Blastermind – Skylander Review
Blastermind is a new Magic Trap Master making his debut in Trap Team. Blastermind wasn’t always a Psychic powerhouse. He used to just be the “hide and sheep” champion of the Sardonic Mountains. One day, when he was about to set a new Skylands record, the ground beneath him collapsed and Blastermind fell into a deep, mysterious cavern filled with shimmering crystals. His friends were all at the top of the hole when a large Ham Dragon showed up having been disturbed by the rumble of the collapse. Blastermind felt helpless he worried greatly for his friends and desperately wanted to save them. What he didn’t know, was that those shimmering crystals lining the hole he fell in, were actually Psionic Power Crystals that the Ancients had used to amplify their thoughts. The crystals heard Blastermind’s worried thoughts about saving his friends and gave him awesome psionic powers. He used those powers to get himself out of the hole and to mentally blast the circling Ham Dragon. After that, Blastermind joined the Skylanders where he became a member of the Trap Team.
At first glance you might think Blastermind is a female Skylander, long and slender wearing a long dress. But when you take a closer look, you’ll see that it’s actually a small guy or perhaps a boy who is levitating and wearing a very long cape. Clearly one of his tricks is that he wants to look bigger than he is. Of course, you can’t miss the huge Traptanium helmet with large purple Crystals coming out of it. Immediately you know he is going to have some kind of mental attack, but it’s hard to imagine what he might be able to do. It’s that intrigue that may lead you to purchasing Blastermind. Well… that and the fact that he was the first Magic Trap Master and the last elemental Trap Master to be released. Blastermind has almost an evil look. He has a large head for his small little body, and he sort of looks like a relative to Kaos. The fact that he is levitating makes him one of the more interesting Skylander figures. He’s another Skylander with no real armor to speak of, so the majority of his focus is going to be on his mental powers.
Blastermind’s main attack is his Brainwaves attack. Pressing Attack 1 will attack nearby enemies with powerful brainwaves. It basically sends out brainwaves in a 360 degree circle around Blastermind and it extends for a few feet in front of him. It’s not very powerful, but it does have the ability to damage many enemies at once. It also knocks the enemies back a little, keeping them farther away from Blastermind. His second attack is called Levitation. This is used to select an enemy, lift him in the air, and then slam him down for damage. Neither attack is too devastating to begin with, but after a few of the basic upgrades, Blastermind starts to get interesting. His third attack comes from an upgrade and is called Brain Freeze. Blastermind shoots energy balls at enemies that will slow them down. This adds more range to Blastermind’s attacks, and can be pretty useful to allow Blastermind some time to escape as he isn’t the fastest of Skylanders. Another important early upgrade is called Tasty Waves. By holding Attack 1, the Brainwaves attack can be used continuously. The downside is that Blastermind can’t move during this attack. The upside is that it can make it impossible for the smaller enemies to get close to Blastermind. It also works well with another upgrade called Brain Storm. This upgrade adds a large mental “blast” when you let go of the Attack 1 button after having used the Tasty Waves attack. It’s one last burst of power before Blastermind has to move. One final basic upgrade allows the levitated enemies to damage other nearby enemies when they are slammed to the ground. Blastermind might have the most useful basic upgrades of any character.
Unfortunately, Blastermind’s specialized upgrade path’s are not quite as useful as the basic upgrades. Of course, we have only checked out one path with is the Mentalist path. This path improves Brain Freeze attacks. It sounded cool because it involves Mind Control, but in practice we couldn’t really see much of a benefit. The first upgrade is called Mind Control and by charging up the Brain Freeze attack you can take control of enemies minds. When this happens the enemy turns a yellowish color. I think they may attack other nearby enemies, but they also still follow Blastermind around. The effect also doesn’t last long, so it’s hard to tell how much damage this “attack” really does. The More the Merrier upgrade allows multiple enemies to be levitated in the Levitation attack. That is pretty useful. The final upgrade is called Mind Blown where mind-controlled enemies damage others after going back to normal. This upgrade is useful only when there are many enemies nearby at once. The attacks can easily be mistaken for a mind control attack, but it does happen as long as there are enemies nearby when the mind controlled character goes back to normal. The other path is called Psychokinetic and is supposed to improve the Brainwaves attacks. This sounds great as we really like the Tasty Waves upgrade to the attack. However, each upgrade involves levitating enemies so it’s really a path that improves levitation attacks. The first upgrade will add a massive knockback to levitating enemies when you use the Brainwaves attack. The Remote Control upgrade will let you control the enemies you levitate. And the Mind Mash upgrade adds a combo attack to the levitated enemy which slams the enemy repeatedly into the ground. Blastermind’s Soul Gem ability might be one of the most interesting for any Skylander. First it’s not an attack. It’s called Lock Puzzle Psychic. By charging up the Levitation Attack, you can unlock the puzzle lock’s on doors in the story without having to solve them. This may attract some people to Blastermind right away, however, the Soul Gem isn’t found until level 15, so by that time, you’ve already solved most of the puzzle locked doors.
Overall Blastermind is a decent Magic Trap Master. He may be better suited to the story mode than Arena Battles or Kaos Doom Challenges, but his attacks are fairly interesting even if they are not super powerful. His Tasty Waves attack, is his best attack, and can easily dispose of slow and weak enemies. His lack of speed and armor will make him hard to use against the fast and stronger enemies, but it’s not impossible. If you hate the Puzzle Lock’s then he might be a must have character since his soul gem attack will allow him to skip those puzzles and open those doors with ease. Maybe Blastermind has begun to control my mind, but he certainly seems like a capable Skylander which should be able to help you on your adventure.
SkylanderNutts gives Blastermind…
7.0 out of 10
Blastermind Video Review
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