Topspin and Twin Twist, also known as the Jumpstarters, were a pair of characters in Generation One of the Transformers franchise. Although released in 1985, they made no appearances in the cartoon, although they appeared several times in the comics.
History[]
Topspin and Twin Twist appeared in the Marvel UK annual text story "Hunted", which portrayed them as among the Autobots on Earth, working with Prowl and Bumblebee to stop a Decepticon drilling operation. This was ignored in their later appearances, which portrayed them as operating out of Cybertron.
The Jumpstarters first appeared in the regular comic in "Target: 2006" as a member of the elite Cybertronian Autobot team the Wreckers. They were among the participant in Operation: Volcano, a plan to lure nine of the deadliest Decepticons into an ambush. When Ultra Magnus, who was supposed to act as their back-up, was instead sent to Earth to look into the disappearance of Optimus Prime, Wrecker leader Impactor wanted to call off the operation. Twin Twist made his dissatisfaction plain when he went to a bar with Roadbuster and Whirl and ended up taking down a Decepticon bullying a defenceless patron. Impactor decided the operation was on again but in the end it was a dismal failure: Most of their targets turned back before the trap could be sprung and the only one left, Macabre, managed to kill Impactor before being taken down.
Twin Twist reappeared in "The Harder They Die" as part of a group of Wreckers who arrested Optimus Prime, mistakenly believing him to be an imposter. Topspin joined him for the conclusion of the arc in "Resurrection", where they accompanied Optimus Prime on a series of raids after being convinced of his identity. Twin Twist made his only Marvel US appearance in Issue #36, where he was seen among the Autobots aboard the Ark with no explanation.
The pair returned in "Legion of the Lost", where they and the other Wreckers investigated a plague of zombies caused by the insane Autobot scientist Flame, who was planning to activate a giant fusion engine that would destroy Cybertron. The Wreckers defeated the zombies with the help of Ultra Magnus, the Sparkabots and Decepticons Flywheels and Battletrap, but the engines were only shut down thanks to an act of self-sacrifice by the zombified Impactor. Topspin and Twin Twist then travelled to Earth with the other Wreckers to confront the rogue future Decepticon Galvatron, but ended up in the middle of a human settlement and found Galvatron backed up by his former lieutenants Cyclonus and Scourge. The Jumpstarters battled Scourge until Wrecker leader Springer lured him and Cyclonus away from the scene to avoid human casualties. The other Wreckers followed to help him out, which meant letting Galvatron go.
The Jumpstarters returned to Earth in "Time Wars" with the other Wreckers and the Decepticon Mayhem Squad for another attempt at Galvatron. This was even more disastrous, as Galvatron was backed up by his present day counterpart Megatron, along with Scourge and Ravage. Topspin was killed by Megatron early in the battle and, after the fight spilled out onto the surface, Twin Twist was decapitated by an enraged Galvatron.
The post-movie versions of the character appeared in "Peace", celebrating the end of the war in 2510. However, the manipulations of Decepticon deep cover agent Triton saw a fight break out between the Wreckers and the Technobots, leading to an Autobot Civil War.
