Cliffjumper/Cartoon continuity



Read about the adventures of Cliffjumper in your favorite 1980s cartoon!

The Transformers cartoon
Cliffjumper was a part of the crew on board the Ark when it crashed into Earth four million years ago during a search for new energy sources. His alternate mode was reformatted into an oddly-proportioned Porsche 924 Turbo.

When the Autobots awakened from their four million-year slumber, Cliffjumper was eager for action. He volunteered to tag along on Hound's recon mission to scout out Decepticons because he was itching to "boot some Decepticon right in his turbocharger". Though Optimus Prime's orders were only to find the Decepticons, Cliffjumper brashly tried to engage the enemy once Hound sniffed them out.

Cliffjumper missed his shot, and the Decepticons dispatched Laserbeak to chase off the Autobot eavesdroppers. Hound got pasted by Laserbeak's laser blasts and ended up requiring extensive repair from Autobot medic Ratchet after being pulled out of a ditch by Hauler. It worked out in the end, though, since Cliffjumper was remorseful for having acted without thinking, and Hound didn't hold a grudge anyway.

Cliffjumper was among the Autobots that stormed Sherman Dam to fight off the Decepticons. During the siege, Cliffjumper charged at Thundercracker and Skywarp and was easily overpowered until Mirage came to his aid. Cliffjumper complimented his pacifist friend on his fighting skills. Later, when Optimus Prime was injured in an explosion at the ruby crystal mines of Burma, Cliffjumper cheered his leader on as Prime tried to recover from his injuries.

Cliffjumper mistook a rock formation for a Decepticon and fired at it, nearly smooshing Ironhide and Optimus Prime in the resulting avalanche. Embarrassed, the little hothead admitted his mistake and apologized, while Ironhide scoffed at the notion that the Decepticons were still on Earth. But the Decepticons were still on Earth, and they took over a human power station. Alerted to the attack by a city-wide blackout, Cliffjumper and the Autobots responded. Cliffjumper immediately confronted Megatron and declared he’d “take care” of the Decepticon leader. Megatron swatted him away like a fly. Cliffjumper obviously didn’t learn his lesson, since he took on Starscream only moments later, with similar results.

At a hydroelectric power plant, Cliffjumper and the Autobots interfered with the Decepticons' attempt to fill their energon cubes. With most of their supply damaged in the fight, the Decepticons were forced to retreat having gained little additional energy. Cliffjumper was among the Autobots who looked on as Ratchet attempted to repair Optimus Prime after a severe battle.

During a mission to the Arctic to stop the Decepticons, Cliffjumper was the first to hear Spike and Sparkplug calling for help after the father-and-son team were trapped on an ice floe. Before the Autobots could get to them, the humans were scooped up by Skyfire, who was a bit confused about which faction was good or evil. When Cliffjumper and Ironhide made moves to rescue the pair, Optimus Prime stopped them, fearing the humans would be hurt. Opting for an underground rescue, Cliffjumper joined Prime, Jazz, and Bumblebee in an ice cave and was the first to discover the humans in an icy prison. After, as the Autobots tried to find Ironhide’s team, Cliffjumper pointedly defied Prime's order to stick to a search pattern and ran on ahead. He was promptly tackled by Ravage, and Optimus had to rescue him. The Autobots regrouped while Ratchet tried to repair Skyfire after an attack by Starscream. When Cliffjumper questioned the wisdom of repairing the large Decepticon, Hound and Ratchet explained that Skyfire had tried to help them.

After the construction of the Dinobots, Cliffjumper was present for the unveiling, and found himself being battered by the new creations as they ran wild. He also took part in the mission in Peru to stop Megatron from using the Crystal of Power as an energy source for a cannon. After Sparkplug was kidnapped by Laserbeak, Cliffjumper, Brawn, and Windcharger burrowed under Decepticon HQ. Cliffjumper used his glass gas to make a hole in the underside of the base, so the three Autobots could retrieve Sparkplug and hightail it back to Autobot Headquarters. Unfortunately the Decepticons had already planted a hypno-chip on Sparkplug, and during the next Decepticon attack, Cliffjumper and the other Autobots discovered that their weapons had been sabotaged.

