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Description
Jetfire (aka Skyfire) is a bot of science, literally. Not only is his mind dedicated towards scientific pursuits, but his body is a testament to the technology he studies so intensely. (Some would say "religiously", but not in his presence.) Every inch of his chassis is cutting-edge and kept up-to-date. However, he does not have the trust of his teammates; it was not so long ago that he was a Decepticon. Jetfire is compassionate, so some Autobots feel that he could be soft on their enemies or, even worse, he may turn on them after realizing his "cold calculations" swing the other way.

Jetfire would find their misconceptions about science appalling. After all, is not science just the pursuit of truth? And truth, he maintains, walks hand-in-hand with liberty.

The Transformers cartoon

    Voice actor: Gregg Berger (English), Osamu Saka (Japanese), Kunihiko Yasui (Japanese, "Attack of the Autobots", "Day of the Machines"), more»

(thumbnail)
They dug him out of the Arctic to be their taxi.

Millions of years ago on Cybertron, before the war, Skyfire and Starscream were good friends and fellow scientists. On a mission of exploration to prehistoric Earth, Skyfire was lost in a storm. Starscream searched, but there was no sign of his comrade. He returned home.

Millions of years later, after the Autobots and Decepticons had crashed and awoken on Earth, the Decepticons found Skyfire encased in a block of Arctic ice and revived him. Skyfire joined them due to his past friendship with Starscream, though he expressed discomfort with their methods. When Skyfire's compassion for humans and, later on, several Autobot prisoners led to his disobeying orders, Starscream, who had changed much in the intervening millennia, turned on his friend. Skyfire left the Decepticons and joined the Autobots, sacrificing himself to be buried beneath the ice again to stop the Decepticons' plans. The Autobots held a memorial service for him at the location of his involuntary burial. Fire in the Sky
(thumbnail)
Good boy, Skyfire. Wanna Snausage?

Wheeljack and Sideswipe returned later to dig him up when the Autobots needed a ride down to South America. Megatron and his Decepticons were in Peru seeking the Crystal of Power, which was kept in an Incan temple. He dropped off Brawn and Windcharger so they could see what the Decepticons were up to, but a short time later had to go back and rescue them—intercepting them mid-jump—to return to Headquarters. Collecting the other Autobots, he took them all to Peru and earned a pat on his nosecone from Optimus Prime. Scouting ahead, he arrived at the temple, only to be shot and disabled by Starscream. Skyfire was dumped inside the temple, where Bumblebee, Spike and Luisa found him and effected emergency repairs while under attack from Ravage. Reactivated, Skyfire dealt with Ravage before giving the Autobots outside some much-needed aerial support as they attacked the Decepticon positions. He destroyed Megatron's cannon in a strafing attack and later helped Wheeljack cap the energy geyser that remained. Fire on the Mountain
(thumbnail)
Grand Theft Skyfire.
When the energies unleashed by Cybertron's presence in Earth's orbit caused activity in the volcano in which Headquarters was embedded, Skyfire evacuated the base with most of the rest of the Autobots. Ratchet, Windcharger and Huffer were ejected from the top of the mountain in a violent eruption, and Skyfire swooped in to save them. Spike learned that his father had been taken to Cybertron, and Skyfire volunteered his services to fly the boy and several Autobots there. After some deft flying, they landed on the other planet, but Skyfire, Wheeljack and Trailbreaker were separated from their smaller companions, who fell into a trap. The Ultimate Doom, Part 2 The trio caught up with their fellows in time to rescue them from Shockwave. Skyfire thanked Shockwave for blasting a hole in the wall large enough for him to fly through. He provided air support against some tetrajets, allowing the ground-based Autobots to reach Wheeljack's workshop. Once Wheeljack worked out a way to counteract the hypno-chips which the Decepticons were using to control humans, Skyfire ferried everyone back to Earth to put the invention to good use. The Ultimate Doom, Part 3
(thumbnail)
"I'm perfectly all right, Susan."

