The Energon Pub

[Carnivius_Prime]

i am so confused. i've had Studio Ratchet for a few months now and for some reason always thought his windows were painted on and used that as a negative when comparing him to previous ratchet figures and yet today when i was slicing his roof rack so it can fold with the roof and not have to drape down behind him i see that the windows are indeed transparent (if very dark) and now my whole concept of reality is shaken. They've always been transparent, right? :O

[william-james88]

i am so confused. i've had Studio Ratchet for a few months now and for some reason always thought his windows were painted on and used that as a negative when comparing him to previous ratchet figures and yet today when i was slicing his roof rack so it can fold with the roof and not have to drape down behind him i see that the windows are indeed transparent (if very dark) and now my whole concept of reality is shaken. They've always been transparent, right? :O

Yes. Crowbar is the only wave 1 deluxe to have painted windows.

[Carnivius_Prime]

i am so confused. i've had Studio Ratchet for a few months now and for some reason always thought his windows were painted on and used that as a negative when comparing him to previous ratchet figures and yet today when i was slicing his roof rack so it can fold with the roof and not have to drape down behind him i see that the windows are indeed transparent (if very dark) and now my whole concept of reality is shaken. They've always been transparent, right? :O

Yes. Crowbar is the only wave 1 deluxe to have painted windows.

i'm an idiot

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

DSC_0492 (1).jpg

Added Classics Voyager G1 Prime cos was mentioned above.

Thanks. So yeah, he is one short Voyager considering that Classics Prime is on the short side for a Voyager himself:

[Emerje]

...And now I want to headcanon Movie Overcast as a Rei expy. Cute but completely inscrutable (and also the mono-eye ties in nicely with Unit 00). In truth only wants love.

Ah, see, I was thinking something completely different and Rei being movie Arcee for obvious reasons.



Really just need to buy a bunch of Chromias.

Emerje

[william-james88]

I bought Studio Series Jazz and Lockdown the other day and seeing as how there aren’t too many photos out there (if anyone has found them in the US please let us know, we have yet to news a sighting) I wanted to give you a pictorial review of both. Especially as there are some aspects of these figures that I was unaware of until getting them and wanted to share. However, my Lockdown broke, and the store I bought it at was sold out within a day, so I will only have Jazz for you today.



Another thing before I begin, with a house full of young kids, I could only snap these pics when the sun was almost out, but even then I find there was enough natural light for some crisp pics, hopefully you like them too.

Now onto Jazz and my main complaint: HOLY F%&K is he small. People said he was but I was just not ready. You pull him out of the packaging and there is just so much empty space. Especially compared to Lockdown, who turns out not to even be that tall a deluxe. Now you are wondering how small, well here are some pics of his Legends scaled vehicle mode (no exaggeration).





Yup, that is him next to a Legends figure.

Here are some pics of him in robot mode where he is at least between legends and deluxe class (rather than just being as tall as a legends figure).







So yeah, really small. And with these studio series toys selling at a markup compared to deluxe toys from the Generations line in several countries and retailers, this bites. MSRP in Canada is $29.99, while Generations deluxes are $19.99, just to give you an idea.

I know why he’s small, it’s so he can be in scale with the other toys in the line, as seen here, which does work.



So now that I have that size issue off my chest, is the figure any good? Well, him being small does bring about some issues. Unlike an actual legends class whose design was always based to be in that class, Jazz having his movie proportions feels very light and dainty. He is not particularly easy to pose because everything is made so small with very thin joints. He does not feel solid. He has a far too generous ankle tilt that will reveal gaps in his knees. These gaps are not related to the transformation, they aren’t slots for pegs, so I don’t really know why they are there. I also have an issue with the feet. It's probably accurate but they are just nubs and look off.















As may have seen before, he does have a backpack and it does take away an otherwhise sleek silhouette in many action poses. I do like the accessory. It can be used as a handheld gun in one had or, like in the film, it can attach to one of his arms to give it the look that his arm transformed into the gun. That is probably my favourite aspect of the toy. Because it sure ain't the car mode.










