Cliffjumper

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Cliffjumper is the name of several characters from the Transformers line of toys. His name is usually associated with an Autobot who's toys are almost always red repaints of Bumblebee toys.

Transformers: Generation 1

Cliffjumper

Autobot
Japanese name	Cliff
Sub-group	Deluxe Vehicles, Mini-Bots
Function	Warrior
Rank	5
Partner	Beachcomber and Brawn
Motto	"Strike first, strike fast, strike hard." "Let's bend some tailpipes!" (Classics)
Alternate Modes	1981 Porsche 924 (Turbo) Cybertronian Car Suzuki Swift
Series	Transformers: Generation 1 Transformers: Titanium Transformers: Classics Transformers: Alternity
English voice actor	Casey Kasem
Japanese voice actor	Takuro Kitagawa

Cliffjumper's bio indicates he compensates for his small size by being the first to rush into any dangerous situation, desiring only to beat up "Decepti-creeps". While this has won him the respect of his fellow Autobots, it can occasionally lead him into situations he can't handle. His motto is "Let me at 'em!" ^[1]

Cliffjumper's most famous weapon is his glass gas gun, which fires a gas that turns metal as brittle as glass for a short time. In the episode "Fire In the Sky" he also mentions he has a laser which has a "defrost cycle" good for melting ice.

According to original tech spec notes written by Bob Budiansky found at Iacon One in 2006 the original name for Cliffjumper was Blow-Out, a name later used for a Generation 2 Autobot.

Hasbro registered the name Cliffjumper for U.S. Trademark in October 2003.^[2]

Marvel Comics

Events specific to the Marvel U.K. Transformers comics are in italics.

Cliffjumper appears in the Marvel Transformers comic, where his role is much the same as in the animated series. The earlier comic stories feature Cliffjumper prominently, deploying his 'glass gas' gun against unfortunate Decepticons.

Cliffjumper works with Windcharger and Gears on the Dinobot Hunt, charged with bringing in the mentally incapacitated Dinobot Sludge. Unfortunately the party were victims of an ambush set up by Soundwave.

Cliffjumper returns in "Totaled!" to fight alongside hundreds of Autobots and Decepticons against the Underbase-empowered Starscream, and was one of the many casualties of his rampage.

Animated series

Cliffjumper and Ratchet

Cliffjumper was part of the original Autobot crew of the Ark. When the Autobots and Decepticons were reawakened, Cliffjumper was given the alternate mode of an Earth car. Cliffjumper and Hound were sent to scout out the location of the Decepticons. Although ordered not to engage the Decepticons, Cliffjumper took the opportunity to try to shoot Megatron, revealing their existence to the Decepticons. Because of this, Hound was blown off the road by Laserbeak - something that made Cliffjumper regret his impulsiveness. Hound, however, didn't blame him, quipping that he was only sorry he missed.

Cliffjumper's bravery was often a boon to the Autobots - as well as a problem. In the episode "Changing Gears", Cliffjumper's rash actions helped the Autobots get past a Decepticon force field and stop their Solar Needle device from destroying the sun.^[3]

Cliffjumper's most prominent appearance came in the second season episode "Traitor", where he developed the belief that Mirage had sold them out to the Decepticons after missing a Decepticon power plant while on patrol. Mirage then devised a scheme to prove he wasn't a traitor, setting the Decepticons and Insecticons against each other. However, Cliffjumper had followed him, and misinterpreted his actions. Reporting back to base, Cliffjumper took Prime to see for himself - only to run into an ambush, as Mirage betrayed them. The reason soon became apparent - Mirage had been implanted by one of Bombshell's cerebro shells. After the Decepticon plant's destruction, Cliffjumper apologised to Mirage.

When Starscream broke off from Megatron and created the Combaticons in "Starscream's Brigade", his first act was to capture the Autobots Cliffjumper and Jazz during the unveiling of a statue of Optimus Prime.

During The Transformers: The Movie, Cliffjumper is stationed on Moonbase 1, from which he and Jazz try unsuccessfully to escape when attacked by Unicron. After their apparent consumption by the planet-eater, they are ultimately saved by Daniel Witwicky.

By season 3, Cliffjumper was reduced to a background character, a result of voice actor Casey Kasem's objection to the portrayal of Arab characters as stereotypical villains ^[4] and departure from the show.

His last appearance in the original U.S. cartoon was the season 4 episode "The Rebirth - Part 1".

Books

Cliffjumper appeared in the following books:

• The 1984 sticker and story book Return to Cybertron written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.^[5]
• The 1984 sticker and story book The Revenge of the Decepticons written by Suzanne Weyn and published by Marvel Books.^[6]
• The 1985 audio adventure Laserbeak's Fury. In this story's accompanying book Cliffjumper was depicted in his yellow variant, not his usual red one.
• He was a main character in the 1985 story Sun Raid, where he was described as a "red truck."

Dreamwave Productions

War Within Cliffjumper

When civil war broke out on the planet Cybertron between the Autobots and Decepticons, Cliffjumper joined the Autobot cause. When Decepticon Military Operations Commander Shockwave led a force of Decepticons against the Autobot capitol of Iacon, Cliffjumper was among the Autobots who defended the capitol (Transformers: War Within #3).

