Description[]
Skylanders. All three start the adventure, but one will finish this battle.
Introduction[]
Wiz: Skylanders. The pioneers of toy to life gaming.
Boomstick: And for their first installment, they needed worthy members to begin the trend.
Wiz: Spyro, the magical purple dragon.
Boomstick: Gill Grunt, the watery Gillman soldier.
Wiz: And Trigger Happy, the crazy tech gremlin. For this battle, we will be looking at the original Skylander versions of these characters. Whilst this will include their second and third series states, there will be no SuperChargers, no Eon's Elites, no alternate counterparts...
Boomstick: And no composite Spyro. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick.
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle.
Spyro[]
Wiz: The young dragon Spyro hails from a line of magical purple dragons, whose origins trace back to a far off land few have ever travelled to.
Boomstick: Is that the original or Legends settings?
Wiz: Uh, no. It's been confirmed that Skylands is not the result of Spyro restoring the planet in Dawn of the Dragon.
Boomstick: Well, so much for continity. But at any rate, Spyro is certainly one of the reasons Skylands itself is still around, because as a Skylander, that's kind of his job.
- Background
- Species: Purple Dragon
- Element: Magic
- Stats
- Health: 280 (max. 560)
- Speed: 50 (max. 98)
- Armor: 18 (max. 48)
- Critical Hit: 30 (max. 80)
- Elemental Power: 25 (max. 75)
Wiz: And Spyro was amongst the most famous of them. In fact, the Scrolls of the Ancients mention him prominently as a figure of heroism and great power, and that was before he became a Skylander.
Boomstick: That's because he had several other adventures during you-know-what...
Wiz: Different continuity, remember!
Boomstick: Lame! Well, at least he's packing as much literal firepower as he was back then.
- Abilities
- Dragon's Fire
- Long Range Blaze
- Triple Flameballs
- Fire Shield
- Exploding Fireball
- Daybringer Flame
- Charge
- Sprint Charge
- Stun Charge
- Comet Dash
- Ibex's Wrath Charge
- Spyro's Flight
- Earth Pound
- Fireslam
- Head Start
- Dragon's Fire
Wiz: Spyro's main attack is to spit out a fireball at his opponents, which both burn and knock them back.
Boomstick: By using the ultimate magic there is, money, Spyro can upgrade his fireballs so that they can travel over greater distances and even spit out three at a time. But it is the Sheep Burner path that takes them to their full level.
Wiz: Spyro's fireballs now explode on contact and whenever he fires one out, he summons a brief circle of fire around him as a shield. And the Daybringer Flame is a charged attack that deals out the maximum damage possible.
Boomstick: Not only does Spyro have literal firepower, he also literally uses his head.
Wiz: With his Charge, Spyro barrels forward, knocking his enemies aside with his horns.
Boomstick: With upgrades, Spyro can charge for longer, project aura of fire and horns, and a direct collision with an enemy will leave them dizzied.
Wiz: If he doesn't want to run up to someone to bash them in the head with his, then Spyro can do so from above. By entering the air with his Flight ability, Spyro can slam down into the ground to produce a small shockwave.
Boomstick: He even has a fiery variant called the Fireslam, one of his two Wow Pow abilities!
Wiz: The other, part of his Mega Ram series three identity, is known as Head Start, in which Spyro can send out an effigy of his head in front of him as he charges, perfect for clearing a crowd or softening them up for a direct collision.
Boomstick: With Spyro as a Skylander, the whole organization was a bit more stronger, and not just because they had a celebrity guest character with them.
Wiz: Acting as the de-facto leader of the Skylanders, Spyro had led them through thick and through, such as against the Dark Portal Master and his legions, and even against the Skylander's incarnation of Malefor, the evil dragon king.
Boomstick: Spyro says he doesn't remember the guy, but he should, because after all...
Wiz: Different continuity!
Boomstick: Oh, let me dream why don't you.
Wiz: Nevertheless, the fact remains clear that whatever version of him it is, the day Spyro joined the Skylanders was the day they gained a valuable ally.
Gill Grunt[]
Wiz: An courageous soul at heart, Gill Grunt joined the Gillmen military in search of adventure.
