Toy review - MPM-9 Movie Masterpiece Jazz
Series - Masterpiece
Sub-line - Movie Masterpiece
Size/class - N/A
New/remould/redeco - New
Wave - N/A
Released here - October 2019
Approximate Retail Price - $160 (Zing preorder)
Approximate Size - 16cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode - Pontiac Solstice Weekend Club Racer
Main Features/Gimmicks - Screen accuracy, licensed vehicle mode, Masterpiece detail and engineering
Main Colours - Silver, grey
Main Accessories - Crescent cannon, Sam Witwicky figurine, spinal column
Vehicle mode
https://i.imgur.com/NVDKo43.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Mi4vnHH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/0030MwJ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kdF98OJ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oGyh1wC.jpg
A silver rendition of Pontiac's Solstice Weekend Club Racer prototype. As you would expect, there are lots of seams and panel lines, but it's nonetheless a nice-looking car.
https://i.imgur.com/oKv64aM.jpg
Jazz looks good next to Bumblebee and Ironhide.
Sam Witwicky
https://i.imgur.com/XmuS3xM.jpg
A small figure of Sam Witwicky is included. Sam is sculpted in a running pose, with the AllSpark under his right arm. It's a nicely detailed sculpt, but it needs more paint - even just painting his hair and hoodie brown would have helped.
Transformation
Jazz has quite an involved transformation, and unfortunately the instructions aren't always clear regarding where pieces are meant to go, particularly with the close-ups that show where pieces are meant to tab or peg into. The tabs that clamp onto the bonnet in robot mode aren't really tight or secure, so it's not difficult to unclip the upper torso.
Transforming back to vehicle mode isn't particularly difficult, fortunately, although the first transformation or two may involve a bit of tweaking of the side windows' hinges to make sure they line up.
Robot mode
https://i.imgur.com/oZUhlaG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/U59UJfd.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5Okq3Pn.jpg
Beautifully detailed, as one would expect of a Masterpiece. While Jazz has a substantial folded backpack, the sculpting on it is more screen-accurate than any Jazz figure to date. He stands at about 15.5cm at the top of his head. The crotch and portions of the feet are made of diecast metal. In addition to the silver, the secondary colour is unpainted dark grey plastic. Some moulded details have been painted in gold and metallic brown paint.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6e/c2...7435a95e9e.gif
For comparison, here is the CGI model.
https://i.imgur.com/tyE5Tcm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Rnxh3Zo.jpg
The visor is retractable.
The visor itself is probably my one aesthetic gripe with the figure - I would have preferred a blue one. It would seem that the visor was moulded on the same sprue as the rest of the transparent window pieces, as opposed to the blue plastic used for the eyes.
Articulation is good, but other recent Masterpieces have had better articulation. The head has a hinge inside to allow Jazz to look up and down, and a rotator at the base of the neck. The panel the head is mounted on is itself hinged, allowing Jazz to crane his neck even higher.
The shoulders have two rotators on either side of a pinned hinge, meaning Jazz can either rotate his upper arms at the shoulder in lieu of an upper arm rotator or abduct/adduct to make a T pose. The elbows are double-jointed, but the lower joint has a limited range of movement. The wrist tilts inward, and all four fingers have two pinned hinges.
The waist is ratcheted, and the hips have two axes of rotation, with the hip panels above rotating up and out of the way. There are thigh rotators below the hips, which on my figure were very tight and needed to be 'unlocked' before they would move. The knees are double jointed, and the front of the foot tilts inwards for inversion.
Right out of the box, some of the joints are a bit looser than I'd like, but Jazz has held every pose I've put him in.
https://i.imgur.com/yd0XNyi.jpg
Jazz hands!
https://i.imgur.com/zfXPKEu.jpg
Jazz includes his distinctive weapon, dubbed the 'crescent cannon' on the packaging for the deluxe class Final Battle Jazz figure from the 2007 movie. It slides over his closed hand.
People have jokingly suggested that a Jazz figure should be able to split in half, and TakaraTOMY apparently took them seriously. Jazz can indeed split in half via a spring-loaded button, and the final accessory is a detailed spinal column that attaches to the waist...
https://i.imgur.com/qsOdJGL.jpg
...which means that you can recreate that scene from the 2007 movie.
https://i.imgur.com/0mkGPbq.jpg
I had to get a bit creative with wedging Megatron's fingers in different places on Jazz, as Megatron's grip isn't really strong enough to properly support the weight.
https://i.imgur.com/ZsKfGv4.jpg
Jazz was supposed to be the shortest Autobot of the 2007 lineup, and this is reflected in the Masterpiece figure.
Verdict
https://i.imgur.com/9cMek6f.jpg
Another lovely Masterpiece. The lack of substantial foot articulation may preclude placing Jazz in some believable deep, dynamic poses, but the feet themselves are large enough to support Jazz's weight.
As with Ironhide, the Studio Series figure will probably be enough for a lot of people, and it arguably has slightly better proportioned limbs, but if you want the most detailed, screen-accurate figure of Jazz there is, it will have to be the Movie Masterpiece.
