First of all, Prime “Robots in Disguise” deluxes are hitting Targets. Plug your zip code into this link to see if there are any in your area. You’ll probably have to ask them to get some out of the back. That’s what Graham and I did this morning, anyway.
There’s very little chance the “First Edition” Cliffjumper‘s gonna make his way into American stores any time soon, if ever, and there’s an even remoter chance of the later-wave totally awesome zombie version, so I decided to get the “RID” version today. I don’t care that much about Cliffjumper, so I’ll take the cheapest option when it comes to him. We’re talking a cool $13 instead of the $30-40 it’d cost to import him.
I was more enamored with the “First Edition” mold, which is different from this one. FE Cliffjumper had a completely different transformation that resulted in less fake vehicle mode parts in robot mode. The car roof on his chest actually became the car’s roof. The rear bumpers on his shoulders actually became the car’s rear bumpers. That’s the sort of thing I generally prefer. Cliffjumper, on the other hand, takes a different approach. The car’s roof folds up on Cliffjumper’s back and the car’s rear bumpers become his ankles. Meanwhile, there’s a fake sculpted car roof chest and fake sculpted car bumper shoulders. There’s even fake sculpted wheels on the backs of his thighs, even though his four real wheels are plainly visible.
I don’t think there’s any obvious car kibble in his robot mode’s character model that becomes actual car parts. There’s some real car parts in robot mode, of course, since it can’t aaaalll pile onto his back, but none of that stuff exists on the cartoon’s character model.
That said, it’s not a bad toy. There’s a lot of twists and turns, but none of them make me want to murder anyone, and it’s surprisingly unfrustating and expedient to get him from robot mode back into car mode. It’s almost kind of fun, really. That makes up for a lot. Other than his odd elbows, he’s fun to pose in robot mode, as well.
He is, however, pretty tiny by Deluxe Class standards. Of all of the Prime deluxes I have so far, he’s the shortest. That may have to do with the large axe he comes with, I dunno. (The axe can plug into his car roof or the side of his car as a cannon.) It’s a little unfortunate because Cliffjumper’s partner was Arcee, who’s the second-tallest Deluxe (after Starscream). And so Arcee is taller than him by a large margin. These are definitely not their relative heights on the cartoon.
To sum up, if you don’t care about fake kibble or relative scale, he’s a fantastic toy. I’m pleasantly surprised by him.
I’ve got the FE version of this guy. He’s far from being my favourite toy but he looks a lot better than this one. My main problem is his flimsyness; he’s made almost entirely of thin plastic panels in both modes, and he’s got a huge gab in the side of his torso in robot mode (sort of like Titanium Rodimus Prime.) Plus, mine has a loose right shoulder, which is annoying.
Still, the transformation is pretty neat, incorporating nearly all of the car mode into the robot mode in interesting ways (I especially like the way the car’s headlights end up on the front of the torso, despite the fact the rest of the front-end is on his back, and the way the sides of the vehicle fold in half to form his legs.) I also really like the way his hands can transform into guns. I always love it when a Transformer’s weapons are built-in.
Is the shoulder a ball-joint? If it is, just pop that sucker off, drop a tiny amount of super glue into the socket, pop the arm back in, work in the glue for a second or two then pop out and let dry completely. When you pop it back in for the final time, you should have a nice tight, joint.
Yeah, I’ve done that trick before and plan on doing it again; I’m just a bit annoyed that I have to.
Bizarrely, the first edition is nearly the exact same height as this version. I don’t know why either.
Huh. That’s interesting. I would have thought otherwise.
He looks a little smaller here, but not by much: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/viewtopic.php?t=83887
I did say *nearly*: I can’t deny that’s noticeably shorter though.
I’m tempted to get him and swap out his head with the custom “Devil Horns” Cliff Head. I suspect there will be some issues with the fit though. Still, Cliffjumper is the only figure from Prime I want to pick up, unless they come out with BreakDown.
I’m confused as to why there are two same-size-class toys of this character at all. (Ignoring the zombie repaint; that one makes sense.)
Every repeat character in “Robots in Disguise” is new. I am not entirely sure why.
Totally different design philosophy. The RID toys all have to have:
- pop-up heads and simpler transformation schemes vs the FE
- 5mm weaponry
So they’re smaller, to allow for the weapons and/or cut costs, and they have lots of cheats in their kibble so that the transformations can be easier. Different tradeoffs.
Damn you Willis. I was blissfully ignorant of their arrival in my area. I was hoping to complete my Junkion Horde first.
Question for you: As a dutiful geek dad, I’ve been getting my kids interested in shows such as Batman, Spider-Man, Transformers, etc. They (and I) love Transformers: Prime.
