[thedarklightcrypt]

it / its. you may call me berry I aim to analyze the skylanders games as a form of writing practice, grammar mistakes are inevitable. I am most familiar with the text in the first game. I never played RoH and imaginators. if you would like me to analyze something, send it through my ask box. my analysis will be done through limited speculation and no headcanons. I am basing it off of officially supplied text. my background images are from junkyardisles dolphin folder. I made my icon.

[thedarklightcrypt]

I will be getting to the two asks at a later date, in order to properly respond I will need to reread some of the books rather than relying solely on memory. I am glad people seem to be enjoying what I have to say.

[thedarklightcrypt]

why skylanders having official personalities is not actually that important

this may be a strange topic to write about, especially as my second one. however I do believe it is useful to bring up. skylanders, as I alluded to in my last post, is not a series that needs an established canon. similarly I am of the belief the characters do not need official personalities - for lack of a better word - due to the series open ended nature. when I say open ended, I mean skylanders actively benefits from people deciding to do what they feel with the series. it is fascinating how with most series, a character having a 20 word bio would be seen as them being underdeveloped, but in skylanders it gives fans the freedom to do what they see fit. the less that is written about a skylander the more you can do with them, which becomes more interesting when you contrast people's desire for canon text. you can quite literally, change anything you want about flip wreck, and itll still feel believable by proxy of flip wreck having "no personality". while I may be someone who only follows the canon text, skylanders encouraging creators & consumers to do what they want for any character they see fit is a very unique approach to creating a wide cast of characters. I do like this aspect of skylanders world building (even if my writing is solely based on official text)

[thedarklightcrypt]

I should also mention that skylanders originally didnt have characters with pre-written personalities or names, they were meant to be interpreted differently by each player (hence the naming systems existence)

[cadaver-locks]

What naming system are you referring to?

[thedarklightcrypt]

apologies if it was worded badly, I was talking about the nickname system from the games. to me nickname and name are synonymous within video games.

[thedarklightcrypt]

Kaos analysis if ya can! Literally just anything about him :0

Maybe his skills? I am truly curious about his position as a dark portal master.

ooh! kaos happens to be one of my favorite characters, and you bringing up him being a dark portal master... I do not own every piece of skylanders media, but I will do my best to summarize his skills in a detailed manner. within spyros adventure. he has control over various elemental spells, which range from doom sharks to lasers, his mechanical suit also utilizes these spells and I assume them to be built into the suit, he also seems to be able to summon his minions at free will. its never stated whether his giant floating head is via technology or something else, the closest we get is him telling glumshanks to turn it off after trailing off. in giants. the only skills hes seen using are directly connected to the iron fist (summoning arkeyans, eye lasers, the healing-damage-spell contraption), though I do not know much of it is due to the iron fist or his own built in magic. swap force, in VV nature, features a different set of capabilities for him. he uses petrified fire in one cutscene without any prior build up, and as super evil kaos can create shockwaves or bring his thoughts to reality. I must say that I was... unimpressed, back when I saw he didnt use anything relating to petrified darkness... but I am getting off topic. trap team, which was of course done by TFB, gives him a new super powered form. when affected by the stinkocity, he appears to... be able to see through dimensions? as he can see you (the player) through the tv screen, his vision also became faux psychedelic which I feel is relevant enough to mention. as his traptanium form he sprouts wings, gets crystal blades, can make... black energy? I dont know how to describe it, amongst some other things. superchargers has an interesting spin... which I quite like! he seems to be getting a power boost from the darkness, and actually utilizes some of his own spells (to my understanding, I am unsure if its been confirmed anywhere), such as teleportation + fake copies, crystal swords and hands. I think this is a really wonderful change of pace compared to his usual per-game super powered form. imaginators, I feel is the weakest. he lost his connection to the darkness after it was destroyed in superchargers, so instead we get mind magic and... super saiyan final boss...? imaginators is an extremely short and unfinished game to my knowledge, so I will not dwell on it for too long, but I believe mind magic lets him imagine anything into existence. though you can argue its not actually him whos using the magic as I believe it comes from brain. its extremely easy to make a joke about kaos only being a threat when he has outside forces assisting him, but to me that is a massive disservice to his character. it has been a bit since I read the novels, but in those he uses a wide variety of spells from teleporting individuals with the snap of his fingers, lightning, flying flower pots, lightning that drains your energy, as well as various contraptions like a miniature portal. the novels have a strange habit of switching back and forth from him being a threat and a joke, but the skylanders rarely face him head on due to him backing them into corners with his own skills & tactics, which I enjoy! upon acquiring the mask of power, he can steal the skylanders powers, though I feel this is unnecessary to further go into. one thing interesting about kaos is that he is extremely tactical while being horribly impulsive, so he ends up in a strange situation where he has the cards to win, but his emotions get the better of him. he is also someone who uses a lot of technology in his plans, and its not uncommon to see his spells accompanied by a contraption, that is typically implied to be created by him (or, that is how I have always seen it), he also created & brought the wilikin to life as a young portal master. I am sure there are pieces I have missed, due to not owning every book. but if so those who own those books can likely provide.