Following strange reports of giant robotic insects in Bali, Skyfire carried Brawn, Windcharger and Spike there, only to discover a field being consumed by the Insecticons. Despite believing the trio would be a pushover, the Autobots found themselves outnumbered by clones, and the arrival of Megatron and a couple of his goons didn't improve the odds. Fortunately, the rest of the Autobots arrived and, after a brief fight, the Decepticons departed for an oil refinery. Some quick repairs were made on Skyfire to fix his ability to transform, and the Autobots began the pursuit. The Insecticons latched on to Skyfire's wings until Wheeljack was able to lend a hand, or rather, a couple of missiles. A short time later, Skyfire caught Brawn after the latter's failed attempt at a mid-air brawl. When they reached the refinery, he kicked the battle off by physically knocking the Insecticons off the oil tanker they were drinking from. A Plague of Insecticons
(thumbnail)
"I have an inside, you know."

Skyfire and most of the Autobots were distorted by Megatron's personality destabilizer, turning them evil. As Skyfire was hunting down and blowing up human aircraft, Autobots who had been reverted to good by Sparkplug's attitude exchangers arrived on scene and changed Skyfire back. He then flew the Autobots and humans to save Optimus Prime and the others. The Decepticons managed to launch a rocket they'd commandeered, so Skyfire dropped Optimus and Ratchet off on it so they could steal its cargo. As the Decepticons attempted to fight off the boarders, Jazz climbed on Skyfire's nose and used his sound and light show to provide a distraction. Finally, Skyfire flew them up into space, so the satellite from the rocket could be properly placed in orbit. Attack of the Autobots When Carly was captured by the Decepticons, Ironhide blamed himself, but was persuaded by Sparkplug to try and rescue her. Hitching a lift with Skyfire, Ironhide located Bumblebee and Spike before bailing out so he could tell them what had happened to Carly. The Immobilizer
(thumbnail)
Mid-transformation, or a reference to the toy's "third mode"? CHOOSE WISELY.

Skyfire ferried Spike and Hound to the middle of the Atlantic to investigate an unexplained change to oil tanker shipping patterns that converged suspiciously close to Decepticon Headquarters. Flying overhead, the trio discovered that the bad bots were stealing the oil using a platform docking structure secured by a force field. Skyfire, Hound and Spike hid aboard one of the tankers and attacked Megatron and Hook as they siphoned the oil. As usual, Spike was captured by the Decepticons and held hostage, forcing Skyfire and Hound to surrender. Confined to a cell on a lower deck, Skyfire warned Spike to be careful of an electromagnet he found as the human put his escape plan into action. With Rumble and Ravage incapacitated by the magnet, Skyfire punched through the cell door. The three rushed to the control room for the force field generator. Skyfire and Spike kept Frenzy distracted as Hound blew up the generator, causing the force field dome to collapse. Facing defeat, Megatron activated the platform's self-destruct function, which left Skyfire and his two friends stuck inside as the structure began to sink. Optimus Prime ripped through the bulkhead above them, and the three were able to climb out. Skyfire then flew them all to safety. Day of the Machines

In 2006, Skyfire (or a very similar space vehicle) was briefly seen as part of the Autobot fleet attacking the Quintessons. He was shot along with Powerglide and several Aerialbots. Dark Awakening
The Aerialbots were later shown to have survived, so Skyfire could possibly have survived as well... assuming it was actually him getting shot. Due to the number of animation errors in this episode, it is by no means guaranteed that these were the "real" Skyfire or Powerglide "really" perishing. However, in "Grimlock's New Brain" when Grimlock lists the then-active Autobots capable of spaceflight, he does not mention Skyfire.

Why "Skyfire"?
(thumbnail)
I went from 98-ton weakling to muscle-bot on... the Dery plan!

