Jazz
Series – Power of the Primes
Size/class - Deluxe
New/remould/redeco - New Mould
Wave - 1
Released here – Jan 2018 (estimated release- figure imported from US)
Approximate Retail Price - $30
Approximate Size - 14cm
Allegiance - Autobot
Alt-mode – Sportscar
Main Features/Gimmicks – Combiner Limb, Primemaster
Main Colours – White, black, silver
Main Accessories – guns, Primemaster holder/fist.
Car mode: Jazz is still a Porsche, however it's sort of a hybrid of a Porsche 962 and Porsche 935 - with most of the car resembling a Porsche 962, but with the front end of a Porsche935. The end result is a car which feels unique and different but still feels very much like Jazz. The Deco is precisely what you would expect for Jazz. Overwhelmingly the car is white, however down the middle, there;s the two-tone blue and red racing stripe with the Autobot symbol at the front, sitting in front of a number 4 in white on the bonnet. Moulded in white behind the cabin, are two fuel caps, followed by engine details. The engine feels like it should have been silver, but the car mode overall feels like keeping it white was the right choice.
Continuing the classic cues are thin red pinstrip along the bottom front of the bumper bar.
The sides of the care feature a blue pinstripe running along the base of them.
The doors feature several racing logo nods, with an Autobot logo and "MAGA" in cybertronian under it, with the word "Energon" under it. Behind that is a racing logo which is a "D" on its back, with "Autobot Jazz" through it in a white on black motif.
All in all this is a pretty spot on approach to a generic JAzz which still feels like Jazz.
9/10
Transformation:
-Slide the arms out to the sides
-Pull out and extend the top-front half of the car away from the combiner port and its housing.
-Flip the head down
- Bring the hood down enough to separate the front of the windshield from the bonnet
- Push the racing stripe on the bonnet up to separate it from the hood, flip the back half of the strip panel down into the front half until it clicks in place, then push it down through the hole in the bonnet and forwards until it clips into the underside of the hood behind the bumper bar and flip the head up through the hole
- separate the legs, then, transforming the legs one at a time, flip the top panel of the back of the car up and in, extend the leg and then close the panel. Unfortunately the leg hinges don't click in place so they're not the most secure joint. Flip the feet out.
- Bring the hood down onto the combiner joint housing and slide the 2 clear tabs on the underside of the hood into the slots on the combiner joint housing and push the roof into the body
- Bring the arms down forwards and bend the arms
All in all a transofmation that is complex, yet intuitive enough that you wont have to reach for the instructions in a fit of defeat and despair.
8.5/10
Robot mode:
In Robot mode, Isn't perfect, but he has enough of the right notes, to still feel like it's him - even if the articulation itself hasn't been engineered in the best way.
Transforming Jazz to robot mode, reveals that the front of the legs are a black base colour, with silver feet and grills for the shins and white kneecaps, which feels like it invokes alot of cues to the G1 toy. Maintaing this theme, the thighs are solid white. The hips however are a fail. They're a white piece with a black painted front, however I feel that the piece being moulded in black would have been a better choice. Front on however this is barely noticeable.
Then there's the combiner joint housing/torso, which I also feel was a poor colour choice. The combiner port itself is a white piece, with the housing made up of 2 pieces - the back one black and the front one white, while the waist is painted black on the white piece. Again, I feel this should all have been solid black.
In an interesting design choice, the racing stripe from the hood forms his upper abdomen, but that kinda works.
The hood/chest definitely hits all the right notes, however it's a little wide - possible a nod to RiD, making it feel like this is a Jazz which has really bulked up. The arms continue this vibe, being big and rectangular and feeling like a cross between G1 and RiD, with the lower half of the wheels poking out the side of the back of his biceps, which ate black moulded plastic at the front, with the white wheel rims sitting at the back. The forearms are solid white with the doors on their underside.
The head very much feels like the head of Animated Jazz.
All in all, it's a design which draws on several homages, but feels like it's an original take on Jazz at the same time. However I feel a couple of minor tweaks to the deco would have improved it.