[thedarklightcrypt]

how interesting! I unfortunately only was able to read the book of kaos once years ago, and I had forgotten a lot of the smaller details like this. I do wonder if the comment that kaos made in the SSA cutscene has any meaning to it, since now that I think about it, he can also use the giant floating head when playable in trap team... I probably should get my hands on a kaos trap some day...

[thedarklightcrypt]

Kaos analysis if ya can! Literally just anything about him :0

Maybe his skills? I am truly curious about his position as a dark portal master.

ooh! kaos happens to be one of my favorite characters, and you bringing up him being a dark portal master... I do not own every piece of skylanders media, but I will do my best to summarize his skills in a detailed manner. within spyros adventure. he has control over various elemental spells, which range from doom sharks to lasers, his mechanical suit also utilizes these spells and I assume them to be built into the suit, he also seems to be able to summon his minions at free will. its never stated whether his giant floating head is via technology or something else, the closest we get is him telling glumshanks to turn it off after trailing off. in giants. the only skills hes seen using are directly connected to the iron fist (summoning arkeyans, eye lasers, the healing-damage-spell contraption), though I do not know much of it is due to the iron fist or his own built in magic. swap force, in VV nature, features a different set of capabilities for him. he uses petrified fire in one cutscene without any prior build up, and as super evil kaos can create shockwaves or bring his thoughts to reality. I must say that I was... unimpressed, back when I saw he didnt use anything relating to petrified darkness... but I am getting off topic. trap team, which was of course done by TFB, gives him a new super powered form. when affected by the stinkocity, he appears to... be able to see through dimensions? as he can see you (the player) through the tv screen, his vision also became faux psychedelic which I feel is relevant enough to mention. as his traptanium form he sprouts wings, gets crystal blades, can make... black energy? I dont know how to describe it, amongst some other things. superchargers has an interesting spin... which I quite like! he seems to be getting a power boost from the darkness, and actually utilizes some of his own spells (to my understanding, I am unsure if its been confirmed anywhere), such as teleportation + fake copies, crystal swords and hands. I think this is a really wonderful change of pace compared to his usual per-game super powered form. imaginators, I feel is the weakest. he lost his connection to the darkness after it was destroyed in superchargers, so instead we get mind magic and... super saiyan final boss...? imaginators is an extremely short and unfinished game to my knowledge, so I will not dwell on it for too long, but I believe mind magic lets him imagine anything into existence. though you can argue its not actually him whos using the magic as I believe it comes from brain. its extremely easy to make a joke about kaos only being a threat when he has outside forces assisting him, but to me that is a massive disservice to his character. it has been a bit since I read the novels, but in those he uses a wide variety of spells from teleporting individuals with the snap of his fingers, lightning, flying flower pots, lightning that drains your energy, as well as various contraptions like a miniature portal. the novels have a strange habit of switching back and forth from him being a threat and a joke, but the skylanders rarely face him head on due to him backing them into corners with his own skills & tactics, which I enjoy! upon acquiring the mask of power, he can steal the skylanders powers, though I feel this is unnecessary to further go into. one thing interesting about kaos is that he is extremely tactical while being horribly impulsive, so he ends up in a strange situation where he has the cards to win, but his emotions get the better of him. he is also someone who uses a lot of technology in his plans, and its not uncommon to see his spells accompanied by a contraption, that is typically implied to be created by him (or, that is how I have always seen it), he also created & brought the wilikin to life as a young portal master. I am sure there are pieces I have missed, due to not owning every book. but if so those who own those books can likely provide.

[thedarklightcrypt]

while I am open to taking requests on subjects to analyze, I will be declining anything regarding shipping. I am not comfortable analyzing something I have little experience with.