We may never be certain of the exact circumstances behind the change from Jetfire to Skyfire. There are, however, a few known factors, and a lot of theories.

    Not all of Hasbro's Transformers product originated with Takara. Among others, the Macross Super Valkyrie, the toy that would become Jetfire, came from a company called Takatoku Toys. Why did Hasbro market non-Takara product? Bob Prupis, one of the original members of the Transformers marketing team, would frequently go to Toy Fairs in Asia, where "any product that really looked good that was exciting we didn't care where it came from. We did some work with Bandai, who had been working with other people, and took a few products that looked right for our line".[1] The Super Valkyrie, then, must have met their criteria for inclusion.
    As a larger toy, it would follow that Hasbro would want to sell Jetfire by including him in the Transformers animated series. However, even though Hasbro had the rights to release Takatoku's Super Valkyrie in the US Transformers toyline, Hasbro's chief collaborator on Transformers was still Takara. It may have been that Takara always had plans to air the Transformer animated series in their own market (as it featured a majority of their products), and objected to the inclusion of a competitor's product on the show. This may also be why no other Takatoku-designed toys appeared in the series, although their relatively smaller sizes as compared to Jetfire may have been a factor in Hasbro not including them.
    As the theory goes, the Jetfire animation model was adjusted to look less like the toy as a compromise to Takara. However - perhaps because it now failed to look like the product it was supposed to be advertising - the character became "Skyfire".
    Conversely, it is possible that licensing issues played in to the decisions to change Jetfire to Skyfire; the story bible for G1 writers mentions how Jetfire had been "transformed" into Skyfire for "legal reasons". See also Notes.
    As a testament to how late in production Jetfire's name was changed, "Fire in the Sky" was originally recorded using the name Jetfire, but the lines were rerecorded before broadcast.
    The evidence of Robotech influencing Jetfire-related decisions is murky. That show began airing in syndication in March 1985, whereas "Fire in the Sky", the first episode with Skyfire, aired December 8, 1984 - and would have had to have been written and animated much before then. Statements indicate that it took nine months to edit Robotech together, placing the start of production somewhere around July 1984. So... who knows. All that's certain is that Hasbro licensing the Super Valkyrie seemingly did prevent the use of that toy in Matchbox's Robotech toyline (though Playmates Toys would release it as part of a co-branded Exosquad/Robotech line in the mid 1990s).

Beyond Prupis's statement and the notes in the story bible, however, nothing supporting (or denying) any of the previous statements has come out.
Notes
(thumbnail)
C'mon, Hasbro. You know you want to make a "Skull Squadron" version of some Jetfire. What's Bandai going to do? Sic the Power Rangers on you? Oh wait, you now outright own Power Rangers.

    As mentioned above, unlike most of the early Transformers range, the Jetfire toy was designed by Takatoku Toys, being a redeco (with a minor retool to blunt the nosecone) of their 1/55 Macross VF-1S Super Valkyrie. Naturally, because he was not designed by Takara, Jetfire was not released in Japan, since the toy (or, at least, a dozen variations of it) was released by one of Takara's rival toy companies.
    The story bible for the original animated series contains a different character model for Jetfire, one clearly based on the actual toy. This model did appear three times "fictionally", once as a miscolored, partially-obscured background character in the fourth Marvel Comics issue, again in the Marvel Comics as a spectator at Optimus Prime's funeral (right next to his "Skyfire" model) and finally in the Milton-Bradley promotional comic. It would also occasionally crop up in secondary media, such as coloring books and the animated portion of the commercial for Jetfire and Shockwave.
    Jetfire had the preliminary name of Fireball.[2]

(thumbnail)
Lawsuit!

    In fact, the Transformers story bible offers seemingly contradictory statements on Jetfire. An early page notes how "JETFIRE has been "transformed" into SKYFIRE — with a different model — due to legal reasons. Do not use this character unless necessary",[3] whereas a subsequent page on new Season 2 characters notes that "Although Reflector should no longer be used as a character in the series, JETFIRE will be redesigned and reintroduced in the near future".[4] As the Valkyrie-derived animation model never appeared in the cartoon, and Skyfire was never redesigned, it's uncertain just what these notes refer to. Either way, it seems they took the former advice, as Skyfire appeared in only three early episodes of the second season, and more or less vanished after "Day of the Machines."
    "Jetfire" is listed as a "Special Guest Star from Cybertron" on the Sunbow Productions cast list entry for "Fire in the Sky". Later, on the cast list entry for "Fire on the Mountain", "Skyfire" is typewritten as part of the main cast list, but a drawn dash pointing to (or from) it leads to the handwritten name "Jetfire". From there on out, Skyfire is referred to as Jetfire in the listings.
    In the aforementioned Jetfire commercial, it claims that the Autobots created Jetfire, the "ultimate robot jet", to counter the Decepticon planes. As Sunstreaker, Hound, and Prowl are under attack, the trio release Jetfire from within an opening cliffside, revealing their new creation. (See image above.)

(thumbnail)
Crazy moonman language!

    When Hasbro launched the Transformers line on the European continent using the domestic subsidiaries of Milton Bradley in 1985, Optimus Prime was notably absent from the initial line-up and Jetfire was declared leader of the Autobots instead. He not only appeared in that function in a pack-in mini-comic, but Dutch comic book publisher Junior Press even changed Optimus Prime's name to "Jetfire" in their translated version of the Marvel Transformers comic until the Optimus Prime toy was released in Europe after all, and Junior Press corrected the name for subsequent issues. A commonly cited explanation for this is a trademark problem,[5] but a more likely theory suggests that an exclusive contract between Takara and French toy company Joustra, which allowed Joustra to release their own version of Takara's Diaclone line in Europe, initially made all the toys released by Joustra (which included the Optimus Prime sculpt) off-limits for the MB line-up until a deal was made between MB and Joustra.[6]

(thumbnail)
Curiously, for the toy commercial the animators chose to go with the 1st version of the Jetfire model rather than any of the two revised versions.

    The Energon Omnicon Skyblast was created as an homage to Skyfire. He would have been given the name "Skyfire" as well, but the trademark had been secured (and registered) by Hasbro rival Mattel. Also on the homage front, Robotmasters R-Blade features a very Jetfirey deco.
    In the 1980s, Larry Hama kept a Jetfire prototype on his desk in the Marvel offices. This, apparently, kept Hama safe from paper clip thieves.[7]
    In a decidedly unusual move, Jetfire in the Japanese Kre-O manga is not based on the actually-in-the-cartoon-that-aired-in-Japan "Skyfire" cartoon model. No, he's based on the didn't-appear-in-the-cartoon-and-never-sold-in-Japan-as-Jetfire-because-it's-from-major-competitor-Bandai original Jetfire toy. His parts in the comic are mostly concealed by his placement in the panel. However, he seems to use the ubiquitous Hound helmet and a similar wing construction to Thrust.

Foreign names

    Japanese: Skyfire (スカイファイアー Sukaifaiā), Jetfire (G-2, ジェットファイヤー Jettofaiyā)
    Czech: Premiant
    Cantonese: Tin Fo (Hong Kong, 天火, "Sky Fire")
    French: Bolide (Canada toy, "Meteor"), Aérobo (Canada cartoon)
    Hebrew: Sh'méy Ésh (שמיי אש, "Skies of Fire")
    Hungarian: Röptűz ("Fly Fire")
    Italian: Aquila ("Eagle")
    Mandarin: Tiān Huǒ (China, 天火, "Sky Fire")
    Portuguese: Jacto (Portugal comic, "Jet")
    Russian: Istrebitel' (Истребитель, "Aircraft Fighter")
    Ukrainian: Blyskavka (ICTV, Блискавка, "Lightning")

Description
Jetfire (aka Skyfire) is a bot of science, literally. Not only is his mind dedicated towards scientific pursuits, but his body is a testament to the technology he studies so intensely. (Some would say "religiously", but not in his presence.) Every inch of his chassis is cutting-edge and kept up-to-date. However, he does not have the trust of his teammates; it was not so long ago that he was a Decepticon. Jetfire is compassionate, so some Autobots feel that he could be soft on their enemies or, even worse, he may turn on them after realizing his "cold calculations" swing the other way.

Jetfire would find their misconceptions about science appalling. After all, is not science just the pursuit of truth? And truth, he maintains, walks hand-in-hand with liberty.

The Transformers cartoon

    Voice actor: Gregg Berger (English), Osamu Saka (Japanese), Kunihiko Yasui (Japanese, "Attack of the Autobots", "Day of the Machines"), more»

(thumbnail)
They dug him out of the Arctic to be their taxi.

Millions of years ago on Cybertron, before the war, Skyfire and Starscream were good friends and fellow scientists. On a mission of exploration to prehistoric Earth, Skyfire was lost in a storm. Starscream searched, but there was no sign of his comrade. He returned home.

Millions of years later, after the Autobots and Decepticons had crashed and awoken on Earth, the Decepticons found Skyfire encased in a block of Arctic ice and revived him. Skyfire joined them due to his past friendship with Starscream, though he expressed discomfort with their methods. When Skyfire's compassion for humans and, later on, several Autobot prisoners led to his disobeying orders, Starscream, who had changed much in the intervening millennia, turned on his friend. Skyfire left the Decepticons and joined the Autobots, sacrificing himself to be buried beneath the ice again to stop the Decepticons' plans. The Autobots held a memorial service for him at the location of his involuntary burial. Fire in the Sky
(thumbnail)
Good boy, Skyfire. Wanna Snausage?

Wheeljack and Sideswipe returned later to dig him up when the Autobots needed a ride down to South America. Megatron and his Decepticons were in Peru seeking the Crystal of Power, which was kept in an Incan temple. He dropped off Brawn and Windcharger so they could see what the Decepticons were up to, but a short time later had to go back and rescue them—intercepting them mid-jump—to return to Headquarters. Collecting the other Autobots, he took them all to Peru and earned a pat on his nosecone from Optimus Prime. Scouting ahead, he arrived at the temple, only to be shot and disabled by Starscream. Skyfire was dumped inside the temple, where Bumblebee, Spike and Luisa found him and effected emergency repairs while under attack from Ravage. Reactivated, Skyfire dealt with Ravage before giving the Autobots outside some much-needed aerial support as they attacked the Decepticon positions. He destroyed Megatron's cannon in a strafing attack and later helped Wheeljack cap the energy geyser that remained. Fire on the Mountain
(thumbnail)
Grand Theft Skyfire.
When the energies unleashed by Cybertron's presence in Earth's orbit caused activity in the volcano in which Headquarters was embedded, Skyfire evacuated the base with most of the rest of the Autobots. Ratchet, Windcharger and Huffer were ejected from the top of the mountain in a violent eruption, and Skyfire swooped in to save them. Spike learned that his father had been taken to Cybertron, and Skyfire volunteered his services to fly the boy and several Autobots there. After some deft flying, they landed on the other planet, but Skyfire, Wheeljack and Trailbreaker were separated from their smaller companions, who fell into a trap. The Ultimate Doom, Part 2 The trio caught up with their fellows in time to rescue them from Shockwave. Skyfire thanked Shockwave for blasting a hole in the wall large enough for him to fly through. He provided air support against some tetrajets, allowing the ground-based Autobots to reach Wheeljack's workshop. Once Wheeljack worked out a way to counteract the hypno-chips which the Decepticons were using to control humans, Skyfire ferried everyone back to Earth to put the invention to good use. The Ultimate Doom, Part 3
(thumbnail)
"I'm perfectly all right, Susan."

