- “Fear the Spear!”
- —Fright Rider's official catchphrase
Fright Rider and his steed Ozzy (known as Rider and Fright, in their backstory), are an Elven jouster and a skeletal ostrich, who together form an Undead jousting team. The two of them serve as one of the core Skylanders in Skylanders: Giants.
Background
Physical Traits
From their backstory, Fright Rider was a dark green-skinned elf, and Ozzy was a normal ostrich. For the jousting competition, Fright Rider wears black armor with red accents and a matching helmet that leaves his pointy ears exposed. After having been cursed by a jealous competitor that sent him into the Underworld, Fright Rider was turned into an undead elf with light blue skin and glowing eyes like Hex, and Ozzy became a skeletal ostrich after eating skele-oats.
Personality
Gallant and brave, Fright Rider is always ready to rush headlong into action.[2] Together with Ozzy, they are a courageous pair, honour-bound to right wrongs wherever they roam.[3]
Before becoming one of the Undead, Ozzy was terrified of pretty much everything. His list of fears included shadows, curtains, certain types of sandwiches and having a jousting spear accidentally plunged into his head. All that changed when he munched a bag of skele-oats so that he could be transformed into a skeleton and rescue Fright Rider. Now he isn't scared of much, apart from getting a spear through his skull. And certain types of sandwiches.[4]
Biography
- (Disclaimer: this official biography mistakenly uses the names Fright (the ostrich) and Rider (the elf)
Rider and his magnificent ostrich, Fright, were the finest jousting team in all of Skylands. But after winning the championship for the third straight year, a jealous competitor placed a curse on the elf that sent him to the land of Undead. Not wanting to be without his partner, Fright, who up until this point had been afraid of nearly everything, ate a bag of skele-oats that turned him into a skeleton so that he could brace the journey to the underworld to save his friend. Grateful for being rescued, Fright Rider returned to the surface dedicated to helping others - while still dominating an occasional jousting tournament from time to time.
Story
History
- (Disclaimer: this official biography mistakenly uses the names Fright (the ostrich) and Rider (the elf)
Back before he was a skeletal Undead ostrich, Fright was just a plain old ostrich. With Rider on his back, they formed the most successful, and weirdest, jousting team in all of Skylands, winning the championships three years in a row. Sick of coming second, a jealous competitor put a curse on Rider, banishing him to the Undead realm. Despite being terrified of pretty much everything, Fright was determined to not abandon his friend. Scoffing a bag of skele-oats, he was transformed into a living skeleton, which allowed him to journey to the land of the Undead on a rescue mission. Once free, the pair decided to use their combined skills to protect others, and Master Eon was quick to sign them up as Skylanders.[5]
Gill Grunt and the Curse of the Fish Master
As the Skylanders finished repairing the walls of the Eternal Archives, Fright Rider was mentioned as one of the Skylanders present during its restoration. Gill Grunt was about to sing a song about their accomplishment, but Fright Rider quickly got onto his skeletal steed, Ozzy, and rode off into the distance to avoid hearing the Gillman's horrible singing.
Trigger Happy Targets the Evil Kaos
Fright Rider was one of the Skylanders whose powers were stolen by Kaos when he was empowered by the Mask of Power. As a result, Fright Rider had "given up the ghost" and Ozzy was weakened from having his power drained.
