Jetfire (Movie)
| The name or term "Jetfire" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jetfire (disambiguation). |
- Jetfire is a Decepticon and Autobot from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.
In his day, Jetfire was a living legend both in the air and on the battlefield. Sadly, his day has long since passed. His body went south years back. His bunny is dead on the wheel. He's got rust in places he didn't even know he had. Basically, Jetfire's old! An ancient Decepticon Seeker, Jetfire was around long before the war broke out, and unlike many, came to see his "comrades" for what they were. This caused him to defect to the Autobots, something virtually unheard of. He's a fine asset, powerful and possessing the ability to teleport across great distances. This is slightly offset by the fact he's so old, his processor gave up the ghost millennia ago. These days he has a hard enough time remembering his name. It makes him a bit crotchety and also leaves him with the nagging feeling he's forgotten something important.
Fiction
IDW Transformers movie comics
In the distant past, the All Spark Cube created a race of powerful, trans-dimensional beings as the first inhabitants of Cybertron. The Cube gave these beings mighty powers, as well as terraforming their world, but it was not limitless, and gradually became depleted. The first beings learned that the All Spark's power could be replenished by harvesting the energy of stars, but they were unable to locate new stars to suit their purposes, despite their amazing ability to travel between dimensions. Once again, the Cube came to the rescue, creating a race of workers who had the ability to change their shape.
Jetfire was among the very first of these new beings, a "Seeker" with the ability to travel across the vastness of space in search of new suns. Once located, he would lead others and his masters back to it so a harvester could be constructed to drain the energy of these stars, thus replenishing the All Spark. Defiance #4 It is assumed that at some point during the civil war on Cybertron, he sided with Megatron, the new protege of Jetfire's only surviving ancient master, The Fallen.
Revenge of the Fallen film
- Voice actor: Mark Ryan (English), Hisao Egawa (Japanese), Engelbert von Nordhausen (German)
Jetfire was one of the Seekers dispatched by The Fallen to locate the Matrix of Leadership after the Dynasty of Primes hid it on Earth. However, Jetfire and the other Seekers were unable to locate the Tomb that the Primes had forged. The only clue they could find was a riddle: "When dawn alights the Dagger's tip, Three Kings will show the way". Eventually, the Fallen abandoned the Seekers and they were forced to go into stasis lock out of a lack of energon.
For many years, a dormant Jetfire had hidden in his alternate mode at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, until Seymour Simmons, Sam Witwicky, Mikaela Banes, Leo Spitz and Wheelie broke in with a small fragment of the All Spark. The surge of energy awoke him, and the cantankerous old robot wandered outside, pausing only to bang his head on the door. Confused and disoriented, Jetfire wandered about, going on that he had a mission but could not remember what it was. Only the efforts of the humans and an ex-Decepticon brought his senses back. Jetfire inquired on the state of the civil war, and revealed that he had defected to the Autobots (it's an intensely personal decision). This led the smaller Wheelie to defect to a human female he dubbed "Warrior Goddess". After turning back to the conversation, an annoyed Jetfire shouted that he had a lot of issues regarding his mother, and that his father was the first wheel, who did not transform but performed his functions with honor and dignity. At which point a parachute stored in him suddenly popped open, bringing him down. Sam then tried to explain what was going on.
When Sam was finished carving Cybertronian symbols on the ground, he mentioned Megatron and The Fallen. Jetfire said that The Fallen had assigned him his mission, but then left him to rust. The symbols were a part of his mission, and he teleported the entire group (including Bumblebee, the twins, and Wheelie) to Egypt. Jetfire then told them the story of the Dynasty of Primes and The Fallen, Cybertron's first contact with Earth, the solar harvester which could destroy a Sun and convert it to energon, and the Matrix of Leadership needed to activate it, hidden on Earth. He revealed that only a Prime could kill The Fallen, but he believed that none were left. Sam told him of Optimus Prime; this caught the ancient Seeker's interest, and he was distraught to hear of Prime's death. Sam then wondered if the Matrix could restore Optimus to life. Jetfire said it was not its intended use, but that the power within was unlike any known. Sadly, this was all Jetfire could do for the group, and he urged them to hurry off and find the Tomb of the Primes.
During the final battle around the Great Pyramid of Giza (which contained the Solar Harvester), Jetfire arrived and attempted to "stick" the landing, which didn't go quite as he planned. He immediately decided to "show how they brought the pain in my day", slicing Mixmaster in half, and crushing his upper torso. He was critically wounded by a surprise attack from Scorponok and although he managed to kill the Decepticon, the injury was fatal. Fortunately, Jetfire was treated to one last wonder, as Sam Witwicky used the Matrix to resurrect Optimus, and Jetfire could hardly believe that he was seeing a living Prime. Unfortunately, The Fallen teleported in and attacked, stealing the Matrix and placing it in the harvester. As he lay dying, Jetfire, who felt that during his entire life he'd never done a thing worth doing, offered his part to the resurrected Optimus Prime, saying that they would give him "a power like you've never known". Telling Optimus to fulfill his destiny, Jetfire ripped out his spark core and died.
