Jazz (G1)

The name or term "Jazz" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Jazz (disambiguation).

Jazz is an Autobot from the Generation 1 continuity family. He is also known as Meister.

File:Jazzg1.jpg

Eat floor, dig?

Jazz is Optimus Prime's right-hand man. Unlike Prowl, Prime's military strategist, Jazz responds well to change and improvisation. Whatever surprises the Decepticons spring, Jazz can deal with it. His position as Special Operations head calls for all the skills he possesses, yet he still has time to add some style to everything he does.

An admirer of Earth music of every kind, Jazz loves culture. More than most other Autobots, he has his finger on the pulse of Earth trends and lingo. Chances are, Jazz could tell you the status of almost any reality television show and each week's Top 40 list.

Jazz's personality makes him well-liked among the others of the Ark crew, especially Bumblebee. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find an Autobot who doesn't like or admire Jazz. Except perhaps Grimlock, who doesn't like anyone anyway.

Nickname: Coolsville

Preliminary name: Jazzz

Portuguese name (Brazil comics): Lero-Lero

Japanese name: Meister

French-Canadian name: Saxo

Italian name: Tigre ("Tiger")

RTM1 dub name: Marshall

Fiction

Marvel Comics continuity

Generation 1

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Hey, man, this is not my scene!

Before Optimus became leader, Jazz was part of the self-styled Magnificent Six, a team of Autobot warriors who would be tortured and humiliated by the sadistic Megadeath. The Magnificent Six!

Jazz was one of the Autobots who crashed on Earth four million years ago, waking up in 1984. Jazz showed an affinity with human pop culture almost immediately, responding to Prowl's non sequitur assertion that his "logic center dictates the most advantageous course of action in any situation" with "Well, that is neat-o, Prowl." The Transformers

Jazz's first foray into action came when the Decepticons attacked him and his fellow Autobots at Witwicky Auto Repairs, resulting in the kidnapping of Sparkplug Witwicky. Power Play! Later, when Sparkplug was rescued and it was learned that the auto repairman had devised a way for the Decepticons to convert Earth fuel into a usable resource, the Autobots were enraged. Jazz shot a stream of fire to prevent Sparkplug's escape, causing the human to suffer a heart attack. The Last Stand

It was discovered that after the Autobots crash-landed on Earth, a rescue ship was sent after them which was buried somewhere in England. The Man of Iron, one of its crew, had awakened a number of times in England's history and had become a local legend. Jazz, along with Trailbreaker, Mirage, and Bluestreak, were dispatched to England under Optimus Prime's supervision. Jazz befriended (and kidnapped) a young boy, Sammy Harker, whose dad worked at the castle where the Autobot rescue ship had been partially unearthed. After questioning the boy, it became apparent that the rescue ship must be destroyed. At the climax of a battle with the Decepticons over the buried ship, Jazz fired his weaponry down into it, and it was pulverized. Man of Iron!

When the Autobots were repaired by Ratchet and regrouped under Prowl, it was Jazz who came up with the solution to their fuel problems: telling G.B. Blackrock that with the Decepticons around, owning an oil industry was dangerous work and it'd be a shame if something happened, when for just a bit of fuel the Autobots could ensure he had "protection". Their first bit of protection saw Jazz and Wheeljack defending Blackrock against the Decepticons, only for Jazz to be hit by Circuit Breaker and nearly killed. DIS-Integrated Circuits!

Blackrock was later weirded out by the sight of the wounded Jazz being repaired while still conscious, The Next Best Thing to Being There! but not as weirded out as Jazz was when Optimus' body was Decepticon-controlled and shot him up. Prime Time!

She's not a material girl.

Jazz later was Christmas shopping with Buster Witwicky when he was again attacked by Circuit Breaker. However, Buster's pleas and the spirit of Christmas prevented her from killing him. Christmas Breaker! After this, Jazz would take the side against building Autobot super-warriors in a heated debate Crisis of Command! and was part of the team retrieving Slag in the Dinobot Hunt. Dinobot Hunt!

Later, Jazz took part in a mission in England to find a power source that reversed Transformers' personalities. Jazz eventually ended up destroying the core of PARD during a battle with Starscream. To a Power Unknown!

