Sky-Byte (Cyberverse)

Sky-Byte is a Decepticon from the Cyberverse continuity family.

Sky-Byte has returned!
And thus, the fandom rejoiced,
Welcome back, Sky-Byte!

Sky-Byte (also Skybyte) wasn't given the ominous function of "Harbinger of Doom" for nothing. Part ferocious fighter, part freaky metal shark-jet with lasers, Sky-Byte is Megatron's first choice for missions that border on the impossible. He's fast, tough, and bursting at the seams with enough firepower to handle any situation. No matter where you are, if Sky-Byte is on your tail, there's no safe place to hide.

He has an intense rivalry with the Autobot Air Guardian Jetfire, who had once been thought destroyed in battle by Sky-Byte.^[1]

Fiction

Cyberverse cartoon

Voice actor: Marc Thompson (English), Yūichi Nagashima (Japanese), Luca Ghignone (Italian), Jean-Philippe Lejeune (French), Matthias Klages (German), Ricardo Mendoza (Latin-American Spanish), Luiz Nunes (Brazilian Portuguese)

At some point during the Great War, Sky-Byte ignited a supernova that wiped out seven civilizations and countless star systems, but he was thought to have been caught in the same nova and destroyed. In truth, he had survived and found himself pursued by Jetfire, who was intent on finishing the villain once and for all. Their battles throughout space left numerous star systems devoid of life, until by chance both combatants discovered Earth. Detecting the Ark, Sky-Byte attacked the vessel until confronted by Optimus Prime, who claimed Jetfire was long dead. Disbelieving, Sky-Byte made his way to the Nemesis, where he was warmly greeted by Megatron. Despite generously offering the other Decepticons the chance to join in on the dismemberment of Jetfire (even offering Megatron Jetfire's head), the shark was disappointed when Megatron declined due to being focused on recovering the Allspark. Shortly after leaving the Nemesis, Sky-Byte was ambushed by Jetfire and the two knocked each other out.

Sky-Byte recovered to find himself confronted by Starscream, in possession of the Allspark. Accepting the Seeker's offer of help, Sky-Byte gained a suit of spark armor that granted him a drill arm and allowed him to tunnel through the ground. Using this armor, he successfully captured Optimus Prime in an attempt to lure Jetfire out of hiding. Jetfire had meanwhile captured Megatron, and both rivals agreed to meet at a location of the Decepticon leader's choosing. The venue turned out to be an arena, and with both Jetfire and Sky-Byte equipped with spark armor the battle grew intense. Sky-Byte ultimately got the worst of it and would have been terminated had Jetfire not decided getting a wounded Optimus to safety was more important than finishing Sky-Byte. As a battered Sky-Byte pulled himself up, Megatron demanded the location of Starscream and the Allspark at fusion cannon-point. Infinite Vendetta

Sky-Byte led his allies to the Allspark's former resting place only for them to run across the Autobots, led there by Jetfire. Before a fight could break out, an Allspark-infused Starscream arrived and used his cosmic powers to begin extracting the sparks of all present before Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership to disable both Starscream and the Allspark, leading to a mad scramble for the artifact. In the ensuing clash, Sky-Byte and Jetfire fought in the air but the shark was taken out of the fight when Grimlock used him as a makeshift springboard and sent him plummeting down an abyss. I Am The Allspark

When the Autobots tried to take the Allspark off of Earth, they launched five remote controlled shuttlecrafts towards the space bridge, drawing the Nemesis away from the portal. Seeing through the ruse, Sky-Byte flew towards the unguarded space bridge of the Ark. Launching a one-robot assault on the Autobot ship, Sky-Byte breached the bridge and briefly wreaked havoc before being knocked off the ship by Grimlock. Despite this setback, he bought enough time for the Nemesis to arrive and unleash its firepower upon the Ark. Escape From Earth

Sky-Byte evidentially recovered in time to return to Cybertron along with the other Decepticons. However, the crew of Ark managed to abandoned ship before it was destroyed by Shockwave. During the subsequent battle, Sky-Byte knocked out several Autobots before engaging Arcee. Battle For Cybertron II After Windblade and Wheeljack managed to send Vector Sigma to unspace, Sky-Byte made a mad dash for Optimus Prime but was tossed aside by the Autobot leader. He later bore witness to the rebirth of Cybertron and the end of the war. Battle For Cybertron IV

The population of the planet were placed in a repeating virtual reality loop by the Quintessons. Sky-Byte was a spectator at Megatron's victory parade where, each iteration of the loop, he was accidentally smushed by a giant cube falling off a float, much to the amusement of the other Decepticons and his irritation. The Dead End Once the two armies were freed, Hot Rod and Soundwave had them train as mixed groups, forcing Sky-Byte to work alongside Jetfire, Rack'n'Ruin and Skywarp in a series of training scenarios to get them used to working together. Amazingly this succeeded, and Sky-Byte and Jetfire worked together during the subsequent failed attack on the Quintesson tower. The Alliance

The pair went on to collaborate on a scouting mission to get scans of the Quintesson tower. Sky-Byte was part of Windblade's squad distracting the Quintesson Judge while an infiltration team sneaked into the Quintesson ship. He was knocked out by a pulse released by the Judge. The Judge Rounded up by the Sharkticons, Sky-Byte and the combined Autobots and Decepticons were subjected to Judge Starscream's ranting. He joined in Arcee's gambit trying to bluff Starscream, claiming that Optimus and Megatron were having a picnic by the Argon Sea. The End Of The Universe II During the fight between Iaconus and Croaton, Sky Byte and the others were freed by Maccadam. The End Of The Universe III He followed Jetfire's lead as a counterattack began on the victorious Croaton. The End Of The Universe IV

Following the defeat of Starscream, Cybertron was divided between the Autobots and Decepticons. On the Decepticon side, Sky-Byte gave regular public poetry recitals, attendance at which was mandatory and also extremely unpopular. One recital was interrupted when Alpha Strike abruptly fell on him. Enemy Line As the arrival of "the Other One" drew imminent, Megatron demanded Sky-Byte get the dimensional shield operational. Sky-Byte labored, but was only able to get the shield to 86% strength, though this was enough to temporarily prevent Decepticon supersoldiers from teleporting in. Silent Strike Sky-Byte started the counterattack against the supersoldiers, only to be slammed to the ground. The group was only able to defeat the soldiers once they're powered up with multiverse energy, but the other universe Megatron X arrived a moment later. Sky-Byte and the other Decepticons swore loyalty to the new Megatron, only for him to reveal he had no need for them as he already had his perfect Decepticons. The Other One

Sky-Byte was part of the Decepticon delegation at the signing of the Treaty of the Wall, with Soundwave, Shadow Striker and Alpha Strike. He was frozen in time with the rest of Cybertron by Trypticon's Mercenaries. When Wheeljack returned the planet to normal, Sky-Byte noticed Soundwave's absence, having been removed from the stage by Soundblaster. The Immobilizers

Sky-Byte delivered a stirring and poetic speech at the grand opening of Trypticon Plaza. After Optimus cut the ribbon, he began an encore performance, but was mercifully interrupted by the sudden arrival of Astrotrain. At the direction of the ruling council, Sky-Byte raised the shields protecting the Decepticon half of the planet. Later, Sky-Byte reported something breaking through the shields, before losing contact with the council chamber. At Soundwave's order, Sky-Byte led an attack on the Decepticon supersoldiers that had arrived on Cybertron. All conventional weapons, including a massive bomb, were ineffective. When the Autobots confronted Tarn at the Cube arena, Sky-Byte was part of the army of Decepticons that surrounded them, but when Tarn ordered them to attack, they refused, joining the Autobots. He charged Tarn's forces with the other Decepticons, and was attacked mid-air by a supersoldier, but Jetfire teleported to him and rescued him. The Perfect Decepticon

Toys

Cyberverse

Simple conversion,
But has his first toy's gimmick?
How unexpected!

