Transformers Studio Series Jetfire review

Jetfire's backstory of being a Seeker that was left to rust on Earth before he was discovered by the Autobots and their allies was something I liked about the Movie take on the character, as he had a larger knowledge of the history of the Transformers and their actions on ancient Earth. Some say that he should be friends with Starscream, but I prefer his stubborn yet wise behavior in Revenge of the Fallen. Also, his interest in looking for a Prime shows how he's not all bad despite his Decepticon history, especially when he was willing to help Optimus defeat The Fallen in what seemed like a hopeless battle against the Decepticons. Sadly, I never got to experience owning a Leader Class Jetfire from the ROTF toyline, and I can only see the more lucky Youtube channels review a figure that I once saw at a Target without working electronics. Thankfully, I got Optimus and Megatron in the same year, but the lack of a Jetfire made me feel left out with recreating the final battle of the movie. Let's see if the Studio Series line fills in the gap!

Here is Jetfire in his jet mode, which unfortunately suffers from the same kibble issues of the original figure, it's a bit worse here because you can tell that the face is prominent from the bottom with the beard. At least the top of the altmode looks fine, and the other robot parts blend in a bit better because they aren't from a different color that doesn't entirely match the black of the altmode. The proportions of the altmode with the new figure compared the original (shown from the bottom) makes it hard to decide which of the two is more accurate, though I guess it's somewhere in-between either one and at least the real Blackbird won't have any robot kibble from underneath! Sadly, the Studio Series version of the character lacks the rolling wheels that the ROTF version has. You may notice a small dot on one part of the nose cone; that comes into play later.

Transforming Jetfire is fairly involved, though not as frustrating as what the original Leader seemed from the reviews I've seen. The only thing I don't like is that the shoulders when going back into vehicle mode don't like to tab in their slots that well. I also want to comment on the waist; as rock-solid as the connection is, it can be a bit hard to detach the waist halves without feeling like you're going to break the toy.

In robot mode, Jetfire captures the elderly look that he has in the movie. It also does a better job than the original Leader figure did. Here is a comparison between this and the original Leader Class mold; while the old Voyager didn't look awful, you can tell just how the proportions contrast from each other, with the Studio Series version having more accurate proportions compared to the 2009 mold. You can even pose Jetfire to make him look even more like he has both hands on the cane as he talks about the stories of the Primes. Also, you may notice another small dot on the right foot. That will also come into play later.

The rest of the views look pretty good, too; the back has the hunched over appearance of an elderly man while the back now looks more like it's transformed. I guess you can say the back of Jetfire could flow a bit better and not have so much of a gap, but it's not too noticeable like it would be on ROTF Megatron.

The face sculpt looks really close to the movie, but the eyes do look a bit weird. They have the red paint for the optics yet there's a slit that gets in the way, which kind of ruins the look of the face and makes him look a bit blinder than if they weren't there. I've seen modifications from other fans remove those pieces, though IDK how they're supposed to be removed without damaging the eyes.

Jetfire's articulation is pretty good for an old guy. The head can't quite move left and right too far, but it's able to move slightly in either direction; moving up isn't much of an issue, however. The shoulders move front and back, in and out, swivel at the biceps, bend at the elbows

His cane isn't the only thing that he comes with, as he can also use an ax (which can be stored underneath the altmode), though the hands don't make it look like it's being held on there too well. Perhaps if the fingers were poseable and if the 5mm hole was deeper, the figure can look better holding onto it.

Here is a size comparison with his fellow Mark Ryan voice actor characters. It's something I wanted to make for lols, though Mark didn't voice Bumblebee in The Last Knight (some other jabroni did the role, and then another one did the voice for that Beewun movie). These aren't the only robots Mark voiced in the movie continuity, though he sadly didn't voice any from either Dark of the Moon or the Beewun flick.

Here are other characters to scale with next to Jetfire. I like how he's bigger than most of the characters, which makes sense given his altmode size. Originally, Jetfire was a shorter bot than Optimus was, which didn't make much sense aside from wanting to make both figures be in the same size class to make the combination work better. We need a Studio Series version of The Fallen, though...

We're currently missing a Jolt in the Studio Series line, but you know what's coming up...

Optimus and Jetfire can combine the Jetpower form. Originally, Jetfire had to be reconfigured to fit around Optimus, but here, Jetfire serves as the armor for Prime, similar to the Siege Leader Class figures (and more exciting, too!). Here are the pieces Jetfire ends up as before you attach them onto Optimus:

The combined mode feels massive, and it's also a lot more accurate than the original version was. Sure, there's the nostalgia value of having toys with denser plastic and more ratchet joints to boot (which I'm missing half of the experience as I never owned the original Jetfire mold), but it feels more satisfying to attach these parts on Optimus since that's how it was done in the movie, and at least Optimus doesn't look like he's on his toes. If you can at least see one of the yellow dots, you can now understand why they're there: they add a sign of marking which part goes where in the combination.

The side profile looks massive, and it does weigh him back a bit, though back should look a bit more broken up; at least the articulation isn't entirely lost on this figure, especially with the joints being tighter than they would be with the first figure.

As you saw, he can hold a blade and minigun as he once did in ROTF, but he can also use the small minigun mounted under his forearm while he can also use the big frickin' gun to blast the sun harvester! It does weigh his the arm down, so you will have to find the right pose for it.

For a size comparison, here he is next to Megatron and The Fallen. Now he's gotten the right height to be on equal footing against the master and the apprentice.

You can recreate Optimus pointing Megatron's death claw at his face (especially if you have the retooled version of the character) while also stabbing The Fallen's mask before he gives Optimus his face.

The DNA Design upgrade kit adds more to your Jetpower Optimus Prime combination. The jetpack looks a lot more dynamic this time around, the cannon's not as bulky as it originally was, the legs have more beef added, Jetfire's hands are poseable, and the new parts can be used in both vehicle modes of Jetfire and Optimus Prime.

Having Jetfire in the Studio Series line is great enough, but the fact that he and Optimus Prime combine makes this set feel even more worthwhile. Jetfire's the best Leader Class figure in the line, surpassing Blackout, and while the hands and undercarriage are annoying issues with the toy, I still recommend this figure to fans that want to have a more accurate Jetfire as well as a less frustrating combination with Optimus Prime.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