KRE-O Transformers Jazz Toy

I am very dissapointed.....It is very small comparing the price.It looks different on the picture but when I received it I was

really shock to see how small it was.

Firstly, let me state that I'm writing this from a fan's point of view; I don't have kids so this is not a review aimed at parents.

I've been a Transfan since before the word "Transfan" was created! I grew up watching G1 Transformers on Saturday mornings (along with Masters of the Universe/Princess of Power, ThunderCats, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, TMNT etc., etc.) and it's been a favourite of mine since the 80's. I've watched all it's incarnations and I've even suffered through "Bayformers", so to say I'm a fan is a bit of an understatement!

I've been collecting action figures for most of my life and I have a substantial Transformers collection now, so I didn't really need Hasbro to create more Transformers for me to collect! When I first saw these at SDCC last year I was underwhelmed. Transformers Lego? Really?! I mean, I've seen Logo Star Wars packs (and their prices!) and I've never been tempted, so I thought these would be an easy pass...

Until I saw some on offer in Morrisons! I picked up Basic Optimus Prime and Basic Bumblebee for £3 each and, since then, I've been hooked on these things! They are seriously addictive.

Jazz was the third of these kits I picked up and I only got him because he was on the cheap (£3-something). But he was worth the price, and more. In vehicle mode he's a bit blocky, but since he's made up of oblong pieces of plastic that's to be expected. He's a good size in vehicle mode and makes for a nice, chunky car. Someone else reported (about Megatron, I believe) that the wheels on these Kre-O figures are poor, but I have to say that I've not found that myself. That said, I'm not a 7 year old boy and past a quick push across the floor (for testing purposes only, of course!) I've not felt the need to be on my knees shoving him around to freak out the cats! So, wheels are fine, as far as I can tell. All the bricks hold together tightly, so there's little chance of them popping off (unless you're the aforementioned 7 year old boy who chucks it across the room!). Overall, it's a good car.

But the real joy with these Kre-O figures is in the robot mode, and Jazz does look very, very nice! It should be noted that to "transform" Jazz from vehicle to robot mode does require complete dis-assembly of all the bricks; you can't just leave a bit here and a bit there, everything needs to come apart. And this is one of only two complaints: some of the pieces fit so snugly that they're impossible to pry apart without the aid of a [in my case] penknife. I suspect people with stronger, longer fingernails than I will have less of an issue with this, but it was an annoyance to me worth noting here.

My only other criticism would be that the instructions aren't as well laid out as they could have been. This goes for all of these Kre-O Transformers though. On more than a few occasions I've had to go back to an earlier section to re-place a part because the instructions suggested it went in one place but it actually goes somewhere else.

Once disassembled you can begin building robot Jazz. The thing I like most about these Kre-O figures is that they don't rely too heavily on "Bayformers"; thus far all the kits I've picked up (Basic Prime, Basic 'Bee, Jazz, Mirage, Ratchet, Megatron and Starscream) have G1/G2 heads. The basic body construction for all of these (except for Megatron and Ratchet; Basic 'Bee seems to be somewhere in between his G1 appearance and the "Bayformers" incarnation, which is fine all the while Volkswagen continue to put the kibosh on 'Bee being a proper VW Beetle! ) matches their G1 cartoon look. Jazz looks remarkably similar to how he looked in the 80's cartoon, which is quite something considering he's made of Lego-esque bricks! Jazz seems to be in the standard 6" action figure scale, so he fits in quite well with my TF:Prime figures which are displayed on the same shelf. He's very stable too, which was something of a surprise to me! In fact, he's more stable than my MOTUC He-Man figure, who constantly dives off the shelf at the merest hint of a breeze!

Jazz came with two Kreon figures; a little Jazz which is just so much fun and some random guy which... well, is a bit rubbish really. (Same thing with Megatron; he comes with a little Megatron and, by far the best Kreon thus far, a little Shockwave! But then has two random guys... for why? I don't know!) Personally, I think the Kreons are great if they're based on the subject matter, but pretty pointless if not. I wouldn't have minded if they'd done "Generic Robot" Kreons instead of the "Random Bloke" one thoughtlessly bunged in with Jazz. But that's just a personal bug-bear I guess.

Overall I would highly recommend Jazz to any Transfan thinking of buying him. He's well constructed, well articulated (considering, again, the bricks!) and has that original G1 look and not the awful "updated" look. But beware! Once you've tried your hand at these basic ones there's a high probability you'll want to go the whole hog and get Megatron, "Big" Prime and all the other larger 'Bots and 'Cons! These things are seriously addictive!

Cheaper than Lego Star Wars, but just as much (if not more!) fun!

For the price, this looks like a nice extra gift for my son's 5th birthday. Its something we can do together,as it looks a little tricky for his age. My only disappointment so far is the state it was delivered in. It came in a padded envelope and when i took it out,the box was all crushed on the corners.