[Clockwise]

That Sci-Fi (pilot) is amazing. Great re-imagining of the concept.

[Steel Brigade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Itchweed

Yo buddy! Great figures here.
Roadblock: This is awesome, that head is perfect. I love that story too and I can't wait to read more about it.
Crimson Vulture: This one is darn near perfect too. I wish AVAC's was open again. Getaway driver for a notorious gang. That fits very well.
Quasar: This one is killer. Loving the helmet. I don't have any of the exo suits but your use of them are always spot on.
Scorch: Now a Dreadnok always catches my attention just like a good sword. Nailed this one buddy. Great update to the old figure too. The flame is boss!
Athena: The design is great, and the AWOK and BFS parts really do the trick. I have been sitting on that particular head for years, now I have some inspiration.
Great work, great homages. You really nailed this batch buddy!

Thanks Itch, great to see you back bro! The detailed report from you is such a treat! Glad I could help inspire! Thanks for stopping by, I really do appreciate it!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clockwise

That Sci-Fi (pilot) is amazing. Great re-imagining of the concept.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you like him & that he was so well received!

[Foxtrot Delta]

SB, I just went through some of these pages on your post and these are truly some FANTASTIC customs, Great work!

[Steel Brigade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Foxtrot Delta

SB, I just went through some of these pages on your post and these are truly some FANTASTIC customs, Great work!

^ Thank you very much for checking out the thread!

[Steel Brigade]

NEW RECRUITS!!!!! Celebrating the 6 Year anniversary of this thread!!!!!!

SKY COMMANDERS 2087 WAVE 1

As a life long fan of Sky Commanders, I have wanted an official (or 3rd party) figure reboot for quite sometime, but unlike other obscure 80's properties such as Sectaurs, Robo Force, Power Lords, etc. it never seems to happen. So I'm taking one from the "Flint_rocks" page book, & making my own Sky Commanders using Marauder Task Force (& friends...) As I re-watched the animated series, & gained more inspiration, I realized some of my previous hang-ups for recreating this series had disappeared... things like their unusual helmets (as they are often seen with out them) & cables everywhere, do not define these characters, & that re-imagining them with a combo of creativity & hitting the right notes... could lead to my very own Sky Commanders reboot line. My "Sky Commanders 2087" (re-named for the year it was occurring in the series), is heavily influenced by combining both the toys & the animated TV series, & I intend to go deep, (beyond the main 15 animation characters), with 20+ figures already planned. I hope you will enjoy this new upcoming series included in "My Marauder Task Force Universe" thread! =)

*The full "Sky Commanders Waves" will be peppered in amongst my usual drops, as I still have plenty more characters from the recent newer storylines to go!

SEASON 1: MARAUDER TASK FORCE
SEASON 2: MTF - TOKYO DARK
SEASON 3: MTF - SQUAD 87Z
SEASON 4: MTF - OCTOBER STORM
SEASON 5: MTF - PHANTOM FORCE
SEASON 6: MTF - ROC REMIX
SEASON 7: MTF - WILD STRIKE!
SEASON 8: MARAUDERGEDDON
*WAR MACHINE TRIBUTE
SEASON 9: FUTURE WAR
*SIDE STORY: SHINJUKU DEMON PARADE
SEASON 10: WET WORLD
*SUNRUNNER MIDORI SERIES
'NAM 19XX
*(NEW!) SKY COMMANDERS 2087
*Story: "Deep in the South Pacific, a tumultuous and untamed new continent has erupted. Spawned by a highly unstable new element, known as Phaeta-7. If this powerful new element could be controlled, whoever possessed it would be the undisputed ruler of the world. One man, General Lucas Plague, is determined to hold that title. And it's up to a rugged team of mountaineering experts, lead by Commander Mike Summit to stop him. Employing revolutionary new gravity-lock and laser-cable technology to traverse the ever-changing terrain of the High Frontier, Mike Summit's Sky Commanders and General Plague's Raiders are locked in mortal combat with the fate of the entire world hanging in the balance!"

WAVE 76
376. COMMANDER MIKE SUMMIT
Sky Commanders
Origin: USA
Sky Commanders 2087

Growing up, my grandparents, aunts, & uncles were great about getting my brothers & I all sorts of toys that were off the grid from my "Master Birthday/X-Mas Lists," (along with the popular stuff) ...This is how I got a near complete Sectaurs collection, Remco Warrior Beasts, or things like Megadons back in the day. This is also how I was first exposed to Sky Commanders, I ate all of this stuff up, all toys were good toys to me, & Sky Commanders offered a new play value with their zip-lines. We got a handful of figures one time & they stuck with me, I recently dug out my childhood Mike Summit, & he is currently standing on my computer desk right now, near mint. I always liked these small figures & even liked them more & more as time went on. One of my brother's even retro-collected some MIB sets many years ago. Like most Sky Commanders kids back then, I have the red/gray Mike Summit that came with the "Rollerball," this was the more affordable one, & I imagine the one almost all kids had, as the one that was on the cartoon was blue & orange. I'm guessing they used that blue/orange one to help sell the most expensive toy (Vector Command), as 80's cartoons tend to do... But I always loved my "Rollerball" version & chose that take as my influence for recreating the Sky Commanders leader!