When Decepticon leader Megatron and Autobot leader Optimus Prime disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Cliffjumper stayed with the Autobots under the leadership of Prowl. Learning that the Decepticons were testing a new mobile command base at the Praetorus Wharf, Prowl led Cliffjumper, Gears, Jazz, Skids and Sideswipe to investigate. What they discovered was Trypticon. The giant Decepticon easily routed them, and Prowl's team were only saved by Shockwave's calling him away to battle against the Fallen and Chaos Trinity. (Transformers: The War Within - The Dark Ages #3).

Six million years ago, Ultra Magnus united the Autobot factions and lead them to victory over Decepticons and Ultracons. Megatron returned to Cybertron in command of the clone forces of the Aerospace Extermination Squadron and took over Cybertron. Cliffjumper was among the Autobots enslaved and forced to labor tunneling into Cybertron's core (Transformers: War Within - The Age of Wrath #2). Eventually Optimus Prime returned to Cybertron and helped free the enslaved Autobots.

Cliffjumper was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission on board the Ark and crash landed on Earth. In 1984, when the Ark's computer re-activated, it reformatted Cliffjumper as in the form of an Earth car. Eventually the combined forces of the Autobots on Earth, and their human allies were able to capture the Decepticons. A ship called the Ark II was built to take the Cybertronians back to Cybertron, along with some human companions, but the ship exploded shortly after takeoff. The human allies were killed, but the Cybertronians were lost in the ocean, again in stasis lock.

Cliffjumper traveled to Cybertron along with Optimus Prime and a number of Autobots when arrested by Ultra Magnus.

Bumblebee was placed in command of the Autobot supply shuttle Orion, with Powerglide, Warpath, Seaspray, Cosmos, Cliffjumper, Bumper and the Powerdashers assigned to him. Their mission was to aid the Autobots on Earth. Upon arriving in the Earth system from transwarp space, they witnessed the arrival of Sunstorm (Transformers: Generation One III #1). After Omega Supreme was damaged in the fight with Sunstorm, Cliffjumper was reluctantly assigned the duty of protecting him until he recovered. Dreamwave would go out of business at this point, preventing any further tales of Cliffjumper from being told.

Devil's Due Publishing

Cliffjumper reappeared in the third G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers crossover series from Devil's Due Publishing as part of the combined Autobot/G.I. Joe force trying to rescue Optimus Prime.

Fun Publications

The Classics storyline by Fun Publications is set in a sequel to the Marvel Comics story, ignoring the events of the U.K. and Generation 2 comics. It is revealed that Cliffjumper had been in stasis since the attack by the Underbase powered Starscream in the Marvel Comics story, and was only recently revitalized on Cybertron. Optimus Prime then returns to Earth commanding a small groups of Autobots including Cliffjumper when they learn Megatron has returned.

In Crossing Over the mysterious Skyfall allies himself with the Autobots as they investigate a strange energy reading in South America. Cliffjumper is assigned to watch over Skyfall by Optimus Prime. Skyfall, Cliffjumper and the Decepticon Landquake arrive in an underground energon pool together and meet the Autobot Breakaway, who is guarding the pool, but has little memory of why. Together Breakaway, Landquake and Skyfall feel they are somehow connected. Cliffjumper refuses to leave Skyfall as they are sent through a dimensional portal by Breakaway's Caretaker computer to find their "fourth".

In the Transformers: Timelines story "Shattered Glass" Cliffjumper is separated in dimensional transit and ends up by himself on a mirror universe Cybertron where the tyrant Optimus Prime and his evil Autobots are opposed by Megatron and the heroic Decepticons. After being shot by Optimus Prime for being a traitor, he is recovered by the Decepticons and joins their cause. He and his glass gas is key to the destruction of the launch pad to the Ark - a space ship the Autobots plan to use to conquer Earth.

Cliffjumper appears in the fiction Dungeons & Dinobots, a text based story. He defends the Arch-Ayr fuel dump with the Decepticons from an Autobot attack. He later captures the Dinobots Slugfest and Goryu for the Decepticons to reprogram as Dinocons. Cliffjumper, Sideswipe, Blurr and Rodimus then track Grimlock through a maze of traps and discover the Omega Terminus. A trap separates him with Sideswipe, leaving him to survive with Rodimus. Cliffjumper refuses to be part of Rodimus' plan to use the Terminus to create an army to take over Cybertron. After a run-in with Grimlock and zombified versions of Cliffjumper's evil counterpart and Sideswipe's old commander Drench, they escape the maze.

Cliffjumper appears in the story Do Over. When Megatron is captured by the Autobot Targetmasters lead by Ricochet, it is Cliffjumper who warns Starscream not to send a large force to rescue him, but instead send a small group of Micromasters. He is among the crew of the Nemesis, which follows the Autobot's Ark to Earth before being shot down by human defenses.