Following strange reports of giant robotic insects in Bali, Skyfire carried Brawn, Windcharger and Spike there, only to discover a field being consumed by the Insecticons. Despite believing the trio would be a pushover, the Autobots found themselves outnumbered by clones, and the arrival of Megatron and a couple of his goons didn't improve the odds. Fortunately, the rest of the Autobots arrived and, after a brief fight, the Decepticons departed for an oil refinery. Some quick repairs were made on Skyfire to fix his ability to transform, and the Autobots began the pursuit. The Insecticons latched on to Skyfire's wings until Wheeljack was able to lend a hand, or rather, a couple of missiles. A short time later, Skyfire caught Brawn after the latter's failed attempt at a mid-air brawl. When they reached the refinery, he kicked the battle off by physically knocking the Insecticons off the oil tanker they were drinking from. A Plague of Insecticons
(thumbnail)
"I have an inside, you know."

Skyfire and most of the Autobots were distorted by Megatron's personality destabilizer, turning them evil. As Skyfire was hunting down and blowing up human aircraft, Autobots who had been reverted to good by Sparkplug's attitude exchangers arrived on scene and changed Skyfire back. He then flew the Autobots and humans to save Optimus Prime and the others. The Decepticons managed to launch a rocket they'd commandeered, so Skyfire dropped Optimus and Ratchet off on it so they could steal its cargo. As the Decepticons attempted to fight off the boarders, Jazz climbed on Skyfire's nose and used his sound and light show to provide a distraction. Finally, Skyfire flew them up into space, so the satellite from the rocket could be properly placed in orbit. Attack of the Autobots When Carly was captured by the Decepticons, Ironhide blamed himself, but was persuaded by Sparkplug to try and rescue her. Hitching a lift with Skyfire, Ironhide located Bumblebee and Spike before bailing out so he could tell them what had happened to Carly. The Immobilizer
(thumbnail)
Mid-transformation, or a reference to the toy's "third mode"? CHOOSE WISELY.

Skyfire ferried Spike and Hound to the middle of the Atlantic to investigate an unexplained change to oil tanker shipping patterns that converged suspiciously close to Decepticon Headquarters. Flying overhead, the trio discovered that the bad bots were stealing the oil using a platform docking structure secured by a force field. Skyfire, Hound and Spike hid aboard one of the tankers and attacked Megatron and Hook as they siphoned the oil. As usual, Spike was captured by the Decepticons and held hostage, forcing Skyfire and Hound to surrender. Confined to a cell on a lower deck, Skyfire warned Spike to be careful of an electromagnet he found as the human put his escape plan into action. With Rumble and Ravage incapacitated by the magnet, Skyfire punched through the cell door. The three rushed to the control room for the force field generator. Skyfire and Spike kept Frenzy distracted as Hound blew up the generator, causing the force field dome to collapse. Facing defeat, Megatron activated the platform's self-destruct function, which left Skyfire and his two friends stuck inside as the structure began to sink. Optimus Prime ripped through the bulkhead above them, and the three were able to climb out. Skyfire then flew them all to safety. Day of the Machines

In 2006, Skyfire (or a very similar space vehicle) was briefly seen as part of the Autobot fleet attacking the Quintessons. He was shot along with Powerglide and several Aerialbots. Dark Awakening
The Aerialbots were later shown to have survived, so Skyfire could possibly have survived as well... assuming it was actually him getting shot. Due to the number of animation errors in this episode, it is by no means guaranteed that these were the "real" Skyfire or Powerglide "really" perishing. However, in "Grimlock's New Brain" when Grimlock lists the then-active Autobots capable of spaceflight, he does not mention Skyfire.

Why "Skyfire"?
(thumbnail)
I went from 98-ton weakling to muscle-bot on... the Dery plan!

