- “Buzz Off!”
- —High Five's official catchphrase
High Five is a dragon/dragonfly hybrid who is one of the Frito-Lay Skylanders for Skylanders: Trap Team. On September 22, 2014, he was announced the winner of the Frito-Lay contest. He was part of his own giveaway before his public release in Spring 2015.
Character Development
High Five was originally named "Buzzerker" during development.[1]
High Five came to gameplay designer Nat Loh as finished concept art. As a dragon(fly), Nat Loh felt compelled to keep to breath weapons, and the racer 5 number on High Five's head seemed to imply speed so Nat put two abilities he thought he would never put together for fear it would be too overpowered - fast projectiles and fast dashing - and made them High Five's moveset. For the primary projectiles, Nat revisited the unfulfilled Mycon Plasma Spore projectiles that Wrecking Ball was originally supposed to have. These would create a cloud of poison gas that grew bigger in size but dissipated in damage. High Five's moveset really became about high risk high reward, which was demonstrated in his Buzzerker Overdrive upgrade. It was controversial to have in a kids game but Nat sought to make deep gameplay experiences even in kids titles.
Nat knew people wouldn't enjoy the idea of spending HP to do more damage. To offset this, he made the cost temporary spawning apples that would restore High Five's health after his attack, but restoring your health was optional. Using berserker mechanics, High Five would actually get stronger and faster the lower his HP was and the max charged version of his Overdrive Fly Slam attack did the highest amount of damage seen in a Skylander game to date (the playable Doom Raider bosses and especially Kaos would make short work of those damage numbers however but that was justified by their short-lived nature). After finalization, High Five became a great Skylander for the more advanced min-maxer players out there.[2]
As part of a naming contest held by Frito-Lay, Buzzerker's name was changed to High Five by Phylicia Nakamoto from Elk Grove, California.[3]
![Concept art of High Five "Buzzerker" by I-Wei Huang[1]](/wiki/File:I-wei-huang-highfive-buzzerker.jpg "I-wei-huang-highfive-buzzerker.jpg (656 KB)")
Background
Personality
High Five is full of energy and is super fast. When danger calls, he is the first to fly into battle.[4]
Biography
High Five is one of the most skilled sky racers of all the dragonflies. But as the fifth son of the Royal High Flying Dragonflies, he was not allowed to enter any of the racing tournaments that took place each year because of his age. Instead, he was forced to watch from the sidelines as his four older brothers competed for the coveted Trophy of Sparx, which legend has said holds magical properties. One year, during the biggest racing event of the season, High Five learned that the Troll Racing Team had stolen the valuable trophy and were going to use the race to cover their escape. He quickly took action, jumping into the race and using his amazing flying skills to weave and dodge his way to the front of the pack, where he caught up to the trolls and brought them down. For his actions, High Five was given the Trophy of Sparx. Even more importantly, he was made a Skylander, where he now helps protect Skylands from any evildoers.
Gameplay
High Five can fire a stream of Poison Pellets from his mouth, even in rapid fire. These Poison Pellets can leave behind Poison Clouds that damages enemies when upgraded further. As his secondary attack, High Five can dash across the ground with his super speed and leave enemies spinning while damaging them. When further upgraded, High Five can perform a powerful Fly Slam attack that can be done in the air, and even suck enemies in while charging it. While charging up the attack damages him, he also releases apples during the charge, picking them up restores some of the HP lost.
Despite having no flight upgrade in the game, High Five is able to fly, but only for a short while.
Stats
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: 270 (max. 540)
- Speed: 60 (max. 108)
- Armor: 6 (max. 36)
- Critical Hit: 70 (max. 120)
- Elemental Power: 53 (max. 103)
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 170
- Defense: 20
- Agility: 170
- Luck: 20
Abilities
| Basic Abilities These abilities are available from the start of the game. |
||||||
| Poison Pellets | Buzz Dash |
Organic Slam Apples
| ||||
 Press Attack 1 to shoot Poison Pellets. Hold Attack 1 for rapid fire. |
 Press Attack 2 for a speedy dash attack. |
 Fly Slam Apples heal more HP. | ||||
| Basic Upgrades Skylanders can buy new abilities from Persephone/Power Pods. | ||||||
| Poison Cloud | Fly Slam | Buzz Charge | Buzzerker Overdrive | |||
 Poison Pellets attack leaves behind a poisonous cloud, damaging nearby enemies. |
 Press Attack 3 to slam down on enemies around you. |
 Hold Attack 2 to charge up a stronger Buzz Dash. |
 For the cost of HP, hold Attack 3 to REALLY power up the Fly Slam. | |||
| Pollen Prince |
|
| Cloud Control | Buzz 'Em Up | Power Clouds | ||
 Have up to five Poison Clouds active at a time, moving faster and doing more damage. |
 Buzz Dash through Poison Clouds to power them up and extend their life. |
 Extra big Poison Clouds do extra big damage. |
| Speedy Slammer |
|
| Spin Cycle | Buzz Buzz Buzz | Slam Apples | ||
 While holding Attack 3, enemies will be sucked up into the Fly Slam zone. |
 Hold Attack 2 for consecutive Buzz Dashes. |
 Hold Attack 3 to charge up the Fly Slam attack even further and release apples that heal you. |
Skylanders can use abilities depending on their level.
