Autobot Jazz really brings back memories. Looking at this thing I remember the old Transformers Gen 2. Commercial featuring Jazz, Sideswipe, and Inferno vs. Starscream and Ram Jet.

I remember I had Ram Jet and I almost got Sideswipe but I remember at the time my Mom told me I could either have Sideswipe or a Power Rangers VHS tape and I chose the Power Rangers tape instead.

I also remember in 2nd grade there was a kid who had what he claimed was an original Generation 1 Jazz from the ’80s and he brought it in one day for Sharing time and during playtime or something it ended up getting broken and he threw such a fit over it, trying to figure out who broke it and getting them to pay for it, and the teacher not wanting to deal with his bullshit kept telling him it was his own responsibility to watch over his stuff. In the end the kid started telling us that he could easily fix it but it was the principle of the matter which was why he was such a cry baby over it.

That kid never did learn his lesson because in 6th grade he brought in a padded baseball and bat to play with during recess and that thing got broken too and he tried pulling the same shit of trying to get some other kid to pay for it but the teacher told him it was his own responsibility if he brought his own stuff in to play with and on top of that he was never supposed to bring in the bat and ball to play with anyway.

Anyway, looking at Power of the Primes Jazz, I kind of regret buying it. It’s not a terrible action figure, I just don’t find it all that impressive. Jazz is usually portrayed as one of the cooler Transformers, in fact if you look him up on Wikipedia he’s described as “a music-loving robot and speaks in slang,” on top of that as Optimus Prime’s right-hand man and second-in-command he’s pretty much a necessity for any Transformers collection or children’s toybox. Hell, when I was a kid I always fantasized about having an awesome Transformers toy collection with a Jazz in there. Now that I have one, I don’t know if it’s because I’m looking at it with adult eyes or if it’s because there’s really nothing that special about it I just don’t find it impressive.

Impressive or not Jazz still makes great material for a blog post which is why I’m writing this and also why I took all those photos of it. If the lighting on the photos looks weird it’s because I used Jazz to practice more of my slow exposure light painting photography. I still need more practice doing it but I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Here’s Jazz in his blister package. As a Deluxe Class figure he’s not that big of a Transformer which is why he’s just in a blister package. I really like the illustration of Jazz on the cardboard cover it looks really cool and looks very reminiscent of the artwork in the IDW Transformer comics. I think I did a good job with the light painting with this photo because I was able to illuminate it clearly without getting too much reflection or glare off of the plastic parts of the packaging.

“How will the improvisational AUTOBOT special ops agent wield the POWER OF THE PRIMES?” This is a pretty lame description. I really miss the days when I was a kid and the packaging on toys would give really good backstory on the toy inside.

A full shot of the back of the packaging. In my opinion I don’t think it’s that great. It just really looks so bland in my opinion.

The Jazz trading card that came with him which is pretty much a recreation of the cardboard backing.

Here’s Jazz’s accessories; his gun and his Prime Armor. A big gimmick with the Power Of The Primes toyline is that the figures are all combiners so the Prime Armor also doubles as a foot or hand depending on how you transform Jazz.

Here’s Jazz out of the packaging. I really like how Transformers today are more articulated than the toys I had when I was a kid.

Jazz with his accessories. Notice how the Prime Armor is now a shield which is what they should have done on the back of the package.

The business end of Jazz’s gun. This shot was actually pretty tricky to pull off. I had to find the right F-stop setting that would allow me to set an exposure that would give me enough time to shine my light on Jazz in just the right way while also not creating a too shallow depth of field.

Jazz’s head. Other than some slight alterations to the shape of Jazz’s head it still looks the same as he did in the ’80s.

Side shot of the Prime Armor as a shield. Hasbro really should have marketed it as a shield instead of as armor.

Here’s Jazz in vehicle form. You might notice how he’s looks quite different than he did in the ’80s. The reason for this is because the original Jazz’s vehicle form was a Porsche 935 Turbo while the Power Of The Primes Jazz’s alternate form is a Porsche 962. Despite the change in vehicle forms it’s at least nice to see that they kept the Martini Racing livery that the original Jazz had in the ’80s.

You might notice how parts of Jazz’s body panels are still a little folded. I tried to get this to fold to fit perfectly but I was ever able to get it to fit and this is another reason why I’m a little disappointed with this thing. I was tempted to try to force it in place but I was too scared of accidentally breaking it.

Here’s Jazz in vehicle form with all his accessories attached. I think he looks a bit dumb with all this crap on him. In vehicle form these accessories just look so foreign and out of place. The gun by itself might look okay and makes sense but the Prime Armor doesn’t and also makes you wonder, “What the hell is this thing supposed to be?”

Jazz in robot form with the Prime Armor as his chest piece. Once again I think this just looks stupid. It’s kind of a good use of an accessory which you can incorporate into the toy so you don’t have to put it off to the side when you don’t need it but like I said earlier this thing would make a better shield than it would as chest armor. It’s just too bulky and doesn’t cover enough of Jazz to make good armor.

Before I realized the Prime Armor was a chest piece I left it on Jazz’s back and thought it was some sort of ass cover. Looking at it now I guess if they added an extra mounting point in the center of Jazz’s back they could have marketed it as like a backpack accessory.

Thanks for checking this out. Things have been so hectic for me the last couple months and I’ve been sitting on so many toys that I’ve been meaning to photograph and write up for the site. I’m hoping this will give me the momentum I need to start putting more of them out.