Jetfire (Generations)
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Size: Leader
Difficulty of Transformation: Medium
Color Scheme: White, chrome red, moderately light red, and some black, transparent light pale blue, moderately dark blue, and silver
Rating: 7.7

    Generations' first mainline Leader-class release is a new version of G1 Jetfire, and in vehicle mode he looks quite accurate to his old G1 version, for the most part, being a white-and-red aircraft with large dual boosters on the top. The proportions of this mode are largely spot on as far as the jet mode is concerned, but there are some kibble issues. The sides of the robot legs are the biggest offenders, sticking out below where the bottom of the jet should be by a fair amount, though it admittedly doesn't stick out much further-- the big issue here is that the sides of the legs just don't blend in that well with what should be the smooth sides of the jet, and they poke out in between the two wings on each side. The robot feet on the back end are also rather obvious, as are the tops of the robot shoulders, though the latter are at least partially masked by black paint apps and detailing that make them look a bit like extra thrusters. There's also an extra fake cockpit underneath the real one, which is used for the robot chest, though this last piece of kibble at least sticks with the general silhouette of the surrounding pieces and isn't obvious, so I'm willing to let this last one go. Jetfire has the usual jet mode panel lining across his entire form-- enough to be adequate but not super-impressive, though the detailing on parts of his chrome boosters look pretty nice, with quite intricate little vents and mechanical detailing showing through very nicely on the sides. The overall white, black, and red color scheme is a fairly Autobot-standard color scheme, but it largely looks good-- as long as you keep the chrome boosters on. If you detach the chrome booster piece via the clips near the top rear of the jet, too much white shows through-- the red stripes on the cockpit and wings can only go so far in breaking up all that white, after all. There's been a lot of questioning as to the need to chrome Jetfire's jet boosters and five separate guns (all five of which can combine into one five-barreled gun in a fairly nifty manner, by the way), but I don't mind it that much-- the handles are made of regular plastic, and those are the parts that would have the chrome crack up first. So far the chrome has held together quite well, so by and large I like it, though I think not quite ALL of the boosters should have been left a solid chrome red-- perhaps a bit of white and/or silver on those pieces to break up the color a bit more? Anyways, the aforementioned five guns all have their place in this mode-- the main one, which fires a spring-loaded missile (which unfortunately is on a hair trigger) sticks out from underneath the front of the cockpit. The smallest two non-firing guns go underneath the main wings, while the larger two non-firing guns go underneath the robot legs, with little slots in them for the rear wheels to come through so they don't scrape against the ground. Jetfire has a deployable landing gear w/ working wheel underneath his cockpit, and the cockpit window can open up to reveal the rather intricate pilot-set detailing inside-- a nice extra little touch. The main two wings can also move forward and back and his chrome boosters can rotate in-place, to customize his look a little.
    Jetfire's transformation consists mostly of folding out his legs and arms, securing them in place with his chest and waist pieces, and then folding up his jet pieces a bit. The core proportions of Jetfire's robot mode are pretty solid, being quite accurate to his original design but being a bit more curvy around the arms. The detailing on parts like his chest-- where there's some painted silver mechanical detailing visible inside his fake little blue cockpit, along with a (sadly unpainted) Autobot symbol, and fake vents on his stomach- really sell the fake cockpit-chest quite well, though the real cockpit is on his back in this mode-- along, with, unfortunately, literally his entire jet mode. The back section and the cockpit fold up a bit, but still-- I understand the wings should fold out from behind his back as per his G1 design, but THIS MUCH behind his back is just too much. There really should have been some more integration between his robot and vehicle bits. Good thing his feet are nice, long, and sturdy. Jetfire's headsculpt is another part that really shines through, having a very detailed G1-accurate, calm face with lines along his silver visage to give the appearance of "flexible metal". Even better, he comes with a visor-and-antennae attachment to help him look more like his G1 toy. When not in use his visor can store on the top of his main gun, but it honestly looks pretty weird there-- I wish there was some other, more discrete place to store his helmet. The color scheme in this mode pops a bit more, with bits like the silver face, blue part of his helmet, and extra red and black paint apps on his hips, chest, wing undersides, and arms helping to break up his colors a bit more. That said, his legs could still desperately use some paint on the front to break up all that white. Jetfire's articulation in this mode is at the neck (at two points), shoulders (at three points-- though on mine one of the clips that connects the shoulders to the main body is loose, which means the arm can come undone a bit easily-- annoying), and at the elbows, hips (at three points), knees, and a bit at the ankles. Given his transformation waist articulation is out of the question, but I wish some sideways knee movement or wrist swivels were present. Otherwise, he's fairly poseable, keeping in mind the big backpack on him. Jetfire has several ports to store his various guns in this mode, including ports on the sides of his lower legs, his lower arms, on the front of the wings behind his shoulders, and of course in his fist holes.
    Generations Jetfire is an okay figure and certainly does the design justice overall, but he has quite a bit of kibble in both modes, especially his robot mode. None of it is super-floppy or annoying, but I'm used to Transformers with better alt mode intregration than this, and having even the chest in robot mode be a fake cockpit is a bit of a downer. He's also surprisingly light for a Leader-class figure, with some slightly unsightly gaps in his upper legs-- I'm not used to figures this big not being heavy-- but this is, unfortunately, the new norm as production costs get more and more expensive. He's got a ton of accessories, and the "core proportions" are still solid in both modes, so he's not a bad toy by any means-- but in every respect other than size, I feel the voyager-class Classics Jetfire does a better job of updating his design in every way.



Jetfire Bio:
Jetfire is ancient and powerful, but he would prefer to stay hidden in the background rather than on the front lines. He is a peaceful robot at heart, preferring the stately, ordered excitement of science to the frenzy of battle. But the reckless ambition of the Decepticons and the senseless violence of their war sickened him, so he left Cybertron to go into hiding. He slumbered in peace for years. Reawakened by the arrival of the war on Earth, he decided once again to enter the fight-- this time on the side of the Autobots, and this time to end it for good, whatever the cost.
Strength: 8.0
Intelligence: 8.0
Speed: 9.0
Endurance: 4.0
Rank: 5.0
Courage: 7.0
Fireblast: 9.0
Skill: 5.0

Review by Beastbot

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