The VF-1A Valkyrie. The Thunderhawk. Castle Grayskull. The X-Wing fighter. Quick, what do all of those items have in common? Think of the Valkyrie, and you think of Robotech. Think of the Thunderhawk, and you think of MASK. Think of Castle Grayskull, and you think of He-Man, and of course the X-Wing brings to mind Star Wars. Every one of the above items could be considered the iconic accessories of their associated toy lines, as in “that’s the first thing I think of when I hear that name.” Well, the following is a review of what I consider to be the most iconic Joe vehicle of them all, and one of the greatest toys of all time. Sure, there’s bigger out there. There’s also more realistic, and more detailed. However, I think the combination of size, detail, realism, playability, and overall fun factor make this vehicle tops. I’m talking of course about the 1983 SkyStriker.
The SkyStriker is of course based on the Grumman F-14 Tomcat Naval fighter jet, in service with the United States Navy from September of 1974 to September of 2006, a 32-year service history. The F-14 is one of the most recognizable fighter jets in the world, even though it is no longer in service in the US (Iran, the only other nation to purchase F-14s, supposedly has about 20 of them still in service…they were purchased before the fall of the Shah when Iran was still a US ally). One of the reasons it is such a well-known aircraft is that the F-14 is a featured aircraft in the movie Top Gun. I often think that Hasbro really missed the boat on that one…though the SkyStriker had an almost unprecedented three-year production run (first released in 1983 and sold in ’84 and ’85) just think how many SkyStrikers would have been sold for Christmas ’86 after Top Gun came out.
But I digress. The SkyStriker is a fairly large Joe vehicle, measuring in right at 23” long, with a maximum 22” wingspan (wings fully extended) and sits about 6” high (measured from the ground to the top of the rear vertical stabilizer). There is a two-person cockpit up front, with a lightly tinted canopy that can be raised and lowered. Raising the canopy reveals the interior…up front, there is a small dash panel with various circles for gauges and a row of switches up top. Also inside the cockpit are two black ejection seats, with posts to secure ARAH style Joes via their backpack holes. The ejection seats are removable, and each has a deployable, working parachute attached to it. While the parachutes technically work, I will tell you from experience they only work moderately well…don’t go throwing your favorite Joe off a windmill or something if you really want them to stay in one piece (ahem).
Moving towards the rear along the airplane’s top, aft of the canopy, just in front of the wings on either side are removable panels. Removing them reveals some aircraft machinery underneath so Joes can perform maintenance on the SkyStriker. Between the wings, in the middle of the plane is a black, sliding switch. Moving this switch all the way forward both raises the landing gear and sweeps the wings toward the rear of the plane. Moving it backward lowers the gear and sweeps the wings all the way out. While the big switch on top detracts from the realism somewhat, you have to admit that the swing-wing feature is pretty darn cool. Behind the switch are the vertical stabilizers, which are angled outward at a slightly steeper angle than those on a real Tomcat. At the very rear of the aircraft are the engines and afterburners, which just happen to be removable for an extra touch of realism.
The underside of the SkyStriker is not quite as detailed as the top. Most noticeable of course are the retractable landing gear. Other than the gear, the most dominating feature of the SkyStriker’s underside is a large, centrally mounted, irremovable (at least by normal means) fuel tank. Also on the underside are most of the weapons. Though the SkyStriker is armed with a nose gun offset to the left of the nose, the rest of the armaments are carried beneath…and due to the swing-wing design, none of them are carried far out on the wings like on other aircraft. One more note about the nose gun…the only known variation in the original SkyStriker comes in a grate just behind the nose gun…a SkyStriker can either come with or without the grate, mine has it…and I will tell you from experience that the stupid grate can make putting on the black-and-red sticker that runs around the cockpit a real pain in the patootie.
Anyway, on to the rest of the weaponry. Just behind the pilot’s seat on the plane’s underside sit two missiles…these missiles closely resemble the real AIM-9 series Sidewinder missiles. Aft of the Sidewinders, but just in front of the rear gear on either side, sit two large missiles that bear a strong resemblance to the AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile. To the outside of the Mavericks, mounted under the wings just before the swing-wing sections start, are two more missiles…these bear a strong resemblance to the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile. So, as you can see, between six missiles and a nose gun the SkyStriker is pretty heavily armed. It might not be as heavily armed as a Cobra Rattler, but the SkyStriker still packs a punch, and would be a lot faster and more maneuverable than a Rattler, VTOL or not.
Complaints on the SkyStriker? Considering that I consider this the most iconic Joe vehicle of all time, and one of the greatest Joe toys of all time, there aren’t many. The first, most obvious one is that the SkyStriker’s plastic can be prone to yellowing. I wish the cockpit and the underside of the plane had more detailing. You have to be careful handling the plane, because the Sidewinders under the nose are prone to breakage and stress marks. The little tab the spring attaches to on the rear gear covers can break off, meaning you have to push the covers closed. I wish there was a way to hide the swing-wing switch, of course, and I wish there was a way to sweep the wings independent of the landing gear. But other than that…
As for my argument on the SkyStriker being the Greatest Ever…I will present these exhibits. First, I’ve always felt that Joe vehicles are at their best when they are representations of real vehicles. The SkyStriker was really the first vehicle to do this, and along with the Rattler, really resembled a real aircraft the closest. It’s just the right size for handling and playing…sure the Night Raven and Phantom X-19 are neat, but they’re kinda big to zoom around with while holding them with one hand. The Thunderwing COULD have come close to the SkyStriker, but to me the slightly off and goofy proportions ruin the whole thing. No other Joe aircraft has a swing-wing design, which I’ve always loved as a feature. Sure, others out there may love the Rattler, Conquest, and Night Raven more…but none of those planes would have ever existed without the SkyStriker’s commercial success. And finally, and most compellingly, the USS Flagg was designed to work with the SkyStriker, and the Flagg in my humble opinion looks pretty darn incomplete without a couple of SkyStrikers sitting on her flight deck.
If you want a SkyStriker, be ready to shell out some cash. A complete one in excellent shape will easily cost $100 or more, and that’s not even including the very-hard-to-find parachutes. You can get off a little cheaper if you buy and restore a crappy-looking one (which I did, thanks again to some J Ruben stickers) but not by much.
I had really, really hoped for a reissue of the SkyStriker during the 25th Anniversary run, but alas, it was not to be. I just KNOW if Hasbro would’ve re-released this jet, they would have sold a ton of them, even if the cost would have approached the $100 range. And I was hoping in the movie that, to save money, the Joes would have been outfitted with retired (but technologically updated and restored) F-14s from the Navy. It would have made a lot of sense, but apparently the Joes don’t have any jets that we know of…yet.
So there you have it--my review of the SkyStriker, and my reasoning on why it’s the Greatest Joe Vehicle Ever. There’s bigger, better detailed, more heavily armed, and even more expensive F-14s out there…but the SkyStriker will always be king in my book.
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