I think personally he does look a bit like a Porsche - though maybe not as much as the previous Legends Jazz does ; The stripe pattern, shade of white, and painted hubs, lights window and grill all look much nicer on the Japanese one... I think I'll have to start saving my pennies for a order of Japanese exclusive in the coming weeks.
Where the heck are you ordering your figures from?! That's way too expensive. It pays to ship multiple items at once, that way you save more money. Shipping could end up being $10 to $15 SAL for one item, so if you do multiple it ends up being less per figure. Not to knock you but I don't think that's likely. Especially with the types of paints used by TakaraTomy and the rear window would not be something easily painted. Randy
My RTS Jazz doesn't look yellow at all in person, I think it has to do more with the lighting in the pictures as the United one is most likely painted and the RTS is just white plastic so it has kind of a yellowing translucent effect when photographed. I personally collect the most show accurate versions of characters so the RTS is actually closer to the cartoon detailing (or its lack there of) than the United. Hell, Jazz didn't even have the stripe on his chest, it was just blue with an Autobot logo most the time. I was watching on the Hub a few days ago and he didn't even have the Autobot logo most of that episode. And his grill was always just white in the show.
White plastic is white plastic, I don't see why everyone's getting their knickers in a twist because the United version is slightly brighter when photographed. I bet if you had them both in hand and the rest of the paint apps were blanked out you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. A blue rectangle, red tail-lights, and silver grill, torso and feet? tell you what give me ten minutes and I'll do the exhaust pipes, a license plate and a wash on the front grill as well.
It's not impossibly hard you just have to use the right sort of paint and make sure it's not to thick - it's better to use several coats than have it lumpy - I painted the back window on my Animated Lockdown's quite easily and the side window on Jazz (though I'd not put the second coat on his wheel hubs when I took the picture so those are a bit patchy still). I painted some of the robot bits too - Hopefully the end result will better complement the RTS Jazz or Transformers : United Jazz quite well too.
Usually I scoff at the Hasbro vs. Takara postings, but in this instance, I've got to admit Takara is the clear winner. It's the bone-white paint/plastic that puts it over the edge. And PoweredConvoy, I managed to get RtS Jazz at Kmart for $9. So 4x that is 36, and that's pretty close to the $34 that BBTS and TFSource are charging for the United figures.
I'm so glad I pre-ordered United Jazz & Grapple through HLJ. My RTS Jazz looks like something that's been dug out of the spare parts' bin when compared to TakTom's beauty . It sucks that I'll probably have to wait until the end of Jan to get them in my hands... :/
the drastic increase in price really sux between united and hasbro but looking at those pics, it looks like rts jazz was just half-assed or something. it's like it was taken off the line before it was finished.
I love my RTS Jazz but the paint is duller than the bright white we are seeing on the United version. I guess now I am going to wait for United Wheeljack pics to come out. I have a feeling that it will be deja vu for Hasbro.
How much is the Shipping? When you order internationally you have to factor in the Shipping as part of the price you pay, cause that's not cheap, It may factor in to the same price you'd pay at BBTS or TFS.
Even with the yellowed plastic and other issues with RTS Jazz, it's still better than paying the imported cost of the United. I'll keep the RTS Jazz so I can have more money for other toys.