Jazz (WFC)

Jazz is an Autobot from the Aligned continuity family.

My name is Chester Bennington. Wait... Ahhh, I'm Jazz...

Jazz is a cool and collected Autobot. Before the war he was part of the caste tasked with cultural observation and analysis, which gave him more freedom and a wider perspective on the world than his good friend Orion Pax. Though the war has changed much of his life (he is now a skilled and deadly combatant), two things remain constant: his dedication to the friend who is now also his leader Optimus Prime, and the interest he takes in all facets of culture, wherever his travels lead. On Earth, Jazz has adopted many popular human idioms into his vocabulary, and his fascination with their music has led him to implement speakers that fire a hundred sonic booms per second into his weaponry.

Fiction

The Covenant of Primus

Jazz emerged from the Well of All Sparks sometime during or prior to the Age of Wrath. As Cybertronian tolerance of Quintesson rule began to sour, Jazz became part of the secret order planning to throw off Quintesson oppression. He was located and hired by Orion Pax (on behalf of Alpha Trion) for his slick moves and knack for covert operations. Jazz was teamed with Ultra Magnus to, well, steal a car. He captured a Quintesson vehicle and brought it back to the order for examination, to understand the Quints' tech as well as they do. Jazz worked with Prowl and Bluestreak (as engineers) and Orion Pax (as their archivist) to study the vehicle. Their spitballing and brainstorming during the reverse engineering process forged a strong friendship between them all, especially Jazz and Pax.

After the overthrow of the Quintessons, Jazz was present at the lighting of the torch, bringing the light and life of the Well of All Sparks across the Space bridge to Cybertron's first colony world, Archon.

When war came to Cybertron, Jazz became an Autobot fighting alongside the arisen Optimus Prime with the likes of Prowl, Ironhide, Ratchet, and Bumblebee. Covenant of Primus

Aligned novels

Jazz was a cultural investigator who came to the Hall of Records to analyze new data from the Communication Grid, which was where he befriended Orion Pax. He secretly attended the gladiatorial combat in Iacon. When Orion told him about the gladiator Megatronus and his movement to abolish the caste system, Jazz suggested going to Kaon or that at the very least he should contact Megatronus, considering how much Orion agreed with his ideas. Orion followed his advice, and contacted Megatron (whose name had been shortened by the crowds following a particularly rousing victory). Orion practiced self-defense with Jazz following a suggestion in his and Megatron's brainstorms. Jazz was suspicious of Megatron though, and warned Orion that he was the sort of bot that would kill him if he felt he betrayed his ideas.

After terrorists committed acts of violence in Megatron's name, Megatron took Orion to a gladiatorial pit in Iacon, exposing Jazz's secret. Jazz attended the High Council's hearing with Orion and Megatron and gestured to Orion to be strong in the face of the Council's accusations. After Orion was promoted to Optimus Prime, Jazz joined his Autobots and told him not to mourn every lost soldier following the capture of Fort Scyk. He, Optimus and Sideswipe led the Autobots to victory at Kalis by taking down the combiner Bruticus Maximus.

Jazz was with others in Optimus's inner circle—Bumblebee, Ironhide and Prowl—when the war turned into a siege of Iacon and Alpha Trion informed Optimus of a new weapon aboard Trypticon Station. He asked them what they knew about energon. Jazz joked that it was time for school, but Prowl chided him for making fun at Alpha Trion's expense and that if the Archivist had something to say, it was important. Alpha Trion explained Energon was the emanation of Primus, to which Jazz quipped he still didn't know what that was, prompting laughter from Ironhide and Prowl. Alpha Trion then said Megatron's weapon was Dark Energon, the essence of Unicron, and Jazz stopped joking when he realized a confrontation with superpowered Decepticons was imminent.

Indeed, it was Jazz's team that first encountered Darkened Decepticons at Maintenance Port A46, along the Iacon-Kalis energy conduit. Though faster than any Decepticon and able to evade them, the Darkened gladiators wiped out his six-member unit. Autobots continually had to flee whenever Darkened Decepticons appeared, but Optimus realized Dark Energon was inefficient and Decepticons always had to retreat if a battle was prolonged. Jazz suggested they continue to fight back.

When Megatron came to Iacon to steal the Plasma Energy Chamber, Jazz fought with Omega Supreme against the Darkened Decepticons, but Megatron was too powerful and took the Chamber to contaminate the core of Cybertron. Jazz went with Optimus and Prowl in rescuing Sentinel Prime from Kaon, getting briefly paralyzed by a guard's whip, though he was still able to hear Sentinel's last words. After Sentinel's funeral in Iacon, Optimus asked Jazz if he believed the Thirteen original Transformers existed, to which he replied he didn't, though he saw great metaphorical value in them.

