Jetfire (Armada)
| The name or term "Jetfire" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jetfire (disambiguation). |
| The name or term "Sky Shadow" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sky Shadow (disambiguation). |
- Jetfire is an Autobot from the Unicron Trilogy continuity family. He sometimes masquerades as a Decepticon using the name Sky Shadow.
Jetfire is probably the best second-in-command Optimus Prime could conceivably have. Jetfire is more than a yes-man; he's the crucial link between Prime's role-necessitated distance and his troops. Though professional and businesslike, Jetfire infuses his interactions with a down-to-earth friendliness. And where Optimus Prime is cautious, Jetfire is more prone to tempered bursts of gusto and bravado. While Optimus Prime is your leader who's your leader, Jetfire is your leader who's your friend. Because of this, Jetfire is very popular among the Autobots.
Most importantly, Jetfire is one of the only Autobots who will tell Optimus Prime to his face when he thinks he's wrong. It is this trait that makes Jetfire indispensable.
Jetfire has a long-lost brother Overcast, and while the two are quite similar in many ways, Jetfire is far more willing and eager to jump into battle than Overcast.
He has a Decepticon alter-ego, Sky Shadow, which he affects when doing undercover missions. He found the name in history archives which referred to a Sky Shadow from the legendary Beast Wars. Nobody's really sure how that works. Maybe it's that bloody Unicron Singularity's doing.
- Japanese Super Link name: Skyfire
- Japanese Galaxy Force name: Dreadlock
- Hungarian Energon name: Lángcsóva (meaning "Flame-burst" or summin' to that effect) -- this translation is also used in the Ultimate Battle DVD episode.
- Hungarian Cybertron name: Röptűz (his original, G1 name, meaning "Flyfire"); although he's called Lángcsóva at least at one occasion in the series.
- Polish Armada name: Myśliwiec
Fiction
Cartoon continuity
Armada
- Voice actor: Scott McNeil (English), Susumu Chiba (Japanese)
Before Optimus Prime and his squad left for Earth in response to the Mini-Con signal, he left Jetfire in command of the remaining Autobot forces on Cybertron.
Much later, Optimus Prime requested Jetfire's assistance as the battle for the Mini-Cons reached a dangerous point with the discovery of the Star Saber sword and the Skyboom Shield. As Jetfire made his way to Earth, he was followed by the Megatron loyalist Tidal Wave, who had similarly been requested by the Decepticon strategist Thrust. Chase
Thrust's arrival quickly improved Decepticon battle strategy, sending the Autobot forces on Earth into disarray. Optimus Prime himself would have been defeated if not for the timely arrival of Jetfire, who quickly defeated the surprised Decepticon air power and forced the rest into retreat. Tactician
Jetfire was quickly installed as second in command, but as everybody who had never served with him discovered, he was a very different kind of 'bot compared to the reserved Optimus Prime. Where Optimus was cautious and analytical, Jetfire was brash and headstrong to the point of recklessness, jumping into the unknown without considering the consequences. As a result, in his first major battle with the Decepticons, Jetfire decided to take all of their air forces on by himself, getting himself into serious trouble. Fortunately, Optimus Prime had recovered enough from his injuries to launch a counter-attack on the Decepticons and unleash his secret weapon - the ability to Powerlink with Jetfire, resulting in the powerful Jet Optimus. Linkup
During a battle on a distant beach over a new mysterious Mini-Con storage panel, Optimus Prime and Jetfire once again combined into Jet Optimus to take the fight to the Decepticons. However, even Jet Optimus' power was tested by the arrival of Tidal Wave. The giant Decepticon's sheer strength and firepower forced Jet Optimus on the backfoot, and in their shared gestalt mind, both Optimus and Jetfire were at a loss as what to do. Awakening
Energon
- Voice actor: Scott McNeil (English), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese), Johan Hedenberg (Swedish)
During the ten years since the defeat of Unicron, Jetfire was upgraded into a new, more advanced body uploaded with the Spark of Combination, which granted him the ability to powerlink with other compatible robots. Jetfire was selected by Optimus Prime to accompany him and Inferno to Mars to investigate a mysterious attack on the energon mining colony there by a group of mysterious bestial transformers. Jetfire was less than pleased when the inexperienced and immature Ironhide wanted to tag along merely to satisfy his hero worship of Hot Shot, but decided to let the youngster come along after Optimus Prime left the decision to Jetfire. After surveying the damage on Mars, Jetfire quickly destroyed a large number of avian drones attacking Ocean City on Earth. Cybertron City
