Skylanders Giants Triple Pack 5 and Triple Pack 6 Revealed!

What a night...

In addition to getting the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack with Series 2 Zap and newlander Hot Dog, I also saw first hand two new Triple Packs...conceivably Triple Pack #5 and Triple Pack #6.  Granted, I am not sure which will be #5 and which will be #6 (or even if that will be their designations), but I can vouch for them and if not for just ordering S2 Prism Break and Eruptor last night on Amazon I would have picked up at least one of them...There is more to that story, but I digress.

Scorpion Striker Battle Pack

I will unbox this one as soon as the post is over...it should be live on YouTube within the hour.  I will also postpone my plans to upload Chapter 10 and instead record Zap and Hot Dog's Heroic Challenges as well as what the Scorpion Striker adds to Battle Mode.

Triple Pack #5 and Triple Pack #6

Now is where things get tricky as we don't "officially" know the designations of these Triple Packs, but we do at least know they exist...and that is the important thing!  I'll post them below and then simply swap pics and info when we have definitive word on their numbering.

Triple Pack #5

Yep...you're probably as shocked as I was, lol.  We have S2 Eruptor, S2 Stealth Elf, and S2 Terrafin.  Not the greatest Triple Pack ever, but still quite solid.

Triple Pack #6

Again, a nice pairing of 2 Wave 3 Skylanders (Prism Break and Lightning Rod), and Wave 2's Drill Sergeant.

Conclusion

I really want Lightning Rod, but held off since I had just ordered S2 Prism Break from Amazon last night.  Similarly, I don't really want a second Drill Sergeant.

I was also tempted by the Eruptor and Stealth Elf offerings, but ultimately held out due to the fact I had just ordered S2 Eruptor from Amazon last night and the fact I already have L-Stealth Elf on the table.  I really wouldn't have minded another S2 Terrafin, but I'm trying to be thrifty.

If I can still cancel the Amazon order I may call tomorrow and then do so...I have still never seen Lightning Rod or Prism Break in single pack form locally...The only Wave 3 Skylander I saw tonight was Cynder...and I passed.

There is also perhaps reason to hold out spending your hard earned cash at GameStop.  I have had several sources tell me they could be the source for Giants Sidekicks (think Frito Lay's promo in SSA).  Before you get too excited, it sounds like it could be a pretty interesting set up...I won't go into it much until we know more definitively.  As always, I try to stick to what is known and certain, not just loosely derived from speculation etc.

Nonetheless, there you go...BRAND NEW BREAKING INFO!  I have yet to see this anywhere on the net and just checked GameStop.com to see if I could get a designation on which was 5 and which was 6, but they are still empty with no place holders.

The other "big" news you probably wonder about is the Giants.  I checked and my store did not get any...I was leaning more towards it being the middle of the month, so hopefully we get lucky there.  I expect both Thumpback and Eye Brawl to be tough to track down, but I would love to be wrong.

Well, I am off to unbox the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack!  Hope everyone pre-ordered!

Scorpion Striker Battle Pack with Zap and Hot Dog

A few days ago GameStop announced that they would be getting the highly anticipated Scorpion Striker Battle Pack as a timed exclusive...

Basically what that means to you is that GameStop will be your only option for picking up the Battle Pack for the first 30 days or so.

The Battle Pack, as with the previous, will retail for $24.99...don't pay more than that!

I know the screen grab below is small, but if you click on it you can see the release date of New Years Day and their bragging rights of having it a full month before anyone else.

Check it out:

This shouldn't be too big of a surprise given that they had (and still have) the "Golden" Dragonfire Cannon Battle Pack (other stores have the standard issue, or non-"golden" Dragonfire Cannon Battle Pack).

Several people across the net picked this combo of Zap and Hot Dog out as the previous battle pack featured contrasting elements (ie Undead and Life by way of Chop Chop and Shroomboom).

Why were so many able to predict this combo?  Simple.

We already have the other 7 new Skylanders out, so only Hot Dog remained.  Similarly, we already have Slam Bam and Gill Grunt from the reposed Water Element so that left Zap (Wham-Shell is not getting a repose).

That said, still cool to predict it.

And just fyi, the way we knew of the "catapult" ahead of time was a few pictures from a tour of the Toys for Bob studio where it was sitting next to both the standard issue Dragonfire Cannon and GameStop Exclusive Golden Dragonfire Cannon!

The Scorpion Striker should unlock a new arena and possibly some re-skins AND serve as a magic item for gameplay.

The big draw is of course going to be Hot Dog as this will be our first chance to play the new Fire Element Skylander!

I have to be honest and say that I am very excited to obtain the S2 Zap.  If you recall from my SSA Upgrade vids, Zap is one of the Skylanders I was very torn on picking an upgrade path.  This time around I can take the other path first and then decide which I truly like better.  The coolest thing about S2 Zap will of course be his Wow Pow Power AND the ability to switch upgrade paths...

I nearly ordered this when the link went live, BUT that would mean I had to pay freight and wait on it.  That is probably not a horrible set up given the unknown of winter weather (ie will it be 60 and clear 1-1-13, or will it be 25 and icy).

That said, I will probably run by my favorite GameStop later tonight and pre-order there.  I don't think it will be hard to come by...I've yet to see the Golden Dragonfire Cannon Battle Pack out-of-stock at any GameStop or their website.

I guess if bad weather prevents me from getting it on release day, it will be paid for and awaiting my arrival to join the Skylander force!

If you want to pre-order the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack from GameStop, you can click here.

I hope to do the Weekly Update and I'll let you know if I get the pre-order tonight!

UPDATE 12/6/2012

I went in to GameStop tonight and locked up the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack.  The big news is I got a 100% Confirmation on the 1/1/13 Street Date!

Sadly, I also got 100% confirmation that they know nothing on when Wave 3 might hit.

UPDATE 1/9/2013

As many have said/reported across the net, GameStop.com changed the release date on their place holder for the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack to 1/10/2013.

You can see a screen grab here:

Perhaps the bigger story than the one-day push back is that you can't pre-order the item anymore!  What this means for those who did not pre-order remains to be seen...That said, if you want it and planned to pick it up without a pre-order I would advise you to act fast.  With this one getting pushed back 3 times now, it could very easily be an item we see stocked and then exhausted.  That said, it could also be sold out Day 1 and then GameStops everywhere could get a full stock within a week...the bottom line is we just don't know at this point.

The BIGGER NEWS, however, came to me at 12:25 PM via text message.

It says:

"GameStop: Your Skylanders Giants order avail Fri PM.  Bring your trades to reduce price.  Info# xxx-xxx-xxxx. End txt msgs reply STOP"

That is the exact transmission, minus me omitting the number with x's.  And that is straight from the source, to someone who pre-ordered.  I now have no reason to believe the Battle Pack will be there today (as expected), tomorrow (as the website indicates), but rather FRIDAY, JANUARY, 11TH, 2013 as their text message and direct communication indicates.

That is a bit of a bummer, but I will try to get up there Friday.  I usually make my rounds in the evening the night before, so it is kind of throwing me for a loop...Sad thing is, with the stock possibly being very limited I don't want to wait and find that my pre-order was accidentally sold...crazier things happen.

Anyway, my best guess right now is straight from GameStop...we can all expect to get our hands on the Scorpion Striker Battle Pack this Friday.

If more dealys or bad news arise I will post it here...if Friday holds true I will have an unboxing up to end the vicious cycle!  Stay tuned!