BIO: In the year 2087, an eighth continent, the High Frontier, suddenly erupts in the South Pacific. Its core is the highly volatile and unstable element called Phaeta-7, a source of energy more powerful than anything Earth has known. The United Nations put together a multi-national group of soldiers & mountaineering specialists from all over the world to battle the evil GENERAL LUCAS PLAGUE & his squad of villainous mercenaries & miscreants, "The Raiders", whose aim is to seize control of the planet through Phaeta-7. This lethal element can only be stabilized for containment by exposure to temperatures of −200 ?F (−128.89 ?C). It is known that whoever can control the element & harness its enormous power would be the ruler of the world; which is GENERAL LUCAS PLAGUE'S aim. It is up to COMMANDER MIKE SUMMIT & his highly trained soldiers to stop him. Complicating the Sky Commanders' objective of stopping the criminal ambitions of the Raiders is the fact The High Frontier is routinely beset by sporadic, unstable & highly dangerous weather conditions and environmental hazards, such as: landslides, earthquakes, cave-ins, whirlpools, & more... There is also the need for monthly shipments of fresh supplies, new advanced technology & weapon systems sent from the UNITED NATIONS SKY COMMAND. Constant attack by the scheming & underhanded Raiders & the aforementioned environmental dangers make the Sky Commanders mission only that much more dangerous. Travel throughout the new continent is only possible by means of high-altitude flight, or by using Laser Cables: a specialized version of a rappelling cord emitted from combat backpacks, in addition to life lines on special wrist "grapplers" arm control units worn by both Raider & Sky Commander. When used, the cables shoot out from the combat backpacks in the form of energy beams. When contact is made with a solid object, the Laser Cable solidifies into a solid metal cable line upon which travel is possible. COMMANDER MIKE SUMMIT was chosen amongst several qualified military candidates to lead the Sky Commanders due to his former military background as a general that hosted many victories in hostile situations in high altitude environments, such as the 2074 tapping & illegal distribution of gold, silver, iron ore, gas, coal, tin, copper & more in the Andes Mountain by terrorist group using kidnapped countrymen as mining slaves. He's very no-nonsense, & his record shines, but he is also hard to get along with, & very demanding of his troops, with tunnel vision when it comes to stopping The Raiders at any cost. But he would not ask his fellow Sky Commanders to sacrifice anything that he would not do so himself.

[Steel Brigade]

377. GENERAL LUCAS PLAGUE
The Raiders
Origin: Unknown
Sky Commanders 2087

We also had the General Plague/Deception Raider set growing up, which was also featured in the animated series (surprisingly, against the more expensive "Jackal Raider" set.) *Special thanks to Flint_rocks, who recreated faithful renditions of the 80's cartoon series leaders & helped influence my own builds... (check out his thread), & since I'm not doing the sculpt/paint work that he does, that means that I have to get creative with my new interpretations. A little about my process... One of the first challenges with Sky Commanders was to recreate their wrist "grapplers"... In coming up with a solution for this, I found the MTF exo-suit forearm armor with a c-clip attached worked best for my figure builds. This also means with this line, that I am sparing no expense, to attain the forearm armors by buying the whole MTF exo-suits just to get them, luckily, it's a 2 for one deal with all the characters I have planned lol. Another process that helped planning out the Sky Commanders was drawing quick thumbnails to plot out both the parts & the colors (see the sample below) for the figures. This process really helped me to flesh them out with the catalogs available.

BIO: GENERAL LUCAS PLAGUE is a man of unknown origin, but it is known that he has lead various rogue militia to conquest over the years. Now working for himself, he seeks to take control & harness the power of the unstable element called Phaeta-7. Control of this resource would give him the potential to name his price amongst ambitious current arms race countries, the raw resource dependents, & wealthy scientific communities. Both brilliant as a strategist & physically capable, PLAGUE has no fear & will go up against any Sky Commander when given the opportunity. He often has dissension in his ranks, as the majority of his troops are "hired guns" & many of them are vying to better their lives under the pretense of being rewarded just for loosely serving PLAGUE'S RAIDERS.







*SKY COMMANDERS Wave 1 builds thumbnail sketches:


Animated series intro:

[Steel Brigade]

378. JACK "SPIDER" REILLY
Sky Commanders
Origin: Australia
Sky Commanders 2087

Spider was my first character recreated for this series. I think his "Aussie" hat is more iconic than his toy helmet, & this is what lead me to see that I needed to think outside the all-toy-helmeted-heads look to get these characters finally rolling. They usually only wear their helmets when battling on the cartoon & often actually have them off, or have alternative headgear during non-conflict scenes. This revelation really opened up a different way to recreate the characters faithfully without custom/non-existent helmets. We had Spider growing up, & I always thought that him & R.J. Scott looked the coolest, so it was a lot of fun recreating him. This build is one of the most heavily influenced by the animated series. I'm guessing they made him Australian due to the popularity of Crocodile Dundee at the time, much like how Wolverine was made Australian in the "Pryde of the X-Men" pilot for that very same reason.

