Vault Review: Transformers Prime
Terrorcon Cliffjumper

Vault

Just when I thought I had finished up my Transformers reviews for a while, the second wave of Takara’s Prime figures bits. I guess it’s fitting timing that their version of Terrorcon Cliffjumper is released just after Hasbro announced he’ll be among their SDCC exclusives.

My review is going to contain some spoilers about Transformers Prime.  So if you’re still waiting to watch the series, and you don’t want to be spoiled, then you should probably stop reading now.

For those of you who don’t care about spoilers and still want to know who this figure is, I’ll give a quick recap.  After discovering an untapped Energon deposit on Earth, Cliffjumper was ambushed by a group of Vehicons.  He was subdued and brought aboard their ship, where Starscream promptly murdered him.

Poor Cliffjumper’s torture didn’t end there as Megatron stabbed a shard of Dark Energon (Unicron’s blood) into his chest.   Back from the dead, CJ was now a mindless zombie that would attack anything in front of him without restraint.  Megatron, pleased with his experiment, cut CJ in half and left his upper body for the Autobots to discover.

Like most of the First Edition Prime figures, Terrorcon Cliffjumper became a bit of a challenge to find.  He was originally going to be produced by Hasbro, but those plans were scrapped when they cancelled the FE line for the more kid-friendly Robots in Disguise.  Fortunately Takara was still on track to make this figure, and even Hasbro listened to fan demand and added him as one of their SDCC exclusives.  Interestingly, even though the two figures share the same mold their looks are incredibly different from each other.  Check out TFW2005’s TF Con gallery to see the Hasbro version.

The most striking thing about the Takara Cliffjumper is almost entirely made up of translucent purple.  I was really shocked when I saw it for the first time.  All of the preorder pictures depicted him in a solid and darker blueberry color.  So ending up with a purple stained glass look was really nice surprise.  He’s basically one giant piece of light piping, which is damned cool.

The body zombie Cliff uses is the exact same sculpt as the FE Cliffjumper.  The only difference is zombie Cliff has a new head.  True to his show appearance, his right horn has been broken off while the right side of his face is a shattered mess.  His right eye is even larger and bulging a bit because the metal around it has been torn off.

Speaking of eyes, CJ’s eyes have a really detailed sculpt.  You can even see the tiny pupils if you look hard enough.  But even though the figure is almost entirely translucent, they specifically molded his head’s light piping a solid color while painting his eyes black.  This gives him a great soulless and intimidating look.  Continue to page 2…

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36 thoughts on “Vault Review: Transformers Prime
Terrorcon Cliffjumper”

    1. I finally got to watch the last few episodes of Prime since it hit Netflix, and they were pretty good. I definitely think the series gets better as it goes on, so keep this in mind if you do check it out.

  2. Hey!

    I just wanted to let you know that Hasbro didn’t entirely cancel the First Edition line, it’s just the FE line was made months before the PRID line was even conceptualized. You see the FE figures were originally going to be Generations figures and were worked on by that team, but then Hasbro decided to make Prime it’s own new line with a new team after the FE figures were already made. Hasbro just said at last week’s Botcon they are going to try their hardest to get the rest of the FE figures out in the states as soon as they can.

    1. They’ve been saying that for a couple months now, and to me that just begs the question; why the hell was the second wave of FE deluxes and the FE voyagers never intended for U.S. release in the first place? That’s what seems to defy all logic. They went through the expense of tooling the figures and going into production on them for Canada and Japan, but only ever thought to release the first wave of deluxes in the States? That’s ass-backwards logic if I’ve ever heard it.

      1. They TRIED to release them in the states; the problem was that nobody (except TRU, for the Deluxes and that Bumblebee gun) were interested in ordering any. Hasbro can’t force them to carry the line, and most stores passed on the FEs and waited to order the main line once it started. Presumably, they were more concerned with getting rid of the end of their DOTM stuff when the ordering window for FEs was open.

    2. Yeah, I know it’s not entirely Hasbro’s fault since the retailers weren’t biting. But I am a bit disappointed in the oversimplified transformations of the smaller sizes of the RiD line though.

      I’m definitely glad they’re getting Terrorcon CJ out there. Hopefully they’ll do the same with the rest. I’d love to pick up a FE Bulkhead for a non-rapey price.

