Ion impulse blaster

The ion impulse blaster is a strange and elusive weapon associated with Bombshells and Jumpstarters.

Toys

The Transformers

• Bombshell (Insecticon, 1985)
  • Accessories: twin ion impulse blaster

As identified in his instructions, The Transformers Bombshell came with a silver chromed twin ion impulse blaster. This mold was also used to make Salvo, see below.

• Topspin (Jumpstarter, 1985)
  • Accessories: particle beam rifle

As identified in his packaging bio, The Transformers Topspin also came with a silver chromed twin ion impulse blaster. This mold was also used to make Salt-Man X and Robot-Man X.

• Twin Twist (Jumpstarter, 1985)
  • Accessories: semi-automatic cannon-rifle

According to his packaging bio, The Transformers Twin Twist also came with a silver chromed twin ion impulse blaster. This mold was also used to make Salt-Man Z and Robot-Man Z.

Collector's Edition

File:E-hobby Salvo stock image.jpg

• Insectron Clone Army (multi-pack, 2004)
  • Accessories: bipartite ion impulse blaster, Energon cube

According to his instructions, Collector's Edition Salvo came with a silver chromed bipartite ion impulse blaster. This toy was was only available in the e-HOBBY exclusive set with Shothole and Zaptrap and was repurposed to represent Shattered Glass Bombshell.

ULTIMATES!

• Bombshell (ULTIMATES!, 2021)
  • Accessories: twin ion impulse blaster, short burst stinger rifle, left & right fists, left & right gripping hands, left & right open hands, Needler

Transformers ULTIMATES! Bombshell came with a brand new version of his twin ion impulse blaster.

Notes

• For some reason, all three of the main Generation 1 Insecticons' instructions gave their weapons interesting and exotic-sounding names (such as Kickback's electrothermic blast tube and Shrapnel's gamma ray detonator) only for these descriptions to be ignored by pretty much every other source of information about them, including their packaging bios. Bombshell's bio notes that he can fire cerebro-shells with his stinger, which may imply a repurposing of his twin ion impulse blaster, but otherwise concentrates on his head-mounted mortar. His Marvel Universe profile perhaps more explicitly repurposes his twin ion impulse blaster as his stinger by describing the weapon's function in both insect and robot modes, before going on to describe his head-mounted mortar separately. Dreamwave went even further in Bombshell's More than Meets the Eye profile by ignoring the stinger issue completely and noting that in addition to his head-mounted mortar he also carried a laser rifle.
• Conversely, for some reason the Jumpstarters' packaging bios renamed both of their weapons to being twin ion impulse blasters, despite their instructions, and Universe and More than Meets the Eye profiles all calling them a particle beam rifle and a semi-automatic cannon-rifle respectively. Twin Twist's packaging bio even notes that his twin ion impulse blaster shoots 100lbs TNT shells, which sounds like something a semi-automatic cannon-rifle would do, suggesting that the name was some kind of placeholder that was missed or a late substitution.
• All of which suggests that someone at Hasbro in 1985 really liked the name "twin ion impulse blaster", but for whatever reason never found a place for it that worked.