Discussion: Why I'm Buying Disney Infinity 3.0

I bought the first three Skylanders games. I liked them. I have nearly 150 characters to prove it. When I decided I wasn't going to follow the Skylanders franchise into their fourth game, Trap Team, I thought that the vast majority of my interest in the Toys to Life genre was finally at an end.

Sure, I own a few Amiibo: Peach, Zelda and Jiggly Puff. But I don't feel the same burning, needs-medical-treatment-now need to "catch 'em all" that I did with Skylanders. I also collect the Amiibos with Jay, so we keep the cost down but not needlessly repeating characters.

And from what I saw in Disney Infinity 1.0, I was pretty sure I'd "never" get that game. The playsets they released for their first game were all franchises I knew nothing about. Whew! Dodged a bomb there, didn't I?

Um, no. Bombs have timers for a reason, and the Disney Infinity bomb is about to explode onto my collection shelves with the purchase of Disney Infinity 3.0.

Which leads to a really great question...

What Changed My Mind?

It all started when I saw this totally adorable figure on the shelves at WalMart. I've been drawn to Infinity figures a time or two before--Elsa from Frozen almost got a purchase, as did Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas--but I've always held off because I knew that Disney Infinity 1.0 was totally not for me. I don't know anything about any of the franchises they used, and the one I have memories of (The Lone Ranger) is something I heard they messed up. Badly.

But this adorable (?!) little Disgust figure? She almost came home with me. The only reason (aside from thinking "I don't play Disney Infinity!) was because I spent nearly $120 on the game, card reader and cards for Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. But once I got home I kept thinking about the figure I'd left at WalMart, and that lead to me researching the newest Disney Infinity game--3.0--and realizing this might be the year for me to totally jump in.

As a fan of Star Wars, there's no way Disney could release this figure set and have me not buy it. THey're just too cute! And if I'm going to buy them and get the playset piece to unlock their part of this year's Infinity, why not grab that too when it comes with Anakin (Yay!) and a new character named Ahsoka that I'll now have an excuse to research? I figure that if I buy the figures and ignore the play piece I'm leaving money on the table. Since I don't agressively collect Amiibo and don't collect Skylanders anymore, there's nothing stopping me from collecting infinity on a financial level, either.

But is the game good enough to warrant the $65 price tag that Disney is asking to get in? I've been doing a lot of research ever since I saw the Disgust figure and I think at this point--for me--it's a resounding yes. Here are a few reasons:

1. I don't feel the "gotta catch 'em all" urge that I had with Skylanders since I don't necessarily want or like every Disney character or franchise that has been made. 
2. The normal (non-crystal) figures also don't seem to suffer from as much scalping as the Amiibos do, so I don't mind grabbing one here and two there from the store or via Amazon. 
3. As with my love of Skylanders, I like the family oriented nature of the Toys to Life genre. I'm a social gamer, not a super gamer, so having a more laid back difficulty curve works for me.
4. The whole "toy box" concept is extremely appealing to me. I've been designing games in programs like RPG Maker 2000 for decades, so getting a shot at using all the great Disney stuff is really, really, exciting! 
5. There are a decent number of online options. It's still not the full online I'd like from a game like this--and it may never be, I know they need to protect kids--but there seems to be more of a happy medium here than what I've seen in other Toys to Life products.
6. Even if I don't fall head over heels for the game, I'll still love the figures I buy for it. I'm not going to look at a figure of Mulan and ask myself "Who was that again?" the way I might about Bash or Cynder these days. 
7. Since I can add to my collection at my own pace, I can invest what I want to while I decide if I am committed to this before I spend a ton of money on this. I'm sure I'll buy more than just a starter set--for me to really get into this kind of game that's a given. But I don't need to buy the 30 some figures here that interest me all in one big spending spree, so picking up a few won't be bad. 

Will Disney Infinity 3.0 give me the kind of experience I want or need? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, though: my poor, dusty PS4 is going to be very happy to see it. It's not fun being a $450 (CDN) paperweight. Hopefully this will give the machine something to do. 

