Let’s say that… a few years back I was a huge collector of Skylanders. I pretty much have every single one except for Master Ro-Bow. That one was very elusive to find. I held it in my hands once and put it back in case I was sent one to promote. I was not sent one but almost half of the figures in the bookcase were provided to me by Activision. That saved me a ton of money but at the same time I spent a ton to get the others.
I had this idea when it was time to switch my office with Andy’s room. I decided that I was going to paint my bookcase black and att lights to it and make it a display for all of my Toys to Life figures. That was the segment of video game related toys that you could activate in a video game. Skylanders was the game that reawakened my love for video games. I picked up a Wii U and then later on a Nintendo Switch to play the Skylanders games. There ended up being six games in all and each with a new set of toys.
I started off the morning by drilling some holes in the back of the bookcase, two on each shelf and then two out the back at the bottom. I then ran a 33ft rope light through one hole up to the top of the first shelf of the bookcase. I got some clips that stuck on with a 3M adhesive. It was not enough. I ended up having to super glue on each clip to keep the rope from falling down. I was surprised, too because the glossy black paint was sticky (even after drying for well over a week and a half) and 3M command strips are the best. I love how they work. I don’t think these were command strip equivalent. Either way I ran the rope light up to the top of the bookcase and then around the top of each shelf back down to the bottom. I almost made it to loop the rope light around the full top of each shelf but at the bottom there was less rope light left. It is a spot you don’t see as much so I think I got away with it not being as bright as the other levels. This was the same rope light set that I got Andy for under his bed and above his futon.
Once everything was complete with the rope light I brought up all my Skylanders from the basement, I then had Andy help me sort them out and start putting them in the bookcase, now display case. I quickly realized that I was in no way going to display any other Toys to Life toys that I had. No LEGO Dimensions, No Disney Infinity, No Starlink or Nintendo amiibos. There simply was not enough room. As it was I only display the characters and a couple accessories on the very top. I do not display any of the SuperChargers vehicles or the power items like treasure chests and whatnot.
I am happy with how everything came out, though. Andy had a great time helping and we’re going to start playing the game together tomorrow. I think he’s now at a level where he will be able to pick up the concepts of this game easily enough. Much more than when he was 3 and 4 years old where I took him to New York for Skylanders Playdates with Activision. He had fun but doesn’t quite remember going. Every Skylander was a surprise to him, too.