Siege Jetfire

Prelude: As the first figure in the new Commander Class (not to be confused with the Commander class we had in Dark of the Moon and TF Prime) Jetfire is certainly a big bot and one with a very confusing history when it comes to his name and looks. The figure here is clearly Skyfire from the original G1 cartoon, not Jetfire from the G1 toy line, but they are the same dude... kinda. Let me just name drop Macross, Robotech, Harmony Gold, lawsuits, and all that other stuff, then move on. We’re looking at Siege Jetfire here today, really Skyfire. Let’s go.

Robot Mode: The new Commander class is bigger than the Leader class (even before it shrunk and basically became Voyager class with extra parts), so Jetfire is a pretty big dude. He’s roughly twice as tall as a current Voyager class figure and meant to somewhat replicate the scale we saw Skyfire at during his initial cartoon appearance, where he towered over everybody. Scale being a fickle thing in Transformers, make up your own mind whether he really fits among CHUG figures or is more at home among Masterpieces. Bottom line, he’s big. Really big.

Jetfire is also a very nicely articulated figure, though you don’t immediately notice it. Many of his joints are quite tight (and rather loud, too). He can swivel at the waist, something that’s not immediately apparent. He also has tilting ankles, but they are tabbed in so tight, you basically have to tear off his feet first. A very nice feature are his fists, which contain a retracting 5mm hole for his weapon, which disappears into his palm when he opens his fist. Very nicely done. Seeing that he was a Decepticon for all of five minutes, you can also flip the faction symbol on his chest.

In terms of weapons Jetfire comes with the big double-barreled rifle that he also carried in the cartoon, which can also be split into two single-barreled rifles. Additionally you can unfold the red handholds from his hip (actually for use in the jet mode, see below) and imagine them as hip guns. Naturally that’s not all, as Hasbro wasn’t about to completely abandon the look of the G1 Jetfire toy in favor of cartoon accuracy. Jetfire comes with a score of extra parts to achieve the Armored Valkyrie look familiar to G1 and Robotech fans. This includes a chest plate, six additional weapons, and a helmet that’s stored inside the chest plate.

The fully armored super robot does bear a certain resemblance to the original fully armored G1 Jetfire. He’s missing the head antenna and the additional armor on the legs, but overall the look is pretty cool. Personally I prefer the unarmored look, but that’s subjective. Jetfire also comes with six different blast effects, so you can add muzzle flames to quite a few of his weapons at the same time (or use them to show where Jetfire is being hit by others).

So overall, a nice robot mode for Hasbro’s first Commander Class figure. No complaints I can think of.

Alternate Mode: Whereas the original G1 Jetfire transformed into fighter jet bearing some resemblance to the F-14A Tomcat (aka the jet from Top Gun), Siege Jetfire becomes the big Science Fiction style space jet we saw Skyfire transform into. The space jet is big and sturdy, no complaints. Don’t look too closely at the undercarriage, as you can clearly see the robot arms there (plus a few hollow places), but overall I very much like the look of this jet. It even has a retracting landing gear, something that has somewhat fallen out of style with current day Jet Transformers, it seems. The underside also features four 5mm handholds, where just about any Transformers figure can grab hold and then hang underneath the flying jet. Very nicely done.

The jet has two separate cockpits where you can seat Titan Masters (or similar-sized figures). The single-seat cockpit up front is easily apparent, you just need to remove the big grey block inside it. The second cockpit I only noticed after being told about it by Flo aka Lunatic Prime (thanks for that). The big red module on top of the jet actually has two seats for Titan Masters behind the blue window and you can access them by lifting up the red part behind it (see the picture to the left). So all in all, Jetfire can seat three Titan Masters. Not bad.

All of Jetfire’s extra parts can be combined into a big weapons module, which can then be mounted on top of Jetfire’s jet mode. The blast effects can be used for the weapons here, too, of course, or you can combine them into two huge exhaust flames and affix them to Jetfire’s thrusters. I’m really loving those blast effects and I hope we’ll see more of them in the Earthrise line, too.

So bottom line for the jet mode: also nicely done. A very good representation of the jet from the cartoon (except for the underside).

Remarks: Skyfire really didn’t have it easy in the original G1 cartoon. He was buried in the ice for millions of years, betrayed by his best friend Starscream, buried in the ice again, unearthed only when the Autobots needed a taxi, shot, and used as a taxi again. No wonder he utterly disappeared at some point in season 2, I believe he was fully fed up with his lot in life and simply struck out on his own somewhere. Who could blame him, considering how he’s been treated?

As for the Siege toy, it’s a decent showing for the new size class and Jetfire is a good toy. That said, I can’t really bring myself to give him an A-rating. It’s no big thing, just a couple of smaller stuff. The general hollow feel of the figure, the open underside in jet mode, the very loud and tight ratchet joints, just a bunch of little nitpicks. So bottom line: a good toy and definitely worth getting, with just some very minor reservations.

Rating: B+

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