For my younger son (4), we bought the Rescue-Bots Bumblebee. I was actually impressed with it. No, it’s nothing that a Transformers collector would drool over, but it is something that my 4 year old can transform back and forth without breaking off pieces.
Meanwhile, we had bought my older son (age 8) some Transformers awhile back and I tried taking them out again for him. Sadly, these toys just seem tricky to transform. They either won’t stay in one mode (pieces don’t “snap tight”) or trying to transform them results in parts threatening to snap off.
My eight-year-old was drooling over a Generations WheelJack after his brief appearance on Transformers: Prime. Are those good quality? What about these Prime toys? Would either hold up well to an eight year old who might play rough with them?
Hmmm. Can you tell me which toys he had trouble with? That might help me figure out which ones won’t frustrate him. I’m not sure what the specific threshold of difficulty is.
Generations Wheeljack, for example, I think is not terribly complicated…. except for one area, the getting his arms shoved back into the rear shell of the car. That could cause frustration. But if teaching him how to place the notches in the arms into the ridges inside the shell first before closing everything up is an easy hurdle to surmount, that might be an okay toy for him.
I guess it’s more the “stay in place after transforming” than difficulty level that I’m worried about. He has a Sunstorm and a very small Ratchet. Both don’t seem to like staying in place once transformed. Maybe I’m remembering wrong, but when I was a kid I never had these kinds of problems with my Transformers. Did I just happen to pick some badly designed ones or did quality drop that much from the 80′s until now?
The 80s Transformers were absurdly simple, which is why they held together in both modes better. These days toys are way more complicated, so there’s more margin for error. Most peg together sturdily, but others are really rough to get all their panels to line up.
I’m, uh, not sure which Sunstorm and Ratchet you’re talking about specifically, since there are a dozen of the former and several dozen of the latter. “Very small Ratchet” can describe a lot of toys! The tip of the iceberg: http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Ratchet_%28Movie%29/toys
I looked on TFWiki and it looks like the “small Ratchet” is the Activators Ratchet and it came with Sunstorm. Both from The Transformers Animated series.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Sunstorm_%28Animated%29
I see your point about the simpler 80′s toys versus today’s toys. It’s great that they have more articulation, but the tradeoff is more points for the toy to break.
If he’s having trouble with those, then, I’d stay away from most Deluxe Class toys and stick to smaller stuff like Cyberverse.
Well, we know there’s a Cyberverse Arcee coming eventually. And with the RiD Bumblebee being a bit shorter as well, perhaps the scale will even out a bit more? Maybe?
I’ve considered that, but I think Deluxe Arcee and Legion Arcee are equidistant from the size Arcee would need to be.
Legion Arcee would probably be in scale in vehicle mode with others, so I’ll get her just for that reason. The new Deluxe/Revealer Arcee might be smaller and more in scale in robot mode though, if the current trend continues.
“There’s very little chance the ‘First Edition’ Cliffjumper‘s gonna make his way into American stores any time soon, if ever…”
Nnnnoooo! Really?! Nnnnoooo! I’m bummed now… so wanted that Cliffjumper. And 2 Starscreams, as well. *Sigh.*
Last time I went into Vegas, I searched 3 Toys R’ Us shops, 4 Walmarts, 2 K-Marts and 2 Targets to no avail and now I know why.
Anybody willing to help a guy out for just ONE FE Starscream without scalper pricing? Please?
Back to Cliffy, here: what’s with the axe (or is it a mace?)/cannon thing?! That looks too cumbersome for eithers similitude. I know most of the weapons that’ve been with some figures lately have been big… but they had gimmicks built in. This is just… wow. >_<'
- a_o_t_8.
That “check availability” link should be used with caution. It lies. Or Target as a whole just lies. The link said the figure(s) were available yesterday so I gleefully drove over to get some new transformer goodies. …none in sight. Not in the action figure aisle, not on any endcaps, and the staff didn’t have a clue about the figures, or why the website would say they have them.
After a bad F@#$ing night at work, it made for wonderful bit of news to hear.
Did you go to the scanners and enter the DPCI? That’s the best way to see where the store’s inventory system thinks it is where it is. Also takes care of cluless staffers. “It’s in the back. See?” Then they can grab a PDA and check what shelf or pull bin it’s in.
I don’t think they are doing the toy reset for another couple of weeks.
Occasionally my ToD in Target stocking comes in handy.
Yeah, all that “available” means is they have possession of the shipping cases. Those boxes are in the stockroom, dude. That’s why I said “you’ll probably have to ask them to get some out of the back.” Third sentence.
Asking an employee about “Transformers Prime” figures isn’t going to get you anything, either. They’re not going to know about it. That’s why you tell them the DPCI# is listed as in stock in their store but there are none on the floor. And if they’re nice and you’re nice, they might get some out for you.