The Very Sad And Slow Death Of Toys 2 Life Video Games
With the imminent cancellation of LEGO Dimensions, it is time to take a look at Toys 2 Life franchises such as Skylanders or Disney Infinity and figurines like Amiibos.
At The Peak Of Their Popularity
The golden age of toys 2 life games is only a couple of years ago; during this period of time the biggest players in the video game industry all had their own offerings.
Skylanders
Activision’s creation is the oldest in this genre and it is a mix of original creations with a couple of famous and underused video games characters such as Spyro and Crash Bandicoot.
Disney Infinity
Disney didn’t go cheap with Infinity and hold no expenses, as all its greatest franchises: Pixar, Marvel, Starwars, and of course Disney’s most iconic and beloved characters were present.
LEGO Dimensions
LEGO has a bunch of very successful video games and it was only a matter of time for the brick manufacturer to bring its plethora of licenses and its ingenious style to a billion dollar market.
3 Reasons Why I Don’t Care For Amiibos
Real talk here: Nintendo isn’t a company that focuses on crafting and selling video games anymore; it only sells Nostalgia with some very dubious practices that are repulsive to all the savvy gamers who aren’t enamored sentimental and fanboys.
Poor Design
This is a Link figurine striking a nice pose; but that orange plastic thing holding Zelda’s protagonist in position is just ugly to look at; this is something that is very common with Amiibos.
Fostering Scalping
Nintendo purposefuly manufactures a low number of units in order to brag about them selling out. As a direct consequence of this practice, Nintendo is fostering a scalping market.
Gouging On Nostalgia
Another asinine thing Nintendo practice is to create a multitude of figurines which makes it impossible for people to collect them all and even for avid fans of characters become a monetary sinkhole.
Disney Infinity
I absolutely loved Disney Infinity, from the great looking figurine to the evolving and fun gameplay; everything was fantastic in it: some of the best racing parts were designed by the same developer as ModNation Racers and the fighting gameplay developed by Ninja Theory which is acclaimed in this department. Disney Infinity was the first game that let you live out your childhood dreams of “What would happen if Donald Duck met the Hulk or who’s the strongest Darth Vader or Ironman”
Elsa
I’m not going to let it go but look how adorable Elsa is! On top of that her skilltree is absolutely bonkers and so much fun.
Sam Flynn
Who has never wanted Tron toys growing up? First released digitally only, Disney listened and made Sam Flynn and Quorra figurines a reality.
Captain America
This is the second version; this is the version that came with Marvel Battlegrounds which is like Super Smash Brothers but a lot more fun with RPG skilltrees.
Darth Vader
Almost as cool as the original Kenner toys, these modern rendition of the iconic Starwars characters are awesome and fit seamlessly in the Infinity universe.
Jack Skellington
One of the coolest thing about Infinity was the weird and unexpected movie characters that would sometime pop up here and there, including this one.
LEGO Dimensions
It was only a matter of time before LEGO entered the arena: the successful toy manufacturer also had a very successful video games series that had its own iconic style; LEGO brought it an incredible amount of licenses to the franchise including a lot of 80s and 90s nostalgia.
Benny
I love Benny! My brother and I used to build old school LEGO spaceships all the time so I had to get this figurine.
Ghostbusters
The real Ghostbusters are in Dimensions; by the way, I use the Ghostbusters firehouse has my Dimensions figurines display case.
Batman
DC Superheroes are no strangers to LEGO Dimensions and Batman is one of the main protagonists of the franchise.
Gizmo
This is what I’m talking about when I mention 80s nostalgia; from Gremlins to Knight Rider and the A-Team, there is a slew of beloved characters here.
Sonic
And let’s not forget iconic video games characters too! Sonic and its levels are absolutely some of the best Sonic content released in years!
Skylanders
Activision was one, if not first, on the market and has succeeded in keeping the Skylanders franchise relevant over the year. I don’t collect the figurines because I don’t find them particularly appealing but I do have each iteration of the base game.
Spyro’s Adventure
The original Skylanders, is a sort of spin-of or sequel of Spyro the dragon; it was a great concept when it came out and Activision has done a good job at mainlining a design consistency for the games’ characters over the years.
Dark Editions
Skylanders special editions are always interesting; the so-called Dark Editions, always come with special figurines not available otherwise. They are easy to find on sale a few months after their initial release.
Imaginators
This is probably the biggest leap forward in the franchise which for the first time let you create your own Skylander. Also the beloved Crash Bandicoot made an appearance on the PS4 version of the game.