Soon afterward, the mining colony on Earth's Moon was attacked by the same mysterious energon-eating creatures. Tasked with conducting reconnaissance, Jetfire and Kicker fought their way through dozens of the bird drones, with the gifted human playing a crucial role in their successful mission. Energon Stars
After Ironhide acquitted himself with distinction during the mission on the Moon, Jetfire practiced powerlinking with the younger Autobot, who, unfortunately, could not time the sequence properly. The reason behind the attacks was (partially) revealed when the powerful Scorponok, commander of the beast transformers known as the Terrorcons, attacked Plains City. Jetfire arrived with the Autobot reinforcements and finally successfully powerlinked with Ironhide, allowing the young Autobot the honor of being the controlling component of their combined form. Scorpinok
Cybertron
- Voice actor: Brian Drummond (English), Hideo Ishikawa (Japanese)
After the second defeat of Unicron, Jetfire resettled on Nebulon for an indeterminate period of time. Over time, he adopted a local accent, one that sounded very vaguely like Earth-Australian to certain humans. Jetfire appeared to have mellowed in the past 20 years. He was considerably more cautious compared to his reckless youth, and adhered much more closely to orders and protocol. Perhaps all those brushes with death have finally knocked some sense into his head, or his head was replaced while on Nebulon. He returned to Cybertron, his homeworld once again facing a monumental crisis, perhaps the worst in its history.
As a backup plan, Optimus Prime ordered Jetfire to visit Earth and provide them with scans of Earthen vehicle modes for the population of Cybertron to adopt. This was done so that should their primary plan of destroying the Unicron Singularity fail, the population of Cybertron could assume disguises and relocate to the human homeworld, whose inhabitants were still largely unaware of the existence of real Transformers. Fallen
After the final battle with Galvatron, peace spread across the galaxy. As part of a new initiative, Optimus Prime left aboard the starship Atlantis to chart new territory, leaving Jetfire in charge of planet Cybertron. End
Free boonie hats for all!
Dreamwave comics continuity
Armada
Jetfire was left in command of the Autobot troops on Cybertron after Optimus Prime left to protect the Mini-Cons Earth. He was unhappy with Prime for this, feeling that he had abandoned the Autobots on Cybertron for his affairs on Earth. When Prime returned to Cybertron to request reinforcements and supplies, Jetfire denied him the former, as he was losing the war and needed every man he could get. Dreamwave Armada issue 10
Some time later, Hot Shot contacted Jetfire and informed him that Optimus Prime had mysteriously vanished. While Jetfire had no clue as to what was going on either, he agreed to do like the Space Mini-Con Team keep an eye out for suspicious space bridge activity. Worlds Collide, Part 1 of 4 Soon enough, Blurr reported that multiple space bridges were repeatedly opening and closing at the Decepticon headquarters. Jetfire decided to investigate, and took a team of Autobots with him to infiltrate the enemy base. Worlds Collide, Part 2 of 4 Upon arrival, they found that all the Decepticons in the base had been murdered, and that the space bridge nexus was automatically opening and closing space bridges in an apparent attempt to damage the dimensional wall. Suitably creeper out, Jetfire ordered his troops to take control of the nexus, but was suddenly ambushed by a skeletal samurai. After getting his team to blind the enemy, Jetfire blasted it with all the firepower at his disposal, but only managed to damage its outer shell. Worlds Collide, Part 3 of 4
The team eventually made their way to the space bridge nexus, and tried to shut it down. Jetfire thought he caught a glimpse of the lost Optimus Prime in one of the space bridges, but shrugged it off. When all attempts to disable the nexus failed, Jetfire ordered his troops to evacuate while he stayed behind to manually blow up the entire building. Three more powerful enemies arrived through a space bridge, but at the last second, Jetfire caught another glimpse of Optimus Prime in a portal, and dove through it right after activating the explosives. While he successfully reached his lost commander, the two were now stuck on an alternate-reality Cybertron in the process of being devoured by Unicron. Thankfully, Sparkplug, Over-Run and Comettor reached this reality as well, and used the power of Powerlinxing and the Mini-Con Matrix to boost the strength of both Jetfire and Prime. The two Autobots combined and damaged Unicron with a powerful energy blast, then returned to their home universe to prepare for the planet eater's arrival. Worlds Collide, Part 4 of 4
