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Thread: Toy review - Studio Series 35 Jetfire

  1. #1
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    19th May 2010
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    Default Toy review - Studio Series 35 Jetfire

    Series - Generations
    Sub-line - Studio Series
    Size/class - Leader
    New/remould/redeco - New
    Wave - 2
    Released here - June 2020
    Approximate Retail Price - $49 (Big W Toy Mania 2020 sale price)
    Approximate Size - 25cm
    Allegiance - Autobot
    Alt-mode - Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
    Main Features/Gimmicks - Screen accuracy, licensed vehicle mode, combines with SS32 Optimus Prime
    Main Colours - black, grey
    Main Accessories - Axe; cane; chest piece for Studio Series Optimus Prime

    Vehicle mode











    A black Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird. Jetfire is 35.5cm long, with a wingspan just under 19cm.



    Jetfire is largely unpainted black plastic, with some touches of red for the Blackbird's markings, and a white Skunk Works logo on his tail fins. The tail markings are faithful to those of the actual aircraft at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Centre in Virginia, which is a great touch. There is a random yellow dot on the left side of the forward fuselage, near the cockpit hatch, but again, this is accurate to the real plane.



    As is typical of plane Transformers, Jetfire's undercarriage is full of visible robot parts. However, this time the undercarriage is neater and more cohesive than the original.







    Studio Series Jetfire is substantially smaller in vehicle mode than the original toy from Revenge of the Fallen.

    Transformation

    Quite involved, particularly the legs, due to the way they unfold for robot mode. The entire length of the fuselage collapses down to form the torso.

    A nice touch is that the Pratt and Whitney J58 engines actually form Jetfire's thighs; on the original toy, the engines on the thighs were faux parts that were separate from the plane's engine nacelles.

    Robot mode









    Jetfire's height really depends on the degree you bend his knees and ankles; the maximum height I've been able to get him to is 25cm to the top of his head, and 28cm to the highest point on his back; however, his legs are very long and lanky in this configuration, almost giving the impression that he's standing on stilts. A more 'natural' positioning of his legs will give him a height of 21cm to the top of the head and just under 25cm at the highest point on his back. If you want to pose him believably leaning on his cane, he'll need to go lower still.



    In addition to the black plastic, there is now a lot of unpainted dark grey plastic, possibly to break up the black. In addition, Jetfire has a surprising amount of paint in this mode - the face is painted silver; his facial fins and beard have silver drybrushing; his head and neck have red markings like the ones on his vehicle mode; the shoulders and biceps have little touches of red and blue; the forearms have glossy black and silver; the hands have touches of black and dull gold; the torso has glossy black and silver; the thighs have a lot of silver; and the feet have some glossy black paint applied.

    Jetfire has fairly good articulation. The head is mounted on a ball joint, so he can tilt his head up and down and to the sides, but side to side rotation is very limited due to the design of the head and neck.

    The arms move back and forth, and can abduct outwards. The upper arm has a rotator right above the single elbow. The wrists have two joints that give extension, so Jetfire can angle his hands up, as well as a single rotator.

    The hips rotate in two axes, giving forward and backward movement as well as abduction. The knees ratchet, as does the ankle joint right below it - this second joint is the ankle in a digitgrade animal. Finally, the foot has inversion to accommodate wider stances.





    The axe and cane plug into ports on Jetfire's hands, exposing perhaps the one big weakness of this figure's robot mode: the hands were moulded open with a single hole in the palm (conveniently approximating his palm-mounted hologram projector), and a ring between his thumb and index finger, resulting in an odd look for the axe in particular. Hinged fingers would have been great, although looking at his hands, they don't seem to share a common axis for a pin.







    Compared to the original figure, Studio Series Jetfire is a lot less bulky and imposing, but he makes up for this with far superior screen-accuracy. Despite being substantially smaller in vehicle mode and having far less bulk in robot mode, Studio Series Jetfire ends up at pretty much the same height as the original figure.





    The backdrop is of the Egyptian ruins in the Sinai, where NEST and the Autobots fought off several Decepticons while trying to find Sam and his companions.



    The final piece Jetfire comes with is a small chest piece for Studio Series Optimus Prime, presumably to allow a version besides SS-32 to combine with him.

    Verdict



    The original Jetfire had to do four things at once:

    1. Be a licensed SR-71A Blackbird;
    2. Be an articulated robot that was faithful to the concept art;
    3. Combine with leader-class Optimus Prime with a minimum of detachable parts, and
    4. Have an electronics pack.

    When you take this into consideration, especially considering that the toy had to be ready in time for a later wave of Revenge of the Fallen's toy line, the original Jetfire is actually a pretty impressive achievement.

