By request!

In the wake of an Autobot-Decepticon skirmish, the cowardly Pretender Starscream flies away as the Autobots return to base. "Optimus, we've captured two of the Decepticons' vehicles!" announces Pretender Bumblebee, as he and Pretender Jazz are hauling two seemingly unoccupied and abandoned pieces of Decepticon technology—a space shuttle and a helicopter. "Look out—they're transforming into bases!" Powermaster Optimus Prime warns them, but it comes too late, as the Decepticon Micromasters hidden inside quickly man the gunner stations for Skystalker and Skyhopper and immediately open fire. "Decepticon Micromasters, ATTACK!" orders Skystalker (voiced by Wally Burr, who performed a lot of the characters in the toy commercials), and the battle rages on! These seven seconds of animated footage were the only such appearances for these Micromaster characters (they didn't even make it into Marvel Comics), and were the next best thing to a full-fledged television appearance.

When I was growing up, Christmas was arguably the most exciting time of the year. It was basically the only chance I had to get any of the bigger toys that I could never hope to afford with my monthly allowance. I was in the habit of asking for the big ticket Transformers toys—Trypticon and Scorponok and Piranacon were all Christmas gifts.

But, by 1989, Transformers was (let's face it) a dying brand, with no television presence and toys representing characters I didn't know and didn't have a reason to care about. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had become *much* more interesting to me, with a host of colorful TV characters who had action figure equivalents to collect.) So, I put Skystalker and Skyhopper on my wish list that year, mostly out of habit as a loyal fan. I got them both.. I liked Skyhopper enough that I never sold him off, even when money was tight and I was unloading some unloved toys as a young adult so I could make the monthly rent. The same cannot be said of Skystalker!

The Micromaster figure itself is a redeco of Storm Cloud of the 1988 Decepticon Air Strike Patrol, only in green and grey colors, giving him a very military vibe. He's got a purple painted robot face and jet cockpit. Almost all the Micromasters were gang-molded with a counterpart; where Storm Cloud and Whisper shared a color scheme, Skyhopper was gang-molded with Groundshaker, so they share plastic colors. Skyhopper got some consumer-applied stickers for his wings, including Decepticon symbols on the stabilizer fin, to help distinguish him a bit from the jets sold in four-packs who lacked stickers entirely. He's a chibified Dassault Rafale, the same type of jet as Breastforce Hellbat, also sold in 1989 in Japan.

His vehicle is an oversized helicopter (not quite 10" in length) with an open canopy area, allowing him to pilot the craft by plugging his little foot-hole into the figure stand. Why does a Decepticon who turns into a jet need to fly a helicopter? Hmm, not sure. One supposes it's much more heavily-armed than any armaments he's equipped with himself. He can barely see over the lip of the cockpit, but one supposes he relies mostly on his instruments to fly. The cockpit is decorated with blue-colored stickers, and the toy looks extra doofy if the stickers are not applied. The helicopter itself doesn't match any known make or model that I can find, but it's similar in design and styling to the G.I. Joe vehicle Dragonfly from 1983.

As with Groundshaker, I feel like Skyhopper is named more after the vehicle that he pilots. A helicopter with VTOL capability certainly seems more able to "hop" from one location to another than a jet, at any rate. (He also shares a name with an off-screen Star Wars vehicle—the toy ship Luke Skywalker is seen playing with in A New Hope is a T-16 Skyhopper.) The helicopter itself is somewhat Blitzwing-esque, predominantly tan-colored with black rotor blades and tail fins and landing skis, with a little bit of visible purple depending on how you equip it. (There is a removable sensor dish that remains mounted to the back fo the tail section in this mode, but it looks kind of dumb if you leave it on.) The main rotor blade is removable, and has a pinned connector peg so it will spin freely even when it's plugged in. The tail rotor is not removable, but can also spin as well.

His tech specs describe both a sonic cannon as well as a molecular disruptor gun, but the instructions only identify his rifle as the "front gun" and his two smaller armaments as "two guns" so it's difficult to determine which is which. In any event, the two smaller dual-barreled guns can mount to either side of the helicopter. The large rifle can also serve as an intermediate piece between the helicopter and the rotor blades, though this isn't actually in the instructions. (There's a peg-hole on the top of the gun, so it seems custom-designed for this.)

The helicopter's transformation into a base is probably the most satisfying and cool-looking of any of the G1 Micromaster base playsets. The nose splits apart, revealing a battery of six (non-removable) missiles on the port side. (The starboard side of the nose remains completely empty, which seems like a missed opportunity.) The sides of the helicopter fold down like a tryptich. The tail of the helicopter folds up to form the central tower, and with the radar dish fastened in place, you almost don't see that it's a helicopter piece. You can remove the standing platform and attach it elsewhere, like to the rear section made of the helicopter rocket thrusters.

