Cliffbee.com Generations Jazz Toy Review

Individual Review




Name: Jazz
Series: Generations
Allegiance: Autobot
Alternate Mode: Sports Car



SPORTS CAR MODE
Height: 4cm Length: 13cm Width: 6cm

   A white sports car with transparent blue windows and headlights, black plastic tyres and a red front bumper. Jazz has the iconic blue & red stripe running down the centre along with similar stripes on his sides. The doors sport the number 4, printed in black and there's a white four on the hood as well. His colours are clearly taken from those of G1 Jazz, although without the Martini elements. There's a Reveal The Shield style rubsign on his roof - the only allegiance symbol here.

   This car isn't a Porsche - it's not really anything as far as I can tell, although it looks realistic enough. There are shades of Movie Jazz's Pontiac here, mind you. The level of detail is slightly less than is typical of the Classics/Universe/etc lines, although it's still good, with rear vision mirrors, door handles. a front grille and tyre tread. There's also taillights and exhausts sculpt at the back, but sadly they've been left unpainted, giving him a somewhat cheap feel compared to earlier Classics. There's a very compact spoiler on the back, which is over the rear axle - further forward than spoilers usually are.

   There's some play value here. The wheels turn, as is usual, and the doors open. Stowed away under the side windows, Jazz has black & silver speakers which can fold out as seen in the G1 cartoon (although that usually showed then attaching near his spoiler). They're on a ball & two hinges, so they can be positioned in various ways, which is nice.

   A good car mode despite a relative lack of detail. The tribute is spot on and while he's not a Porsche, the shape is close enough and the colours work. The lower detail here is a shortcoming, but that's offset by the speakers, which are fun and are very inspiring compared to the far more common electronic effects or missile launchers found on many Transformers.

TRANSFORMATION TO ROBOT MODE

   Unclip & set aside the gun stowed behind his grille. Open the doors, unclip and fold out the rear as legs. Swing the arms out to the sides from underneath (they attach in the front wheelbays). Fold down the hood, which will cause the head to fold out through the a gap created when the arms were swung out. Rotate the arms down into position & swing out the speakers (if desired). Split the legs, fold out the feet (which will also extend the shin) and fold out is heelspurs. Open the gun and place in either hand.

ROBOT MODE
Height: 15cm Width: 13cm

   A white robot with extensive black introduced here. The head, upper arms, hands, groin, hips & upper shins are black while his feet & lower shins are grey. The forearms are painted white - and it's a markedly different white to the slightly milky white plastic elsewhere. His face is silver with transparent blue eyes (and a useless lightpipe). There's no Autobot logo here, other than the rubsign now upside down on Jazz's back. Again this colour scheme tributes the G1 character well, although there's no chrome here until the original toy.

   While there are some differences in the transformation, the layout is iconic Jazz. The headlights & grille sit on his chest, which is the partially protruding hood. The front tyres sit on top of his shoulders while the doors form wings. The spoiler ends up on his achilles heels. As is common with modern toys, the feet are slightly sloped so that Jazz stands flat in a relaxed pose, with his feet apart slightly. The head and face are very much Jazz - thankfully without the infamous smirk of reissue Jazz toys.

   The play value here centres on his poseablity but the novel speakers on his doors overshadow that. They can be retracted or folded out in front of the doors. His head and wrists are ball jointed while his shoulders and hips swing and lift out to the sides. Jazz has hinged elbows with rotators. Jazz's knees are hinged with rotators while his feet are fixed, but have useful heelspurs behind them. Jazz has the short feet seen in G1, thanks to them being tucked under the shins - providing this look along with stability.

   A good robot mode, although getting the feet right during transformation can be tricky. The play value isn't in itself anything special, but the speakers are both unusual and perfect for the character, making them a lot of fun. I'd have liked a functional lightpipe (a minor issue) and do wish there was an Autobot logo here somewhere, but it's still a good robot mode overall.

VARIATIONS

   None that I'm aware of.

OVERALL

   While this toy has some flaws, including low detail and some missed paint apps in vehicle mode, this toy provides an excellent tribute along with solid play value. The fold out speakers are fun enough to really sell this toy to me. Otherwise he'd be solid but not spectacular. A good toy and an overdue tribute to an iconic character - 8/10

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