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Special Ops Jazz

Comments

17 comments posted
Nice toy. I want.

Nice toy. I want. Yesss.

Not much into posting posing pictures, are we chachipower...? ;) Oh well, what you shot was just fine too.

EVA_Unit_4A's picture
Posted by EVA_Unit_4A on 7 December, 2010 - 03:44
oops, last pic was a boo boo

Eva, oops, last pic was a boo boo repeat, but its all good, now. Some posing action for you :)

Atom, thanks, I try lol

chachipower's picture
Posted by chachipower on 7 December, 2010 - 12:22
Re: oops, last pic was a boo boo

No problem. But honestly, these are good pictures. And I don't really have a problem with hollow feet... so long as the exposed side of the part isn't visible when standing.

Don't care much for the combo weapon though. Heh- they should have just called him "Sound Blaster" and been done with it. ;)

Not that I know my G1 well, was/were there ever a different-character repaint of Jazz? It's a rather distinct toy design in G1, but I don't recall there ever being a repaint of it. I'm just checkin'. ^^

EVA_Unit_4A's picture
Posted by EVA_Unit_4A on 8 December, 2010 - 05:26
There was a much later

There was a much later released repaint of the Jazz mold in Japan known as Stepper, a Targetmaster. He is one of the single most expensive vintage Transformers out there, and is stupid rare, but was reissued with most of the other cars years ago, and sold extra awfully. Stepper is among the rarest vintage toys, and the cheapest reissue. He's black and gold with a flame sticker on the hood like Tracks and is sweet, though.

Prometheum5's picture
Posted by Prometheum5 on 8 December, 2010 - 08:47
Good Job Hasbro BUT...

....although I'm eager to pick him up, I'll wait for the Henkei version.
I don't understand why they don' t just let Takara do all the coloring
on the figures and then just brand them Hasbro as usual.
I mean its the same factory they come from, just different paint apps.
And Takara always, in like 98% of the time does a better job, except
for Masterpiece Starscream - where Walmart did a better job there.

blade-edge's picture
Posted by blade-edge on 7 December, 2010 - 03:49
TFs in Japan are seen as

TFs in Japan are seen as full-on collectors-only lines, and in Japan there's a much bigger budget for paint apps. Hasbro has a limited amount of paint budget (depending on how the toy's budget has gone for the molding process, and the assembly and such) for each toy, and as such can't go overboard.

Also, you need to take into account that in Japan most Deluxes go for $25-30. That's a BIT more than the $12.96 MSRP over here, isn't it?

secretcode's picture
Posted by secretcode on 7 December, 2010 - 09:44
So?

So what's the problem with Hasbro selling them in their online store?

Diakron's picture
Posted by Diakron on 7 December, 2010 - 13:33
It's simply not a viable

It's simply not a viable option, considering the differences between the US and Japanese toy markets. Again, the key audience in Japan for the brand is significantly older than the US Market, and the prices are adjusted for the increase in detail/paintwork/etc. Hell, that's the reason that they've recieved Alternity and such.

One of the main issues though would be that there'd have to be a different pricing scheme. For the US mainlines, Hasbro sticks to a budget for each figure, and it is usually the same depending on pricepoint. (Scout, Deluxe, etc) In Japan? Not so much. It's why toys of the same size class consistantly go for different prices: Differing paint schemes and such. And again, it's the fact that the TF crowd in Japan is of more specific and heightened taste than a kid wanting a simple toy.

On the Hasbro side: There's nothing stopping Hasbro from doing something like that except that Hasbro couldn't care less about offering nearly identical products at the same time, as well as pandering to a tiny fraction of their consumer base just for a matter of "Oh hey, this one has more paint". It'd be a completely idiotic and confusing tactic for parents and such as well, as why would a parent that is on their site buy something from a foreign line when they could get the same toy for about half the price? They'd more and likely get confused over the products and remain unsure on what to buy. And no, I'm not talking about fan preference here. I'm talking straight-up consumers. If it's not extremely clarified for the main consumer base, the odds are that method would end up dead in the water. Not exactly a smart gamble for Hasbro to make, not to mention it'd be a waste of resources on their part. And with the possibility of the 3rd Movie being the last major funding influx for the TF Brand for a while, risks are most likely going to occur less and less.

tl;dr- Things are the way they are for a reason. Want an internet site to order the toys from? There's BigBadToyStore. There's Angolz and HLJ. Hell, I'm pretty sure AmiAmi stocks Transformers as well.

secretcode's picture
Posted by secretcode on 7 December, 2010 - 22:41
BBTS

I did see BigBadToyStore.com offering a G1 Seacon-reissue exclusive from Hasbro. So BBTS is now in partnership with Hasbro in marketing G1 collectibles over HasbroToyShop.com? This is a strange way of doing business.

Diakron's picture
Posted by Diakron on 7 December, 2010 - 23:42
Retailer exclusives are

Retailer exclusives are nothing new. A significant portion of BBTS's business is TFs based on their product listings, so when something comes along that could be an exclusive, I am sure they are happy to make it work when Hasbro offers. BBTS and Hasbro are in no sort of 'partnership', just like Target or Wal Mart are not 'partners' with Hasbro from the times they get exclusives.

On a side note, G1 reissues generally do terribly in the states. I am sure that had a huge part to do with the Seacons ending up an exclusive somewhere and 'someone else's problem' and not being a widespread release across retailers. The romanticism from the fans that think Hasbro could do well on a collectors' line in the States is laughable at best, based on the poor sales of almost every 'collector based' US TF item released in the past ten years. The market that collectors think exists simply does not, and Hasbro is a very big company that has to think very big picture.

Prometheum5's picture
Posted by Prometheum5 on 8 December, 2010 - 00:39
I still laugh at the whole

I still laugh at the whole Universe Seacons debacle.

secretcode's picture
Posted by secretcode on 8 December, 2010 - 09:37
Owning both sets, I guess it

Owning both sets, I guess it worked out OK ;)

Prometheum5's picture
Posted by Prometheum5 on 8 December, 2010 - 09:47
I'm still tempted to pick up

I'm still tempted to pick up the Seacons if I have some expendable income, considering around $60 for a G1 combiner set is a pretty good deal. Plus, the Seacons have some of the best alt modes.

Dkun's picture
Posted by Dkun on 8 December, 2010 - 15:23
One of my buddies picked this

One of my buddies picked this guy up for my for Christmas. I can't wait to get him, he looks like a lot of fun.

Dkun's picture
Posted by Dkun on 7 December, 2010 - 10:19
Great Review

Great review...

You strike a smart, objective balance (essential for toy reviews), and give the reader a nice sense of what they get with their purchase. The only suggestion I would give would be to give us a picture or description of size. Not everyone who reads is as familiar with a line and how big they are (although this is not necessary for these Generations/Shield toys.)

I've been really enjoying all your recent Transformers reviews. I don't really get too into following the classics or Henkai lines (dropped in and out of collecting these) so it's nice to see some of these newer designs, and see what I'm missing out on...

cheers and keep them coming!

The Big R's picture
Posted by The Big R on 7 December, 2010 - 15:10
Thanks for your input and

Thanks for your input and comments, I will definitively keep this in mind for my future reviews. I got a whole lineup of figures left to review so stay tuned.

chachipower's picture
Posted by chachipower on 7 December, 2010 - 22:15