The Energon Pub

by **Rodimus_Prime13** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:14 am

Skyfire was one of my favorite characters. Hasbro kind of weaseled out and made a toy called "Jetfire" that was basically just a re-release of the Veritech fighter toy for Robotech.

I always felt this character deserved his own toy.

News Credits: 1 · by **Redimus** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:29 am

Um...

Skyfire was simply a name they gave the G1 charecter becuase due to copyright issues they werent allowed to use the actual Jetfire name or design on the cartoon. In short Skyfire was nothing more than a leagal technicality to allow the very cool Jetfire to have an apearence on the show.

And EVERY tf of that period was a toy taken from an existing toy line (mainly Takara's Microman and Diaclone lines).

So no, Hasbro never 'weaseled out of anything. There is no Skyfire. (Anyway, classics Jetfire is a pretty damn good combination of Skyfire and Macross designs.)

by **Rodimus_Prime13** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:34 am

I don't remember Skyfire looking anything like a Veritech.

I remember him being big enough to actually carry autobots in Jet form.

His head looked nothing like that of a VF. (No guns on his head, etc.)

I don't know why they wouldn't of been able to use the name "Jetfire" as there is also nothing in Macross named "Jetfire"

News Credits: 1 · by **Redimus** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:41 am

This is becuase if he looked like a macross, it would land hasbro in trouble.

Skyfire was mearly the closest Hasbro could go with a cartoon Jetfire without break what ever random leagal mumbo jumbo it was that stoped them from using him on the cartoon.

And in all fiarness, this was over 20 years ago, so there's bo diddly squat that can be done about it now, just sit back and enjoy the cartoons for what they were, enjoy the Jetfire toy for what he was, and get on with.

by **Rodimus_Prime13** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:51 am

Did a little more research on this.

And it seems that now you can get a Hybrid of the the "Jetfire" and Skyfire.

Toy review of it here. http://youtube.com/watch?v=qig3Rs6pOF0& ... ed&search=

The toy he has reminds me a lot more of Skyfire.

And I don't need to "get over it" It is not something keeping me up at night.

He was just a character that meant a lot to me as a kid. I was also a Robotech fan, so getting another Macross toy didn't really sate my desire for a "Skyfire" toy.

News Credits: 1 · by **Redimus** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:59 am

I only mentioned Classics Jetfire in my first post, obviously you chose to ignore me there...

by **Rodimus_Prime13** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:12 am

Typical message board behaviour. It's not possible that I just missed that part of your post by mistake? I obviously "chose to ignore you"?

Sheesh.

Don't be so hostile.

In any case, it is good to see that I am not the only one who remembered him and was happy with the classic toy looking more the part.

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:52 am

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:Skyfire was one of my favorite characters. Hasbro kind of weaseled out and made a toy called "Jetfire" that was basically just a re-release of the Veritech fighter toy for Robotech.

I always felt this character deserved his own toy.

Dude, the toy came first.

by **Valandar** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:03 am

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:Typical message board behaviour.

And typical behaviour to insult someone that tried to help you initially.

News Credits: 6 · by **City Commander** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:45 am

People people!

Let's all make up and go over to the Classics Jetfire appreciation thread ok?

So there was a little misunderstading. Surely your time is better spent searching the intraweb for more info on Classics 2.0 and Animated?

And yes, I was annoyed slightly that 'Skyfire' looked nothing like 'Jetfire'. But since the toys came before the show, and for the most part the cartoon designs were impossible to make 20 years ago, I think Hasbro made an incredible choice with the Veritech mould they used.
Plus, we've got Cl Jetfire haven't we? He's a brill combination of Jetfire at his best.

My only squabble is that I prefer Skyfire to Jetfire as a name. But that's just me.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:51 pm

Scaleface wrote:
Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:Skyfire was one of my favorite characters. Hasbro kind of weaseled out and made a toy called "Jetfire" that was basically just a re-release of the Veritech fighter toy for Robotech.

I always felt this character deserved his own toy.

Dude, the toy came first.

He's right, you know? The toys came years before even the concept was thought of. Always has been.

The reason the Jetfire toy wasn't in the cartoon was because the mold was Bandai's, a direct competitor. Not just that, the Macross series featured those Valkyries, and to top it off, it made it's way into the US as Robotech.
The best solution for promoting the toy was to make a cartoon model based on the toy, having enough differences as to not get sued for copyright infirgment, down to the name change to Skyfire.

In short, what you perceived as true is actually the other way around

News Credits: 11 · by **Bass X0** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:26 pm

I think he meant he wanted Hasbro to create a new toy based on the cartoon character Skyfire after the cartoon had been originally shown.

News Credits: 1 · by **Redimus** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:06 pm

Bass X0 wrote:I think he meant he wanted Hasbro to create a new toy based on the cartoon character Skyfire after the cartoon had been originally shown.

What would be the point of releasing Jetfire, if they were then to release Skyfire (basically the same charecter) months later? Nah. At the time, Jetfire was the best transformer there was. No point in trying to make another toy who is virtully the same charecter with a worse toy.

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:12 pm

Problem was Hasbro only licensed the Veritech VF-1S mold (Jetfire) for a little while from Bandai and only in the USA. They didn't own it in Japan, where they show was also airing, and they don't have any hold on it any more. If they wanted re-release the Jetfire toy, they'd need permission from Bandai today.

Of course that doesn't stop me from repainting a robotech mesh for my character in the Freedom Force video game. Look familiar?

by **Bonger** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:52 pm

I'm not even clear on what the issue is here. Are you feeling jipped becaouse the toy had a different name on the box,, or because the cartoon character did not look much like the toy?

If it is the former, really, who cares?

If it is the latter, well, the cartoon version is superior. The cartoon may not have been too great if Ironhide, Ratchet, Jetfire, etc looked exactly like their toys eh? :grin:

by **DREWCIFER** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:47 am

I think that this thread got off topic. I would like to see a toy that is anime accurate and called Skyfire. However, due to copyright laws and lack of toy design initiative, I doubt that I ever will.

However, there is a long list of toys that I would like to see anime accurate.

:DEVIL: