G1 Cliffjumper

Prelude: Six years ago I wrote a review for G1 Cliffjumper, or rather the black version of the Keychain reissue from 2008. “Blackjumper” was my G1 Cliffjumper for years until I picked up the real thing here (which might or might not be a knock-off). So seeing as it’s been six years, “Redjumper” here gets a full review of his own.

Robot Mode: First off, despite what many people believe, G1 Cliffjumper here is a not a repaint or remold of G1 Bumblebee (unlike every single Ciffjumper toy released in the following 28 years). The two toys had the exact same transformation scheme and each had both yellow and red variants, but the molds are entirely different. Cliffjumper has the hood of his car mode as feet, the car body for a torso, and the arms carry both the front and rear wheels on them. The rather flat head unfolds from the vehicle’s rear, sitting on a silver panel. The head strongly resembles the cartoon character’s noggin’.

Articulation is limited to the shoulders, though you can somewhat simulate a dynamic pose by folding in one foot (a transformation requirement). The robot has fists sculpted onto the ends of his arms, but no fist holes. Seeing as he doesn’t come with any sort of weapon, that’s not that big a problem. And… yeah, that’s pretty much it. A neat little robot and fully okay for his time.

Alternate Mode: Cliffjumper transforms into a very much deformed miniature version of a Porsche 924 Turbo. The car is all-red with black windows and actual rubber tires with silver rims. Not sure what else to write, really. The car looks good for a small Penny-Racer type vehicle and there are no visible robot bits, not even from underneath. So bottom line, a fully sufficient vehicle mode from a time when transforming into a vehicle was the actual gimmick of the line.

Remarks: Cliffjumper featured prominently in Generation 1 as the Autobot’s hotheaded paranoid, who saw traitors everywhere. He also missed a golden opportunity to end the war in the cartoon’s pilot when he tried (and failed) to snipe Megatron from a distance before the Decepticon leader even knew the Autobots were still around. The toy started life as the Microchange MC-04 #01 Porsche before being licensed to Hasbro for use in the initial 1984 Transformers line-up.

Much like the other G1 Minibots Cliffjumper certainly isn’t a revolutionary toy, not even for 1984. But he depicts one of the original Autobots and one of the more prominent ones to boot. So in order to complete your original G1 Ark Crew, you really need a Cliffjumper. And the red one, preferably.

Rating: B