Jetfire's vehicle mode is an old-style large military plane. This mode is one of the best realistic, non-Alternator alt modes I've ever seen. First, I'll get the two (verrry minor) complaints out of the way about the mode, and then it's smooth sailing from there. First, the back of Jetfire's robot head is a little visible on the topside of the vehicle mode, buit it's partially obscured by the fact that the shape (except for the white side head crests) mesh very well with its surroundings, and it's generally the same color, so it's hardly an eyesore. Also, the main wings can droop a little under all the weight they're carrying. But that's it-- otherwise, this mode is flawless. The proportions are spot-on, and there's tons of appropriate detailing where needed, from metal panel detailing to air vents. There's also ample silver and red paint detailing where needed to give the appropriate, military-esque green color scheme a bit more variety. There's large wheels on the underside of the mode to roll Jetfire along when needed, but there's zero undercarriage junk-- a rarity for a jet Transformer, which makes this mode all the more exceptional. He's also got two cool spring-loaded missile launchers under his wings, which detach in robot mode to become hand-held guns. So all in all, Jetfire has one fan-spankin-tastic vehicle mode.
    Jetfire's robot mode is where he falls short, however. Until I bought Jetfire, I thought that his chest and legs attached vertically with his back section, but this is not the case. Instead, for no apparent reason, his chest and legs attach at an odd diagonal angle to his back section. This creates a large, unsightly gap in Jetfire's main body if you look at him from any angle except head-on, and it makes his backpack junk stick out more than it should, making him very back-heavy. Even his large flat feet have trouble keeping him up straight unless you lean him forward some. In Also, the waist piece connects rather loosely to the chest piece on many people's Jetfires, though mine does not have this problem. As for his proportions, although his head and chest look nice, his legs are a bit shorter than they should be proportionally. His arms are also really chunky to the point of being almost goofy-looking, and the red engine "caps" just hang off the back of his elbows in a rather unsightly manner. His key gimmick is also the lamest of the first wave-- by sticking his key into a slot on his backpack junk, the end "tail" of the plane flips up abit and two little guns stick out a centimeter or two more. It's really lame, as it doesn't really accomplish anything and Jetfire has to lean far forward in this mode to point them at anyone. Plus, you can't store his key in the slot in vehicle mode. (He can use this gimmick in vehicle mode, but his tail has to be folded up, which looks really weird.) For some reason, the electronics in mine don't work, so I can't personally comment on Jetfire's lights and sounds, but I am told that the rear thrusters make three different noises-- one in robot mode, another in vehicle mode, and one with the key inserted. However, Jetfire does have a few positives in this mode, besides the aforementioned color scheme. For one, I like how the wings become Jetfire's shoulders-- it gives him a little bit more of a steamlined look. His head design is also very good, borrowing liberally from his Armada head design but making the head crests sweep back more. The red transparent visor also has optics that are visible under it if you look hard enough. In addition, when you connect his chest to his waist piece during transformation to this mode, little missile ports pop out of the side of his chest-- very cool. He also has good articulation-- he can move at the neck, at the shoulders (at two points), the elbows (at two points), the waist, the hips (at two points), and the knees. Because of his aforementioned back-heaviness, however, his poses are a bit more limited than they would be otherwise.
    Cybertron Jetfire has an awesome, near-flawless vehicle mode, but his robot mode is a sizable dissapointment, with proportion and stability problems. What makes it even worse is that if his chest & waist could just connect to his back piece vertically, many of these problems would have been solved. He's still by no means a bad toy, but there are definitely other large figures in Cybertron that are better.

Review by Beastbot

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