K-Mart Legends: Jazz

The final figure in the K-Mart Legends line from 1990 was the coolest Autobot to ever come on-line, Jazz. As with Bumblebee, Grimlock, and Starscream, Jazz was a re-release of the original Pretender Classic version minus his outer Pretender shell. Of the four figures, Jazz is probably the weakest in terms of design and his look.

The vehicle mode looks pretty good, but it is bland with the primary colors being white with a black windshield. There are several stickers for him, but it really doesn't change the feel too much. To transform him, you pull down the legs, flip out the arms, and flip down the hood. The hood can be removed, but it serves no purpose as it was designed to be removed to fit in a Pretender shell. However, on this figure, removing the hood may not be such a bad idea. With the hood down, Jazz's face is almost covered, and his arms don't rotate too well. However, without the hood, you are losing part of the appeal of the robot mode. The robot is pretty bland too, as his only colors are white, black, and he has a blue head with a light blue visor and a white face.

It was great to see Jazz one final time as a transforming Transformer when the original Transformers toy line was coming to end, but this was one figure that I always preferred the Action Master version of when I was a kid. Once I got to play with an original Jazz figure, the order shifted, but the K-Mart Legends version is still probably the most forgettable version. However, he is great to pick up as a collector's item, if you can find him mint in package.