• Sky-Byte (1-Step Changer, 2019-2021)
  • Takara Name: Turbo Change Sky-Byte
  • Takara Release Date: December ???, 2019
  • Takara ID Number: TCV-25
  • Action Attack: "Spinfin"

First released as part of the fifth wave of Cyberverse 1-Step Changers, Sky-Byte transforms from robot to robotic shark (and back) in a single step by twisting his dorsal fin/head. He features a "Spinfin" Action Attack in robot mode, spinning the four-pronged claw on his left arm.

Sky-Byte has seen three releases: First in 2019 under the Power of the Spark subline imprint, then again in 2020 in the then-current Bumblebee: Cyberverse Adventures subline imprint packaging refresh, and then again in 2021 in the line's final Dinobots Unite subline imprint packaging refresh.

Driller shark doo doo doo doo doo doo

• Sky-Byte (Spark Armor Battle Class, 2019)
  • Takara Name: Drill Diver Sky-Byte
  • Takara Release Date: October 12, 2019
  • Takara ID Number: TCV-18
  • Spark Armor: "Driller Drive"

Part of the first wave of "spark armor" Battle Class figures, Sky-Byte transforms into his traditional cyborg shark alt-mode. The figure is roughly the size of previous Scout/Legends/Basic Class figures, larger than contemporary Cyberverse Scout Class figures. He features decent articulation with ball joints on his hips, shoulders, and elbows and hinged knees and ankles. His left hand is his signature 4-bladed spinning tail claw, though it is held in place by his feet in shark mode. He comes with the "Driller Drive" vehicle that splits apart into his battle armor and attaches via multiple 5 mm connections. It appears to be based loosely on Zetar, sharing a similarly shaped "cockpit" and having details similar to his legs above its treads.

In the official stock photography, Sky-Byte is holding the drill in his hand via the post on its side - but the drill is molded to be able to fit over his fist directly, as shown in the instructions, replacing his hand. This makes for a less awkward incorporation of the weapon, though the drill cannot actually spin in either mode. The drill also depicts a yellow paint operation (or an unpainted patch) on the butt-end of the handle.

Unfortunately, the hexagonal 5 mm holes on the robot shoulders are prone to building some stress marks during transformation.

In November 2019, Sky-Byte was released as one of TakaraTomy Mall's Cyberverse "Christmas Set" offers along with his rival Jetfire.

• Sky-Byte (Tiny Turbo Changer, 2020)
  • Series: 4, 5
  • Bag code: D (Series 4), I (Series 5)

Released in the fourth series of Cyberverse Tiny Turbo Changers, Sky-Byte transforms from shark to robot and back in a few steps. His robot-mode design is based on his spark armor form from the cartoon rather than the toy, only with his tail-claw on his right arm (which still features a fist) rather than being covered up by his drill, which is "hidden" under the shark head.

Sky-Byte was re-released without changes in Series 5.

Buzzworthy Bumblebee

• Sky-Byte (1-Step Changer, 2022)
  • Series: Cyberverse

The 1-Step Changer Sky-Byte was re-released without any changes in rebranded Buzzworthy Bumblebee packaging.

Notes

• Grimlock considers Sky-Byte to be his least favorite Decepticon.
• Early product descriptions spelled this incarnation's name as "Skybyte", but the finalized packaging renders the name with a hyphen. The unhyphenated and un-camel cased name was retained in the credits of the cartoon, much like Shadow Striker and Alpha Strike.
• Development on Sky-Byte's personality occurred simultaneously with Jetfire's. The crew wanted Sky-Byte to be a poet (much like his original 2001 Robots in Disguise counterpart), as well as for him and Megatron to be "chummy".^[2]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Sky-Byte (スカイバイト Sukaibaito)

See also

You look familiar...

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Versions of Sky-Byte have appeared in other continuity families, including:

• Sky-Byte, the bumbling Predacon poet from Robots in Disguise.
• Sky-Byte, the fearsome Decepticon poet from Animated.

For more information, see Sky-Byte (disambiguation).

References