Gameplay
Stats
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: 270 (max. 540)
- Speed: 43 (max. 91)
- Armor: 12 (max. 42)
- Critical Hit: 30 (max. 80)
- Elemental Power: 25 (max. 75)
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 80
- Defense: 70
- Agility: 90
- Luck: 30
Abilities
| Basic Abilities These abilities are available from the start of the game. |
||||||
| Melee Attacks | Jousting Charge |
A Real Drag
| ||||
 Press the Attack 1 button to perform melee attacks with the ostrich and spear. Press Attack 1, Attack 1, and Hold Attack 1 for a special combo. |
 Press and Hold Attack 2 button to charge towards enemies with spear extended. |
 While burrowing, the spear can drag enemies underground. | ||||
| Basic Upgrades Skylanders can buy new abilities from Persephone/Power Pods. | ||||||
| Ghoul Glaive | Burrow Bomber | Phantasm Strike | Halberd of Horror | |||
 Melee attacks do increased damage. |
 Hold Attack 3 to burrow and set the ostrich's head underground. Release Attack 3 to teleport to that location. |
 Jousting Charge does increased damage. |
 Melee attacks do even more increased damage. | |||
| Sir Lance A Lot |
|
| Fright Rider Combos | Flock of Fury | Supreme Spear | ||
 Press Attack 1, Attack 1, and Hold Attack 2 for Spear Vault. Press Attack 1, Attack 1, and then Hold Attack 3 for Skull Slam. |
 Hold Attack 1 to unleash a fury of multiple ostrich heads. |
 Melee Attacks do maximum damage. |
| Joust Jockey |
|
| Joust Juice | Entombment Strike | 360 Degrees of Spear | ||
 Jousting Charge is faster and does increased damage. |
 While charging, press Attack 3 to perform a powerful, downward strike. |
 While charging, press Attack 1 to swing the spear around in a 360-degree attack. |
Skylanders can use abilities depending on their level.
Starting Powers
- Melee Combo (Primary Attack): Press (Y) to perform a bite and spear attack.
- Bird Head Dive (Secondary Attack): Press (X) to dive the bird's head into the ground and attack an enemy at a ranged distance.
Upgrades
- Upgraded Lance (requires level: 3): Upgrade the lance to do more damage to enemies. Can charge attack by holding (Y) and release to perform a spinning spear attack.
- Sprint Lance Damage and Spin Attack (requires level: 6): Colliding with enemies while sprinting will do damage to them. Press (Y) immediately after stopping a sprint to perform a spinning spear attack.
- Multi-Head Dive Attack (requires level: 9): When using the Bird Head Dive, multiple bird heads will attack many enemies with one attack.
Quests
Basic Quests
- Monster Masher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Chow Hound: Eat 50 pieces of food.
- Arena Artist: Complete an arena without taking any damage.
- Battle Champ: Win 10 PvP matches.
- Heroic Challenger: Complete a heroic challenge without taking any damage.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Cause 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- By a Thread: Defeat an Undead Minion.
- Bossed Around: Be defeated by a boss 3 times.
Unique Quest
- Delving Throw: Toss 50 enemies into the air.
Basic Quests
- Bad Guy Basher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Fruit Frontiersman: Eat 15 fruit.
- Flawless Challenger: Complete a non-Story Mode level at full health.
- True Gladiator: Win 10 PVP matches.
- Totally Maxed Out: Reach level 20 and purchase all Upgrades for this Skylander.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Deal 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- Witherer: Defeat 25 Life Spell Punks.
- Back From the Brink: Defeat a boss while at critically low health.
Unique Quest
- Delving Throw: Defeat 50 enemies by dragging them underground.
Quotes
Battle Cries
- "Fear the Spear!"
- "Ride like the wind!"
- "Charge ahead!"
- "Let's ride!"
- "Let's joust!"
- "We reign as champions!"
- "A worthy victory!"
- "We're quite an impressive team!"
- "Unbeatable till the end!"
- "A hat fit for a champion!" - Putting on a hat
- "I'll wear this with pride!"
- "Let's ride in!" - Opening an elemental gate
- "No matter what you call us, we are still champions!" - when given a nickname
- "I like the new name! Not sure about Ozzy though.." - when given a nickname
- "These are the numbers of Champions!" - Checking out stats
Character Trailers
Gallery
Trivia
- Fright Rider's catchphrase is similar to Hex's, whose catchphrase is 'Fear the Dark!, and Gill Grunt's catchphrase 'Fear the Fish!'
- Also, Fright Rider shares the same skin color with Hex since both of them are Undead Elf Skylanders.
- Fright Rider, along with Eye-Brawl, Rocky Roll, Bad Juju, and Air Strike are the only five Skylanders who are either composed of two different characters in a symbiotic relationship, or fight alongside another creature.