Jazz spent three weeks in a shipping container in order to get to Skagway, Alaska unnoticed by the Constructicons. Hoist then became stuck while scouting the base, and Jazz suffered brain damage while coming to his aid. Hoist was forced to drag the uncooperative, bewildered Jazz through hostile territory to safety. The damage was repairable. The Mission

When Galvatron time-jumped to 1986, Jazz was sent to scout out Decepticon territory and was captured. He was then used as bait to draw the Autobots into an ambush and was told of Galvatron's origin before his brain was operated on to turn him into a murderous zombie-soldier. He was used against his fellow Autobots and needed severe repairs afterward. Target: 2006

When an Underbase-powered Starscream attacked New York, Jazz was part of the team to ambush him. Although most of the team was easily defeated, Jazz managed to hit him with a photon blast from behind, and while Starscream retaliated with a fatal blow, Jazz's attack was still enough to throw him off the Brooklyn Bridge into the jaws of the Seacons. Dark Star!

Later, exhausted from the workload of fixing all the Autobots Starscream damaged, Ratchet began having nightmares of being attacked by his deactivated comrades. The Decepticon Sports Car Patrol took advantage of this mental breakdown and took control of Jazz and others's circuits to "zombify" them and torment him. When this failed, the Sports Car Patrol passed themselves off as Autobots and convinced Ratchet to come with them to Cybertron to get medical supplies. Ratchet took Jazz, along with Goldbug and Grimlock, with him, only to find Megatron waiting for him! Back from the Dead While Ratchet was forced by Megatron to revive Starscream using Pretender technology, he had an idea of what to do with three discarded Pretender shells... The Resurrection Gambit! which turned out to be repairing Jazz, Grimlock and Goldbug Bumblebee! All the Familiar Faces! While the others dealt with Megatron, Jazz had more than his hands full fighting off the Sports Car Patrol, who were definitely tougher than they appeared. Finding out from Ratchet that he could remotely control his shell, Jazz managed to turn the tide against his smaller opponents, but Megatron realized two heads weren't necessarily better than one when he bashed Jazz's head against his shell's and tossed them out of his fortress, where he was safe from the explosives Ratchet teleported back from the Ark. Skin Deep Along with Bumblebee and Grimlock, he remained on Cybertron for a while, and would be sent to investigate a brutal group-killing Demons! that saw him and several Decepticons battle the ferocious Demons. Dawn of Darkness The Classics emboldened the Autobot resistance, leading eight successful raids on Decepticon fuel and ammunition depots, before getting reassigned to Earth. However, the Mayhem Attack Squad attacked the Autobase and accelerated the dimensional interface, sending Jazz, Bumblebee, Grimlock and the Rescue Patrol to the heart of Cybertron and face to face with their creator, Primus! Yesterday's Heroes Despite the objections of Grimlock, Jazz and the others prosterned themselves before their creator, and listened to the Keeper's story of how Cybertron came to be. Interrupted by an assault by the Mayhem Attack Squad, Jazz quickly traded blows with Bludgeon but what overmatched, and rescued by Bumblebee before Bludgeon could deliver the killing blow. After recovering, he cleverly introduced Stranglehold to a very hard wall. Unfortunately, a stray shot from Octopunch awakened Primus, just as the dimensional interface was repaired. Emirate Xaaron ordered Jazz and company sent to Earth. Primal Scream

Along with his Pretender mates, Jazz was part of the team sent to VsQs to retrieve the Creation Matrix during the Matrix Quest; he had to both put up with Grimlock and be almost eaten by the Matrixspawn creature, only to be defeated by Thunderwing when his power ran out. Dark Creation

He fought in the battle against Unicron, and was briefly rear-ended by a speeding Siren. On the Edge of Extinction!

