With BotCon tackling Generation 2 for BotCon 2010, Sky-Byte seemed like a rather odd choice for inclusion in the boxed set. G2 had been the short-lived first reboot of the TransFormers brand in the early 1990s, mixing crappy new molds loaded with simplistic gimmicks with frequently eye-searing repaints applied to almost everything from the earliest, Diaclone-derived waves of G1 onewards. Sky-Byte, meanwhile, was a Predacon introduced in the 2001 Car Robots/Robots in Disguise toylines, who was a repaint of a TransMetals 2 Maximal named Cybershark.
He was also a uniquely odd beastformer, in that his shark mode was effectively in a fixed curve, 'leaping out of the water' pose, and his robot mode was one of the most extraordinarily asymmetrical TransFormers toys I'd ever seen. I'm normally a fan of asymmetry, but something about the original toy never appealed to me, though I did end up buying the Thrilling 30 version, back in 2014.
But, back to BotCon 2010 and the Generation 2: Redux set. The inclusion of Sharkticons certainly fits the G1 reboot vibe, but I'm guessing that one of the writers of the BotCon comic must have been a fan of Sky-Byte, and saw an opportunity for an exclusive version of the character using the same mold, but this time with a more extravagant paint job along with a new and unique head sculpt. The question is, does such a toy that originated in the Energon line have what it takes to represent such a bonkers character? Let's have a look...
Vehicle Mode:
Straight away, you can see the difference between this - one of the toys from 2010's boxed set - and the three supplementary Sharkticons, and where the paint budget was spent. Not only is the front half of vehicle mode mostly covered (on top, at least) with a layer of gorgeous metallic blue paint, but there are smaller applications of silver along with even smaller applications of red, yellow, green, pink and orange on the sculpted details. A few areas if the base grey plastic are left visible, and it appears to be the same type, with the same metallic shimmer, as was used for the Sharkticon set. One conspicuous deviation from the usual style of Sky-Byte is that the front end is painted symmetrically. Obviously the sculpting had to remain symmetrical, but it doesn't seem entirely necessary that the same paint template had to be used for both of the fold-out sections that conceal his missile launchers.
The plastic colours are a bit more varied, though, with the back end and underside mostly split between a creamy off-white, a dark blue plastic with a metallic shimmer, and yellow for the rubber parts. The raised bridge and his missiles use the same translucent orange plastic as the Sharkticons, but the outer shell of the bridge itself is black plastic. Behind this, the craft gets an asymmetrical paint job over the detailing - which I'll get into properly under Robot Mode. The overall effect is very much reminiscent of the original Sky-Byte's techno-organic shark mode, albeit without the opulence of the coloured chrome.
Where the original Energon figure and the BotCon Sharkticons had Decepticon insignias on the nose of the craft, Sky-Byte has the proper Predacon symbol. The nose also features a couple of eye-like designs on either side of the faction symbol. Given the sculpted details on the sides of the nose, it might have been better to either use the circular details in the wider silver block as eyes or, for a more anatomically-accurate shark-bot, the three silver-painted 'gill/vent' panels could have been overpainted to resemble eyes. Either would have been less silly-looking and cartoonish., and these weird eye applications are the one feature of this exclusive that detracts from its overall appearance.
Robot Mode:
I'd have to say that Timelines Sky-Byte has one of the best-looking robot modes of any Club or BotCon toy I own, purely for its paintwork and colour distribution. The dark metallic blue plastic works well, the paint is a very close match (albeit slightly glossier), the cream-coloured plastic and yellow rubbery plastic complement each other very well on the lower legs and the 'tail' parts on his forearms, and then the asymmetrical paint job on his chest is very much the pièce de résistance that makes a decent, but by no means outstanding mold into a fantastic homage. In many ways, it's impressive how well an asymmetrical application of paint can work on a fully symmetrical mold, with one side of his chest painted a unique metallic blue, with the other side painted silver, with flat cream and magenta paint used to highlight the recessed details.
