Jazz/Cartoon continuity

Jazz does everything in style.

The Transformers cartoon
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 a task force to counter a Decepticon raid on an oil rig, calling the Autobots out and assembling them for battle. Jazz accompanied the first mission to the offshore oil rig, where his wrist-mounted grappling hook and winch came in handy saving Optimus Prime. 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.

Jazz was one of the first Autobots to discover that a Decepticon "attack" on a fake rocket base set up by the Autobots was, in fact, a decoy attack by animated dummies. With the Decepticons poised to return to Cybertron with a ship full of energon cubes, Jazz made the call for volunteers to go on the dangerous mission to stop them, and joined in the battle himself.

Taking Spike for a ride through the city and cranking up the tunes, Jazz was the first to notice a blackout originating at a solar power plant, caused by a Decepticon incursion. Jazz joined up with Optimus Prime's strike team as they searched for the Decepticons' new space bridge, battling them in a cave and somehow knocking aside a null ray blast with a stalactite. He's just that cool.

Jazz helped defend Autobot Headquarters against an antimatter-powered Decepticon attack, and again when Optimus Prime was knocked out of action. He journeyed with a strike team to the Arctic Circle, where the Decepticons were draining heat energy from the Earth's core, and helped in the battle to stop them.

The discovery of dinosaur bones prompted Jazz to opine they must have been mighty ugly. When the Dinobots were built and promptly ran amok, Jazz attempted to stop them and was later part of the "firing squad" who sealed them in a cave. During a battle at the Great Falls, Jazz and the majority of the Autobot forces were captured, and only an attack by the reactivated Dinobots saved them all from termination. Jazz also took part in a mission to Peru, which was successful in preventing Megatron from using the Crystal of Power for evil purposes.

Jazz got to try out some "crazy new waterskis" during an attempt to defend a solar plant on the coast of India, though it all turned out to be a diversion so the Decepticons could kidnap Sparkplug Witwicky. In turn, he and the other Autobots took part in a diversionary attack on Decepticon headquarters, so another team could sneak in and retrieve Sparkplug. Sparkplug was part of a Decepticon plan to enslave humans using hypno-chips, and when the Autobots attempted to stop the Decepticons' latest scheme, they found themselves being attacked by hypnotised humans. They were unable to prevent Cybertron from being dragged into Earth's orbit.

Jazz and Trailbreaker at least got to mock the Seekers when the environmental conditions caused their weapons to backfire on them. They retreated back to Autobot Headquarters, Jazz using his magnet beams to start locked on Ironhide's tail. During later efforts to stop the Decepticons taking advantage of the wild conditions, Jazz surfed in to attack Megatron's sea funnel. Unfortunately, the Autobots crashed along with the wave, and the Decepticons escaped with the energon they'd collected. Despite the failure, Jazz took part in another attack on Megatron's shuttle, and the Autobots were able to destroy it, knocking Cybertron out of orbit.

Though the Autobots were occupied for a time rebuilding Earth, they were soon able to pick up the Decepticons' trail. After being led into a quick sand trap, Jazz was able to play Laserbeak, revealing that the Decepticons were heading for Doctor Arkeville's laboratory. The Autobots reached the lab in time to prevent Arkeville's Exponential Generator from destroying the planet. Jazz was also among the Autobots who turned out to cheer on Optimus during a duel with Megatron, only to watch in horror as their leader was beaten. It later turned out that Megatron had cheated, freeing them to fight back and blast the Decepticons into a crevasse full of lava.

Jazz took part in the battle to rescue Spike from the Decepticons, after the boy's mind was transferred into a robot body and subsequently warped by Megatron. Following Spike's realisation that he was on the wrong side, Jazz was present when his mind was transferred back into his human body. Following another battle, during which the Autobots were struck down by "energised boulders" and Gears was captured by the Decepticons, the Autobots travelled to Africa to mount a rescue. Jazz and Sunstreaker cleared a path through the jungle by riding on the sides of Optimus Prime's cab and lasering the way ahead, all so they could reach Megatron's Solar Needle.