Boomstick: Because there's nothing more adventurous than war. Always remember that!
Wiz: During his travels, Grunt travelled through a misty lagoon, lured in by the sight of a beautiful mermaid.
Boomstick: But don't worry, she didn't want to eat him. In fact, they hooked up.
- Background
- Species: Gillman
- Element: Water
- Stats
- Health: 270 (max. 540)
- Speed: 35 (max. 83)
- Armor: 6 (max. 36)
- Critical Hit: 50 (max. 100)
- Elemental Power: 25 (max. 75)
Wiz: Although his military duties called him away, Gill vowed to return to her. But by the time he did, she was gone.
Boomstick: Captured by pirates of all things.
Wiz: Not one to let this experience negatively define him, Gill Grunt vowed to make sure the same misfortune never befell anyone ever again, by joining the Skylanders.
Boomstick: Being a former military man-fish, the sardine soldier fitted right in with what he brought to the table. I'm talking about his cannon.
- Abilities
- Harpoon Gun
- Barbed Harpoon
- Harpoon Repeater
- Quadent Harpoons
- Piercing Harpoons
- Tripleshot Harpoon
- Power Hose
- High Pressure Power Hose
- Boiling Water Hose
- Neptune Gun
- Reserve Water Tank
- Water Jetpack
- Anchor Cannon
- Anchor Management
- Anchor's Away
- Ride the Leviathan
- Harpoon Gun
Wiz: Through this cannon, Gill Grunt has two different long range attacks; the Harpoon Gun and the Power Hose.
Boomstick: The Harpoon Gun first, because it is one gnarly means of filling a foe with holes.
Wiz: Through upgrades, the harpoons fired can pierce through targets, gain additional spikes and be shot out three at a time, as well as at a much faster.
Boomstick: And the large majority of Gill Grunt's Wow Pows and Soul Gem is based around improving a charge version of the attack. He can fire out an anchor, three at a time, or one that comes with a tidal whirlpool.
Wiz: Whilst these are amongst the most powerful of Gill's abilities, they're not the only useful ones. Aside from the harpoon shooter is the Power Hose, which can be swept about to keep enemies back.
Boomstick: It's upgrade path makes the water way more harmful to things other than dirt or grime. For example, the pressure and the temperature of the water can be increased for extra damage and the Neptune Gun upgrade now means the stream comes out with a whole load of starfish that will explode after a single second.
Wiz: Whilst the Power Hose initially runs on a limited supply that has to refill after each use, the Reserve Water Tank makes it so that the Hose has an unlimited water supply.
Boomstick: The Reserve Tank does the same thing for the Water Jetpack, which allows Grunt to hover in the air to increase his speed, and give him access to the latest Wow Pow he has as a core Skylander; Riding the Leviathan, which is just as awesome as it sounds! Ride em' sea-cowboy!
Wiz: Gill Grunt's exploits as a Skylander go a bit beyond what you typical see. This is because he's actually responsible for the recruitment of several other Skylanders, like Punk Shock and Echo, two fellow Water Skylanders.
Boomstick: Oh, and being a water Skylander naturally makes Gill Grunt a skilled swimmer.
Wiz: Gill Grunt has long proved himself an integral member of the Skylander, adventuring with his allies, all whilst searching for his missing love.
Trigger Happy[]
Wiz: Nobody knows where the gremlin known as Trigger Happy came from.
Boomstick: He just showed up one days, blasting bandits in the process of raiding a village and really living up to his name.
- Background
- Species: Gremlin
- Element: Tech
- Stats
- Health: 200 (max. 400)
- Speed: 50 (max. 98)
- Armor: 30 (max. 60)
- Critical Hit: 50 (max. 100)
- Elemental Power: 25 (max. 75)
Wiz: Soon his legend spread, and Trigger Happy was invited to join the Skylanders to put his skills to good use.
Boomstick: The skills of shooting everything up! Or blowing it up. Or basically making anything violently up. Sorry, really excited about this character. He really speaks to me on a spiritual level.
Wiz: I wonder why...oh wait, no I don't, it's because of all those guns he has.
