Sky Blast (Armada)

The name or term "Skyblast" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Skyblast (disambiguation).

Sky Blast is a Mini-Con from the Armada portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.

Be small and have a big stick for an arm.

Sky Blast is a hothead with hot feet. He's always rushing into battle without a second thought, and sometimes not even a first. This gets on the nerves of his friends on the Space Mini-Con Team, but they know he means well. Still, his battle-cry of "BLAST OFF!!!" can get annoying quickly.

Japanese name: Apollo

Fiction

Armada cartoon

He talks like a dial-up modem.

Dreamwave Armada comic

He was Optimus Prime's go-to guy for shooting down stuff in space.

Toys

Armada

• Space Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-13

Sky Blast transforms into a multi-thruster rocket of undetermined make. He is designed to be carried on his teammate Payload's truck-mode. He also forms the main chamber of the combined Requiem Blaster weapon. He was only available in the Space Team set with Astroscope and Payload.

The Space Team was put in "clamshell" packaging with other Mini-Con teams as "bonus buy" packs in several different store chains, including the Adventure Mini-Con Team, Night Attack Mini-Con Team, and Road Assault Mini-Con Team.

This mold was used to make Backblast. It was slated for a few other redecoes that were ultimately not released (see below).

• More information on Sky Blast at TFU.info

• Space Micron X-Dimension (Basic, 2003)
  • Japanese ID number: MM-14

For their Japanese X-Dimension release, the entire Space Team was redecoed in shades of green and brown... an oddly terrestrial color scheme for a space-based group.

• More information on X-Dimension Apollo at TFU.info

• Apollo (Candy toy, 2003)
  • Change Micron ID number:

Sky Blast was sold as an individual in the second series of Kabaya "Change Micron" candy toys in Japan. This mold is based on the original, but is in fact an entirely new mold with numerous minor sculpting differences. It's likely this toy is also not gang-molded with his teammates like the original. The most notable differences between the Hasbro/Takara Sky Blast and the Kabaya version is the latter has darker-blue plastic for the left arm and head, plus lacks the "burn mark" spray-painting on his legs.

• More information on Change Micron Apollo at TFU.info

• Jetfire w/ Comettor (Ultracon, 2003)

The Space Team was placed in a bubble attached to the top of normal Armada Jetfire packages as a bonus-buy in Target stores for a limited time in the US.

Energon

• Ultra Magnus (Ultra, 2004)

The Space Team was redecoed and packaged in with Energon Ultra Magnus. Magnus was originally going to be packed with a new-characters redeco of the Street Speed Mini-Con Team (Brakedown, Clocker and Override, no Team name given), but were changed towards the last minute. Exactly why the change to the Space Team was made has yet to be determined.

The toy was a last-minute "eleventh hour" redeco, along with Rapid Run and Treadbolt. As such, their packaging photography had to be completed before properly-painted samples could be obtained, so the box-back photos use the original decos; Magnus' box also shows the original Street Speed Team rather than the Space Team.

Magnus, Rapid Run and Treadbolt were produced in smaller numbers than the rest of the normal retail Energon line (reportedly only about 10,000 units each), were was only available in the initial shipments of the line. However, Magnus' shipment saw a very limited release, quickly replaced with the second assortment in the US, making him hard to come by. Magnus later showed up in much larger numbers in Australia, Canada and some European markets, and was made available in Japan through e-Hobby with the box altered via a black and white sticker, reflecting the Space Team's addition. The back of the European release's box was further corrected, as the Mini-Cons shown were changed along when more languages were added.

• More information on Energon Sky Blast at TFU.info

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team & Space Mini-Con Team (Multi-pack, 2004)

The Space Team was part of a Wal-Mart exclusive Energon-series six-pack, in their original Armada deco. They came with the "Road Assault" version of the Race Team.

Unreleased

Don't eat the brown acid!

• Test-shots of a slightly-altered Space Team have popped up from various sources. It's possible this was intended to be a mid-series deco-change for the team, though it looks unfinished at best. The team has the exact same paint application layouts in the exact same colors as the original. Sky Blast's white and blue plastics changed to black, and that's it.

• The Space Team was also slated to be redecoed as pack-in partners for Universe Spacewarp. When the toy was saved from limbo by Fun Publications, they intended to keep the Mini-Con partners, but were told by Takara that the Armada-era Team molds were too worn-out to use again. As such, the team was replaced by a redeco of the Giant Planet Mini-Con Team when "Astrotrain" finally saw release.

Notes

• Sky Blast's persona seems to be based on the Fantastic Four's Human Torch, to go with Astroscope being Mister Fantastic and Payload being the Thing.

External links

• Gallery of the unreleased Armada Space Team at TFkenkon

• Gallery of the unreleased Spacewarp team at Black Gears