Sun's out, puns out!
So Combiner Wars has sprawled into a many-tentacled monster, replicating and diminishing
and shifting hues like the trippy nightmare elephants from Dumbo.
All around us, many a multicoloured clone encroaches on our zone like so many roaches
when from out of the drone and the phalanx there approaches
the monstrous and pompous one who rose to the throne, known only as the Sky Lynx!
HUH!
Yes indeed, it's Combiner Wars Sky Lynx, and if you'd told me a few years ago we'd be getting a gorgeous
Voyager class rendition of this preposterous prick that's also a combiner, I never would have believed you!
And neither would you, ya bullshitter!
'Cos NOBODY saw this coming! I mean, Sky Lynx as a combiner? Who would think that?
Who would think OF that?
And also - Sky Lynx in Combiner Wars, which is like 90% repaints?
Have you ever seen anything so utterly impossible to repurpose?
But fair play, they actually went and bloody did it! Hats off to you, Hasbro.
So what the Hell? Where to even begin? This is Sky Lynx in his "robot mode",
and it's a pleasingly cohesive creature feature.
'Cos the original figure came from the "I guess we'll take this too" portion of the
G1 Japanese robo repackaging strategy, and it was basically two entirely separate items that could kind of
smush together, so the best it could do that would ostensibly work as a singular character
was basically a winged snake dinosaur chillin' out on a plinth.
So Sky Lynx lands in 2016 as a monstrously manageable quadrupedal astro-griffin!
He's definitely a breath of fresh bananas in the largely po-faced Generations line,
like he looks so mental as a part of any crew, and he's such a shelf-hogger he almost works better as
a kind of epic mount, like a fantasy hyper-mecha Battle Cat.
He's rockin' some fabulous neck flexibility
with this huge, horrifying gator gob and sweet rodenty snout! Legs are heftily chunksome, but the ratchets
feel a little on the soft side, and these crappy little claw flaps are just useless.
Wings pile on the pizzazz with their epic posin' power, weird blue extendo-feathers
and irresistible giant gold Autobadges, and you can even crazy 'em up with these
otherwise-useless Atlas sword things? Back end's a laugh riot an' all, with this keychain knife tail
and cheeky twin-anus booster butt, and the underside's mostly holes.
But the whole aesthetic of the guy just feels like a toy that's already thirty years old. In a good way!
Like you got the giant badges, the slightly impure off-white for a hint of simulated sun bleaching,
the weird toilet cleaner turquoise that doesn't look like a colour they'd use on toys anymore,
and the oddly pre-faded red like a faux-vintage Star Wars shirt from Primark.
So yeah, Sky Lynx is an absolute scream! I guess you could be annoyed that it doesn't split in half anymore,
but, y'know, it's an update! It's one guy being one thing and totally crushin' it!
It's weird, it's not like anybody else, and it's elegant in the bizarrest way. Which is exactly what I look for in a man.
[SICK ASS HARDCORE GROOVE]
Transformation's pretty much just folding him down into a more compact but no more plausible version of
whatever he's supposed to be.
And, I mean, it's a pretty nice shuttle, with some lush textures and sprawly white wingspan,
and these cool little backwards wings on his bulbous blaster badonk, but without the motor gimmick
it's just a toy spaceship glued to a freezer block.
[exhales]
Shall we move on?
[SPACED OUT SYNTHWAVE JAM]
Gettin' the torso out pretty much just involves splayin' his legs out all weird and droppin' the head reveal butt flip
which honestly ain't a patch on Silverbolt's genius full-body somersault
or Hot Spot's ladder-noggin reacharound, but it does what it must.
And this, bros and fembros, is Sky Reign! Where did this come from? It's a giant awesome robot with
a Goddamn golden lion face! It's like, the only thing in Combiner Wars that's not just a G1 reference
or a designed-by-committee repaint shower, and it's so refreshingly weird! It's just the perfect balance of
balls-out badass and facepalmingly tacky! I mean check out these stacked shoulders with the awesome
collarbone turbines. Like they don't really lock in anywhere, but it's workable and it looks rad?
Love the sweet Brave-style chest crest, which I suspect is a retroactive leftover - or
from the upcoming Liokaiser version. Never seen better use of a shuttlebutt!
Cheeky blue midriff there with a hidden Easter Island Easter egg, and round the reverse he's rockin'
these mighty beast wings and Sky Lynx's head for a coccyx.
So for limbs, you're supposed to use wave five, but like, they all look terrible, and besides, who cares?
Do what you want! I thought that was the point! So for me, Sky Reign's pretty much good-guy Galvatronus,
like he can recruit whoever he wants with his wit and charisma and promises of Star Destroyer kebabs.
So I've gone here with the grab bag of Scramble City outcasts and late wave lamers,
but feel free to explore the catalogue of alternate universe cat face combiners!
But whatever you do, it's GOING to look awesome, 'cos Sky Reign is one magnificent beast!
I kinda feel like they've had this one in the back pocket for a while now,
'cos how do you solve a problem like Sky Lynx? What do you do with him for Generations?
I mean, they could've gone the G1-aholic £120 motorized monster package, but at that point they might as well
just reissue it. So what, make him a triple changer? That barely worked for Doubledealer,
and he's half the freako Sky Lynx is!
But a combiner - that's the ticket! It's big, you can work in the extra head, and NOBODY's gonna see it coming!
But what next? How best to milk this beastie? Maybe give it a Decepticon makeover as that giant purple
griffin thing? Hey, you could call the combiner Purple Reign!
Ohhh, I made myself sad.
So, Combiner Wars Sky Lynx. A full-on surprise, an absolute treat, and a masterclass in asset upcycling!
Congrats, Hasbro!
Three, two, one...
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Two waves late since 2008.
It's so weird and refreshing! Like it's the perfect balance of facepalmingly
oh my God AAAHHHHH