Eruptor is one of the flagship protagonists of Skylanders, a video game franchise created by Toys for Bob and developed by Activision that allows collectible figurines to be brought to life inside the game. Eruptor in particular is depicted as a lava monster who is of the Fire element, and has several abilities to fight villains and enemies such as lobbing blobs of lava, erupting lava, and spitting magma balls. When he isn't getting angry at the forces of Kaos, he's blowing a fuse and exploding with rage about smaller things, such as creaky floorboards and people not covering their mouths when they cough.
History with the Macy's Parade[]
With the Skylanders franchise at the height of its popularity, an Eruptor balloon would soar down the streets of Manhattan for the first time in the 2014 Macy's Parade. The Eruptor balloon measured 36-feet tall, 50-feet long and 36-feet wide, requiring a team of 77 balloon handlers to keep his explosive personality in check.[1]
I-Wei Huang, who created the Eruptor character, commented on the balloon's debut and the excitement of seeing his own character come to larger-than-life reality. "It's been an amazing experience working with Macy's on the Eruptor balloon. I'm really excited to see what he's going to look like really big," Huang said. "At first, we were trying different views and tried to figure out what the balloon would look like. In the end, we ended up with this really cool pose which looks like he's kind of in mid-run; in action."[2]
The Eruptor balloon depicts him running in action along the Parade route while bearing a 25-foot-wide smile and arms that are bigger than an SUV.[2] To recreate Eruptor's smoldering physique, Macy's Parade Studio artists used over 40 gallons of fluorescent paint and five barrels of glitter.[3]
To coincide with the balloon's debut, Activision produced a special Skylanders figurine that featured Eruptor as a giant helium balloon. The figure wasn't playable in the games and was not available to the general public, only given out as a promotional item to select Skylanders Club members.[4]
The Eruptor balloon returned to the lineup in the 2015 Parade, where he promoted the release of Skylanders: SuperChargers, and once again in 2016 to promote Skylanders: Imaginators and the Netflix animated series, Skylanders Academy.
Following his appearance in the 2016 Macy's Parade, the Eruptor balloon was retired from the line of march as the Skylanders franchise was phasing out over the following years.
Although its retired, the Eruptor balloon has continued to see use at several Balloon Field Training sessions. In September 2017, Eruptor appeared alongside the brand-new Harold the Baseball Player balloon to train new and old balloon handlers alike. The balloon would appear again over four years later at an October 2021 test flight, soaring by CitiField with an Opening Macy's Star and the Blue Americana Sphere.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20151128191335fw_/http://www.mustacheagency.com/MNR/MacysParade/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Balloons-89th-Annual-Macys-Thanksgiving-Day-Parade-2015.pdf
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLSAXtYyjzs
- ↑ https://comicbook.com/news/skylanders-eruptor-to-appear-in-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFO7Ex1ohE