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| The Disney 3.0 Starter Set |
While exciting because, well, it's Star Wars, I'm also excited about what this means for the future of toys-to-life. Star Wars is a big ticket property, one that draws both children and collectors. The Variant Play Arts Kai Star Wars figures got a lot of press, and will undoubtedly draw new collectors to the hobby (see my post about it). The same will happen now that Star Wars has invaded Infinity. This new wave of toys-to-life collectors will pump up this already ballooning industry. Considering that many will be adult collectors, it might also start to steer the future of toys-to-life to a style that caters to both young and adult collectors.
As it stands the big three toys-to-life lines are Disney Infinity, Activision's Skylanders and Nintendo's amiibo. Infinity and Skylanders are both fairly simple platformer beat-em-ups, and, while great for kids, they are not particularly challenging or stimulating for less causal players. I'm sure over time, these and other toys-to-life lines will continue to appeal to kids, but also engage older collectors as well. (Beyond collecting the figures, that is.) Disney Infinity does have a "Toy Box" mode, which allows for user generated content. This opens the door to creative modders to create experiences that might better engage more hardcore players. Amiibo does a better job at working for both collector types, but their gameplay depth is still somewhat lacking (see my post about it).
As figures, all three lines are outstanding. Infinity and Skylanders are fairly stylized and cartoony, while amiibo's stylization level depends on the franchise. Skylanders is an original property (save for Spyro and possibly a few other characters) so this style is simply the style of the world of Skylanders, and it looks great. Cute enough to look fun, but cool enough to inspire a sense of adventure. For Infinity, which is entirely comprised of classic characters from a myriad of mediums, this uniform stylization serves to unite the otherwise divided looks of the various properties involved. Jack Sparrow (a live-action character) is similarly styled to Sorcerer Micky (a 2d animated cartoon) and Jack Skellington (3d stop-motion puppet). It works fantastically. The chosen style looks great. It is bit squared-off, with exaggerated proportions and expressive faces. The bases of figures from one particular property are genrally the same, creating great sub-sets within the line as a whole.
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| Definitely captures that Sparrow "swag". |
Smash Bros amiibo offer a wide selection from across Nintendo's huge library of characters, but Disney Infinity, especially with 3.0, has taken it to the next level. There are literally thousands of beloved characters across Disney's repertoire. I'm talking Sam from Tron fighting alongside Spider-man. I'm talking Wreck-it-Ralph racing Princess Leia. Too cool. If you've played Infinity, then you know that these cross-world mix-ups are only possible in the Toy Box mode I mentioned earlier.
While, at first blush, this might seem like a limiting factor that detracts from the game, I think it is actually an intelligent decision. The game worlds that only allow certain characters can then be tailor-made to the set of figures. In terms of the narrative, they can stay within one "reality" and that permits them to reference connections between the player characters and the world instead of having to go for sweeping generalizations that fit any and all possible figures. From a gameplay design standpoint, it also allows a great array of powers for the figures. They can feel free to give Marvel's The Falcon flight abilities, and not have to worry that he breaks every platform-jumping level in the Star Wars playset.
Overall, a very exciting time to be a toy collector and/or a video game enthusiast; I'm sure this is only the beginning of a cool new age for both.
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