BIO: SPIDER is former Australian Defense Force (ADF), a military known for their strange slang terms that he often uses & the other SKY COMMANDERS can't understand. He's also very oldskool & is unappreciative of BOOKS scientific advancements in The High Frontier... It's almost like he has bad luck with technology. With that said, he often acts as COMMANDER SUMMIT'S second in command, & he gets results, despite everyone not knowing what the "old bloke" is talking about half the time. Earlier in his career SPIDER was a survivalist in "the bush," known for getting through peril after peril with little to nothing that would leave most men dead in a week... It was this knack of getting out of hopeless situations that lead the UNITED NATIONS SKY COMMAND to choose SPIDER for the SKY COMMANDERS roster, as they knew that he would be able to pull out his team when the worst happened.

[Steel Brigade]

379. MAJOR YURI ANDROV
Sky Commanders
Origin: Russia
Sky Commanders 2087

Yuri is probably the least featured of the Sky Commanders main roster on the TV show, having appeared in episode one, but then being a "fresh recruit" on episode 3, possibly retconning his first appearance lol. With that said, Kenner still had a prototype for him made with the unreleased "Series 2" line of toys, as he was to be included with the unproduced "Slamhit" vehicle. Building him makes me appreciate the MTF "cheddar yellow/Shock-Ops" body even more, as it's a near perfect color match for the original Sky Commanders figure's yellow. AND, I am happy to report that the yellow MTF body has finally caught up to the revised Trooper bodies (unlike the purple), & fits the newer hips (now) correctly. The heroic side of Sky Commanders featured this yellow heavily (along with red) using the "Ketchup & Mustard Theory" pairing to get customer's attention. I also had a chance to use the config that was used on the geared-up "Marauder Sapper 2-in-1" figure again to get that nice ammo belt fit by cutting the belts down to size.

BIO: YURI is the oldest member & the last chosen for the original roster of the SKY COMMANDERS. Russia wanted a trooper in THE HIGH FRONTIER, mostly to make sure other world powers were not conspiring against them & trying to obtain & weaponize Pheata-7. When YURI arrived however, although a very capable, recommended, & seasoned former soldier (with multiple successful missions under his belt,) he did not get along well with former battlefield rival COMMANDER MIKE SUMMIT, often dismissing his orders & acting negatively against him. Some think it's the old Russia vs. U.S.A. mindset, & even though that may be at play, the two men may just reach a breaking point, & the results could be catastrophic for both the Sky Commanders & the UNITED NATIONS SKY COMMAND.

[Steel Brigade]

380. PETE "KODIAK" CRANE
Sky Commanders
Origin: Nunavut
Sky Commanders 2087

I had "Commander Pete Crane" (with the Bomb Blast transport) as one of my Sky Commander figures growing up, but did not realize he was "Kodiak" from the cartoon until adulthood, as they pretty much only called him Kodiak (same for Spider too) on the show, & the toys of him differed in look a bit from the animation model. This is common with this toy-line & the small size of the figures may have something to do with it, along with the animation studio wanting to flesh out the characters a bit more with unique traits. With that said, Pete Crane had 3 toys in Series 1, more than anyone else, even the 2 leaders! But that is one of the great things about the original Sky Commanders Kenner line, that you have at least 2 colors of every character (that was released) to choose from... & that is particularly helpful when recreating your Sky Commanders with Marauders (?Sky Marauders? lol)... I based mine on a mix of the animation model's Inuit heritage (head, skin tone, fur, spear), & the figure version I had growing up. He is also the character that inspired me to come up with signature character weapons for this series, as the vintage figures did not come with weapons outside of their transport's load-outs. Another thing is I'll be giving most of the characters knives, as they pull them out of nowhere to cut cables etc. on the cartoon lol.

BIO: KODIAK was born in Nunavut, but ultimately his family moved to Alaska. Being extremely large in stature for the Inuit people, many say he got the nickname "KODIAK" for his immense size that is comparable to a bear. Others say he actually fought a Kodiak Bear & won. He formerly served in the Alaskan Command (ALCOM) & is the SKY COMMANDERS cold weather expert, as the environment is constantly changing & causes havoc with the weather. But KODIAK thinks 0 degrees feels like 75... The most well liked member on the team, COMMANDER SUMMIT will often send KODIAK on most Sky Commanders' missions, as he has the most "wins" on the entire squad. In addition to superb his track record, he is also known more for thinking with his "gut" than military tactics, & his "gut" has often proved right.

[CapBritain]

nice customs. never heard of the line.