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.
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
Sky Blast was a Mini-Con whose storage panel lay dormant deep inside the crashed ship that was Autobot headquarters on Earth. When his partner Payload was pinpointed on a deserted island, a signal went out that located Sky Blast and Astroscope beneath the Autobot base and on the moon, respectively. The Street Action Team and the Autobots' pet kids went looking for the Mini-Con in the bowels of the base while most of the Autobots were engaged with the enemy on the island. They found Sky Blast and activated him but, in his petrified state, he fired on the children with his hand-cannon. Awakening
Despite his fearsome firepower, the kids quickly realized Sky Blast was more scared than they were, and Rad tried his best to be comforting to the Mini-Con. The Autobots were having a rough time against the new super-warrior Tidal Wave, and so Rad, Carlos and Red Alert took Sky Blast to the battlefield in the hopes that he could do something to help. The timid Mini-Con was still too unnerved to help, but after both Red Alert and Hot Shot were injured trying to protect him, and Rad constantly stood up for Sky Blast's right to choose for himself, Sky Blast made the brave choice and got involved in the fight. He summoned his fellow Space Mini-Con Team partners, calling up Payload from the ground and calling down Astroscope from the skies. The three of them linked up into the Requiem Blaster in mid-air for Optimus Prime, as he plummeted to the ground after a disasterous fight with Megatron and his Dark Fleet armor. Prime used the Requiem Blaster to carve out a landing spot for himself in the middle of the ocean, and was saved. Desperate
Sky Blast and his teammates briefly ran away from the Autobots, because they didn't want to be used for combat. After Optimus Prime rescued them from Thrust, he promised the Mini-Cons they would only join the battles against the Decepticons if they desired it -- no Autobots would force them to fight. Runaway
True to his word, Optimus Prime left Sky Blast and the others back at headquarters when the Autobots were called into battle against the Decepticons, with Smokescreen watching over them. The battle was only a lure for the Requiem Blaster, however, and Megatron and Thrust soon doubled back to attack the undermanned Autobot headquarters. Smokescreen fought bravely to defend the Space Mini-Con Team, but Megatron managed to subvert their programming and powerlinx with the trio, forcing them to form the Requiem Blaster and obliterate their Autobot protector. Sacrifice
Sky Blast and the Space Team had little time to act as individuals after that, remaining powerlinxed as the Requiem Blaster as Megatron's personal weapon, and later when the Decepticons used the gun as one-third of the Hydra Cannon, before it was stolen by Thrust and used to provide power to the heart of Unicron. Sky Blast, Payload and Astroscope reawakened as individuals with the help of High Wire and the Street Action Team, who had journeyed to Unicron's core with Optimus Prime, Galvatron and the Earth children to grant the super-weapon Mini-Cons their freedom. Origin Sky Blast fled Unicron aboard the Autobot Jetfire just before the Chaos-Bringer was finally destroyed. Mortal Combat
Dreamwave Armada comic
Back in the day, Sky Blast lived in Mini-Con village D10 alongside the other Space Team members, until one day when the Decepticons trashed the village and captured them. Dreamwave Armada issue 1 Along with most other imprisoned Mini-Cons, they eventually escaped and made their way to Earth, where their ship crashed on the Moon. For the next million years, Sky Blast and the others built and resided in a fortress base on the moon under the command of Dualor. Him and the Space Team were apparently responsible for the signal that called all the Mini-Cons living on Earth to the moonbase. Dreamwave Armada issue 9 Unfortunately, this attracted the Decepticons, who attacked the base. Dreamwave Armada issue 10
As Mini-Cons' defenses failed them, Sky Blast packed up his belongings (such as a rubber ducky) and prepared to take the next escape pod outta there. He was stopped by Sparkplug, who needed the Space Team's help to save Rad White, a human who was stuck in one of the moonbase's orbital mines. The team was hesitant, but were eventually convinced that they couldn't just run away. Sky Blast obtained the recall code for the relevant mine, but it didn't work properly, so he improvised a plan to bring the whole minefield to low lunar orbit. When this was done, Sky Blast headed out in person, using his rocket mode to reach the mine and pull it onboard a approaching Autobot shuttle. Dreamwave Armada issue 11
With nowhere else to go, the former moonbase residents temporarily sided with the Autobots. Sky Blast was seen listening to one of Rook's speeches about Mini-Con independence. Fire & Ice A while later, the Space Team oversaw a battle in Alaska, and Sky Blast recognized that the Destruction Team had driven Cyclonus berserk by deactivating their safety interlocks. He was later ordered by Optimus Prime to head into space and shoot down Megatron's destructive Solar Scalpel satellite, which he did at the very last second. Dreamwave Armada issue 13
Sky Blast was at the Autobase when the Autobots found an alternate-dimension Optimus Prime, who passed away after giving them a mysterious warning. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 With their own Optimus Prime missing somewhere in the multiverse, the Space Team started researching alternate dimensions in an attempt to find him. While Astroscope went on another mission, Sky Blast and Payload stayed at base, where they sent a temporal probe into a space bridge to scan different realities for Prime. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 While the defending Autobots were taken out one by one in a Decepticon attack, the two Mini-Cons had no choice but to sit tight, keep scanning and hope for the best. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4 After 75,890,007 realities, the probe finally found Optimus Prime, and Sky Blast quickly sent his spatial coordinates to Sparkplug, Over-Run and Comettor so that they could retrieve him. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4
Some time later, all the Mini-Cons on Earth gathered to join the fight against Unicron, including Sky Blast. They traveled to the Loop on their home planet, where they focused their energies into the Mini-Con Matrix and released a blast that crippled Unicron. The End
Panini Armada comics
In the early stages of the war, Sky Blast was among the Mini-Cons who supported Dualor's plan to kill Megatron by luring him to the Autobot headquarters and blowing it up. Counter-Strike!
Toys
Armada
- Space Mini-Con Team (Basic, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: MM-13
- Sky Blast transforms into a multi-thruster rocket based on the Vostok Rocket. 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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's 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) and were only available in the initial shipments of the line. However, Magnus's 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.
- 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
- 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.
