The Energon Pub

Hey guys I have a question for you.

I'm in the middle of a debate with an other member here on the topic of Jetfire and Skyfire.

Now every thing that I have ever researched over the years on Transformers states that the name Skyfire was only used in the G1 toon.

No toy varient or offical toy releaseed from Hasbro ever had the name "Skyfire" printed on it's box but the person I'm debating swears that his's did have the name Skyfire on it.

Have any of you guys ever heard of such a varient toy box for that figure?

that is correct. It was due to a Takara-Hasbro issue with the toy. The cartoon character was redubbed "Skyfire," presumably because the character no longer served to advertise the Jetfire toy.

cartoon: Skyfire
Comics: Jetfire
toy: Jetfire

shortround wrote:Nope only in the cartoon. As far as the toy goes he has always been called jetfire every since the g1 era.

Thats what I've been saying.Lets see how other members respond.And if anyone can post proof of their information please do.

Hmm, I don't know what you'd want for proof. This is pretty commonly excepted as fact. G1 Skyfire is carton only.

I'd be looking for proof of a G1 Skyfire toy. If your friend is so confident, ask him to find you a "Skyfire" on Ebay.

There was a Skyfire toy for RID though. Maybe your buddy just got em confused.

http://www.tfu.info/2001/Decepticon/Skyfire/skyfire.htm

Bonger wrote:Hmm, I don't know what you'd want for proof. This is pretty commonly excepted as fact. G1 Skyfire is carton only.

I'd be looking for proof of a G1 Skyfire toy. If your friend is so confident, ask him to find you a "Skyfire" on Ebay.

There was a Skyfire toy for RID though. Maybe your buddy just got em confused.

http://www.tfu.info/2001/Decepticon/Skyfire/skyfire.htm

Hopefully he will enter the debate him/her self.I've knowen for years that the name Skyfire was toon only.I've researched the issue back when I was a intern at Marvel comics NYC office but I could never find any deffintive reason as to why the name change was made.

Problems over the Jetfire toy began when Bandai absorbed Takatoku Toys, and Macross regained popularity, leading to Bandai's desire to reproduce the Valkyrie toy themselves. This led to problems for Takara when they imported the Transformers toyline - although Hasbro was able to market the Jetfire toy in their markets, Takara was not, nor could they promote it via the animated series, since the mold was owned by their main competitor. Although an animation model had been created for Jetfire based on the appearance of the toy (which could be seen in the original toy commercial advertising the figure), this was quickly scrapped and completely redesigned so as to no longer resemble the Valkyrie. This was the design that went on to feature in the comics and cartoons - additionally, the cartoon character was redubbed "Skyfire," presumably because the character no longer served to advertise the Jetfire toy.

Cascadia wrote:Problems over the Jetfire toy began when Bandai absorbed Takatoku Toys, and Macross regained popularity, leading to Bandai's desire to reproduce the Valkyrie toy themselves. This led to problems for Takara when they imported the Transformers toyline - although Hasbro was able to market the Jetfire toy in their markets, Takara was not, nor could they promote it via the animated series, since the mold was owned by their main competitor. Although an animation model had been created for Jetfire based on the appearance of the toy (which could be seen in the original toy commercial advertising the figure), this was quickly scrapped and completely redesigned so as to no longer resemble the Valkyrie. This was the design that went on to feature in the comics and cartoons - additionally, the cartoon character was redubbed "Skyfire," presumably because the character no longer served to advertise the Jetfire toy.

And here's that toy add
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vU3BTZClGY

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Bonger wrote:Hmm, I don't know what you'd want for proof. This is pretty commonly excepted as fact. G1 Skyfire is carton only.

I'd be looking for proof of a G1 Skyfire toy. If your friend is so confident, ask him to find you a "Skyfire" on Ebay.

There was a Skyfire toy for RID though. Maybe your buddy just got em confused.

http://www.tfu.info/2001/Decepticon/Skyfire/skyfire.htm

Hopefully he will enter the debate him/her self.I've knowen for years that the name Skyfire was toon only.I've researched the issue back when I was a intern at Marvel comics NYC office but I could never find any deffintive reason as to why the name change was made.

There is no debate. You are right and he is wrong.

Bonger wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Bonger wrote:Hmm, I don't know what you'd want for proof. This is pretty commonly excepted as fact. G1 Skyfire is carton only.

I'd be looking for proof of a G1 Skyfire toy. If your friend is so confident, ask him to find you a "Skyfire" on Ebay.

There was a Skyfire toy for RID though. Maybe your buddy just got em confused.

http://www.tfu.info/2001/Decepticon/Skyfire/skyfire.htm

Hopefully he will enter the debate him/her self.I've knowen for years that the name Skyfire was toon only.I've researched the issue back when I was a intern at Marvel comics NYC office but I could never find any deffintive reason as to why the name change was made.

There is no debate. You are right and he is wrong.

Thanks

It's been Jetfire all the while, toy-wise.

THe whole point of the cartoon creating Skyfire was so they'd have something that was sorta-kinda like Jetfire (to sell the toy to kids), but wasn't really (to avoid the aforementioned legal problems). As for proof, it's pretty much impossible to provide proof of a negative. In this instance, the burden of proof lies on the other person to prove that the Jetfire toy was ever released under the name Jetfire.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:And here's that toy add
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vU3BTZClGY

you could fly jetfire/skyfire throught that kids teeth

I'm still hopping he joins in this debate here.So he can give his input.

Well I guess he's not going to join this debate.

Stovorkor is always right, doesn't he/she know this?

