Top 5 Best Jetfire / Skyfire Transformers Toys
Posted: Sat Feb 29, 2020 11:37 pm
Every two weeks, Seibertron.com brings you a Top 5 list related to all things Transformers written by me, your fellow editor. These are our opinions so what matters most is what you guys think of the topic or list, and I hope to see your own lists or comments on omissions and ranking. Let's have fun! All previous lists can be found here.
Top 5 Best Jetfire Transformers Toys
Jetfire has had a rather consistent presence on the shelves throughout generations, even more so than Bumblebee since he was one of the main G1 bots still present in the Unicron Trilogy. And as for the now decade spanning CHUG lines, he kept getting toys released which always gave us a new interpretation of the duality of this character. You see, while the G1 Jetfire toy and the G1 Skyfire character are both supposed to represent the same thing, the fact that the original toy comes from Bandai's Macross/Robotech line means there are some rather distinctive visual qualities that are not shared by the character model in both robot mode and alt mode. The alt modes themselves are not even the same type of vehicle where one is a sleek jet while the other is a chunky space craft. All to say, whenever Hasbro gives us updates to the original toy they try to homage the widely different sources of the character's design, so what we get is always interesting. Now let's get to this list.
5. Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Jetfire
I always found this toy to be rather underrated. What Hasbro gave us here is a budget Macross toy, which is pretty awesome when you think about it. Both modes look super sleek, I just LOVE the macross type mask we can put over the G1 cartoon headsculpt. It just looks incredible. Plus Hasbro took a note from the Takara United playbook and gave us some chromed weapons, and lots of them. This was the first leader class toy in the Generations line (and all CHUG lines) and this was the perfect character to bring out for such an occasion. While the previous effort in the Classics line was very nice and is also a good toy, it was lacking in size, which this one definitely makes up for. Little did we know there would be even more room to grow from here.
4. Transformers Studio Series SS35 Jetfire
As mentioned in the intro, Jetfire is covered in almost every generation of the Transformers line and that most definitely includes the films. While most characters are just reused G1 names that are ever so slightly linked to their G1 namesakes, Jetfire was one of the few movie characters which truly was a reinterpretation of the G1 character and storyline. He too had the backstory of being a dormant Decepticon turned good. So that always made him stand out a bit more. Plus that SR-71 Blackbird alt mode was amazing. The original toy while impressive in size (for the alt mode especially) was not that fun to transform. The new Studio Series fixes that problem and gives us the definitive movie Jetfire. It really impresses me how the design team found a totally new way to give us the same alt mode and robot mode, and also giving us the option to take him apart to equip the Studio Series Optimus Prime to recreate what happens in the film.
3. Transformers Cybertron Jetfire (Dreadrock)
Cybertron will always be one of the best Transformers toylines of all time. All great new designs and transformations but still invoking that G1 feel, especially the idea of the robot being made up of the alt mode parts, just reconfigured. And Jetfire, who was also present at every step of the Unicron trilogy, is one of the best toys from this line, making him a must own for anyone wanting to collect awesome Transformers figures. And that headsculpt is just so good!
2. Siege Jetfire
So yeah, we had our leader Jetfire, the biggest size class in the Generations line at the time and he looked fine on the shelf, but Hasbro was not done yet. They decided to go all out and give us a toy to scale with the other bots in the G1 cartoon. Being leader sized just didn't cut it, so we got a totally new class made just for him, the Commander class. This is the first Jetfire toy that also went all out to look as close as possible to the cartoon Skyfire model. So not only in proportions and scale but also with the alt mode which is closer to the space craft than the sleek macross jet. But, there was still something for the fans of the original toy with Hasbro giving us some armour parts that include a visor mask.
1. Transformers G1 1985 Jetfire (Skyfire)
I wanted to put Siege Jetfire at number 1, I really did, but the truth is it would not reflect what I truly feel. While it's a cool toy, I just still prefer the G1 version. I really like the craft of that toy. I think it was awesome of Hasbro to incorporate several different 80s Asian toy brands together into one new Transformers brand and this introduced kids in the west to different styles of Transforming robots. The armour components are fun, both modes are nice and sleek and he has this great weight to him. Usually a G1 toy will lose out to the updates since they are more complex, and sleeker, have no partsforming, or closer to the show model, but in this case the original toy was its own design that simply couldn't be portrayed on screen for legal reasons, and it's as complex and sleek as any update, as you can see below.
Honourable Mention: There are many good and fun Jetfire toys out there. Many do not share that name, but we all know are Jetfires and really nice ones at that. The one I wanted to most mention here was Armada Jetfire. While not as good as the toys on this list, he has a really nice design with the space shuttle and makes a great pair of pants for Armada Prime.
