Generation Toys Jazz

     I have said before on this blog I am not a toy reviewer. Turns out I was incorrect. I just needed the right spark to start me off.

     When I opened the package from the Chosen Prime, and touched the box I knew someone had taken it to another level. Unlike the printed boxes with varying thicknesses and qualities of cardboard, this is a heavy black full box, similar to a photo box, with the company logo printed on it in metallic letters. It has a fitted sleeve that is printed that slides off. Inside the box is a fitted foam rubber insert to hold the car form secure and safe.

      Some of his transformation is based upon this toy. Special Ops Jazz from the Reveal the Shield line. An excellent piece in it's own right, it is one of my favorites. with a solid, intricate transformation, the only place it suffers is in a shortage of paint applications, What I show here is my custom painted version where I worked to fix that. He spends his days on one of my classics shelves between my Takara Tracks and my GDO Cliffjumper. That is, unless he is helping me at my desk for the day.

     Jazz has long been Optimus Prime's right hand 'bot. As head of special operations, he is in charge of the most dangerous covert missions. Jazz is also a true earthophile, more than most other autobots, effortless immersing himself into and grasping Earth's culture.

     Jazz was played on the G1 series by the late great Scatman Crothers, also famous for voicing Hong Kong Phooey. I remember listening to him, one of the three most distinctive voice actors on the show( along with Peter Cullen and Casey Kasem)and truly enjoying his way of bringing life to the role. While many have tried to fill his shoes in the role, in the opinion of this blogger, no one ever has.

     Generation Toys J4ZZ(Jazz) is solid in the hand, without being full of oddly placed Die-Cast parts. His transformation is intricate without being headache-inducing. He looks great in robot mode and in alt-mode as what most resembles a modern Porsche. The Plastic they used for his car parts is a pearlescent white with a stylized version of his original deco, with red and blue racing stripes. I added an Autobot emblem to him as soon as he hit robot mode. His joints are smooth, not so tight as to make you listen for breaking plastic, not so loose that they flop around. His blaster fits securely in his hand.

     And then we get to the odd little details. the flaps that open up to fill in gaps, to cover the hollows. These are the little extra touches of pride that elevate this above even most third party companies. These are the things that make it a pleasure and a treasure of engineering.

     Would I recommend this? It depends on what your collection has room for, or what you are looking for. If you are looking for scrupulously G1 exact detail, this isn't it. He bounces back and forth between Classics toy, G1 toy and IDW Comics. He becomes a new thing. My collection demands only that the aesthetic fit my tastes, because above all else, I embrace the fluid nature of Cybertronian transformers. They are always changing. He may or may not be your masterpiece Jazz. He will do nicely for mine.