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Series: Botcon Exclusives
Allegiance: Decepticon
Categories: Deluxe Convention Exclusive
Year: 2010
Flash of metal fins. Sharkticons tear foes to shreds. Die quick, Autobots!
Sky-Byte is a Predacon by design, but like his Quintesson creators works with the Decepticons from time to time when it's profitable to do so. He leads the new-generation Sharkticons into battle, ruthlessly shredding all cars and robots in his way. He sees himself as a sophisticated warrior poet, the self-proclaimed "greatest shark around", composing haiku about the robots in disguise he's about to deactivate. Exposure to forestonite has given Sky-Byte a devastating new ability; he can unleash a "Tsunami Blaster" freeze attack from his chest, paralyzing his foes. Combined with an already impressive arsenal, air speed and his Sharkticon hordes, he's a menace to everything in the air, land and sea. Were he more competent and less given to overblown theatrics that leave him vulnerable, he'd be one of the Autobots' greatest threats.
Prelude: Sky-Byte here is a repaint (complete with new head) of the Energon figure Sharkticon. But it’s been over five years since I reviewed Sharkticon, so Sky-Byte gets the full treatment.
Robot Mode: The choice of Energon Sharkticon as basis for this figure was a good choice, as it’s both a good mold in general and also has a certain amount of similarity to the original Sky-Byte from RID, especially with the appropriate paint job applied. The torso is a near 1:1 match to that of the RID figure and the rest of the paint job is also very close. The only thing that was changed about the mold itself is the head, which now sports Sky-Byte’s trademark shark grin.
The Energon figures were already quite posable, so Sky-Byte isn’t far behind the modern-day standard in terms of posability. He can adopt quite a few menacing poses, especially given the fins/blades on his arms. In terms of weapons he can unfold two missile launchers from the large backpack he carries (which doesn’t unbalance him in any way, though) and deploy them under his arms.
Not much more I can write here. A very good homage to a classic character, both in choice of mold and color. Thumbs up.
Alternate Mode: The original Sky-Byte became a techno-organic shark, so having this figure here transform into a Science Fiction style submarine (occasionally doubling as an air or space ship, apparently) is keeping with the general theme. There really aren’t enough naval alternate modes in Transformer history, so I’m happy for every single one. And Sky-Byte becomes a pretty cool-looking submarine with the Predacon logo up front and the various weapon turrets spread over the length of his body. The missile launchers can deploy in this mode as well. So no complaints about the vehicle mode, it is both a good choice for the character and a good mode on its own.
Remarks: This version of Sky-Byte here was part of the 2010 Botcon set and played a part in the accompanying comic book. There is little to connect him story-wise to the original Sky-Byte, instead he appeared as an agent of the Quintessons (despite being called a Predacon like the original and having the appropriate allegiance symbol, too) and served as leader of a trio of Sharkticons (all three of them also repaints of Energon Sharkticon). Exposure to the mysterious energy called forestonite gave him RID Sky-Byte’s signature weapon, the Tsunami Blaster, an energy beam coming out of his chest.
Now I’m not going to start on how the G2-themed Botcon set contains almost no figures that actually debuted in G2, because I’d much rather enjoy the fact that we finally have a new Sky-Byte figure, nearly a decade after the original one came out. And considering that the original Sky-Byte was a repaint, too, (who remembers TM2 Cybershark?) it’s somewhat fitting that he is one yet again. Energon Sharkticon was a perfect choice for this and while this is certainly not the most spectacular figure ever, it’s pretty much a must for every fan of the greatest shark in town.
Rating: B+
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