Cybershark

Let's see what you can see... This article is in need of images. Specifics: Packaging for the vs box set.

Cybershark is a Maximal from the Beast Era portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into... the clouds?

Cybershark is a skilled tracker and expert in undersea combat. More, he's renowned throughout the galaxy as a swashbuckling hero. Brave, adventurous, kind, and good-humored, he has fought for freedom across a hundred alien seas and left behind stories and legends wherever he passed. Though not particularly bright in a general sense he can be quite calculating when it comes to tracking down his prey, and is a fearless fighter in the cause of good. He honed his skills as a bounty hunter spending centuries tracking down a rogue group of Cybertronian space pirates. Though dedicated to the Maximals, and quite adept at rallying others to join the fight for a good cause, Cybershark is more of a lone adventurer than a team player. Ironically this often puts him at odds with his commander, the likewise independent Depth Charge.^[1]

Fiction

2006 IDW Beast Wars continuity

You yell "Cyberbarracuda", everybody says, "Huh? What?"

Cybershark hunted the Seacons for centuries. Along the way, his underwater activities have spread legends of his heroism to the alien populations on the planets he visited. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

Cybershark was one of the protoform stasis pods jettisoned from the Maximal survey vessel Axalon when it was forced to crash-land on prehistoric Earth. The Predacon general Magmatron led a small group (that included the Maximal agent Razorbeast) back in time to place these protoforms into chronal phase and reprogram them into Predacons, and lead this army against the Maximals in the present. However, Razorbeast placed a viral code in Magmatron's Predacon shell program, allowing a number of the protoforms to retain their Maximal identity. The Gathering #1

I'm a shaaaaaaaark, I'm a shaaaaaaaaaaaark, suck my diode, I'm a shaaaaaaaaaaaaaark!

Accompanied by Claw Jaw, Cybershark sped towards Razorbeast and the small group of new Maximals accompanying him. The Gathering #2 He and a phalanx of other Maximals finally reached them, just in time to fight off an army of Predacons. In the subsequent battle, Cybershark tangled with Razorclaw before the united Maximals drove off the Predacons. The Gathering #4

A deca-cycle after the marooned Maximals sent their distress call, help still hadn't shown up. Cybershark was one of those on hand when their makeshift base was attacked by the entire Predacon militia. He was on the front line of the defense and was the first to notice that it was, indeed, an all-out assault. The Ascending #1 Later, Cybershark and the other wounded Beast Warriors remained behind on ancient Earth after Lio Convoy took the rest of their forces into the future to battle Shokaract. He rallied the Maximals and Predacons to stop the threat of the Blendtrons. The Ascending #4

Cybershark was badly damaged in battle and, in an emergency procedure, his spark was transferred to a blank protoform. This blank had been exposed to the Transmetal driver and so he emerged as a Transmetal 2 great white shark and found himself gifted with more powerful weapons and the limited ability to fly at low altitude. Beast Wars Sourcebook #1

Beast Wars: Uprising

Cybershark was part of Lio Convoy's Resistance, believing that the Builders of Cybertron would only ever respond to violence. He was part of a plot to raid the Fortress Maximus prison. As two previous attempts had been obliterated by Cerebros's psychic attacks, they hit on a plan to send in a patsy who Cerebros would psychically hack; when the patsy was then killed, Cerebros would fall.

Cybershark found such a patsy in one-time game winner Buzzclaw and lied to him and Ser-Ket that the resistance wanted them as leaders. He led a team into Maximus, all of whom knew the real plan except the newbies, and as soon as Buzzclaw was compromised Cybershark took him out. Later, he expressed confusion about why Ser-Ket was so angry with them, since sacrificing Buzzsaw had been for the greater good, hadn't it? Head Games

As the war pressed on, Cybershark remained one of Lio Convoy's chief advisors and coordinators. He retained his cold dedication to winning the war at all costs. When the Vehicon Apocalypse first began and Lio Convoy proposed Operation Amputation to completely wipe out and cauterize the infected cities, Cybershark was the only member of High Command to immediately agree.

With the Vehicons imposing on Resistance territory to an insurmountable degree, Lio Convoy ordered an immediate push towards Iacon itself and the Builder Assembly. Cybershark and Scylla coordinated the Resistance navy in passing the Yuss Straits, in hopes of bringing the fleet up the Great Rust Sea to the shores of Iacon itself. Using the Beast Upgrade to work above and below the waves, they devastated the Builder fleet. A kamikaze strike by the Builder flagship Tidal Wave, however, destroyed Scylla and the flagship Broadside. Scylla handed command of the fleet to Cybershark and charged him with locating any survivors. The fleet provided artillery support to the marching Army of the Resistance as they followed the Trannis Fork River to Iacon. Cybershark was missing and presumed dead when the fleet fell to the Vehicon advance. Derailment

Ten thousand years later, "Ciphershark" was remembered as a ruthless black-ops director with no regard for his enemies or those under his command. Sounds about right. Lio Convoy: Unity Through Tyranny

2021 Beast Wars comic

The Cybertronian who would become Cybershark was one of the many Maximal protoforms aboard the Axalon. To eliminate the Maximals and Predacons, Tarantulas and the Vok brought every crashed stasis pod they could find online and reprogrammed the protoforms within into loyal "Children of the Vok". Together, they attacked the crashed Darksyde in an attempt to take out the Maximal-Predacon alliance; when the Maximals and Predacons destroyed the Vok themselves, however, their remaining followers agreed to a truce and left to live peacefully in the wilderness. The End

Commercial appearances

Cybershark emerged from the water, transforming in mid-air to land in robot mode on the shoreline. He then launched his shark head from his chest cannon, before advancing and brandishing his tail/switchblade menacingly. Cybershark and Inferno commercial

Toys

Beast Wars

This broadcast is for Transformerkind. Cybersharks now occupy every landmass on this planet. But you need not fear. Cybersharks will remove fear.

