Skylanders Official Annual 2013

Skylanders Official Annual 2013
Author:	Cavan Scott
Publisher:	Ladybird Books (United Kingdom) Grosset & Dunlap (United States)
Release Date:	September 6, 2012 (Battle for Skylands) September 25, 2012 (Skylanders Official Annual 2013)
Pages:	64
Category:	Annual
Based on:	Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure

The Skylanders Official Annual 2013 is the first annual made for the Skylanders franchise. Like all annuals, it is a small activity book filled with various activities for the reader to try, short stories and other fun tidbits for young fans. Though the full annual was never officially released outside of the United Kingdom, several activities and other segments within it were utilized for the activity book Skylanders Universe: Battle for Skylands.

Summary

This is the first ever official annual to accompany the ground-breaking video game, "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure".

Contents

Activities

Which Element are You? - A quiz that determines which of Skylands’ eight elements the reader would belong to. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Could You be a Skylander? - A quiz that determines whether the reader could be a Skylander, someone who helps behind the scenes like Hugo, or a full-fledged villain. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Escape from Doom! - A board game where the player must escape from Kaos’s Deadly Dungeons of Even Deadlier Doom, all while braving various trials along the way.

A Skylander Search - A word search puzzle in which the reader must find the names of various Skylanders using provided hints.

Skylands Superbrain! - A crossword puzzle that the reader must fill out based on their knowledge of Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure.

True or False - The reader must correctly answer a set of questions based on their knowledge of Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Spot the Difference - The reader must find a set of differences between two pictures of Crystal Eye Castle. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Wheelspin! - The reader must write down the names of several Skylanders and determine which one’s name does not fit into the wheel.

Chompie Chase - The reader must help Stealth Elf navigate through a maze while avoiding Chompies. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Crusty Codebreaker - The reader has to crack a code with Wham-Shell in order to unveil vital information about Kaos. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Say What? - The reader must match Skylanders to their proper catchphrases. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Observation Deck - The reader must study a collage of official art and answer several questions about it.

Dice Game - A game in which the reader will determine the outcome of various scenarios by rolling a six-sided die, with the scenario they get determined by whatever side the die lands on.

Gurglefin’s Fin-Ticklers! - A series of fish-themed puns and jokes by Gurglefin that the reader can rank by filling in their respective Laugh-o-Meters.

Who-Dunnit? - Using a set of clues, the reader must determine which Skylander set a flock of sheep loose in Hugo’s library.

Storm of Skulls - The reader must spot seven skulls with unique designs amid Hex’s storm of skulls. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

The Final Test! - The reader is quizzed on everything they have read within the book.

Bonus Activity: Roving Robbies - The reader must locate thirteen Rotting Robbies that have been hidden within the pages of the Annual.

Short Stories

Ice Scream

Eruptor, Spyro and Stealth Elf are sent to Blistering Beach by Master Eon on a mission. There, they find that the entire beach has been chilled down by a sleeping ice basilisk. Worse yet, anyone who’s tried to wake it up and get it to leave has been petrified by its gaze.

Spyro goes to get a mirror in hopes of petrifying the monster with its own gaze, but Eruptor rushes headfirst to fight the ice basilisk instead, and is frozen solid. The ice basilisk flies into a rage, and in its moment of anger, Stealth Elf distracts it by making so many clones of herself that the basilisk doesn’t know which one to strike first. While it’s distracted, Spyro pushes the ice block containing Eruptor into the basilisk’s view, and tricks it into viewing its own reflection. The basilisk explodes in a flurry of snowflakes as everything on the beach, including Eruptor, finally melts and returns to normal temperature. To celebrate, a beach-going Mabu named Sandyfuzz offers the Skylanders some popsicles, but Eruptor melts them as they’ve all had enough ice for one day.

Bad Luck Bay

Gill Grunt arrives at Lucky Lagoon, one of the luckiest places in all Skylands, after receiving an SOS from Gurglefin. He finds that the lagoon is left in complete disarray. Gill Grunt tries to help Gurglefin, but both parties keep encountering incidents of bad luck along the way. Gurglefin explains that this is because the land has suddenly become extremely unlucky, and wants Gill Grunt’s help in getting to the bottom of the mystery.

While fleeing from an eruption, Gill Grunt spies a black cat-shaped cloud in the sky, and flies within it to find Kaos and Glumshanks. Kaos explains that he has used his new Luck-Sucker-Upper to steal all of Lucky Lagoon’s luck, and turn it into a Good Luck Charm OF DOOM for his own personal use. Gill Grunt attempts to fight Kaos, but seemingly fails at first due to the evil Portal Master’s new lucky streak. However, as it turned out, Gill Grunt actually aimed his blow at the Luck-Sucker-Upper’s controls, and switched its polarity to only suck up bad luck instead.