Jetfire organized Cybertron's planetary defenses, and when Unicron arrived, he combined with Optimus Prime to attack him head-on. Thanks to the efforts of Over-Run and the Mini-Con population, Unicron was eventually vanquished and peace was brought back to Cybertron. The End
Energon
Ten years after the defeat of Unicron, Jetfire was seen flying around in the reconstructed Cyber City. This Evil Reborn He and several other Autobots tried to listen in on one of Optimus Prime's discussions with the Autobot High Council, but were interrupted when Unicron's Four Horsemen attacked the city. What Lies Beneath Jetfire and the others tried to fight back, but were easily taken out by their powerful opponents. However, Optimus Prime managed to link up to Cybertron itself and activate a system-wide upgrade, granting Jetfire a brand new body capable of combining with anyone. He then combined with Energon and used his new strength to help drive the Four Horsemen away. What Lies Beneath, Part Two Jetfire and his fellow upgraded Autobots later traveled to Earth to deal with several Terrorcons wreaking havoc in Australia. However, despite their new bodies, they soon found themselves outmatched by the Terrorcons' use of pure Energon. What Lies Beneath, Part Three Combined with Ironhide, Jetfire participated in a plan to trick the Terrorcons into shooting eachother, but the enemies still weren't driven off until the Omnicons arrived as reinforcements. What Lies Beneath, Part Four
After returning to Cybertron, Jetfire spent a whole lot of time sweet-talking various governors into granting him the resources and funding needed to construct a base on Earth. As such, he was fairly irritated when it seemed Ironhide wasn't finishing the base components on schedule, and told the engineer that he better not let them down. It didn't help that Ironhide suddenly disappeared while out on an errand, so Jetfire went out to search for him, grumbling about new recruits who were always looking for adventure. After stumbling upon a damaged Cliffjumper, he eventually Ironhide next to an armed seismic-shock warhead. After the warhead had calmed down, Ironhide explained that he had built it long ago but made sure it wouldn't go off, and that a a Decepticon had just forced him to reactivate it. Jetfire was proud that Ironhide was able to confront his past mistakes, and told him he finally sounded like a true Autobot. Aftershock
Some time later, Optimus Prime vanished again, having stepped into a space bridge on Earth but never arribed on Cybertron. This gave Jetfire a headache; partially because they needed him to deal with unrest among the human population, but mostly because it meant he had to shoulder Prime's responsibilities of asking the ever-unhelpful High Council for reinforcements for Earth. While the council was hesitant about his request at first, councillor Avalon convinced the other members to grant Jetfire's request. Multiplicity Jetfire was thankful to Avalon, who explained that the other councillors were just unwilling to accept that they were at war again, and complimented Jetfire on how he had handled things. As Jetfire lamented the loss of Optimus Prime and Avalon comforted him, Prowl burst into the chamber and reported that Terrorcons were assaulting four major Earth cities. Jetfire ordered for the reinforcements to be prepared at once, then took a bunch of Autobots through a space bridge to Los Angeles. Multiplicity, Pt. 2 They defended the city from a thousands of Insecticons, but quickly started to get worn down by the sheer number of them. Multiplicity, Pt. 3
When Hot Shot reported that Megatron had come back from the dead and was wiping out Terrorcons in Toronto, Jetfire didn't believe it at first. Even when he accepted the fact that Megatron was back, he ignored the hows and whys as he had to focus on conserving energy for the battle with the Insecticons. Thankfully, Rad White showed up to power the Autobots up with Energon is gaseous form, allowing them to recover and drive the Insecticons away (with some help from a newly arrived Megatron). Jetfire approached the revived Decepticon leader, who told him that he wasn't done killing Terrorcons just yet, and left him with a message: "Optimus Prime sends his regards... from the belly of the beast!" Multiplicity, Pt. 4 Jetfire later reported Megatron's return and his message to the High Council. No Exit
Panini Armada comics
When Optimus Prime left for Earth, Jetfire was apparently left behind to look after things on Cybertron. Prime contacted him for help when the Decepticons were looking for Mini-Cons on the moon, as the space bridge on Earth was damaged and unable to send any of Prime's Autobots there. Jetfire agreed to use a space bridge on Cybertron to send Scavenger and Smokescreen to fight the Decepticons on the moon. Between Two Worlds!