When the Autobots caught up with Megatron, who was preparing to take energy back to Cybertron — energy collected as a result of Cybertron being pulled into Earth's orbit by the space bridge — Cliffjumper was raring to exact some payback, but Optimus restrained him as they couldn't risk injuring the hypno-chipped humans. Once the humans were safely out of the way, the Autobots attacked, though Ironhide had to remind Cliffjumper to conserve some ammo for later in the fight. Some time later, Cliffjumper congratulated Wheeljack for getting Teletraan I repaired (again!), only for the computer to detect the Decepticons on the move. The Autobots started the pursuit and, after a brief stop in a quicksand trap, reached Doctor Arkeville's secret lab, where Starscream had rigged the Exponential Generator to explode.

When Ironhide detected Megatron inbound to Autobot Headquarters, Cliffjumper blasted the Decepticon with glass gas, but Megatron merely shrugged it off. Megatron challenged Prime to one-on-one combat and, despite Cliffjumper's misgivings, Prime accepted. Cliffjumper turned out with the rest of the Autobots to spectate, and was horrified when Optimus lost. When they returned to Headquarters, a quick scan by Teletraan I revealed the truth — Megatron had cheated. The Autobots subsequently blasted the Decepticons into a lava-filled crevasse. After the Decepticons began using a Solar Needle to tap into the Sun, the Earth became unstable. Cliffjumper was saved from a falling boulder by Ironhide. The Autobots drove to Africa where they discovered that the needle was protected by an energy field. Despite the others' protests, Cliffjumper flung himself into the force field, shorting it out. He recovered a short time later in the jungle nearby, and rejoined the fight which eventually resulted in the destruction of the Solar Needle and rescue of Gears.

Soon afterward, Cliffjumper made a very public display of his paranoia by accusing fellow Autobot and reluctant soldier Mirage of being a traitor on some very flimsy evidence, much to the (correct) disbelief of the other Autobots. He kept up his rhetoric even after Optimus Prime ordered him to can it. So determined was he to prove his theory true that he followed Mirage when the latter returned to the Decepticon power station to sow seeds of discontent within the Decepticon ranks. Fortunately, in the end, it was proven that Mirage was a loyal Autobot all along, and Cliffjumper fell across Mirage's body, asking Ratchet to fix him for not trusting a comrade. This prompted a rather awkward laugh from the other Autobots present.

Cliffjumper was the first to ask what the Immobilizer did as Wheeljack prepared a demonstration. Unfortunately the test was aborted when Ironhide mistook the holographic Laserbeak for the real thing. The second demonstration didn't go much better, resulting in Wheeljack himself being immobilizer, and the Decepticons stealing the device. Gears and Cliffjumper loaded Wheeljack into Ratchet for the return trip to Headquarters, and were both among the Autobots who later attempted to get the Immobilizer back. Cliffjumper took part in an Autobot charity event, racing and participating in stunts. The Decepticons took the opportunity to test out their Transfixatron on the Autobots, locking them all in their vehicle modes before forcing them to drive to a ghost town. A small group of Autobots along with Chip Chase and Spike, came to the rescue, using a grenade to undo the transformation lock. Though the Constructicons formed Devastator, Cliffjumper immediately attacked the Combiner, and was tossed into a nearby building. He and Wheeljack teamed up to seize the Transfixatron and use it on Devastator, resulting in the Constructicons splitting apart and sending the Decepticons into a retreat.

While the other Autobots were constructing detection plates, Cliffjumper ran up to Optimus with the news there was an incoming call from Doctor Fujiyama the Famous Scientist. The Autobots ended up guarding Nightbird, the ninja robot that the doctor had built. During the inevitable Decepticon attack, Cliffjumper lost no time in blasting Rumble once all of the humans were safely out of the way. Nightbird was still stolen and sometime later, the reprogrammed ninja broke into Autobot HQ to steal the World Energy Chip. The Autobots pursued, though Optimus had to restrain Cliffjumper from merely blasting Nightbird, as they'd promised to return her safely to her inventor. Also, Cliffjumper proved the only Autobot who failed to jump up a particular cliff. When they eventually cornered the ninja, Cliffjumper attempted to use his glass gas on her, only for her to plug the nozzle. They eventually did manage to capture her and return her to Dr. Fujiyama.

