I wrote this up for a SW collector forum and figured I'd copy it here for anybody interested in the new Disney Infinity 3.0 figures coming out on Sunday.
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With all the Force Friday hype I didn't realize that Disney Infinity 3.0 (the one with the Star Wars figures comes out on Sunday). I know a couple people play video games & I don't know who has played the Infinity games before or bought the figures, but I figured I'd do a little write-up so anybody who is jumping in for the SW figs knows what to expect.
The figures & how they are sold
Game bundles
The starter pack is $65. This includes the game, the base, the Twilight of the Republic playset piece, and the Anakin & Ahsoka figures.
There is also a Saga bundle exclusive to PlayStation platforms which includes the starter pack, plus the Rise Against the Empire Playset pack (RAtE playset piece, Luke & Leia figures), & Boba Fett. This is $115 & gets you the RAtE pack & Fett early.
Playset packs
If you don't want the game, you can buy the Playset packs for $35 each
Individual figures
The characters in the playsets are only available in those playsets, but you can buy additional figures for $14 each ($15 at TRU & GameStop)
Power Discs
These are used in the game. They give your character's boosts or will add vehicles/weapons to the toy box or you can change the sky and land theming to something different (Nemo discs put you underwater, Tron discs look like the Tron world, etc.) These used to be sold in pairs in a blind-pack, but will now be visible in a 4-pack for $10
Deals
If you're thinking that's kinda expensive, you'd be right. Luckily DI tends to have pretty frequent deals. You mostly see buy-2-get one free or 2 for $20 on the figures. The playsets don't go on sale as frequently though.
With the game launching on Sunday; Best Buy has buy 3 DI 3.0 items & get the 4th free; Target has 2 for $20 on all figures; TRU has 3 figures for $9 each with purchase of starter pack and buy-1-get-1-50% off on all figures
Exclusives
Disney Infinity doesn't usually do store exclusives. They did for the first game, but not the 2nd. What they will sometimes do is give a store an exclusive figure for a limited time. Usually a month. So you can get Kanan at WalMart first, but he'll be sold everywhere else in about a month.
What can I buy & when
Infinity figures & playsets tend to come out in waves for a couple months.
8/30 Star Wars characters
TotR Playset (Anakin & Ahsoka)
Yoda
Obi-Wan
Kanan (WalMart exclusive)
Zeb (GameStop exclusive) ($15)
Sabine (Target exclusive)
Ezra (TRU exclusive) ($15)
TotR Power Disc pack
Using the Best Buy deal to get the playset, Yoda, Obi-Wan, & Power disc pack this would all run you $121
Using the Target deal of 2 for $20 this would all run you $123 ($113 if you don't want the power discs)
8/30 Other characters
Inside Out Playset (Joy & Anger)
Disgust
Sadness
Fear (Amazon exclusive)
Mulan (Best Buy exclusive)
Olaf
Sam Flynn
Quorra
Mickey Mouse
Minnie Mouse
Tomorrowland Power Disc pack
9/29 Star Wars characters
RAtE Playset (Luke & Leia)
Darth Vader
Han Solo
Chewbacca
RAtE Power Disc pack
the previous release exclusives should be available everywhere now
11/03 Characters
Darth Maul
Hulkbuster Iron Man
Ultron
Other characters without a set release date
Boba Fett (possibly January)
Rey
Finn
The Force Awakens Playset (probably will have Rey & Finn)
Light FX figures (holiday time frame - versions of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Yoda, Darth Vader, Luke, & Kanan with lightsabers that light up when put on the game base [don't know if they'll be a way to light the sabers up off the base at some point][these will cost $1 more than regular figures])
Marvel Battlegrounds Playset (Spring 2016, a 4-player local cp so it might need 2 bases or a new base entirely)
Nick Wilde & Judy Hoops from Zootopia
Spot from The Good Dinosaur
Zootopia Power Disc pack
The Good Dinosaur Power Disc pack
You can stop reading now if you only care about the figures, here's a little about the actual game
The game has 2 modes - playsets or toy box. The playsets are story-based missions that require the playset piece to open up & you can only use certain characters in each playset. It's made for kids so the game isn't too challenging or deep. Toy box mode lets you create your own levels and games using a whole bunch of assets; or you can play levels other people have designed. You can mix & match any character from DI 3.0 or any of the previous games in this mode, some characters can only be used in the toy box.
Here's a list of reviews which will have more info on DI 3.0 specifically