Here we have Age of the Primes Armada Jetfire in his space shuttle mode. It's a pretty faithful take on the original toy, though it is missing the stripes in the middle area like the stock photo of the original toy TFWiki posted. Turns out that it wasn't on the show the whole time; kind of hard to tell. At the very least, it looks somewhat more pristine than the original toy, going for a re-entry fade in the front; those would have been nice to somewhat justify the price he's going for. In general, it's a pretty good design that also makes me think of a somewhat militaristic space cruiser, almost like the X-71 Shuttle from Armageddon! Yeah, pre-Bayverse influence in Transformers; you love to see it! For anyone wondering, the swept-forward tailfins are supposed to look like that if anyone thinks it's a misassembly.
Keep in mind that the shield should be plugged underneath the altmode if you want to keep everything together at once. Not only that, but we get landing gear for this set! However, none of the wheels roll, not even on a toy this expensive. Then again, given that Concept Art Megatron had no rolling wheels while being a modern Leader Class toy, what else is new with modern Hasbro? Also, those red bits near the front of the wings come out of the box detached, so keep track of those when you open your toy.
He comes with three Minicons, representing the Space Minicon Team! From left to right, we got Sky Blast the rocket ship, Astroscope the satellite, and Payload the rocket transport truck. They're pretty close to the old toys, though with less interactivity with their altmodes (mostly docking Sky Blast onto Astroscope as shuttles do with satellites).
To attach them onto Jetfire, you need to fold the panels on Astroscope out of the way so they can attach better onto the side where the 5mm port lies, while Sky Blast just pegs on the side as expected. Meanwhile, Payload pegs under where the front of the jet mode lies. And saying that is a realization Comettor is nowhere to be found. Come on, Hasbro, you finally add Minicons to a new mold figure, and a Commander, no less, but will one extra character really drive the price up by $15 extra???
Transforming this trio is pretty easy, though keep in mind that the slight addition of articulation for these figures will make them slightly, slightly, slightly more difficult to handle. Sky Blast is pretty close to the new figure with the articulation and head transformation, but the chest and arms are slightly worse than the original (the left arm is blue on the original). Astroscope is the closest to the original, but with a more articulated left arm, an integrated cannon for the right arm (no missile launcher), and his legs can't stay parallel if they're not tabbed in. Payload is bulkier than his original version and has ankle pivots, surprisingly.
For a Commander Class size comparison, here he is with Optimus Prime (no trailer because that will take up space). He's pretty close to what 2010s Leader Class figures would be sized at, if not smaller than the original toy by a margin. It does make me wonder what the scale with Overload would be like if we ever get him in about 3 extra years, either in some Generations rebranding or Studio Series (with a possible price hike - $100 for a Commander!)
Transformation is more involved than the original toy, which helps him function like a modern action figure instead of being held back as a brick. It has a whole lot more twists and turns for the wings and the leg assembly, especially as we get to the pants mode. I should mention that I intentionally left the central part of the shuttle this way instead of shifting it upward for a specific reason: to let the nose cone fold down and allow the waist swivel to work properly for Jet Optimus. I should also mention that I intentionally folded the nosecone back, both to see if it would look better and because I was under the false assumption that Hasbro didn't fold it away themselves. That said, this robot mode is appropriately chunky, and he wears it well. Predating most bulky Energon Autobots, he has plenty of joints visible in the waist area, while his arms are stumpy in contrast to the wide torso. It's clear he's going to form into part of a different mode, but he wears it very well with a design like this. It also fits with his personality, where he's more likely to get into combat than his leader would, on top of being the type of big dude who would easily knock over anyone almost taller than him. If Optimus struggles with a 1-on-1 fight against Megatron, leave it to Jetfire to use his gut to tumble the Decepticon leader off his feet! His wings go past his head, but I should mention that they detach near the backs intentionally for safety reasons. Makes me wonder if Hasbro will change them for when we get to someone like Spacewarp or Astrotrain?
