Post by Philip Ayres on Jul 13, 2011 14:06:24 GMT
Topspin
Ah the Jumpstarters. Transfandom has an odd relationship with these toys: we don't like them due to the automatic transformation but we love their comic appearances in the UK Marvel strip and last stand of the Wreckers. Yes they're two completely different toys but the mechanism and principle behind them is the same. The [url=http://www.tfu.info/subgroup/subgroup1.htm#jumpBattle Chargers[/url] (1986) and Throttlebots (1987) to diminishing returns.
Topspin was the first Transformer my house owned so there's a little bit of a sentimental attachment here. I remember him and his brother Topspin featuring prominently in the adverts for the 1985 toys in the UK. He started life as the Diaclone Baku-Ten Attack Robot Jet Type in a different colour scheme that was changed for it's western release as a Transformer
Topspin is a blue wedge shaped space ship with wings protruding out the sides at the back. Chromed silver prongs project from the front. The sides of the ship are obviously the arms, with the hand holes visible. Like most G1 toys there's nowhere to stash his robot hand gun in vehicle mode but he can hold it which doesn't really work.... but if you can get a second Topspin gun that balances the toy with a gun on both sides.
Transformation: find a flat surface like a kitchen floor or table top. Pull back on the toy winding it's friction drive. Release the toy and watch it roll forward & transform.
The blue from the vehicle mode now finds itself on Topspin's legs, arms (complete with shoulder wings) and head. Revealed here is an off white body. His only meaningful articulation are his shoulders, which turn, but if I was limited to just two joints on a toy they'd be the ones I'd choose. The styling is just right and fits in well with the other Transformers.
Topspin's not a bad toy, he's just dominated by his gimmick and, in my opinion, overshadowed by his brother.
Topspin was sold in the US and UK from 1985 into 1986. Topspin was never sold in Japan.
Twin Twist
Like Top Spin, Twin Twist has his origins in Diaclone, this time as Baku-ten (Blast-flip) Attack Robo Drill Type.
His Transformers version is the debut of that favourite mode for Japanese robot toys everywhere: he's a drill tank! Mainly off white, with a blue central core he has two chromed drills projecting out the front of the toy. Sadly they don't turn, it would have been really great if they'd have moved either manually or as the toy rolls along. The sides of the toy, like Topspin forming the arms, are tank treads with some lovely moulded details. Again like Topspin his hands are visible in this mode and while attaching the gun makes him lopsided the vehicle mode works with two guns being held.
Transformation: as per Topspin.
Twin Twist's robot mode is rather blocky but it works well here presenting him as a solid robot. He lacks the wings sticking out the sides of his shoulders that Topspin has so is narrower but of all the Transformers his robot mode presents some of the fewest clues as to what his alternate mode is.
Transforming drill tanks: you can't really go wrong. We got Topspin in 1985: I finally acquired a Twin Twist in 2011. And I love him.
Like Topspin, Twin Twist was sold in the US and UK from 1985 into 1986 and was never sold in Japan.
Neither Jumpstarter has ever had a new version of them made but Twin Twist Pretender concept art exists indicating that perhaps they were thinking of bringing him back in the late 1980s.
Robot Man X & Salt Man Z
Robot Man X & Salt Man are Argentinian recolours of the Jumpstarters, existing in a wide variety of colour schemes. As you can see from the link they have appeared on official Transformers cards so they count!
One of the colour schemes used for Salt Man Z, when put on a drill tank, reminds me a lot of Rescue Force "Drill Horn", the repaint of Breast Force Drillhorn.
Ah the Jumpstarters. Transfandom has an odd relationship with these toys: we don't like them due to the automatic transformation but we love their comic appearances in the UK Marvel strip and last stand of the Wreckers. Yes they're two completely different toys but the mechanism and principle behind them is the same. The [url=http://www.tfu.info/subgroup/subgroup1.htm#jumpBattle Chargers[/url] (1986) and Throttlebots (1987) to diminishing returns.
Topspin was the first Transformer my house owned so there's a little bit of a sentimental attachment here. I remember him and his brother Topspin featuring prominently in the adverts for the 1985 toys in the UK. He started life as the Diaclone Baku-Ten Attack Robot Jet Type in a different colour scheme that was changed for it's western release as a Transformer
Topspin is a blue wedge shaped space ship with wings protruding out the sides at the back. Chromed silver prongs project from the front. The sides of the ship are obviously the arms, with the hand holes visible. Like most G1 toys there's nowhere to stash his robot hand gun in vehicle mode but he can hold it which doesn't really work.... but if you can get a second Topspin gun that balances the toy with a gun on both sides.
Transformation: find a flat surface like a kitchen floor or table top. Pull back on the toy winding it's friction drive. Release the toy and watch it roll forward & transform.
The blue from the vehicle mode now finds itself on Topspin's legs, arms (complete with shoulder wings) and head. Revealed here is an off white body. His only meaningful articulation are his shoulders, which turn, but if I was limited to just two joints on a toy they'd be the ones I'd choose. The styling is just right and fits in well with the other Transformers.
Topspin's not a bad toy, he's just dominated by his gimmick and, in my opinion, overshadowed by his brother.
Topspin was sold in the US and UK from 1985 into 1986. Topspin was never sold in Japan.
Twin Twist
Like Top Spin, Twin Twist has his origins in Diaclone, this time as Baku-ten (Blast-flip) Attack Robo Drill Type.
His Transformers version is the debut of that favourite mode for Japanese robot toys everywhere: he's a drill tank! Mainly off white, with a blue central core he has two chromed drills projecting out the front of the toy. Sadly they don't turn, it would have been really great if they'd have moved either manually or as the toy rolls along. The sides of the toy, like Topspin forming the arms, are tank treads with some lovely moulded details. Again like Topspin his hands are visible in this mode and while attaching the gun makes him lopsided the vehicle mode works with two guns being held.
Transformation: as per Topspin.
Twin Twist's robot mode is rather blocky but it works well here presenting him as a solid robot. He lacks the wings sticking out the sides of his shoulders that Topspin has so is narrower but of all the Transformers his robot mode presents some of the fewest clues as to what his alternate mode is.
Transforming drill tanks: you can't really go wrong. We got Topspin in 1985: I finally acquired a Twin Twist in 2011. And I love him.
Like Topspin, Twin Twist was sold in the US and UK from 1985 into 1986 and was never sold in Japan.
Neither Jumpstarter has ever had a new version of them made but Twin Twist Pretender concept art exists indicating that perhaps they were thinking of bringing him back in the late 1980s.
Robot Man X & Salt Man Z
Robot Man X & Salt Man are Argentinian recolours of the Jumpstarters, existing in a wide variety of colour schemes. As you can see from the link they have appeared on official Transformers cards so they count!
One of the colour schemes used for Salt Man Z, when put on a drill tank, reminds me a lot of Rescue Force "Drill Horn", the repaint of Breast Force Drillhorn.