    Meanwhile, the new Jetfire only needs to do three things:

    1. Be a licensed SR-71A Blackbird;
    2. Be an articulated robot faithful to the final CGI model; and
    3. Combine with voyager-class Optimus Prime with some detachable parts.

    With access to ILM's CGI models, no need for an electronics pack, and with Jetfire now being able to partially disassemble to combine instead of staying largely intact, it's not a surprise that Studio Series Jetfire ends up superior in some respects to the original. Jetfire's lower legs, upper torso, and the front of the fuselage detach for combination, yet Jetfire doesn't give much of a sense of being compromised for this gimmick.

    Besides the open hands, the only big fault I think Jetfire has is that his head seems slightly too large for his body. It should have been a bit smaller, but it would have been nice if the rest of him was a bit bigger instead. If you can look past or ignore these issues - particularly the hands - I recommend Studio Series Jetfire.
    Last edited by Magnus; 17th June 2020 at 09:56 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
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    Default

    The size of the head was the thing I was noticing most in your photos so aim glad you pointed that out at the end. I think it’s screen accurate still though, just something you don’t notice so much with all the moving around cgi on screen. (Same as Ironhide)

    You make a compelling argument for getting this.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    20th May 2014
    Location
    Melbourne
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    45

    Default Real Issue

    Nice review! And great photos. Thanks for that.

    I think the real, glaring problem with this toy is that...IT'S NOT OUT IN STORES!
    I'm still waiting in hope, but I may need to just get it online.

  4. #4
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    29th Dec 2007
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
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    Sydney NSW
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    Default

    Got the TakaraTOMY version today. Overall thoughts:



    * A very fiddly panelformer. I know I said this about ROTF Leader Jetfire, but SS Jetfire is seriously way more panelformery than ROTF Jetfire, and I find it to be less forgiving too.

    * Visually amazing. The screen-likeness on this toy is gorgeous and puts ROTF Jetfire to shame.



    * SS Jetfire is hands down the superior action figure, but ROTF Jetfire is arguably the better toy. ROTF Jetfire is a relatively more straightforward toy to transform.



    * I'm really impressed with the way that this toy is able to fold up much of its fuselage and compacts it into the body. It's something that HasTak's gotten rather good at doing, plus it's a luxury afforded to this toy since it's unburdened with having to house an electronic sound gimmick.



    So is this toy worth buying? It depends. As a stand alone Jetfire toy, I'd say that this is the better Jetfire. As a combining component for Optimus Prime... it depends. Are you already planning on buying the SS OP that combines with this Jetfire? If so, then yes, it will be worth it for you. If not and you don't care about having this as a stand alone Jetfire toy, then maybe just stick with your ROTF Leader Jetfire.



    I personally don't care for SS Optimus Prime so this is just a stand-alone Jetfire toy for me. My ROTF Leader Jetfire and Optimus Prime still serve just fine for the combined mode.


  6. #6
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    20th May 2014
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    Melbourne
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    I finally was able to obtain this one thanks to an early Christmas present. It's an excellent figure. Everything underneath in Blackbird mode is so neat and flat and tucked away. I like it when the underside of an alt-mode is almost flat and quite cluttered, as it means they've really thought about it and have made good use of the space. Plus, the jet all tabs together quite well. In the words of Brickman it's "very swooshable". I still like the original but this is a definite step up.

    My only minor quibbles are I would've preferred a longer walking stick and, as mentioned, the ability to curl the fingers would've been nice.

    I don't have a compatible Optimus Prime yet to try out the combined feature, but even without that mode it's still worth the price of admission.

  7. #7
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    LOL, does anybody own both SS Optimus Prime and Jetfire? Because so far everyone seems to own one or the other. This is reminding me of owning G1 Predacons in the 1980s -- knew people who owned individual Predacons but never knew anyone who owned the whole set (and thus could single-handedly form Predaking).

  8. #8
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    I do! :P But tbh the combined version (without an upgrade kit) is a bit of a mess so I keep them seperate in my display!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dimi194 View Post
    I do! :P But tbh the combined version (without an upgrade kit) is a bit of a mess so I keep them seperate in my display!
    Reviews should show the good, bad and ugly of all toys - don't hold back. No point including upgrade kits with reviews since they're not included with the original toy anyway. It'd be like reviewing food and deciding that a dish needs more seasoning, but you've brought some along and you spice the dish up. Yeah, the actual review of the dish shouldn't including the modification you made to it.

  10. #10
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    17th Jan 2008
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    Thread back from the dead!
    Considering picking up Jetfire in the BigW sale (if I can find one). Despite largely positive reviews, there seems to be a few reports of the spine-hinge pin joint breaking.
    Has anyone here had this happen to theirs?
    https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threa...166951/page-14
    TF Figs of 2023:
    1) WnR Springer
    2) Legacy Bludgeon
    3) Legacy Leo Prime/Nemesis Leo Prime.

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