Kat & Jay's Halloween Swap

Welcome to Kat & Jay's very first Halloween Swap! <3

I (Kat) got into doing swap boxes through the My Little Pony Arena, and with the amount of time I spend planning, wrapping, and sending boxes to my pony friends sending one to my boyfriend just seems to make sense. :) So today we're going to break down what this swap will (or can) consist of since Jay hasn't done one of these before.

Items In Box: Candy, Card, Other

Budget: TBD (to be decided)

Kat's preferences:

Sweets & Treats:

Chocolate: 

Milk, White and Dark (depends on what they're in). Any with peanut butter or hazel nut filling. Soft caramel, peanuts, and almonds are all good. I love chocolate and cookie together, or anything that has a sweet 'n salty theme. (Cookies? Chocolate covered pretzels? Almond or Peanut M&Ms? Yay to all--even if I did get sick on peanut M&Ms the other week. Blech!) Fruit fillings, like chocolate with strawberry, orange, etc. can be fun, too. Chocolate and mint can be nice.

Specific Bars I like: Reese Peanut Butter cups, Kinder Bueno, KitKat, Twix, M&Ms, Hershey's Cookies 'n Cream... Wow, so many of the ones I think of end up being Canadian. What the heck do you guys have over there?! Hopefully Jay will use the top part to send some unique chocolate I haven't tried yet, or different variations of old favorites. :P

I also love Turtles and I'd love to try those Lindor Truffles I know Jay likes--I'm generally too cheap to buy 'em but that might change if I like them. :P

Candy:

Skittles (original or darkside), Laffy Taffy (I can't get this here), Gushers or Maynard's Juicy Squirts (I adore both), Jolly Ranchers (the candy of my childhood), Starburst (love!), Jelly Belly Jellybeans (Jellybeans in general! I love these! Yum!), RealFruit gummies, fuzzy peaches, sour patch kids (how the hell did I forget that I like these?!)

Cookies 

I just discovered Pepperidge Farm's Milano (they call 'em Monaco over here) cookies and I'm HOOKED. I can get Double Chocolate or Chocolate Mint here, but it looks like a ton of different flavors are available across the border. Ones that keep the chocolate and yummy cookie factor but which add in Raspberry, White Chocolate, Caramel, or Toffee might be neat. And I need to remember I like mint and get the mint ones for myself next time!

Tea or Hot Chocolate: 

I adore fruit teas and am always looking for new flavors to try. Those I've had include Blueberry, Raspberry, Pomegranate, and Peach. An apple cinnamon tea, pumpkin spice tea, or some variant on Chai tea might be good this time of year. As for Hot Chocolate, something interesting like mint hot chocolate, cinnamon hot chocolate, hot chocolate with marshmellows, etc. would be neat.

I Don't Like:

Nerds, Black Licorice, anything really spicy, anything major sour, most really sticky / chewy / hard candy (if it's listed above its an exception), Coconut, Whoppers, (american) Smarties (Blech, placebo candies. Gross. Remind me of taking Tegretol).

Non Food Items:

Larger Items:

Anything "Inside Out", especially if it has Disgust, Sadness or Anger. I'd have the movie on my list, but it releases November 3rd. *facepalm* Wanted items include plushies, Funko Pop! figures, small figures holding memory orbs that work with the Headquarters playset, and the Disney Infinity figures. (I may break down and get the special edition 3.0 Star Wars one that is PS exclusive... You get 5 Star Wars figures!!! *drool*)

Disney Infinity -- Mao is buying this either late in October (after gift box) or early in November.

Playsets Mao Wants: Inside Out (comes with Joy, Anger and the play disc for this area) and Rise Against The Empire (comes with Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and their game disc)

Figures Mao wants: Disgust, Sadness, Fear, Mulan, Merida, Aladdin, Jasmine, Rapunzel, Elsa, Ana, Maleficent, Mickey, Minnie, Yoda, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, Black Widow, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Starlord, Gamorra, Rocket Raccoon, Draxx, Groot

My Little Pony items are always welcome. Right now I'm looking for "Water Cuties" Luna ($12 on Amazon.com), Water Cuties Blossomforth ($8 on Amazon.com), and Fashion Style Coco Pommel ($17 on Amazon.com)

Anything Sailor Moon to go with the little collection at the bottom of my TV. I've seen cute little figures on stands, incredible posable figures that may give my MH dolls the boot (those are likely more a birthday / valentines / Christmas / anniversary type thing--they run about $40) and an adorable 5 keychain set. I'm also still missing all the DVDs.