We may never be certain of the exact circumstances behind the change from Jetfire to Skyfire. There are, however, a few known factors, and a lot of theories.

    Not all of Hasbro's Transformers product originated with Takara. Among others, the Macross Super Valkyrie, the toy that would become Jetfire, came from a company called Takatoku Toys. Why did Hasbro market non-Takara product? Bob Prupis, one of the original members of the Transformers marketing team, would frequently go to Toy Fairs in Asia, where "any product that really looked good that was exciting we didn't care where it came from. We did some work with Bandai, who had been working with other people, and took a few products that looked right for our line".[1] The Super Valkyrie, then, must have met their criteria for inclusion.
    As a larger toy, it would follow that Hasbro would want to sell Jetfire by including him in the Transformers animated series. However, even though Hasbro had the rights to release Takatoku's Super Valkyrie in the US Transformers toyline, Hasbro's chief collaborator on Transformers was still Takara. It may have been that Takara always had plans to air the Transformer animated series in their own market (as it featured a majority of their products), and objected to the inclusion of a competitor's product on the show. This may also be why no other Takatoku-designed toys appeared in the series, although their relatively smaller sizes as compared to Jetfire may have been a factor in Hasbro not including them.
    As the theory goes, the Jetfire animation model was adjusted to look less like the toy as a compromise to Takara. However - perhaps because it now failed to look like the product it was supposed to be advertising - the character became "Skyfire".
    Conversely, it is possible that licensing issues played in to the decisions to change Jetfire to Skyfire; the story bible for G1 writers mentions how Jetfire had been "transformed" into Skyfire for "legal reasons". See also Notes.
    As a testament to how late in production Jetfire's name was changed, "Fire in the Sky" was originally recorded using the name Jetfire, but the lines were rerecorded before broadcast.
    The evidence of Robotech influencing Jetfire-related decisions is murky. That show began airing in syndication in March 1985, whereas "Fire in the Sky", the first episode with Skyfire, aired December 8, 1984 - and would have had to have been written and animated much before then. Statements indicate that it took nine months to edit Robotech together, placing the start of production somewhere around July 1984. So... who knows. All that's certain is that Hasbro licensing the Super Valkyrie seemingly did prevent the use of that toy in Matchbox's Robotech toyline (though Playmates Toys would release it as part of a co-branded Exosquad/Robotech line in the mid 1990s).

Beyond Prupis's statement and the notes in the story bible, however, nothing supporting (or denying) any of the previous statements has come out.
Notes
(thumbnail)
C'mon, Hasbro. You know you want to make a "Skull Squadron" version of some Jetfire. What's Bandai going to do? Sic the Power Rangers on you? Oh wait, you now outright own Power Rangers.

    As mentioned above, unlike most of the early Transformers range, the Jetfire toy was designed by Takatoku Toys, being a redeco (with a minor retool to blunt the nosecone) of their 1/55 Macross VF-1S Super Valkyrie. Naturally, because he was not designed by Takara, Jetfire was not released in Japan, since the toy (or, at least, a dozen variations of it) was released by one of Takara's rival toy companies.
    The story bible for the original animated series contains a different character model for Jetfire, one clearly based on the actual toy. This model did appear three times "fictionally", once as a miscolored, partially-obscured background character in the fourth Marvel Comics issue, again in the Marvel Comics as a spectator at Optimus Prime's funeral (right next to his "Skyfire" model) and finally in the Milton-Bradley promotional comic. It would also occasionally crop up in secondary media, such as coloring books and the animated portion of the commercial for Jetfire and Shockwave.
    Jetfire had the preliminary name of Fireball.[2]

(thumbnail)
Lawsuit!

