Microman OriginsI'm covering Bumblebee, Cliffjumper & "Bumper" here - and all derivations of the above as per usual. All three toys have a common history and have stories that are so interlinked that it's worth telling the story together. To the best of my knowledge all three are original moulds and there are no shared parts between them. Though the legs,arms and wheels do look very similar....
The three toys that make up Bumblebee, Cliffjumper and "Bumper" start life together in the
Microchange toy line in Japan. Microchange specialised in household objects (like Cassette players, Microscopes and high velocity weapons with silencers) turning into robots to assist the Microman toys. So what are cars doing as part of this toyline ? Our three Transformers are actually part of the
Minicar series which is based on the
Choro-Q (penny racer) toyline of superdeformed cars. Yes Bumblebee, Cliffjumper & "Bumper" are meant to be toy cars! (If you want to read about Transformers reunion with Choro-Q then
TF Wiki's Choro-Q article is a good place to start.)
The seven cars in the
Microchange Minicar series are:
01 Porsche 944 - which becomes
Cliffjumper02 Nissan XG 1500 - which becomes the toy now known as "
Bumper"
03 VW Beetle - which is of course
Bumblebee04 4WD Truck -
Gears05 Jeep -
Brawn06 Trans Am -
Windcharger07 Semi Truck -
HufferThe first three cars were each available in three colours: red,yellow & blue. Which helps explain some of what follows..... The remaining 4 toys in this series were only available in their Transformers colours.
Generation 1 BumblebeeThe Transformers release of the VW Beetle toy gives the fledgling toyline one of it's most iconic characters due to the work done by both the Marvel comic and the cartoon when they chose to focus on him early on. The official Transformers colour scheme for this car is yellow, but many red Bumblebees were released indicating that early Bumblebee's may have been Microman overstock. The dimensions for the 67
VW Beetle are Length 4,079 mm (160.6 in) & Width 1,539 mm (60.6 in) which emphasises that the Transformers toy - which is approximately 1 inch x 1 inch - is a super deformed version. It still captures most of the familiar features of the rounded VW Beetle design.
Transformation: Pull the front of the car forward to reveal the legs then bend the front of the car up to form the feet. Pull the sides of the car out to form the arms. Fold the back of the car - which would have been the slot for the penny to go in on the Choro-Q version - back to reveal the head. Stand.
The robot mode reveals black plastic on the arms & legs which works well as a good contrast to the yellow of the car body & feet. While the general shape of the head is similar to what we're familiar with thanks to the cartoon & comics the face is different replaced with a face plate & visor. This feature together with Bumblebee's lack of articulation (his arms turn at the shoulders and that's it!) are one of the things that placed Bumblebee near the top of most Transformer's fans redo list.
Bumblebee was available in 1984, 1985 & 1986. He was one of the first Transformers to receive a redesign when a new version was released as the
Throttlebot Goldbug after which he returns as
Pretender Bumblebee and finally as
Action Master Bumblebee. His five versions make him the most released Generation One character in the original toyline:
Megatron has 3 (if you count
Galvatron alongside the original & Action Master versions) as do
Starscream,
Grimlock &
Jazz (all of which have original, Pretender & Action Master versions) and
Optimus Prime (Original, Powermaster & Action Master).
It's a decent small toy for it's age and price.
Generation 1 CliffjumperWhen the Porsche 944 toy was released as a Transformer the intention would seem to be for it to be only released in red to distinguish it from Bumblebee. Well as we've seen Bumblebee got a red version as well and to further muddy the waters Cliffjumper is available in both the preferred red and yellow - the yellow version becoming particularly well known as it was released with the story tape "Sun Run" as part of Hasbro's Listen 'n Fun line. In it's super deformed form the Porsche is a similar shape to the VW released as Bumblebee. Close attention will reveal that the Porsche has a more angular front, three window panels down each side (the rear most panel being part of a curved rear window) and a spoiler at the rear. However while you look at Bumblebee and see a VW Beetle Cliffjumper looks quite different from the real world
Porsche 944.
Transformation: same as Bumblebee above.
The robot mode is again similar to Bumblebee using black as the revealed colour on the upper legs and arms. Whereas the artists and animators took liberties with Bumblebee's face, here they've just used the Cliffjumper face directly: the sloped head sides, horns and face are all here.
Somewhat less iconic than Bumblebee due to taking a backseat in the comics he has no re-appearances during the original toyline, not even as a Bumblebee repaint. That trick would be invented later, though I'm sure there's a few Action Master Bumblebees around that have had a red repaint at home.
Generation 1 "Bumper"We've already seen how red Bumblebees and Yellow Cliffjumpers made it into the wild. But the appearance of the Nissan 1500XG in the western toyline is even more interesting. Any Transformers fan will tell you there were six mini Autobots released in the first year of the line, 1984. But a seventh toy made it's way on to the market on Cliffjumper (and it's believed Bumblebee cards). This was the yellow version of the Nissan 1500xg. Lacking an official name it was initially christened Bumblejumper by concatenating the start and finish of the two names on the cards he was released on. Later on he came to be known as Bumper and under that name he appears in the IDW Transformers comic strip.
I've been unable to find any images of the actual car to compare Bumper too. Alongside Bumblebee and Cliffjumper he's the plainer of the three toys so you can maybe see why he didn't make the grade officially.
Transformation is as per Bumblebee, with the robot parts again being moulded in black.
Bumper's cast in yellow but since the other two cars officially use two of the colour variations on the Microman cars maybe he should take the third colour and be blue !
