Jazz (Transformers)
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Jazz is an Autobot Transformers character who has appeared in multiple stories. For trademark reasons, Jazz is sometimes referred to as Meister, his Japanese name.
Generation One (1984)
| Transformers Character | |
 | |
| Jazz (Meister) | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Autobot (Cybertron) |
| Subgroup | Autobot Cars, Pretenders, Action Masters |
| Function | Special Operations, Saboteur |
| Motto | "Do it with style or don't bother doing it." |
| Alternate mode(s) | Porsche 935 Turbo |
| Series | G1 cartoon, Marvel Comics, Dreamwave Comics, IDW Comics |
| Voiced by | Scatman Crothers (English) Kôki Kataoka (Japanese) Masato Hirano (Japanese) |
The toy that was to become the Autobot Jazz was originally released as part of the Japanese Diaclone series. He was later released in 1984 by Hasbro in the US. He was released as a Pretender in 1989 and an Action Master in 1990. The toy of Jazz was reissued in a miniature version in Japan.
A special variant of Jazz was given away as a promotional item from Cookie Crisp cerial in 1985. This version of Jazz is nearly the same as the one sold in stores, except it came in a brown cardboard box and the stickers had the word Martini removed from them.
According to original tech spec notes written by Bob Budiansky found at Iacon One in 2006 the original name for Jazz was Jazzz.
Animated series
Jazz was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission on board the Ark. They were attacked by Megatron's ship, the Nemesis. After being boarded the Ark crash landed on Earth, where all on board were preserved in emergency stasis.
In 1984 a volcanic eruption awakened the Ark's computer, Teletran-1, and it repaired all on board. It reformatted Jazz in the form of an Earth car.
Towards the end of 1985, Jazz was among the team of five Autobots who disguised themselves as the Stunticons. Penetrating the Decepticons’ camp, the Autobots ran into trouble when the real Stunticons arrived, trying to prove their identities by forming Menasor. With a combination of Windcharger’s magnetic powers and Mirage’s illusion-creating ability, the Autobots were able to appear as Menasor too, but the deception was soon revealed, though they were still able to thwart the Decepticons’ plans.
In [[Transformers: The Movie]], set in the year 2005, Jazz was assigned to Moonbase One along with the Autobot Cliffjumper. Jazz was responsible for monitoring Decepticon activity on Cybertron using the base as a secret staging ground for planning the liberation of Cybertron. After the Autobot City invasion of Earth, Moonbase One came under attack by the planet eater, Unicron. Jazz radioed to Earth for assistance and his faint signal was received by the Autobot Blaster who relayed the distress signal to Ultra Magnus. Jazz and Cliffjumper attempted to escape, however the shuttle could not achieve escape velocity and was swallowed by Unicron.
During the assault on Unicron lead by Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus, Daniel, Spike's son, encountered a smelting pit inside Unicron where other Transformer-like beings were being sent to be melted into a liquid substance. Jazz, Cliffjumper, Bumblebee and Spike were about to be cast into the pit. Daniel managed to rescue them before they were dropped into the deadly liquid. Jazz and the others escaped Unicron before the planet-sized Transformer exploded from the effects of the Autobot Matrix.
Jazz was also be seen in a race in the third season episode Five Faces of Darkness which directly followed the movie. However, in the time between the movie's release and the start of Season Three of the TV show, Scatman Crothers died, and so his character was quietly dropped in the episode Call of the Primitives.
Marvel Comics
Autobot Pretenders Jazz, Bumblebee and Grimlock attack Megatron.Jazz cropped up as a Classic Pretender, along with Grimlock, Bumblebee and Starscream. He then was re-issued as a Classic Transformer in 1990.
Jazz was among the united Autobot and Decepticon forces who opposed Unicron's assault on the planet Cybertron in 1991 (Transformers #75).
Dreamwave Comics
In 2002, Jazz returned along with his fellow Autobots when Dreamwave Productions acquired the Transformers comic license and launched a brand new continuity.When civil war broke out on the planet Cybertron between the Autobots and Decepticon factions, Jazz joined the Autobot cause.
After Decepticon leader Megatron killed the Autobot leader Sentinel Prime, a new Autobot leader was chosen by the Council of the Ancients. Jazz was present when Optronix was given the Matrix and reformatted into Optimus Prime. Three Decepticon assassins attempted to kill Optimus, but were unsuccessful. Optimus then ordered a planet-wide evacuation of Cybertron (Transformers: The War Within #1).
When Decepticon Military Operations Commander Shockwave lead a force of Decepticons against the Autobot capitol of Iacon, Jazz was among the Autobots who defended the capitol (Transformers: War Within #3).
When Megatron and Optimus Prime disappeared in an accident with a space bridge, the Autobot and Decepticon forces splintered into smaller factions. Jazz stayed with the Autobots under the leadership of Prowl.
Learning that the Decepticons were testing a new mobile command base at the Praetorus Wharf, Prowl lead Cliffjumper, Gears, Jazz, Skids and Sideswipe to investigate. What they discovered was Trypticon (Transformers: The War Within - The Dark Ages #3).
When the Fallen attacked the Autobot base in order to capture Blitzwing, Jazz was among the Autobots who tried to stop him.
Jazz was among the Autobots who followed Optimus Prime on his mission on board the Ark. They were attacked by Megatron's ship, the Nemesis. After being boarded the Ark crash landed on Earth, where all on board were preserved in emergency stasis.
