He's living in a material world.
I was gonna save this guy for tomorrow, but then I’d be talking about Jazz on Black Friday, and that’s RACIST.
Man, how did it take so long to get the last of the Classic Pretenders into Classics/Universe/Generations form? Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Starscream came out in 2006! And finally, four years later, outta nowhere comes Jazz. (Of course, the reason we didn’t get a new G1 Jazz all those years is because we kept on getting Other Kinds of Jazz. He woulda had to sneak out before the first movie toyline like the others.) I’m so glad I found him the same day I got Thunderwing, ‘cuz you just can’t have a Matrix Quest battle against Thunderwing without the final Classic Pretender, man. You just can’t.
Speaking of finding Jazz, I found mine at Walgreens! Yeah, friggin’ Walgreens! I noted in my ToyNewsI strip that he first started showing up in “Neighborhood Market” Walmart stores, and the closest one of those is 3 hours away. That’s too far even for me! So I was happy to see the first sighting of Jazz in a store that Columbus has plenty of. Oh, we have plenty of Walgreens. We have too many of them. I’ve been to probably 20 Walgreens in the past 52 hours and I’m still not out of Walgreens to check. (See, I found Jazz, but Tracks is still out there.) If I were out of Walgreens, I could stop looking, but at this rate by the time I search the last one it’ll be time to cycle back around again!
Oh, hey, a Pontiac Solstice! Just like... movie... jazz.... Think you're clever, huh, Hasbro.
Did you know Walgreens are open on Thanksgiving?
This is a sickness.
Anyway, Jazz. If you’re jonesing for a new Generation 1 Jazz, then I’m pretty sure this toy will be sex to you. It’s really hard to find fault with this toy. Sure, the hood-chest transformation style is a little Done To Death, but whether that bugs you depends on what sorta person you are. Even so, the transformation has a few surprises. I’m tickled by how the “4″ on the hood splits in half and is pulled underneath and away by the shoulder transformation. It’s sort of an ingenius way of keeping the “4″ on the hood yet not on the robot chest, as seen in the old animation model sheets. I don’t mind the “4″ on the chest, but I still find it fascinating that they tried to replicate this.
Did he use these in the cartoon? Probably. I'm not up on my cartoon.
And with the arms no longer trying to both fit under the hood (they line up lengthwise along the underside of the car), he makes a very satisfyingly-proportioned robot. He’s big and blocky, and a little stout, an aesthetic that I enjoyed from the early Transformers toys. The continued use of slightly-open hand sculpts pleases me as well. Jazz has got plenty of articulation, as well, including double-jointed elbows, bicep swivels, a balljointed head that can look around pretty freely, and a turning waist. The one thing that’s missing is the ability for his arms to rise above his shoulders, due to his wheel kibble. He’s basically John McCain. Poor guy.
It's kinda floppy, but awesome regardless.
Now, that’s all super awesome, but ultimately secondary to what I found most fun about the mold. I’ve talked about the new little clippy-rod snap-on weapons that new Transformers toys are utilizing. Well, Jazz comes with two. They’re speakers! ‘Cuz, y’know, he loves to listen to Madonna. What’s awesome about them is that there’s little hinges down the middle of both of his windows so that you can open the doors, flip out the speakers, close the doors, and have yourself an awesome car with speakers hanging out the doors. That’s sweet. You can flip them out in robot mode, too, of course. Plus you can snap them onto his blaster and make a super-weapon! That is some great versatility, and I keep moving the speakers around to all the various places and ways they can attach.
Plus, of course, you can give the speakers to anyone else that has the clippy-rod things. Don’t tell me you don’t see the hilarious potentialities.
Jazz also has a rubsign. And his rifle looks like his Classic Pretender rifle. And his details are heavily-inspired by the original toy as much as his media appearances. I keep on coming up with reasons why I dig this dude, which is great for a hood-chest car guy. You’d think I’d be bored of them by now. But this is a really solid toy. I want them to redeco and retool it a billion times.
He uses the speakers in the Nightbird episode. Just saw it thanks to The Hub.
Ah, no wonder I’m unfamiliar. I avoid that episode like the plague.
Any episode with Jazz is a must watch for me, and now I must start looking at Walgreens!
Which plague? The Hate Plague? Scraplets?
Gold Plastic Syndrome.
Off topic, but damn you Willis…I will never be able to see that personal appeal thing on wikipedia again without rolling my eyes … more than I already did.
Yeah…Arcee with those speaker units–”Check out my Woofers!”
Yes
Coincidentally I just filled out the cartoon section of the sound and light show article just a few days ago. I guess he didn’t use that at all in the comics?
I am of the opinion that the speaker/gun combo was primarily made for a possible Ricochet repaint. If they did one, the speakers wouldn’t really make sense for him, so they gave them a dual purpose, just like Tracks’ weapons. Besides that, it also reminds me a little bit of his target master gun.
Yeah, Jazz is pretty much on my priority list to get.
I may be alone in this… But I really want this mold redecoed and retooled to be Shockwave. I know, especially with his prominent role in the upcoming movie, he’ll likely get his own G1 toy… But I really liked that Alternator Shockwave/ Blast. I thought it was one of Shocky’s best toys.
Ricochet… Yeah, sure him too.
I, too, super-loved Alternators Shockblast, and I agree with your idea!
Thank the gods for Kapow toys in the uk and their imports from the Us and japan! looks like i’ll be able to get both this and the other generations and power core combiner toys hasbro uk have decided not to bother releasing
I’m giddy with the anticipation of this Toy. G1 Jazz was THE transformer for me, y’know the first transformer you ever had and therefore you love that one to death for the rest of you life? (Unless your first was Motormaster. What a sad childhood you had.) That’s Jazz for me. And He has speakers!!! SPEAKERS!! Bless you Hasbro!!
Can I ask what wlagreens in columbus you found jazz at? All I seem to see at stores is wave 1 and 2 for generations and 2010. I have yet to ever see red alert, soundwave, blurr, dirge, axor, terradive, etc. Btw, my first was skywarp, so I like to occasionally push people down flights of stairs whe they’re not looking.
One just outside of town on the corner of West Broad and Galloway. Not that it’s gonna help you any. I bought all they had (which was just two Deluxes) and nothing else in the area has anything, as you’ve also discovered.
Okay, as usual, Walky’s photographs make any mold desirable. Still hate that colour scheme, though.
Yes, I know it’s G1, I hated it back then too. He looked/looks like a running shoe.
Hopefully we’ll get a movie-style grey colour scheme.
It’s quite easy for certain employees at Walgreen’s to check all of the stock in the district easily, and the system they use does separate items based on the extended UPC (so, you should be able to find a specific release of a toy using it with most of them). Any manager, head photo specialist, or head cosmetician can do it easily.
Just ask when you notice the store isn’t that busy / it isn’t black Friday.
(Reference: I used to be a SIMC of a Walgreen’s)
I just…love his frown. So, so much.
JAZZ DISAPPROVES is the Autobot answer to BONECRUSHER HATES.
So, picked up my own Jazz(From a Wallgreens, of course) and while I love the mold, I’ve a few things to say: First and foremost, he is loose as hell in his knees, wrists and gunhandle(all fixed with superglue, but still). First time in a long time I’ve seen it that bad in a first use. Second, his hoodchest doesn’t lock, which bugs the hell out of me. Yeah, the hood of the car’s supposed to fix that, but still.
and Thirdly, though not really a complaint, you’ve got the speakers on upside down, Walky. They actually have grooves in them that can go onto ridges on the gun if you have them swapped. Solid as a rock and shown in the instructions(albeit poorly).