Optimus journeyed to the core, purifying it and obtaining the Matrix of Leadership. He returned ordering the commencement of Project Generation One and the evacuation of Cybertron, a notion Jetfire found suicidal but which Jazz defended. He coined the ship's name: the Ark. Jazz helped down Trypticon as part of the Eight Track crew—bearing the brunt of Trypticon's drones' attacks with Prowl and Ironhide—before boarding the Ark. Despite Jazz's fears about the last space bridge, it transported the Autobots to a spiral galaxy away from the Decepticons and near the AllSpark. Exodus

After passing through the unstable Space Bridge, Jazz and the Autobots aboard the Ark found themselves in the vicinity of a Cybertronian colony world called Velocitron. They located it in part thanks to a mysterious starmap projected outwards from Optimus Prime's chest by the Matrix itself. Jazz was part of Optimus Prime's initial landing team, who made contact with the planet's rulers, Override and Ransack. It was a time of great stress between Velocitron's rulers, and the Autobots' arrival from mythical Cybertron only exacerbated the situation. Worse still, active acts of sabotage led the Autobots to the conclusion that one of their crew was actually a Decepticon agent. Jazz and Prowl conferred with Optimus about the situation, but ultimately concluded there was little they could do at the moment other than remain on guard. Although the Autobots secured an ally in Override, they left Velocitron on the brink of civil war during their departure, as Ransack's followers had been corrupted by the Decepticon rhetoric of "peace through tyranny" spread by the Ark's traitor.

The next leg of their journey through the Space Bridge brought the Autobots to fabled Junkion, a world composed entirely of space junk. Jazz mouthed off about the poor conditions of the planet and the somewhat meandering nature of their "quest", forcing Optimus Prime to put his foot down about his old friend's lack of discipline. Jazz remained behind on the Ark during the initial visit to Junkion. Of course, this meant he was on hand when the ship exploded and crashed down to Junkion's surface thanks to another round of sabotage. The Autobots went to work repairing the Ark, with the relative assistance of the Junkions. Prowl's investigations into their traitor turned up an astonishing culprit—Makeshift, one of the fabled "Shifters" descendant from Amalgamous Prime, with the ability to change appearances at will. Jazz and Optimus managed to identify and trap the Shifter in a stasis field, ending his threat to the Autobots.

The Decepticons eventually arrived on Junkion in force, and the two sides warred over a hidden treasure at the planet's core...the Requiem Blaster. A weapon capable of drawing infinite power from nearby stellar sources, the Requiem Blaster had its own gravity field, and had literally been the core around which Junkion's "junk" had formed. The fighting over the Requiem Blaster ripped the planet apart, but both sides eventually called off the melee and abandoned the Blaster after learning the location of the Allspark itself. Optimus Prime, Jazz, and the rest of the Autobots boarded the Ark and began the long race to reach their civilization's greatest prize before Megatron could. Exiles

Jazz was one of Optimus Prime's lieutenants who alerted him when the Ark's long-range scans picked up the planet Aquatron. After Prowl's initial scouting patrol, Jazz traveled down to the planet with Optimus and the Autobots' main force. Although the Curator and his Aquatronians initially appeared benign, they revealed their true nature as agents of the Quintessons when the Decepticons arrived. The Aquatronians disabled the Ark and the Nemesis in orbit before politely insisting that the Autobots and Decepticons engage in peace talks, with the Curator as moderator. Optimus skeptically agreed, but Jazz remained posted outside the doors to Optimus's quarters before the talks began to ensure security.

Indeed, the "peace talks" were a sham from the beginning, orchestrated by the Curator to fail and bring the Cybertronians before a kangaroo court of trumped up charges before executing them to harvest their energon for an invasion of Cybertron itself. When Optimus and Megatron were separated from the others during a single combat exercise, Jazz and Prowl gathered the Autobots in freeing themselves from their cells to strike back against the Quintessons' Sharkticon guards. Alongside the Decepticons, they fought a holding action at Hydratron while Optimus and Megatron dealt with their true foes. During the battle, Starscream and the Nemesis crash-landed at the site, forcing Jazz to share command with the arrogant Air Commander. The Autobots attempted to abandon the Decepticons by fleeing in the still mobile Ark, but Starscream and Soundwave latched onto it with clamps, forcing the Ark to drag the Nemesis up with them. In the end, Superion provided the force necessary to propel both ships into orbit. Afterwards, Jazz coordinated a joint effort to locate their missing leaders among the wreckage, and found Optimus Prime and Megatron side-by-side atop a friendly Leviacon. Retribution