Toys
Armada
- Jetfire with Comettor (Giga-Con, 2003)
- Japanese ID number: MC-09
- Accessories: Comettor Mini-Con, electronic shuttle engine/gun, 2 missiles and a shield
- Jetfire is a futuristic space shuttle molded primarily in white and gray with red paint stripes resembling the stripes seen on the original G1 Jetfire. His Mini-Con Comettor serves as his front landing gear and forward gun in vehicle mode. When Comettor (or any other Mini-Con) is connected to the Powerlinx ports on his wings, a large red missile/bomb is dropped. When connected to Jetfire's main engine, two small wings are deployed for atmospheric flight. In robot mode Jetfire's rear landing gear becomes a shield, and his main engine forms his rifle.
- When the tail fin of Armada Jetfire's engine/weapon is pressed downward, it activates the original Generation 1 Autobot "laser" sound effect. Pressing the tail fin upwards (perhaps by placing the shuttle upright as if in launching mode) activates a rather garbled blast-off countdown sequence. Both sounds are also incredibly easy to trigger. When a Mini-Con is powerlinxed to the gun/engine, a different laser gun sound is heard. Prior to the release of Powerlinx Jetfire, a running change erm, changed the sound effects.
- Jetfire can combine with the Super Base class Optimus Prime to form Jet Optimus, by replacing the regular Super mode trailer legs and attaching Jetfire's shield onto Prime's chest. Additionally, the shield design resembles the chest armour of Generation 1 Powermaster Optimus Prime Apex Armour/God Ginrai.
- The Japanese release includes a much brighter white plastic, a lack of battle wear and heat re-entry burn decos, more detailed paint operations throughout his body and accessories as well as different plastic colors.
- This mold was also used to make the Transformers Collectors Club exclusive Astrotrain.
- Powerlinx Jetfire with Comettor (Giga-Con, 2003)
- Accessories: Comettor Mini-Con, electronic shuttle engine/gun, 2 missiles and a shield
- The Powerlinx redeco of Jetfire replaces much of the gray and red with blue, in a color scheme very similar to the Macross/Robotech Valkyrie fighter jet flown by Maximillian Jenius/Sterling.
- Jetfire w/ Comettor (Built to Rule, 2003)
- Accessories: Comettor Mini-Con, missile launcher, 2 missiles
- Built to Rule Jetfire is a building-brick set that can be assembled into a space shuttle or a robot or whatever else you feel like. He came with a building-brick version of Comettor and a firing missile launcher.
- Golden Jetfire (Giga-Con, 2003)
- Accessories: Comettor Mini-Con, electronic shuttle engine/gun, 2 missiles and a shield
- A redeco of Jetfire with golden vacuum metallizing. It was a first prize of the sortition and only exclusive in certain stores and department stores. There is a golden vacuum metalizing Armada Prime as another first prize. They can combine into Golden Jet Prime, of course.
Energon
- Jetfire (Mega, 2004)
- Japanese ID number: SC-05
- Accessories: Spring-loaded missile launcher and 1 missile
- Energon Jetfire transforms again into a white and red futuristic space shuttle, this time in the smaller Mega size class and with the ability to combine with most other Autobot Deluxe and Mega Energon toys. He features an electronic transforming sound effect that activates when another Autobot combines with him.
- The Japanese version of this toy does not feature any of the electronics, uses red translucent plastic in place of orange, and has a sticker covering the now-absent battery compartment.
- Skyfire and Roadbuster
- Japanese ID number: SS-02
- Accessories: Spring-loaded missile launcher and 2 missiles
- This was a Japan-only two-pack of both Jetfire and Ironhide. There are no differences between the toys in this pack and the individually packed Japanese versions.
