The third Monster Transformer in our October list is Commander Modesty himself, Sky Lynx!
Is he really a monster, though? Well, his manners are immaculate and his diction is above reproach, but in the end, he is a griffin, and that is definitely a monster.

Where to begin with Sky Lynx? There’s a lot to his story, but I’ll try to keep it short, because you could definitely fill several articles just about this guy.

(Above: The 1986 Transformers ad spot for Sky Lynx, featuring Grimlock, Slag, and Predaking)

Sky Lynx found his way into the Hasbro side of Transformers when they were still in the habit of licensing any transforming robot they could get their hands on. They did the same thing with earlier toys like Whirl, Roadbuster, Jetfire, and Omega Supreme, among others. Like Omega Supreme, Sky Lynx’s toy was originally owned by a company named Toy Box. Toy Box, though did not create Sky Lynx themselves, but rather outsourced the creation of the toy to Tomy, though no one outside of Toy Box knew it. Hasbro licensed the figure from Toy Box and featured the character quite heavily in season 3 of the Transformers cartoon. Takara, however, didn’t care to follow suit, so Sky Lynx was not released in Japan under the Transformers franchise in 1986. Fast forward to 2008, and Takara and Tomy had since merged to form Takara-Tomy. As the newly merged company was inventorying molds, they saw something listed as Shuttle Dinosaur. Upon investigation, it was discovered to be the original Tomy molds for Sky Lynx’s toy. Since it was no longer considered a competitor’s toy, Takara-Tomy released Sky Lynx for the first time in Japan, more than two decades after it was initially released by Hasbro in the West.

(Above: Sky Lynx’s entry in the 1986 Transformers catalog checklist)

Sky Lynx’s toy was quite large. Its vehicle mode consisted of a white and gold space shuttle and a blue and red ground transporter. The shuttle then converts into a toothed dino-bird and the ground transporter converts into a dual-tailed vaguely feline form making up the lynx portion. The two of them combine to form a super-robot griffin. Sky Lynx’s G1 toy is motorized and as such the ground transport can roll of its own accord on wheels, and walks in lynx and griffin form.

His Tech Specs card affirms that he is as powerful as he is arrogant. Sky Lynx’s given function is Lieutenant Commander, making him more than just a mere transport. He is essentially a mobile command station that issues its own commands. His stats are just as impressive with his single lowest stat, firepower at a 7, with all others as 8s, 9s, and four 10s! He really lives up to his bragging.

(Image courtesy of Zabgoth and TFTechSpecs.com)

Lore-wise, Sky Lynx usually has a big role in any of the stories in which he is featured. In the Sunbow G1 cartoon he regularly trounced Predaking, and often swooped in to save the Autobots. He led the unlikely menagerie of the Autobot and Decepticons primitives (those with animal modes) to the ancient Primacron’s assistant, Oracle, and battle Tornadron, and most notably helped a Quintesson resurrect Optimus Prime.

In the Marvel US comics, he travelled with the Cosmic Carnival along with the juvenile human children called the Space Hikers, until they rejoined Optimus Prime and Goldbug aboard the Steelhaven. After the children were returned to Earth, Sky Lynx tangled with the robot-devouring Mechannibals and was rescued by the Pretenders Cloudburst and Landmine.

(Above: The cover of Marvel US’s The Transformers #37, which introduced Sky Lynx)

Additionally Sky Lynx appeared in Blackthrone Publishing’s Transformers in 3-D comics, and Dreamwave’s G1 series among many other appearances in various Transformers mini-series and crossover comics.
His longest list of appearances, though, thus far, was in IDW’s Transformers comics. His IDW exploits spanned years of comics and would easily fill an article all on their own.

Sky Lynx received new treatment as combiner core-torso in Combiner Wars, where he could merge with other Transformers to form Sky Reign. Later, his original form was revisited and upgraded during the Transformers – War For Cybertron: Earthrise line, and he played a pivotal role in the Netflix series that went along with that toy line. The Earthrise toy for Sky Lynx was one of the few space shuttle Transformers who was officially licensed from NASA, and his shuttle form was dubbed Magnificence.

That’s all we have the time to go into about the illustrious Sky Lynx for now. Be sure to come back tomorrow to see which Monster Transformer will grace our main page. Sky Lynx was the third in our list, but we know that in his heart he believes that he’s Number One.

(Image credit: Botch’s Transformers Box Art Archive)

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