Though very few of the original toys were, Sky Lynx is one of those Transformers that actually looks like he was clearly not designed for the Transformers line. Released in 1986 next to combiner teams like the original Aerialbots and Protectobots, and the new movie designs such as Hot Rod and Kup, Sky Lynx’s design aesthetic doesn’t really fit in anywhere. The reason for this is spelled out in Sky Lynx’s history from his TFWiki entry (rewritten to get to the point):
Sky Lynx shares an origin with Omega Supreme, both were originally created by a company known as Toy Box, from whom Hasbro licensed the designs for sale as Transformers. As with Jetfire and the Deluxe Insecticons, this meant it could not be sold as a Transformers toy in Japan, since Takara didn’t want to promote its competition’s toys. When Takara merged with former competitor Tomy, the situation changed. After the merger, an especially perspicacious member of the TF development team spotted a “shuttle dinosaur” development code name among the molds listed in Tomy’s possession. Soon, the truth of Sky Lynx’s lineage emerged: Toy Box was not the original equipment manufacturer, but rather, it had requested that Tomy develop the Sky Lynx design on its behalf.
This, apparently, is how you end up with an Autobot Shuttle/Crawler/Dinosaur Bird/Lynx.
The funny part is — where some might look at him and Frankenstein’s monster comes to mind — he looks at himself and thinks he is perfection incarnate.
“Self-centered and boastful. Fearless, daring, believes himself to be superior to many of his fellow Autobots.”
"What? Are these chicken legs somehow *not* perfection?!?"
Able to separate into two distinct animal mode robots. The top half is referred to in his profile as “Dinobird mode” and the bottom half (despite having “Lynx” right there in his name) is “Puma mode”.
As evidenced by the paint applications on the eyes, my Sky Lynx is the Japanese Encore reissue from 2008; his release in Japan made possible by the aforementioned discovery of the Sky Lynx toy’s actual development by Tomy.
The two separate modes can actually be transformed to alt mode separately,
Or the Shuttle portion can carry the Crawler portion.
His lower half has electronics that allow him to drive in Crawler mode or to “walk” in either Lynx or combined Bird/Lynx mode. By “walk” I mean a drunken lurching movement that sort of propels him slowly forward. The odd shuffling stumble just has to be seen to be believed. It’s hysterical.
There are a couple example of his name being reused (mostly for Decepticons) and there was an actual colour scheme homage in the Japanese Lucky Draw release of Flame Convoy – Sky Lynx Edition. His Shattered Glass incarnation even showed up in the Transformers Collectors Club comic and as an awesome custom toy in the Botcon 2011 Art Show.
All things considered, I am glad that they haven’t chosen to try to update Sky Lynx. His G1 toy really does his fictional appearances justice and anything done today would be missing the size and oddity that really sets him apart.
His character may be an insufferable egotist, but his toy is absolutely wonderful.
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Was there then an actual toy made by toy box or another company, or was the g1 sky lynx the first time it was produced?
No one seems to know for sure. If there had been a release of the mold prior to Hasbro licensing it, one would think examples of a pre-Sky Lynx toy would have surfaced by now. To my knowledge none has.
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