Educate me on Skylander Swap Force Wii Game and Characters

[ChefGirl]

I bought a Skylander Swap Force starter set for DS who's turning 6 soon. My 10 y.o son also put down on his wishlist wanting some additional Skylander Characters. I am clueless to the game. Are these characters that they can use in the game (ie: swapable)? I bought the starter kit on the Wii platform. Before I go crazy on the characters, please someone educate me. What are some of the more popular characters? Please help me. TIA.

Happy Holidays!

[Swish]

We have all 3 games and close to 60 of the characters. There are 16 swappable characters, and not all of them are out yet. To access all of the areas of the game, you need at least one character from each element and at least one of each swap ability. That's because there are element zones which require particular elements to unlock and swap zones which require a particular swap ability. The swap characters also have an element which can cut down on how many you end up with. For example, Wash Buckler (one of the swap characters in the starter kit) is a water element and has a climb ability.

There are 8 elements - magic, water, tech, earth, fire, undead, life and air. There are 8 swap abilities - sneak, teleport, speed, climb, spin, dig, bounce and rocket.

The characters from the first two games also work in Swap Force, but they won't unlock a swap zone. There have been some good deals on the characters from the first 2 games (particularly the first game). I haven't paid much attention to them though since we have most of them already.

[ChefGirl]

We have all 3 games and close to 60 of the characters. There are 16 swappable characters, and not all of them are out yet. To access all of the areas of the game, you need at least one character from each element and at least one of each swap ability. That's because there are element zones which require particular elements to unlock and swap zones which require a particular swap ability. The swap characters also have an element which can cut down on how many you end up with. For example, Wash Buckler (one of the swap characters in the starter kit) is a water element and has a climb ability.

There are 8 elements - magic, water, tech, earth, fire, undead, life and air. There are 8 swap abilities - sneak, teleport, speed, climb, spin, dig, bounce and rocket.

The characters from the first two games also work in Swap Force, but they won't unlock a swap zone. There have been some good deals on the characters from the first 2 games (particularly the first game). I haven't paid much attention to them though since we have most of them already.

OMG, that sounds like Wizard 101.....if I were to pick a few character to add to the starter kit, which ones would you recommend? Thank you.

[reneed]

I'm following this. I bought the starter set but I'm clueless as to which figures to add

[Swish]

OMG, that sounds like Wizard 101.....if I were to pick a few character to add to the starter kit, which ones would you recommend? Thank you.

I'd pick a couple of the swappable ones since it kills 2 birds with one stone by unlocking both an element gate and a swap zone. Target had a 2-pack with Nitro Magna Charge and either Rattle Shake or Free Ranger. It was a slightly better price than buying the two separately. Toys R Us and Target run specials on them every so often, but I don't know if that will happen again before Christmas.

There is also the Tower of Time set that adds an extra chapter onto the game.

I don't have much of a preference on which character I play. I prefer the ones with ranged attacks since that's my play style. Others may prefer the melee characters which generally have stronger attacks. It's just good to have a few extra around so you can swap characters if the one you're playing with has to "take a rest" (aka out of hit points).