Ask Vector Prime

In Uniend 610.23 Zeta, Ask Vector Prime Jazz attended a meeting of Optimus's most trusted lieutenants, where the Autobot leader announced his plan to keep the AllSpark from Megatron by launching it into space. Jazz was eager to put Optimus's plan into motion. When the Autobots neared the Well of AllSparks, they learned that Megatron was moving in much earlier than expected. The plan was modified accordingly, and Jazz was posted as lookout within the Well. The AllSpark was launched without the Decepticons ever breaching the Well, thanks to Bumblebee's involvement. Bumblebee at Tyger Pax

IDW Aligned comics

Before the launch of the Ark, Jazz was among the Autobots entrenched in Iacon city, playing for time as they constructed their ship. Though most soldiers under Optimus Prime's command knew to play defensive on the battlefield, lest they waste some of their scarce energon reserves, Grimlock and his Lightning Strike Coalition loathed to be cautious. When the LSC broke rank to plow through a Decepticon platoon, Jazz reported the happenings to Optimus. Both Jazz and Optimus went out to meet Grimlock after the latter had been ordered back to base. As he came to them, Grimlock accused Optimus of not doing enough to ensure the Autobots' victory in the war. Jazz assured Optimus that his plan to leave the planet was still the best hope they had. Good Intentions

Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

Pursuing the AllSpark after it had been launched into space, Jazz was one of the many Autobots that found their way to Earth. There, he participated in a great battle within a human settlement against the Decepticons. Although Jazz can blend readilly into almost any environment, Earth is his favorite one so far. The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe

2015 Robots in Disguise cartoon

Voice actor: Arif S. Kinchen (English), Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Gabriele Calindri (Italian), Petri Hanttu (Finnish), Christopher Kohn (German, first voice), Dirk Bublies (German, second voice), José Arenas (Latin-American Spanish), Hermes Baroli (Brazilian Portuguese), Paweł Ciołkosz (Polish)

You like Jazz?

Jazz was sent by the High Council to investigate the distress call from the Alchemor. Arriving on Earth, he landed not far from the scrapyard and encountered Sideswipe whose attempts to challenge him were short-lived. After exchanging information with Bumblebee, Jazz found their reunion interrupted by the arrival of the Decepticon Ped. The Autobots pursued Ped underground, and Jazz was paired with Sideswipe. The pair found Ped's hideout, and were soon face-to-face with Ped himself.

If it's worth drivin', it's worth drivin' in style!

Jazz used a ruse to draw information out of Ped, but during the subsequent fight, he and Sideswipe were buried in rubble. When they arrived back at the scrapyard, a plan was in operation to trap Ped. After a brief setback in which the Autobots fell into a pit, Denny Clay managed to fish them out with an electromagnet. Jazz helped get Ped into a stasis pod, before returning to Cybertron with the promise he'd smooth things over with the council. Can You Dig It? However, Jazz was instead blacklisted by the council for his support of the Autobots and joined up with Optimus to investigate exactly what the council was up to.

Learning enough to make their move, Optimus's team traveled to Earth where they enlisted the help of Bumblebee and his team. While the Bee Team traveled to Cybertron, Optimus, Jazz, Ratchet, Windblade and Bulkhead remained on Earth temporarily. They soon found action when a signal led them to the steel mill that had just been burgled by a Cybertronian advance force. Within, they found a list of items pointing to the fact the advance force was building a space bridge receiver, and also a bomb which promptly exploded. Enemy of My Enemy The group was saved by Ratchet's Triage Shield. They continued to follow the trail to the Crown City docks, where they battled the advance force. At one point Jazz had to pull Bulkhead to safety after the latter was hit by weapons fire. Following the destruction of the space bridge portal that had been opened, the team returned to Cybertron where Optimus nominated the rest of the group as a provisional council. Freedom Fighters

Games

Transformers: War for Cybertron (Xbox 360/PS3)

Apparently Primus isn't a matter of belief but his children are.