[thedarklightcrypt]

skylands and its food chain

a rather quick piece but I figured it would be good to write anyway. skylanders is very explicit about species being carnivorous, now lets document that. mabu are eaten by trolls and cyclopses. in the machine of doom kaos says that glumshanks can eat flynn later, and in gill grunts heroic challenge (jailbreak!) cali offhandedly mentions that the cyclopses will get hungry soon gillmen are eaten by trolls. oilspill islands opening dialogue is the notable instance ("and hurry! i can already smell the cooking fires and tartar sauce!") sheep and chicken are also both consumed in skylands. lt. woalf refers to the captured sheep as 'tasty treats', and flynn is seen eating chicken in capn clucks chicken HQ. which also may imply mabu are omnivorous a couple skylanders can also eat enemies in game, such as wrecking ball and thumpback. whether this is exclusive to them or applies to every member of their species is out of my guessing range. bark demons eat chompies. in game this regenerates their HP. the undead eat the living. there is little information outside of that but i assume that it is a tad more complicated than that. ghost roaster eats ghosts. said in his backstory "After eating an entire spectral village" + "he (eon) figured even a ghost eater could be useful. So he made Ghost Roaster a Skylander… after he promised to eat only evil ghosts." last part has interesting implications as well as in his gameplay, he can eat ghosts. though this seems to be a ghost roaster only situation

gobble pods feed on greebles and chompies. see SF chapter 2 cascade glade

[thedarklightcrypt]

aah if I knew more about architecture and/or music theory I would love to provide analysis about those topics. maybe someone else happens to know about either of those and could provide whats needed.

[thedarklightcrypt]

skylanders and writing

one thing thats always particularly caught my attention are the symbols found within skylands. I will be using be using the wiki's name (runes) to refer to them runes have been used in skylanders since the first game. from the core of light to items in the imaginators character creator. whats peculiar is that there is no explanation on what they are or what they mean outside of being a writing system. this blog features limited speculation, but my assumption was always runes are not for casual writing, as they usually are seen on magic items or things tied to the ancients. whats interesting is that within academy, they seem to be the skylands version of an alphabet, being on items such as jet-vacs chalkboard, but the idea of runes being an actual alphabet dates all the way back to skylanders universe, where the runes were used to "translate your figures into the game" (according to the wiki, I myself never played it). universe also featured some runes that are not seen in any other game

namely these ones, which were likely created for the game, and thats super interesting. two other details that dont fit elsewhere are

the pattern on the father anvil from the spyros kingdom map, if it means anything is beyond anyones knowledge. also rather notably, other written alphabets do exist (or, thats the implication I get)

found in the cutscene from after you complete rumbletown. the rest will be random images with little-to-no context, as I dont have any information to provide (as I am very unfamiliar with later parts of the series), but I find useful to include anyway.

I hope to see artists expand the writing within this world, all of the scripts & symbols are very pretty.

[thedarklightcrypt]

the trolls and their polar opposite depictions

the trolls are easily my favorite species within the skylanders universe, they have a surprising amount of lore for being average mooks. but what I find the most interesting about them is how each set of writers go for a different way of portraying them. within the TfB games, trolls are depicted as intelligent and knowing their craft (heavy machinery). its rather uncommon to see the default evil minion archetype use both brute strength and complex craftsmanship, which unfortunately leads to people frequently missing the second component of the trolls. now VV takes a different approach where most trolls are just brute strength, I consider this due to the games made by them being more... "tropey", for lack of a better description, so its not surprising that the trolls are more barbarian rather than techy. but in my opinion, where it truly gets interesting is within the skylanders books. within the mask of power & book of elements series, the trolls are portrayed almost exclusively as stinky dim-wits. also to mention is how trolls have always been associated with tech, but in the academy timeline, theyre associated with life. something minor to note, though I still find it interesting. its only within the TfB games that the mabu-troll prejudice is brought up, VV never makes any mention of it.

[thedarklightcrypt]

this is something I would absolutely love to see from more artists. the communitys ability to take something with little information and expand it is very admirable, though I would be lying if I said I didnt wish people toyed around with what the trolls can create. theres so many creative ideas that I would happily read about.

