Transformers Cyberverse: Sky-Byte & Driller Drive

The Transformers Cyberverse line of toys seemed to start off a little flat in my opinion. The designs of core characters such as Bumblebee took design elements from other iterations of the character, but put a new "kid friendly" spin on things. Initially I dismissed most of the gimmick filled releases and focused more on the Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege series instead.

As later waves of figures begin to hit store shelves, I started to pay the series a little more attention, starting with Shockwave. Suddenly Cyberverse began to at least gain my attention. More and more classic characters were starting to be introduced into the series. While they all had a twist on their look, many of these classic characters were modeled after their Generation 1 (G1) selves that I grew up with.

The most recent wave of Cyberverse toys includes characters from other "universes" such as Cheetor from Beast Wars / Beast Machines appeared, followed by Sky-Byte from the Robots in Disguise universe. When I first saw these images solicated online I didn't know what to think of them. Silly maybe? Out there? Creative? Maybe a little of all of the above? When I finally found the Spark Armor releases at retail I just stared at them. I looked them over and over and before you knew it I was headed to the checkout with several in my hands.

While I never liked the Transmetal 2 Cybershark mold that Sky-Byte's RID toy was based on, I loved the goofy character he was portrayed as in the animation. The more I stared at Sky-Byte in the store the more I became intrigued with this toy. Sky-Byte comes packaged on a blister card and retails for $14.99. Starscream, Prowl and Jetfire are his wave mates.

Hasbro has used so many terms to describe their various size points of Transformer toys that I don't even know what this size toy is called. It's smaller than a standard deluxe scale figure, but a little bigger than the old basic size. For me it's the perfect size of figure to fiddle around with. In fact, he became my desk-bot for several weeks after opening him for this post.

Sky-Byte resembles his Robots in Disguise self pretty good. While not as big or detailed as his original toy, there is no mistake who this character is. This size Spark Armor toys are a little more simplified than some of the other larger releases, but that doesn't mean the toy doesn't pack a punch. The design is simple, but gets the job done. Paint applications are limited, but well applied. Articulation is much better than I anticipated as well. There are hollow parts on the toy, but that is the new norm when it comes to Hasbro.

Transformation into shark mode only takes a handful of steps (10) before you are done. I was able to go between the two forms rather easily without the use of the instructions. In shark mode Sky-Byte resembles a submarine more than a cyber-shark. Actually I love this new look.

One of my pet peeves is when you can see the robot parts or kibble in the alternate mode, especially the robot head. The designers did a good job at concealing most of the robot parts in shark mode. Here on the bottom you can make out the robot's waist and legs, but they are glaringly noticeable. 

Sky-Byte's Spark Armor is Driller Drive. While I've not yet watched any of the Cyberverse animation, I'm going to assume these armor pieces like Driller Drive are not sentient robots and just weapons. My first impression of this piece upon pulling it out of the packaging was it immediately reminded me of Bandai's Machine Robo Mugenbine toys. If you're not familiar with Mugenbine, those were transformable toys that had a core robot that could form a cube and all of the included pieces could be assembled with the core robot to form various animals, vehicles and more.

Sadly the wheels and drill piece on Driller Drive do not move. In fact you can't do much with Driller Drive on it's own other than to use your imagination. However his real purpose is to form a set of battle armor (or Spark armor) for Sky-Byte.

Driller Drive easily separates into a few pieces, mainly the drill piece, each side of the drill vehicle and the center portion. The two side pieces simply attach to the sides of the upper arm, while the center portion folds in half to reveal the battle helmet. This piece fits over top of Sky-Byte to form armor for the chest and back. The drill piece can be wielded using the attached 5mm peg.

While I've only opened one other Spark Armor release, it seems as if the battle helmets all have some sort of theme that matches the main character. In this case the battle helmet has a fish motif...fitting for Sky-Byte. I like the look of the helmet, even though the Sky-Byte's actual face sets back in the helmet and makes it a little hard to see his face.

Here you can see Sky-Byte compared to a Legends class Sharkticon from Titans Return. While the figure is small, it's a fun release. I know the Cyberverse series isn't aimed at me, but this toy has reminded me that it's OK if my Transformer isn't super detailed or super articulated. Toys are meant to be fun and if I was a kid I would be all over this toy as well as others I've seen in the series.

