Choose and Name a New Hero – A Skylanders and Frito-Lay Gaming Party

As many of you know, we spent the first weekend of the month throwing an awesome gaming party in honor of Skylanders. With help from Frito-Lay, we had plenty of tasty treats on hand to make for an even greater event. However, with no birthdays or holidays needing celebrating, many were wondering what this party was for. The answer to that is quite simple – we were celebrating togetherness! Not only the togetherness of ourselves and our guests in attendance but the togetherness with you, our readers, and the incredible promotion created by the Frito-Lay and Skylanders brands.

You see, not too long ago, the two companies paired up on an epic journey that would soon allow fans everywhere to have their own part in the making of the newest game installment – Skylanders Trap Team™­  – due out this fall.

With more than two hundred current characters (more if you “swap” them!) in the Skylanders series, we all have our favorites. In the latest version of the game, the swapping of different characters’ top and bottom halves allows you to create your own unique characters. Now, after having done that for quite some time, I cannot tell you how often my children have blurted out phrases such as “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” in regard to a character’s special abilities or made up their own names for characters after not being able to recall its true name. With that being said, how fun would it be if we actually had the chance to bring those “what if’s” and those made-up names to life? You see, that is where the Frito-Lay and Skylanders promotion comes in.

This past February launched the start of the Choose and Name a New Hero contest. Through this contest, fans were given a unique opportunity to name a new Skylanders character. With three character designs to choose from, you were able to choose your favorite of the bunch and use your imagination from there. What powers does this character possess? Which special abilities will this character have? And, most importantly, who is this character? Nearly twenty thousand name suggestions rolled in and the top three, one for each character design, were announced.

Please allow me to, once again, introduce you to “High Five,” “Flip Wreck,” and “Bat Spin.”

“High Five,” submitted by Phylicia Nakamoto from Elk Grove, California, is the fifth son of the Royal Flying Dragonflies. Famous for his great speed, this hero can fly higher and faster than any other dragonfly in Skylanders.

“Flip Wreck,” submitted by Noel Foster from Clearwater, Florida, is imagined as a half-dolphin and half-shipwreck, unlike any Skylanders the world has ever seen.

“Bat Spin” submitted by Kimberly Josey from Charlotte, North Carolina, is a witch tasked with saving the underworld from trolls to prove worthy of joining the Skylanders heroes.

We hope you voted for your favorite of the three characters and helped to decide the ultimate hero of heroes. The winning character and name will appear on the packaging for and in the Skylanders Trap Team™ video game scheduled for release this October. In addition to having the incredible bragging rights of naming a brand new character for an award-winning game franchise, the finalist receiving the most eligible vote will win a spectacular $100,000 scholarship! Stay tuned for my upcoming posts where I’ll be sharing more exciting news from Frito-Lay! Don’t miss out!

To celebrate the Choose and Name a New Hero contest and the soon-to-be announced winning character, I too partnered with Frito-Lay and Skylanders to bring all of the fun to the masses. As I previously mentioned, we gathered some family and friends for a fun gaming party over the weekend. Having been supplied with some great goodies for the event, we set off on our very own Skylanders adventure and loved being able to take part in all of the fun.

From a personal standpoint and as a mom, I’m usually the one in the kitchen prior to any in-home event. While we did stick to the basics for our gaming party, the highlight in regard to edible items was certainly the Frito-Lay snacking options. More often than not, I am running around like a mad woman during our events between entertaining the kids and mingling with the adults so while I am always sure to provide our guests with a vast array of delicious food options and tasty treats, my meals always end up a bit backward. I tend to snack first during an event and then make a meal for myself of the leftovers after our guests head home. This was no different. However, as opposed to filling up on cookies, candy, and junk, I got to munch on some great snacks from Frito-Lay. Please excuse the omission of some usual Frito-Lay favorites (Cheetos® and Cool Ranch Doritos® snacks) as there were some that didn’t make it to the gaming party date. Having them sit in our pantry all week was a bit too tempting and, instead, they found their way into lunch bags and after dinner treats. Whoops!

Needless to say, the kids were quite thrilled to set themselves up with the Skylanders game itself and soon took to the outdoors with character figurines in hand. That is actually one of my favorite aspects of the Skylanders franchise because it is so much more than “just a game.” Surely the kids had a blast playing with the characters’ on screen counterparts and defeating the evil Kaos but having the additional aspect of play with the character figurines themselves makes it all the more fun. As if that weren’t enough, the lovely folks over at Skylanders supplied us with a wondrous selection of branded items to add even more excitement to our little shindig. In the end, between the game itself, the fun characters, and all of our prizes it was an incredible Sunday fun day! The kids even got to end the day with some of the coolest pajamas ever!

Speaking of prizes, that brings me back to the Choose and Name a New Hero contest. In the midst of all of our gaming party fun, each of us sat down to take a minute and vote for our own favorite of the three final characters. That was the reason for celebration after all. Of course, we wouldn’t want to leave the lot of you out of the winning so be sure to keep an eye out for the winner of our own Frito-Lay and Skylanders gift basket prize pack giveaway!

CONNECT:
Keep up with Frito-Lay and Skylanders via their social media outlets to stay up to date on all of the latest news, exciting events, new product releases, sale prices, giveaways, fun promotions, and more. There, you can also follow along with the Choose and Name a New Hero contest!

• Frito-Lay on Facebook and Twitter
• Skylanders on Facebook and Twitter

BUY:
You can purchase Frito-Lay and Skylanders products from a vast majority of retailers (food, gaming, big box, etc.) online and in-store nationwide. To celebrate this promotion, fans will receive $10-Off coupons for Skylanders SWAP Force™ starter packs in specially marked packages of Frito-Lay Classic Mix and Flavor Mix 20-count variety packs.

*Randi participated in this campaign on behalf of Frito-Lay and Skylanders (by way of Activision) and received the above product(s), free of charge, to facilitate this post as well as a promotional item as thanks for her participation. All opinions are those of the reviewer only.