Sky-Byte (RID)

The name or term "Sky-Byte" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sky-Byte (disambiguation).

Sky-Byte is a Predacon from the Robots in Disguise continuity family.

Who's the greatest shark around?

Deep within Sky-Byte beats the spark of a poet, a scholar, a brilliant and cultured military general who can command armies capable of conquering worlds. But without aptitude and patience, that means jack squat, and Sky-Byte lacks both. Still, he soldiers on, for he is driven...by a desperate need for approval. He needs the blessings of his commander, Megatron, quite possibly more than he needs energon. And Megatron, being Megatron, doesn't dole out praise much, so Sky-Byte tries harder and harder, getting more and more desperate.

This drive is the root of all his problems. He's actually quite intelligent and physically powerful, but he pushes himself to extremes to impress his leader. When he's in control of a situation, he's a deadly, effective foe. But as soon as the situation begins to slip even the smallest bit, he starts to panic and usually ends up doing something to mess things up and lose the upper hand, which makes him panic more, so he overreacts, and gets in more trouble, etc., etc., etc. It doesn't help that while he's ruthless towards Autobots, humans seem quite safe from his ire. Maybe he sees a little something of himself in these underdogs. After all, they developed his new favorite form of expression, the haiku. And they do seem rather impressed by him...

Sky-Byte is in charge of the Predacon lackeys Dark Scream, Gas Skunk and Slapper, not that they give him any modicum of respect. In fact, they're more likely to try and shuffle the blame for their failures onto the shark, a gambit that's actually moderately successful, since Sky-Byte is so very good at making things worse for himself. He has a hate-hate relationship with the new Decepticons, especially Scourge, whom he sees (rightly) as being a huge threat to his position as Megatron's second-in-command.

Poor frustrated shark.

Megatron is a dumbass.

Why do you bother?

Who's the baddest shark around? Who's the smartest shark in town? Sky-Byte, that's me! Who'll drive Scourge into the ground And never let old Megatron down—Sky-Byte, that's me!Sky-Byte, that's him!

Japanese name: Gelshark (ゲルシャーク Gerushāku)

Fiction

Robots in Disguise cartoon

Voice actor: Peter Spellos (English), Konta (Japanese)

“	Come back, please, little dot! Please don't go away now.... That little red dot meant so, so much to my promising career. I'm just chum. Optimus! Optimus Prime! I'll find you! I'll find you! I swear! You're mine! I'll get you! You're mine! I'm...much better now.	”
—Sky-Byte, "Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion!"

Finding the O-Parts was no challenge compared to finding Waldo.

As Megatron was dressing down the Predacon trio for their latest failure, Sky-Byte suddenly appeared—demonstrating a skill for either invisibility or teleportation that he would never display again. Scoffing at the other Predacons' energy-gathering abilities, Sky-Byte revealed his own plan — to recover a bomb hidden in a red sports car somewhere in Metro City. He quickly tracked down the sports car in question, startling its driver as he retrieved the bomb from its trunk. Before he could return to the Megastar though, the bomb was taken from him by X-Brawn. He tried his best to get the bomb back, but just as he was about to get hold of it, Optimus Prime blasted it and him into space with a Blizzard Storm. He survived the subsequent explosion, and returned to the Megastar to recuperate and research human culture. An Explosive Situation

After the other Predacons destroyed some goods trains, Sky-Byte came up with a loftier plan to destroy the Linear RFG bullet train. Though his mission succeeded in blowing up a bridge ahead of the train, Team Bullet Train saved the Linear RFG, and Sky-Byte was left trying to justify himself to Megatron. Bullet Train to the Rescue When the Spychangers intercepted the Predacon trio in the process of stealing the Plutonium Energy Generator, Sky-Byte came to their aid. When the situation seemed unsalvageable, Sky-Byte unleashed a Tsunami Blaster attack on the generator to destroy it, but hit the Spychangers instead. The Predacons took the generator back to the Megastar... only to find it had been switched for a fake. Spychangers to the Rescue

The cobalt ocean roils

zephyrs blow cold,

and another hapless foe is crushed beneath my heel.Sky-Byte, "The Hunt for Black Pyramid"

While the Megastar was parked on the Black Pyramid in an attempt to extract power, Sky-Byte and Dark Scream were sent out to protect it against a civilian ship. The Autobots soon came to help the ship, and while fighting underwater, Sky-Byte was able to hold his own against Optimus Prime. Once the ship was righted, Sky-Byte found Prime a much more formidable opponent, and what's worse, the Autobot leader critiqued his poetry. The Predacons beat a hasty retreat. The Hunt for Black Pyramid Megatron and the Predacon trio distracted the Autobots while Sky-Byte went to the Payuma ruins to find information hidden by Doctor Onishi. Unfortunately he was spotted by Side Burn and Koji Onishi, who alerted Optimus to the shark's presence. Prime was unable to prevent Sky-Byte making off with a casket containing a microchip, however once out of the ruins, the Predacon was confronted by Prowl and X-Brawn, who blasted him. The Secret of the Ruins

