I awoke early this morning from a dream.  It started with me in a department store with friends.  A celebrity was coming to town, for the life of me I can't remember who, and we thought it'd be hilarious to have him sign used video game equipment and old video game cartridges.  As the crows of people around me grew, we decided on having him sign a large spoon, slotted together with something else by way of a cheese slicer.  Several of us were trying different things, but nothing seemed to work.  I had an idea to check other items in the store and went off in another direction, saying to myself, "Think, Jazz, think."

Slowly, I started to become Jazz from the Transformers, a hybrid of the new animated version, the movie version, and the original.  I could hear cheering, which meant that a solution was found where I was.  I rushed back only to find everyone gone to get their autographs. As the store was closing, the lights went out and I, as Jazz, grabbed some cardboard boxes to break down for recycle.  As I enter the back room, I hear narration, "Jazz knew this would be the last time the store would be quiet this time of night... and he was right."  I turn to see something glistening just past the doorway and I throw a round piece of cardboard at it.  It misses and then... I wake up.

Earlier in the dream, or perhaps in another dream altogether, I was teaching my teenage daughter (who does not exist in real life) how to drive, with my Dad.  We drove all around town and she proved to be a chip off the old block by having a lead foot.  She got two speeding tickets and then at some point, my Dad and I watched from outside the car as she got a third and was hauled down to the police station.  See, they had a three-strikes rule with learning drivers.  Once at the police station, I watch the officer pull up all the charges, some quite expensive.  The officer said that she showed no remorse at going over 15 mph the speed limit.  The total due was over $2,000.  My Dad balked at that and asked how she was going to be able to afford that.  I chimed in that even we, referring to myself and Dad, couldn't afford that.  To the best of my knowledge, the dream didn't resolve itself.

Legends class Autobot Jazz is one of three Transformers Universe toys (he ships with Hound and Megatron) that comprise the second wave of the lowest price point for the line.

Packaging is standard Universe flair with classic series noted on the front and back to let buyers know this is meant to represent the original character and not his movie or animated counterparts. The back of the packaging is simple, showing Jazz in both modes, listing his stats, and the instructions. Speaking of stats, they are as follows:

Strength: 5 Intelligence: 9 Speed: 7 Endurance: 7 Rank: 8 Courage: 9 Fire[power]: 5 Skill: 10

Transformation is pretty easy, considering it is a $5 toy. Align the arms horizontally, rotate the torso and legs back, flip the lower legs and feet over to form the back of the car, and slide the arms into place.

Jazz looks good in both modes, but suffers in the paint application department. Except for his signature racing stripes, front and rear windshields, face and eye-shield, and Autobot logo, he's pretty plain. It's not so bad in robot mode as there are a lot of details in there. It's in car mode, where the lack of painted windows is really glaring.

Still, Jazz being my favorite character, I rate this toy highly. It's not perfect as it needs a little more painted detail, but for a $5 Transformers toy representing the coolest character in the mythos it's not too shabby. Buy it.

No, not the music, though it's pretty good too.  I'm talking about Jazz from the Transformers.  Before Transformers came along, I was in love with all things Porsche.  They were my favorite toy cars and I still hope to own one some day.  When Transformers came out and there was one that turned into a Porsche and was Optimus Prime's right hand man and voiced by Scatman Crothers, I was all over that like white on rice.  In the beginning, there were few Jazz things to collect, or so I thought.  With the help of the Internet and many other Transformers fans, my Jazz collection slowly expanded from a 3' x 1' shelf to what you see below and more.  So, without further ado, here's a picture of most of my Jazz collection:

Someday, I hope to have it a little better organized with everything showcased.  But for now, this corner of the spare bedroom will have to do.

Took some time this afternoon to open a bunch of the toys I've bought recently.  It was fun opening a bunch all at once so I will probably stockpile again for another day.

IIn the front row we have the Shadow Stormtrooper, Commander Neyo, and the Utapau Shadow Clone.

Next up are the two Stormtroopers from the Target exclusive Attack on Kashyyyk battle pack, the AT-RT driver and Luminara Unduli from the Target Exclusive Order 66 2-packs.

Behind them are Darth Vader from the afore-mentioned battle pack and the Shadow Biker Scout and Speeder Bike from last year's San Diego Comic-Con.

