Post by Philip Ayres on Feb 6, 2010 20:11:19 GMT
Sky Garry and Shotbomber
Sky Garry & Shotbomber are a pair of toys sold only in Japan in 1991. They're just one of six pairings of a futuristic larger vehicle/robot and futuristic Micromaster Combinations sold in Japan in 1990 and 1991
The west didn't get any toys like this, nothing to connect the larger existing Transformers to Micromasters.
SHOTBOMBER is a Micromaster tank, mainly white with a pair of orangey yellow missiles on it's back held in place by a clip that allows them to rotate up. 4 small wheels are hidden in it's underside.
TF: Standard Micromaster: Fold the front down to become the legs. Stand. Fold the arms up. Decide if you want the missile pointing down his back as a Jetpack or over his shoulders as missiles.
Transformation exposes some grey used for the body, head & upper legs. Articulation is Micromaster Standard - bending but linked knees & hips with turning shoulders. The most notable thing you can say about him is that he's sadly not terribly well balanced with the missiles causing him to topple over backwards.
Verdict: The missiles are the only interesting thing about the toy as they're a moving part but they compromise the robot mode's balance. As Micromaster tanks go Flak works much better.
SKY GARRY ? "Bit of a silly name isn't it ?" said Mrs Toys. I've long been a subscribed to the mistransliteration theory that it should be Sky CARRY as that name fits it to a tee. TFWiki.net has two alternate theories that it could be an abbreviation of Garrison or a mistranslation of Galley (as in a boat). It *could* even be the boy's name Gary - Sixliner, released the same year, has members called Alan & Joe after all ! If I were a betting man though Sky Carry would get my money. Sky Garry is a spaceship, mainly cast in the same white plastic as Shotbomber. It's an angular spaceship which has a fold up canopy over a cockpit at the front for a Micromaster figure to sit in complete with a space behind the seat so the missiles on Shotbomber fit. The spaceship is supported on 4 red fold down landing gear - their up position has them folding in and lying against the under side of the spaceship. The rear of the ship - mostly blue plastic - expands out to the sides giving an impression of blocky wings with a gun mounted on each and what looks like a twin gun emplacement on the top of the back of the spaceship.
Behind the cockpit is the business end of this mode: two flaps fold down to the sides allowing you to clip a Micro Trailer's top clip into Sky Garry. Sky Garry Can then transport the trailer in a Thunderbird 2 Pod or Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Style. A button on top of Sky Garry's mid section allows the trailer to be dropped. The front and the rear of the spaceship slide away from the Micro Trailer hitch allowing up to 3 trailers to be stored in Sky Garry's mid section but these will need to be side connected to the Micro Trailer that's attached to the mechanism. There's side connector notches on the front & the rear of the sections abutting the Micro Trailer storage section which help to support multiple trailers when loaded on Sky Garry but do mean the drop gimmick doesn't work so well with multiple Micro Trailers attached. Sky Garry comes with his own Micro trailer - it's a black one numbered 0. (see the Micro Trailer review elsewhere)
TF: Fold up the cockpit canopy, remove the pilot Micromaster then fold the base of the cockpit up so it's inside the raised canopy. Remove any Micro Trailers, fold in the flaps at the side and compact the middle of the spaceship to form the legs. Fold up the landing gear, then fold the blocky "wings" out straight behind the spaceship and rotate forward 180 degrees to form the arms. Fold the hands out from the arms,remove the guns from the rear of the shoulders and place in the hands. Fold the gunner station back to form the head.
Sky Garry's robot mode brings the white and the blue over from the spaceship with the blue concentrated on the chest and the shoulders. The chest and shoulder pads - formed from the landing gear - have a crest theme spreading out across them. The red head with twin pipes projecting upwards is very similar to the head on the same year's Sixliner. The robot mode is a brick from the waist down - common in toys at that time. There's no waist or neck joint either, but the shoulders turn and bend out to the sides and the elbows bend in. The extending gimmick used for carrying multiple trailers can be used in robot mode too turning Sky Garry into the Autobot equivalent of the Stilt Man ! Looking at the back of the toy, there's a grey panel on his back that can be removed and plugged into his back at 90 degrees forming a platform on which Shotbomber can stand while Sky Garry is in robot mode.
Sky Garry - like the other five toys mentioned above - also has a base mode. Take the spaceship mode, remove the guns and fold the front landing gear in. Remove any Micro Trailers and extend the middle section to it's full length. Fold the back of the sides of the wings out so they form a slope of about 45 degrees. Stand on the back of the spaceship with the underside of the spaceship towards you. Remove the grey panel from the front of the base mode (robot's back) and plug it's ends into the Micro Trailer connector mechanism in the middle of what was the spaceship's midsection - the flat surface should face down with the edged surface facing up - to form a platform. Fold down & forward the base of the cockpit. One gun goes on the front of the cockpit, the other on the front of the platform. Finally there's a connector point for a Micromaster base ramp on the base of the base mode. (hmm, there may have been a better way of phrasing that !)