In an alternate future of 2009, Jazz was one of the last seven Autobots left alive in the universe. After the destruction of Cybertron and the death of Rodimus Prime, North America was left completely under the control of Galvatron and the Decepticons. With the rest of the world united as a European Crisis Coalition, Jazz and the human leader, Spike Witwicky, were left with a 24-hour deadline to show the world America was still fighting. If they didn't, the remaining human governments were going to unleash nuclear armageddon in a last-ditch effort to eliminate the Decepticons. With little time to spare, the few Autobots left staged an assault on the Decepticon powerbase. Getaway, Chainclaw and Guzzle made a suicidal play to keep the most powerful Decepticons, Scourge and Cyclonus, occupied, while Crossblades sacrificed his life to let Jazz and the others in through the base's force field. Forced to fight Galvatron himself single-handedly, Jazz held out long enough for Spike to scale the base's tower and unfurl an American flag, showing the world outside that there was still fight left in the U.S. of A. As if to punctuate that point further, the heralds of Unicron known as Hook, Line, and Sinker suddenly arrived from cross- and down-time, disabling Galvatron in moments and then vanishing with him in a flash of light. Shocked by his sudden good fortune, Jazz led his two remaining comrades, Prowl and Inferno, in a renewed effort to save the human race. Rhythms of Darkness!

Earthforce

These stories do not fit into the normal Marvel continuity. See Earthforce for details.

When Optimus Prime took the Ark out into space and named Grimlock as Autobot Commander of Earth, Jazz chose to remain on Earth under his Dino-buddy's leadership as part of Earthforce. Break-Away! His first mission was to recover the poison gas Megatron had planned to seed in Earth's atmosphere by rocket. He and Sunstreaker raced to the site where Prowl had forced the rocket to crash, hoping to beat the two Decepticon factions to it before they could recover the poison. They failed, as both the Battlechargers and the Stunticons got there ahead of them. Jazz was ready to risk fighting through the 'Cons, but Prowl showed up and pulled him aside. It seemed Prowl had already had plenty of time to render the rocket harmless, and now the Decepticons were fighting over a useless contraption! Life in the Slow Lane

On another occasion, Jazz joined Sunstreaker, Ironhide and Bumblebee in infiltrating the Decepticon Enclave. They arranged a fake assassination attempt against Megatron, and framed Shockwave's men for it. The feuding that followed carried the Decepticons out of the cave where they were holding their detente, and so Jazz and the others took the opportunity to listen to their music and eat their munchies. Partee! The Bad Guy's Ball! Later, he also joined Earthforce and the Survivors in bringing down the Mayhem Attack Squad. He scored an impressive hit against Bludgeon, paying him back for past indignities that probably did not or would not happen in this timeline. Where Wolf?

When Wheeljack unveiled his new defense system for the Autobot Earthbase, he forgot to keep track of the little details, like how it wasn't a good idea to bring everyone outside for a demonstration when the defense grid could only be turned off from inside the base. As Prowl ran the gauntlet to reach the shutdown control center, Jazz and Bumblebee ran interference for him, drawing the fire from some of the defensive cannons to clear his path. The House that Wheeljack Built! Soon after, Jazz helped repel a Decepticon attack on the Earthbase, while their defenses were still down from the earlier incident. Divide and Conquer!

As time passed, one Decepticon named Octane began making even more trouble among the humans than his fellow soldiers. A bully by nature, Octane enjoyed "playing" with humans, scaring them on the highways before ultimately driving them off the roads. Fed up with the Decepticon's antics, Jazz posed as a human vehicle and presented himself as bait. By eluding Octane's attempts to run him down, Jazz enraged the Decepticon to the point where he chased his "prey" without paying attention to where they were going, and so Octane ended up stranded in the middle of a military testing ground, chock full of inflammable fuel, and running the risk of exploding at any second. As Jazz watched from a nearby hilltop, the icing on the cake came when Octane radioed his fellow Triple Changers for help, and instead they abandoned him after hearing how he got himself into the mess. Manoeuvres!

After training in the Combat Room with Ironhide, Jazz was called into action when the Stunticons kidnapped the Autobots' reporter friend, Irwin Spoon, and he joined his fellow cars in chasing down Motormaster. Jazz managed to get close enough to transform and shoot out the Stunticon leader's rear tires, but this gave Breakdown a chance to ram his legs out from under him as well. Still, Bumblebee and Tracks managed to catch up to the slowed Motormaster and recover Spoon. End of the Road!

Jazz, along with Silverbolt and the remaining Magnificent Six, was sent in 1990 to recover any traces of the Underbase in Yuss, where they'd run afoul of Megadeath. They re-encountered their old enemy and were tortured by their memories, and it was up to Silverbolt to convince them to fight on. Jazz helped beat Megadeath to death, exorcising his demons. The Magnificent Six!