In the back row is the Target exclusive Allspark Power Jazz and the Wookiee warriors from the battle pack.

All three Stormtroopers share the same mold as the Vintage Stormtrooper released in [circa] 2004.  Since the battle pack was marked down to $14 for 5 figures, that makes the white ones retail for under $3, that's less than 1/3 the original vintage one sold for at retail.  Pays to wait, eh?

Neyo is from the Wal-Mart speeder bike 2-pack from a couple years back and the Utapau Shadow Clone is a re-release of the original Target exclusive that retailed at $13 and now sells for 1/2 that (as does Neyo and the Shadow Stormy). Vader is a re-release of the Evolutions figure with the helmet glued in place.  Luminara is a straight repack and her driver friend is a recolored version of the same figure released during Revenge of the Sith.  Both retailed originally for $7 and the 2-pack I got them in was marked down to that amount, so it was like a twofer.  The Wookiees share their mold with the sneak preview Wookiee from before the RotS line, but with another Wookiee's bandolier.  They also came with gigantic bowcasters that neither can hold, not that I tried very hard mind you.

Jazz is the third (or fourth depending on how you look at things) version of this toy.  There was the original, Target exclusive G1 deco, and this one, which is essentially the same as the original with blue highlights to accentuate the power of the Allspark.  The bio on his packaging calls him "Aubtobot Jazz" which I find really funny since there won't be a correction and is such a silly typo that really should have been caught.  There's another, more movie-accurate version supposedly coming out soon in the "Premium" line, but it's yet to make an appearance at retail.

Today, the BotCon site debuted pictures of two more of their toys from this years exclusive "Shattered Glass" mirror universe Transformers box set.  You can also see Grimlock, Glodbug and Optimus Prime there of which only Optimus Prime really strikes me as cool.  Grimlock is just boring to me, a complete lack of effort in my opinion.  Goldbug is okay, but doesn't come across as a mirror-universe "evil" Bumblebee to me.  Optimus is pretty darn nifty that isn't the traditional black recolor into Nemesis Prime or Scourge that they usually do.  They're saving that for the San Diego Comic-Con.  As for Jazz here, well I like that he's the same colors are good guy Jazz, but shouldn't he have some sort of inverted color scheme?  I do like the "Kill to Win" and "Massacre Racing" detailing in vehicle mode, but it seems almost too over the top to me.

It also strike me odd how for CybCon, we recreated characters for the exclusive toys for years before BotCon started doing it.  Previously, BotCon toys were almost always new characters.  Now, we get retreads with new heads (sometimes).  Also, some of the color schemes we've used for toys have ended up being used as official Hasbro releases.  So, I still believe that Hasbro and it's affiliates have my computers bugged and are using me as an idea diving board.  So, if you're reading this Hasbro, and I know you are, I want some kick back from all the ideas I've given you these past 15 years or so.  And I'm not talking about the Insecticon either.

So the misses and me went out on errands this evening. We spent most of the day, on and off, putting together stuff to donate to Goodwill and Toys for Tots. I had 7 carded R2-D2 figures, a carded C-3PO, Spider-Man 3 2-pack from Target, and the Ambush on Illum Battlepack that I donated this year. Mrs. GripX donated about 8 of her sealed Barbie dolls and a miniature crane machine (like the ones you see at carnivals or Denny's, only smaller). We have so much clutter and this helped out a little. We also filled up about five plastic shopping bags of loose stuff for Goodwill. So, when all was said and done, 61 items were removed from our apartment.

On our way to donate, we stopped by Fred Meyer as I had something to return. After the longer-than-it-needed-to-be wait, I swung by the toy department where I found the new movie-themed Transformers Robot Heroes. So, I bought 2 of the 4 2-packs. I got Armored Bumblebee Vs. Starscream and Protoform Jazz Vs. Decepticon Brawl. I'll talk more about Jazz in a bit. Dropping by Toys R Us for Toys for Tots was fun. We sent the bin into overflow and then looked around. There wasn't much of interest to me, but it was 7:30pm and anything good was long gone if it was there at all. Our next stop was Goodwill. We pulled around to the back and the dude manning the donate station just walked away. By the time we got out of the car, he was nowhere to be seen. We waited and looked around for about 5 minutes. So, we're taking the stuff to a different Goodwill tomorrow.