7.5/10
Articulation: Jazz' shoulders are.... weird. There's no ball joint, just a transformation hinge joint, which makes it look like Jazz is ripping his own arm off whenever he lifts his arms to the side. The elbows are on a standard ball joint with the standard range of movement - as is the head.
The hips have rotation built into them, however the back panel limits the movement. The back panel can be moved, however the movable hinge in the centre causes a hole to form in the middle of the back.
The hips are on a ball joint, with a thigh swivel, while the knees are also on a swivel. The feet have a 90 degree swivel, but that's entirely due to the transformation.
All in all it's not the best combiner articulation out there, but it's still somewhat reasonable.
5/10
Transformation to Arm (from robot mode):
- collapse the feet and tab the legs together
- disconnect the bonnet from the combiner joint housing, flip the head down and the racing strip panel up through the hood, extend it and then tab it back into place, then push the head forwards
- rotate the hood 90 degrees and tab it into the roof, then separate the hood/roof of the car from the combine joint.
- rotate the arms back 90 degrees, then fld them inwards
- swing the car section up and back until the hinge inverts, then line the tabs on the combiner housing up with the slots on the sides of the arms and tab it in place
- slide out the combiner joint
- rotate the hips 90 degrees in the desired location
- insert the fist into the post, flipping out the fingers, positioning the desired thumb into place and hiding the opposing thumb inside the hand, running parallel to the fingers
- slot Jazz' gun into the weapon port at the top of the hood
As an arm, Jazz isn't as solid as I'd like. The big problem is that the tab connection between the car hood and the combiner port housing isn't a strong one, so while it holds in place, it comes apart very easily if you try to move the arm by the hood.
The Primemaster holder arms are an interesting touch in terms of giving wrist articulation. While they certainly work to some degree, trying to replicate the Protect Shade from Gao Gai Gar will cause the fist to fall out due to the short connector peg. So while not perfect, it's definitely an improvement on the old combiner limbs.
6.0/10.0
Transformation to Leg (from car mode):
- fold the arms out sideways
- separate the hood/roof of the car from the combiner port housing and bring it up and back until the two tabs on the arms slide into the two slots on the back of the legs, just in front of the spoiler
- slot Jazz' gun into the weapon port at the top of the hood
As a leg, Jazz feels so much more solid than as an arm. The connection of the arms to the legs is strong enough to allow you to move him by the hood when position him as a leg for poses. Of the two limb possibilities, this is where this one shines. It's an original leg design which feels very original and works really well. This is definitely the limb form of choice for him.
10/10
Accessories: Jazz comes with his gun and Primemaster holder, which has a cover which doubles as a clear gun - possibly some kind of hard light weapon. In car mode, there are three possible ports to store the accessories - 1 on the top of the roof and 2 on the top of the car, 1 next to the cabin on each side. While the rifle can fit in any slot, only the roof is capable of properly housing the Primemaster holder. In this mode, the Primemaster holder is reminiscent of an engine booster and with a Primemaster inserted, really does feel like an homage to the crazy engine designs of the Powermasters.
Robot mode is a different story. In robot mode, the tab on each of the thumbs slots into a slot on each side of the grill. I get they're going for a Breastmaster Homage here, however the connection doesn't feel secure and rather than feeling flush, the entire gimick feels like he's got some piece of gawkish equipment on the front of his chest and is even less secure than the connection between the combiner port hosing and roof of the car in arm mode.
Sadly it's one mode of awesome and another mode of mediocre: 6/10
Overall: Jazz does alot of things well and there are times when this figure shines. Sadly this figure feels like it was rushed into production too early. There are issues with the figure - notably in arm mode and with the robot mode Primemaster interaction - that really could have benefited from a couple of design revisions before the figure was released. Likewise, some of the choices regarding what parts to mould in what colour have definitely hurt this figure.
If this were simply a combiner wars figure, it would have been great-excellent, however it's hard to overlook a figure that has trouble interacting with the main gimmick of the line he's meant to be a part of.
It's not a bad figure and it's still worth picking up. It's just disappointing when a few design revisions could have seen this go from a mixed bag to something brilliantly pulled off.
7.0/10
