TOY REVIEW
Name: Bumblebee or Cliffjumper, depending on which card it
came in.
Fans refer to this toy as BUMBLEJUMPER or BUMPER.
Allegiance: Autobot
Function: Espionage or Warrior, depending on card.
Vehicular Mode: Familia 1500 XG
"The least likely can be the most dangerous." or "Strike
first, strike fast, strike hard.", yep, you guessed it -- depending
on card.
Above: This Bumblejumper came with a Cliffjumper card, but he was also
available in Bumblebee cards too
VEHICULAR MODE
Length: under 5 cm
Bumblejumper is a small super-deformed Familia 1500 XG. The colour
scheme is primarily yellow on my toy, although red variants were also available.
The windows, front grill (including headlights), bumpers and lower rims
of the chassis are black. The wheels are silver with four black Dunlop
tyres (the two larger back tyres have the words "Dunlop" printed on them).
There are also two yellow wing mirrors sticking out of the sides - a nice
touch. A square, silver panel on the back (which conceals the robot head)
resembles the launching squares found in Takara's Choro Q cars, which has
led some fans to speculate that the Microman cars were based on Choro Q.
The underside of the car is completely black and the only robot kibble
visible are the robot fingers/thumbs. Other than the fact that the back
wheels are larger than the front wheels, it's a fairly good scale replica
of a Familia 1500 XG for a toy this size.
TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE
Pull out the wheels, forming robot arms. Pull bonnet forward, revealing
robot legs. Swing bonnet halves up, forming robot feet. Flip up launching
square, revealing robot head.
ROBOT MODE
Height: 7.5cm
The head is yellow and the face is completely silver. The arms and
legs are black and the rest of the body, being parts of the car, carry
on the same colour scheme. The back of the torso is completely black and
is made of die-cast metal. This toy only features two points of articulation
at the shoulders.
OVERALL
Not a very spectacular toy at all, but the fact that he's the RAREST
Transformer in the world makes him a very hot collector's item. After all,
the Microman Familia 1500 XG toy was not supposed to carry on to the Transformers
line. It was a simple factory mistake that allowed a few of these figures
to be packaged in either Bumblebee or Cliffjumper cards and sold as either
of those characters (and only in very early shipments, as this mistake
was soon rectified by Hasbro). So really, it's not that great a toy in
terms of construction. Its entire appeal comes from its sheer scarcity.
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