A Millennial Perspective on G1 Jazz

- Joe Powell


As I type, my Generation 1 Jazz rests proudly in vehicle mode on my windowsill, sporting freshly applied Reprolabels and looking good as new. Okay, it’s not really G1 Jazz. A quick peruse through tfwiki tells me it’s technically ‘The Transformers Collection’ Meister from 2002 – a repaint of Generation 2 Jazz distinguished by narrower feet and a peculiar smirk upon his face. But the mould is more or less the same and, as such, is one of the oldest Transformer moulds in my collection, predating my daring escape from the womb by about twelve years.



Hop in the time machine with me to March 2019 – I’m in exotic Reading for a relaxing spa weekend with my girlfriend Abbie, and naturally we decide to hit the town on a little spending spree. Hop on the train, a few stops down the line, we’re in the town centre and not far from the station we find the Harris Arcade. Not ten metres into the arcade I stop suddenly: in a window to my right…

Is that a boxed Starscream?

A bagged Defensor?

Ultra Friggin’ Magnus?!?

Wait, 2007 Ultimate Bumblebee?

What self-respecting Transformers fan wouldn’t have a little mosey about? In we go, and sweet. LAWDY. Wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling shelves and precarious stacks of toys, comics, vinyls, video tapes… everyone knows a place like this where one poorly-directed breath will cause the dominoes to fall faster than my blood sugars after a gentle jog. Thunderbirds, James Bond… are we considering Doctor Who action figures from 2005 ‘nostalgic’ now? Jesus, I feel my knee creaking again...

I inquire about the bots in the window and the owner obliges – 20 minutes later I’m walking out of that place with a significantly lighter wallet and a G1 Metroplex and Meister Jazz. I’ve done it. I’ve ticked one off the bucket list. I, a filthy Unicron Trilogy casual, have purchased a Generation 1 Transformer.

As magnificent as Metroplex is, we’re not here to talk about him – in brief, he’s very cool but missing a ton of parts and I probably got him at too dear a price considering that. No, we’re talking about Jazz. The box (not even the original box) gets tossed in a heartbeat – it’s so dog-eared and beaten up that it’s not worth keeping, plus I’m of the radical belief that toys are supposed to be played with. 

Seriously, who thought this was right?

I am stunned. Every second I play with this figure I am taken aback by how good it is. I’m saying ‘wow’ enough to give Owen Wilson a run for his money. The diecast, the rubber tires, the intricacy (and fun!) of the conversion… and the sheer amount of articulation in the arms! I don’t think any Transformer toy has rendered me this lost for words.

Carbon dating puts me at the same age as Beast Wars, but I grew up on a few sporadic broadcasts of the same episode of Transformers: Cybertron (or maybe it was 6 episodes on Velocitron, who knows). And then, like thousands of others, the first live action movie barrelled its way onto the silver screen and rolled me up like a Katamari. For all its faults, this is my Transformers and I’ve never had a strong connection with the original cartoon – it aired twelve years before I was a glint in the milkman’s eye. So something about Jazz compelled me to voluntarily write an 800 word essay for the first time since grammar school.

I’ve taken the last twelve years of Transformers toys totally for granted. Knee joints, waist swivels, head rotation – I’ve come to expect this from most of my CHUG and movie bots. And I’ve looked back at anything pre-Beast Wars with a little disdain. That’s what the kids of the 80's had to play with? But where’s the elbow joint? You have to take off their wings? It’s the freaking Dark Ages! But holding Jazz in hand, transforming him back and forth and just admiring how gorgeous he is… I gained a new respect for Generation 1 that evening. He’s limited by the technology of his time, but I’ll be damned if I’m not surprised and impressed at what those Diaclone toy engineers were capable of. Give him some knees and he’s really not that far off contemporary Jazz toys.

He may be an odd Japanese reissue from 2002, he may have a weird gurn and replicated decals, but to me he’s a piece of overlooked history that I should have respected long ago. He’s fun. He’s sexy. He’s Generation 1 Jazz.

And God help me, he might be the start of a brand new rabbit hole.

Follow Joe @Powellpatine and on YouTube as Crosshairs Productions