Smooth

Earlier in the week, I decoded to splurge and get the second of the Transformers in the first wave of the new series. This bot was none other than the legendary Autobot, Jazz.

Jazz (Fall of Cybertron)
"AUTOBOT JAZZ is gifted with a flair for flexible thinking and improvisation, making him the ideal special operations commander for the AUTOBOTS. OPTIMUS PRIME entrusts him with the most sensitive missions, counting on his keen mind and natural leadership to accomplish even the most dangerous objectives, no matter what."

Strength - 6
Intelligence - 8
Speed - 8
Endurance - 6
Rank - 8
Courage - 8
Fireblast - 5
Skill - 8

Though I have few memories of the original series, I do remember Jazz. His unique voice certainly tended to stick in one's mind, but I also remember him being one of the cooler Autobots (which is saying something, given my preference for the Decepticons. From what I remember, the above information about him being special operations commander sounds right, but mostly what I (and I'm guessing everyone) remember about Jazz is his affinity with Earth pop culture. Unlike with Shockwave, this isn't the first time they've made a Jazz figure in a long while. In 2010, another version of Jazz was released, one more closely modeled after the original. I was actually very fond of that particular one, but the one opportunity I had to buy it (for the MSRP or close enough to it to consider it that is) I passed. I regretted that, so I chose not to pass up this opportunity.

The articulation on Jazz is pretty good. Legs have a good range of movement, as do the arms, though the shoulders for some reason lock at a certain point somewhere about half-way of raising the arms up. One thing I like about Jazz moreso than Shockwave is that his head turns. It may seem like a minor thing, but when you're trying to pose the figure, this can offer a much greater variety in the number of poses you can put them in. The figure is pretty well-balanced, despite his overly-large upper body. Over all, he has a pretty good articulation, better than Shockwave's by a good amount.

Now then, onto design. The vehicle mode is, instead of the classic car, a Cybertronian racer (since all these bots are based on the Transformers before they awakened on Earth). It's still quite obviously a car that was designed for speed, but it's very much unlike an ordinary car. The robot mode is, likewise, distinct. For people familiar with Jazz, they would be able to recognize it. But they'd also notice some key differences. The chest and forearms are much bulkier than other versions, and the head and face are also quite different, including the color (the classic black has been replaced by a navy blue). For some reason, the robot form's ankles have what look like a tire as the joint for each one, which makes little sense as the four wheels of the vehicle are all on the upper body. I think they could have done something a bit different with that, maybe even just make it look like a foot and put a ball-joint there instead of the awkward wheel-joint. There's also the problem of his hand being obviously visible from behind when he's in car-mode. I don't think it would have been that difficult to figure out a less obvious way to conceal the hands. Overall, the design of the vehicle and robot forms aren't bad, but I feel they're not quite as good as some of the other figures I've seen, nor as bad.

Finally, the transformation. It's pretty darned simplistic, only taking a couple seconds. Pretty much just fold the arms and legs back and you're done. They've changed the difficulty scale that they put on the box. In the previous series, it went from one to five, with five being the most difficult. Now, they're rated from zero to three. Jazz is rated at a two, but honestly, it seemed simpler than that. It seemed on the old scale to be somewhere between a two and a three.

Overall, I'm pleased with the figure, though the one thing that really bothers me is the size. He's smaller than the previous series of bots by about a head (the exception being The Seekers, who were about this size). It's kinda bothersome, but I suppose Jazz would be smaller by a bit than Optimus or Megatron. I just hope the others are a bit larger, especially since these are supposed to be "deluxe" sized figures.