Skyfire - Did He Die?

A great many Transformers fans were devastated to see many of their favorite characters killed off in the 1986 The Transformers: The Movie feature film.  This, of course, was an obvious attempt by Hasbro and Sunbow to usher out one cast of toys and introduce a new, core cast.  The death of Optimus Prime rattled not only a fanbase, but a franchise back in the day.  Starscream's coronation is a short-lived, "bad comedy" - put to ash by the rebuilt Megatron as Galvatron.  Speaking of Megatron, who can forget Ironhide's gruesome death by having his head completely blown off by Megatron's fusion cannon (albeit mostly off screen)?  The Battle for Autobot City saw fan-favorite casualties on both sides for the Season 1 and Season 2 cast.

(Line artwork by me, colors by TFW2005.COM member BDixonarts)

Despite the horrible deaths of fan-favorites, not everyone was killed off.  Season 3 of The Transformers does see returns from previous cast members, such as Perceptor (who end up becoming a fairly prominent cast member).  Blaster is even put in a security position in charge over Metroplex.  Omega Supreme also continues as a carrier for the Autobots, though Sky Lynx pretty much takes over as the deep space carrier for the Autobots.

Speaking of carriers, we arrive to the subject of this post - Skyfire!  Until Omega Supreme arrives, he is prominently the Autobot's transport.  As a character, his introduction in "Fire in the Sky" and his return in "Fire on the Mountain" are his most prominent episodes.  He continues along, yet just fades out for the events of The Transformers: The Movie.  So, we don't see him get killed, and we can presume he makes it through into Season 3.

Therein lies our problem.  There's a fun little mystery as to the fate of Skyfire.  However, Season 3 offers some conflicting information, so let's explore:

As far as the cartoon goes, "Dark Awakening" was the last episode that Skyfire appeared in*, and this one is sketchy at best. Skyfire is completely miscolored - or not colored, depending on how you want to look at it. The Quintessons fired a barrage of missiles at some Autobots. Those appear to be Powerglide, Skyfire, the Aerialbots, and a few other random jets. Skyfire is heavily damaged, at least. The animation goes by somewhat quickly, so I decided to make an animated .gif to better depict what's going on:

*See the actual footage here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgjNs5rKhjY


Skyfire! Oh no! He's gone!  Or is he?  We first have to ask ourselves, "Wait! So, was this Skyfire?" I offer two explanations:

1. Either this is Skyfire and the animation is simply not colored correctly, or;
2. it's another Autobot that's strikingly similar (possibly another robot that's simply built with nearly identical specifications).

I think either of these are highly feasible and even possible, especially considering the nature of the animation. 

For premise #2, we don't necessarily get our conclusive answer for Skyfire's fate

For the sake of discussion, let's go with premise #1.  If we go with this as an actual portrayal depicting Skyfire, there's another consideration: was this attack fatal?  From everything we see, it's simply heavily damaged his nosecone - something that would at least operable.  Skyfire would have probably been able to been saved.  Regardless, we never see or hear anything beyond this point.  Which leads us to:

A final consideration: Skyfire isn't mentioned after the movie nor in season three. Grimlock doesn't list Skyfire among the flying Autobots in "Grimlock's New Brain." However, absence of evidence isn't evidence. Also, Grimlock may have not been completely comprehensive (if someone could go back and watch that episode, that would be good). Even still, that still doesn't mean Skyfire is dead, though it is possible.

What this leaves us with is yet another point in The Transformers cartoon show where fans can basically pick what they want, as it's a bit open-ended.  One can say that Skyfire is dead.  Another can say his wounds aren't fatal.  One angle can be that he's simply "out of commission."  Some fans may be inclined to think that robot wasn't Skyfire at all in the episode "Dark Awakening."  With what I see, I'm just going to say that it was Skyfire simply miscolored, and that he was repaired.
After all, isn't that what really happens to alien robots? 

I'd love to hear what you think!  Feel free to comment!

Special thank you to Brandy Dixon and her colors for my Skyfire line work.  You can view my line artwork here: Skyfire - TFW2005.COM Fan Art.  You can view more of Brandy Dixon's artwork here: http://bdixonarts.deviantart.com/

Also, a special thanks to all of the fine folks at TFWiki.net for all the work those guys do with their articles.  You can read their article on G1 Skyfire here:  http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Jetfire_(G1)