Jazz was one of many Autobots who was captured by the Decepticons and sent to the Kaon prison complex. He passed the time in incarceration by doing push ups in his cell, waiting for the day he would be able to break out. That chance came when Optimus, Bumblebee and Sideswipe (who had allowed themselves to be captured) opened all the cells in Kaon during a daring attempted rescue mission of Zeta Prime. Air Raid led the prisoners to transport ships, with which they escaped. He could be seen waving Autobots onto the closest ship through the window from above. Jazz also helped in escorting fellow prisoners into the transport ships. Transformers: War for Cybertron

Transformers: War for Cybertron (DS)

Voice actor: Scott Whyte (English), Martial Le Minoux (French)

Jazz was among the Autobot captives in Kaon Stadium when a team of escaping Autobots teamed up with him to escape. Jazz had figured a way out of the Stadium, but first the Autobots had to fight him to buy them some time. After the fight and Jazz's defeat, Jazz left with the Autobots free at last. Transformers: War for Cybertron

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Voice actor: Troy Baker (English)

I have yet to meet one that can outsmart bullet.

After Grimlock went missing from his post, Optimus Prime met Cliffjumper and Jazz in the armory as they were preparing to go find Grimlock and his team. Sideswipe took the duo in a dropship to the Sea of Rust where they explored the ruins, with Cliff managing to save Jazz's life when he was trapped under debris. The pair tracked a distress signal to a huge pit, which Jazz opted to venture into alone. He managed to find Sludge, albeit non-functional, and immediately got into trouble in the form of Insecticons. He escaped by flooding the pit with toxic waste. Exploring further, they found an energon lake and spotted the huge tower in which Shockwave was conducting his space bridge experiments. Jazz and Cliffjumper infiltrated the facility, eventually finding Shockwave himself. The Decepticon trapped Cliff behind a force field and Jazz was forced to fight off wave after wave of Insecticons while the other Autobot worked out a way to destroy the base. They escaped just before the place exploded and reported the energon lake back to Optimus before returning to finish preparing the Ark for launch.

After takeoff, the Ark headed for a space bridge Shockwave had opened but was pursued by the Decepticons aboard their flagship the Nemesis. They attacked the Ark and Jazz responded to a report that Bruticus was on board. His arrival was cheered by the defending Autobots, but even though Jazz made full use of his grapple and shot Bruticus repeatedly in the face the giant Decepticon seemed unstoppable. However, with the help of air strikes from Jetfire and the Aerialbots, Jazz managed to knock Bruticus off-balance enough for the air strikes to knock him clean off the Ark and spiral away into space. Fall of Cybertron

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (console)

Voice actor: Troy Baker (English)

Jazz led the Autobot attack on Kaon to reclaim the Dark Spark from the Decepticons. When Bruticus incapacitated and captured Cliffjumper, Jazz called for a ceasefire and begged Shockwave to return Cliffjumper, claiming that the Decepticons had got what they wanted, and didn't need to take Cliffjumper. Shockwave responded by simply laughing as he led Bruticus and unconscious Cliffjumper into Kaon.

Jazz reported Cliffjumper's capture to Optimus, and subsequently accompanied his leader to the Decepticon base Kolkular to retrieve their comrade and destroy the Dark Spark. Jazz was responsible for freeing Cliffjumper while Optimus covered them, but was captured, along with Optimus and Cliffjumper, by Megatron. They were freed when Jetfire commandeered the wrecked Trypticon's weapons systems and fired upon Kolkular, and the 'bots parted ways when Optimus ordered Jazz to take Cliffjumper and escape the base while Prime faced Megatron himself in order to reclaim the Dark Spark. Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark

Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark (3DS)

Voice actor: ? (English)

The Game Full of Death and Suffering...! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their video game appearances. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Rise of the Dark Spark

Robots in Disguise mobile game

When Crown City was overrun by Decepticons as a result of a stasis pod modified to clone an army, the Autobots were forced to battle them throughout the city and surrounding landscape. They eventually found that Steeljaw and another Decepticon had constructed a space bridge and defeated the pair. Robots in Disguise

Transformers Ultimate Allstars

The Game Full of Death and Suffering...! This character article is a stub and is missing information on their video game appearances. You can help Transformers Wiki by expanding it. Adventure Episode II

Transformers: Battle Tactics

Jazz participated in battles against a variety of opponents, both Autobots and Decepticons. Sometimes there were many of him! He was a Super Rare character who could be acquired as a reward in the "Cybertron Episode 3" event. Transformers: Battle Tactics

Commercial appearances

• On a large battlefield, Jazz and Ironhide defended Optimus carrying an injured Bumblebee from the Decepticons. Jazz blew a hole through Soundwave's gut, the latter being one of the attackers. He, along with Optimus and Ironhide, looked on from the edge of a peak towards the battle below as Megatron ordered the Decepticons to advance towards them. Fall of Cybertron VGA Cinematic Trailer

• Jazz, along with the Swoop and Slug of the Dinobots, came to Grimlock's aid as he was fighting Bruticus. Jazz jumped on top of the combiner's head and started shooting at it.