But yes, I have to also agree that Skyfire was never used in G1 as a toy name--here in the US.

tigertracks 24 wrote:Stovorkor is always right, doesn't he/she know this?

But yes, I have to also agree that Skyfire was never used in G1 as a toy name--here in the US.

Alway's right?????was that sarcasem or a joke???

I think you have proven me wrong once or twice and I admited it and thanked you for the info.

Always right..........no.Right this time.....Yes.

I was just playing, but you are very knowledgeable and do have great stances that are backed up by equally well thought out and researched facts.

No I was not trying to get on you or anything. I was being serious. You know a lot, and thus, I am not sure based on what has been presented, where your friend has a leg to stand on. ALWAYS may have been a little too generous, but hey, none of us are always right, but with your past, one could look at you and say that you know what you are talking about, so your thoughts should have more merit.

Isn't that about the issue of licensing the name?

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Well I guess he's not going to join this debate.

I wonder why! Cause that poster got served!

tigertracks 24 wrote:I was just playing, but you are very knowledgeable and do have great stances that are backed up by equally well thought out and researched facts.

No I was not trying to get on you or anything. I was being serious. You know a lot, and thus, I am not sure based on what has been presented, where your friend has a leg to stand on. ALWAYS may have been a little too generous, but hey, none of us are always right, but with your past, one could look at you and say that you know what you are talking about, so your thoughts should have more merit.

Thanks for all the complements
The person in question's stance on the topic is based on a childhood memory.Thats it.

Auto Bot wrote:Isn't that about the issue of licensing the name?

Not exactly.There was a issue with licensing the toy's apperance and design but the character name was never really part of the original problem.

The best information that has been uncovered points to the name change being done because of a fear of being fined for false advertisment.

Let me explain.

The laws governing toys and cartoons before 1983 stated that no cartoon based on a toyline could depict the characters preforming act's that the toys could not do them selfs.

The same laws also stated that the toy and the cartoon character had to look reasonably the same in apperance and design.

In 1983 [or 82] the laws were changed.Transformers was one of the first cartoons based on a toyline that could feature its characters doing things that the toy could not do itself.

In Jetfires case.....they were not able to use the toys apperance on the toon, not because of any legal reason in the U.S., but because in Takara's market the apperance of Jetfire was already being used on the Macross cartoon.

Hence Hasbro made the character modifecations to fit Takara's needs.But by the time they were done...the character bore absouletely no likeness to the Jetfire toy.

This is where U.S. false advertisment laws enter in the issue.

Hasbro could not alter the Jetfire mold nor could both toy and toon character carry the same name for fear of being fined for false advertisment since there was so much of a likeness difference between the apperance of the toy and the toon character.

So the desision was made to change the name of one of them....and since Hasbro had already invested some money into the toy pachageing and the catalogs with the name Jetfire on them they chose to name the toon character Skyfire.

I'm guessing the used the "Fire" in both names to make sure that kids still got the messege that they were soupposed to be the same guy.

GetterDragun wrote:

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:Well I guess he's not going to join this debate.

I wonder why! Cause that poster got served!

Good one.

Auto Bot wrote:Isn't that about the issue of licensing the name?

Uhm.. kind off (this will helps stovokors database)

the name "Optimus Prime" was licensed on a microwave or something(exaggerated) in Europe, so MB could not release the OP toy in europe back when the line launched.
I still have the comics and advertisements (so have wikki and a lot of other sites) that display Jetfire as the leader of the Heroic Autobots.

When Hasbro took over of the production/distri in Europe the problem was (already) solved and the toys etc. gave the characters their supposed roles (and basically degraded Jetfire)


So.. there you have it kids, all kinds of trouble this crazy scientist brought.. and nobody ever mentioned Gerwalk!

neliz wrote:

Auto Bot wrote:Isn't that about the issue of licensing the name?

Uhm.. kind off (this will helps stovokors database)

the name "Optimus Prime" was licensed on a microwave or something(exaggerated) in Europe, so MB could not release the OP toy in europe back when the line launched.
I still have the comics and advertisements (so have wikki and a lot of other sites) that display Jetfire as the leader of the Heroic Autobots.

When Hasbro took over of the production/distri in Europe the problem was (already) solved and the toys etc. gave the characters their supposed roles (and basically degraded Jetfire)


So.. there you have it kids, all kinds of trouble this crazy scientist brought.. and nobody ever mentioned Gerwalk!

I thought it was ether Sweden or Swiserland [spelling?]

How come now they can use the name Jetfire? One thing I hated about all the Jetfires in AEC none of them turned into JETS

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:I thought it was ether Sweden or Swiserland [spelling?]

I'm from holland

wikia wrote:It's believed that there were some trademark issues with the name "Optimus Prime" in the Netherlands due to a manufacturer of kitchen utensils named "Optimus"[4]. Whether or not this was actually the case, Milton Bradley did not initially release Optimus Prime's toy, referred to Jetfire as the Autobot leader, and called Optimus "Jetfire" in the Dutch translation of the Marvel comic! Whatever the problem was, it was later rectified, as the Optimus Prime toy was later released and they stopped calling him "Jetfire" in the comic.

Translated:

[The Ark plowed through the atmosphere]


(We're flying towards the planet, but if we Autobots have to die, we'll take the Decepticons with us.)

(I. Jetfire. Leader of the Autobots have programmed the Ark for this crash. All Decepticons are lost Megatron.)

(Not all of them Jetfire. We Decepticons make plans as well. Soundwave. Eject!!)