Lots of good suggestions on this thread. My personal favorite is Generations Sky Shadow. A beautiful, deadly-looking aircraft (from the top down) and a much sharper black and red paint scheme than the original Thunderwing release. The removable nose drone and wing design give it a lot of extra value for different configurations. Swing the wing tips out to give it an otherworldly attack mode, reminds me of the Shadow ships from Babylon 5.
You heard correct. Terradive is one of those figures that felt like a whole new direction for Transformation engineering. I am still impressed with this figure. The biggest downside to Terradive (IMO) is the trident weapon. It's not bad looking at all... 1.) it doesn't feel like a Transformers type accessory 2.) it's sadly very fragile, often snapping at the hinge Still, Terradive is absolutely the first one I'd recommend to the OP. The wink to the G2 Cyberjet form is the icing on the cake.
I got the space case (target exclusive?) deco and apart from just now (picking it up) realising where the joints can potentially put pins under stress making the choice to mould it mostly in transparent plastic a little worrying I think it's a very nice deco. I wish he had a g2 cyberject head, and obv, I'm now a little wary of the fact it's cast in semi transparent plastic, but the figure is one of the most successful attempts to avoid it looking like there's a whole robot underneath, few figures do that successfully, esp at deluxe.
oh geez, i can't believe i forgot one of my all-time favorites, Energon Starscream. one of the best Deluxe Jets ever ~ i always wished they'd remolded a un-battle-damaged version, but he is great looking in both modes, takes the already interesting G2 Smokescreen transformation and applies it to an alt mode that actually looks like it could fly.
I very much liked Classics Jetfire, and I quite like Generations Jetfire too. And I really dig on the Generations Brainstorm, not the new one. Jet mode is a bit weak on the underside but robot mode is really really nice. And I just picked up the United Lugnut (I like the colors better than the generations one) and it's really pretty sweet. The robot mode is just cool looking despite some limitations in articulation, and the jet mode is the bee's knees.
I'm not exactly sure what traditional style jet transformers means. If it means jets based on real world vehicles the best are probably going to be HftD leader class Starscream, the DotM deluxe seeker mold (my favorite obviously being Thundercracker), and the Terradive mold (of which I have the Depth Charge redeco which is probably way harder to get than Terradive or Space Case at this point). All of them are excellent representations of real world planes, have good transformations, and are just good figures all around. Of course they're also mostly Bayverse figures which aren't to everyone's liking, though the Terradive mold can pass for CHUG I think. Especially next to someone like Straxus/Darkmount. Obviously there are also the MP Seekers, though they're pricey. For more G1 style jets there are always the Combiner Wars Aerialbots, and the various re-uses of those molds. They're still among the better CW figures imo (especially Airraid), but have that lovely touch of entire robot undercarriage from G1. TR Brainstorm is great, and while I don't have him in hand yet everyone is raving about Triggerhappy. Often overlooked, the legends class seeker mold is a fun, cheap little jetformer figure. My two personal favorites though are also seeker molds: the Prime First Edition seeker mold and the RiD warrior class seeker mold. I have the FE seeker as Starscraem, Thundercracker, and Slipstream (and one day will eventually get Skywarp ... probably) and they're all great. You have some display options with using the hunchback or mistransforming for a straight back and more height, as well as some leeway on how to pose the wings to give each of them a little uniqueness, and I love that slender form and imposing height compared to other deluxes. While the legs are kinda just there in alt mode, I like how the waist forms the air intake a real F-16 has. The RiD Starscream has a great mix of G1, Animated, and Aligned aesthetics and a nice fairly clean transformation. I know some don't like the smaller than usual guns he has, but I love them. I think it may be my favorite seeker design to date, and I can't wait for more of the seekers to be made from it.
funny you mentioned that: when i had them on display i used Terradive and Space Case as Straxus' flanking guards.
I think it's a pity there's not that many single engine jetformers. TF prime Starscream and Dreadwing being the few exceptions.
G1 Thrust. The color scheme and nostalgia has this as my favorite to this day. I'm still eyeing the MP version but curious if the KO is decent quality. The CW Seekers are also underrated IMO, including Jetfire, who is not underrated, but the same mold.
ROTF Voyager Mindwipe Classics Jetfire (even though he is dated) Cybertron Deluxe Sideways ( too bad the waist clip on mine decided to fall apart)
Generations Jetfire: And the Aerialbots: There are a lot of good jet-Formers, but these are my favorites.
Generations Jetfire and the remoulds Starscream, Thundercracker and Skywarp if you want leader sized jets. The Arielbots are great.