So then, Protoform Jazz is this entry's subject. If you made it past the first 2 paragraphs, congratulations. I've seen some talk online that Jazz may have originally meant to be Optimus. There are similarities, especially with the head ad face. But, comparing Proto-Jazz to the preview Proto-Prime figure, that's where the similarities end. Besides, we don't really get a good look at any of the Autobot's protoforms except for Ironhide and Prime. One could argue that this could be any of them. But, I digress. Jazz is articulated at the neck and shoulders and has a decent enough paint job with black, silver, and gold in places (and light blue for his eyes). He could use a few more paint applications as there are a few spots that could use a dab of paint.

I'm happy. I have another Jazz to add to the collection and a few of his friends to place elsewhere.

Apparently, TFormers posted an article a few days back about my favorite Transformer character of all time, Jazz. Thanks to the mighty King Macrocranios for bringing this atrocious article of misinformation to my attention. So, before they edit the article after errors are caught (which depends on someone actually registering to that abysmal site and posting said correction to said article and them actually listening), let's take the article, written by "Blitzwing" as it is now and take it apart piece by piece, shall we? Yes. Let's shall.

"Jazz was one of the first wave in the original Generation 1 lineup. While having several iterations throughout the years, Takara is again readying a reissue of the first Jazz to compliment the Encore series in 2008. This article will give some background on Jazz, as well as the figures released in relation to the G1 figure and how the Encore series may affect the value of the original."

My first issue is the use of the term "wave." It's what we use now for when there are waves of figures in an assortment. Back then, there was just the assortment. I don't like the wording of this paragraph either. It reeks of junior-high school level education. I wrote like this when I was 15 while trying to sound smarter than I was. So, I suppose this is fine for the Internet generation.

"History"

Such as it is when reported by incompetence.

"Jazz began life like many other Transformers of 1984, which is as a Diaclone. His Alt mode was a Porsche 935 Racing car with Martini sponsorship. He sported the #4 on his doors and on his hood. Jazz was one of the few figures to make it to the US virtually unchanged. He was released as the first wave of Hasbro's Transformers lineup, with his US patent filed in March 1984."

Later on, the writer goes on to state that the Diaclone Porsche was released in 1983. So, which is it? Otherwise, it's correct information. Ugh. Wave. Moving on...

"Jazz, as related to the animated series on TV, was originally Optimus Prime's #2 bot, heading the Special Ops unit. Jazz would be the one to organize battle parties and to rally the troops for a mission. He also had a built-in winch in his right hand that he could retract and use. As time wore on, Jazz was seen less as a field commander and more of a music-loving and laid back warrior. Perhaps this is due to his assimilation of earth culture. One special feature he did have later on in the series was some high powered speakers that were fabricated and installed by Sparkplug Witwicky. He was also able to give a blinding light show that disrupted most Transformer's optics."

Do you have to call it an animated series? It was a cartoon. What was this Special Ops unit Jazz headed up? I don't recall any such unit. Sure, he asked for volunteers to step forward a couple times during More Than Meets The Eye, but all the Autobots stepped forward, right? How is that a Special Ops unit? Why would he "retract and use" the winch in his right forearm? I'd think that'd be hard to use if it's retracted. Jazz was never seen as a field commander. The speakers he's referring to were a one-time use as a plot device and never seen again. No one was ever blinded by his light show. They were disoriented.

"Jazz was also seen in TF:TM, stationed on Moonbase 1. He and Cliffjumper were swallowed by Unicron and were later rescued by Daniel Witwicky. Although Jazz made some cameo appearances in Season 3, he never had a speaking role after the movie. This was due to the passing of his voiceover actor, Benjamin “Scatman” Crothers. Scatman had been known for other popular voiceovers, including Hong Kong Phooey and Nate Branch (Super Globetrotters). He was also a songwriter and music artist. However, he ended up losing a battle with lung cancer in 1986. He was 76yrs old."

For the sake of an informative article, I would spell out The Transformers The Movie rather than use a fan abbreviation. Sure, Jazz and Cliffjumper were saved by Daniel, but if it weren't for Rodimus opening Matrix, they would have died anyway. Otherwise, my main problems with this paragraph are grammatical and it's take a lot of energy to go into that and there's more article to dissect below.