There are two purple fold-out ramp pieces, but they're designed to connect with additional yellow ramp parts to complete the base. There are three ramps in all, a central ramp and two side ramps, all of which allow access to the base. It really does look like a minature version of Trypticon! As a base, there is much more purple exposed, complementing the tan color and the yellow ramps. The sensor dish is designed to spin after it's attached. All told, the base is about 13" from side to side, 8" deep, and 5.5" tall at its highest point. I like how it's mostly symmetrical. It appeals to my sense of aesthetics.

There is some disagreement between the instructions and the box photos. The instructions don't seem to offer an official placement for his large rifle in base mode, but the box photos show it mounted in front of the central tower. His box art illustration, meanwhile, has it mounted to the underside of the missile battery inside the split-open helicopter nose. The design of the base is pretty versatile, and there are a few unused peg-holes so it's possible to mix things up as you see fit.

The only thing about the base's design is that there are fewer stations for robot-mode Micromasters to man as compared to, say, the Groundshaker base. Skyhopper has his platform he can stand on, and there seem to be two spots for additional Micromasters to man the double-barreled guns, but that's about it. Maybe two more if you want a couple of technicians to operate the panels where the helicopter exhaust rockets open up, but they would be facing the panels and be turning their backs on approaching Autobots. Also, there is no way to store the three yellow ramps when the base is in helicopter mode. I wish they had designed some way to clip them to the undercarriage.

Additionally, as with a lot of the 1989 toys, the Hasbro stickers included with this toy were complete garbage. They must have switched to more cheaply-made consumer-applied labels to try to save on costs, but the metal foil coating inevitably peeled away from the paper backing. The Decepticon symbol on the nose that's split in half, as well as the cockpit stickers, can go a long way towards making this toy look good, or look like trash, depending on the condition of the stickers. I took care of my Skyhopper toy (not a single battle in the sandbox or playground!) but his stickers still managed to deteriorate rather badly. I scraped them all off and replaced them with reproduction stickers, making him much more suitable for display.

A quick glance at eBay tells me a complete Skyhopper goes for somewhere between $100-150 these days, which seems about right for a vintage toy of this age, and considering how many parts there are to lose (if you include the purple ramps, which pop off, you need the main helicopter plus 12 additional parts to have a complete set). I was lucky in that I took good care of mine, and didn't have to buy anything to upgrade him except for the new stickers.

I would say Skyhopper is my favorite of the Micromaster playsets, though obviously that's damning him with faint praise. But, he was interesting enough to me that I wanted to own the toy based on aesthetics and design alone, despite not being a media character that I'd come to love... and I held onto him for the last 34 years, which says quite a lot!

Zob (the neighbor keeps stripping limbs off the tree that straddles the property line and throwing them in my yard... well, I hope he likes walnuts in his driveway)

On Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 3:53:01 PM UTC-7, Zobovor wrote:
> By request!
>
> In the wake of an Autobot-Decepticon skirmish, the cowardly Pretender Starscream flies away as the Autobots return to base. "Optimus, we've captured two of the Decepticons' vehicles!" announces Pretender Bumblebee, as he and Pretender Jazz are hauling two seemingly unoccupied and abandoned pieces of Decepticon technology—a space shuttle and a helicopter. "Look out—they're transforming into bases!" Powermaster Optimus Prime warns them, but it comes too late, as the Decepticon Micromasters hidden inside quickly man the gunner stations for Skystalker and Skyhopper and immediately open fire. "Decepticon Micromasters, ATTACK!" orders Skystalker (voiced by Wally Burr, who performed a lot of the characters in the toy commercials), and the battle rages on! These seven seconds of animated footage were the only such appearances for these Micromaster characters (they didn't even make it into Marvel Comics), and were the next best thing to a full-fledged television appearance.
>
> When I was growing up, Christmas was arguably the most exciting time of the year. It was basically the only chance I had to get any of the bigger toys that I could never hope to afford with my monthly allowance. I was in the habit of asking for the big ticket Transformers toys—Trypticon and Scorponok and Piranacon were all Christmas gifts.
>
> But, by 1989, Transformers was (let's face it) a dying brand, with no television presence and toys representing characters I didn't know and didn't have a reason to care about. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had become *much* more interesting to me, with a host of colorful TV characters who had action figure equivalents to collect.) So, I put Skystalker and Skyhopper on my wish list that year, mostly out of habit as a loyal fan. I got them both. I liked Skyhopper enough that I never sold him off, even when money was tight and I was unloading some unloved toys as a young adult so I could make the monthly rent. The same cannot be said of Skystalker!
>
> The Micromaster figure itself is a redeco of Storm Cloud of the 1988 Decepticon Air Strike Patrol, only in green and grey colors, giving him a very military vibe. He's got a purple painted robot face and jet cockpit. Almost all the Micromasters were gang-molded with a counterpart; where Storm Cloud and Whisper shared a color scheme, Skyhopper was gang-molded with Groundshaker, so they share plastic colors. Skyhopper got some consumer-applied stickers for his wings, including Decepticon symbols on the stabilizer fin, to help distinguish him a bit from the jets sold in four-packs who lacked stickers entirely. He's a chibified Dassault Rafale, the same type of jet as Breastforce Hellbat, also sold in 1989 in Japan.
>
> His vehicle is an oversized helicopter (not quite 10" in length) with an open canopy area, allowing him to pilot the craft by plugging his little foot-hole into the figure stand. Why does a Decepticon who turns into a jet need to fly a helicopter? Hmm, not sure. One supposes it's much more heavily-armed than any armaments he's equipped with himself. He can barely see over the lip of the cockpit, but one supposes he relies mostly on his instruments to fly. The cockpit is decorated with blue-colored stickers, and the toy looks extra doofy if the stickers are not applied. The helicopter itself doesn't match any known make or model that I can find, but it's similar in design and styling to the G.I. Joe vehicle Dragonfly from 1983.
>
> As with Groundshaker, I feel like Skyhopper is named more after the vehicle that he pilots. A helicopter with VTOL capability certainly seems more able to "hop" from one location to another than a jet, at any rate. (He also shares a name with an off-screen Star Wars vehicle—the toy ship Luke Skywalker is seen playing with in A New Hope is a T-16 Skyhopper.) The helicopter itself is somewhat Blitzwing-esque, predominantly tan-colored with black rotor blades and tail fins and landing skis, with a little bit of visible purple depending on how you equip it. (There is a removable sensor dish that remains mounted to the back fo the tail section in this mode, but it looks kind of dumb if you leave it on.) The main rotor blade is removable, and has a pinned connector peg so it will spin freely even when it's plugged in. The tail rotor is not removable, but can also spin as well.
>
> His tech specs describe both a sonic cannon as well as a molecular disruptor gun, but the instructions only identify his rifle as the "front gun" and his two smaller armaments as "two guns" so it's difficult to determine which is which. In any event, the two smaller dual-barreled guns can mount to either side of the helicopter. The large rifle can also serve as an intermediate piece between the helicopter and the rotor blades, though this isn't actually in the instructions. (There's a peg-hole on the top of the gun, so it seems custom-designed for this.)
>
> The helicopter's transformation into a base is probably the most satisfying and cool-looking of any of the G1 Micromaster base playsets. The nose splits apart, revealing a battery of six (non-removable) missiles on the port side. (The starboard side of the nose remains completely empty, which seems like a missed opportunity.) The sides of the helicopter fold down like a tryptich. The tail of the helicopter folds up to form the central tower, and with the radar dish fastened in place, you almost don't see that it's a helicopter piece. You can remove the standing platform and attach it elsewhere, like to the rear section made of the helicopter rocket thrusters.
>
> There are two purple fold-out ramp pieces, but they're designed to connect with additional yellow ramp parts to complete the base. There are three ramps in all, a central ramp and two side ramps, all of which allow access to the base. It really does look like a minature version of Trypticon! As a base, there is much more purple exposed, complementing the tan color and the yellow ramps. The sensor dish is designed to spin after it's attached. All told, the base is about 13" from side to side, 8" deep, and 5.5" tall at its highest point. I like how it's mostly symmetrical. It appeals to my sense of aesthetics.
>
> There is some disagreement between the instructions and the box photos. The instructions don't seem to offer an official placement for his large rifle in base mode, but the box photos show it mounted in front of the central tower. His box art illustration, meanwhile, has it mounted to the underside of the missile battery inside the split-open helicopter nose. The design of the base is pretty versatile, and there are a few unused peg-holes so it's possible to mix things up as you see fit.
>
> The only thing about the base's design is that there are fewer stations for robot-mode Micromasters to man as compared to, say, the Groundshaker base. Skyhopper has his platform he can stand on, and there seem to be two spots for additional Micromasters to man the double-barreled guns, but that's about it. Maybe two more if you want a couple of technicians to operate the panels where the helicopter exhaust rockets open up, but they would be facing the panels and be turning their backs on approaching Autobots. Also, there is no way to store the three yellow ramps when the base is in helicopter mode. I wish they had designed some way to clip them to the undercarriage..
>
> Additionally, as with a lot of the 1989 toys, the Hasbro stickers included with this toy were complete garbage. They must have switched to more cheaply-made consumer-applied labels to try to save on costs, but the metal foil coating inevitably peeled away from the paper backing. The Decepticon symbol on the nose that's split in half, as well as the cockpit stickers, can go a long way towards making this toy look good, or look like trash, depending on the condition of the stickers. I took care of my Skyhopper toy (not a single battle in the sandbox or playground!) but his stickers still managed to deteriorate rather badly. I scraped them all off and replaced them with reproduction stickers, making him much more suitable for display.
>
> A quick glance at eBay tells me a complete Skyhopper goes for somewhere between $100-150 these days, which seems about right for a vintage toy of this age, and considering how many parts there are to lose (if you include the purple ramps, which pop off, you need the main helicopter plus 12 additional parts to have a complete set). I was lucky in that I took good care of mine, and didn't have to buy anything to upgrade him except for the new stickers.
>
> I would say Skyhopper is my favorite of the Micromaster playsets, though obviously that's damning him with faint praise. But, he was interesting enough to me that I wanted to own the toy based on aesthetics and design alone, despite not being a media character that I'd come to love... and I held onto him for the last 34 years, which says quite a lot!
>
>
> Zob (the neighbor keeps stripping limbs off the tree that straddles the property line and throwing them in my yard... well, I hope he likes walnuts in his driveway)

