Cliffjumper - Red and Yellow

I spent way too much time trying to achieve this pose as a kid.  Pic from www.botchthecrab.com

Cliffjumper is one of those figures that I can't believe I didn't have in my collection until now.  Well, when I started dabbling with collecting G1 again, I did manage to snag the Cliffjumper key chain reissue that came out around 2004, but he was always just a placeholder.   He took a backseat since then as he fell down the chain of importance, but as I'm nearing the last 100 G1 figures I need to finish off the US run, I figured it was high time to get him - in both colors. 

Mustard and ketchup

That's right, Cliffjumper was released in two colors.  Only the red version seemed to be officially recognized, but the yellow was released on red card backs.  Confusing to me as a kid?  Sure, but I'm sure my mind would have been blown if knew about all of the colors available outside the US.  Perhaps one day I'll branch into minbot variants, but I kind of like my sanity at the moment.   

For the six of you out there that don't know, Cliffjumper transforms into a super deformed Penny Racer style Porsche.  I recall having a few Penny Racers as a kid and losing them almost immediately, usually under a couch or a drain.  I purchased these guys separately from two different sellers about a day apart.  I purchased the yellow version first since he was so cheap, and the next day a great red version came up.  The rubsign on ol' mustard paint is prety much gone, but for what I paid, I can't complain.

Red Cliffjumper is everyone's favorite, of course.  I think that this makes like the sixth one I've owned in my life, not counting the key chain version.  Bumblebee was always my Penny Racer styled figure, but I can understand Cliffjumper's appeal.  Especially considering the way Cliffjumper was portrayed in the show.  It didn't hurt that the immortal Casey Kasem voiced the little scamp.  It took me forever to find a Cliffjumper that had tight joints and tires that weren't cracked.  I had no idea it would be that hard.  When I wanted a blue-eared Cyclonus, it took me a day to find him.  Cliffjumper?  Try off and on for a year.  That's ridiculous.

As I mentioned earlier, the rubsign on the yellow Cliffjumper is shot.  The clear top of the sticker is completely removed.  Other than that, his joints are tight, and his tires are in great shape.  I'm very pleased with him.  This is only the second time I've owned a yellow Cliffjumper, the first coming to me in 1984.  I was seriously confused by the guy that was colored as Bumblebee, but was clearly Cliffjumper.  My explanation for that had something to do with Cliffjumper going undercover.  Look, I was 7, get off my back.  When Hubcap was released in 1986, I traded my yellow Cliffjumper for something else, a decision that I regret in retrospect.

Here they are together in robot mode.  As you can see, the only difference is the color in which they are molded.  There's a lesson in that for you youngsters.  There's a reason Cliffjumper survived the carnage that was The Transformers: The Movie to tell the tale, and it isn't solely because of Mr. Kasem.