"In the Marvel Universe, Jazz had a harder life. He suffered brain damage, was turned into a mindless zombie by Galvatron and ended up being deactivated in the Underbase Battle with Starscream. However, medic Ratchet was able to reconfigure him and turned him into a Pretender along with Grimlock and Bumblebee. While on Cybertron, he was part of the party responsible for awakening Primus and leading Unicron to Cybertron."

Galvatron turned Jazz into a zombie in the U.K. comics during the Target: 2006 storyline that IDW recently reprinted. In the U.S. comics, Jazz was simply another in a long line of deactivated Autobots and one of which Ratchet was able to bring back as a Pretender alongside Bumblebee and Grimlock. Lack of information is still misinformation.

"Figures"

It does, considering the site this article was published on.

"As mentioned above, Jazz first was issued in 1983 as a Diaclone by Takara in Japan. Hasbro acquired the license from Takara and brought him to the US in 1984. When Transformers was officially released in Japan, Jazz was known as Meister (Takara Issue C-06), which is German for “master”. In 1987, Jazz was recolored as a Targetmaster known as the Autobot Stepper (Takara Issue C-109) and was partnered with the Neublan named Nightstick, who curiously was originally partnered with Cyclonus. Jazz was released as a remolded Pretender in 1989 and had the pretender shell that resembled a human. In 1990, Jazz was redone as an Actionmaster and was paired with a skateboard that could transform into a laser blaster. Finally, in 1993, Jazz was retooled as part of the Generation 2 release. Curiously, his #4 became a #1 for the G2 series."

As mentioned above, there is a discrepancy in what year the Diaclone Porsche was released. I also take issue of the term recolored. It's not like Takara took Jazz overstock and added a coat of paint to the toys to make Stepper. I also want to know what the author means by Jazz being released as a "remolded Pretender." Remolded from what? Jazz was not "redone" as an Action Master. An Action Master of Jazz was released and with a Turbo Board I might add. Curiously, the author makes no mention of the different stickers the Generation 2 release of Jazz had. Curiously, the author uses the word curiously too much in one paragraph.

"For awhile after this, Jazz wasn't seen in the TF universe. However, he resurfaced in 2003 when Takara reissued a select number of Transformers for their 20th Anniversary “commemorative series”. Jazz was part of Issue III that was released in April 2003. Toys R Us also reissued Jazz about this time. However, due to the name Jazz being trademarked by PepsiCo for a line of soft drink, he was named after his Japanese counterpart, Meister."

Here's how I would write that first sentence; Jazz wasn't seen in any Transformers line for a number of years after Generation 2. I wouldn't say he resurfaced in Takara's Commemorative Series. I would say he was reissued. As for the Toys R Us version of the reissue, my box says "Autobot Jazz" not Meister. Got your facts straight there, Blitzwing?

"Shortly after, in 2004, Meister appeared again in the Alternators line. Originally to be a Porsche 986 (5th generation 911), he was given the alt mode of the Mazda RX-8 due to Porsche's refusal to be involved with Transformers do to it's “warlike nature”. Interesting to note that the original name for the RX-8 mold was to be Camshaft. This, however, ended up being used as a repaint of the Acura RSX mold. Although Alternator Meister did not sport any racing sponsorships or numbers, Reprolabels offers a kit that can be used to do just that."

I've only heard rumors of this stance by Porsche and so far as I know, they could be true or not. I don't know. The same was said about Bumblebee and Volkswagen. Otherwise, it's just poor sentence structure all over the place.

"Around the same time, Takara released Jazz's orignal 935 form as part of it's Worlds Smallest Transformers lineup. Although not a rolling model, it was nonetheless faithful to the original design. There was also the tribute to Jazz at KB Toys, using the RiD Spychanger HotShot for Jazz. Jazz is still being reissued to this day. His latest form is with his Alternators figure as a 3” die cast figurine in the Titanium series."

It's around this time that I am losing the energy to point out poor grammatical choices by this author. There are only so many times I can say it. The World's Smallest Transformers Jazz was not faithful to the original design. It skips a step during the formation of the chest. The Robot in Disguise Hot Shot mold was not used to make Spychanger Jazz. It was the Side Burn mold. Jazz' latest form is his movie incarnation, not the Titanium series figure. Apparently, Blitzwing was asked not to include the movie version of the character in his write-up. This is probably a good thing as he'd probably get that wrong too.