One thing I have to note about the way his 'tail' ends up on both arms, is that it's a huge shame that these parts aren't intended to be removeable and, even if they were, they're keyed such that they only attach one way round. It would have been fantastic to be able to take one of them and plug it into the 5mm socket on the other forearm, or even plug both into his 5mm fists, to better replicate the shark tail claw/missile launcher of the original RID2001 toy. Coincidentally, while these parts are normally glued in place, the one on the left arm of my Sky-Byte is not... and it's really only the key tab that prevents it being used as a hand weapon.
While the original Sky-Byte toy came with a weapon accessory, the Timelines version has to make do with those built into the Sharkticon mold, being the spring-loaded missile launchers in the backpack. What's all the more interesting about this is that, twisted round so that the launchers are facing up, the vehicle shell parts they're contained in act as a reference to the original toy's massive shell 'wings', and this version of Sky-Byte even has the shark's 'head' hanging off his backside, just like the original. For the sake of individuality, the figure's bio card references a new weapon - his 'Tsunami Blaster' - which is a neat repurposing of the spark crystal embedded in all Energon figures, here painted with a sort of pearly sheen, and without a faction insignia printed on top.
The head sculpt is instantly recognisable as Sky-Byte, despite being far less elaborate than that of the original toy or the later Generations toy. This is out of necessity, since it needs to fit into the small cavity in the backpack, and the central crest - truncated though it is - only just clears the underside of the vehicle mode's bridge tower. I love that the sculpt is subtly asymmetrical, fully in keeping with the character, with slight differences in the detailing of the blue parts of his 'crown' and a couple of protrusions on the righthand side of the head that aren't present on the left. The face itself has the weirdly bulbous red eyes that many Club figures have had, and a super-exaggerated grimace bearing jagged, uneven, white-painted teeth. The nose seems a little pronounced, as well as looking a little too long for the face. Along with the unique paint job the head sculpt does a fantastic job of making an otherwise quite generic mold into a more distinctive character.
I have to confess to my ignorance of the lore (if any) behind both Generation 2 and Robots In Disguise 2001 so, when the bio card opens with:
"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."
I have no real context through which to filter it. I know that the Predacons in RID2001 were basically a holdover from Beast Wars, but I don't know how the Quintessons play into either continuity. There seems to be an element of Starscream to his being "the self-proclaimed 'greatest shark around'", but the obsession with haiku is one thing I know about the RID2001 character. Overall, his bio card is one of the better-written efforts from the Club and BotCon, if only because it offers some explanation of the Tsunami Blaster, and his role as commander of a legion of new-generation Sharkticons.
The former TransFormers Collectors' Club, their exclusives and their BotCon sets were notoriously variable in quality, but there are few years that I didn't buy at least something from their catalogue. Generation 2: Redux was very much not my cup of tea - in terms of the molds used, the characters depicted and, of course, the bizarre neon colourschemes used - and, in a lot of ways, neither Sky-Byte nor the Sharkticons feel like they should be part of a Generation 2 homage. That could easily by part of why these were the only toys I found appealing. Of the rest of the boxed set, G2 Breakdown was unoriginal (and later got repainted as the G1 version for the inaugural Subscription Service lineup), Pyro was an OTT repaint of a thoroughly average Universe toy, Streetstar was yet another reuse of the Classics Prowl mold (which was also used as a homage to the Axelerator Rapido as part of one of the Souvenir sets), and Clench was a character I had no particular interest in, made using a mold I had no particular interest in. Similarly, the other Souvenir set figures weren't particularly inspiring.
What's really crazy is that, when I picked up this figure - a loose figure from the boxed set - at AutoAssembly 2010, it was in the region of £10 cheaper than any of the three BotCon Sharkticons, which were being sold individually. Just the new head sculpt alone makes this a more interesting exclusive than the Sharkticons, but the paint job on Sky-Byte is phenomenal, and elevates a decent mold into something truly special. While it's obviously not as unique as the Generations/Thrilling 30 toy that came along four years later, for me, Generation 2: Redux Sky-Byte is one of Fun Publications' greatest successes.
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