, Tech, Life, Undead, Light, and Dark. Skylanders of different elements are stronger in certain areas of the game, and can unlock areas of the game hidden behind "Elemental Gates".

Plot The games take place in the Skylands, a realm of floating islands located at the center of the universe that is often threatened by evil forces who seek to rule it and gain access to all worlds. For generations, a band of heroes known as the Skylanders, among whom include the purple dragon Spyro, have worked with the Portal Masters to defend Skylands from evil and protect the Core of Light. Preceding the events of each game, the Skylanders are sent away from their home world to Earth, becoming frozen in the process due to the lack of magic in the 'human world'. In most games, they are mistaken for toys in this state, causing them to be sold at toy stores. The player(s) take on the role of a Portal Master, utilizing the Portal of Power to send the Skylanders back to their home so that they may battle against the Dark Portal Master Kaos, a recurring villain in the series, as well as his army and other recurring villains.

Games

Spyro's Adventure (2011)

Spyro's Adventure is the first game in the series and features 32 Skylanders, four for each of the eight elements. The Skylanders seek to restore the Core of Light, which Kaos destroyed, by collecting the Eternal Sources of each element and other components.

Giants (2012)

Giants is the second installment in the series and a direct sequel to Spyro's Adventure. It introduces a new team of Skylanders called the Giants; canonically the first Skylanders who are larger than normal Skylanders. The Giants were assembled to stop the robotic Arkeyans' reign and are large and strong enough to lift, throw, and destroy trees and rocks, as well as being able to break walls that can normally only be destroyed with bombs. They must stop Kaos after he reactivates the Arkeyan Conquertron and attempts to take over Skylands by resurrecting the Arkeyans.

Swap Force (2013)

Swap Force is the third installment in the franchise and takes place in another part of Skylands called the Cloudbreak Islands. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the Swap Force, who have the ability to swap their top and bottom halves to mix and match abilities. Together, the Swap Force and the Skylanders fight to prevent Kaos and his mother from ruining the magic restoring performance of the Elementals on Mount Cloudbreak.

Trap Team (2014)

Trap Team is the fourth installment in the franchise. It introduces two new elements, the Light and Dark elements, as well as a new group of Skylanders called the Trap Masters, who wield powerful weapons made of Traptanium, the strongest material ever discovered in Skylands. They were charged with guarding the dangerous inmates of Cloudcracker Prison until Kaos busted them out. Trap Team also features the new trap mechanic, allowing players to trap specific in-game enemies in Elemental Traps, which are shards of Traptanium from Cloudcracker Prison. The trapped enemies can then be summoned as playable characters for a limited time. The Skylanders and their trapped foes fight together to stop Kaos and the Doom Raiders.

SuperChargers (2015)

SuperChargers is the fifth installment in the series. It introduces a new group of Skylanders called the SuperChargers, who pilot special vehicles of the Land, Sky and Sea. The Skylanders must stop Kaos and his Sky Eater, as well as The Darkness, which has its own plans. SuperChargers also featured a multiplayer racing game mode similar to the Mario Kart games, which can be played online or via local multiplayer. The Wii and the Nintendo 3DS received a distinct new game, titled SuperChargers Racing, that focused exclusively on the racing mode.

Imaginators (2016)

Imaginators is the sixth and currently final main installment in the series, which was developed by Toys for Bob. It was released on October 13, 2016, in Australia and New Zealand, on October 14, 2016, in Europe and on October 16, 2016, in North America. It was the only game in the series released for the Nintendo Switch. It introduced two new kinds of Skylanders, the Imaginators and the Senseis. The Imaginators are player created characters with a customizable look and ability set. The Skylanders must stop Kaos, who, with the help of Brain, is using Mind Magic to create his own evil Skylanders called Doomlanders. Crash Bandicoot and Doctor Neo Cortex make guest appearances as playable characters, marking their first appearance in a video game since Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 2 in 2010. Their figures were initially exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 starter packs, but were later released as a stand-alone double pack.

Spin-offs In 2011, Activision released Skylanders Universe, an online browser-based multiplayer game that allowed players to interact in Skylands, play minigames, customize their own island, and log their Skylanders collection. Players could connect their portals to their computer to summon their Skylanders, like in the core series. The service was discontinued on April 29th 2013. Activision released spin-off games on mobile devices, including Cloud Patrol, Battlegrounds, Lost Islands, Collection Vault, mobile ports of Trap Team and SuperChargers, Battlecast, and Ring of Heroes.

Characters

Skylanders There are a total of 144 playable Skylanders. They are arranged by their game of debut, with some being in special groups.

Core Skylanders

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Skylanders

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Skylanders claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Skylanders before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Skylanders ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Skylanders

In research: Skylanders appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Skylanders in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Skylanders is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s fads and trends, 2010s toys, Action-adventure games, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Skylanders outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Skylanders” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Skylanders in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Skylanders means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Skylanders out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Skylanders in simple terms?

Why does Skylanders matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Skylanders?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Skylanders.