Transformers Armada Jetfire Gallery
Top 5 Best Jetfire Transformers Toys
Jetfire has had a rather consistent presence on the shelves throughout generations, even more so than Bumblebee since he was one of the main G1 bots still present in the Unicron Trilogy. And as for the now decade spanning CHUG lines, he kept getting toys released which always gave us a new interpretation of the duality of this character. You see, while the G1 Jetfire toy and the G1 Skyfire character are both supposed to represent the same thing, the fact that the original toy comes from Bandai's Macross/Robotech line means there are some rather distinctive visual qualities that are not shared by the character model in both robot mode and alt mode. The alt modes themselves are not even the same type of vehicle where one is a sleek jet while the other is a chunky space craft. All to say, whenever Hasbro gives us updates to the original toy they try to homage the widely different sources of the character's design, so what we get is always interesting. Now let's get to this list.
5. Transformers Generations Thrilling 30 Jetfire
I always found this toy to be rather underrated. What Hasbro gave us here is a budget Macross toy, which is pretty awesome when you think about it. Both modes look super sleek, I just LOVE the macross type mask we can put over the G1 cartoon headsculpt. It just looks incredible. Plus Hasbro took a note from the Takara United playbook and gave us some chromed weapons, and lots of them. This was the first leader class toy in the Generations line (and all CHUG lines) and this was the perfect character to bring out for such an occasion. While the previous effort in the Classics line was very nice and is also a good toy, it was lacking in size, which this one definitely makes up for. Little did we know there would be even more room to grow from here.
4. Transformers Studio Series SS35 Jetfire
As mentioned in the intro, Jetfire is covered in almost every generation of the Transformers line and that most definitely includes the films. While most characters are just reused G1 names that are ever so slightly linked to their G1 namesakes, Jetfire was one of the few movie characters which truly was a reinterpretation of the G1 character and storyline. He too had the backstory of being a dormant Decepticon turned good. So that always made him stand out a bit more. Plus that SR-71 Blackbird alt mode was amazing. The original toy while impressive in size (for the alt mode especially) was not that fun to transform. The new Studio Series fixes that problem and gives us the definitive movie Jetfire. It really impresses me how the design team found a totally new way to give us the same alt mode and robot mode, and also giving us the option to take him apart to equip the Studio Series Optimus Prime to recreate what happens in the film.
3. Transformers Cybertron Jetfire (Dreadrock)
Cybertron will always be one of the best Transformers toylines of all time. All great new designs and transformations but still invoking that G1 feel, especially the idea of the robot being made up of the alt mode parts, just reconfigured. And Jetfire, who was also present at every step of the Unicron trilogy, is one of the best toys from this line, making him a must own for anyone wanting to collect awesome Transformers figures. And that headsculpt is just so good!
2. Siege Jetfire
So yeah, we had our leader Jetfire, the biggest size class in the Generations line at the time and he looked fine on the shelf, but Hasbro was not done yet. They decided to go all out and give us a toy to scale with the other bots in the G1 cartoon. Being leader sized just didn't cut it, so we got a totally new class made just for him, the Commander class. This is the first Jetfire toy that also went all out to look as close as possible to the cartoon Skyfire model. So not only in proportions and scale but also with the alt mode which is closer to the space craft than the sleek macross jet. But, there was still something for the fans of the original toy with Hasbro giving us some armour parts that include a visor mask.
1. Transformers G1 1985 Jetfire (Skyfire)
I wanted to put Siege Jetfire at number 1, I really did, but the truth is it would not reflect what I truly feel. While it's a cool toy, I just still prefer the G1 version. I really like the craft of that toy. I think it was awesome of Hasbro to incorporate several different 80s Asian toy brands together into one new Transformers brand and this introduced kids in the west to different styles of Transforming robots. The armour components are fun, both modes are nice and sleek and he has this great weight to him. Usually a G1 toy will lose out to the updates since they are more complex, and sleeker, have no partsforming, or closer to the show model, but in this case the original toy was its own design that simply couldn't be portrayed on screen for legal reasons, and it's as complex and sleek as any update, as you can see below.
Honourable Mention: There are many good and fun Jetfire toys out there. Many do not share that name, but we all know are Jetfires and really nice ones at that. The one I wanted to most mention here was Armada Jetfire. While not as good as the toys on this list, he has a really nice design with the space shuttle and makes a great pair of pants for Armada Prime.
Transformers Armada Jetfire Gallery