Above the waist, Sky High features the gloved arms and the smooth ab piece which don’t feel nearly as overused. The new armor is a great piece – I love the amount of detail – and I like that the 4H gave it a Wind Raideresque makeover instead of the simple red line the poster tinily depicted. The symbol does echo the Fighting Foe Men somewhat. It’s a big, raised piece and looks like it’d be easily exchanged for a Horde Symbol had they wanted to go to that route. I’m glad they didn’t, but let’s hold that thought.
The paintwork on Sky High was really the only area that I had some concerns, mostly do the red paint. Red paint can be a little gloopy at times, but it feels like it was only done in thin layers on my figure. A lot of the edges in the armor symbol are thin enough that the black starts to show through and the red on the legs is fairly sloppy considering there’s easy sculpt lines to follow. The helmet is thankfully painted well and I still the color scheme looks sharp with the dark navy blue.
Accessory-wise, technically, he does include the Jet Sled and I think $50 for the figure plus the Jet Sled was a steal! I don’t think I would’ve even noticed if Sky High had gone unaccessoried, but Mattel didn’t take the easy way out. They opted to give Sky High a personal weapon… though it just kinda reinforced the Fighting Foe Men connection. It’s a giant dual-bladed weapon that looks like it came off a junked Wind Raider. It’s cool. He can pose well with it and, hey it clips on his back too if you want it too. It does leave me thinking if Sky High’s sculpt is a little older though. Was there any intention to include him with the FFM or are the similarities just a fluke? He doesn’t hail from the Monogram Kits, of course, so he would be an odd fit with them, but it’s interesting.
Overall, Sky High got a solid figure. He’s a little light on the tooling but packaging him with the Jet Sled was ingenious. Oh, since I forgot to mention it, Mattel was also smart to essentially call him an “Air Force” version of the Palace Guard so you could army build him with the Jet Sled. I still can’t help but view him as a unique character though. My Wind Raider finally has his pilot.
And it’s that uniqueness that lets me enjoy him so much. Classics has been such an unmitigated success these last few years that I’m still in awe that we’re getting a character like this, a no-name guy from a thirty-year old poster. I’m with the “No Rio, We Riot” crowd. I cannot wait to get Rio Blast in Classics (Extendar likely makes Rio a 2015er, though), but the real flavor for me as a toy collector comes from figures like Sky High. It gives me hope that the line still has a little more flourish to it. We have to get Eldor. I want Red Beast. I know he won’t win that NA poll, but I’d love to get Darius. The cutting room floor characters, the one-offs, the obscure guys all do their part to help make a toy line seem greater than just a lineup with the 23rd Batman or a complete A-list group. Sky High is really the cherry on top for me.
Recent Reviews:
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
For all our MOTU reviews, check out our
MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide.
“They opted to give Sky High a person weapon…”
er, what? looks more like a bat’leth to me?
😉
kidding aside, his design does look good, aside from that helmet. Something about it just bothers me. Altho, I’m sure some will quickly customize a MOTU Black Knight out of it. Ni!
btw, is “Darid” his name on the bio or what? I’d think with a few of these one-off characters, you need to include a shot of the bio card. (thank Hama.)
Darid is his real name. I was already at 10 pics, so no bio card from me. The text is stretched thin as it is!!
Great Review Noisy as usual!
Brainlock if you are interested in his bio I included it in my review (like I do with all MOTUC stuff)
http://doomkick.com/masters-of-the-universe-classics-sky-high-with-jet-sled-review/
There’s a NA poll out there? Dang! Where?
I don’t remember having the ’83 poster as a kid, so the nostalgic connection isn’t there, but I understand your reasoning completely. Masters isn’t unlike Star Wars with its endless supply of blink-and-you-miss-them characters and Expanded Universe originals. That’s a huge part of what’s kept them both so popular over the various decades.
Sky High looks cool enough. I like the helmet, it reminds me a bit of the Silver Age DC character, the Silent Knight. Or something LJN might have designed for its 80’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line. Theme-wise, his weapon/wings relate him nicely to the Wind Raider, and it’s neat that you can view him as either an army builder or individual character. The sky’s the limit (pun intended) with this guy.