Cliffjumper appears in Eye in the Sky. After meeting the Decepticons new human allies Cliffjumper warns that the Autobots probably survived the crash to Earth. He helps recover the stasis pod of Crasher and gets her back online. Cliffjumper, Crasher, Frenzy, Heatwave, Ravage and Soundwave are sent on a mission to Burpleson Air Force Base to stop the Autobots from controlling the Global Orbital Defense System. Heatwave uses his powers to convince the GODS transmitter to fire the weapon on itself and stop the Autobots from taking control.

Cliffjumper appears in Reunification having returned to Cybertron where he was reunited with Landquake, Skyfall and Breakaway just before Cyclonus attempts to kill Megatron at the command of Alpha Trion.

IDW Publishing

Cliffjumper made his first IDW Publishing appearance in issue #3 of The Transformers: Megatron Origin, mourning Bumper alongside Bumblebee and Hubcap.

When he next appears in Spotlight: Cliffjumper, he successfully engages an entire platoon of Decepticons single handed.

Toys

• Generation 1 Mini-Car Cliffjumper (1984)

One of the retroactively-called 'Pre-Transformer' toys, the Cliffjumper mold was originally designed and released in 1983 in Japan by Takara as part of the Micro Change subset of their Microman line. The toy was designated simply `1981 'Porsche 924' (MC-01). Its "stubby" vehicle mode proportions were designed to resemble Takara's Choro-Q toyline (Penny Racers in the US). Following Hasbro's licencing of Takara toys for sale in the US, 'Cliffjumper' was released with the first wave of Transformers in 1984. A second side effect of the use of Takara overstock was that of a similar MicroChange mold (MC-02 Mazda Familia 1500 XG in yellow) being placed on Cliffjumper packaging. This toy was sometimes also found on Bumblebee cards, leading to fans referring to the character as Bumblejumper (BUMBLEbee + cliffJUMPER). The name was later officially shortened by Transformer fiction to simply Bumper. Cliffjumper was later remolded into the Series 3 mini-bot Hubcap.

In 1985 a special Listen 'N Fun edition of Cliffjumper was sold that included a cassette with the audio story Sun Raid.

Cliffjumper was released under a number of names in different countries (Carrera in Mexico, Cliff in Japan, Matamore in Canada, Grillo in Italy, etc) and was available in a variety of additional colors including blue, green, orange, white, gold, and silver.^[7]

• Generation 1 Mini-Car Yellow Cliffjumper (1984)

Owing to Hasbro using leftover toy stock bought from the Microman line, some Cliffjumper toys were yellow (its alternate MicroChange color) instead of red.

• Generation 1 McDonalds Cliffjumper (1985)

One of the four original McDonalds Happy Meal Transformers toy from 1985, this toy was just a solid blue statue of the character in robot mode.^[8]

• Generation 1 Keychain Cliffjumper

Cliffjumper was reissued (with the addition of a keychain attachment) in his traditional red. This mold was later recolored into the convention-exclusive Transformers: Universe Tap-Out figure.

• Generation 1 Black Keychain Cliffjumper

A variant all-black color was blind packaged in Japan.

Classics Cliffjumper

• Classics Deluxe Cliffjumper (2007)

In February 2007 a new Cliffjumper figure was released, a redeco of the Classics Bumblebee toy. The figure was first publicly seen at BotCon 2006. This toy was later redecoed into BotCon Bugbite.

Oddly, he doesn't come with a gun, despite being described as having one in his tech specs, he has the same accessory as Bumblebee - a waverider jet pack.

A third-party company called FansProject released an upgrade kit for this Cliffjumper figure. The kit consisted of redesigned bumpers, a rear spoiler, weapons and a new head sculpt.^[9]

• Titanium 3 inch Cliffjumper (unreleased)

Cliffjumper, a repaint of Bumblebee, was to be released as a 3 inch non-transforming figure in the Transformers: Titanium line in early 2007. This version of Cliffjumper does carry a gun.

• Henkei Deluxe Clissjumper

A repaint of the Classics toy, done in slightly more show-accurate colors released by Takara in Japan.

• Titanium 6 inch War Within Cliffjumper (unreleased)

A prototype of a 6 inch tall War Within Bumblebee/Cliffjumper figure was seen at a Hasbro factor tour in 2007. This figure had two different head scuplts, one for Bumblebee and one for Cliffjumper. This figure has yet to be released and seems to have been canceled.^[10]

• Henkei Legends Cliffjumper

A redeco of the Universe Legends Bumblebee toy available only in Japan by Takara. Came packaged with Brawn and Beachcomber as part of the "Mini-Bot Attack Team."

• Alternity Cliffjumper (2009/unreleased)^[11]

A Deluxe-sized figure with intricate detail and articulation that transforms into a Suzuki Swift. The body design is also shared with Bumblebee, which is colored yellow and uses a different head sculpt.

Other incarnations of Cliffjumper

As the Transformers franchise has grown, more continuities separate from the original series and its subsidiaries have come into existence, some featuring Cliffjumpers of their own. For the Cliffjumpers from various continuities see Cliffjumper (other incarnations).

References