Marvel UK future timelines

Jazz was present in 1995 at the California football stadium where Optimus Prime unveiled Arcee to a group of human feminists as the "first female Autobot". Observing Prime's misguided efforts to placate the interest group, Jazz tried to explain to Hot Rod the difference between human men and women, but only ended up offending one of the women while describing her "upper chassis". Prime's Rib!

In 2007, after the defeat of Unicron, the Autobots were trying hard to defend their territory from Shockwave's Decepticons. Jazz was seen working with Ultra Magnus, ambushing a team of Decepticon flyers when they made an assassination attempt on Rodimus Prime. Wanted:Galvatron — Dead or Alive!

Generation 2

Before the Autobots broke off into micro-units after Klo, they had another encounter with Bludgeon's Decepticons on a long abandoned world. Jazz was part of that unit alongside Prime and the others. He separated from the rest of the Autobots for a time but, when Optimus Prime and Grimlock discovered the threat of the Cybertronian Empire, they called in Autobots scattered across the galaxy, including Jazz. He was first seen as part of the rescue squad Grimlock assembled to pull Prime out of Decepticon clutches on Earth. The Gathering Darkness Jazz remained involved, if peripherally, in the conflicts with the Cybertronian Empire on Ethos and Earth over the coming days. Escalation! Total War When Autobots and Decepticons alike joined forces to defend against the coming Swarm, Jazz worked with Rotor Force member Powerdive to assemble the shield generators that would protect their position. A Rage in Heaven!

Generation 2 (UK)

When Bludgeon began his assault on Earth, Optimus Prime was summoned back to the planet by Grimlock and brought Jazz, Skram, and Sideswipe with him. While Prime confronted Bludgeon directly, Jazz and his operatives engaged another detachment of Decepticons. Despite their small numbers, Jazz's team defeated their more plentiful opponents thanks to the fact that the 'Cons were operating on reduced power levels. Too much prolonged death and destruction takes its toll. They then joined up with Optimus and the Dinobots to drive off the returning Megatron as well.

Generation 1 cartoon

Voice Actor: Scatman Crothers, Wally Burr (English), Kōki Kataoka (Japanese)

Spoiler Alert. HAW!

Blacker than the inside of a drive shaft—that's how Jazz described the north side of Cybertron. The slang-talking operations specialist was on a recon mission to ascertain Cybertron's bleak energy reserves, and his reports were what prompted the Autobot mission to search for new sources of energy outside of their home world. Jazz served as pilot for the Ark until severe asteroid turbulence knocked him from his seat. The Decepticons took advantage of the confusion and attacked, and both vessels and parties crash-landed on Earth.

Four million years later, in 1984, the Autobots and Decepticons awoke reformatted to fit in on the planet. Jazz traded in his sleek Cybertronian form for an even sleeker Porsche 935 Turbo mode. As a lieutenant to Optimus Prime, Jazz was charged with assembling task forces and special mission teams to counter the Decepticon threat. Jazz accompanied the first mission to an offshore oil rig, where his wrist-mounted grappling hook and winch came in handy saving Optimus Prime. More than Meets the Eye, Part 1 He used the same line to stop Prime from riding the rapids at Sherman Dam and to pull Bluestreak and Ironhide from an unscheduled lake swim. More than Meets the Eye, Part 2

File:Jazz and music.jpg

Jazz likes disrupting motor functions!

Throughout their stay on Earth, Jazz was seen giving orders and accompanying Optimus Prime on almost any mission they undertook. He also actually used his sound and light show attack on at least two occasions. In addition, he helped liberate the people of Titan from subjugation by Decepticons pretending to be gods and appeared particularly horrified at the Decepticons' use of religious enslavement. The God Gambit

Did I ever tell you folks about The Shine'?

By 2005, those dang Decepti-jerks had overtaken all of Cybertron, forcing the Autobots to operate on Moonbase One, Moonbase Two and Autobot City on Earth. Though most of the Autobots' senior command staff were killed as a result of the Decepticons' attack on the city, Jazz remained on Moonbase One, where he and Cliffjumper survived. Bad news was, the ginormous Unicron arrived, and subsequently ate both moons. Fortunately, Jazz, Cliffjumper, Spike, and Bumblebee were spared when Spike's son Daniel saved them from being dropped in an acid pit. Jazz and the other Autobots drove out of Unicron (and through space) and arrived on Cybertron, where he joined in the chanting of "'Til all are one" as Unicron's severed head orbited Cybertron. The Transformers: The Movie

Optimus Prime ordered Jazz to Autobot City on Earth to get more Energon cubes.

