Sky-Byte (RID)

This article is about the haiku-writing Predacon from Robots in Disguise. For the haiku-writing Decepticon from Animated, see Sky-Byte (Animated).

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. An Explosive Situation He would often show up the Predacons with his lofty aims and superior fighting ability, Bullet Train to the Rescue but had a tendency to talk with his mouth full. Spychangers to the Rescue He later showed the power and skill to go one-on-one with Optimus Prime and almost win, as well as a new-found love for poetry. The Hunt for Black Pyramid It took Optimus and two of the Autobot brothers to chase him away from some ancient ruins which he'd been sent to investigate. The Secret of the Ruins

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

Unfortunately, things rapidly went downhill for Sky-Byte, and after a string of failures starting with the inability to capture a steam train, Secret Weapon: D-5 Sky-Byte soon found himself going from feared warrior and commander of dangerous missions to...commander of missions that were flawed from the jump, with Megatron openly getting annoyed with his failures. This got to the point where Megatron almost offhandedly blasted him with missiles during a car race. Skid Z's Choice A plan to brainwash a newly arrived Autobot went terribly wrong, Tow-Line Goes Haywire and Sky-Byte was even fooled by Autobots in fancy dress. 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.

Timelines

• Generation 2 - Redux! (BotCon boxed set figure, 2010)

It was revealed in the brochure for BotCon 2010 that Predacon General Skybyte would be included in the BotCon 2010 convention set.

• 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.