View Poll Results: Worth buying?

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  • Yes

    9 81.82%
  • Only if (cheap or something else)

    0 0%
  • No

    0 0%
  • Not even interested

    2 18.18%
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Thread: Toy Review - Studio Series DLX Jazz

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    27th Dec 2007
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    Sydney NSW
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    As others have said, this toy is pretty tiny, but given that scale is one of the features of the Studio Series line I understand why it's so. And yeah, the Pontiac Solstice is a pretty small car in real life. Here's the length of a Pontiac Solstice vs some other cars for comparison:
    * Pontiac Solstice = 3993mm
    * Chevrolet Camaro (5th gen) = 4840mm
    * Volkswaven Beetle Type 1 = 4079mm

    Here are some links of photos of actual Pontiac Solstices next to other things to give you a sense of scale.
    In a car park
    Man standing in front of one
    Man standing next to one
    2 men attaching the roof on a convertible version
    The Pontiac Solstice is only 1.27m in height. Same height as my 9 year old.

    So yeah, the diminutive size is something that I don't hold against this toy because it is meant to be the whole point of it. And while this toy is the same size as a Legends figure like Seaspray, it is definitely a Deluxe level of engineering. Certainly loads better value than those awful Cyberverse Warriors - I'll take a small well designed toy over a larger badly designed toy any day, thanks.

    It's not a perfect emulation of the screen design and it doesn't quite hit that same level of screen-accuracy as other Studio Series figures. But I think it may be due to Jazz being a more difficult design to translate as a toy. Looking at his screen model you can see why. The lack of vehicle kibble on the robot, and what kibble we see seems to be split all over the place. It kinda reminds me of BW Dinobot, and this might be a toy that might be better translated at a Masterpiece price point, but at just a Deluxe price point I can see how challenging this would be. Previous versions of Movie Jazz have had to use certain cheats to try and approximate the look of the screen character in a transformable action figure, and Studio Series Jazz is no exception.

    SS Jazz does a top job in trying to incorporate and conceal vehicle parts in robot mode. Gone are those awful forearms from the original toy replaced with faux headlight parts, while the actual headlights form the shoulders (which are formed from the tail light panels on the show model). I quite like how the wheels are incorporated and it does create an overall tighter looking robot mode which is visually more faithful to the screen model. I do wish that the feet were bigger, that's one thing that still looks better on the original figure, but the feet need to be small on SS Jazz due to the nature of the transformation so it's understandable. People have pointed out the backpack on this figure. It would've been nice if the backpack panel had hinges that allowed it fold and compact in, similar to what we see on Bumblebee. But it's not a deal breaker.

    One cool feature on this toy are the hands. The right hand has the fingers pointing down like the original, whereas the left hand has the fingers in a grip position with a hole for 5mm post weapons. Unfortunately the door panel means that only certain sized 5mm post guns can actually be held by SS Jazz (i.e. thinner guns). Both hands flip in to reveal posts which can be plugged into the weapon, making it an extension of the arm as if it had transformed out of the arm instead of Jazz just holding. But the option to hold it is there too. I think it's important to mention that this toy hasn't sacrificed the integrity of its arms for the sake of being able to hold a gun, which of course was the problem with the original figure.

    Are you having trouble making the door panels sit flush?
    This is something that I initially struggled with, but it's because there's a critical step in the transformation that isn't shown in the instructions and isn't necessarily immediately obvious. If you look at the back of the waist section you'll see a small hole that you would normally attach a flight stand post to. When you swing this section up during transformation, take a good look underneath the roof panel and you'll see a peg. You must insert this peg into that hole all the way. Once you've done that then the door panels will sit flush. The downside is that it will also make putting the arms inside the car body even trickier (this is by far my least favourite part of the transformation).

    Overall
    Similar to my thoughts about Studio Series Brawl. Jazz is a nice transforming action figure and display piece, but the original still feels like a better toy in terms of playability (except for those indefensibly awful forearms, which I must admit is a pretty major flaw on that toy). I still find the original to be a more solid figure. While the metallic silver on SS Jazz looks much nicer, the original does break its main colour up more with black and gold accents throughout the figure. The original also has silver rims and an Autobot insignia! Can someone tell me where SS Jazz's Autobot logo is? I can't find it. I don't care if it's not necessarily screen accurate, I want my TFs to have faction logos, damn it! SS Brawl had this problem too. The original Deluxe Jazz used a silver Autobot logo that made it blend with the main colour of the toy. I thought that that was a nice way to include the logo without making it stand out. Recommended for adult collectors but not so much for kids. If you prefer a larger Jazz then stick with your Human Alliance figure.



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    Last edited by GoktimusPrime; 25th September 2018 at 12:35 AM.

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