Jazz depicted in Dreamwave ComicsIn 1984 a volcanic eruption awakened the Ark's computer, Teletran-1, and it repaired all on board. It reformatted Jazz in the form of an Earth car.
Eventually the combined forces of the Autobots on Earth, and their human allies were able to capture the Decepticons. A ship called the Ark II was built to take the Cybertronians back to Cybertron, along with some human companions, but the ship exploded shortly after takeoff. The human allies were killed, but the Cybertronians were lost in the ocean, again in statis lock.
In the frozen Arctic, a man named Lazarus began resurrecting the lost Transformers after their shuttle was destroyed in what is referenced as the Ark II tragedy. Lazarus planned to control these giant metal warriors and sell their services in war to the highest bidder. The American government had recovered Optimus Prime and used him to rescue several Autobots from their arctic prison, including Jazz. After they had recovered their friends from Lazarus, Jazz lead a group of Autobots to stop the spread of Megatron’s deadly virus in the Canadian Northwest territories.
As the Autobot and Decepticon war continued on earth, an escape pod beacon drew their conflict to the Arctic. The pod contained the rogue Decepticon Scourge. The Battle between the Autobots and Decepticons ceased long enough to find the new Cybertronian commander, Shockwave, had arrived in pursuit of Scourge and to arrest Optimus Prime and Megatron. Jazz was ordered by Prime to remain on Earth with a small Autobot task force.
When Ultra Magnus came to Earth claiming that the Earth-based Autobots were Cybertronian criminals Optimus Prime surrendered and with the majority of Autobots returned to Cybertron. Jazz was left in charge of the Ark, with Brawn, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack and Windcharger assigned to him.
Returning to Earth with the Combaticons, Starscream reformatted them into Earth-style vehicles and attacked the Autobots remaining on Earth. Forming Bruticus, the Combaticons defeated Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack and Windcharger. Only Ratchet and Brawn escaped capture, but as they made their way back to the Ark, they discovered it's defenses on automatic, and had to fight their way inside. Bruticus followed them and Ratchet had to destroy the Ark in failed attempt to destroy Bruticus. Starscream eventually captured Ratchet and Brawn, right as an Autobot shuttle and Sunstorm arrived on Earth (Transformers: Generation One III #1).
Jazz, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were repaired by the Earth Defense Command.
Jazz commanded Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Bumper in investigating the Insecticons for the Earth Defense Command.
Jazz, Warpath, Bumper, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker rejoined the Windcharger and Wheeljack, who were repaired by the Earth Defense Command. They all rejoined Ratchet on board the Autobot ship Orion (Transformers: Generation One III #9).
Landing in Alaska, Jazz and the other Autobots met Prowl's team back from Cybertron. They were shown the site of construction for the new Autobot City (Transformers: Generation One III #10).
Brawn, Grapple, Hoist, Jazz, Omega Supreme, Prowl, Red Alert, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were among the Autobots who continued work on Autobot City (Transformers: Generation One III #13).
Devil's Due Comics
In this reimagining of the Generation One story, the Ark was discovered by the terrorist Cobra organization, and all the Transformers inside were reformatted into Cobra vehicles remotely controlled by the Televipers. In this storyline Jazz turned into a Cobra Ferret. In the sequel, he ended up being warped to the 1970's, where he was automatically reformatted into a pimpmobile.IDW Publishing
Fall of 2005 was the third re-launch for The Transformers comic series, this time under the management of IDW Publishing. Jazz and several other G1 favorites are set to return in the first six issue mini-series "Transformers: Infiltration". The series will be another new continuity for the Jazz character.Generation Two (1993)
Jazz was one of the Autobot cars to be released on Generation Two, with a slight repaint and weapons change.Jazz appeared in his Generation 2 form in the short lived UK Generation 2 comic series. This series also printed a bio for Jazz where he had the new motto "Decepticons keep bad company - each other!"
[[Transformers: Universe]] (2004)
Spychanger Jazz.Transformers Universe Spychanger in 2004 - a repaint of Robots in Disguise Spychanger Sideburn painted to resemble Generation One Jazz. Initially sold exclusively at Kaybee toy stores, then repackaged for discount chains. Two packaging versions of this toy existed - a Kaybee version which did not attribute the toy to Universe and was packaged in vehicle form, and a version for discount stores which did and was packaged in robot mode.His function is Special Operations Expert and his motto is "Do it with style or don't bother doing it." Clever, cool, and adaptable, Autobot Jazz takes on the riskiest missions with trademark flair, dazzling enemies with spectacular sound and light displays. His vast knowledge of Earth culture makes his especially valuable in Earth operations. Equipped with photon rifle, flame-thrower, full-spectrum beacon and 180db stereo speakers.
Binaltech/Alternators (2004)
Alternator JazzJazz (Meister in Japan) was released as a Binaltech/Alternators toy in 2004, with the new alternative form of a Mazda RX-8. He was released in both white and red colors, with fans referring to the red version as Zoom-Zoom (A reference to a song used in many Mazda commercials).
Initially released in small numbers in 2004, Jazz was re-releaed in 2006 in new packaging.
Jazz is set to appear in the upcoming live action film directed by Michael Bay. He will be an exotic Lamborghini Murcielago.
Trivia
- Original Script scans from the DVD box sets show that Jazz's name was spelled Jazzz by the writing staff
External links
- [Transformers On-Line Encyclopedia on Jazz]
- [tfu.info's page] on the original toy, which also contains links to other toy incarnations of Jazz.
- [Champions RPG character sheet for Jazz]
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