    In fact, the Transformers story bible offers seemingly contradictory statements on Jetfire. An early page notes how "JETFIRE has been "transformed" into SKYFIRE — with a different model — due to legal reasons. Do not use this character unless necessary",[3] whereas a subsequent page on new Season 2 characters notes that "Although Reflector should no longer be used as a character in the series, JETFIRE will be redesigned and reintroduced in the near future".[4] As the Valkyrie-derived animation model never appeared in the cartoon, and Skyfire was never redesigned, it's uncertain just what these notes refer to. Either way, it seems they took the former advice, as Skyfire appeared in only three early episodes of the second season, and more or less vanished after "Day of the Machines."
    "Jetfire" is listed as a "Special Guest Star from Cybertron" on the Sunbow Productions cast list entry for "Fire in the Sky". Later, on the cast list entry for "Fire on the Mountain", "Skyfire" is typewritten as part of the main cast list, but a drawn dash pointing to (or from) it leads to the handwritten name "Jetfire". From there on out, Skyfire is referred to as Jetfire in the listings.
    In the aforementioned Jetfire commercial, it claims that the Autobots created Jetfire, the "ultimate robot jet", to counter the Decepticon planes. As Sunstreaker, Hound, and Prowl are under attack, the trio release Jetfire from within an opening cliffside, revealing their new creation. (See image above.)

(thumbnail)
Crazy moonman language!

    When Hasbro launched the Transformers line on the European continent using the domestic subsidiaries of Milton Bradley in 1985, Optimus Prime was notably absent from the initial line-up and Jetfire was declared leader of the Autobots instead. He not only appeared in that function in a pack-in mini-comic, but Dutch comic book publisher Junior Press even changed Optimus Prime's name to "Jetfire" in their translated version of the Marvel Transformers comic until the Optimus Prime toy was released in Europe after all, and Junior Press corrected the name for subsequent issues. A commonly cited explanation for this is a trademark problem,[5] but a more likely theory suggests that an exclusive contract between Takara and French toy company Joustra, which allowed Joustra to release their own version of Takara's Diaclone line in Europe, initially made all the toys released by Joustra (which included the Optimus Prime sculpt) off-limits for the MB line-up until a deal was made between MB and Joustra.[6]

(thumbnail)
Curiously, for the toy commercial the animators chose to go with the 1st version of the Jetfire model rather than any of the two revised versions.

    The Energon Omnicon Skyblast was created as an homage to Skyfire. He would have been given the name "Skyfire" as well, but the trademark had been secured (and registered) by Hasbro rival Mattel. Also on the homage front, Robotmasters R-Blade features a very Jetfirey deco.
    In the 1980s, Larry Hama kept a Jetfire prototype on his desk in the Marvel offices. This, apparently, kept Hama safe from paper clip thieves.[7]
    In a decidedly unusual move, Jetfire in the Japanese Kre-O manga is not based on the actually-in-the-cartoon-that-aired-in-Japan "Skyfire" cartoon model. No, he's based on the didn't-appear-in-the-cartoon-and-never-sold-in-Japan-as-Jetfire-because-it's-from-major-competitor-Bandai original Jetfire toy. His parts in the comic are mostly concealed by his placement in the panel. However, he seems to use the ubiquitous Hound helmet and a similar wing construction to Thrust.

Foreign names

    Japanese: Skyfire (スカイファイアー Sukaifaiā), Jetfire (G-2, ジェットファイヤー Jettofaiyā)
    Czech: Premiant
    Cantonese: Tin Fo (Hong Kong, 天火, "Sky Fire")
    French: Bolide (Canada toy, "Meteor"), Aérobo (Canada cartoon)
    Hebrew: Sh'méy Ésh (שמיי אש, "Skies of Fire")
    Hungarian: Röptűz ("Fly Fire")
    Italian: Aquila ("Eagle")
    Mandarin: Tiān Huǒ (China, 天火, "Sky Fire")
    Portuguese: Jacto (Portugal comic, "Jet")
    Russian: Istrebitel' (Истребитель, "Aircraft Fighter")
    Ukrainian: Blyskavka (ICTV, Блискавка, "Lightning")