Amiibos -- I would love to get the Rosalina & Lumia one; she reminds me of Elsa. Bowser or Yoshi would be great. Palutena looks like she could hang out in my Disgust shrine, even if I haven't played Kid Icarus; Dark Pit looks badass, Bowser Jr. in the floating happy face cup is great, the female inkling looks like she could be a cartoon of Renna, the wooly Yoshis are precious, Pikachu is totally an option, and Robin and Lucina (1: Fire Emblem; 2: They look like they could be Zak and Amy). Shulk, from Xenoblade, might also be a great Zak candidate--depends if you prefer him with light blond vs. white hair.

Smaller Items:

Amiibo Cards: I'm still on the hunt for that elusive Isabelle card and my very own copy of Tom Nook, among others.

Washi / Decorative tape: I'm addicted to this stuff! One common type sold at stores is Scotch Expressions, and another is Tape Works. Or you can get creative and hunt for it on Amazon. I've wanted a set of the lace tapes for two months now!! Gonna need some Christmas colors soon, too!!

A cute pencil case for my pencils and pens and one to store my Washi tapes: Don't need to necessarily send 'em both, but they're an idea. I like ones of characters I love (Disney, inside out, hello kitty, marvel, turtles, etc., ones that are fluffy or glittery, ones with cute animals... Just nothing BORING! :P ) Protip which you can use or ignore: If you send something like this, filling it with stuff like Candy, pens, Washi, etc. is a great way to utilize box space. :D

Stickers! I is Mao and Mao likes stickers. :p Same as the Pencil case thing: I like cute, glittery or things done in themes that I like. (Disney, Inside Out, Marvel / DC, Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty, MLP... I'm there.)

I'd love a coloring book of Disney Princesses or Inside Out. I want something where color is needed and there are a variety of characters to color in. (Really want to get a book and do the drawings as if they are the Sealers someday, lol. Imagine the Princesses turned into my characters? Hehehe...)

Glitter glues, glitter pens, glitter tapes... Basically any art things that sparkle!

SmashBook supplies--especially the little Journaling Cards. Ask me and I'll show 'em to you on Amazon. If you can find these for a reasonable price locally, I'd love some. If they're pricey, ignore this. I'm still dying for one of their Smash Kits (particularly drawn to the Food, Cute and Fashion ones) but that's more of a "big" gift and may be too big for this.)

Decorating Info:

My favorite colors: Bright Pink, Sky Blue, Bright Purple, Emerald and Forest Green. I also like classic orange and black for Halloween or Red & Black if a Vampire theme is wanted. I also find themed wrapping papers cute if they go with the box's theme. I also like anything sparkly, glittery or shiny, and anything animal print.  Anything involving the things I collect or animals I love (cats, pigs, dogs, unicorns / horses, dolphins,

Jay'S Preferences:

Sweets & Treats:

Chocolate:

Since Jay is prone to stomach aches from chocolate, he prefers it in smaller doses and in other things, like Cookies. Ideas include Turtles, Lindor Truffles,

Candy:

In contrast, Jay loves candy. Options include Jelly Belly, Jolly Ranchers, Darkside Skittles, Fruit Gummies, and Fruit Roll Ups / Fruit By The Foot (both or which?).

Also expressed interest in a thing of salted cashews.

Cookies: Jay has expressed interest in the Chocolate Mint Monacos I can get.

Hot Chocolate: Jay seems interested in the Multi Pack I can get. (Coffee Crisp, Rollo & After Eight Mint).

Jay Doesn't LIke:

Peanuts, Peanut Butter, Anything with chocolate that says "with extra milk!", 'cheap' mainline brand chocolate--even minis make him ill.

Non-Food Items:

Larger Items:

Smaller Items:

Decorating Info:

Jay's favorite colors are red and black. His favorite animals are penguins, hamsters, cats and turtles. He likes Batman, Mario, Legend of Zelda, Adventure Time, and Dragon Ball Z.

***

Clearly there is still some spaces to fill and decisions to make, but we seem to be underway. :)