Death's Head
02-09-11, 09:43 PM
Back in 1985, Jetfire was the largest Transformers figure then released in the UK and became something of a playground legend. The intervening years haven’t diluted the toy’s appeal and despite advances in toy engineering, he is still capable of holding his own in comparison to today’s Transformers. Looking at the sheer size and weight of the guy, his Classics re-imagining from 2006 really failed to do him justice. Jetfire was one of a number of moulds the Toy Buyers at Hasbro cribbed from a variety of different Japanese toy lines to enhance their product offering which effectively doubled the number of toys available to consumers in 1985 - a sizeable portion of which didn’t make it to these shores at the time. Eventually ending up at Bandai, the Macross mould that Jetfire was cast from originated with toy maker Takatoku, whom produced the Super Valkyrie figure of which Jetfire is a recolour. As a result of the circumstances of Jetfire’s origins, there are numerous variations of the toy, the most obvious being examples that feature a Macross logo on the wings.
Jetfire comes nicely packaged in a well presented box. His character art, like Shockwave’s, isn’t brilliant, with the figure awkwardly shuffling into view at the side. Out of the box, Jetfire is an impressive looking jet. He features a swing-wing design, and landing gear which flips out of the nosecone and underside with the flick of a few switches. Only the jarringly visible robot head spoils things somewhat, although it just about passes muster as a weapons array. Whilst in jet mode, Jetfire can be augmented with his booster armour (as illustrated), which looks pretty awesome. Midway between Robot and Jetmode, Jetfire has what is listed as a ‘Valkyrie’ mode, which is essentially a daft looking walking jet. It probably makes more sense in the Macross/ Robotech Universes than it does it here, and even then, what exactly is the need for this mode? It’s a funny bit of nonsense which is an interesting, if unnecessary, distraction.
Getting the figure to robot mode is simple enough, but needs to be done with care – particularly around the shoulder assembly which always makes me wince shifting it into place. This area is perhaps the most fiddly part of the toy, as the legs just swing down in front of the nose cone. With the arms/ shoulders/ head, you have to concurrently shift the head through the gap created by pushing the arms out to the side to allow the back to flip down in position before clipping the arms into place. Watching me transform Jetfire is one of the most painful things you’ll ever see, as I do it very slowly and carefully, as I’m petrified of breaking the thing. He does feel robust, but there are quite a few stress points on him where I think too much force in the wrong direction will shatter him.
The resultant robot is a nicely articulated affair. He has double joints on his legs, so can do some walking poses, and there’s an exceptional amount of movement (for the era) in the arms, which can rotate at the shoulder and elbow. He can also move his head about, and those antennae can be swung down to give him some extra firepower. As good as these features are, Jetfire does look a little skinny and slightly naked and really does look best with his armour clipped on to fill him out. Again, this has to be done with great care, as the clips used for the arm pieces and back pack are incredibly fragile and easy to break. Once together, and armed with that massive rifle, Jetfire belies his scientific nature by looking more at home on the battlefield than the science lab. The nice balance of white, red and black really mesh together well and make Jetfire an instantly commanding presence in your Autobot army.
571572573574575
Jetfire comes nicely packaged in a well presented box. His character art, like Shockwave’s, isn’t brilliant, with the figure awkwardly shuffling into view at the side. Out of the box, Jetfire is an impressive looking jet. He features a swing-wing design, and landing gear which flips out of the nosecone and underside with the flick of a few switches. Only the jarringly visible robot head spoils things somewhat, although it just about passes muster as a weapons array. Whilst in jet mode, Jetfire can be augmented with his booster armour (as illustrated), which looks pretty awesome. Midway between Robot and Jetmode, Jetfire has what is listed as a ‘Valkyrie’ mode, which is essentially a daft looking walking jet. It probably makes more sense in the Macross/ Robotech Universes than it does it here, and even then, what exactly is the need for this mode? It’s a funny bit of nonsense which is an interesting, if unnecessary, distraction.
Getting the figure to robot mode is simple enough, but needs to be done with care – particularly around the shoulder assembly which always makes me wince shifting it into place. This area is perhaps the most fiddly part of the toy, as the legs just swing down in front of the nose cone. With the arms/ shoulders/ head, you have to concurrently shift the head through the gap created by pushing the arms out to the side to allow the back to flip down in position before clipping the arms into place. Watching me transform Jetfire is one of the most painful things you’ll ever see, as I do it very slowly and carefully, as I’m petrified of breaking the thing. He does feel robust, but there are quite a few stress points on him where I think too much force in the wrong direction will shatter him.
The resultant robot is a nicely articulated affair. He has double joints on his legs, so can do some walking poses, and there’s an exceptional amount of movement (for the era) in the arms, which can rotate at the shoulder and elbow. He can also move his head about, and those antennae can be swung down to give him some extra firepower. As good as these features are, Jetfire does look a little skinny and slightly naked and really does look best with his armour clipped on to fill him out. Again, this has to be done with great care, as the clips used for the arm pieces and back pack are incredibly fragile and easy to break. Once together, and armed with that massive rifle, Jetfire belies his scientific nature by looking more at home on the battlefield than the science lab. The nice balance of white, red and black really mesh together well and make Jetfire an instantly commanding presence in your Autobot army.
571572573574575