Head sculpt is interesting for the fact that no clear visor is kept on this head sculpt, which may not be present entirely in the animation since he is meant to have the eyes sculpted in place. At least it doesn't have the issue of the Hasbro version, where the eyes were painted over said visor by mistake. His articulation consists of a ball-jointed neck, shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, single-jointed elbows, and wrist rotation. The hips are where things get complicated; they move front and back like on some Energon Autobots, but outward leg movement is on an even higher joint. You can still have the joints work almost like normal leg articulation, but it's only a matter of how you manipulate the hips. Thankfully, the thigh swivels can help out with making the legs work normally, and the same goes for the ankle rockers. And of course, he has the signature megaphone-looking blaster made up from the back booster (which is annoying to slide into place and detach) as well as use a shield that is a bit undersized, but it still does the job despite its chest-plate-atude.
The Space Minicon Team can combine into the Requiem Blaster by inserting Sky Blast into the back of Astroscope (with its panels folded up) and attaching the result to Payload. It may not look the most like a convincing weapon, but it goes well as something Jetfire would brandish if he was ever going to consistently stay with it (provided, of course, that it isn't taken from Megatron as he forms the Hydra Cannon).
Here he is with Armada Optimus, towering over him like in G1 and in ROTF (maybe Animated and Cyberverse are exceptions?). I love that Jetfire is a second-in-command type of choice for Optimus, and while people could joke about how fat he is, what's stopping him from still being one of the badasses in the show? I also like that while Optimus, in spite of his bulky proportions, manages to have this tactical look to him, contrasting Jetfire's "come at me" design. Also crazy that these two were the first ever Powerlink duos we got before Energon? I know that Victory or some other Japanese G1 series had characters work a similar way, but let's be real here, nobody cares about them as much as these two.
For anyone wondering what the pants mode size is like, it's only slightly taller than the pants mode that Optimus's trailer turns into. I always appreciate that they both have some differences to them in order to justify Jetfire's own transformation into a new pair of trousers, with the normal trailer having those Optimus-like elements to them while Jetfire's wings and color scheme help him feel far less redundant on top of being able to help Prime fly.
As for getting to the transformation, it's once again very involved for anyone expecting him to do more than just tuck his head and arms away. Hasbro was super dedicated to making sure that Jetfire would have proportionate legs so Optimus could have as much leg articulation with these pants as he did with his own. It means we have to shift the wings every time we bend his knees, but it also at least explains why Jetfire's torso is stuck like that: it grants Prime waist articulation, and it's even better than the way it was handled with his own trailer due to no skirt panels getting in the way. And because Jetfire's legs are shifted to be more proportionate while also rearranged to make the entire lower half convincing, he makes full use of those joints that were partially visible in the torso. Also, Optimus's Autobot insignia is meant to be removable and attached to the shield now that it's the chest panel. Combine that with the mashup of Prime's Ion Blaster and Jetfire's cannon in one hand, with the Requiem Blaster on the other, nothing's getting in their way.
Overall, while I wish Jetfire had a few more paint apps or actually included Comettor, I think I'm happier with how he turned out compared to Onslaught. Not saying Onslaught was bad, but I'm so much more excited to see the Megaweapon trinity complete in the 2020s than I am going through the same cycle of G1 combiner limbs waiting to combine with another Commander frame. Jetfire's chunky heftitude and overall play value can't be beat, especially if you've already got an equally awesome Armada Optimus or are lucky to get Nemesis Prime for cheap at your local Ross (fingers crossed!); maybe that makes up for the lack of an evil trailer? I bet we have to wait for Overload to pop up in another 3 years, but damn, is Jetfire another great chapter worth getting to. Just a shame that his actual partner isn't even included with the Powerlinx Red Alert set.
And yes, I got Megazarak a while back despite being $5 higher than the others. He was from a very small yet helpful deal from Entertainment Earth, and given how much of a threat the character is in the 3H media, it's about time Jet Prime finishes him off.
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of a⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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