Ha! I didn't even realize that Skyhopper was ever featured in any kind of TF media. Good to know. I love the commercial micro-continuity sometimes for the canonical insights it can sometimes offer.

Great review, Zob - as always. Thank you!

JB

Zobovor wrote:
> By request!

I always wanted to hear why you hyped Skyhopper so much. I've had a broken one missing accessories forever but it never made an impression on me. It kind of looks looks like a tan goldfish bowl with a propeller on top.

> In the wake of an Autobot-Decepticon skirmish, the cowardly Pretender Starscream flies
> away as the Autobots return to base.

OR WAS IT ALL A TRAP!?! Starscream looks like he's confirming the Autobots are taking the bases inside before he turns and flies off.

> "Optimus, we've captured two of the Decepticons' vehicles!" announces Pretender Bumblebee,
> as he and Pretender Jazz are hauling two seemingly unoccupied and abandoned pieces of
> Decepticon technology

It's funny to me how Jazz and Bumblebee are pulling these bases inside using giant ropes. They kind of look like fire hoses. Such a primitive method for sentient robots. You'd think they'd have tractor beams or electric nets or something. Maybe this is a temp base or something without all the bells and whistles.

> —a space shuttle and a helicopter. "Look out—they're transforming into bases!" Powermaster
> Optimus Prime warns them, but it comes too late

Action Master Autobot security is just terrible. As transforming robots themselves they should have the common sense to suspect that anything made of metal with a Decepticon logo on it could possibly also be alive or at least a transforming threat somehow. I guess faster, stronger, more alive didn't carry over to smarter. How does anything catch these guy by surprise at this point?

> His vehicle is an oversized helicopter (not quite 10" in length) with an open canopy area,
> allowing him to pilot the craft by plugging his little foot-hole into the figure stand.

Helicopters are kind of a dumb mode in-universe but I can see how a bulbous shape like that is easier to design a base from than a skinnier fighter jet. It should have been a school bus! I still want a Decepticon school bus!

> Why does a Decepticon who turns into a jet need to fly a helicopter? Hmm, not sure.

I would imagine that in-universe there is no mass shifting, otherwise the whole micro schtick is pointless. So the larger helicopter would have served as a troop transport like Astrotrain did in the early days. At least if there was a cartoon that's how I'd imagine they'd utilize the vehicle mode of the base.

> (There is a removable sensor dish that remains mounted to the back fo the tail section in
> this mode, but it looks kind of dumb if you leave it on.)

I finally got a more complete Skyhopper recently and I kind of like the radar dish. I imagine he's flying up there with this down facing dish to facilitate Decepticon communications or wreak havoc on enemy transmissions or get free Wrestlemania 1989 and other PPV.

The main rotor blade is removable, and has a pinned connector peg so it will spin freely even when it's plugged in. The tail rotor is not removable, but can also spin as well.

> The helicopter's transformation into a base is probably the most satisfying and cool-looking
> of any of the G1 Micromaster base playsets.

It's also the most nerve wracking and panic inducing with 35 year old plastic and really tight joints, especially rotating that tail to make the tower. I think I'll never be transforming it back but I don't like the helicopter anyway.

> It really does look like a minature version of Trypticon!

Yes this really is the coolest thing about this set. It's the Wish version of Trypticon city as the kids would say nowadays.

> I would say Skyhopper is my favorite of the Micromaster playsets,

Yeah I think it's pretty neat even if the helicopter mode is a bit ugly and the pilot has just one of the most unappealing color schemes ever. We're never getting a masterpiece of this guy but if we do I hope it comes with fire hoses for towing.

I just got a boxed version of this guy in the shop last weekend.

I have to say I love the Micromasters but the bases are just kinda meh.

This guy would have been a cool Siege revisit, if the base got a Helicopter, robot, and Base configuration like Ironworks did.