Boomstick: Correctamundo! Those golden pistols he wields were hand-crafted by Happy himself and fires out the most powerful ammo ever; gold coins. Because nothing is more powerful than money.
- Abilities
- Golden Pistols
- Golden Super Charge
- Golden Mega Charge
- Happiness is a Golden Gun
- Bouncing Bullets
- Golden Yamato Blast
- Lob Golden Safe
- Pot O' Gold
- Just Throwing Money Away
- Coinsplosion
- Heads or Tails
- Golden Machine Gun
- Infinite Ammo
- Mega Blast
- Rocket Ride
- Golden Pistols
Wiz: Especially not when shot out at the velocity of bullets, or when charged up and fired with even more strength. He can do so with Golden Super and Golden Mega Charges and the Golden Yamato Blast.
Boomstick: The upgrade that increases the overall damage of the normal shots is the perfectly named 'Happiness is a Golden Gun', which it most certainly is. And if he ever misses a shot, there's an upgrade that makes the bullets bounce of walls.
Wiz: And before you go thinking that firing out coins is wasteful, you haven't seen his Golden Safe Lob. It's exactly what it sounds like by the way, complete with an explosion when it hits its targets.
Boomstick: It can be upgraded to a pot of gold for extra damage.
Wiz: And to be hurled over a longer distance. And explode into a shower of coins for additional damage. But the upgrade that's most unique is the Heads or Tails.
Boomstick: If it lands on Tails, then extra damage. If it lands on Heads, even more extra damage.
Wiz: That's not the end of Trigger Happy's arsenal by a longshot, as he also has a Golden Machine Gun.
Boomstick: It can literally become non-stop with the Soul Gem upgrade, making it one deadly asset to the gremlin's arsenal. And with the first of his Wow Pow powers, it can shoot out a powerful energy beam.
Wiz: His final Wow Pow is by far the most eye-opening. By combining the first and second attacks he has, Trigger Happy can summon a giant rocket to ride into his foes with.
Boomstick: Well, what's to be expected from a creature known for showing technological chaos and is named after a state of being when all you can think of is shooting things up.
Wiz: It's fortune that Trigger Happy thus puts all his efforts into heroics. In fact, in the Mask of Power book series, it was he who snatched the titular artefact from Kaos' face.
Boomstick: His dumb ugly face. Guess Trigger Happy really is a Skylander who will take down any bad guy.
Wiz: Usually without bothering to aim.
Interlude[]
Wiz: Alright the combatants are set and we've run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: It's time for a Death Battle!
The Battle[]
Setting: Ruins of the Core of Light
Spyro, Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt all appeared in the middle of the ruins, all facing each other in a triangle form.
Spyro: All Fired Up!
Gill Grunt: Fear the Fish!
Trigger Happy: No Gold, No Glory!
FIGHT!
All three Skylanders instantly began their battle, unleashing their primary long range attacks at each other; Spyro's Fireballs, Trigger Happy's coin bullets and Gill Grunt's harpoons. The projectiles either collided with each other or where avoided completely. During the melee of projectiles, Spyro and Gill faced each other, both firing out the triple version of their attacks, all three of their respective shots colliding together and exploding. The two then saw, out of the corner of their eyes, Trigger Happy charging up his two guns to unleash the Yamato blast, the two pulling back to avoid it. Trigger Happy didn't let up on his actions, firing out a hail of coins at Spyro, who strafed to the side to avoid the shots. The coins then rebounded off the rubble directly behind the dragon, which he has coming at the last minute to conjure up his fire shield, melting the coins before they could hit him. Spyro then turned his attention to Gill Grunt and fired out a long range fireball, the Gillman jumping forward to avoid as it exploded behind him. His dodge allowed him to line Trigger Happy and Spyro up so that when he fired out a harpoon, it pierced straight through the two of them, dealing damage to both. Trigger Happy was the firs to recover from the damage dealt, turning around to fire several coins into Gill, before a fireball from Spyro into his back sent him flying forward.