Starting Powers
- Acid Spit (Primary Attack): Press (Y) to spit acid directly in front.
- Zoom Zoom (Secondary Attack): Press (X) to dash aggressively towards the enemy.
Upgrades
- Acid Cloud (requires level: 3): An Acid Cloud is spawned after the acid spit collides with something, and deals damage.
- Buzz Spin (requires level: 6): Hold (X) to spin in a circle and smash the ground.
- Charged Spit (requires level: 9): Hold (Y) to charge the attack and fire bigger spit.
Quotes
Battle Cries
- "Buzz Off!"
- "Terminal velocity!"
- "Dragon Fly!"
- "Wings of sting!"
- "Taking off!"
- "Mayday!"
- "Full steam ahead!"
- "The sting of the wings!"
- "High Five is number 1!"
- "Liftoff!"
- "Divebomb!"
- "Yeah!"
- "Incoming!"
- "Beware the buzz!"
- "Getting it done!"
- "Back in action!"
- "Buzzing in!"
- "Payday!" - when opening a treasure chest
- "Full steam ahead!" - when leveling up
- "Full throttle!"
- "My numbers are taking off!" - when checking out stats
- "Spreading my wings!"
- "I could always use another cap" - when wearing a hat
- "A real buzz worthy name!" - when given a nickname
Character Trailers
Gallery
Trivia
- His catchphrase is shared by one of Bumble Blast's battle cries.
- He and Rip Tide have the shortest Catchphrases out of any other Skylanders.
- High Five's catchphrase is the second shortest (having an extra letter), while Rip Tide's is the first.
- Although the "Speedy Slammer" path's "Slam Apples" ability mentions that High Five releases apples that heal him while charging up "Fly Slam", he actually releases these apples even without this upgrade as soon as he purchases the "Buzzerker Overdrive" skill. "Slam Apples" only increases the number of apples released.
- Despite having no flight upgrade, High Five can fly for a short time by double tapping the jump button.
- This is also shared with Knight Light and Chopper, except they can stay in the air.
- High Five and Thrillipede (after choosing the "Mighty-Morphosis" path) are the only two Life Skylanders that can fly.
- Eye Five's name is a play on High Five's.
- Coincidentally, they are both introduced in Trap Team.
- Despite this, neither have five fingers; Eye Five only has four fingers (counting his thumb) and High Five only has three on his hands and feet.
- His battle cry "Full steam ahead!" is similar to Sonic Boom's catchphrase "Full Scream Ahead!"
- Like Fist Bump, he is named after a friendly hand gesture.
- When using a certain attack method, his health decreases slightly.
- High Five is the second Skylander with an ability that can drain health, which is Fly Slam.
- The first Skylander was Ghost Roaster, who uses Ectoplasm Mode.
- Unlike Ghost Roaster, High Five cannot drain all of his health or get defeated while performing his ability.
- He heals himself by eating apples.
- High Five is the second Life Element dragon Skylander, after Camo.
- High Five's voice actor is Tom Kenny, who is best known for voicing the title character in SpongeBob SquarePants, the Ice King in Adventure Time, the Mayor from The Powerpuff Girls, Spyro the Dragon in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, Spyro: Year of the Dragon, Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly and Spyro: Reignited Trilogy and Doctor Octopus in Ultimate Spider-Man.
- Tom Kenny also voices Stink Bomb, Shield Shredder, and Arbo.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Skylanders. Artstation.
- ↑ Skylanders: Trap Team - Nat Loh. Nat Loh's Website.
- ↑ Frito-Lay And Activision Reveal Final Three Characters Vying To Become The First-Ever Fan-Selected Skylanders Hero. (Date Posted - May 20, 2014). PepsiCo.
- ↑ Skylanders Universe: The Complete Collection (2015), page 94