The Headmasters cartoon

In 2011, Jazz was positioned on the Autobot base on Athenia under Optimus Prime. When the Decepticons began a full-scale assault on Cybertron in order to get their hands on Vector Sigma, he followed his leader to the planet to help reinforce their defenses. Four Warriors Come out of the Sky Jazz later returned to Earth to help protect Hot Rod from any Decepticons out to stop him from finding the Matrix. Birth of the Fantastic Double Prime Following this, Jazz stayed on Earth, accompanying Ultra Magnus aboard Metroplex. The Great Cassette Operation

Binaltech

When the Decepticons began to infiltrate the Binaltech project, Jazz volunteered to uncover how the enemy had managed to co-opt several new Autobot bodies for themselves. Working with several members of Earth Defense Command on this counter-intelligence endeavor, nicknamed "Operation: Carwash", Jazz decided to undergo the Binaltech process in secret himself in order to keep an eye on the programs better. To aid him on his special operations missions, Jazz also adopted a variation on the Genetronic Translink tech into his new body, enabling him to communicate with and direct a second autonomous body. Gifted with a self-developing artificial intelligence based on his own personality, this secondary Transformer was nicknamed "Zoom-Zoom" by Jazz, and the two began operating as a highly skilled combat duo on Earth.

Dreamwave comics continuity

8.2 million years ago, Jazz and Prowl met Grimlock in the remains of Praxus's Helix Gardens to discuss the worthiness of Optronix to lead the Autobots. Jazz later attended the Matrix-transfer ceremony at the Chamber of the Ancients. He attempted to save Optronix—now Optimus Prime—when Prime was attacked by Decepticons, but was restrained by Grimlock. When Prime defeated the assassins, Jazz was convinced of his worth.

Soon afterward, Jazz questioned Prowl's decision to allow Prime to explore the depths of the planet alone, but was prevented from pressing the issue any further when Shockwave attacked Iacon with an army of Decepticons. Jazz helped direct the battle from the Decagon, but the defenders were soon overwhelmed. Jazz was forced to begin evacuating important artifacts and hardware from the city, but was unable to finish before the Decepticons overran the Decagon. He and a handful of Autobots made a desperate last stand, but were saved from extinction when Starscream activated the planetary engines, devastating the city and forcing Shockwave's army to retreat. The War Within

7.4 million years ago, Jazz witnessed the space bridge explosion that seemingly killed Prime and Megatron. After the subsequent fragmentation of the Autobot faction, Jazz remained with the Prowl-led Autobots. He accompanied a group of Autobots to investigate a new mobile battle base at the Praetorus Wharf, only to learn that the base was fully operational. Despite the arrival of reinforcements, the titan was too much for Jazz and his cohorts; only when Shockwave recalled Trypticon to the Neutral Territories were they saved them from certain doom.

Battered, Jazz and the others limped back to Iacon, only to be forced to repel an attack on Autobase by the Fallen. Although Jazz, Mirage, and Sunstreaker fought valiantly, the mysterious entity defeated them and achieved his objective: freeing Blitzwing from captivity. The War Within: The Dark Ages

Jazz was among the crew of the Ark when it crashed on Earth, and he awoke in 1984 to battle the Decepticons. After years of fighting, Jazz and the other Autobots took part in Operation: Liberation in 1998, a joint human/Autobot operation that defeated and captured the Earth-bound Decepticons. However, the Ark II, which was meant to convey the Autobots, the captured Decepticons, and a number of humans back to Cybertron, was sabotaged by General Robert Hallo, sending Jazz and his comrades to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean.