So yeah while the car mode is small, that is not the main complaint. Instead that would be the gaps. It is very easy to make him gappy in alt mode so I highly recommend you read the instructions and look at a video just to make sure you have everything pegged in correctly. I read the instructions and still had gaps but I have fixed it since. There is lots of stuff crammed into him since half his robot mode body is not made up of car parts. And as you saw, the car is smaller than the robot, so there's lots to stuff in there.









The colour is good. I could do with more detail though, especially in the back, which is just silver paint. Plus for a “premium” style toy, those black plastic wheels look cheap as hell. Don know why they didn’t paint some rims, it’s not like the car body needed tons of paint. You can hook the weapon in the back but it dos not hold well and the look does not work for me.







So there you go. Overall, better than the original deluxe in terms of proportions, aesthetic and transformation. But this little dude feels flimsy, especially in the legs, and by no means is this toy worth the asking price.

[Sabrblade]

Here are some pics of him in robot mode where he is at least between legends and deluxe class (rather than just being as tall as a legends figure).

So, like an old Basic/Scout class figure.

[ToaLeePrime]

There's a trick to getting rid of the gaps in vehicle mode. Underneath the roof of the car is a clear blue peg, and in the back of the waist there is a peg hole, make sure they are tabbed together and you will get a much cleaner car mode.

[Carnivius_Prime]

No. I disagree with your Jazz review a lot. I dunno what you've done with the car mode there but there's no way it should have huge gaps like that. Even on the ones I've seen where they have some gaps it's nowhere near like that. You've either got a faulty one or you've done it wrong. and I very much disagree about the "doesn't feel solid" bit. I've had mine for a about a couple months (bought with Lockdown who is also awesome) and I've played with it loads and it feels pretty damn solid to me with a well transformed compact torso, stiff joints, poses well, can balance good (I don't even often have the rear feet stabilisers folded down but they're there when I need to pose him in a way that needs the extra support). My only real negatives about the figure are that the backpack is kinda large and the shin pieces being all attach to the ankle joint is a bit odd but I bloody love this lil shiny dude. Heck I even paid more than the RRP price for both Jazz and Lockdown by about £7 each and I still felt no regrets (unlike Grimlock, that dino mode still bugs the hell out of me, there's so many things wrong with it for the £53 I paid and gonna have to spend more money on the upgrade kit to fix some of it). Jazz has been one of my most genuinely enjoyable figures of the past year and one I even take with me out and about sometimes like to rehearsals when I'm sat there waiting for my scene and bored out of my mind. I like your photos a lot but I really find myself disagreeing a lot with your reviews.

Pic I just took of him balancing on one foot without even needing the black stabiliser bits folded out of the ankles. Put him on the edge of the desk cos I had no fear he was gonna fall over. I even stomped on the floor a bit.

DSC_0560.jpg

Now he's going in my backpack cos I got a 7 hour rehearsal today and I'm just a nobody in some dance scenes and a footman in the ball scene so I'm gonna need lil Jazz here to keep me company in between.

[-Kanrabat-]

Why so many people got the "gappy car"? As mentioned above, there's a tab behind Jazz's waist that tab under the roof. THAT is what will remove the gaps. My guess is the instructions are obviously unclear for this step.

I can't seem to embed the precise part of the video properly but clicky the link:

https://youtu.be/9d0QzhELPVY?t=6m45s

[ZeroWolf]

I think it might have caused problems with jazz being a smaller class or cheaper than his counterparts. So this might have been the best in a very bad situation. Unless there was other characters which are in the same boat who could have been in a 'scout' wave

[Solrac333]

Yeah. I'm not paying $20 for a scout class sized figure. I am fine with my old Premium Deluxe Jazz as my Jazz.

[Blitzwing is bae]

man, he sure is small, especialy with rippersnapper(who i got yesterday)

[Sabrblade]

Jazz was the smallest Autobot of the first movie.

[william-james88]

Jazz was the smallest Autobot of the first movie.

