The Story of Sky-Banana and A Special Sky-Banana Review 3.0

It appears that the powers that be want to keep the original Sky-Banana under wraps. As you can see the “Sky-Banana” review 2.0 has mysteriously disappeared off the face of the blog. Well I refuse to allow the higher ups of transformer-land to keep this beloved hero out of his well deserved spotlight any longer. For your reading pleasure, here is the Sky-Banana review 3.0.




Protoype Images of Sky-Banana



If you read my first review on Sky-Banana, then you’d know that he hails from the old school of transformers. What we now call the Dia-clone series that originated from Japan. They had no idea what they were starting with the creation of the first Sky-Banana figurine. Yes there were a lot of issues with the initial prototypes of the sky-banana, but they persevered and carried on and never gave up. At first the goal of the Dia-clone banana was more of an educational tool for younger fans of the “Transforming Robot” or as they say in Japan, の変形ロボット. But to the surprise of the creators the testing went well and Sky-Banana was a huge success with both children and adults alike!



Here you see crack-cocain coming from the broken sky-banana

 At first however the durability of Sky-Banana was called into question by American Watchdog groups, calling it “Carrier of Fruit Flies” , “Harbinger of Disease”, and "Banana of Death". Apparently Takara-Tomy had been getting their source material from a cocaine drug lord’s banana farm in South America. The banana material was weak, squishy, low in potassium and went from green to black in a matter of a day or two if left out on the playground too long. Some children even found, bits of white powder in their sky-bananas when they broke after to much stress on the cheaply grown banana forms. It looked bleak for the Sky-Banana. But they didn’t give up!



Fancy R&D Stuff

 After a slew of recalls, the sky-banana was put back into research and development and sure enough the Japanese Company Takara Tomy got it right. The toy was amazing, it was packed full of potassium, vitamins, no more illegal drugs were found inside, and when stored and cared for correctly they Sky-Banana lasted a long time after its “Best Eaten Before Date” stickers. Still there were certain things about the toy that left something to be desired, but I remember I loved my Dia-clone Sky-Banana back in the 1980s’ they tried a few more times during Generation One, and Generation Two to bring Sky-banana back into the spot light, but it failed miserably. He did make some cameo appearances on Beast Wars, as banana in tree number 37. Sadly the original model for sky-banana didn’t take the fast success and sudden fail to well and began doing drugs and sadly passed away in 1993 from acute stem failure. Hasbro and Takara both felt as though they were the cause of this and pulled the remaining sky-banana figures off the shelf and tried to remove sky-banana from history. Well I still have mine and I’m going to review him right here for you.

ALT Mode:


Sky-Banana in all his potassium rich glory!


I had a very hard time tracking this down. Thankfully a friend of mine found one in an Air-controlled warehouse at the location of the old Hasbro facility. I paid a pretty penny to bring this guy here to review for you. He came in a Dry-Ice container and a lot of bubble wrap. But he showed up perfectly without a dent, scratch or stress mark. He still has that fresh from the tree smell too! Very lucky to have him in my home to review for you fine folks. Upon inspection his ALT mode is amazing, i mean if you look at the picture to the right you will see the immense detail put into this figure. You honestly believe that this is a real Sky-Banana. I mean it takes a lot to get this old transformer collector excited, but this already has! It's amazing!!! He has the correct stem lines which are characteristic of a banana that would have the ability to fly as well as some serious paint apps to show he isn't a rookie sky-banana either! It appears that this one was one of the first generation Dia-Clone Sky-bananas because it has the smaller stem cut, which quite frankly i prefer next to the larger stem mold. Less to break off in my humble opinion! As far as ALT modes, this takes the cake out of all the Dia-Clone molds before and after Sky-Banana!

Transformation:



The Peel Method Transformation of Sky-Banana

 The simplest and most effective way to transform Sky-Banana is by the use of the convenient "handle" on one end of the mold. However, individuals unpracticed at transforming Sky-bananas or those with insufficient wrist strength may find that this conventional method "mushes up" the top of the joints on Sky-banana. But with a lot of practice and patience you should be able to transform or as I call it "Peel" Sky-Banana!

Basically you just grab the aforementioned "Handle" on sky banana, break apart the joints on the handle and "peel" the flaps down ward towartds the base of Sky-banana! And Viola! You have Transformed or Peeled, Sky-banana!



Bot-Mode:



Sky-Banana in Bot-Mode.

 Last but not least we have the Bot-mode of Sky-Banana. I must say now that I'm older somethings are lost on me with this bot-mode. Not that I'm disappointed or anything, but it seems to lack something. I guess back in the 1980's toys relyed more on a child's imagination than attention to certain things. I mean they are minor complaints, but Sky-Banana has no face or mouth! I mean how is Sky-banana going to see what he is shooting at?! Yell commands to his subbordinates like Optimus-Prime (That's right in Dia-Clone Optimus took orders from Sky-Banana). Sadly they left it out on Sky-Banana, but i can't complain to much. I mean look at the detail on this bad-mama-jamma!  The detail is unbelievable. I mean He looks like an actual flying banana of the sky. The paint applications are stellar. Look how they even use the kibble from ALT mode to complete the bot mode and really sell that bad-ass banana of the sky look! I can't stress this enough, the DETAIL ON THIS THING IS ABSOLUTELY amazing. Now some people have a hard time getting it back into ALT mode after transformation. Easiest trick is to slide the flaps up one at a time and clip them back together. Amazing.

Well that's the story of Sky-Banana, and my short little pictorial review. If you can find one.. I would have to say buy it on the spot. these go for thousands of dollars on ebay now ,and can not be found easily. GET HIM!

  (This is a Joke.. sky banana does not really exist. If you think this is dumb.. get a sense of humor)