  3. I like the beast mode of the minicon. Looks silly on the hood though.
    Clear purple is pretty snazzy for a color scheme.
    Still sad cliffjumper died.

  5. that transp.purple really makes this figure.
    I’d love to get him, but I can live without.

  6. If I were a rich man (I’m not) I would get one of these and the SDCC version and swap a few parts around.

    1. I haven’t decided if I’m going for the SDCC one yet. He’s different enough to tempt me, but I’m not sure I like him enough to get another.

      Of course, money and availability will have a factor also…

  7. Great review! Makes me look forward to this guy even more.

    I just got a Takara Prime Soundwave today (and sliced my finger trying to get his Minicon’s parts off the sprue), and saw this guy in the promotional sheet that came with Soundwave. So I ordered him. Looking forward to getting this guy, but kinda miffed that he’s going to transform differently from the Cliffjumper I actually have. Enh, whatever. It’ll give me a “Ravage” to go with the Soundwave.

    1. Thanks Beedo! I think you’ll be happy with him.

      I got my Takara Soundwave the other day also. Sadly, he’s the first Takara Prime that I’m a little disappointed in. Aside from the Minicon, I think Hasbro did a better job.

      1. Yeah, I know what you mean. The plastic’s so soft on some parts as to be almost tearable.

  8. ….

    Zombie Transformers?

    *sigh*

    Still, excellent review as always, Vault. I agree, I like the translucent purple as well. It does give him a kind of….altered, somewhat decayed look.

    And I love the Minicons! Hasbro would do well to work with Takara and just sell a whole box of the kits at their online store. Never gonna happen of course but it would be nice.
    🙂

    1. “Zombie Transformers?”

      They totally had zombie transformers ever since Generation 1. 😉

      1. I can’t tell if you’re being serious or joking.

        But if you’re being serious, I’d love to know more.

        1. Yeah, in my perambulations around Teletraan-1, the TransFormer wiki (and before someone decided to overwrite practically every contribution I ever made), I read of several instances of zombie TransFormers in the G1 comics. Racthet and Megatron were part of that storyline, so those would be a good place to start looking.

          And don’t forget Undead Optimus Prime, who featured in the cartoons!

        2. I’m totally serious.

          The biggest Transformer zombie story before Prime and Dark Energon came out was in the UK comics, where a rogue Autobot scientist called Flame reanimated hundreds of deactivated Transformers into a horde of “undead” that threatened to overrun Cybertron.

          There was also an episode of Animated where some parasites reanimated Megatron’s body (and zombified the still-functioning Prowl and Bumblebee to boot!).

          And there’s been a few different incidents of “living dead” Transformers. TFwiki reminds me that Optimus is actually referred to as a zombie in the G1 episode “Dark Awakening” as well!

          And this isn’t even touching Transformer vampires!

          1. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!

            I was going to say “It was probably in the UK Transformers comic”, seriously!

            Because that’s the kind of stuff they did. 🙂

    2. Thanks Steve.

      I don’t remember where, but I saw some pics of an ad with all these first Minicons repainted. Since it was in Japanese I have no clue as to what it said, but it gave the impression that Takara was going to re-release them as individuals.

      I’ll post on the forum if I can find a clarification on this.

  9. This guy looks cool. They’re also releasing him with a different paint job and minus the minicon for the SDCC exclusives this year, so another shot for people to own this version of the mold (in a somewhat more show-accurate color).

    Looking good, loving the minicon there. I kinda wish Takara could do these all-new minicon molds available solo, like they have done with some other stuff in the past.

    1. See my reply to Steve above, but I think Takara may do that.

      Like I said, I’ll post if I hear anything about it.

      1. Great review as usual, by the way. The pictures you guys take are the bomb.

  10. Oh, by the way, Jida’s actually supposed to be a cheetah (hence the name). Although a rat would be both much more interesting and much more appropriate.

    1. I was wondering, because that didn’t look very rat-like to me. Chainsaw Cheetah. Gah, i wish the minicons would come out over here.

      1. lol, double chainsaw cheetah!

        Yeah, I wish Hasbro would release these. They’re really a great add-on.

    2. Ah, that makes much more sense, especially with the name. And now I know why some of his stickers have spots on them. But now I’m a bit sad that CJ doesn’t have a little rat buddy to nibble on his shambling carcass.

      I’ve updated the review with the correction. Thanks for the info, LV! 🙂

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