As Trigger Happy flew forward, Gill Grunt aimed his cannon at the gremlin and fired out the Power Hose, propelling him through the air to land behind the ruins whilst Spyro charged forward with his Dash. He collided head-on with Gill, knocking the Gillman backwards. The water Skylander remained steady on his feet however and swung his cannon around to continue firing the power hose, which Spyro remained ahead of using his charge, before steering back around to once again collide with Gill Grunt. This time, he was stunned by the attack, which Spyro was about to take advantage of before a Pot O' Gold was hurled from over the other side of the ruins, landing between Spyro and Gill, exploding to blow them away from each other. Trigger Happy hauled himself over the ruins, hurling out another two safes, one that was aimed at Spyro and blew into a cascade of coins and the other that travelled further to collide directly on top of Gill Grunt. After he had been hit by the attack, Gill Grunt drove the harpoon in his gun into the ground to bring himself to a halt before firing another stream of water, which this time had several exploding starfish within. As the explosions engulfed Trigger Happy, Spyro charged forward with Ibex's Wrath, plowing straight through Gill Grunt's Boiling Hot Water Stream to close the distance to his target.
This time however Gill Grunt was able to avoid getting rammed into a third time by using his Water Jetpack, shooting up into the air and rendering Spyro's charge ineffective. The dragon turned around as he cancelled the charge to see Gill Grunt now hovering in the air before the construction of his Machine Gun blew the smoke away from around Trigger Happy and he unleashed a rapid-fire stream of bullets. Spyro flapped his wings once and joined Gill Grunt in the air to avoid the golden projectiles. Trigger Happy turned his machine gun upwards, firing it widely as his airborne foes, who dodged and rolled to avoid being hit not just by the gremlin's attack, but by each others. The dragon and Gillman fired out fire balls and harpoons respectively, the three kinds of projectiles being avoided throughout the melee. It capped off with Spyro and Gill attempting to charge directly at each other, only for Trigger Happy's stream of bullets forced them both backwards. This prompted Spyro to perform the downwards Earth Pound in an attempt to sqash Trigger Happy. The gremlin leapt back with a yell before Gill Grunt landed to the other side of him. The Water Skylander then summoned his watery leviathan, riding it towards his opponents. In response, Trigger Happy constructed his giant rocket and rod it towards Spyro and Gill Grunt. In accordance, Spyro charged forward before firing out his Head Start effigy. This fiery head, the leviathan and bullet with Gill and Trigger Happy riding on them respectively all collided in a massive explosion that left a small crater. The collision of Wow Pow abilities wasn't through however, as Spyro was still charging forward and he thus collided with the Tech and Water Skylanders, sending them flying in two different directions.
Gill Grunt was the first to recover and as Spyro continued charging towards him, the Gillman swung his cannon out like a melee weapon. The dragon dodged back from the attack before the Gillman turned his attention to Trigger Happy, swinging the cannon out again to knock aside the gun he was aiming at his head. This allowed Spyro to whip out his tail and strike Trigger Happy in the face, knocking him back a few steps, though the gremlin acted back quickly and lashed out his tongue around Gill Grunt's cannon. It was pulled from Gill's grasp in a instant, Trigger Happy using the leverage to pull himself at the Gillman and hit him in the face with both his feet. At the same time, he hurled the cannon with his tongue straight at Spyro, clonking him between the eyes. The dragon snarled and tossed the cannon away, where it got caught by Gill Grunt. He and Spyro than aimed at Trigger Happy as he landed and they hit him with a steam of water and fire respectively. The Gremlin fell back to the attack, leaving Spyro and Gill Grunt facing each other.
They both charged up their attacks and unleashed them; Spyro's Daybringer and Gill Grunt's Anchor. Ultimately, however, the former attack proved powerful enough to melt the anchor and sweep over Gill Grunt, setting the water Skylander on fire. It took a minute for Gill Grunt to realize this before he started shrieking and running about in an attempt to put the fire out. He was so busy panicking he didn't realize he had just stepped onto Trigger Happy's giant coin with the head side up. A beam of energy shot upwards from the coin, blowing Gill to bits and leaving only a singed arm behind.