- Oddly enough, both Fright Rider and Eye-Brawl are the new Undead Skylanders from Giants.
- They both also have pumpkin variations.
- Fright Rider is the only one who would initially be classified as a symbiotic relationship, but later become a single Skylander upon the renaming from Rider to Fright Rider and Fright to Ozzy.
- Oddly enough, both Fright Rider and Eye-Brawl are the new Undead Skylanders from Giants.
- During Giants's early development, Fright Rider's abilities and upgrades went by different names.[6]
- "Melee Attacks" was called "Ostrich Fighter."
- "Jousting Charge" was called "Jousting Lance."
- "Halberd of Horror" was misspelled as "Halbred of Horror."
- "Fright Rider Combos" was called "Dark Champion."
- "Flock of Fury" was called "Flock of Ostrich Fury."
- "Supreme Spear" was called "Coresque of Styx."
- "360 Degrees of Spear" was called "Soul Cyclone."
- "A Real Drag" was called "The Crypt Catcher."
- In the primary combo, burrow move, and Flock of Fury attack, Ozzy sticks his head in the ground. This is a reference to the misconception that real ostriches poke their heads in the ground.
- While officially stated as being an ostrich, Ozzy closely resembles a Gastornis, an extinct species of giant predatory birds (somewhat more commonly known as a terror bird).
- Fright Rider is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal, who is best known for voicing teenage Ben Tennyson from the later Ben 10 series, Young Superman from ‘’Legion of Super Heroes ‘’ and Sasuke Uchida from Naruto. He is married to Tara Platt, who voices Punk Shock and Dreamcatcher.
- He is also the voice actor for Softpaw and Trail Blazer.
- The name is a pun on the iconic TV series Knight Rider, starring David Hasselhoff.
- In the Skylanders Universe 2014 Annual[2], Skylanders: Giants Sticker Book[5], and later The Complete Collection[3], Fright is called by the name of 'Ozzy', and Rider is called by 'Fright Rider'. These names were approved by Activision, who asked certain Skylander writers including Cavan Scott to change Fright Rider's original name since they were intended to be called this. (Fright Rider refers to his ostrich as Ozzy in Skylanders Giants)
- Although in game Ozzy's eyes are blue with white pupils, in his trailer and upgrade pictures his eyes are green.
- In early development, Fright Rider was called Ostrich Knight, and his mount's eyes and bridle were pink, along with the gem on his helmet.[7]
- While most Weapon Skylanders hold their weaponry in their right hands (not counting the ones with two in both hands who could be ambidextrous) Fright Rider appears to be left-handed because he is holding a spear in his left hand while holding Ozzy's harness with his right hand.
- Out of all the core Skylanders who first appeared in Giants, Fright Rider is the only one who was never reposed as a Series 2 or Lightcore.
- While driving a vehicle in Skylanders: SuperChargers, Ozzy takes the wheel.
- Fright Rider and Air Strike both have named bird companions (Ozzy and Birdie).
- He and Shroomboom are the only core Skylanders from Skylanders: Giants who did not appear in Skylanders: Ring of Heroes before its closure. Although they were planned to be included.
- Fright Rider's character design may be a reference to the 1982 arcade game Joust, which contains spear-wielding knights who ride on the backs of ostriches.
- He, Hot Dog and Sprocket are the only Giants-debut core Skylanders without any LightCore counterparts.
References
- ↑ Skylanders Trail Blazer + Fright Rider Voice Yuri Lowenthal Interview Wondercon 2015. (Date Posted - Apr 7, 2015). YouTube.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Skylanders Universe Official 2014 Annual, Page 15
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Skylanders: The Universe - The Complete Collection, page 169
- ↑ Skylanders: Universe - Book of Elements Life & Undead, page 51
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Skylanders: Universe - Official Sticker Book, page 45
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1: Full Playthrough. (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024). YouTube.
- ↑ Skylanders Giants Alpha Build 1 (Full Playthrough). (Date Posted: Jan. 28, 2024.) YouTube.