Then don't call him a deluxe and charge that same amount.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Jazz was the smallest Autobot of the first movie.

Then don't call him a deluxe and charge that same amount.

They did that before with RiD 2001 Wedge. It's basically a repeat of... logistics issues shall we say. Figures with variable scale that weren't really designed for set price points have to fit in them anyway.

Nice argument against toys having to adhere to media scale tho.

[ZeroWolf]

Jazz was the smallest Autobot of the first movie.

Then don't call him a deluxe and charge that same amount.

They did that before with RiD 2001 Wedge. It's basically a repeat of... logistics issues shall we say. Figures with variable scale that weren't really designed for set price points have to fit in them anyway.

Nice argument against toys having to adhere to media scale tho.

So this isn't the first time it's happened then?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Jazz was the smallest Autobot of the first movie.

Then don't call him a deluxe and charge that same amount.

They did that before with RiD 2001 Wedge. It's basically a repeat of... logistics issues shall we say. Figures with variable scale that weren't really designed for set price points have to fit in them anyway.

Nice argument against toys having to adhere to media scale tho.

So this isn't the first time it's happened then?

Similar circumstance. Starting with Beast Wars, toy sizes have been strictly regulated by Hasbro. Takara tried to follow suit with BW Neo, but for Car Robots, they went their own way with sizes and prizes. Upon import as RiD 2001, some problems occured:

- Wedge was significantly smaller than his Deluxe-sized team mates, and originally priced as such.
- Team Bullet Train was in-between Size Classes, between Deluxe and Mega to be exact.
- The G1/G2 Molds had no real size class when initially designed.

Took some juggling, especially with paint and pairing them with others. Universe 2003 had similar problems.

[ZeroWolf]

I see, thanks jelze

[Emerje]

Animated was also largely inconsistent.


Lugnut on the right is a Voyager while Lockdown on the left is a Deluxe, as are the two in front.

Emerje

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Animated was also largely inconsistent.


Lugnut on the right is a Voyager while Lockdown on the left is a Deluxe, as are the two in front.

Emerje

What they lack in height they make up for it in bulk, and vice versa.

[william-james88]

Nice argument against toys having to adhere to media scale tho.

Thats not relevant and it was never what was being discussed. I do not mind a toy being smaller to fit a scale. What I mind is pricing. This toy clearly has less going on than the other deluxes in the line so charging as much sucks. They could have given him some extra stuff if they wanted to sell it at that price (maybe some mini figures of Sam and Megan Fox?). Like what they did with Sqweaks. That is a small deluxe, but the whole package comes with enough stuff that I didnt feel like I was cheated.

Also, thanks guys for pointing out what is responsible for the gaps, I will amend my review.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Nice argument against toys having to adhere to media scale tho.

Thats not relevant and it was never what was being discussed.

Talking in a general sense there in case it ever popped up. Feel free to ignore it, everyone.

I do not mind a toy being smaller to fit a scale. What I mind is pricing. This toy clearly has less going on than the other deluxes in the line so charging as much sucks. They could have given him some extra stuff if they wanted to sell it at that price (maybe some mini figures of Sam and Megan Fox?). Like what they did with Sqweaks. That is a small deluxe, but the whole package comes with enough stuff that I didnt feel like I was cheated.

Jazz' size vs. price, I agree with you there. A smaller Size Class would have been a good idea, but... were there characters similar in size? I'd imagine... no, no, not those two!

[william-james88]

Jazz' size vs. price, I agree with you there. A smaller Size Class would have been a good idea, but... were there characters similar in size? I'd imagine... no, no, not those two!

They would sell at least as much as a dread. And we could also get the bikes in that size class.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Jazz' size vs. price, I agree with you there. A smaller Size Class would have been a good idea, but... were there characters similar in size? I'd imagine... no, no, not those two!

They would sell at least as much as a dread. And we could also get the bikes in that size class.

I was thinking about Arcee, Chromia and a (new-mold) Elita-1, but they'd be tiny, wouldn't they? Was the RotF size chart ever made public?