MOTU Classics:
Jet Sled Review

You might be asking “Where’s Sky High?” Well, this is no slight against the Heroic Pilot. I love him; he made it into our old “Most Requested Figures” column back in the day. It is for that reason that I’m going to give him a separate review to himself instead of trying to cram both the figure & the new vehicle into one review.

Today, we’re getting the Battle Ra… er, Jet Sled out of the way first. The first thing to cover real quick is that it’s a little difficult for me to call this thing a Jet Sled. The Jet Sled is a different vehicle entirely, produced later in the line that was a sort of hovercraft/hand glider hybrid. It’s pretty neat on its own. In, hand glider “mode” it attached to the figure via a special armor piece with He-Man’s symbol emblazed on it. I always kinda viewed the whole Jet Sled as a special He-Man armor. Those later vehicle/accessory kits may never make their way into Classics, so be it, but the name thing still throws me.

What this actually is is a “Sky Sled”, or from a toy standpoint, it is the front half of the line’s very first vehicle, the Battle Ram. In addition to being an important early toy, both the Battle Ram & the detachable Sky Sled featured heavily in the cartoon, the Sky Sled in particular was flown by heroes and villains, though they had a snake-headed green version instead of the heroic blue.

The Classics Battle Ram first appeared way back in SDCC 2010. The Four Horsemen brought it to SDCC as a gift to Mattel, but it was also to test the waters too. The Battle Ram was gorgeous and collectors reacted exactly as one would expect. We went nuts. We wanted it… and now, three years later… we still want it. But Mattel has not left us completely high & dry, this SDCC saw the reveal of the Sky S… er, Jet Sled and here in September we already have it in our hot little hands.

Will we ever get the back half? I don’t know, but the odds are better now that the front half has been tooled. Mattel could easily recoup the costs with a green “evil” repaint, by offering it again without Sky High (I just can’t armybuild him, he’s too cool), or by packaging it along with the back half some day. Hey, I can hope, okay? This line has already gotten a lot further than even the most optimistic of us thought it would, right? Lest we forget that wallet killer that’s coming out next month…

So anyway, that’s all prologue? The vehicle itself? It’s awesome. The size is great for the figures. It does make the Wind Raider feel a little undersized. I think the Wind Raider is more “toy sized” while the Jet Sled is more accurate to the cartoon (well, sometimes anyway, the Battle Ram was huge at times). Anyway, it looks sharp with the figures and that’s what matters in terms of scale. I’d love to have a fleet of them, but due to space & money, I opted for just the one. Continue to Page 2…

28 thoughts on “MOTU Classics:
Jet Sled Review

  1. Just got mine today. I was not going to pick it up, but got one right before they sold out. Soooo glad I did! The detail they get on this and the wind raider are just sick!

  2. Was the ol’ Ram really the first MOTU vehicle? Hey, you learn something new every day.

    I loved the old Battle Ram more than the Wind Raider despite an unfortunate start. That thing may have had the most powerful launching mechanism in a toy that didn’t involve actual combustion. I realized that firsthand while accidentally shooting myself in the face trying to figure out how the trigger worked.

    1. Yeah, I remember shooting fairly hefty projectiles nearly all the way across the downstairs rec room to demolish rickety structures. Coolest feat was hitting a Horde Trooper right on the chest-button. [Galaxy Quest Alien Voice]: And then it ex-plo-ded.

      BATTLE RAM! WANT IT!! NOW!!!

      1. i’ve contended for years that, despite collector clamoring about how lame action features are, some of the best memories we share as a group, and a major factor in us transitioning into adult collectors, was an action feature designed so perfectly, we got stuck in permanent man-child mode because of it.

        the battle ram had just such a feature. castle grayskull had another. the transformers are one huge action feature line. muckman was yet another for a slightly younger generation… the list is huge.

        1. But those are action features that didn’t inhibit the actual playability of the action figures. A vehicle that launches part of itself as a separate vehicle is cool, a guy who can’t move his legs, neck, or right arm because someone decided he should have the spring-loaded ability to weakly throw a plastic net is not.

        2. Yup, I’m with James on this one. Also, I must reiterate how much I hate the practice of sculpting “action feature activators” on figures that don’t have action features: Hurricane Hordak’s back-wheel, Horde Trooper’s chest button, Sy-Klone’s belt wheel, that kind of thing.

        3. This was most noticeable on the battle armor figures. I’ve since gotten over it, but part of that was helped along by obtaining their vintage counterparts to sate the urge to tap-tap and roll, tap-tap and roll, tap-tap and roll …

  3. The big question now is if we’ll ever get to see the Battle Ra… er, Jet Sled’s better half. Having the dragon head sculpted as a separate piece is a great sign, though. We’re easily halfway there.

    I didn’t pick this set up (much like the Wind Raider) because August was bad month for my budget and having to choose between a large collection or an empty fridge, well, let’s just say that eating plastic does no wonder for the digestion.

    I was never into the toys very much as a kid even though I had a couple (The Attack Track, Wind Raider, and Point Dread w/ the Talon Fighter) mostly due to the paper stickers and lack of compatibility with other toy lines. But the 4H have got the sticker issue covered and then some. Maybe I’ll grab it at a Black Friday sale if it ever turns up again like the Wind Raider did.

  4. Never had this as a kid. I just wanted the flying part I think or something. Great review and pics. Will try a Black Friday – Cyber Monday myself.

    1. That’s the main reason I didn’t pick this up. I imagine seeing it on Black Friday or Cyber Monday or some other online sale Mattel does every year.

      1. Damn fine point. If there’s a hiatus of a few months, or even weeks, it might give my bank account enough time to rally for the possibilities of extras.

  5. I had the original battle Ram (and WR), but the BR/tank half was quickly tossed aside for this, custom paint job aside.

    I don’t even remember seeing the full Battle Ram on the cartoon? there was a van-type vehicle, which I always assumed to be some combination of the BR and Attak-Trak. also not recalling the green “evil” version? is this what altimers sounds like? it doesn’t taste like insanity? 😕

    I like this Sky/Jet sled and want to get it, but I still need to grab a WR, too. but now that I have some money, other bills come first. (looks at car.)
    crap. Matty sold out of both now? :/ I saw they sold out of Huntress/Comedian before my settlement cleared, too. sigh….

    1. The van-type vehicle was a large version of the Attak Trak. For some reason, they reversed the colours of the thing (blue body, red treads, instead of the other way around), and made it into a huge, multi-person, APC-type vehicle. The one-person “Little Trak,” based on the actual toy, showed up once (deployed ffrom the cargo compartment of the Big Trak, no less), and still had the reversed colours.

      I don’t recall the whole Battle Ram showing up more than a handful of times in 130 episodes, but I remember the Sky Sleds were all over the place.

  6. I was one of those who almost bought 2, but i took one out of my cart and opted to get the Weapons Set instead to give Draego Man he shield and whip. If they go up again I am getting another! My wallet is gonan take a big hit this month that is for sure.. Lord Dactus, Mantenna, Mer-Man, and MOTUC Horde Troopers™ . If I had DCIE and Filmation I would be in trouble!

  7. To be Honest, I never understood why after the 4 Horsemen created the Battle-Ram Prototype, created huge hype and calls for a preorder, Matty decided to go with the Windraider. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Windraider, but the Battle-Ram was always to me the heart of MOTU vehicles. Was it just that Scott’s favorite vehicle was the Windraider?

    Honestly from a marketing standpoint, it really didn’t make sense. Not to mention, it was a FREE prototype.

  8. I’m so excited that we finally got half of the Battle Ram. I purchased 4 of them on EA now I wish I ordered 4 more.

Comments are closed.