As one of the faster Autobots, Jazz excelled in the charity race the Autobots organised and even provided some driving music. He was one of the first Autobots across the finish line, though they soon discovered that they were unable to transform, due to the effects of Megatron's Transfixatron, which had been surreptitiously used on them during the race. Forced to a ghost town where Megatron had constructed a crushing machine, the Autobots attempted to protect Ironhide, but Jazz was simply tossed aside so that the Constructicons could get to their victim. Help soon arrived in the form of an anti-transfixation grenade, and the Autobots were finally able to fight back.

Jazz set out with Bumblebee one day to test out his sound system, newly souped up by Spike and Sparkplug. The deafening music was enough to disrupt a nearby cliff, prompting Jazz and his human pals to beat a hasty retreat. Returning to Autobot Headquarters, Jazz immediately came under attack by Bluestreak. Subduing his manic comrade, he and Bumblebee soon discovered that they were the only Autobots not transmutated to an evil state by a personality destabilizer planted in the Autobots' recharging chamber. Jazz helped test out an "attitude exchanger" built by Sparkplug to restore the Autobots to their normal state, first distracting Bluestreak, and later applying exchangers to Hound and Ratchet. With the other Autobots restored, Jazz used his sonic abilities to cripple a Decepticon rocket before it could escape Earth's atmosphere with a valuable solar satellite.

The theft of some experimental electro-cells resulted in Jazz being part of an unsuccessful mission to recover them from the Decepticons. When Wheeljack demonstrated his Immobilizer by freezing a river solid, Jazz wasn't quite convinced...until he tried leaping onto the solidified water and found it harder than rock. Later, with the device in Decepticon hands, Jazz provided a crucial distraction with his sound and light show while Carly and Brawn sabotaged the device.

Jazz was present when Optimus called for volunteers to investigate mysterious energy readings at the bottom of the Atlantic, but didn't volunteer. Maybe he preferred football with the Dinobots. He revealed that he'd been reading up on ninjas while the Autobots guarded Nightbird. After the robot was stolen by the Decepticons, he promised Doctor Fujiyama they'd get her back unharmed. Instead, the Autobots ended up pursuing Nightbird after she stole the World Energy Chip. Jazz's attempt to disable her with his sound and light show failed when she busted his speakers with throwing stars.

He was impressed by a huge deposit of korlonium crystals, thinking that they put his light and sound show to shame. After a battle with the Decepticons, the Autobots returned to base, only to discover that somehow they'd picked up an extra Optimus Prime. After a series of inconclusive tests to determine which Prime was the real deal, the Autobots returned to the crevasse, where one of the two Primes destroyed Starscream, finally convincing the Autobots he was the genuine article. It wasn't until he chose to pass up rescuing Spike that Jazz realised that he was the fake, and the Autobots blasted the faux Optimus into the crevasse.

Jazz was part of Sunstreaker's team when they stumbled on a Decepticon installation along a river and were attacked by Devastator. After some unsuccessful attempts to engage the combiner in combat, Jazz used his sound and light show to distract the giant long enough for Mirage and Sunstreaker to take him down Imperial walker style, and the Autobots escaped. They later mounted a commando operation, attaching dominator discs to the Constructicons to bring Devastator under their thrall. Back at base, Jazz was repaired by Hook, but during the later attack on the Decepticon position, Megatron was able to override the dominator discs. Ultimately, the Autobots succeeded in destroying Megatron's drill and saving the Earth, so it wasn't a total loss.

Jazz took part in attempting to defend the Nova Power Plant against the Insecticons, and he was impressed by Inferno's sharpshooting. He rescued some pilots who were trapped in a crashed helicopter and helped pull Wheeljack out from under a destroyed tower, helping Wheeljack to climb into Prime's trailer for the trip back to base. He later took part in the attempt to defend the Iron Mountain military base, and he was the only Autobot with the sense to take cover when Shrapnel exploded.