Sky Garry's Base mode is unique amongst the Micromaster bases - it's a tower. Several others go up - Grandus springs to mind - but Sky Garry is the only one that's more up than anything else. In fact he's the tallest of the Micromaster base modes (see a picture here) There's two points for Micromaster lookouts to be stationed on - one's the cockpit at the top, the other is the platform halfway up. The platform looks like it aught to be a lift, but it's fixed. However it wouldn't have taken much extra engineering to allow it to slide up and down the tower. The ramp at the front can connect to other Micromaster bases or the front of a Micro Trailer. Micro Trailers can also be attached to the sloped sides of the base - there's 5mm pegs sticking out that attach to the hole in the middle of the Trailer's bottom.
Overall: Interesting and unique vehicle mode, nice looking but functionally weak robot mode. Nice base mode. A shame it's so expensive and there's no Transformers reissue of it....
Brave Goldran Death Garry Gun and Missile Gear
.... however there is a Brave recolour of Sky Garry !
Transformers fans can be a bit snobbish about other lines of transforming robots - GoBots and Power Rangers especially. But it's rare you'll hear any criticism of the Brave toylines. Partly this is due to them being made by Takara - Transformer's Japanese manufacturer - but partly it's because there's some Transformers recycled in Brave.
Death Garry Gun & Missile Gear are straight recolours of Sky Garry & Shotbomber. Blue and white become red, red becomes orange and orange becomes yellow. Death Garry Gun comes with three Micro Trailers instead of the one that Sky Garry has. However all 3 of them have their spring mechanism and launcher platform removed.
The Takara version is nearly as expensive as the original Transformers version. However it's periodically reissued by Songkong - Takara's South Korean licensee. I obtained one in early 2010 from www.bigbadtoystore.com for $30 + postage which is a bargain for what you get.
Sky Garry & Shotbomber are a pair of toys sold only in Japan in 1991. They're just one of six pairings of a futuristic larger vehicle/robot and futuristic Micromaster Combinations sold in Japan in 1990 and 1991
| 1991 | C-347 | Sonicbomber | Sonic |
| 1991 | C-348 | Daiatlas | Speeder |
| 1991 | C-349 | Roadfire | Drillbuster |
| 1992 | C-360 | Sky Garry | Shotbomber |
| 1992 | C-371 | Grandus | Spinner |
| 1992 | C-372 | Starconvoy | Hotrodimus |
The west didn't get any toys like this, nothing to connect the larger existing Transformers to Micromasters.
SHOTBOMBER is a Micromaster tank, mainly white with a pair of orangey yellow missiles on it's back held in place by a clip that allows them to rotate up. 4 small wheels are hidden in it's underside.
TF: Standard Micromaster: Fold the front down to become the legs. Stand. Fold the arms up. Decide if you want the missile pointing down his back as a Jetpack or over his shoulders as missiles.
Transformation exposes some grey used for the body, head & upper legs. Articulation is Micromaster Standard - bending but linked knees & hips with turning shoulders. The most notable thing you can say about him is that he's sadly not terribly well balanced with the missiles causing him to topple over backwards.
Verdict: The missiles are the only interesting thing about the toy as they're a moving part but they compromise the robot mode's balance. As Micromaster tanks go Flak works much better.
SKY GARRY ? "Bit of a silly name isn't it ?" said Mrs Toys. I've long been a subscribed to the mistransliteration theory that it should be Sky CARRY as that name fits it to a tee. TFWiki.net has two alternate theories that it could be an abbreviation of Garrison or a mistranslation of Galley (as in a boat). It *could* even be the boy's name Gary - Sixliner, released the same year, has members called Alan & Joe after all ! If I were a betting man though Sky Carry would get my money. Sky Garry is a spaceship, mainly cast in the same white plastic as Shotbomber. It's an angular spaceship which has a fold up canopy over a cockpit at the front for a Micromaster figure to sit in complete with a space behind the seat so the missiles on Shotbomber fit. The spaceship is supported on 4 red fold down landing gear - their up position has them folding in and lying against the under side of the spaceship. The rear of the ship - mostly blue plastic - expands out to the sides giving an impression of blocky wings with a gun mounted on each and what looks like a twin gun emplacement on the top of the back of the spaceship.
Behind the cockpit is the business end of this mode: two flaps fold down to the sides allowing you to clip a Micro Trailer's top clip into Sky Garry. Sky Garry Can then transport the trailer in a Thunderbird 2 Pod or Space 1999 Eagle Transporter Style. A button on top of Sky Garry's mid section allows the trailer to be dropped. The front and the rear of the spaceship slide away from the Micro Trailer hitch allowing up to 3 trailers to be stored in Sky Garry's mid section but these will need to be side connected to the Micro Trailer that's attached to the mechanism. There's side connector notches on the front & the rear of the sections abutting the Micro Trailer storage section which help to support multiple trailers when loaded on Sky Garry but do mean the drop gimmick doesn't work so well with multiple Micro Trailers attached. Sky Garry comes with his own Micro trailer - it's a black one numbered 0. (see the Micro Trailer review elsewhere)
TF: Fold up the cockpit canopy, remove the pilot Micromaster then fold the base of the cockpit up so it's inside the raised canopy. Remove any Micro Trailers, fold in the flaps at the side and compact the middle of the spaceship to form the legs. Fold up the landing gear, then fold the blocky "wings" out straight behind the spaceship and rotate forward 180 degrees to form the arms. Fold the hands out from the arms,remove the guns from the rear of the shoulders and place in the hands. Fold the gunner station back to form the head.