Sky-Byte concocted another plan, to capture Side Burn and use him as bait to draw Prime into a trap. Though it was successful in ensnaring Prime, the rest of the Autobots turned up to rescue their comrades. Sky-Byte later successfully deflected the blame onto Gas Skunk and Dark Scream. Sideburn's Obsession The Predacons extracted information from a stolen disk belonging to Dr. Onishi, leading them to believe that the steam engine "Grandpa" was a weapon of extraordinary power. Megatron sent Sky-Byte and the other Predacons to capture it. Sky-Byte made an unsuccessful attempt to infiltrate the engine via the smoke stack, and the other Predacons didn't have any better luck, though they temporarily gained possession of the steam engine after it had offloaded its passengers. The mission was ultimately a failure. Secret Weapon: D-5

After Dark Scream planted a bug in Mirage, the Predacons overheard him breaking up with Ironhide. Mirage's words moved Sky-Byte to tears. He later suggested that they try and persuade Mirage to defect to their side. Although it seemed for a time that they'd succeeded, even to the point where Sky-Byte showed off the new Mega-Laser Cannon, it was a ruse. Mirage and the Spychangers destroyed the cannon. Mirage's Betrayal Sky-Byte tried a similar trick on the rogue Autobot Skid-Z with no success. When the Predacons discovered that the Autobots had entered the International Grand Prix, Sky-Byte cunningly disguised himself as a red racing car and entered as well. After being chatted up by a suspicious Side Burn, Sky-Byte was inadvertently fragged by Megatron in the early moments of the race. Then when he was able to catch up with the Autobots, he was mistakenly blasted by Megatron again. Skid Z's Choice

I spy, with my telescopically enhanced robot eye... a giant buddha?

Still believing he could convert an Autobot into a Predacon, Sky-Byte captured new recruit Tow-Line. After suffering through the other Predacon's attempts to hypnotise the Autobot, he used a special CD to brainwash Tow-Line. Unfortunately it was only partially successful — Tow-Line started towing away the other Autobots, but he took them to the wrong place. By the time Sky-Byte worked out what was happening, the rest of the Autobots were alerted, and promptly battled him into retreat. Tow-Line Goes Haywire Investigations into reports of a transforming statue took Sky-Byte to the Cave of the Dragon in China. Luckily the Autobots were able to save the cave via an elaborate deception involving Prime and Team Bullet Train disguising themselves as a statue and dragon. The Ultimate Robot Warrior Despite these indignities, he was still viewed as "sneaky, clever and dangerous" by the Autobots. Hope for the Future

And then Scourge and the Decepticons turned up. Serious, militaristic and (mostly) competent villains, they replaced the Predacons in Megatron's eyes. Sky-Byte became desperate to get his old status back, attempting to ruin Decepticon plans and usurp them for himself Commandos and even trying to bump off Scourge in battle. Volcano The Decepticons, for their part, mocked him. Soon, Megatron stopped even telling Sky-Byte about his plans. The Test

Another happy Charles Atlas customer

Sky-Byte's self-esteem was soon nonexistent (especially after an on-line Fish Personality Test told him he was a jellyfish), and he became desperate to gain Megatron's approval, but every endeavor he made to discredit Scourge ended disastrously, and his attempt to carry out his own evil plot just served to ruin one of Megatron's plans The Fish Test.

Eventually, to get attention, Sky-Byte led the Predacons in the attempted destruction of the new CGA Tower. This plan would've worked, except the Autobots, thinking the humans in the tower were the Predacon's hostages, asked what demands he wanted met for their safety. Wanting to seem like he knew what he was doing, Sky-Byte made up a random demand on the spot that by sheer chance was interpreted as a demand for O-Parts. He'd achieved accidental success, only to take out the tower's last support by mistake and be forced to stop it collapsing so he'd still have his hostages. This single-minded desire to keep the tower up was interpreted by the hostages and TV news crews as the Predacon trying to save them for altruistic reasons, and when the hostages started to cheer him on, Sky-Byte gave his all to keep them safe out of an increasingly genuine desire to save them. ("My hostages need me!") It was only hours after the tower was saved and the Predacons were nursing their damaged backs that they remembered about getting the O-Parts... Sky-Byte Saves the Day

This accidental heroism, plus his generally comic persona during events Koji Onishi and his friends witnessed, led the children to become very fond of Sky-Byte, following him and pestering him for autographs. A proud Predacon, Sky-Byte was bewildered by this attention, although he briefly thought of using it as a way to get his haikus published.

Kiss Players, the pilot.

