Autobot Jazz (Bumper Battler) [Animated]
Vehicle ModeRobot Mode
Allegiance: Autobot
Difficulty of Transformation: Very Easy
Color Scheme: White, black, and some silver, light sky blue, dark blue, red, and orange
Rating: 4.8

    Jazz's vehicle mode is, like most Bumper Battlers, a "chibi" version of his mainline toy's vehicle mode. It has even more "deformed" proportions, and is considerably wider proportionally than he is in the show/on the mainline toy. Given Jazz's already friendly-looking vehicle mode, though, it fits very well. As with nearly all Bumper Battlers, Jazz also has plenty of paint detailing in vehicle mode, so he looks far from boring. (Not so much when it comes to mold detailing, but given the target demographic the Bumper Battlers are aimed at plus the style of Animated, that's hardly a surprise.) In fact, Jazz is one of the most dynamic-looking Bumper Battlers of all, give the wide red-and-blue stripes on the top of his vehicle mode, the black windows, the silver bumpers/wheels/tailpipes, and the red/orange headlights and taillights. You certainly won't fit any big areas of unpainted plastic in this mode, that's for sure. As with all Bumper Battlers, Jazz has his name imprinted in a stylized manner on his vehicle mode-- the windshield. Also like all Bumper Battlers, pressing down on the Autobot symbol on his hood will activate anywhere from 1-4 sequential sound effects which are played out in a semi-randomized manner. It never ceases to amaze me how many different ordered sound effects you can get out of the toy, and they're never played in a manner that doesn't make any sense. Unfortunately, they didn't get Jazz's voice actor from the show (Phil LaMarr) to do the voice clips, but they got someone who sounds close enough where it's not much of a stretch. Pressing in on the front bumper of his vehicle mode will automatically transform him to robot mode and also play some of these random sound effects. Here's a list of all the different sound effects I got out of Bumper Battler Jazz after a couple dozen button presses (though again, with the vast number of different random ordering of sound effects he has, I may have missed a few):
-Transforming sound
-Tires screeching sound
-Nunchuk-flinging/smashing sound
-Engine revving sound
-Crashing sound
-Scanning sound(?)
-"Hah!" battle striking sound
-"Autobots..." (always followed by another sound byte that makes sense)
-"Go!"
-"We'll hold them off here."
-"Let's roll."
-"They call me Jazz."
-"Hah-hah!"
-"I am stylin'."
-"Decepticons?" (always followed by another sound byte that makes sense)
-"Bring it."
-"Stay cool."
-"We got this under control."
    Like all Bumper Battlers, just press in on Jazz's front bumper to convert him to "robot mode", with the robot just being detailed on the underside of the now flipped-up roof. The rest of the vehicle mode is unchanged, so he doesn't have any legs to speak of or anything like that. There's a bit of an unsightly gap in the middle of this mode-- where the robot half folds into the vehicle mode-- but it's an unavoidable side effect of the Bumper Battler gimmick. The detailing on Jazz's robot mode bits are very good-- all of the necessary details there, along with a fully detailed face, chest, and waist. His arms could use a bit more black paint, but that's a small quibble. I also like how he's holding one of his nunchuks in both of his hands, even though he can't really use it-- he has no articulation whatsoever. Another downside is that the part that pops up to show his robot mode is relatively small compared to other Bumper Battlers, so it tends to wiggle a little on his spring when you move Jazz around.
    Bumper Battler Jazz is the best toy overall in the subline, with a dynamite color scheme, cool sound effects, and just a really generally eye-catching toy with plenty of paint apps, even for a Bumper Battler. The slightly floppiness of his robot mode piece is the only real downside (beyond the downsides of any Bumper Battler due to the gimmick, of course).



Bumper Battler Jazz Character Bio:
CYBER-NINJA
Earth is the coolest place Autobot Jazz has ever been. The music is awesome, and the style is hip. He'd love to explore more, but his duties as a warrior of the Autobot Elite Guard come first. With the Decepticons loose on Earth, his skills in the ancient Autobot martial arts will be more useful than his slick moves on the dance floor.

Review by Beastbot

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