Cliffjumper (WFC)
| The name or term "Cliffjumper" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Cliffjumper (disambiguation). |
- Cliffjumper is an Autobot from the Aligned continuity family.
Cliffjumper (Cliff to his chums) isn't your run-of-the-mill Autobot freedom fighter. Armed with six-cylinder ion cannons, a quantum-sensitive multiphase targeting system that would make Megatron jealous, and of course, the old-school technique of pummeling Decepticons with his fists, Cliffjumper prefers to liven up the day with firefights while retrieving enemy intelligence. He more than lives up to his name: He'll fearlessly leap long before he bothers looking!
| “ | Need backup? | ” |
| “ | Do I ever need backup? | ” |
—Cliffjumper, "Darkness Rising, Part 1" | ||
Fiction
Exodus
Cliffjumper concurred with Ironhide that while Sentinel Prime was not an Autobot, he deserved to be rescued. He and Ultra Magnus's Wreckers later escorted Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Jetfire to the Well of All Sparks when they made their journey to purge Cybertron's core of Dark Energon. Transformers: Exodus
Prime comics
When the Decepticons returned to their dead homeworld, Cliffjumper went in with all guns blazing to investigate. The Eradicons piled onto him, grappling him until he was unconscious. He awoke to find himself in their base, which Cliffjumper commented looked like the sort of lair Starscream would design. An Eradicon said Cliffjumper would live until he was no longer useful, and asked him to decode an offworld Autobot signal. It came from none other than Optimus himself, ordering his forces to gather on a planet called Earth. Awed, Cliffjumper then turned to his interrogator and said all the decoded message said was, "Megatron smells like Unicron's armpit." The infuriated Eradicon ordered Cliffjumper's demise just before Arcee burst in, slaughtering the Decepticons.
Cliffjumper tried to greet his old colleague, but she told him to be quiet, coldly informing him she had not come to rescue him, but to tap into the Decepticons' communications. Finding the coordinates of the enemy's weapons lab in Kaon, she was prepared to go by herself until Cliffjumper convinced her that Kaon was too dangerous for her stealthy ways, and that she needed his brawn to back her brain. Entering the city through its maintenance tunnels, Arcee opened a secret passage. As he travelled up an ancient staircase, Cliffjumper's suspicions were confirmed when he saw Starscream overseeing the reactivation of a space bridge. Arcee wanted to destroy the device, but Cliffjumper saw it as their ticket to Earth. He distracted Starscream by going straight to him and his Eradicons, claiming he wanted to join them. Arcee activated the device, and when Starscream noticed, Cliffjumper jumped his pretense and started a fight, then jumped with Arcee into the space bridge.
As he plummeted, Cliffjumper momentarily wondered if he was one with the AllSpark, but Arcee confirmed they had fallen onto Earth. Finding a ghost town, they scanned their alternate modes. Cliffjumper disdained a passing travel trailer (which he found too ugly) and a truck (which was too bulky) before selecting a muscle car, which Arcee found suitably noisy. He added horns on the hood of his new alternate mode as a finishing touch. As the two drove to find Optimus, Starscream—who had also jumped into the space bridge—attacked them, blasting off Arcee's arm. Cliffjumper fought Starscream and buried him under a pile of rocks, but then Breakdown appeared. It seemed like the end, but Optimus and Bumblebee came and fought off the two Decepticons before opening a ground bridge to their base and sending Arcee through for repairs. Optimus told Cliffjumper his journey was over, but a new battle was just beginning. Transformers: Prime (comic)
Prime cartoon
- Voice actor: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (English), Sang-hyeon Eom (Korean), Robin Kahnmeyer (German), Sergio Gutiérrez Coto (Latin American Spanish)
During the Great War, Cliffjumper and Bumblebee invaded the lair of Airachnid, who had captured Arcee and Tailgate. Airachnid had already killed Tailgate by the time Cliffjumper and Bumblebee arrived, but they were able to pull a shellshocked Arcee to safety. Predatory
Long after the Great Exodus, and three years after the last reported Decepticon activity on Earth, Cliffjumper was still marooned on the planet with his fellow Autobots. Still a strong-willed individual, Cliffjumper had sometimes run afoul of human authorities, resulting in receiving multiple traffic tickets and once having a boot affixed to his tire due to a parking violation. As he chatted with his closest friend, Arcee, over the radio, she admonished him for his stubborn bullheadedness. He countered that Earth was so boring that sometimes he just had to stir things up.
Just as Cliffjumper noted that he was starting to miss the Decepticons, his scanners caught nearby activity. He declined Arcee's suggestion for backup and sped off in the direction of the disturbance. He was surprised to find a wide crater full of energon, and even more surprised to find it guarded by the Decepticons! Overwhelming Decepticon forces demanded Cliffjumper put up a ferocious fight, but ultimately, the Autobot was overcome and taken on board the Nemesis, the Decepticons' warship, and thrown in front of Starscream. The interim Decepticon commander did not respond well to Cliffjumper's irreverence, and the Autobot was stabbed through the chest. Starscream then ordered his troops to clean up the body.
