Autobot
Jazz (Fall of Cybertron) [Generations]
Jazz' vehicle mode for
Fall of Cybertron is a rather futuristic sportscar (with no real cockpit,
natch, given that the game takes place before they go to Earth). This is
overall a pretty nice-looking vehicle mode, nailing just enough of the
sportscar look (what with the spoiler, sleek design, six "turbo-thrusters"
near the back end, and whatnot) while still keeping him a bit alien-looking.
His detailing is pretty good, going from simple in a few places to really
complex on areas like his "front window" and parts of the sides and back
end of the top half. Most of these details have an adequate amount of paint
on them, with no large area on Jazz unpainted plastic of just one color.
(Having the headlights and front grill be blue plastic pieces that poke
out from the white plastic helps to add a bit more color variety without
more paint apps-- nicely done, there.) The metallic dark blue looks particularly
good against the off-white that's Jazz' dominant color, with a bit of black
and gray providing a bit more of neutral/darker color. Although Jazz' wheels
have the red "energy conduit outlines" along them, however, the rest of
him doesn't-- a noticeable oversight, in my opinion, given how much that
look is part of the FoC game. When it comes to robot mode extras, Jazz
has a few, but they're relatively minor-- just the TINIEST bit of his legs
can be seen poking out below the bottom of this mode from a straight-on
side angle. His back end is also a bit hollow, with the robot arms and,
to a lesser extent, the feet fairly obvious from a rear view. It's also
worth noting that Jazz is rather small and light for a deluxe, even taking
into account the more restrictive budget requirements Hasbro put on toys
starting in 2012. Jazz' weapon is a relatively small standard gun, which
can be either plugged into his top side behind his "window" or mounted
on either side in front of the rear wheels in this mode.
Jazz' robot mode, on
the other hand is... definitely not so great. By far the biggest offender
is the incredibly odd way his chest and head are set up-- his head doesn't
come forward nearly enough or high enough, so he eternally looks like he's
looking down into his front chest. There's also a rather ugly hollow
gap between the initial front of the chest and where his head is, only
compounded by how high his back sits against his head. As far as sculpts
go, his face sculpt is also a bit off, with the lips in particular looking
a bit off and a bit too detailed to the point where the details clash together
some. His legs are also a bit small proportionally, and the wheels that
are in the middle of his feet are fake, with none of the cool red "energy
conduit" paint apps that are on his "real" wheels. The white paint used
on his feet is also noticeably lighter than his white plastic, which makes
for a little of a mismatch there. On the plus side, Jazz' arms are pretty
decent (though the shoulders could stand to be a little bit bigger/wider);
I particularly like how his wheels stay on the outside of his lower arms,
the paint apps on them adding a bit more color variety to him in those
areas. As for articulation, he can move at the neck, shoulders (at three
points), elbows, inwards at the wrists, and at the hips (at two points),
knees (at two points), and back-and-forth at the ankles. It's pretty decent,
though the panels on his shoulders can restrict movement a bit more there
than you'd expect. As you'd also expect, Jazz can hold his gun securely
in either hand in this mode.
Fall of Cybertron Jazz
has a pretty neat-- if small-- vehicle mode that fits the FoC aesthetic
quite well and has some nice shades of dark blue, in particular. Unfortunately,
in robot mode it all falls apart, with small legs and an incredibly odd/bad-looking
chest and head assemblage being big downsides. As much as I like Jazz'
character, if you're going to skip one deluxe-and-up FoC toy, it should
be this one.
Review by Beastbot