RID 2001 Sky-Byte

Series: Robots in Disguise
Allegiance: Predacon
Categories: Mega
Year: 2001

I'll tear my enemies to shreds.
He is one of the most feared and respected Predacon warriors. His intelligence and love of poetry fools friends and enemies into letting down their guard - only to witness his terrifying change into a merciless warrior. The Anchor Arm on his left side can crush even the thickest, strongest wall like a microchip in the jaws of a shark.

Robot Mode: Sky-Byte is a tall and spindly robot with very nice detailing, good posability, and a colour scheme that might seem strange at first, but grows on you the more you look at him. His face is an acquired taste, but I kinda like it. Sky-Byte can use his left arm for a weapon and carries both a dual rocket launcher and fin-blades for backup. All in all a good robot mode, though there is some trouble with the kibble on his back.

Beast Mode: Sky-Byte really shines in his beast mode, becoming a great white shark. His colouring looks great in this mode, the detailling is incredible, and he can deploy his rocket launcher from his mouth for an attack mode. The only slight problem is the shark's underside, where you can see one of his robot arms sticking out. Apart from that, though, a great beast mode.

Remarks: What a difference a repaint can make. Sky-Byte is the same toy as Beast Wars' Transmetal 2 Cybershark, but thanks to a new paintjob and some minor remolding to ease the transformation, he's easily twice the toy Cybershark was. Sky-Byte was the fun bad guy in RID, the only one with his own theme song ("Who's the baddest shark in town? Sky-Byte! That's me!") and the only one to get away in the end. His shark mode looks really cool and his robot mode isn't half-bad, either. Rounding out my collection of RID bad guys, Sky-Byte is definitely a toy worth having.

Rating: B