Generation 1 HubcapHubcap is a remould of
Cliffjumper released in 1986 alongside remoulds of the other first year Minibots. You can tell it's Cliffjumper: he's got the same side window arrangements as Cliffjumper, but the spoiler has been significantly reduced in size. Unfortunately Hubcap is painted yellow. why yellow ? Surely this would only cause confusion with the similarly shaped Bumblebee ? ? ?
Transformation reveals a new head in robot mode: much squarer and with moulded vents down the sides of the head and a crest above the face. Unfortunately the face is painted orange which completely obliterates the detail on it especially when compared to the yellow surrounding it.
I love the 1986 repaint series, Unfortunately Hubcap is very much the weak link in the series.
Brazilian MinibotsThe Minibot Transformers were sold in Brazil through manufacturer Estrela where they were divided between Optimus and Malignus factions. Most of the Minibots who were used in Brazil received multiple colourations different to their US versions.
VolksVolks is the Brazilian repaint of
Bumblebee. TFU think he's available in orange or silver while TF Wiki say orange or red. TFU have Photos so I'm going with them.
CarerraCarerra is the Brazilian repaint of
Cliffjumper. There's several colour variations to this toy: green, blue, white & gold !
SedanSedan is an officially released Brazilian version of
Bumper. He came in white, blue, green or yellow.
This is the last known appearance of the Bumper toy in any Transformers range.
Generation 2 BumblebeeAs a prominent Transformers character Bumblebee was an obvious choice for a repaint in the early days of the Generation 2 toyline. He's a repaint of the original
Bumblebee rather than one of the newer versions of the character. He's one of the better G2 repaints as well: Bumblebee swaps the yellow for a vac-metal gold. This is similar enough to the original colours to work for the character, it feels like a power-up for the toy with gold sort of being the metallic version of yellow and in itself pays homage to his reincarnated form of
Throttlebot Goldbug.
Generation 2 HubcapHubcap is a more surprising choice as a G2 repaint. This takes the
Generation 1 Hubcap, itself a re-mould of
Cliffjumper and gives it a new vac-metal red colour scheme in place of the yellow, Now I ask was the red the best colour choice ? Were they actually aiming for G2 Cliffjumper and couldn't get the original mould? I suspect most people treated it as G2 Cliffjumper because that's what the colour says to them.
Keychain Bumblebee & CliffjumperIn 2001 Fun for All licensed some of the Minibot toys and released them as key fobs. Both Bumblebee and Cliffjumper were released as the first wave. They have their original colour schemes but the rear bumper of the car/robot's left shoulder now sport a plastic loop which is used to attach them to a key chain.
The keychain versions were released by Takara in 2003 and again by Hasbro in 2007.
Botcon GlyphBotcon Glyph is a repaint of
Keychain Bumblebee which swaps the yellow bodywork for a metallic blue and the black robot parts for grey. The faceplate is painted yellow.
This figure was an exclusive at Botcon 2002.
Botcon Tap-outBotcon Tap-Out is a repaint of
Keychain Cliffjumper. The red bodywork is replaced with a metallic green while the black robot parts become grey. The face is painted silver.
This figure was an exclusive toy for pre-registrants at Botcon 2002.
Black Keychain Bumblebee & Black Keychain CliffjumperWhen Takara released the four Keychains in 2003 (Bumblebee & Cliffjumper as above plus
Brawn &
Windcharger) they all issued chase variants of all four characters. All plastic is now moulded in black with the faces or faceplates painted silver.
Transformers fans do love a black repaint.
For completeness sake here's the black Keychain versions of
Brawn &
Windcharger to complete the set.
Transformers Collection BumblebeeThis Bumblebee is a re-mould of
Original Bumblebee. It's a relatively minor change: the face is now a new part that looks much more like Bumblebee's cartoon & comic appearance albeit with a slightly odd mouth.
This version of Bumblebee was first released in 2004's Transformers Collection #12 Minibot set. This set also contains the two 1984 Minibots that weren't issued as keychains plus three 1985 Minibots:
GearsHufferCosmosPowerglideWarpathThe reissue Bumblebee also returns in 2008's Transformers Encore #10 Minibot set. This version has the eyes painted pale blue. The Encore 10 set also contains four of the five Minibot remoulds from 1986:
Pipes a re-mould of
HufferSwerve a re-mould of
GearsOutback a re-mould of
BrawnTailgate a re-mould of
WindchargerI find it interesting that between the Keychain reissues, which Takara sold in Japan in 2003, the Transformers Collection, which also includes
Wheelie packed with
Targetmaster Kup & Recoil and the Encore Minibot set that all but three Minibots have been reissued. The three that haven't made a Japanese reappearance are
Beachcomber &
Seaspray, both from 1985, and 1986's
Generation 1 Hubcap. These three have a prior connection: they're the three Minibots that received a G2 colour scheme alongside
Bumblebee (see
G2 Beachcomber,
G2 Seaspray and
G2 Hubcap. Should we suspect something happened to those three toy moulds at that time ? (and if that doesn't make Takara announce another Minibot set then nothing will!)
Bug BiteBugbite is a Destron(Decepticon) Repaint of
Transformers Collection Bumblebee which is a re-mould of the
Original Bumblebee. Bug Bite swaps Bumblebee's yellow for white and gets a Decepticon logo on his chest.
Bug Bite appears in the E-Hobby Destron Minibot set with:
Pathfinder a repaint of
CosmosRoad Ranger a repaint of
HufferSmall Foot a repaint of
GearsBad Boy a repaint of
PowerglideTreads a repaint of
WarpathAll the toys in this set are Decepticons using GoBots toys as the origin of their names.