Fall of Cybertron E3 Trailer

Toys

Generations

Shhh, don't look at my hidden wheels. (Hasbro Version Pictured)

(TakaraTomy Version Pictured)

• Autobot Jazz (Deluxe, 2012)

• Series / number: 01 / #002
• TakaraTomy ID number: TG02
• TakaraTomy release date: December 28, 2012
• Accessories: Blaster pistol

Part of the first wave of 2012 Generations Deluxe Class toys (in both the Hasbro and TakaraTomy lines), Fall of Cybertron "Autobot Jazz" transforms into a Cybertronian racer. His blaster pistol has a 3mm hole running through it, and can mount via 5mm post onto his roof, forearms/rear vehicle side, and hands.

In robot mode, he features a case of faux parts: The centers of his feet are fake wheels (attached to the legs via ratchet joints) that are hidden in the rear section of his vehicle mode, while his real vehicle mode wheels end up on his forearms and on the sides of his chest (partially obscured by panels).

A running change variant of Jazz exists in the fourth wave, wherein his white plastic is darker and his translucent visor is cast in light blue instead of the previous extremely dark blue, allowing the light piping to work properly.

The TakaraTomy release of Jazz features an extensive paint job, with his white plastic being coated in grayish off-white paint, along with numerous additional details.

This toy was repurposed as Generation 1 Jazz and Cloud Jazz, and was redecoed/retooled into Fall of Cybertron Sideswipe. It also went through a different redeco and retool to become Smooth Jazz.

• More information on Jazz at TFU.info

Robots in Disguise (2015)

Gotta dance, gotta lance. (Hasbro version pictured)

• Autobot Jazz (Warrior Class, 2015)

• TakaraTomy ID number: TAV23
• TakaraTomy release date: July 25, 2015
• Accessories: Lance/rifle

Part of the third wave of Hasbro's Robots in Disguise Warrior Class figures, Jazz transforms into a sleek sportscar of entirely-made-up model. He comes with a lance weapon that doubles as a sniper rifle; in vehicle mode, the lance attaches to his roof via 5 mm post.

(TakaraTomy version pictured)

His scannable Autobot insignia is on his robot mode stomach, making it easily scannable while still in-package. Scanning him into the (now defunct) Robots in Disguise mobile game temporarily unlocked him as a playable character if the player had not permanently unlocked them already.

The TakaraTomy version of the toy, release in the fifth wave of Adventure product, has considerably more paint operations than the Hasbro version in both modes, with more elaborate racing stripes. This version's scan-badge simply marks Jazz down in the Takara Adventure app's collection checklist.

• More information on Warrior Class Jazz at TFU.info

Shades optional.

• Drift Origin Mode & Jazz Battle Mode (Warrior Class, 2015)

• ID Number: TAV VS05
• Release date: November 14, 2015
• Accessories: Lance/rifle

Released in the ninth wave of Takara's Adventure toyline, "Jazz Battle Mode" is a minor retool of Warrior Class Jazz, now with a visor over his eyes. Otherwise, he is identical to the single-packed Adventure release of the toy.

He was only available in a two-pack with Drift Origin Mode.

This version of the Jazz mold was also used to make Adventure Stepper.

• More information on Battle Mode Jazz at Transformers-Universe.com

Merchandise

Tiny Titans

• Autobot Jazz (Tiny Titans, 2016)
  • Series: 5
  • Number: 4/12

Part of the fifth assortment of Tiny Titans blindpacks, this version of Jazz is a very small, soft-plastic figure of him in robot mode.

He includes a collectible card that includes a scan-badge for the Robots in Disguise mobile game, which unlocks a random amount of Energon "currency" and a randomized bonus power-up item.

Notes

• As noted above, Jazz's model is usable in War for Cybertron multiplayer as the Dragster-type chassis for Scout-class characters. His parts are also available in Fall of Cybertron, now classified as Ghost-type components for the Infiltrator class (although his wheels can also be used by Destroyers).
• According to his Transformers Hall of Fame bio, Jazz is trained as a Cyber-Ninja, a trait based on Animated Jazz.
• Jazz's trademark tool in Fall of Cybertron is his Grapple Hook, a multipurpose tool that allows him to manipulate far away objects and swing onto or from high areas. A similar tool is used by the Combaticon merchant Swindle, as well as Sideswipe in Rise of the Dark Spark.
• Emiliano Santalucia created the design for Jazz that is in Hasbro's Binder of Revelation.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Jazz (ジャズ Jazu)
• Mandarin: Jué-shìh (Taiwan, 爵士, "Jazz" or "Sir")

References