Jazz - Generation 1 - Figure


With his friendly, hip nature, good taste in music, and cool vehicle mode, it's no wonder Jazz is one of the all-time favorite Autobots from G1. A pity Hasbro lost the trademark to his name, thus resulting in "Autobot Jazz," but it definitely beats giving him a totally different name.



Packaging: Autobot Jazz's box is the same size and design of Silverstreak's. The character art on the front is by Pat Lee, whose work I'm not a huge fan of. On the inside of the velcro flap are photos of Commemorative Series I and II. The back of the box features a grainy image of the now familiar Autobot group scene by Lee, and it's kind of ironic that neither AJ nor Silverstreak is featured in it.

AJ's tech spec is as follows:

Function: AUTOBOT Special Operations Expert "Do it with style or don't bother doing it."

AUTOBOT JAZZ has a quick mind and a strong thirst for knowledge. In terrestrial operations his insider understanding of Earth culture makes him the right hand man of OPTIMUS PRIME. Takes the riskiest missions and completes them with confidence and flair. Equipped with a photon rifle, flame-thrower, full-spectrum beacon and 180db stereo speakers, he dazzles and disorients with spectacular sound and light displays. Clever, cool, and extremely adaptable, but prone to distraction.

Car Mode: AJ is a Porsche 935 Turbo. About 12 cm(4.7") long including spoiler, he's snow white with blue and red racing stripes, blue head lights, chrome hub caps, and clear wind shields. Rolls pretty smoothly on most surfaces. The doors open and the canopy raises to reveal a rather bland and uncomfortable-looking interior. The number 4 is featured prominently on AJ.s hood and doors. His rub symbol is on the left side of his hood. Although the box photos show the toy with stickers labeled "Martinii Porsche," the stickers that actually come with it all read "Meister" or "Agent Meister," which is Takara.s name for the character. Makes some sense, since Hasbro would have to pay the Porsche company in order to use its name, but it.s a shame they didn't spring for stickers that read "Autobot Jazz."

This is probably one of the best alt modes of the 1984 G1 line. Just keep in mind that it.s nowhere near as durable as an Armada or RID car.

Transformation: Similar, but not identical to Silverstreak's. The rear of the Porsche extends, swings down, and splits apart, arms unfold from beneath the hood, the hood swings down to form the chest, and the canopy slides back and folds down, revealing the head. And since this is a G1-era toy, remember to be careful and gentle.

Robot Mode: AJ stands about 10.5 cm(4") tall in robot mode. His main colours are white, black, and chrome, with colourful stickers on his hips and legs and a metallic silver face. Whereas the original Jazz toy had a prominent chin, AJ does not. Also, AJ has a funny-looking smirk, which can be interpreted as neat or bad depending on your personal taste. He.s articulated at the wrists, elbows, upper arms, and shoulders. Looks pretty nice and fairly recognizable as the character from the TV show, but rather also floppy, since the chest section doesn.t lock in place.

As with all the Commemorative Series toys, AJ.s weapons have undergone a makeover. His photon rifle and three missiles are flat black instead of chrome. Moreover, his missiles are positively huge: 6 cm(3.) long. His back-mounted launcher is black with a white trigger and a couple of chrome pieces, and unlike the original Jazz.s, is designed to separate into two parts so as to prevent breakage. The peg is on the back piece, meaning AJ can.t hold the launcher in his fist. Also, the launcher has a long shaft on the end of it for some reason, which not only looks silly, but also has the potential to poke out an eye. When loaded, the launcher is a whopping 15 cm(6.) long, longer than AJ himself! To top it all off, it doesn.t connect very well to him, and I prefer to leave it off anyway since it was never featured on the show, IIRC. On the positive side, it has a range of well over a meter.

Overall, Susp Sez: Although I was fond of the Jazz character as a child, I never owned the toy, so I was therefore willing to buy it now in spite of the hefty $39.99 Canadian/$29.99 US price tag. Both the Porsche and robot mode are neat and fun in spite of the latter.s relative fragility and lack of poseability, and will almost certainly please any G1 fan. For younger fans, however, I would much sooner recommend an Armada or Playskool toy. 8.5/10

Susp

"Next up, how .bout number one on the Bottom 40?" -Jazzie

ReviewerSuspsy  
DateApril 15th 2003  
Score 8 stars (8 out of 10)  
Reads9643


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