FOC Jazz

Picked him up when I was grocery shopping today as the price hike wasn't in effect there. Not bad, not great, but not bad.

Glad I got him since I'm going to have a WFC/FOC display and he's a solid car in the DS game and it looks like I'll have fun with his FOC level.

However, as a toy, he's got some minor issues. The biggest issues for me are those stupid clips from the arm into the door. I've twice popped the elbow joint trying to unsnap it. I would've liked it had the spoiler/trunk section folded flatter against the roof section, mine seems to have a lot of resistance and stop much earlier; it doesn't effect Transformation but it does keep the lines from being smooth. I'm also not teribly fond of the gap between the chest/hood and the head, nor how low the head sits in relation to the shoulders.

Great figure? Nope. Glad I got him under $13, yep.

I just got FoC Jazz today and after seeing some bad reviews for him I was expecting much worse. I actually used, or tried to use his instructions because I've heard he has some scary pegs. Well I haven't had any problems with them. Nothing feels like "OH MY GAWD IT'S GOING TO BREAK" to me. I've also heard some horrible things about his back pack, not that it looks bad but just that it's hard to deal with transforming him but I found it really easy. I have more issues with Bumblebee's back pack being constantly in my way, not really having any nice position to sit in robot mode, and coming apart when I don't want it too. Jazz feels a LOT cleaner and more solid.

I mentioned I tried to use his instructions. The instructions that come with Jazz don't even know how to transform him. They tell you to pull the arms out to the side in one step but then two steps letter you're putting them right back where they started and there was no reason to ever pull his arms out to the side in the first place. They never tell you to peg the shoulders in so when I finished him the peg hole on the inside of the shoulder was still visible and nothing was sitting flush together. I was like "Wow this thing has really bad panel lines did I miss something?" Then I looked at the finished picture and sure enough the shoulders were meant to be pegged in but it never said to do that. Another thing I found was odd is the instructions tell you to fold his legs up first then to peg his arms in but you actually have to do it the other way around. Just keep his hands folded out till the legs are in place. If you have the legs up first for some reason the arms won't fold shut to even attempt pegging them into place but doing it backwards from what the instructions say nothing is hindering the legs except the hands which can easily be moved out of the way.

I actually got two of these, the other one is for my brother. Guess I'll really be having a nostalgia moment sense I'm going to have to show him how to transform it. My older brother had G1 Jazz when he was 9, I was 4, and I was the only one who knew how to transform it. Well now he's 31 and I'm 26 and it's happening again!

Anyway... some things I really like about the transformation his hood kinda surprised me when it flipped out on it's own. I think he's basically a shellformer sense there is a Sideswipe version of this mold coming out later with totally different vehicle kibble. It's not a shellformer in the traditional sense though where the alt mode kibble isn't incorporated very well into his robot mode. Usually shellformers you can take the kibble off and have a nice looking alt and robot mode standing right next to each other. I think he's a new type of shellformer where the vehicle kibble can be easily altered without hindering the transformation. I just made that up but shellformer is a made up word to begin with.

The vehicle mode is pretty nice from all angles except the back where it's obvious his robot hands are just sitting there failing to look like a rear bumper.

Despite the fact the legs stick out a little bit he still rolls fairly well.

In robot mode there are a couple things that bother me which surprisingly have nothing to do with his fake tires and the fact that you can still see the real ones.

The head seems almost like it's positioned wrong. There's a bit of a gap between his head and the chest and I wish they would of engineered that a little bit better so that gap wasn't there.

The other part is kind of "good news and bad news" situation. The good news is he has some really nice molding on his stomach area. The bad news is you can't see any of it because the front of the car is in the way. None of it's painted which is probably because it can't actually be seen but it looks really nice even without paint. The only way to really see it is to tip Jazz so that you can't see his head anymore which is a really awkward way to look at a toy's detailing.

As for articulation, this is where I start to have some major issues with the toy. The head is on a ball joint but here's where I actually do have a problem with the back pack. It's makes it difficult to do anything with the head. The tab on the shoulders makes getting any movement out of them a challenge and the corner of the shoulder actually needs to be shaved down a bit because it's difficult to rotate the arms up. That's the only part where I actually feel like I'm going to break something. He also has a knee swivel which should of been below the knee because where it is above the knee it can't actually swivel when the leg is straight. That takes care of all the hindered bits now let me tell you the good points.

He does ratcheted elbows, knees, and ankle tilt which is needed for transformation. There's swivel joints below the shoulders. Ball jointed wrists. And the hips have a ball and swivel joint. The swivel in the hips actually helps make the legs look a little more natural for anyone who things they're too close together.

I would also like to make a real quick comment about his weapon... it doesn't really look like a gun to me. I mean if the handle were placed differently it would make a better knife than it does a gun. The Sideswipe version has a much more interesting weapon.

Despite it's flaws I still really like this guy. The other two WfC Autobots have some flaws too but in a different way. It's not better or worse, just different.

Do the ratchets on his knee wear out and stop clicking after a while?

Ask again in a year. He has elbow ratchets too you know. It's kinda hard to say if they'll wear out over time when no time has passed yet. That would really suck if they wore out in only a few days.

Anyway, I just looked at Jazz's picture on the back of the box and noticed his vehicle mode is mistransformed there too like it is in the instructions. His picture on TFWiki however shows the proper configuration which is kinda weird.

Correct vehicle mode.


The way the instructions tell you to do it.

Notice the hole above the blue stripe on the side of his car, that's not suppose to be there.

My son just got him. I had zero interest in him. I have to say my interest level hasn't increased in hand. He needs more paint apps and in this day and age having visible hands in the back in a deluxe is ridiculous.

I was going to get this model when it was remolded as Sideswipe, but now I'm honestly not sure.

Incorrect Transformations happen in official pics all the time.

Does the Foc head fit in the RTS body ?

cause that's the only part of the FOC jazz I want...

I don't know about the ball joint, but his head looks larger than RTS Jazz's head to me...

Is it not possible to make a panel that would add much-needed bulk to the calves in bot mode & cover the hole at the back in alt mode?

Deathwing's biggest fan - check out his mods here.

I like this Jazz (I like RTS Jazz better) But FOC Jazz plastic does feel really cheap and light wieght.