Transformers Review –Sky Lynx (Encore)

Intro:

            The 1986 movie marked the pinnacle of the G1 era, and at the same time, marked a wholesale change to the transformers hierarchy and lineup. Majority of the old faces were shown the door either via deaths, or they would pull a Houdini. Many new faces emerged and would play significant roles throughout the Transformers universe thereafter, such as Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Arcee, Springer, Blurr, Kup, Sky Lynx and many others. One of the arrogant, to downright somewhat obnoxious was Sky Lynx. Speaking in an English ascent, he perceived himself to be far superior to the rest, and even more so, the Decepticons. He was, more or less played the successor role to Omega Supreme (in my opinion, which shared that role with Metroplex). Although he would never be the Autobots last line of defense, he is one of the powerhouses of the Autobots. Just as how Omega Supreme had a gestalt as a frequent sparring-partner in the form of Devastator, Sky Lynx had to deal with Predaking, whom in my opinion is a much tougher opponent and debuted in the Transformers universe in the events of “Five Faces of Darkness”.

            As a kid, I used to think that Sky Lynx was strange (as matter of fact, I still do so now). He was strange that in the sense that he didn’t have a humanoid robot mode and while the name Sky Lynx actually referred to him as a whole – the two components that formed him didn’t have any names. Also as kid, one of the reasons why I wanted him was because he was huge!

            So, child’s wet dreams aside, how does Sky Lynx fare in real life? Read on…

Ground Transport Vehicle Mode:

Honest to God, I have no idea why they call this brick a Ground Transport vehicle. Yes, it has wheels, and hence, it should be able to transport stuffs. So I guess, he’s a Ground Transport Vehicle then – sheesh. Anyways, on his own he’s rubbish.

Lynx Mode:

            He’s definitely much better in this mode. He doesn’t have that much pose-ability, but he can walk – more on that later on.  

Shuttle Mode

Obviously, this is the more believable mode. He is predominantly white in color, and really doesn’t do anything much on his own in this mode.

Prehistoric Bird Mode

Well, for the lack of a better name, I wonder what else they could call this guy as. Anyways, I have to say, I quite like this mode. I mean, despite the awkward look to this figure, his feet provides him with ample stability, largely due to it being incredibly lightweight. Articulation-wise: the tip of the tail move up and down. The legs have both hip and ankle joints, while the neck has 3 points of limited articulations.

Albeit limited in articulations and features, all things considered, it’s quite cool.

Carrier Shuttle Mode

            This mode looks awesome. Despite the lack of special features, apart from the rolling feature, this mode really looks great. Sky Lynx’s Carrier Shuttle mode is very convincing.

Sky Lynx Mode:

            Now this is the mode where Sky Lynx is universally known as. Some calls this the Dinoblast mode, while some calls it Dino-creature mode. Regardless of which name, he looks awesome. To transform him is fairly easy. All you have to do is stack the shuttle on top of the transport, and transform whatever you can on the figures into their respective beast modes. His articulations are basically the combination between the lynx and the prehistoric-bird modes.

Gimmicks:

`           He has a motorized walking or rolling motions. After pushing the switch beneath the figure to ON position, you can select either walking or rolling mode on the second switch. Of course, it can only roll in vehicle modes and walk in robot modes. The walking mode’s not that bad really, and I really enjoyed scaring the crap out of my cat… MWAHAHA…

Summary:   

            Sky Lynx is a fairly iconic character, which is one of the main reasons why I bought him in the first place. While I don’t quite dig the figure, it still has that bit of uniqueness to him. The alternate mode is quite convincing, sans the transport mode. All in all, it’s definitely a welcome addition to any Transformers collection, but if you’re just a non-fan who wants to just go out a buy a Transformers-figure just for the fun of it, I’d guess that you’re better off looking elsewhere.

Rating – 7/10