Jetfire's sacrifice was not in vain: within moments of his death, Ratchet instructed Jolt to begin a full transplant of the afterburners and weapons systems onto Optimus. Now equipped with Jetfire's powerful weapons and engines, Optimus broke through a blockade of debris The Fallen had telekinetically erected around the Pyramid and destroyed the Solar Harvester before it could be used against the Earth's Sun. Prime then faced the Fallen and Megatron, using his afterburners to send Megatron flying through some ruins. During the battle, The Fallen pulled off the left wing and afterburner, using them to strike Prime in the face, but Optimus ultimately triumphed and ripped out the Fallen's spark core, killing the treacherous Prime. After the battle, Optimus quickly detached Jetfire's parts. Revenge of the Fallen
Revenge of the Fallen novel adaptation
Immediately after arriving in Egypt, Jetfire was attacked by Ransack. Calling Jetfire a traitor, the smaller Seeker fired a few shots, but they were ineffective, and Jetfire promptly stomped him to death, muttering how he'd never liked that guy. Revenge of the Fallen (novel)
Games
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Game
Xbox 360/PS3/PC
- Voice actor: Clive Revill
Autobot campaign
Jetfire appeared for the first time at Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and took Sam through a space bridge to Egypt. He was killed by Megatron at the end of a boss battle, but his parts were use to give Optimus Prime a makeshift super mode.
Decepticon campaign
Jetfire is only featured in the level "Desert Massacure" as one of the two bosses.
Toys
Revenge of the Fallen
Legends Class toys
- Jetfire (Legends, 2009)
- Japanese ID number: EZ-05
- Legends class Revenge of the Fallen Jetfire transforms from a tiny SR-71 Blackbird spy plane to a sort of hunchback robot. In a bit of character design accuracy, his left arm has a cane.
- The upper fuselage of the plane mode has a thin rectangular peg to slot into the back of Legends class Optimus Prime to recreate the powered up mode at the end of the movie. There are no instructions on the packaging making mention of this, but they're hardly needed, as it's as simple as plugging him on and folding his wings backwards.
Leader Class toys
- Jetfire (Leader, 2009)
- Japanese ID number: RA-13
- Accessories: Front landing gear/walking stick, rotary cannon missile launcher, projectile
- Jetfire converts into an SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, and this vehicle mode is perhaps the largest yet for the Leader class price point.
- Jetfire features electronic lights and sounds. And by sounds, we mean he talks like a Yorkshireman. Seriously.
- As seen in the movie, he can combine with Leader Class Optimus Prime to form Prime's powered-up mode, albeit at the cost of Optimus Prime's leg articulation. An alternate foot/leg configuration can be used which not only looks more accurate, but allows decent leg articulation.
- Despite the back of the package showing two lights within Jetfire's torso, he only has one light, on his left side, while the other slot that would normally house the light is replaced with a button that emits Jetfire's transformation noise. Speaking of sounds, the instructions also forget to mention that there are two other buttons on Jetfire's umm ...rear... one which activates his alt-mode's flight sound and the other (accessible only in robot-mode) creating mechanical stomping sounds.
Fast Action Battlers
- Photon Missile Jetfire (Fast Action Battler, 2009)
- Accessories: "Photon Missile" projectile
- Fast Action Battler Jetfire is a simplified, roughly Deluxe-sized toy of Jetfire. In vehicle mode, he transforms into a sort of cute, super-deformed SR-71 Blackbird jet. As with most Transformers toy jets, he has a fair bit of undercarriage junk from his robot mode, though not to the extent of the Leader class toy. In robot mode he has a reasonably accurate depiction of Jetfire's design, though his right arm ends in a spring-loaded projectile launcher shaped like a rotary cannon.
Robot Replicas
- Jetfire (Robot Replica, 2009)
- Accessories: Cane
- Robot Replicas Jetfire is a non-transformable, accurate representation of his CGI model from the film. He is highly posable, and not much else.
Merchandise
Robot Heroes
- Battle for the Fallen (box set, 2009)
- This Robot Heroes box set of figures comes with The Fallen, Megatron (tank mode), Optimus Prime and Jetfire combined, and Ironhide (truck mode).
Notes
- Jetfire's head was redesigned so Industrial Light & Magic could animate a smirk on the character. This early, mouthless head was still used for the toy designs and promotional art though.[1]
- Jetfire's ancient Cybertronian vehicle mode as seen in IDW Publishing's Defiance #4 bears more than a passing similarity with the starship Axalon from Beast Wars.
- Jetfire is one of the few movie Transformers to mention having a family; in fact, he claims his father was the wheel.
- In the film, Jetfire seemed to say that the reason he was extremely "elderly" was that he has gone for too long without an adequate supply of energon. Well, the fact that he was one of the first Transformers ever to live probably contributes a little; but at least the low energon explains why he is 'slowly falling apart and dying' as opposed to other 'old' bots like Ironhide.
- As seen in the movie, he can access a Space Bridge to transport himself and others across vast distances in mere moments. Apparently he's not very good at it though, as he ignores the fact that his teleportation attempt resulted in injury to all involved, and simply shows relief that they ended up on the right planet. Revenge of the Fallen (film)
- While the Leader Class toy is advertised as being able to combine with Optimus Prime they do not combine in the movie itself, per se. Jetfire merely kills himself so that Optimus Prime can wear the parts of his corpse as extra armor and weaponry. That's right, he's kibble.
- The presence of other Seekers scattered across the world is confirmed by Wheelie. However, outside of Ransack's appearance in the novel adaptation and Titan comics, Jetfire is the only one to play any role. You'd think a bunch of ancient, dormant Transformers scattered across the United States would be a concern.
- Amusingly, his Leader class figure's kibble likes to fall off during transformation. It makes him a little more screen accurate, after all...
