The Energon Pub

News Credits: 9 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 5:31 am

In this thread a few people have said how utterly awful FoC Jazz is. I seem to have missed something here. Why is he so bad? He looks alright in pics.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 5:38 am

Why I don't like him - posablitiy is severely restricted because of his chicken legs and there's a glaring gap between his chest and head.

News Credits: 15 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:07 am

I dont remember him having Chicken Legs, if by chicken legs you mean he has legs like Movie Starscream?

I think he is pretty smart despite being a pretty basic design. Feels very cheap though.

News Credits: 6188 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:12 am

He is quite tiny, very light, and there is a gaping hole between head and chest.

Works ok all in all, but after RtS Jazz, this feels extremely underwhelming. Still, it's a cybertronian take on the character, and your customising skills will love the opportunity to repaint him!

Wed Nov 07, 2012 6:59 am

I'm probably going to get lynched, but I quite fancy the little special ops agent. I've yet to purchase him, but the more I look at him, the more I'm inclined to make him my first FOC character.

News Credits: 65 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:34 am

FoC Jazz isn't terrible, but he isn't that exciting either. I don't know why anyone is complaining about the legs. They're slender, but still look in proportion, given the smaller size of the figure overall. They're not "chicken legs" like movie Starscream either, they have "normal" knee joints. The hollow chest is a little funky, but you don't really notice it when FOC Jazz displayed on your shelf. The biggest issue is the scale reduction, and that, I'm afraid, is a problem with all new Transformers toys. The engineering is pretty clever, except for the faux wheels for his feet in robot mode. If this figure were about 25% bigger and made of sturdier plastic, it would probably get far, far fewer detractors.

News Credits: 668 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:49 am

Mykltron wrote:In this thread a few people have said how utterly awful FoC Jazz is. I seem to have missed something here. Why is he so bad? He looks alright in pics.

Awful? Not quite.

Is he bad? To some degree.

He's literally full of holes, he's undersized, and ultra lightweight. I've held Unicron Trilogy Scouts that have more weight than he does. (It's ridiculous how cheap he feels.)

Imagine a painted eggshell with accessories and you have a close idea as to what Jazz really is. His transformation's wonky too.

You do have to flex some of his panels to make the tab and slot system work to hold him together. (His plastic is thin enough that you can actually flex him.)

Jazz is one of those characters that's gotten the short end of the stick throughout the years. His Reveal The Shield figure was good, it still is, but it was really the first figure for Jazz since '84... And once we got him, we were hoping for more when we heard he'd be in FOC. Instead...we got...this.

Is it worth buying? Yes, at $12+ $16+? Not so sure. Shockwave and Optimus seem to have their act together. Not sure why Jazz got shafted here.

News Credits: 12 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:27 am

Cheap-feeling plastic, the parts don't really snap together tightly so much as they kind of mush together, lots of hollow parts and gaps, poor pose-ability, and it's alt mode is barely larger than a Scout.

It almost seems like this was a test to see how cheaply they could make a Deluxe-class figure.

News Credits: 241 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:29 am

I must be one of the few who likes him for what he is. Of course, I'm willing to bet some will make a 180 turn of opinion once the Sideswipe retool is out :lol:

News Credits: 461 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:47 am

His Chest is too big. legs are too close together.. it sucks... but alt mode looks nice.

News Credits: 2 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 10:58 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I must be one of the few who likes him for what he is. Of course, I'm willing to bet some will make a 180 turn of opinion once the Sideswipe retool is out

I agree!

I think FoC Jazz is a fun TF toy. I am eager to see the differences in the Sideswipe version for myself.

The issue for me in alt mode is the visible hands at the rear of the vehicle. In humanoid bot mode, there are issues like the space in the chest and minor hollow areas like the inner forearms and back of the lower legs. However, I don't see how the most vocal critics view these issues as so egregious that it warrants outrage.

The alt mode looks good to me and the bot mode is wide shouldered but that's due to having the front end of a car like form being the upper torso. The sculpted detail for this mold is intricate and a simple panel line wash would bring out much more detail. We've seen some customizers take full advantage of the sculpt in their custom work using this mold.

Downsizing is consistent for current TF toys. It's one thing if one or two toys were singled out but all new TF toys are smaller than what we've seen in several years.

Hollowed parts are also a consistent detail, which I've seen started a few years ago.

The plastic quality is not different from what I've experienced. I think the perception of fragility comes from use of thinner areas of plastic in current TF toys. The combination of flexibility and strength of the plastic seem just as good as any TF toy before FoC Jazz.