A few years later, Optimus Prime awoke Jazz and a number of other Autobots to combat the sinister Lazarus. He aided in the cleanup of Lazarus's latest target, the SmitCo oil refinery, and then moved on to Lazarus's base, which had been taken over by a revived Megatron and his deadly "metal virus". Jazz and the others briefly battled the Decepticons, but were stopped in their tracks when Hallo dropped a nuclear bomb on them. The virus absorbed most of the blast, leaving the Transformers unharmed, but continued to expand across the countryside. Jazz remained behind with a team to combat the virus, while Optimus Prime took a contingent of warriors to combat Megatron in San Francisco. Armed with Wheeljack-designed blasters to combat the virus, Jazz and his squad fought bravely, despite the blasters draining their energy and the well-meaning interference of the Canadian Army. But soon the virus overwhelmed them, forcing Wheeljack to sacrifice himself to destroy it. Jazz mourned over Wheeljack's fallen form. Prime Directive

Some time later, Jazz participated in a battle in Alaska over possession of an escape pod containing Scourge, only to be forced to flee with the other Autobots when Shockwave arrived from Cybertron, proclaiming a new era of peace. While Optimus Prime and a number of other Autobots surrendered to Shockwave's lieutenant, Ultra Magnus, Jazz was left behind on Earth to command a small team of Autobots. After Magnus and Prime had departed, Jazz, Brawn, and Windcharger returned to the battlefield, but found no trace of the pod or Scourge. War and Peace

When Starscream returned to Earth with a small unit of Decepticons, Jazz and his team fought back against them and managed to capture most of the invaders. Starscream's enforcer Bruticus, however, proved to be too much for them to handle, and Jazz was deactivated and left to rust at the bottom of a lake by the mighty super-robot. Night of the Combaticons He was eventually fished out by Warpath and Bumper (who had arrived from Cybertron with Bumblebee with supplies), but they were waylaid by Earth Defense Command. The EDC completed the repairs on Jazz, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe themselves, and asked a favor in return: for the Autobots to accompany their agents in investigating a small town which had mysteriously gone off the grid a few days before. Teamed with Marissa Faireborn, they uncovered a plot by Bombshell and the Insecticons to take over the humans with cerebro-shells and breed a swarm of techno-organic Insecticlones. The Insecticons were defeated and captured by the Autobot forces. Extermination

G.I. Joe vs. Transformers

Number 5, Pimpmobile.

IDW comics continuity

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

Jeez, Prowl, you're starting to make me and everyone in this room bored with your prickery.

Millions of years ago, Jazz was a member of the Kaon Security Services prior to the Decepticon uprising and the subsequent civil war. He spent many an hour being bored to death by Prowl. How little things change. Megatron Origin issue 2

Sometime afterwards, Jazz was part of a team taking part in a rescue mission. He managed to find the lone survivor, Tracks, but before the two could be extracted, their transport was destroyed by the Predacons. The two managed to fight off the Decepticons, however, until a second extraction team could find them. Spotlight: Jazz

Let's see if there's anything on that screen. I hope it's CMTV!

Shortly after Thunderwing's rampage across Cybertron, Jazz was holed up in a bunker with Smokescreen and Landfill while they awaited a rousing, morale-boosting broadcast from Blaster, a transmission that was never made. Shortly thereafter, their position, along with every other Autobot position on the planet, was hit by the Decepticons. Spotlight: Blaster

In modern times, Jazz was part of a detachment of Autobots that has operated covertly on Earth for at least four years, attempting to foil a Decepticon insurgency. He was present when Prowl gave Ratchet a dressing down for risking their secrecy by saving Verity Carlo, Hunter O'Nionn and Jimmy Pink from the Decepticon infiltration team. Infiltration issue 3 When Ratchet and Bumblebee's unauthorised sojurn to the abandoned Decepticon bunker in Nebraska uncovered Starscream's plans for Ore-13 and Megatron's arrival on Earth, Jazz and the rest of the Autobots moved out to the Decepticon Siege Armature in Oregon in the hopes of containing the confrontation between the Decepticon leaders. Fortunately for all concerned, Megatron downgraded the Infiltation status of the mission and left the Autobots alone. Infiltration issue 6

Whoops! I better wind down my woofers!

