Toy Review - PotP Jazz

[shockNwave]

I'm looking forward to getting this guy just to see his combiner modes possessed by Menasor.

[griffin]

Official images, for reference, and for members to use on this site...

[ComradeRenko]

I initially passed on Jazz when I was ordering PotP figures, but picked him up today after seeing him in the flesh. I was pleasantly surprised.

I'd written him off as another G1 character forced into being a combiner and using the limited number of CW moulds, but in hand the mould is a lot smarter than the previous CW ones. A neat trick with the bonnet helps hide the obnoxious combiner joint and way the top of the car swings and folds is very cool.

The gun is nothing to write home about. There are three spots to clip it in vehicle mode, but it does make me miss the days of guns being integrated into vehicle modes and hidden from sight.

The new hand unit isn't as bad as the old CW HFGs. The double thumb isn't great, but I found that rotating the bottom thumb up to point at the top thumb helps alleviate it some degree. The detailing is interesting and the transparent cover piece breaks up the black plastic.

The limb modes are pretty much what you'd expect, although leg mode does provide a different looking leg than we've seen previously.

Paint apps are good up the front, but taper off towards the back, leaving it quite plain. Oh well, nothing toyhax can't fix.

My version has a weak knee on one leg, where the connection between the knee and the shins doesn't connect as solidly as it should and as a result can rotate when it shouldn't be able to. Don't think it will be a problem long term but it is a nuisance.

I'd rate PotP Jazz below the Hunt for the Decepticons Jazz, but miles ahead of the Fall Of Cybertron Jazz

[GoktimusPrime]

To be fair, Fall of Cybertron Jazz is based on a pre-existing game model whereas Reveal the Shield and Power of the Prime Jazz were made as toys in their own right.

[prjkt]

To be fair, Fall of Cybertron Jazz is based on a pre-existing game model whereas Reveal the Shield and Power of the Prime Jazz were made as toys in their own right.

That game model was pretty sweet, but that’s not what we got...

[GoktimusPrime]

That game model was pretty sweet, but that’s not what we got...

Another example of why toys based on existing models are generally not as good as Transformers toys made as toys first. Game designers, like animators, aren't toy designers and often their designs are counter-intuitive to the kind of engineering that goes into producing a Transformer toy. Often toy designers are left with the unenviable task of reverse-engineering or "translating" screen designs as Transformer toys.

This is why I prefer Transformers toys to just be made as toys first without worrying about how animators are going to make the toys look like on screen. Let the animators work that out. Toy designers should just focus on the quality of the toy. But then you get people who whinge about such toys lacking "screen accuracy" (which is a silly term when applied to toys that existed before the show or game). Toys like FoC Jazz were made "backwards" compared to the more traditional way of making Transformers for the sake of trying to achieve greater screen-accuracy... but of course, it still doesn't quite work out anyway.

I'd much rather have a good toy that doesn't look like its screen counterpart than an ordinary toy that tries too hard to look screen-like. Unless you're willing to pay hefty MP-level prices, then it's usually either one or the other or some compromise in-between (which is typically what CHUG gives us).

[ComradeRenko]

Another example of why toys based on existing models are generally not as good as Transformers toys made as toys first. Game designers, like animators, aren't toy designers and often their designs are counter-intuitive to the kind of engineering that goes into producing a Transformer toy. Often toy designers are left with the unenviable task of reverse-engineering or "translating" screen designs as Transformer toys.

This is why I prefer Transformers toys to just be made as toys first without worrying about how animators are going to make the toys look like on screen. Let the animators work that out. Toy designers should just focus on the quality of the toy. But then you get people who whinge about such toys lacking "screen accuracy" (which is a silly term when applied to toys that existed before the show or game). Toys like FoC Jazz were made "backwards" compared to the more traditional way of making Transformers for the sake of trying to achieve greater screen-accuracy... but of course, it still doesn't quite work out anyway.

I'd much rather have a good toy that doesn't look like its screen counterpart than an ordinary toy that tries too hard to look screen-like. Unless you're willing to pay hefty MP-level prices, then it's usually either one or the other or some compromise in-between (which is typically what CHUG gives us).

The real kicker for me with the Fall of Cybertron figures was how they compared to the War for Cybertron figures. WfC Optimus was fantastic representation of the in game model, and had an involved an interesting transformation. Same for Bumblebee. Megatron and Soundwave dialed back the complexity but still looked better than the FoC assortment.

[Bidoofdude]

I initially passed on Jazz when I was ordering PotP figures, but picked him up today after seeing him in the flesh. I was pleasantly surprised.

I'd written him off as another G1 character forced into being a combiner and using the limited number of CW moulds, but in hand the mould is a lot smarter than the previous CW ones. A neat trick with the bonnet helps hide the obnoxious combiner joint and way the top of the car swings and folds is very cool.

I haven’t got this toy (I already have RTS), but it feels like they cared a lot more about making a good deluxe of the character first, adding the combiner stuff later, which is much different to the CW figures. This seems to be pretty consistent with the new strategy of reusing engineering in extensive retools rather than straight up repaints or head swaps. I’m a lot more optimistic for all the deluxe waves being combiner limbs, if Moonracer and Jazz are a sign of what is to come.

[Dimi194]

I was super keen on first impressions for this guy but a lot of negative reviews made me apprehensive... happy to say I was proven wrong!

Although his lower body does throwback a lot to the CW cars (which I really liked, they just got a bit repetitive by the end), the top half feels fresh, and the only real fault (aside form the weird shoulder joints being loose) is the panels covering the hands-a pet hate of mine, especially as the hands are the same colour as the panels so it all kinda looks the same...

Car mode was pleasantly different and breaks the 'footprint' of the CW cars, which is great!

Overall happy to get this guy, faith restored in the rest of the POTP DLX non-animal bots... curious to see the dinos tho!

[shockNwave]

Love the robot mode on this guy but gee that's an ugly Porsche. The car's length combined with lack of width is not a good look in terms of proportion and then to make matters worse, the clearance between the ground and the chassis/body is more suited to a rally car than a racetrack car. In my collection I have RID15 Jazz and DOTM tattooed Jazz and I have to rate them above this one.