Skylanders: Imaginators: Everything We Know

Story

So, here's the official story for Imaginators.

"The story of Skylanders Imaginators takes place long ago when the Ancients used a mysterious power known as "Mind Magic" to create everything in Skylands. With it, they conjured into existence anything that they could imagine! However, they soon learned that in the wrong hands, it could be very dangerous, and so they sealed it away so that it could never be misused. After discovering this ancient secret, Kaos has unleashed the power of "Mind Magic" into Skylands once again - and he is using it to create an unstoppable army of Doomlanders, the likes of which have never been seen! Now it's up to Portal Masters to create Skylanders Imaginators from their own imagination and stop Kaos and his evil Doomlanders before it is too late. And to help train them, Eon is sending the greatest mystic warriors of all time - the Senseis!"

Gimmicks

Okay, so the lineup of Skylanders this year is twenty brand new Sensei Skylanders and eleven former Villains. No Core characters this year...but you can create your own! Much similar to the revamped characters that were made into SuperChargers from Skylanders: SuperChargers, Villains get to step into the spotlight and become Senseis. You'll learn more about them in the Villains section of this journal. The gimmick with Sensei characters is that they are of ten different Battle Classes, and they can fight using their weapons from that class.

The REAL deal here is that Portal Masters can now create their own characters and play in the game. Those custom characters are referred to as the Imaginators. According to Activision, this was inspired by five years of receiving drawings of fanon characters from kids, asking that they implement their character into the game.

Senseis and Imaginators have a relationship as if it were a master to apprentice. Senseis do have certain gimmicks. First of all, because they are the masters of their Battle Classes, they have the ability to perform "Sky-Chi", which is some sort of super-move for their respective Battle Classes. Also, because of their relationship, Senseis can unlock Imaginator weapons, teach them new techniques, increase their level captivity, and allow them to access special areas in the game.. Senseis can perform this by simply defeating an area of enemies. Once they do that, a chest appears, containing a weapon called "Imaginite". These weapons are part are one of hundreds of different weapons, each under one of the ten specific Battle Classes. Each weapon is also one of four different rarities, which are common, rare, epic, and mythic. The rarer the item, the more powerful the weapon.

On darkSpyro's forum, there has been speculation of the Skylanders having the ability to switch weapons. According to Activision, they're half right. The weapon gimmick IS a thing, but they can't be swapped outside of the game. Instead, you can switch in weapons when creating characters. These weapons can upgrade an Imaginator's attributes, such as speed, defense, and strength. As I said before, most of the Imaginite are found in chests scattered across the storyline. I assume that in customization mode, you start off with a bunch of stuff that you can use to create your character, but you can also unlock a bunch of other stuff as you progress through the campaign.

I almost forgot! There are these new toys types called "Creation Crystals", which contain a piece of Imaginite. They are what allow Portal Masters to create characters. There's going to be some for each element, but I don't know how many. And yes, you use a crystal of a specific element to create that Skylander of the element. For instance, owning a Fire Creation Crystal will enable you to create a custom Fire Skylander. You can only use a crystal to create ONE character, but you can tweak you character at any point in the game. You can purchase as many crystals as you like to create them. The cool thing about this is that you can save your character onto your crystal and take it everywhere you go, playing it on another friend's console. Once you enter customization mode, you will be greeted by a huge selection of heads, ears, arms, legs, and other body types. You can also choose their Battle Class, choose their weapon, and adjust their height, width, give them a catchphrase and voice, and even a name. Once you're done, you can play as them! Did I mention you can customize their powers, too?

Pertaining to their upgrades, for Portal Masters who think you'd have the opportunity to create your own attacks, you are half right. Each Imaginator has four sets of attacks: their two starting abilities, four elemental abilities, four secret techniques, and their Soul Gem. An Imaginator's primary attack is heavily focused around their Battle Class, and their secondary attack is focused around their element. For example, in a particular demo, an Imaginator of the Fire element and the Smashing class had a primary attack that uses an ax to smash enemies, and for their secondary attack, they left a trail of fire. Each Imaginator also has four unlockable elemental abilities, which I assume you'd need to visit Persephone and have a lot of gold to upgrade them with. An Imaginator also has four "secret techniques", which are only unlocked by putting a Sensei of the same Battle Class on the portal for the first time. As for their Soul Gem, I have no idea how you unlock them. I doubt that their are Soul Gems hidden across the campaign to grab them.

There are rumors that Activision has been using 3D printing to allow a limited number of Portal Masters to print 3D toys of their own characters. You can use those characters in the game. Activision is also trying to find a way to share their creations with the rest of the world. 

Skylanders from past games are going to return, but not in the form of reposes. They're going to be more involved with the story. For example, I saw a gameplay video where Jet Vac was the narrator of the chapter, and also a part where you needed to save him from being captured by enemies. Looks like they're giving older characters some love!

For brand new characters, the elemental bases have completely changed. The have been converted to pedestals with markings that corresponds to their element, as well as a symbol indicating their Battle Class. 

Co-op is also available, and it can be played with any type of Skylander, including Imaginators. The game will support all of the characters from the past games. There's also going to be a new storyline and gameplay. The game's graphics seem so polished compared to the older games, and it appears to be more of an open world. The online racing mode from SuperChargers will be carried over to Imaginators. Traps will have the same use as they did in SuperChargers, making them albeit useless unless you like playing Skystones. No word of other modes, like Battle Mode yet.

Characters

Senseis

Okay, now let's talk more about Senseis. Sensei characters are the ones that teach their Imaginators as if they were their apprentices. Each Sensei is a master of one of ten different Battle Classes. All have been confirmed: Smasher, Knight, Ninja, Bazooker, Quickshot, Sorcerer, Brawler, Sentinel, Swashbuckler, and Bowslinger. Each Sensei can perform a super move over their Battle Class called "Sky-Chi". For those who thought, it isn't their Soul Gem, but it's actually a power bar that you power up by defeating enemies. Once the bar is filled, you can use this OP attack. Senseis can also unlock special areas, such as Sensei Statues that only characters of a specific Battle Class can unlock. If they do, they unlock a Super Sky Chi move.

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King Pen

With these two brand new Senseis revealed, that means we still have sixteen other characters yet to be known. In the official trailer for the game, a unknown Water Sensei wielding two squid-like water guns and an unknown Air Sensei wielding a sword (we could tell their elements by their belts and their respective element symbols on them). It hasn't been confirmed, but it is quite possible that the Air and Water Senseis are Knight and Quickshot Senseis, respectively. But this is still completely unconfirmed.
 

Villains

Sources

Skylanders: Imaginators?? (Details Added)The Toys R Us website has leaked the name of "Skylanders: Imaginators". And a Skylanders PR youtuber accidentally revealed details on the game and broke the embargo.
"Portal Masters can unleash their imaginatons like never before when Skylanders Imaginators launches on October 16 in North America! Skylandes Imaginators gives kids the power to create Skylanders and bring them to life for the first time in an all-new adventure with a compelling storyline, puzzles, battles, and a new lineup of heroes and villains.
Since the inception of Skylanders, kids around the world have imagined their own Skylanders characters. Towys for Bob, the orignators of Skylanders and pioneers of Toys-to-Life, is back as the lead development team. Skylanders Imaginators will offer fans more choices than ever before with infinite possibilities to create. Now fans can create their own Skylanders with endless combinations of powers, abilities, catchphrases, and much more that deliver hours of replayable fun.
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