Shortly after the arrival of Optimus Prime on Earth, Jazz received a crash course on Earth culture by Hunter, Verity and Jimmy, and was surprised to find the emotionless, dead-eyed fixed smile on his holomatter avatar creeped people out. However, the humans were forced to leave the Ark-19, ostensibly for their own safety. Jazz observed how unhappily the humans took their eviction, so he later thanked them for their help. Escalation issue 1 After Ironhide and Sunstreaker were ambushed (and the latter thought to have been destroyed) by a highly skilled and organized human group, Jazz and Wheeljack were attacked by the clandestine organization's agents when trying to locate (Sunstreaker's remains, but fortunately survived. Escalation issue 2 He was later deployed to Brasnya with the other Autobots to investigate Megatron's meddling in the fragile region's politics. He remarked that orbital bounces scrambled his circuits, to which Prowl told him to shut up. Prowl is a jerk. Escalation issue 3 He was forced to engage the Decepticons when they tried to stop the Autobots from capturing the Georgi Korska facsimile construct. Escalation issue 4 After Optimus Prime was seemingly killed by Megatron, Jazz didn't think even their best efforts could stop the Decepticon leader. Fortunately, Optimus Prime returned from the brink of death and Megatron was forced to retreat. Escalation issue 6

He's had worse.

After it was decided to move the Ark-19 due to the Machination's knowledge of their whereabouts, Jazz brushed off Verity and Jimmy when they pointed out that the Autobots were doing very little to find out about Sunstreaker and Hunter's disappearance. Jazz was tasked with monitoring the engines when the Ark-19 lifted off from Lake Michigan and subsequently shot down by the Decepticon "living weapon" Sixshot. Devastation issue 1 He fought Sixshot alongside the other Autobots, but was seriously injured when the Decepticon tore off his left arm with apparent ease. Devastation issue 4 He was still injured when Optimus Prime ordered the Autobots to leave Earth for Garrus-9 due to the liberation of the prison's newest inmates Devastation issue 6

A year later, he was serving in a high command position; Optimus was severely injured and the Autobots were hiding on Cybertron, so whatever put him in this role wasn't fun. Prowl brought him some bad news which left Jazz despondent. All Hail Megatron issue 1

Jazz then had to sort out an argument between Prowl and Ironhide that ended with Ironhide punching Prowl after he told Ironhide that he might be the suspected Autobot traitor that put them in this predicament. Prowl wondered why Ironhide wasn't afraid of him, but was of Jazz, to which Jazz replied "tone", after which they discussed their situation. Later, Jazz and Ironhide talked about the good old days, with Ironhide wondering what Jazz was hiding from him and the Autobots and getting upset about it. Ironhide believed that Mirage sold them out and walked off, but Jazz told Ironhide to leave Mirage alone. All Hail Megatron issue 4

Commercial appearances

Jazz has appeared in numerous television commercials over the years:

• He appears in the first Transformers appearance ever, an animated advertisement for the first issue of the Marvel Comic. The animation features Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp attacking a power plant; Jazz, Prowl, and Sideswipe drive out from their headquarters to counterattack. When Megatron joins the battle, the three Autobots fly away. The cover of Marvel #1 is shown, with a note that it's "Coming Soon". Non-speaking role.

• In an advertisement for the 1985 Autobot cars, Jazz is briefly shown fighting alongside Optimus Prime in Earth's ubiquitous rocky deserts. Non-speaking role.

File:LiveActionJazz-Skywarp01.jpg

Not cosplay—coswork.

• Jazz is featured in a 1986 commercial for the Prizes in Disguise contest. When some humans approach an Autobot base, Jazz orders to Cosmos to shine their headlights on them, to reveal their allegiance. Jazz then declares that it's okay, since they humans are wearing Transformers reflective patches! Jazz is voiced by Scatman Crothers, his usual voice actor on the cartoon. One of the contst prizes was a party with "life-size" Transformers! Among the "life-size" Transformers shown were Jazz and Skywarp. If you actually did party with Jazz and Skywarp, please let us know. So far, only a certain "Starscreamer89" has reported going partying with them.

• Jazz next appears in a 1988 commercial for the Pretender Classics, emerging from his shell alongside Bumblebee and running up to help Optimus Prime in a darkened city. Prime gives them both a hug. Non-speaking role.

• He appears very briefly in an ad for the Micromaster base; he can be glimpsed alongside Bumblebee as they pull two Micromaster vehicles into an Autobot base.