- Skyfire Sonic (Mega, 2004)
- Japanese ID number: SC-25
- Accessories: Spring-loaded missile launcher, 1 missile, Energon Spear weapon
- This was the Japanese release of Energon Overcast, though still portrayed as the same character of Skyfire. There are some differences in paint application, but the major difference is the inclusion of an orange Energon Spear, originally belonging to Skyblast.
Cybertron
- Jetfire (Ultra class, 2005)
- Japanese ID number: GC-04
- Accessories: Left & right spring-loaded missile launchers, 2 missiles, Earth-planet Cyber Key or Autobot Cybertron-planet Cyber Key (see below)
- Jetfire was once again Ultra-sized, but this time transformed into a green cargo plane resembling a modified Antonov An-225. The design of the vehicle mode features a small homage to Jetfire's previous shuttle forms via a (non-opening) hatch featuring 'teeth' on the dorsal section. Jetfire features sound effects by pressing the port side aft engine nacelle. Inserting his Cyber Planet Key into his tail assembly in either vehicle or robot mode causes a pair of translucent red cannons to extend, and the compartment they are mounted on to raise. Pressing the port side aft engine now features a different sound effect. The tail section can be swiveled up to form an attack mode somewhat resembling the "gerwalk" form of a Macross Valkyrie (appropriately).
- In robot mode Jetfire has a tendency to topple back due to the heavy battery operated gimmicks of the tail section, though he is more stable if one puts him in an action-oriented pose. In this mode he features two pop-out (non-firing) missile pods in his waist and wields his two wing-mounted (spring-loaded) missile launchers.
- The US version of this toy has a bar between the barrels of the translucent red tail cannons to provide structural integrity at the cost of aesthetics. The other cosmetic difference between the US and Japanese versions is that the Galaxy Force release has more paint applications. Finally, the Cybertron release comes with a silver-bordered Earth planet Cyber Key with key code uk97 printed on the back, while the Galaxy Force version comes with a silver-bordered Cybertron planet Autobot key.
- Jetfire (Legends of Cybertron, 2005)
- Legends of Cybertron Jetfire is a much smaller version of the Ultra-sized toy, with limited articulation and detail. In the U.S. market, LOC Jetfire was primarily sold in drug stores, though he could be found in normal retailers in markets outside of the US, such as Australia.
- This mold was redecoed to make Classics Fireflight and Universe Skydive.
- Jetfire (Burger King Kids' Meal toy, 2005)
- An incredibly simplified version of Cybertron Jetfire available with Burger King kids meals. This toy is a partsformer, requiring you to remove his tail section to transform him and to replace it on his back. Oh yeah, he don't stand too good neither. Sucker.
- Sky Shadow (Ultra class, 2006)
- Accessories: Left & right spring-loaded missile launchers, 2 missiles, Earth-planet Cyber Key
- Sky Shadow is a tan/gold and black redeco of Cybertron Jetfire, depicting the character in his cover identity as a Decepticon. It uses the same tooling as Cybertron Jetfire (though the chest panel is retooled to remove the Autobot sigil), so it features the structurally stronger tail cannon. All other functions remain the same.
- Sky Shadow comes with a silver-bordered Earth planet Cyber Key with the code u06h printed on the back.
Merchandise
Trivia
- The Armada Jetfire toy's appearance and transformation sequence is an homage to Generation 1 Galaxy Shuttle. This was confirmed by then-head designer Aaron Archer during his stint as 'ORSON' on the TFW2005.com boards.
- Much like the Armada Red Alert toy's 'Woo-woo-woo' sound effect, the 'Armada Jetfire toy's original countdown sound effect briefly became something of an in-joke within the Transformers fan community.
- Jetfire's Cybertron toy appears (in plane mode) on the screen of the Hasbro version of the Real Gear Robots toy Power Up VT6.
- His voice in the Super Link cartoon is incredibly shrill, shrieky and annoying.
External links
- Pages with image sizes containing extra px
- Articles in need of images
- Character stubs
- Character stubs missing fiction
- Pages with broken file links
- Character stubs missing toys
- Armada characters
- Autobots
- Autobot leaders
- Built to Rule
- Combiners
- Cybertron characters
- Dimension hoppers
- Double agents
- Energon characters
- Fast food exclusives
