Skyboom (Armada)

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"Why do we look like a spaceship?"

Formed from the Race Mini-Con Team members Dirt Boss, Downshift, and Mirage, the Skyboom Shield is possibly the ultimate defensive force in the known universe. It is the only thing that can withstand the might of the Star Saber and Requiem Blaster weapons, but the full limits of all three have never been tested.

Fiction

Linkage

The Skyboom, Star Saber, and Requiem Blaster were the "three keys" needed to awaken Unicron. Linkage Part 10

Armada cartoon

"Super Special Awesome Sexy Transformation Sequence GO!!!"

The existence of the Skyboom was first revealed by Scavenger to Megatron when the Decepticons managed to find a seemingly-unresponsive Mini-Con panel. Reputedly, the shield had the ability to resist the power of the mighty Star Saber sword. Overmatch

"Uh-huh...that's right...who's laughing now? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!"

Soon afterwards, the Decepticons managed to secure the remaining Mini-Con Race Team members, Reinforcement and deployed the shield in battle. To the surprise of both factions, however, when Sparkplug defended Optimus Prime, the Skyboom in turn defended the Autobot leader against Megatron's Star Saber. The resulting blows by the sword against the shield unleashed a beam of energy into deep space, similar to the Mini-Con signal that drew the Transformers to Earth. Decisive Battle

Afterwards, the Skyboom remained in the possession of the Autobots and was entrusted in the care of Smokescreen. Smokescreen would fire the Shield from his shoulder mounted cannon in order to quickly transport it to a comrade in need.

The Skyboom was drawn toward the Star Saber. Together, they caused a signal that awakened the three Mini-Cons that combined into the Requiem Blaster. Desperate

Smokescreen/Hoist used the Skyboom to block a shot from the Requiem Blaster. He wished he had it earlier. Rescue He then handed it off to Jetfire to use on the Mars mission. While in close proximity to the other two weapons, it glowed with light and then all three caused an explosion in space. Mars

Thrust asked Starscream to bring the Skyboom back to lunar base. He was then accused by the Autobots of stealing it when the Mini-Cons had, in fact, gone into hiding. Eventually, the kids returned the Mini-Cons to the Autobots and Hot Shot brought the shield into battle. Hoist threw it to Optimus, but Starscream grabbed shield and warped away. Crack

On return to the Decepticons, Starscream presented the Skyboom to Megatron. It was then combined with the other two weapons into the powerful Hydra Cannon. Threaten Later, armed with the Skyboom and the Star Saber, Galvatron led the attack on Cybertron. Uprising

Betraying the Decepticons, Thrust stole the Skyboom with the Requiem Blaster to bring to Unicron. Dash He took them through a portal to the moon and set them upon the ground. Portent

The Skyboom was then considered part of Unicron's body, with tentacles covering the shield and the component Mini-Cons being unable to wake up Union until the Mini-Con song was sung, Origin at which point, the Skyboom then flew out of Unicron. Mortal Combat

Legends World

Megatron wielded the Skyboom, Star Saber, and Requiem Blaster during his foray into the Legends World. Bonus Edition Vol. EX

Toys

Armada

• Race Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• Takara name: Race Micron
• Takara ID number: MM-05
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002
• Known designers: Shogo Hasui (Takara)

The Skyboom Shield (or just "Skyboom" as it is called in the instructions) is the combined form of the three Armada Race Mini-Con Team members: Downshift forms the upper end, Dirt Boss the middle portion, and Mirage the pointy end. It has a flip-out handle (made from Dirt Boss's head) to allow larger toys to hold it, though the sheer weight of the shield is kind of a lot for the joint and it tends to sag. It can also be mounted on a "Powerlinx" peg.

In the Hasbro line, the Race team were released in the third assortment of Mini-Con teams. In Japan, the Cosmotector was part of the massive first wave of Legend of the Microns product, released in December 2002. Aside from packaging, there are no noteworthy differences between the two releases.

The US card-back actually refers to the shield as "the plane Skyboom".

These molds were redecoed into the Speed Chaser Team and their combined mode, the Magnawing.

• Grap & Race Micron (Multi-pack, 2002)

• Sonokong name: Smoky & Race
• ID number: MS-02
• Takara release date: December 26, 2002

The Race Microns were also available in Japan in a multi-pack with Grap and his Mini-Con partner Lift. Grap's expandable crane-boom serves as a launching ramp for the Race Micron's jet-like Cosmotector combined mode. All of the toys in this set are identical to their individual Takara releases.

This set was also released by Sonokong in Korea, with no changes from the Takara release, other than the packaging. This was also the only way to obtain "Smoky" (Smokescreen) and the "Races" in Korea.

• Race Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2002)

• ID number: MM-10
• Release date: December 26, 2002

A limited-edition (but still regular-retail) redeco of the Race Microns was made available in Japan as part of the Exdimensions series. The entire team was given a deco in varying shades of blue.

