Strike first, strike fast, strike hard.

From Cliffjumper's original Tech Specs:

"Let me at 'em," is Cliffjumper's motto. His eagerness and daring have no equal. He's driven by a desire to win the battle against the Decepticons. Finds Earth terrain a hindrance. One of the fastest Autobots. Often uses his speed to draw fire away from others. Shoots "glass gas" which makes metal as brittle as glass. His recklessness often leads to actual blow-outs and situations too dangerous for him to handle."

When I first discovered that there would be a new Cliffjumper in the Transformers Prime toyline I was ecstatic. The toy looked great in vehicle and robot mode and was not, I repeat WAS NOT a Bumblebee repaint. As a Cliffjumper fan from day one (he was my first Transformer, and you never forget your first!) that sort of BS pisses me off. Don't get me wrong, I love G1 Bumblebee too, but he and Cliffjumper are NOT twins!

Anyways, my joy quickly led to disappointment when the nice looking Cliffjumper turned into a limited release and the standard Transformers Prime Cliffjumper that hit the shelves en masse was clearly sub-par.

Then I discovered they were going to re-release the good Cliffjumper body with a G1 head! Even better!

Then I discovered it would be an Asia only exclusive. Dammit.

Then I discovered that the Asia exclusives are now Toys R Us exclusives in the US! Yippee, if I can find one!

Then something really strange happened - I found one!

Cliffjumper's robot mode is a perfect update to his G1 self. I love him!

He doesn't come with any weapons, buthis hands do rotate into gattling guns, which is pretty damn neat!

A solid toy in robot mode, Cliffjumper is well built and well designed. He stands and poses easily and holds his shape just fine.

The piping for the eyes as well as translucent headlights make for a nice effect.

The blue tinted windows look really nice in robot mode too.

"I'm Casey Kase...umm...I mean Cliffjumper"

Although not remotely a Porsche 924, Cliffjumper's car mode is pretty hot. The Plymouth-esque 70's hot rod design (he'll look great displayed next to Big Daddy), along with his name, invoke some Dukes of Hazzard influences...

...not to mention the Boss Hoggish horns up front, which also reflect Cliffjumper's horns on his G1 head.

YEEEHHHAAAAWWWW!!!!

Sadly, while it was simple enough to get from car to robot, this thing is a bear to transform back from robot to car. I'm sure it just takes a while to get the joinst mushy enough to go where they should, but after about 30 minutes of trying Cliffjumper still looks like he hit a tree and the tree hit back. Or he jumped one too many cliffs.

And he's only labeled as a difficulty level of 2! I can't imagine too many kids being able to Transform this guy, although kids do have small hands and good eyes.

As for now, I may have to leave him in robot mode indefinitely, which is sad but I'll get over it.

UPDATE: I figured out the place where I was not bending the proper joints, well, properly; all is well now and Cliffjumper is safely back in automobile mode!