[thedarklightcrypt]

the trolls and their polar opposite depictions

the trolls are easily my favorite species within the skylanders universe, they have a surprising amount of lore for being average mooks. but what I find the most interesting about them is how each set of writers go for a different way of portraying them. within the TfB games, trolls are depicted as intelligent and knowing their craft (heavy machinery). its rather uncommon to see the default evil minion archetype use both brute strength and complex craftsmanship, which unfortunately leads to people frequently missing the second component of the trolls. now VV takes a different approach where most trolls are just brute strength, I consider this due to the games made by them being more... "tropey", for lack of a better description, so its not surprising that the trolls are more barbarian rather than techy. but in my opinion, where it truly gets interesting is within the skylanders books. within the mask of power & book of elements series, the trolls are portrayed almost exclusively as stinky dim-wits. also to mention is how trolls have always been associated with tech, but in the academy timeline, theyre associated with life. something minor to note, though I still find it interesting. its only within the TfB games that the mabu-troll prejudice is brought up, VV never makes any mention of it.

[thedarklightcrypt]

why skylanders having official personalities is not actually that important

this may be a strange topic to write about, especially as my second one. however I do believe it is useful to bring up. skylanders, as I alluded to in my last post, is not a series that needs an established canon. similarly I am of the belief the characters do not need official personalities - for lack of a better word - due to the series open ended nature. when I say open ended, I mean skylanders actively benefits from people deciding to do what they feel with the series. it is fascinating how with most series, a character having a 20 word bio would be seen as them being underdeveloped, but in skylanders it gives fans the freedom to do what they see fit. the less that is written about a skylander the more you can do with them, which becomes more interesting when you contrast people's desire for canon text. you can quite literally, change anything you want about flip wreck, and itll still feel believable by proxy of flip wreck having "no personality". while I may be someone who only follows the canon text, skylanders encouraging creators & consumers to do what they want for any character they see fit is a very unique approach to creating a wide cast of characters. I do like this aspect of skylanders world building (even if my writing is solely based on official text)

[thedarklightcrypt]

I should also mention that skylanders originally didnt have characters with pre-written personalities or names, they were meant to be interpreted differently by each player (hence the naming systems existence)

[thedarklightcrypt]

why skylanders having official personalities is not actually that important

this may be a strange topic to write about, especially as my second one. however I do believe it is useful to bring up. skylanders, as I alluded to in my last post, is not a series that needs an established canon. similarly I am of the belief the characters do not need official personalities - for lack of a better word - due to the series open ended nature. when I say open ended, I mean skylanders actively benefits from people deciding to do what they feel with the series. it is fascinating how with most series, a character having a 20 word bio would be seen as them being underdeveloped, but in skylanders it gives fans the freedom to do what they see fit. the less that is written about a skylander the more you can do with them, which becomes more interesting when you contrast people's desire for canon text. you can quite literally, change anything you want about flip wreck, and itll still feel believable by proxy of flip wreck having "no personality". while I may be someone who only follows the canon text, skylanders encouraging creators & consumers to do what they want for any character they see fit is a very unique approach to creating a wide cast of characters. I do like this aspect of skylanders world building (even if my writing is solely based on official text)

[thedarklightcrypt]

is an established canon actually relevant within skylanders media?

the short answer is: no. skylanders is rather notorious for coming up with... frankly, out of the park lore that frequently makes little sense or outright ignores previously established things. if a new piece of media comes out, it likely will change something. the longer answer, however, is quite interesting to look at. the franchise since the first game has been off the rails for what is "canon". mabu do tax evasion via tornadoes, dino-rang is from another world, nattybumpo being teleported into the dirt sea are all examples from spyro's adventure alone. so already knowing this, its not unusual for something to suddenly change in a barely-documented book. in rift into overdrive, the superchargers backstories differ compared to their website backstories, which could be seen as either retconning or outright getting information wrong. though I choose to see it as simply different mediums adapting for different things. a series with such strange world building is bound to get frequent changes, big and small. and word of god wont clear anything up either as krankcase rather infamously was sawed in half by a jedi, when this itself contradicts his description from the book of kaos (which said he misplaced his legs). while things like kaos backstory are inconsistent, theres enough overlapping traits within the various depictions to get an idea of what the "intended" reading is, with other things there is no intended reading. the series is a rather "pick and choose" when it comes to how each person is able to envision the world. you simply pick and choose what you feature and get rid of. many things do not have a specific way to be read, and thus opens the possibilities for anything. there is no clear way to end this writing, simply choose whichever text (or create your own) you like best.