Transformers: Combiner Wars Sky Lynx

Here we are in July, the summer in full swing. Initial sightings of the new Titans Return line are popping up on the various fan sites, so I thought this would be a good time to finally get a review done for a figure that, like the aforementioned Titans Return toys, I have not yet seen at retail.

Back in April, Combiner Wars Sky Lynx was starting to show up randomly in the wild across the country. Reports that people were finding it at random Targets or Toys R Us’ gave hope to what at the time was a spreading belief that Sky Lynx was going to be that end of a line toy that no one ever found, following in the footsteps of so many really cool figures that are released in the dying light of a series that never makes it to shelves because the new series is being rolled out. At C2E2 I found one vendor with a Sky Lynx, but at the chuckle inducing price of $45. 


  A month or so after C2E2, I gave in and bought one on Amazon for $30. I have still never seen one in a store. There were all the rumors and myths that, after the Onslaught and Scattershot case assortment had been revised to replace Scattershot with Sky Lynx, due to the impending “Never going to happen because Hasbro once said they had no plans” Computron box set, Sky Lynx was soon to explode onto the market, but that as far as I can tell never really came to pass. Online retailers soon put up semi-permanent notices that the figure was out of stock, and by this, we come to the present day. 

So, as a figure that comes with a lot of built in hype, not only as an update of a pretty cool and unusual G1 toy but also as a stand in Classics Sky Lynx, an often dreamed of toy on the fan sites, how does Sky Lynx fare? This is one of those figures that, because of its end of line roster spot and terrible distribution, a lot of people aren’t ever going to have in their hands, and the toy skeptic voice in the back of my mind keeps saying “If you thought $45 was a lot at a convention this year, just wait a year or two, and THEN see what the prices are!!!” The figure does have some issues, but overall is a pretty nice piece. Let’s get those issues out of the way first, before we talk about the strengths here.

None of the real obvious issues with Sky Lynx are anything out of the ordinary at this point, either for the Combiners Wars  line or Transformers as a brand and G1 updates as a thing. The figure is pretty small by Voyager class standards, particularly next to other Voyagers from this same series. A portion of this is unfair however, due to what Sky Lynx is: as a quadrupedal animal, he is naturally shorter yet longer than a bipedal humanoid would be. That is not part of the size criticism here. Sky Lynx is all around little, a slight dinosaur that seems scaled down to fit the size class. A common issue, it seems, a figure that probably would have been better served one size class up from where it is; the Classics/Universe 2.0 Galvatron argument, if you will. In Sky Lynx’ case though, it is pretty clear that the figure was designed to be a Voyager class toy. The only ‘major’ issue this really leads to is the dinosaur tail, which is much, much too short to really even be visible in robot mode. It kind of just dangles off the back end of the robot: something more substantial would have been nice, even this is not a critical issue with the toy, it would have made for a nicer overall robot mode appearance.

Rar rar rar rar

The plastic is noticeably thin, sort of like the Hot Spot/Onslaught mold. Again, because of Sky Lynx’ bodily arrangement, this thinness is more noticeable than it is on the Hot Spot figure, but it is mainly a tactile issue, like that of the Leader class Ultra Magnus. Given that the initial Voyager figures of the series, Silverbolt and Motormaster, are super solid and thick toys, Sky Lynx is a polar opposite, feeling in hand like a knock off-quality plastic shaped into a pretty high level Hasbro level transforming robot. As has been said time and again, by now we are used to this level of plastic quality, so Sky Lynx should be no shock or surprise to anyone, and enough of us have handled enough toys made from this plastic that we should know that it is just as likely as not to incur some kind of problem due to stressing or warping or whatnot. I’ve not had any problems with Sky Lynx, but who knows what may come. A number of parts on the figure pop off with only slightly above the necessary force to manipulate them, being of that nub and cup assembly, but they are parts that need to move, such as the dinosaur tail/tailfin of the shuttle mode and a large blue stomach panel that needs to move to facilitate all transformations. 

While several fanmodes have addressed this issue, there is no lynx mode, officially. All kinds of twisting and flipping can produce one, so this may or may not be an actual issue. Personally, I’m slightly disappointed that there is not a real lynx mode, but in reality, I’m ok with it being missing; it’s asking a whole lot of one toy to be a vehicle and a robot and a combiner torso to begin with: in the case of this toy, the torso mode replaces the lynx mode, so as not to overwork the figure.

