Space Mini-Con Team

Hey, look. The Earth is blue and there's nothing we can do.

The Space Mini-Con Team is one of the most sought-after groups of Mini-Cons. Not simply because they are all strong warriors with zero-gravity operational skills, but mainly because the three combine to form the Requiem Blaster, one of the legendary Mini-Con weapons whose destructive power maximums have yet to be calculated.

The Space Mini-Con Team is composed of...

• Astroscope the satellite.
• Payload the rocket-transport truck.
• Sky Blast the rocket.

Fiction

Armada cartoon

While Mini-Cons in general are reluctant to participate in the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, the Space Team was particularly averse to fighting, acutely aware of the destructive potential of their combined form, the Requiem Blaster, and spent quite a bit of time hiding from both sides, not wanting their power abused. Runaway Like their fellow Mini-Cons, the Space Team boarded the Exodus to flee the Great War only for the escape ship to come under attack from the Decepticon fleet, its Transwarp Drive being damaged and crashing into Earth's moon. First Encounter The three panels would be separated by a vast distance. While Astroscope's panel fell onto the lunar surface, Payload's would crash onto a deserted island on the planet below and Sky Blast's would remain in the primary hull, buried deep within a Terran mountain. Awakening Desperate

In the year 2010, Payload's dormant panel was found causing it to react with those of his teammates. The Mini-Cons who had aligned with the Autobots, along with their human allies, quickly found Sky Blast's panel, their base having been set up atop the wreck of the primary hull, and reawakened him only for him to run off. Awakening Once the Autobots and humans had helped Sky Blast tame his fear, he was warped to Payload's island to try and help Optimus Prime. Inspired by the heroism of the Autobots, Sky Blast sent out a pulse to his comrades who awoke, converging on him with the three combining into the Requiem Blaster, their combined power saving Optimus' life, albeit functioning as a makeshift retrorocket. Desperate

Insert Pretender joke here.

With the deed done however, the Space Team made plans to flee the war once again, settling on a farm outside Central City with the help of the human children. Their haven was short lived, however, for Thrust soon tracked them down only for Optimus Prime to save them where he declared that the Mini-Cons would not be forced to fight if they didn't want to. Runaway

While the Autobots were out on a mission, Smokescreen tried to befriend the trio only for Megatron to break into the base and capture the Mini-Cons. Forcing them to combine, he used the Requiem Blaster to gun down the Autobot. Sacrifice Back on the moon, Megatron locked the trio into their combined form, granting him full use of the Blaster. When Starscream, having been a pawn in the scheme to capture the trio, attacked his leader, Megatron opened fire only to find that the Star Saber could counter the Requiem Blaster. Regeneration When Starscream defected to the Autobots, he provided them with the intel to attack the Decepticon base. Megatron unleashed the Blaster in battle only for its effects to blocked by the Skyboom Shield. Rescue

Soon enough, Thrust had managed to convince Starscream to defect back to the Decepticons who brought with him the Star Saber and Skyboom Shield. Crack After the two teams had been mode-locked, the three Mini-Con groups were made the primary power source for the Hydra Cannon. Threaten

When both factions returned to Cybertron, the mode-locked Space Team would find themselves used as Megatron's primary weapon, being used to gun down Nemesis Prime, Puppet and later to destroy a flotilla of Autobot ships. Uprising Along with the Skyboom Shield and the Star Saber, the Requiem Blaster would be stolen by Thrust, now revealed as a Herald of Unicron, who used them to reawaken the Chaos Bringer. Dash Drift

Brought to Unicron's core, the three teams reawakened their creator before Optimus Prime and Megatron—now reborn as Galvatron—roused the nine from their slumber. The first act of the Space Team was, quite ironically, to recombine back into the Requiem Blaster so Optimus could inflict catastrophic damage to Unicron's interior. Origin When Galvatron then challenged Optimus to a final duel, the Prime told everyone to head back to Cybertron while he held off his foe. Mortal Combat

Toys

Armada

• Space Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

• Takara ID number: MM-13
• Takara release date: July 17, 2003
• Accessories: Astroscope missile
• Known designers: Hironori Kobayashi (Takara)

The Space Mini-Con Team (Astroscope, Payload, and Skyblast) are a trio of tiny robots who turn into tiny space-themed vehicles. As Mini-Cons, they each have a Powerlinx port that allows them to connect to toys with compatible Powerlinx plugs, activating gimmicks on the larger toys when attached to a "live" plug. The trio also have more inter-team interactivity than the others: aside from being able to combine to form the Requiem Blaster super-weapon to be used by larger toys, Sky Blast's vehicle mode is designed to attach to Payload's carrier mode and dock with Astroscope's station mode in ways mimicking the real vehicles.

