Toy Review: Transformers Cyberverse Hammerbyte (Warrior)

Review:  #695

Name:  Hammerbyte

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Cyberverse

Year of Release:  2020

Size Class:  Warrior (Wave 7)

Mold Status:  new

BEAST MODE:

Hammerbyte transforms into a robotic shark, and with this type of alt mode, you would have expected a Decepticon, instead, he is an Autobot.

Despite being in the Warrior class (a class that is focused on simplicity and cheapness), Hammerbyte is pretty good.  He looks solid from all angles

He lies flat on the table and there's no play value here, he basically just looks cool.

He is a hammerhead shark, hence the name, and the jaw can open and close.

In terms of size, Hammerbyte is roughly Deluxe sized, but feels slightly lighter.

This is a solid alternate mode, the darker metallic-ish looking blue mixed with baby blue works really well as a color scheme.

TRANSFORMATION:

It's simple, but it works well, to the point where it's fun and fast converting between the two modes.  The back, along with panels of the shark's sides, split to form his robot legs.  Then the arms come out from the side, fold the upper torso down and you're done.

ROBOT MODE:

Surprisingly for a Warrior in the Cyberverse line, Hammerbyte does not really have many compromises and he looks pretty good in robot mode as well.

He carries the shark head on his back, although there is a really for this which we'll get to later.

The head sculpt is decent, and the trident looking crown on his head does invoke his aquatic nature.

Again, he's roughly Deluxe sized, but naturally, he's a lot more hollow.  The Warrior size class has always been overly aggressive with the cost cutting, and there are significant hollowed out parts here, to the point where it is so obvious and ruins the look.

For articulation, and once again contrary to what you'd expect of the Warrior class, Hammerbyte has a good range.  He has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips and knees.

He really only have single hinges and balljoints though, he noticeably lacks thigh swivels, and his feet are angled such that they can lay flat on the surface in a normal A-pose.

The gimmick here, and this is really cool and unobtrusive, is by pulling down on his left shoulder, the shark head on his back springs up to cover his robot head, so now he's a robot with a shark head!

This is such a simple but fun gimmick, it's extraordinary cool and satisfying.  And again, it does not compromise the figure in any way except maybe sometimes you'll accidentally trigger it when posing him.

A decent robot mode with a cool gimmick.

OVERALL:

Hammerbyte is one of those rare Warrior class figures that's actually worth buying.  Yes, he is still cheap and light, but he's got two good modes, and the shark head gimmick in robot mode is extremely cool.

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