Most baffling of the issues is the way the rear legs are assembled. The factory assembly does not offer any resistance on the rear ankles (I guess), so when the figure is stood up, the back feet fold upwards, towards the thighs, making Sky Lynx sit down on his rear legs, like a dog. While this may make it easier for Sky Lynx to drag his butt across the floor, it doesn’t let him actually stand. To fix this, you have to unscrew the rear legs and turn the foot piece around, which then means that you have to turn the entire leg part around in robot mode. This way, the foot is stopped by the plastic of the leg, providing a sturdy rear stance. This does slightly alter the torso mode, and the underside of the shuttle mode is not as clean, but if you want a sturdier robot mode, this is a quick and easy fix.

Good, sturdy rear legs...after a brief adjustment. 

Ok, so, the positives. Sky Lynx is a really good looking toy, starting with space shuttle mode. It does a terrific job of capturing the G1 toy, and has a whole ton of details molded in. Sure, it’s basically panel lines and wing flaps and the like, but they look good. The big Autobot logos are really sharp, and even done with the gold background like those of the G1 figure, which I think is a really nice touch. The gantry portion of the toy is kind of interesting, as the four legs all fold under and into the body, and the overall look of the underside is really nice and clean. If you flip the rear feet around, they hang out from the bottom of the vehicle, ruining some of this smoothness, but whether or not that is going to be some problem is up to you and what you want this Sky Lynx to be in your collection. I don’t really mind it. 

I almost don’t know what to say about the dinosaur mode. Sky Lynx is one of those really unique Transformers that is actually difficult to talk about for its uniqueness. The shuttle cockpit becomes the dinosaur head, with open mouth,  and the robot doesn’t properly stand unless you turn the feet around. The tail is too short. But, while I may not have many specifics to list about the robot mode, I think this toy does satisfy that need for a Classics Sky Lynx. While there are a number of fanmoded lynx modes, and I don’t think that any of them look terrible, the lynx modes are pretty clearly people trying to get a fourth transformation out of this toy. I’ve written before about the demands places on combining figures, and how they are just incapable of doing everything they are tasked with doing well, and something invariably suffers for trying to do too much. Sky Lynx is doing a lot already, and frankly, asking for another animal mode is asking too much.

Lots of people realize that last point, and say that then, the torso mode should have been left out, providing a real update of the G1 toy rather than saddling it with the Combiner Wars gimmick. This would not have been too out of the realm here, as there have been a handful of toys released under the Combiner Wars imprint that were not at all combining toys. But the Sky Lynx torso form, dubbed Sky Reign, is actually a very good torso. It is a little on the small side, closer to Silverbolt than Motormaster with Hot Spot being the intermediary, giving the limb figures the appearance of being a fair bit larger than they look on other torsos. The combined form head is the gold lynx head, and that is an interesting nod to the original two animal modes Sky Lynx had. I think it’s a clever idea. He has a very high waist, and that makes the overall torso appear small.

Just screaming for a random repaint...

The Unite Warriors version of this figure was revealed about a month ago, being Lynx Master, and I have to say that after the strange good time Grand Galvatron ended up being, I was really crossing my fingers that Lynx Master would be some crazy random set of figures. But it is not, instead being a pretty straightforward release of Sky Lynx and most of his team of “we combine now too!” Autobots. Boring. There is that rumored Liokaiser set coming (PICTURES OF WHICH FROM SDCC WENT ONLINE LIKE AN HOUR BEFORE THIS POSTING!!!), for which pictures of the cross sell on the back of packages periodically surface, and Sky Lynx is going to be the torso figure for that set, so I guess that may have to satisfy my hunger for strange Japanese reuses of Combiner Wars toys. On that note, online comics pertaining to Lynx Master are teasing the Victorion team as Decepticons, an idea that has me interested in the Victorion team….

All told, this is a figure that can satisfy a number of wants in a collection. It is a fun toy, and it is a good Sky Lynx update. If you’re looking for a Classics Sky Lynx, this one will fill that role; if you want another combiner torso, well, here’s one. Sightings of this figure at second run shops like Ross are beginning to surface, so I guess he’s finally being found at retail. That was the fear when the figure was first announced, as it was destined to be one of the late wave gems that so often only ends up at those kinds of stores while Battle Core Optimus Primes are still clogging up toy isles. Sky Lynx is a nice toy, but not one that is worth the inflated prices some were selling it for in the spring. Yes I bought mine a bit on the high side, but I am often glad when I look at this guy that I did not buy that $45 one at a convention. My wife was trying to steer me away from that at the time: don’t let her know that she was right. Again. But, for the $22-24 Target price he’d be ok, basically a standard Voyager class purchase from a modern Transformers toyline; or the $15 Ross/T J Maxx type price, this guy is a great buy.