Transformers Cyberverse: Cheetor & Sea Fury

Hasbro's Transformers Cyberverse series of toys moves into a new phase, subtitled Power of the Spark. With this new series of toys comes Spark Armor and a new sizes: Battle Class and Elite Class. I was quick to dismiss these new toys and their gimmicks, but I when I saw them on store shelves I was intrigued enough to at least give one a try. I chose Cheetor as he was a Target exclusive.

Cheetor is part of the new Elite Class size and comes packaged in a big window box. This allows you to clearly get a good look at the toys. Strange to see Cheetor again, but it's a welcomed sight in my book.

One side of the box has generic Cyberverse artwork of Optimus, Grimlock and Bumblee, while the other side features new artwork of Cheetor himself.

Cheetor was pretty light once I was able to free him from his plastic and cardboard prison. Hasbro continues to leave many of the limbs on the toy hollow. It's a nice sculpt however, especially the face of Cheetor. He's got a very slim and sleek look to him, something his original Beast Wars toy couldn't do. He has a few paint applications in robot mode. He retains his animated green eyes and blue face. There are a few black spots on the figure, but not as many as their should be in my opinion.

Articulation is limited, but surprisingly better than I would have anticipated. He features ball joints so if you put too much pressure on a limb it'll safely pop off. You can rotate his arm at the shoulder a full 360 degrees. His elbows have a swivel joint allowing about 180 degrees of motion, but some of this is because of the transformation. Hinge joint at the elbow. No waist swivel, but the legs can fully rotate forwards and backwards and he can even pull off a full split. There is a little bit of swivel to the legs, just enough to rotate the legs outwards a little. Hinge joint at the knee. No ankle rockers, but thankfully he does have large heels that fold down to help stabilize the figure.

If you were wondering, Cheetor without his Spark Armor is close to a Warrior Class (deluxe). My only real gripe of Cheetor's robot mode is his tail. It's just there. It doesn't fold up, in fact if you do fold it up it stops at a 90 degree angle. If you leave it down it shows too much through his legs. Small gripe, but valid none the less.

Cheetor's Spark Armor is called Sea Fury. I have no idea if these armor suits are controlled by the Transformer partner or what. I doubt they'd be sentient robots themselves. Either way Sea Fury is more impressive than I figured he'd be. The battleship is just over 6 inches in total length so it's not a small toy. Unfortunately none of the guns on the ship move. There is an anchor piece that flips out, but that's about the play value of the ship itself. I do want to point out that on the front hull of the ship is a red Maximal faction emblem. Cheetor himself sports an Autobot faction emblem. Interesting...

Transformation from robot to cheetah is pretty straight forward with 11 steps. I couldn't help be reminded of an old Playskool GoBot, Preditron, while I was transforming Cheetor. A few more steps of course, but I guess it was how the robot head flips into the chest and the beast head rotates up and into position. I do like how the legs collapse to form the rear legs. They look very powerful. Other than the robot fists showing on the side of his front legs, this is a pretty nice (stylized) beast mode.

What does a cheetah and a battleship have in common? Nothing...but there is "more than meets the eye" here.

Sea Fury basically fits on the bag of cheetor like a large backpack using two pegs. As you flip the ship/armor down over Cheetor's head, the ends of the ship fold down into position. This I wasn't expecting! The armor more or less gives Cheetor an armored helmet and two large gauntlet like arms. The Spark Armor does hinder the articulation of Cheetor's arms, but he can still move them a bit.

I dig his new battle armor helmet.

Once Cheetor is all armored up he's pretty menacing looking. I thought that when combined with Sea Fury he would be top heavy, but those large flip out heels he has really helps to stabilize the figure. 

I would think younger Transformer fans will really like this toy and some of the other Spark Armor releases. I know this figure isn't necessary aimed at my demographic, but I found this to be a fun figure. He'll most likely become my new deskbot for awhile. I don't know if I'll chase down the Bumblebee figure as it's too similar for my tastes. Cheetor here is an odd choice on many levels, but it's fun having a new Cheetor toy regardless.