The poll is not for us mere subscribers. We just buy the toys. The poll will be held in one of the upcoming panels and attendees have to choose between one of three NA characters to end up in the sub. I really, really want Darius, but I think he’s up against Mara & Tuskador if I recall correctly. So you’ve got a vintage toy vs a character that never got a toy vs an unproduced toy. I’m pretty sure he’s doomed.
Great review, as usual! Very much looking forward to this set arriving. You’ve got him humming the Star Wars theme, but I’m fighting not to imagine him crooning the theme from the MST3K snore-fest, Starfighters.
Am I the only one who has noticed that his red “Wind Raider” emblem looks a bit similar to the Four Horsemen’s logo?
Star Wars theme? I thought that was Ride of the Valkyries…
I thought he was humming the superman theme…. I think we need some clarification.
Great review tho I love the figure though my figures helmet is *off* I cant figure it.out. I think it mike be warped or something. The silver piece above the eye slots on mine doesn’t seem straight across the brow but not enough to bother me except for when I stare at
My lips are sealed!! I think it’s funny to see all the different interpretations of the music. 🙂
One of you is right though!
Daniel Bryan gives an emphatic “YES!” to my response.
five beat repeated: Bohemian Rhapsody.
At first I thought Star Wars, but Ride of the Valkyries is much cooler.
I love the smell of Granamyr in the morning!
The emblem is a funny coincidence!
If was there at the panel I would go Mara. The sausage fest in NA needs a break.
On Sky High, one will be Capt of the Royal air fleet. Others will be airforce members.
Fun review and great pics.
I agree that we need some NA ladies, but Tuskador would be a much cooler figure unfortunately. I have to go with that, even over my preferred choice.
Thinking about the ranks on Sky High, it’s a shame they didn’t go with a removable chest plate to change the ranks. Use the basic design for the emblem for the officers and leave the Wind Raider one for him specifically.
It’s “Ride of the Valkyries” for sure. Why would it be Star Wars or Superman? That makes no sense. Anyway…
It looks like the blue of this guy matches pretty closely with Icarius which is a good thing for me. I have a second Sky High that I need to figure out what to do with and a mashup of Icarius and Sky High would make a great Royal Air Trooper.
Why not? They’re nice dramatic tunes, involving heroic people flying around, and they’re both transcribed the same way. Also, I’m primarily a massive Star Wars geek, so that’s my default inner soundtrack.
Besides, we’re talking about barbarians flying rocket-planes, who wouldn’t know ANY of those three tunes from Earth. None of it makes sense. };D
But, in retrospect “Ride of the Valkyries” does make more sense. Although that’s more of a Fright Fighter tune in my book. Scares the Hell out of the Gars.
Great. Now I’ve got Duncan giving the “D’you smell that? D’you smell that?” speech in my head. Thanks, guys.
has anyone else noticed his helmet is a different blue than his arms? fail.
i like the contrast. win.
This is one where I wished they’d steered away from Emiliano’s design. Conversely, I sure do wish we could get his male Attak Trak pilot. But as beloved — heh — as the FFM are in our little community, fat chance of that ever happening.
I never seen this coming with this figure but it was an excellent idea too release him with the Sky Sled.
Is anyone actually army building with Sky High? Or maybe “body building” is the more appropraite phrase, since you’d just be getting the figure and swapping heads with a Man-At-Arms or He-Man, etc.
I WANT to, but that requires money, of which MOTUC is running me a little short of this month.
Aww, I thought it was the theme tune to Z-Cars and the entrance music for the Mighty Everton FC (actually I also though Rise of The Valkeries)
I got this set as a birthday present, and the first one they sent to my house featured a headless Jet Sled. I got my replacement yesterday, and I love this figure. It’s amazing that even with the heavy parts reuse and the fact that I didn’t know about this character until I started collecting MOTUC that he stands out as being really fantastic. I also want Eldor and Red Beast!
fruit, saw Song Jian are made of Behind the iron gate, Garvey knocked at a multi function copper draw,on such basis as way having to do with exploration below kale .