"Trading History"

What's this supposed to mean?

"When Jazz was released in 1984, he was originally retailed at $15. As Jazz was a fan favorite of many, his eBay prices were usually at a high command. It was difficult to find an immaculate Jazz, as the chrome feet usually wore and was damaged by the elements of time. There was a time where a complete Jazz with all accessories could command a price of $80 or more. A sealed and mint box containing Jazz could skyrocket the value to $250 or more."

When Jazz was originally released, like the other Autobot cars, he cost between $6-10 depending on the store and sales at those stores. I have to wonder where he got that $15 amount. The value he lists of Jazz' aftermarket value are low at best. Prior to the reissues, I've seen loose and complete Jazz toys go for $200 and a mint in sealed box specimen can still fetch well over $500.

"With the recent announcement of Takara's Encore release of Jazz, the playing field has changed. Pricing can be all over for this figure. For as little as $20 on average, you can have a decent Jazz with all accessories. However, you can have an AFA grade Jazz if you're willing to spend upwards of $300 or more. The Encore figure, to be released in March of 2008, will be priced at $35."

Speculation, thy name is Blitzwing. AFA graded Jazz toys go for a lot more than $300.

I seriously doubt much time of effort was put into researching and writing this article. I can think of at least four others that would be better suited to write up a history piece on Jazz (or any other Transformer for that matter). Don't get me started on the pirated images used in the article. This makes me want to cry.

1.) Of People & Animals:

We went to the Cougar Mountain Zoo today to see what all the hullaballoo was about. Actually, there's been no hullabulloo. They have a pressed penny machine there and the misses loves her pressed pennies. As I waited to pay our way in, Mrs. GripX went to work on the pennies as the machine was outside the main entrance. The man in front of me decided to take issue with giving his and his children's names on the membership form he was filling out. He cited paranoid reasons like he didn't want his children getting mail or credit card information and said the zoo didn't need that info. When pressed for it since the zoo does mail information about coming events, he got irate and just paid their way in and tore up the membership form. I give this guy the Douchebag of the Day award.

2.) Online Boobs:

A few hours ago, I'm checking my email and see a Yahoo! 360 invite from some chick with big knockers in the picture. Out of curiosity, I check out the page and find it's just a link to nudie pics. No thanks. Back when I had a MySpace account, I got all kinds of crap like this despite my clearly stating that I'm happily married and am not interested, what so ever, with extramarital anything. I don't need hot chicks online when I'm married to the hottest chick there is. It's rediculous. I'm not even flattered because whoever it is just wants people going to a porn site where there's probably a virus waiting to be downloaded. Besides, anyone can say they're anyone online. Back in my MySpace days, I used a picture of a Japanese girl in a red, plastic-looking top and black shorts holding the red Binaltech Meister toy as a picture for a bi-sexual woman I made up. It was pretty funny, all the messages I would receive from other MySpacers trying to get into Megumi's (I named her Megumi Hayashibara, the voice actress from All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku, among other anime) ficticious pants. I even got a huge, run-on sentence marriage proposal that from one lonely, queer douchebag. He said he felt a connection to Megumi and that his pathetic, emo self would be perfect for her. That was when I decided to delete that account.

3.) Mail Call:

I got my Jazz 3D-card game piece in the mail today. I'm going to leave it on the card, unassembled, as these things look pretty horrid put together. They take forever to "transform" too since you have to take them apart and reassemble them to convert them from one for to another. The graphics used look really great though. There's no mistaking this is "What's crackin', little bitches?" Jazz. Shame they couldn't make these things look good assembled. Also in the mail today was the MAX Howard the Duck TPB I ordered from TFAW for my main squeeze. I had a $5 coupon for not winning their Ultimate Buffy contest, so it cost less than $7 after shipping. See, she loves the movie and I started getting her the original Marvel run, so I figured this would be a nice surprise for her. I think she likes it so far.

4.) Relate:

I heard from my Mom today about the condition of my uncle. He's alert, knows what happened to him and even talked today for the first time in 3 months. Once his arm heals up from the amputation, he'll be homeward bound and there's already talk of renovating their house so he won't have to be put in a nursing home. It's nice to hear some good news for a change, let me tell you.

We went to Lincoln City, OR this weekend to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary. But, more on that later. On the way home from school this past Friday, I stopped by a Target store I used to frequent when I worked for the Half Price Books store in Tukwilla, WA. I found a couple Transformers I've been looking for lately. I picked up the Fast Action Battler version of Bumblebee, which is an all right toy that I may get rid of on eBay soon. The other toy I picked up was the Robot Replicas version of Jazz. I know I'm biased, but I'll take the super-articulated, non-transforming Jazz action figure over F.A.B. Bumblebee any day of the week. Jazz features ball-socket joints in his neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, and ankles. Unlike the transformable version of this character, R.R. Jazz looks a lot more like his movie counterpart. Either forearm is removable and can be replaced by his shield/gattling gun, though it has a long, ungainly tube between the elbow and the barrel. It would have been better had the designers made the hands removable and simply had the end of the gun attach at that point. It's a minor complaint though.

On the way home, I picked up the Target exclusive Armorhide toy, who is packaged as an Autobot, but comes with a Decepticon Cyber Planet Key, yet is decorated as a Sector 7 vehicle.

My wife also picked up a number of pressed pennies on our trip, bringing her total collection to 633. For those doing the math, that's $322.83 in pressed pennies.

I check the eBay listings every day for Jazz merch. Lately, it's been quite a chore. Before the movie came out this year, there would be one or maybe two pages worth of stuff and I could find the occasional artifact I didn't have in my collection. These days I have to sift through nine or more pages and it's mostly movie-related stuff that I already have or preorders for movie related stuff.

I long for the days where I could actually find the Jazz stuff I wanted on eBay. Where'd everything go?

Evil King Macrocranios emailed me the 411 on this Nick Roche cover for IDW's Transformers Target 2006 issue #4 . In this issue, Galvatron apparently uses Jazz in a plan to destory the Autobots and from the looks of things, Jazz isn't letting him down. Brawn suxxors anyway. You can buy it online here.

Movie Titanium Jazz and Animated Debut Boba Fett arrived in the mail today. I'll talk about Jazz first.

He may be more accurate to how he looked in the movie, but Titanium Jazz lacks one thing that is required of all Jazz merchandise; style. I'll be honest, when it comes to Transformers, I hate the Titanium line more than I hate Alternators. With Alternators, you had great looking robots and cars that were nigh-impossible to transform and even harder to find at retail because some jackelope decided to flood the market with Skids, Rollbar, and Ricochet. Titanium is another breed of ass altogether. The smaller ones are usually better in that they don't transform, but the poses they're in typically suck. For the life of me, I don't know what Grimlock is trying to do and Bumblebee is doing a jig. They're mostly plastic to boot, which seems to counterpoint the name Titanium. The larger series really gets my ire going as I've owned a few and with the exception of one, they all broke or wouldn't stand up, or popped apart every time you touched them. These transformable Titaniums would be much better were they all plastic, but the die-cast metal (which never should belong on a Transformer made in the 21st Century is you ask me) makes them brittle, paint chip, break, and fall apart. But enough about the things I hate in toys.

I do like Jazz, but this particular version lacks any kind of style the other versions of this character have. He has articulation at the neck, waist, and shoulders. Only the shoulder work well. Plus, his left arm is posed weird. For all the time I spent hunting this thing down and then deciding to plunk down the extra change to get him on eBay, I'm just a little disappointed. I should have known better when it comes to Titanium Transformers.

Animated Debut Boba Fett, on the other hand, is a real treat of an action figure. For those not in the know, Boba Fett debuted in an animated segment of a little bit of Star Wars embarrassment George Lucas wishes we'd all forget called the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. In it, he helps Chewbacca obtain a cure for the sleeping sickness that has Han and Luke down. However, he tells Vader the Rebel's location. The droids intercept the message and warn the Rebels. Boba Fett escapes vowing that they'll meet again. While I could care less about the entire Holiday Special, I would like to see that segment again. I only have very vague memories of it and the synopsis from the back of this figure's packaging. So, whattaya say George? Eh? EH???