Ultimately, the most significant problem with the toy for me is the face sculpt. It just comes off like Mickey Rourke's puckered visage cast in plastic.

News Credits: 241 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:02 am

Speaking of size issues, it can actually work wonderfully in a Classics-themed display: Just put the smaller Cybertronian mode in front of the Earth Mode :lol:

Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:06 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I must be one of the few who likes him for what he is. Of course, I'm willing to bet some will make a 180 turn of opinion once the Sideswipe retool is out

As much as I dislike the mold, I've got a lot of love for Sideswipe, so I plan to get him, but not for more than $10-12. The BFG makes makes it at least reasonably justifiable.

Wed Nov 07, 2012 11:46 am

As others have said, he's gappy, small, cheap-feeling, the plastic is bad. He's lost articulation compared to RTS Jazz. His face looks bad.

News Credits: 1452 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:26 pm

He's actually a really good toy considering the obvious drop in production funding. He just needs a new paint job.

Wed Nov 07, 2012 5:10 pm

My big problem is the proportions. The torso and arms are about the size of RTS Jazz, but his legs are only 2/3 the length. This means he's perilously close to apelike proportions, rather than the heroic proportions of RTS Jazz, and most of the Classics Transformers. He just looks, well, goofy in person.

And no, it's not obvious in pictures - it wasn't until I had him in my hands that I saw just how sadly proportioned he was.

Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:09 pm

Anyone see the Japanese version of FOC jazz he looks soooo much better. Better color choices... Now I would buy that FOC Jazz!

Also, forgive me because I'm new to this, but why does the US get that cheap offwhite semi transparent white plastic on all figures when the United line is nice, bright, and opaque????

Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:17 pm

warzon3 wrote:Anyone see the Japanese version of FOC jazz he looks soooo much better. Better color choices... Now I would buy that FOC Jazz!

Also, forgive me because I'm new to this, but why does the US get that cheap offwhite semi transparent white plastic on all figures when the United line is nice, bright, and opaque????

Simple, Hasbro is cheap.

News Credits: 4 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 7:37 pm

FOC Jazz looks like a pretty nice little Scout class toy. I still say he reminds me of Pretender Jazz. He's nowhere near as cool an alt mode as MTMTE part 1 Cybertron mode Jazz and the robot mode is a step or 3 down from the RTS Jazz. I've no need for him, really. Might get "Sideswipe" as my Classics Lightspeed.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 8:48 pm

RAcast wrote:
warzon3 wrote:Anyone see the Japanese version of FOC jazz he looks soooo much better. Better color choices... Now I would buy that FOC Jazz!

Also, forgive me because I'm new to this, but why does the US get that cheap offwhite semi transparent white plastic on all figures when the United line is nice, bright, and opaque????

Simple, Hasbro is cheap.

True, in both senses of the word. The Takara versions cost more but a full-painted.

When I first saw FOC Jazz in Hasbro's promo pics, I hated him. He just look cheap and over-simplified. But after seeing the Takara version as well as the many customized versions, he doesn't look half bad.

He's not a great toy by any means, but the lack of paint just makes him look utterly horrible.

News Credits: 668 · Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:21 pm

Panel lining him goes a long way towards making him look better. I even went so far as to add the red paint apps for his lights (like the character model).... It does make a tremendous difference.

Let me just say, that while I'm not thrilled with Jazz's shortcomings, I have no buyer's remorse. (Currently. We'll see how that holds.)

I can recommend him at a lower price. I can't recommend him at current retail pricing.

News Credits: 9 · Thu Nov 08, 2012 6:08 am

Thanks for all the replies. So I think I won't bother buying him unless he reaches the UK shops, and then only on sale or at Argos so I can buy him with vouchers.

News Credits: 12 · Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:27 am

warzon3 wrote:Anyone see the Japanese version of FOC jazz he looks soooo much better. Better color choices... Now I would buy that FOC Jazz!

Might be a better paint job, but that's the least of this figure's problems. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:05 pm

No, then it's a pig with lipstick. Strange enough to avoid the slaughterhouse!

Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:52 pm

It's a cheap-out by Hasbro and that seems to be the crux of what has got most upset. I don't think it's that bad as a figure there are plenty of worse examples of TF's that dont seem to have attracted the same level of ire....maybe it's just because after the magnificence that is RTS Jazz it's a real comedown in size, quality and poseability. And yes, weirdly Sideswipe looks like it will work a lot better.

And FOC Jazz IS in UK stores....at least it's been hanging on a Euro/actung! card in the Colliers Wood TRU for about the last month with no takers at £14.99