When the Autobots found a crevasse filled with glowing crystals, Cliffjumper was prepared to jump straight in, but Prime cautioned him to take readings first. As it happened, the Decepticons picked that time to attack. The Autobots returned to base following a seemingly victorious battle, but soon discovered a conundrum — they had two identical Optimus Primes. Cliffjumper had the bright idea to decide which one was the real Optimus by holding a race, which unsurprisingly proved inconclusive. The discovery of an island full of dinosaurs by Bumblebee and Powerglide led Cliffjumper to exclaim that they already had enough problems with Dinobots. Wheeljack claimed he'd been teaching Grimlock some finesse, and attempted to prove Cliffjumper wrong by getting Grimlock to show off. When this turned into the usual Dinobot chaos, Cliffjumper was all too ready to fight them, but Optimus got things under control. The Decepticons found Dinobot Island and began draining its energy, which caused freak time portals to open up across the world. A pirate ship that passed through one such portal menaced a small pleasure ship, until Cliffjumper, Tracks, and Seaspray arrived. Cliffjumper disarmed the pirates before they shoved the ship back through the time portal.

During a battle with Devastator after the Constructions helped Hoist and Grapple build the Solar Power Tower, Cliffjumper fired his glass gas gun at the giant. Devastator merely swept his arm, causing a wind which dissipated the burst of gas. After the battle, Cliffjumper helped dig Grapple and Hoist out of the pile of rubble that their tower had become. He later took part in an excursion to South America, where Megatron had found the Heart of Cybertron. Unfortunately they arrived too late — Megatron had installed the crystal in himself. Though Cliffjumper initiated a charge, the Autobots were no match for the powered-up Decepticon leader. They retreated under a smokescreen and limped back to Headquarters.

Cliffjumper took part in an Autobot Day parade organised by the humans in Central City, paying a visit to city hall. Things quickly turned sour when a video recording of the Autobots apparently raiding an oil field was played, and the humans turned hostile. The Autobots returned to Headquarters, but while they were still trying to work out what was going on, the mayor turned up to arrest them. Though Cliffjumper was ready to fight, Optimus insisted they comply with the humans' demands. Taken to a sports stadium, the Autobots were put on impromptu trial, which concluded with them being found guilty and sentenced to exile from Earth. They were duly shot into space in a spaceship supplied by Shawn Berger. On further reflection, Optimus decided he'd made a hasty decision, and Cliffjumper tried to turn the ship around, only to find it was locked on course for the Sun. They escaped the ship in the nick of time, using Trailbreaker's forcefields linked to Cosmos so they could return to Earth and exact some revenge on the Decepticons.

All of the Autobots, including Cliffjumper, were rendered inoperative by Cybertonium depletion, until Spike, Carly, and the Dinobots retrieved a fresh supply from Cybertron. Cliffjumper's audio receptors took a pounding when Blaster decided to retransmit a rock concert over Autobot frequencies. He was also present when the Autobots discovered that Optimus was heading to Cybertron for some reason, but opted not to join Ironhide's pursuit.

Cliffjumper and Jazz attended the opening of an Optimus Prime memorial, resulting in Cliffjumper getting his name mangled by the news reporter covering the event. The memorial was attacked by Starscream and his newly minted Combaticons. As they overwhelmed the two Autobots, Cliffjumper suggested radioing for help, but too late, as they were both captured. Stripped of their energy absorbers to provide parts for the Combaticons, Jazz and Cliffjumper were chained up at the Amalgamated Water and Power Plant. The Autobots later rescued them while the Combaticons were occupied fighting Menasor and the rest of Megatron's forces.