Sky Garry's robot mode brings the white and the blue over from the spaceship with the blue concentrated on the chest and the shoulders. The chest and shoulder pads - formed from the landing gear - have a crest theme spreading out across them. The red head with twin pipes projecting upwards is very similar to the head on the same year's Sixliner. The robot mode is a brick from the waist down - common in toys at that time. There's no waist or neck joint either, but the shoulders turn and bend out to the sides and the elbows bend in. The extending gimmick used for carrying multiple trailers can be used in robot mode too turning Sky Garry into the Autobot equivalent of the Stilt Man ! Looking at the back of the toy, there's a grey panel on his back that can be removed and plugged into his back at 90 degrees forming a platform on which Shotbomber can stand while Sky Garry is in robot mode.
Sky Garry - like the other five toys mentioned above - also has a base mode. Take the spaceship mode, remove the guns and fold the front landing gear in. Remove any Micro Trailers and extend the middle section to it's full length. Fold the back of the sides of the wings out so they form a slope of about 45 degrees. Stand on the back of the spaceship with the underside of the spaceship towards you. Remove the grey panel from the front of the base mode (robot's back) and plug it's ends into the Micro Trailer connector mechanism in the middle of what was the spaceship's midsection - the flat surface should face down with the edged surface facing up - to form a platform. Fold down & forward the base of the cockpit. One gun goes on the front of the cockpit, the other on the front of the platform. Finally there's a connector point for a Micromaster base ramp on the base of the base mode. (hmm, there may have been a better way of phrasing that !)
Sky Garry's Base mode is unique amongst the Micromaster bases - it's a tower. Several others go up - Grandus springs to mind - but Sky Garry is the only one that's more up than anything else. In fact he's the tallest of the Micromaster base modes (see a picture here) There's two points for Micromaster lookouts to be stationed on - one's the cockpit at the top, the other is the platform halfway up. The platform looks like it aught to be a lift, but it's fixed. However it wouldn't have taken much extra engineering to allow it to slide up and down the tower. The ramp at the front can connect to other Micromaster bases or the front of a Micro Trailer. Micro Trailers can also be attached to the sloped sides of the base - there's 5mm pegs sticking out that attach to the hole in the middle of the Trailer's bottom.
Overall: Interesting and unique vehicle mode, nice looking but functionally weak robot mode. Nice base mode. A shame it's so expensive and there's no Transformers reissue of it....
Brave Goldran Death Garry Gun and Missile Gear
.... however there is a Brave recolour of Sky Garry !
Transformers fans can be a bit snobbish about other lines of transforming robots - GoBots and Power Rangers especially. But it's rare you'll hear any criticism of the Brave toylines. Partly this is due to them being made by Takara - Transformer's Japanese manufacturer - but partly it's because there's some Transformers recycled in Brave.
| Year | Line | Transformer Toys | Notes |
| 1990 | Brave Exkaiser | No TFs reused | Transformer Zone released in 1990 |
| 1991 | The Brave Fighter of Sun Fighbird | No TFs reused | Return of Convoy released in 1991 |
| 1992 | The Brave Fighter of Legend Da-Garn | Red Geist (Deathsaurus) with Red Breaster (Tigerbreast) (no Eaglebreast) | Operation Combination released in 1992 |
| 1993 | The Brave Express Might Gaine | Goryu (Dai Atlas) with Oowashi (Speeder) and Hiryu (Sonic Bomber) with Hayabusa (Sonic) | - |
| 1994 | Brave Police J-Decker | Shadow-Maru (remoulded Sixshot). Micromaster Stations released without Micromasters | - |
| 1995 | The Brave of Gold Goldran | Death Garrygun (Sky Garry) & Missile Gear (Shotbomber) | Goldran has the famous Captain Shark as part of it's toyline Japanese Generation 2 released in 1995 |
| 1996 | Brave Command Dagwon | Dag Base (Grandus) (no Micromaster Spinner) and Thunder Dagwon (Galaxy Shuttle) | The leader toy this year, Fire Dagwon, has Micromaster ramps & ramp connectors |
| 1997 | The King of Braves GaoGaiGar | No TFs reused | - |
Death Garry Gun & Missile Gear are straight recolours of Sky Garry & Shotbomber. Blue and white become red, red becomes orange and orange becomes yellow. Death Garry Gun comes with three Micro Trailers instead of the one that Sky Garry has. However all 3 of them have their spring mechanism and launcher platform removed.
The Takara version is nearly as expensive as the original Transformers version. However it's periodically reissued by Songkong - Takara's South Korean licensee. I obtained one in early 2010 from www.bigbadtoystore.com for $30 + postage which is a bargain for what you get.