The machine sucks up all the bad luck from Lucky Lagoon, and begins to break down as a result. Kaos tries to attack Gill Grunt, but his luck runs out. He fails to land his blow, and hits the machine’s self-destruct mechanism instead. The machine blows to bits and Kaos and Glumshanks crash-land on the beach, but Gill Grunt lands on top on them and remarks on his good luck.

Vanishing Voices

The Skylanders have all gathered to compete in the Annual Skylanders Battle Cry Contest. After a particularly fierce cry from Spyro, Sunburn goes to make his entry, but finds himself unable to speak. The same goes for the rest of the Skylanders as well, all thanks to one of Kaos’s spells.

Within the bushes nearby, Kaos and Glumshanks watch as the Skylanders are baffled by the loss of their voices, which Kaos is keeping in a bottle he calls the Mysterious and Ancient Decanter of Hush-Hush. While the Skylanders are preoccupied with the loss of their voices, Kaos aims to toss one of his foul-smelling socks into the Core of Light in order to jam it and bring it to a stop, which would the allow The Darkness to control Skylands. As they leave, Sunburn smells the sock and spies Kaos and Glumshanks in the crowd, but is unable to warn the others due to the loss of his voice. Instead, he spells out a warning in the sky using his flames.

The warning alerts the other Skylanders, who corner Kaos and Glumshanks. As Sunburn stops Kaos from leaving, Kaos flings both his sock and the Decanter into the air, and the Decanter shatters and gives back the Skylanders’ voices. With his voice returned, Sunburn bellows out his catchphrase as Kaos flees, and Sunburn is named the contest’s winner.

Other

Welcome to Skylands - A brief overview of Skylands and the important objects and figures within it for the reader.

Here Be Dragons! - A series of character biographies for the dragon Skylanders, which detail their backstories, personalities, special skills and a fun fact about them.

Hugo’s Skylands A-Z - Hugo rattles off a variety of people, creatures, objects and other aspects of Skylands, with one subject for every letter of the alphabet, in alphabetical order.

Secrets of the Arkeyans - A set of facts regarding the history and kinds of Arkeyans.

Wicked Wildlife Spotter Guide - A guide to some of the wildlife one might see in Skylands that includes the species’s notable features, habitats, facts about them and tips on how to survive meeting one. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Dear Uncle Hugo - Hugo runs an Agony Uncle column for his local newspaper and gives advice to several familiar faces.

Gill Grunt’s Pirate Attack Survival Guide! - Gill Grunt advises the reader on the various kinds of pirates in Skylands and how to survive an encounter with them. He also provides the reader with a secret message about Captain Dreadbeard that they must unscramble, and some phrases to help the reader speak like a pirate. This was one of the segments included in Battle for Skylands.

Stump Smash’s Guide to Trolls - Stump Smash shares some important information about Skylands’ trolls with the reader.

Master Eon: Exclusive Interview! - Hugo conducts an interview with Master Eon, and spills the details about the thoughts and musing of the elderly portal master.

A Day in the Life of… Lightning Rod! - A look at an average day in the life of Lightning Rod.

Featured Characters

Skylanders

• Flameslinger (cameo)
• Trigger Happy
• Prism Break
• Eruptor
• Gill Grunt
• Sonic Boom
• Zook
• Ghost Roaster
• Spyro
• Stealth Elf
• Drobot
• Whirlwind
• Zap
• Camo
• Cynder
• Sunburn
• Giants (mentioned)
• Wrecking Ball
• Chop Chop
• Drill Sergeant
• Dark Spyro
• Boomer (cameo)
• Stump Smash
• Bash
• Hex
• Warnado
• Ignitor
• Slam Bam
• Terrafin
• Dino-Rang
• Wham-Shell
• Sonic Boom
• Double Trouble

Characters

• Hugo
• Master Eon
• Kaos
• Glumshanks
• Sandyfuzz
• Cali
• Flynn
• Gill Grunt's Mermaid Girlfriend (mentioned)
• Professor P. Grungally (mentioned)
• Occulous (mentioned)
• Persephone (mentioned)
• Gurglefin
• Captain Dreadbeard

Trivia

• This is one of the few Skylanders books where Cavan Scott is credited under his real name, rather than his Skylanders-specific pseudonym Onk Beakman.
• In the Annual’s table of contents, A Skylander Search is called just “Skylander Search,” and Gurglefin’s Fin-Ticklers is mistakenly called “Gill Grunt’s Fin-Ticklers!” instead.
• Chompy is spelled as "Chompie" throughout the book.
• The back of the book contains solutions to several of the activities and a special promotional code for Skylanders: Universe.