With Gill Grunt now out of the picture, it left Spyro and Trigger Happy fighting one-on-one, which they began by leaping at each other. Trigger Happy's bullets hit Spyro directly before he slashed his claws down his front, slamming the gremlin into the ground whilst also launching himself up into the air. With a yell, he charged down with his Fireslam, making Trigger Happy leap backwards. As soon as Spyro had ordered himself back on his feet, Trigger Happy bounded forward and slammed both of his golden gun barrels on either side of his head, leaping the dragon's ears ringing, before he fired two coins straight into his face. Spyro snarled at the pain before flipping backwards, his tail whapping Trigger Happy and sending him flying backwards. Spyro and Trigger Happy both landed back on their feet, taking a moment to glare at each other.
Then Spyro broke into a Charge and Trigger Happy created his machine gun, firing a stream of bullets into the dragon's head. Spyro roared and unleashed another Head Start attack which prevailed against the projectiles, quickly closing the gap towards Trigger Happy and letting Spyro return to a faster speed in his collision course. But Trigger Happy acted to counter the projectile and Spyro, firing out the Mega Blast. It went straight through the head effigy, dispelling it explosively and continued on towards Spyro, who only had time to simply look up before it went through his forehead, killing him instantly. His body was thrown backwards to land in a crumbled heap whilst Trigger Happy stopped firing, letting his machine gun smoke lazily as he rested on top of it, completely exhausted.
KO!
Outcome[]
Boomstick: Now that's how a Skylander wins; by being Trigger Happy!
Wiz: You mean the character or state of mind?
Boomstick: Yes. But in all seriousness, all three Skylanders were pretty tight in their skills and abilities. If this battle came down to circumstance, any one of them could have pulled the win.
Wiz: But Trigger Happy held the statistics he needed to win. Literally. In order to determine the outcome of this Battle Royale, we compared each Skylander's recorded stats to one another, excluding Elemental Effect of course, since that only activates in special areas, and is actually the same for all of them.
Boomstick: Here's how it went; Gill Grunt had the edge in critical strike, Spyro had health and shared speed with Trigger Happy, and Trigger Happy alone had the highest armor. Simplified that means Gill only had one edge compared to Spyro's and Trigger Happy's two each over his. So it was kind of inevitable that the Water Skylander would fall first, especially the other two would be too fast for Gill to hit with his extra-damaging critical attacks.
Popup: Dark Spyro's stats differ slightly to the main Spyro's, but not great enough to overtake any of the areas he falls short in.
Wiz: And with Gill Grunt out of the way, that means the Skylander who held the Critical Hit advantage next was Trigger Happy, giving him a new advantage over Spyro. Looking at this literally means that Trigger Happy's greater armor would let him last again Spyro's attacks long enough to draw a bead of him thanks to their equal speeds to hit him with attacks that have a high chance of dealing higher damage. Not to mention the importance of the elemental effectiveness.
Popup: In spite of Spyro using fireballs and other fire based attacks, his element was magic, not fire, so Gill wouldn't have the elemental advantage over him.
Boomstick: As it turns out, Tech Skylanders are very effective against Magic Skylanders, and as Trigger Happy is a Tech Skylander against Spyro's magic type, it'd just give him yet another advantage. Man, when you actually step back and look at the Starter Packs for Skylanders, you realize they aren't all that balanced. A revelation to rival the cake being a lie.
Popup: Even if the SuperCharger variations of Trigger Happy and Gill Grunt where included, it wouldn't change the outcome as not only do their stats remain the same but even if the impractically of a land versus a sea vehicle was ignored, Trigger Happy's Gold Rusher possessed greater speed and acceleration, meaning he could whittle down the health of Gill Grunt's Reef Ripper in spite of its greater armor.
Wiz: All three were worthy of introducing to us the power of the Skylanders, but Trigger Happy's domination of several stat fields and his key elemental advantage made him the toughest of this trio.
Boomstick: At least they all helped the series to Skyland on its feet.
Wiz: The winner is Trigger Happy.
Next Time[]
Wielding blades
And fighting chivalrously
Sayaka Miki vs. Saber/Artoria Pendragon
Trivia[]
- Connections: All three are Skylanders who are part of the first game's starter pack.
- Animation Style: 3D.
- OST Idea: 'Skylander Starters'.