• Cybershark (Deluxe Class, 1997/1998)

• Takara ID number: C-11
• Accessories: "Switchblade"/tail, hammerhead-missile, 2 missiles
• Known designers: Takio Ejima (TakaraTomy)

Part of the first wave of Hasbro's year-two Beast Wars Deluxes, Cybershark transforms into a hammerhead shark. His silver-blue plastic has a very fine glitter mixed in, to create a realistic iridescent effect. His "hidden Energon Chip" rubsign is situated on the inside of his shark body, revealed in robot mode. He has two spring-loaded gimmicks; the "hammer" portion of the shark head fires like a missile, and the tail includes a spring-loaded "switchblade" weapon. Both weapons are usable in robot mode as well; the tail-blade becomes a hand-held weapon, while the missile launcher flips up from his chest, allowing him to fire two "normal" missiles (with shark-face nose art!) that store in his backpack. In an undocumented feature, all of his firing projectiles have posts barely the right size to be lightly held in his hands—though the molding of the hammer-head sadly prevents it from being held as an actual hammer.

The Takara release of Cybershark, in the line's sixth wave in January 1998, appears to have no noteworthy differences from the Hasbro release aside from packaging.

This mold was retooled to make Hellscream and Universe version of Generation 1 Overbite, and retooled separately to make Sharp Edge.

• More information on Deluxe Cybershark at TFU.info

• Jigoku no Taiketsu: Cybershark vs Inferno (Vs pack, 1998)

• ID number: VS-11
• Release date: February ??, 1998
• Accessories: Tail-blade, hammerhead-missile, 2 missiles

In Japan, Cybershark was available both separately and in a "Hell Showdown" (地獄の対決 Jigoku no Taiketsu) two-pack with Inferno. Both toys are identical to their individual releases.

"And everywhere I go, I hear kids asking me why I'm ripping off Sky-Byte, rasserfrassing..."

• Cybershark (Transmetal 2 Mega Class, 1999)

• Accessories: Twin launcher, 2 "Tracer Torpedo" missiles, left & right fin-blades
• Known designers: Yuichiro Hira (TakaraTomy)

The first of only two Transmetal 2 Megas, this new incarnation of Cybershark transforms into a monstrous, mechanical-organic great white shark. The side-panels his pectoral fins attach to flip out to reveal a "flight mode", and his tail has a gear system that spins his tailfins like a propeller when a wheel in his side is turned. He also has a double spring-loaded "Tracer Torpedo" missile launcher concealed in his shark mouth; lifting the top of his beast-mode head up will (theoretically) launch both missiles at once. In robot mode, the tail-spinning system becomes his right arm, forming a "Spin-Drive Tail" claw weapon. His mouth-missile launcher separates and can be held in his right hand, though his sideways-oriented first makes for a rather awkward aim. His pectoral fins can also detach and become hand-held blades, but again, awkward thanks to his fist.

Many of his ball-jointed parts are prone to popping off, particularly during transformation, and he is definitely on the shellformery end of the transformation spectrum.

This toy's packaging featured a character quote in the bio profile — the first time this popular feature had returned to the packaging since the end of the Generation 2 toyline four years earlier.

This mold was also used to make Sky-Byte.

• More information on Transmetal 2 Cybershark at TFU.info

Vintage Beast Wars

I'm half shark and half Cyber
Don't come near me, I will eat you

• Maximal Cybershark (Reissue, 2022)

• Accessories: "Switchblade"/tail, hammerhead-missile, 2 missiles

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of Beast Wars, the original 1997 Deluxe Class Cybershark was reissued under the Vintage Beast Wars lineup. "Maximal Cybershark" features almost all the same accessories and functionality as the original toy, though the reissue lacks the "hidden Energon Chip" rubsign present on the original figure, and the springs in the chest missile launcher and tail blade have been significantly neutered, presumably for safety reasons. Although the overall deco has no deliberate changes relative to the original figure, the blue spots on the shark skin and brown paint inside the shark body both use a slightly darker shade, and the blue plastic is missing its iridescent glitter. Unlike the original figure or other Vintage Beast Wars figures before this release, many screws in the toy have been replaced with flathead pins instead.

Much like Vintage G1, Cybershark is packaged in a blister card styled after the original Beast Wars toy packaging, package art and all. Notably, unlike the prior three carded releases in the line, the bubble for the blaster card is the smooth version used for the later Beast Wars releases, rather than the "rock" bubble used for the earlier 1996 releases. Also similar to Vintage G1, the time disparity since the original release has the toy set at double the price of the toy's 1996 release, $22 versus $10. This figure is exclusive to Walmart in the United States and The Warehouse in New Zealand.

Cybershark was official unveiled during a Transformers Tuesday on March 22, 2022, with pre-orders on the Walmart site dropping two days later during the Walmart Collector-Con at 1 PM ET.^[2]

Notes

• Hammerstrike's Beast Machines bio shares similarities to Cybershark's Beast Wars bio, implying that the two might be the same character. Subsequent fiction has not taken this as the case.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Cybershark (サイバーシャーク Saibāshāku)
• French: Cybersquale (Canada, "Cybershark")
• Italian: Squalo Tigre
• Spanish: Ciberón

References