The remaining Earthbound Autobots arrived on the scene too late, and Ratchet confirmed that Cliffjumper's spark had gone offline. Finding one of Cliffjumper's horns in the dirt, Arcee took the piece of her friend to the Autobots' memorial service. The loss of Cliffjumper hit her the hardest, and she stormed off amidst their eulogies, preferring to honor Cliffjumper's memory by keeping Earth safe. Ratchet confided in Optimus Prime that as long as the Autobots protected humanity, Cliffjumper's death would not be the only tragedy. Darkness Rising, Part 1
Though Cliffjumper had died, his body still had uses. When Megatron wanted a corpse on which to test Dark Energon's resurrection powers, Cliffjumper's was used as a guinea pig. Once his torso was stabbed through by a shard of the material, Cliffjumper did spring back to life...though as a psychotic, screaming zombie that attacked anything in its path! Only being sliced in two by Megatron stopped Cliffjumper's rampage, and his two halves decorated varying levels of the Decepticons' energon mine.
The initial Dark Energon stabbing did briefly bring Cliffjumper's spark back online, but when Ratchet's sensors picked this up, he dismissed it as a glitch. Regardless, Arcee wanted to investigate. After the Autobots mounted an attack on the Decepticons, Arcee found the top half of Cliffjumper strewn about, but was horrified to see the monster that he had become. Whatever this thing was, it was no longer Cliffjumper, so the zombie was left behind as the Decepticon base exploded. Darkness Rising, Part 2
When Arcee encountered Arachnid once again, she taunted Arcee by bringing up the deaths of Tailgate and Cliffjumper. Predatory
Later, at Cliffjumper's memorial, Arcee said she had not given up on finding the Decepticon responsible for his death. When she discovered their prisoner Starscream was responsible, she attempted to kill him, only to stop when a shocked Bumblebee convinced her to stop and let him escape. She reflected to Optimus that her desire for vengeance had not brought the solace she sought. Partners
While under the influence of synthetic energon, Ratchet brought up Cliffjumper's death as something Prime should have been more pro-active in preventing. Stronger, Faster
Games
Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)
- Voice actor: Steve Blum (English)
Following the unleashing of Omega Supreme, Cliffjumper spotted a party of Decepticons preparing to assault the giant. He attempted to slow their advance with force fields and gun turrets, and when that didn't work, led them on a high-speed chase while trying to shoot them. They eventually caught up with him when he crashed into a wall and, though his spirit was still defiant, he was unable to stop them passing him. Of course, they immediately ran into Jetfire... Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)
Toys
Generations
- Cliffjumper (Deluxe, 2010)
- Accessories: handgun
- Part of the fifth wave of Generations Deluxe class toys, Cliffjumper is a red retool/redeco of Cybertronian Bumblebee with a new head, transforming into a round "Cybertronian racer mode". His toy comes with a handgun and features two wrist-mounted, flip-out blades. The handgun can be stored inside his rear bumper in either robot or vehicle mode.
- The instructions for Bumblebee depicted him with Cliffjumper's head sculpt, thus revealing the retool before it was officially announced, a continuing trend in the Generations line.
- This toy was also (slightly) redecoed to make United Cliffjumper Cybertron Mode.
Prime
- Cliffjumper (Cyberserse Legion, 2012)
- Accessories: Gun
- Cliffjumper (Deluxe, 2011)
- Wave two of Prime "First Edition" Deluxe Class toys includes Cliffjumper, who transforms into a muscle car that crossbreeds the rear of a Plymouth Barracuda with the front of a Dodge Challenger.
- Terrorcon Cliffjumper (Deluxe, 2012)
- Wave three "First Edition" Deluxes include "Terrorcon Cliffjumper", a retool of the previous wave's Deluxe Class Cliffjumper. He now sports a different, "zombie" head and an altered deco.
- Cliffjumper (Deluxe, 2012)
- Accessories: gun/hammer
- Wave one of the "Robots in Disguise" Deluxe Class assortments includes an entirely new Cliffjumper mold. The roof-mounted gun can become a wielded hammer.
Notes
- Cliffjumper was presented as a key Autobot in the Prime cartoon's publicity material, and he had a starring role in the comic released before the show's premiere. That, combined with the fandom's excitement over the news of his voice actor (an announcement that was actually very low-key,[1] but you know, fandoms), made his death in the opening minutes of the pilot episode come as quiiiiiiite a shock to just about everyone. Prime's sister show, G.I. Joe: Renegades, pulled the same tactic with the hero Ripcord, but they gave that character more than five minutes to develop a personality and an attachment to the audience. Of course, later on, Ripcord was found alive, but let's not hold our breath for Cliffjumper.
- Prime cartoon executive producer Jeff Kline said Cliffjumper will remain dead, but his relationship with Arcee could be explored in flashbacks.[2]
