Cliffjumper's vehicle
mode is quite spot-on to the show-model, being a red angular muscle car.
The proportions are spot-on, and there's no real robot mode extras visible
in this mode (with one very minor exception, discussed later). In fitting
with the Prime aesthetic, his mold detailing is mostly sparse, though a
few bits-- like his rear window "blinds" and his front bumper-- are surprisingly
detailed. The shade of red used for most of his plastic is a rather eye-catching
shade, having just a little touch of a milky metallic look to it that makes
it look a bit more like a painted car finish. Cliffjumper's color scheme
of red and black with a bit of silver isn't something that'll blow your
mind, but the basic colors contrast and together work well enough. Even
though it is show-accurate, though, I wish there were a few more paint
apps in this mode. His windows are painted a dark metallic gunmetal gray--
almost a metallic black, really-- and his front and rear bumpers are painted
a nice silver. There's also a teeny bit of robot detailing that peeks through
in this mode due to his transformation-- a stripe of metallic gunmetal
gray down the middle of the roof, which becomes his chest in robot mode.
All of this is nice, but a little bit of silver on the sides wouldn't have
hurt and would've broken up all this red a bit more. For a weapon, Cliffjumper
comes with the standard Autobot pale red "switchblade" weapon, which can
be plugged into any of his three Cyberverse-scaled weapon ports in this
mode (one on the top of his roof and one on each side, to the rear of the
car doors).
Cliffjumper's robot
mode, on the other hand... well. I applaud Hasbro for trying something
a bit different than your typical "car to robot" Legion-class transformation
in terms of his shoulders folding back from the front car section and the
lower arms rotating out of those pieces, but it's fairly underwhelming
compared to his vehicle mode. His "feet" are the worst offenders, being
sections of the side of his car mode that are way too overly flat, wide,
and long (though they do keep him stable, at least). His upper legs are
also way too short compared to the big chunks of automobile that are his
lower legs, and his head is an absolute pin-head. It's not helped by oddly
"mushy" head sculpting, with little stubs for horns and a slightly odd-shaped
head overall. The halves of his front grill on his shoulders look nice,
even if they're not show-accurate and make the sides of his chest a bit
overly bulky. His arms are definitely the best part of this mode, being
pretty much all you could expect from a toy of this size, and not merely
being hands molded into the side of car doors or the like that's part of
the design of many a Legion class figure. The addition of more black and
silver in this mode help to break up the colors much better than in vehicle
mode, as far as his that aspect goes. For articulation, Cliffjumper can
move at the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles-- and all but the
hips are on ball joints. That's definitely one of the best aspects of this
mode-- the posability. Cliffjumper can hold his blade-weapon in either
of his hands, though the three ports from vehicle mode (all on his legs
here) are still be used.
Cliffjumper has a great
vehicle mode, but his robot mode is one of the weakest of the 2012 Prime
toyline's Legion class figures, with weird proportions on his legs, chest,
and especially his feet. His mushy-looking headsculpt doesn't help either,
though on the plus side, his articulation is pretty good for the size class.
Still, unless you only collect Cyberverse-scaled figures, I'd get one of
the deluxe versions of Prime Cliffjumper over this toy, as they all have
MUCH better 'bot modes.
Review by Beastbot