I had mentioned this a few times either here, or on Twitter...or maybe both, but I'll go into detail here.

Blue Bash, is a translucent variant that is essentially a collectors item.  I say that because just like the Silver and Gold Skylanders, "Blue" Bash will look just the same as a regular version, and have the same final upgrade stats as regular Bash.

*One source initially reported that Blue Bash would be "more powerful,"  but they failed to elaborate on that info which I believe was credited to Jerry Storch, the CEO of Toys'R'Us.  Since that same post also mentioned enjoying the "Darklight Crypt with Terrafin" I am just going to totally discount it.

Daphney, the old school gamer chick who has a far better track record of being accurate than most of the junk the select few activision puppets, believes that Blue Bash will come out of the box (assuming you unbox him) at Level 5.  A nice touch, but certainly not anything super awesome.  That said, the real interest here is simply another limited run Skylander.

For better or worse, it will be a Toys'R'Us exclusive, at least initially.  The only real press release on this wasn't really crafted with clear and concise content if you know what I mean...The good news here is most stores started the "one per customer" practice which gives those of us with a life/job/school/tasks in the day that require dedication a chance to compete with low-life vermin who have nothing better to do than buy hot-ticket items, like Skylanders, and hock them on ebay to pad their own pocket-book.

I guess if it is going to be a pain to get it, it just as well have the better stats...although it would have been nice to see that with Silver/Gold Skylanders.

Skylanders actually ran a fan poll on Facebook, which I saw on Twitter.  They let fans vote for an "upcoming, special release" or something to that effect on the color.  I personally voted for blue, but at the time I thought it would be for a group of three like the Silver/Gold Skylanders.  If I had known it was just Bash (assuming it is), I would have gone with Red, it just suits him better imo.

The color looked great on the fan poll page...all of them were deep and vibrant.  The few chosen ones that Activision ships to or allows access to inside events have shown pics that are pretty much what the poll showcased.

That said, when Blue Bash went up for pre-order on Toys'R'Us.com (which I have to ask, how the heck do you know that is even going to happen?  I mean everyone of us that is into Skylanders from casual, or collector perspectives just knew to make look for him in April.  I'm in TRU all the time and SAW NO NOTICE about signing in on the morning of March 6th, 2012 to pre-order "X" quantities of Blue Bash) the color is not near as vibrant.  Maybe it is a shopped packing, or something, but I hope it does in fact look like the original figure showcased in the poll and not this dull, cloudy-day blue.

The price will be $9.99, unless activision, toys for bob, and toys'r'us decides they want to make even more off of us.

As with virtually everything in this series we have no info on quantities.

All of you know how big a fan I am of the series, but little things like, "4,200 Blue Bashes will be released , with 200 going via Pre-Sale and the remaining allocated evenly to our X number of stores" would be very much appreciated and give satisfaction to those lucky enough to land one, and a founding for those who don't to decide whether or not to risk loosing their home to buy one on ebay etc. Remember on packs of cards how you always have the odds printed on the back with "X Card 1:10, Y Card" 1:100, and then the Z Card 1:1,500" yeah, I'd love to see that, but doubt we will.

Oh, and if you wondered I believe  the online window to pre-order lasted 2-3 hours.  I found out a few hours too late...

My stance is if I don't get it at my local TRU....screw it.

I haven't used Bash much, and I've heard he upgrades great, but out of the Earth Element Skylanders he is my least favorite.  All the colors of the rainbow and upgrades in Skylands won't change that.  I'll give him a fair shot once upgraded, but overtaking Prism Break, Dino-Rang, or Terrafin seems highly unlikely...granted that is just me.  I know a lot of people prefer Bash over Dino-Rang and Prism Break.

I'll pay $9.99, but if my only option is to pay a scalper then I will keep my cash and invest in something else.

I wouldn't get all bent-out-of-shape if you can't land Blue Bash.  I would reckon that 40-50% of people that do will be scalping him...That seems to be the rate with Wave 3 Skylanders (oh and have I mentioned in this post that I STILL HAVE NOT SEEN CYNDER OR EMPIRE OF ICE LOCALLY?!).

Hopefully they will release 2 more "blue" Skylanders with the padded stats...guess that will be something exciting to monitor for...provided you have any stock to patrol :s  It will at least give me something to hunt for again...I might even avoid researching it just so I'll have that faint, glimmer of hope I might find something cool and rare, lol.

All that aside, here is a shot of what is sure to be yet another hot-ticket item:




As best I know he is to ship on April 2nd, 2012 to those who somehow knew of the pre-order.  That means TRU should have stock before then and will either be holding it back until that date, or just covering for slow transit.

Thanks to octaneblue for pointing out that your neighborhood TRU should be releasing Blue Bash on April 8th, 2012.  I think I read that, back when it came out, but honestly forgot, lol.  So if you are a fan of Bash you will definitely want to mark your calendar.

Keep your fingers crossed it is the vibrant blue we voted on and post up if you manage to snag one!