Sky-Byte (RID)
- Sky-Byte is a Predacon from the Robots in Disguise continuity.
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. But 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, who 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?
Japanese name: Gelshark
Fiction
Animated continuity
Robots in Disguise
- Voice actor: Peter Spellos (US), Konta (Japan)
Dreamwave Summer Special comic
Toys
Robots in Disguise
- Sky-Byte (Mega, 2000/2001)
- Japanese ID Number: D-005
- 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 doubles 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.