Despite all his failures, Sky-Byte was still known to be extremely loyal. As a result, Megatron sent him to get the remaining O-Parts...with Sky Byte unaware he'd been fed false info and was being used by the Decepticons to draw the Autobots into an ambush. Poor Sky-Byte spent ages digging, finding only the detritus of Humanity and war surplus Ultra Magnus, and was still digging long after Megatron thought he'd have stopped. In a stroke of luck, though, this allowed him to notice Optimus Prime was wounded and track him to where he was being repaired. He could now kill Optimus when he was weak and Megatron would reward him! Unfortunately, the Decepticons, Megatron and Ultra Magnus had all tracked him, and poor Sky-Byte was left surplus to requirements once again. Ultra Magnus: Forced Fusion!

Sky-Byte does his best impression of a football team logo.

Sky-Byte took Dr. Onishi out of the Predacon base to help search for Fortress Maximus, in an attempt to find it before Scourge. In the process, he ran into Koji, who appealed to him to help rescue his father or at least to pass on a birthday present. The Predacon actually felt bad for Koji and was reduced to a blubbering wreck by the boy's appeal, but was mortified to find Koji didn't believe he was a threatening villain any more. Sky-Byte later became so preoccupied with battle that he tossed Dr. Onishi to Koji, leading the youth to believe Sky-Byte had deliberately rescued his father out of the goodness of his heart. The Autobots believed this too and apologized to Sky-Byte for fighting him (after they'd already blown the tar out of him). Koji Gets His Wish

To make matters worse, Sky-Byte's cunning plans to beat both Autobot and Decepticon to the O-Parts only caused the Autobots to gain them all, A Friendly Contest and his attempts to stop the Autobots from obtaining the Orb of Sigma only resulted in him being run over by both the Autobot Brothers and the Decepticons. Peril from the Past With Megatron gone, Sky-Byte and the Predacons found that Scourge was even more unpleasant to work for than their former leader. They attempted to get into Scourge's good graces by snatching Cerebros from the Autobots and greasing up to the Decepticon. In the following battle for Fortress Maximus, Sky-Byte was delighted by the arrival of his former leader, resurrected as Galvatron. Maximus Emerges

During another attempt on Scourge's part to control Fortress Maximus, Sky-Byte watched nervously, as he knew every one of the Decepticon's victories would mean Galvatron ignoring him even more. During the fight after the arrival of the Autobots, Sky-Byte accidentally saved Koji's life and was horrified at the idea Galvatron would find out. The Human Element Later on, while talking to himself, he would admit to having a friendship with Koji, though it was nothing to getting into Galvatron's good books, and he still attempted to kidnap the boy to help control Fortress Maximus. (Being Sky-Byte, he grabbed the wrong person.) Mistaken Identity

Streetsharks!

Eventually, Sky-Byte's loyalty paid off: When Scourge's treachery was revealed, Galvatron remarked the Predacons had always been trustworthy and gave Sky-Byte command of the Decepticons. He even managed to locate the Autobot base by following Koji, but in the process led everyone into an Autobot trap. The array of Autobot firepower caused him to cower behind rocks, crying for his "blankie". Surprise Attack!

During the final battle, Sky-Byte was almost killed when he led the Predacons into the Global Space Bridge after the Decepticons—not realising Galvatron intended to kill them. Sky-Byte was left on his own Galvatron's Revenge and escaped certain death just in time to be ordered to hold off the entire Autobot army. This did not go well for him, oh no.

No, not the final scene from Free Willy.

Following Autobot victory, every Decepticon and Predacon was rounded up to be incarcerated, but the Autobots hadn't captured Sky-Byte. (Whether they'd forgotten about him or he was hiding well is unknown.) He was left to spend the rest of his life on Earth, a fate the other Predacons seemed to view as worse than death, though his own attitude as he swam off into the sunset singing suggests he felt quite differently... The Final Battle

Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?

Where the heck is the rest of him?

Sky-Byte and Scourge were sent on a joint mission, although they did nothing but bicker until Optimus and Ultra Magnus showed up. While Scourge battled them, Sky-Byte took advantage and made off with the goods, leaving Scourge with a haiku to keep him thinking. Ultra Magnus...to the Rescue?

TransTech comic

Sky-Byte somehow ended up at Axiom Nexus and was "processed". Transcendent: Part 1

Toys

Robots in Disguise

File:RID Sky-Byte Toy.jpg

Love child of Peter Benchley and H.R. Giger.

• Sky-Byte (Mega, 2000/2001)
  • Japanese ID Number: D-005
  • Accessories: Launcher, 2 missiles

An extensive redeco of the Transmetal 2 Maximal Cybershark, Sky-Byte transforms into a large, monstrous, bio-mechanical great white shark. His tail has a gear system that spins the fins like a propeller when a wheel in his side is turned. This system becomes his right arm, forming a spinning claw weapon. He also has a double spring-loaded missile launcher concealed in his shark mouth that also serves as a hand weapon.

First available as part of the Car Robots line in Japan, there are no noteworthy differences between the Takara and Hasbro versions.

• More information on Sky-Byte at TFU.info

Notes

• During the Hasbro designers' panel at BotCon 2009, it was stated that if Sky-Byte were to get a toy in the Universe line, its bio would be written as a haiku in homage to his love of poetry.