The Villains are a group of most wanted evil creatures in Skylands in Skylanders: Trap Team. They were originally kept behind bars in the Cloudcracker Prison until Kaos freed them to build his own army. Using magical Traps, Portal Masters are able to recapture these villains and use them to fight for good. An evil villain called the Golden Queen seeks to recruit the strongest villains into her gang called the Doom Raiders to spread complete mayhem.
After escaping from Cloudcracker Prison, the villains can be found throughout the game story. They can be encountered in plain sight or hidden in certain areas of the chapters. When a villain is defeated, they release a wave of energy that wipes out other nearby enemies that were summoned by the villain. If the player doesn't have the elemental trap that is needed to trap the villain, the player can simply not trap the villain and they will be taken to the Villain Vault instead where they can be switched in or out later.
At first, the villains are playable for 30 seconds, prompting the switching between villain and Skylander. The timer gradually increases as you complete Villain Quests. Not only do the Villain Quests increase the respective villain's timer, it also changes their color. However, Sheep Creep, Chomp Chest, and Kaos' timers are longer than other villains'
In the 3DS version of Trap Team, the Nightmare Villains take over the role of capturable villains. Unlike the console versions, traps are not needed to capture these villains, and can be summoned to release an special attack than strongly damages enemies, rather than being playable (with the exception of Villain Bootcamps).
Dreamcatcher and Golden Queen are both female Doom Raiders with featureless eyes.
All trap exclusive Villains, such as Riot Shield Shredder and Outlaw Brawl & Chain, remain in their original color schemes even when they are evolved.
Pain-Yatta appears to be the most popular non-Doom Raider in terms of merchandise and media; with his own "Meet the Villains" trailer, being the main villain in the Light in the Dark comics, being included in the Skylanders: Trap Team McDonald's Happy Meal toy line, returning as a racer in Skylanders: SuperChargers (also being playable in Racing), being the main villain in the Magic Realm of Skylanders: Battlecast, and becoming a Sensei in Skylanders: Imaginators.
Most villains do appear in Skylanders: SuperChargers, however, traps no longer allow the player to play as villains (now done through Trophies), but instead provide ammo and unlock Skystones in Skystones Overdrive.
Originally, villains were going to have health bars when trapped.
Prior to being trapped, most Villains usually say a line in an attempt to persuade the Portal Master to capture them. Despite this, most Villains seem like they do not want to be captured when being sucked into the vortex.
Luminous, Nightshade, Brawlrus, Eye Five, and Krankenstein are the only villains who did not resist capture when being sucked into the vortex.
Nightshade, however, attempted to break out of the trap while Krankenstein looked around hoping to find a door.
Coincidentally, Eye Five and Krankenstein both thought that being sucked into the vortex was fun.
Some of the villains change their elements in Imaginators after becoming Senseis. Tae Kwon Crow, Grave Clobber and Hood Sickle were the first to do this.
Some time in 2017, the villain page was removed from the official Skylanders website.
Kaos has the longest theme out of all the Villains, with a track length of 65 seconds.
The lowest amount of villains you can get when playing through the entire game is 8/10 (depending on whether you play the expansion packs) as doom raiders can not be skipped using Enigma.
Kaos and the Chompy are the only two trappable villains who first appeared in Spyro's Adventure, while the Chompy Mage and Bone Chompy are the only two trappable villains who debutted in Giants. Every other trappable villain made their first appearance in Trap Team.
A Loose Cannon (or Toys For Bob's version of the enemy) was originally planned to be a trappable enemy of the Tech element in Skylanders: Trap Team. This idea was scrapped for unknown reasons.
Blocker Birds were at some point considered as Feathered Fiends, and one had a trapping sequence and several never seen before animations partially complete.