This version of the Team was nominally available as a three-pack, sold in third assortment of Mini-Con teams in Hasbro's Armada line, and later also available in Unicron Battles packaging. This latter release was also clamshelled with other Mini-Con packs as "Bonus Packs" sold by various retailers (whether the price was a genuine bonus or not varied); the Space Team has been found packed with the Night Attack Mini-Con Team. In Japan, the pack was part of the fifth wave of Takara's Legend of the Microns product. The Takara release features slightly darker red plastic than the Hasbro release.^{[citation needed]}

This mold-set was used to make the Deep Space Mini-Con Team.

• Space Micron Exdimensions (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

• Takara ID number: MM-14
• Takara release date: August 14 2003
• Accessories: Astroscope missile

A somewhat more limited-edition -but still regular retail- redeco of the Space Team was released by Takara as part of the Exdimensions series, in the sixth wave of Legend of the Microns product. This set uses a primarily green and brown deco, an interestingly ground-based choice for a space-based team.

This deco was repurposed as the Cosmic Exploration Team.

• Apollo (Candy toy, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 5

• Mir (Candy toy, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 4
• Accessories: Missile

• Move (Candy toy, 2003)

• Change Micron ID number: 6
• Release date: August ?? 2003

Each member of the Space Team was sold as an individual in the second series of Kabaya "Change Micron" candy toys in Japan. These molds are based on the originals, but are in fact entirely new molds with numerous minor sculpting differences (and likely are not gang-molded as the originals are). On top of that, the light blue plastics are darker on the Kabaya versions, and each toy is missing a few paint applications.

• Jetfire with Comettor (Bonus Buy, 2003)

• Accessories: Astroscope missile

The Space Team were also included in a "Bonus Buy" bundle, packed in a long bubble and attached to the top of the Giga-Con-class Jetfire toy packaging. It is currently unknown what retailer(s) offered this set.

• Space Mini-Con Team (Mini-Con 3-pack, 2003)

• Accessories: Astroscope missile

Test-shots of a slightly altered Space Team have popped up from various sources, though it looks unfinished at best. While the plastic colors have changed, the Team has exactly the same paint application layouts in exactly the same colors as the original.

It's possible this was intended to be a mid-series deco-change for the team released in the Unicron Battles, instead of the normal-deco release on said card style that did make it to retail.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Energon

Note that Astroscope is mistransformed in the above photograph; his legs should be folded out as solar panels.

• Ultra Magnus (Ultra-Con, 2004)

• Accessories: Astroscope missile

The Space Mini-Con Team was redecoed and added to the Energon Ultra Magnus set.

The original Hasbro packaging does not reflect this, as the Space Team replaced a planned redeco of the Street Speed Mini-Con Team as the new characters Brakedown, Clocker, and Override. Later releases in Japan covered the relevant portions of the box with a sticker.

• Race Mini-Con Team / Space Mini-Con Team (Multi-pack, 2004)

• Accessories: Astroscope missile

An unaltered version of the Space Mini-Con Team was released as part of an Energon-series "Mini-Con 6-pack" with the Road Assault Mini-Con Team (the latter named as "Race Mini-Con Team" on the package).

Universe (2003)

• Spacewarp (Ultra Class, 2004?)

• Accessories: Astroscope missile

The Space Team was slated to be redecoed as pack-in partners for Universe Spacewarp, a toy that was ultimately canceled.

When the toy was saved from limbo by Fun Publications and released as Astrotrain, they intended to keep the Mini-Con partners, but were told by Takara that the Armada-era Team molds were too worn out to use again. As such, the team was replaced by the Sabotage Team, a redeco of the Giant Planet Mini-Con Team, when Astrotrain finally saw release.

In 2015, this unproduced deco of the Space Team became the basis of the Interstellar Marauders Mini-Con Team.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Space Micron (スペースマイクロン Supēsu Maikuron)
• French: Équipe Spatiale des Minimodus ("Space Mini-Con Team")
• Spanish: Los Minimodus - Equipo Espacial ("The Mini-Cons - Space Team")