The G1 series bible list the jumpstarters and has animated versions of them but they didn't show up at all in the 80s cartoon.


Why do you think that is? Why did the jumpstarters end up in the shows bible but not on the show at all?

 

Are Jumpstarters Twin Twist and Top Spin? If so, then they probably excluded them because they were stupid? As Transformers, they were. I know it's "cool" to like them because they were stupid, but it doesn't change the fact that they were stupid... er something.

It's just a theory though...

EDIT: When were they (season-wise) in the bible? Maybe it was too close to the end of the series and they never got worked in?

 

No idea why they weren't in the show, although if there are pics out there of their animation models I'd be interested to see them.

 

I never thought they were "stupid". I just thought they were cool. Out of all the TF gimmicks, THAT one makes sense. They Transform themselves.

I'm guessing they probably would have been in the cartoon if the series continued. I remember the toys showed up towards the end.

 

Good point, they did... I guess I enjoyed SOME kind of complexity though, so I never cared for them, but good point.

 

Image:TopspinCharDesign.jpg - Transformers Wiki

Image:TwinTwistCharacterSheet.jpg - Transformers Wiki

 

Why weren't a LOT of charaters in the cartoon?

 

I cannot at all agree they were "stupid".

Their designs were fine, their personalities are interesting, and the toys were acceptable and very common.

Hell, the damn Battlechargers got in, why not these two?

- Coeloptera

 

Didn't they animate the Jumpstarters for their own toy commercial? I could have sworn that I heard they were animated for a toy commercial, but were never put into the actual cartoon.

 

Exactly... compared to the Battlechargers, the Jumpstarters are state-of-the-art engineering marvels.

The Jumpstarters had sort of squat proportions and simplified designs, but they weren't really any worse than much of the stuff from 1987 and beyond.

zmog

 

According to the Wiki, no. Their animation models were never used.

 

It could be that the writers either forgot about them, or didn't feel like using them, and as such they just sort of fell by the wayside.

Many characters only got a single appearance and a single line or two, and there are others like Roadbuster and Whirl who never appeared due to their differing design schemes (and possibly due to their animation rights)

 

I also liked how they look both in alt and bot mode. I actually played with the toys a lot even though they were simple. Funny thing, as much as I liked these, I hated headmasters, pretenders, and whatever came after that.

 

Yeah well I really didn't care for any TF's at that point anyway, so that explains that... To me, the downhill slide for TF's started with the movie figs (them being some of the last I really liked)... plus I was discovering girls and boobs and stuff at that point, so TF's in general fell by the wayside for many years.

 

Perhaps. Jumpstarters might've been tough to shoehorn into the primarily Earth-based modes of seasons 1 and 2, or the writers didn't know how to showcase their gimmick in an animated form. Apparently Hasbro didn't press the issue, not minding too much that two simple and low-priced toys didn't get a spotlight.

 

Jumpstarters are awe$some; 'nuff said.

There are a great many G1 toys that didn't make the cartoon for a number of different reasons.

 

Quite possibly the worst alt modes of all time? It's a possibility.

But, I still LOVED these guys as a kid, and I love where they have been taken. If I'm not mistaken, I guess they were the very first "cybertron mode" figures I had...maybe in the line. I need to look that up.

 

Best toys ever.

 

I always wondered why Whirl, Roadbuster & the deluxe Insecticons never showed up in the cartoon.

 

Man, I tell ya, Topspin was always one of my favorite toys. Loved the alt mode, loved the robot mode, loved that he wound up and went and transformed by himself. I likes Twin-Twist too, but Topspin was aces in my books. In fact, he's one of the only G1 toys I own right now.