This deco was repurposed as the Burning Rubber Mini-Con Team and their combined mode, the Cosmotector.

• Drift (Change Micron, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 3

• Indy (Change Micron, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 1

• Spin (Change Micron, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 2
• Release date: August ??, 2003

The Race Microns were available as a set of "candy toys" produced by Kabaya as part of the second Change Micron assortment, individually boxed and packed with a baggie of sugar pellets, sold mainly in convenience stores.

Each Micron appears identical to the normal versions at first glance, but not only are there numerous paint differences (notably the tampographed rally number decos are missing), but each one is actually all new tooling based on the original molds, with minor changes to small details.

• Road Assault Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

A late-series redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team was released under a new name in the sixth wave of Hasbro's Armada line. This time, the team was done up in a more sinister-looking black, red, and white. This redeco of the team was given the distinction of being a corrupted version Skyboom Shield when in possession of the Decepticons, to coincide with the Air Assault Mini-Con Team/Dark Saber repaint, via the Dreamwave More than Meets the Eye profile books.

• Drift Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Indy Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Spin Road Assault Edition (Promotional Micron, 2003)

• Release date: August 2, 2003

In Japan, individually-bagged members of the "Road Assault Edition Race Microns" were only available as promotional giveaways, a random member of the team given free with the purchase of Legends of the Microns Jetfire or Shockwave at Ito Yokaido stores in August.

• Drift (Micron Booster, 2003)

• Booster ID number: 6

• Indy (Micron Booster, 2003)

• Booster ID number: 8

• Spin (Micron Booster, 2003)

• Booster ID number: 7
• Release date: August 7, 2003

Part of the first Micron Booster set, this version of the Race Microns was sold in individual boxes. They look almost totally identical to the original versions, but are actually made with slightly-sparkly plastic and paint, which can be hard to notice without a side-by-side comparison.

• Predacon with Side Burn and Skid-Z (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Scavenger with Rollbar (Max-Con Class, 2003)

• Thundercracker with Zapmaster (Max-Con Class, 2003)

The complete Race Mini-Con Team was also included as bonus add-ons with several Max-Con Class toys; samples of Predacon, Scavenger and Thundercracker have been found.

Unfortunately, what retail chain offered these is unknown at this time.

• Dirt Boss (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Downshift (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Mirage (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In Europe, all three members of the Race Mini-Con Team were made available individually under the original Armada branding through the Tiny Tins series. The toys themselves were unchanged from the original versions, but now each figure included a "Tiny Tin" carrying case.

Universe (2003)

• Dirt Boss (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Downshift (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Mirage (Tiny Tin, 2004)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

In the United States, the Tiny Tins versions of the Race Mini-Con Team members were released in different packaging than their European counterparts, branded as part of the Universe line that didn't exist in Europe. Some errors occurred, resulting in European Armada-branded Tiny Tin carrying cases being sold on American Universe cardbacks.

Energon

• Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 6-pack, 2004)

An unaltered version of the Road Assault Mini-Con Team was released as part of an Energon "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Space Mini-Con Team.

This set was exclusive to both Toys"R"Us and Walmart stores.

Cybertron

• Landmine with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Red Alert with Dirt Boss (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Dirt Boss with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Thundercracker with Downshift (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

• Hot Shot with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Override with Mirage (Bonus pack, 2006)

• Accessories: Carrying tin

A new redeco of the Race Mini-Con Team with Tiny Tins' carrying mini-cases was available as part of a set of Walmart-exclusives, each one packed with unchanged versions of various Deluxe Class toys.

Dirt Boss was packaged with both Red Alert and Landmine, Downshift came with Dirt Boss (no relation) and Thundercracker, and Mirage with Hot Shot and Override.

Hasbro copywriter Forest Lee confirmed that the Cybertron Tiny Tins-exclusives were originally planned with two different Race Mini-Con Team decos in mind, hence the backstory involving one version of the team being from an alternate universe and the tins' decos showing the Mini-Cons in silhouette rather than the normal full-color images. He could not confirm what the then-chosen decos were, however, but it seems likely they would have been rebranded re-releases of the two schemes from Armada, given the use of "Road Assault Mini-Con Team".

Notes

• In the cartoon, the Skyboom Shield changes from the form of its three combined Mini-Cons into an actual single-piece shield upon combining, meaning no combining toys are actually able to replicate its completed form.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Cosmotector (コスモテクター Kosumotekutā)
• Finnish: Taivaan kilpi ("Shield of the sky")
• French: Bouclier ardent ("Blazing shield")
• Hungarian: Égbolt pajzs ("Skyscape shield")
• Italian: Scudo Stellare ("Stellar Shield")
• Korean: Cosmotector (코스모텍터 Koseumotekteo)
• Polish: Gwiezdna tarcza ("Stellar shield")
• Russian: Zvezdniy shchit (Звездный щит, "Star shield")
• Swedish: Skyboomskölden ("Skyboom Shield")