• Jazz returned a year later in the first Action Master commercial. When Prime challenges a group of Autobots to give up their tranforming powers to become "faster stronger more alive", Jazz is the first to volunteer. He's voiced by a sound-alike doing a passable Scatman Crothers imitation.

• Jazz appeared soon afterwards in an ad for the Hot Rod Patrol, telling Optimus Prime to check them out. The same voice actor provides his one line.

• Jazz appeared in one of the first Generation 2 commercials; he was depicted in CGI driving down a ramp in a city and transforming. Victor Caroli noted that he came equipped with a "robot ripping rocket launcher".

Trivia

• Jazz is one of the main characters in the series up to season three, when he started making only a few cameos with no lines. This is because Scatman Crothers, who voiced Jazz, died not long after The Transformers: The Movie (which takes place between seasons 2 and 3) finished production. He is given speaking lines and more on-screen time, however, in the Japanese-exclusive Headmasters.
• Scatman Crothers (as Jazz) is often credited as having coined the term "ginormous" (a combination of "gigantic" and "enormous") when using it to describe Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie, a term which was officially added by the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary in 2007; however, the term has actually been around for much longer, being listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as a "British informal" word that has existed since at least the mid-20th century.
• His real name is unpronounceable in English, so just call him Jazz. Man of Iron!
• In recent years, toys sporting the name "Jazz" require an additional "Autobot" prefix for trademark reasons, hence making the official name "Autobot Jazz".

Fire, Heart, Wind and Rock n'Roll

• Like a lot of other G1 characters, Jazz's character model was subject to a few re-uses in the Unicron Trilogy, first apppearing as a hapless victim of Unicron who had been absorbed into the chaos-bringer's body in the Armada episode, "Portent". Later, in the Cybertron episode, "Balance", Jazz turned up in a less-generic capacity, as one of the four wise elders who began the space bridge program—although he seemed a little like the odd 'bot out in the group, given that the others were Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and Rodimus Prime. Curiously, neither appearances adheres strictly to his original character mode—"Portent" gives him individual eyes, rather than a visor, and "Balance" outfits him with toy-accurate shoulder-doors.
• The first toy planned for the Alternators line was Jazz as a Porsche 986. A prototype was made, but Porsche refused to grant Hasbro and Takara the license, stating that "Transformers are not worthy [of] carrying the Porsche trademark. They are war machines, and the toyline in no way represents the lifestyle and ideas which Porsche represents." As a consequence, the toy ultimately never went into production. Photos of the prototype were depicted in the Japanese book The Transformers: Binaltech & TF Collection Complete Guide, and Hasbro later also displayed the prototype during the BotCon 2007 Hasbro Tour.
• The Alternators Mazda RX-8 (which ultimately ended up as Meister) was originally intended to be named "Camshaft", according to various early store listings and a premature reply from Hasbro's customer service. This would also fit with the early idea of making the Alternators toys "direct updates" of their characters' G1 predecessors. A prototype was leaked to the public in early 2004 sporting the same basic colors as the later Alternators "Autobot Camshaft" toy (the Acura RSX), although it's uncertain whether the prototype colors for the RX-8 were supposed to be indicative of the proposed colors for Camshaft (since the Acura redeco was originally intended as a G1 Bluestreak homage before being renamed into "Autobot Camshaft"). The reason why the RX-8 Alternator was ultimately not named "Camshaft" was apparently because the real-life Mazda RX-8 car doesn't have a camshaft. The irony is staggering, as Camshaft's original toy was an RX-7, which ALSO lacks a camshaft.
• Furthermore, there have been at least two different reasons stated why the Hasbro toy was named "Meister" rather than "Autobot Jazz": For once, Hasbro was still hoping that Porsche would have a change of mind and grant them the license after all, as Chevrolet had done; also, Aaron Archer has been quoted stating that he thought a third toy named "Autobot someone" following "Autobot Hound" and "Autobot Tracks" would have been somewhat "redundant".
• Jazz went through a slight redesign in IDW's G1 comics, going from more G1-looking legs in Infiltration (car kibble mainly on the back and sides) to more Alternators-like legs in Escalation (with the rear bumper forming the feet and such).

External links

• ToyBin Jazz Toy Gallery
• Jazz at TFU.info
• Jazz's Universe profile at NTFA.net