TFtember: Jazz

Jazz 

Another character that actually did things and had more than one toy in Generation One. 

The toy was a pretty basic but fun. A Porsche 935 Turbo, he came with several sponser stickers. The second version, often dubbed the Cookie Crisp version came out in 1986 with the stickers naming the particular brands removed. 

In 1989 Hasbro introduced the Pretenders. Much like Bumblebee, there was a simplified version of Jazz that could be put into an oversized plastic shell that looked like a human. That same year there was also the Legend series, which was the Pretender toy just sold on its own. 

1990 saw the release of the Action Masters and Jazz was included. He cetainly looked like the aniamted version, albeit with a sonic skateboard. Always thought that one was a bit goofy. 

There was also a three pack including Jazz released in Japan and a reissue of the first one, stickers included, for the European market. 

As far as a Marvel comic goes, Jazz was one of the better treated characters. He had more to do in the UK stories, but as far as the American comics go he was probably the closest to his animated counterpart, often taking lead. He was the one to get Blackrock to side with them, after all. He also proved to be luckier than most. He made it to #77 before fading off into the background. 

The cartoon was probably the biggst portrayal of the character. Voiced by Scatman Crothers (and briefly by Wally Burr), Jazz was the Autobot that loved Earth culture the most. He was in most episodes and even survivied the movie. By season 3 he was little more than a background character though. 

But for seasons one and two? He was there and he was out of sight. Crothers did a wonderful job, giving Jazz just the right amount of optimism for his lines.