This figure is based on VOTC Boba Fett with a new belt and gauntlets. His colors are accurate to how he looked in the animated special, but Fett is more detailed than his animated counterpart. This isn't such a bad thing, but for me this isn't a true animated Boba Fett. The helmet design is much more tall and narrow than this figure. However, he is very well articulated and comes with some nifty accessories. His blaster fits in the holster and he can wield his two-prong staff with one or two hands. Did I mention how much a love the colors? Man, they are sharp, vivid, and just so dang different from his usual Mandalorian armor. I really like them a lot. I've decided that, in my own pseudo-Star Wars universe, that this Boba Fett is a hunter for hire as he really is canonically. He's the father of the McQuarrie Boba Fett figure (not sure what I'll call him yet) that works for the Empire directly under Darth Vader, training the Stormtroopers. I probably should start writing some of my ideas down.

I picked up two more Robot Heroes packs on Tuesday with, oddly enough, the Heroes season one box set. I got Prime vs Blackout and Ratchet vs Megatron. Going by what I saw in the movie, those are odd pairs. I mean, if we were talking about comic book Ratchet Vs Megatron, no problem. Comic book Ratchet, well Marvel Comic Ratchet that is, could kick Decepticon butt very well. Movie Ratchet seemed more interested in smelling pheromones and not being worth a crap in battle to help Bumblebee or save Jazz. Some medic he turned out to be.

That aside, I really like the Robot Heroes line. Prime's neat with the blaster and holllier-than-thou pointing action he can do. Ratchet is always giving the thumbs-up for some reason. Jazz is super-swell with a smirk and decent arm poses. Frenzy is creepy looking in a child-friendly way. Blackout seems to be trying to surprise people in that he looks like he's jumping out of a cake. Megatron... well, he's just too darn happy for words. These guys are kewl.

So, a couple posts back I shared that I found the new G1-inspired movie Jazz toy. After posting the sighting to a couple of the bigger Transformers fan sites, both credited me to some degree of being one of the first to find the toy. I say in some degree because there were a few other sightings, but none with picture-proof, which seems to be more and more in-demand these days. I remember when someone said the found something and their word was taken. I've never really understood the point of posting false sightings, unless it's April 1st.

Regardless, here is the article from the Allspark: Target Exclusive G1 Deco Deluxe Jazz Out

and the one from TFW2005: Target Exclusive G1 Repaint Movie Jazz Released at Retail

The discussions are fun to follow as some people, even though the information is posted in the same thread for them, ask the same questions over and over. At least that's the way it went at the latter site. The former site's post didn't generate much discussion.

I'm not sure why, but it feels good to be the one to first to find a new toy in the online community. Back before the days of the intertron, there was simply the satisfaction of finding something and maybe showing it off to a friend or two. Now, you can shout it out to the whole world, "Look what I found!!!" Maybe that's what keeps me in the hobby, to be recognized in some fashion by finding something first and telling others about it. I wonder why that's so important, to be the first to own something.

The circle is now complete.

I called up a local Target store, three actually, gave them the DPCI number for the Target exclusive Jazz toy and they were able to hold two for me. I suspect that had I asked for more, I would have been accomodated, but I'm not that greedy.

I jumped into the car and raced to the store. Actually, raced is not accurate. I drove as fast as the speed limit would allow without worry of getting a speeding ticket. I'd rather spend the money of the ticket, $100+ here, on more toys or something practical than enrich the great state of Washington. I started to wonder if they actually had the right toy on the trip there. And when I arrived, they weren't at the service desk yet. So, I worried some more if I would indeed get the third version of movie Jazz.

As soon as the woman came into view, I could see the gleaming white cars through their protective bubbles, the blue and red stripes dancing to my eyes. I would have let out a gleeful yelp were I not in public and embarrassed to do so. I took them from her graciously and proceeded back to the toy department on the off chance there might be something else to buy. There wasn't. That's all right though. I got what I came for and am very happy with my purchase.

This marks the first time in about two years that calling and giving Target their DPCI number actually worked for me. It's actually encouraging. The Target stores I usually frequent almost always tell me they don't have any and no other of their stores do either. This is a lie as I've had it happened twice where I'll be at one Target, asking about a product with their number and been told that. Then, I'll go to one of the stores they supposedly checked and sure as shootin', they have some. I dunno why they do that, but it doesn't matter.

I'm happy today. with two more pieces to my Jazz collection. Now to find the small Titanium movie Jazz.