During another rampage on the part of the Dinobots at Autobot headquarters, Jazz had to get out of the way of Inferno and Red Alert as they rushed to extinguish a fire. After strange time warps began opening, he, Inferno, Red Alert and Prowl interceded in a conflict between some cowboys and bikers. Jazz used his sound and light show to scare the cowboys off.

Jazz took part in Autobot Day, a celebration which quickly turned sour when incriminating footage of the Autobots was broadcast. After a remarkably swift trial, the Autobots were all ordered to leave the planet, and they departed in a spaceship provided by Shawn Berger. While the footage was revealed on Earth as a frame-up job by the Decepticons, the Autobots found themselves on a collision course with the Sun. Fortunately, they were able to escape their fiery fate and return to Earth in time to free it from Decepticon tyranny.

While engaging the Decepticons in battle to prevent them from stealing the plans to the Ultra Plane, Jazz was able to use his sound and light show on the enemy, and he was impressed by Hound's use holographic trickery to persuade the Decepticons to retreat. A cybertonium deficiency later caused the Autobots to start malfunctioning—starting with Jazz having trouble transforming. Then his sound and light show went on the fritz, and he was blasted by Blitzwing. By the time they got back to Headquarters, Jazz was unable to transform fully. Luckily, Spike, Carly and the Dinobots brought some more Cybertonium back from Cybertron, and everyone was repaired.

When Blaster broadcast a heavy metal rock concert directly into Autobot Headquarters, Jazz found that it had a good beat and you could dance to it. The other Autobots weren't nearly as sanguine about the high-volume intrusion, and it stopped them from preventing the theft of the Voltronic Galaxer. Jazz was among the Autobots who coated themselves in electrum to strike back against the Decepticons. Unfortunately, the pool of electrum and surrounding area did not survive the battle.

Jazz tagged along with Perceptor and Omega Supreme on a mission to rescue Cosmos from where he had crashed on Saturn's moon of Titan. He helped free the locals from subjugation by Decepticons pretending to be gods and appeared particularly horrified at the Decepticons' use of religious enslavement. He did his best to explain to the natives that he and his fellow visitors weren't gods, "just fancy machines".

During an initiative by the Autobots to clean up New York City, Jazz was part of a team who came to Tracks's aid when he stumbled on a Decepticon plot, and he took part in a later assault on a Decepticon base in the Pine Barrens. Unfortunately for Jazz, he was Kremzeek's first victim, having his circuits thoroughly scrambled by the tiny energy critter. His bad luck would continue; During a search for Tracks and Bumblebee, Jazz was snared by Lord Chumley's diabolical car wash trap. At Chumley's castle, he was subjected to some unknown torture until Optimus Prime finally succeeded in freeing all of the captives.

Jazz rolled out to stop the Decepticons from turning Earth into metal using the Key to Vector Sigma, but didn't last long in the battle before he was knocked into a tree by Drag Strip. He later came to the aid of the Aerialbots when they were led into a trap by the Combaticons, and was infected by Cosmic Rust but was cured in time to help defend the Statue of Liberty against the Decepticons.



Jazz and Cliffjumper attended the dedication of an Optimus Prime memorial. No sooner had Jazz unveiled the statue than they were attacked by Starscream and the Combaticons, who took them prisoner and took their energy absorbers. The pair were left chained up at a power plant until the arrival of Megatron's forces provided a distraction so that the Autobots could rescue them.

After intercepting the Stunticons during another of Megatron's plans, a group of Autobots disguised themselves as the Decepticon team in order to find out what was going on. Jazz disguised himself as Dead End and seemed quite cool with the whole thing, unlike Windcharger and Sideswipe. They were even able to take the ruse as far as merging into Menasor, though when the deception was eventually uncovered, they found themselves battling the real thing. Luckily, the rest of the Autobots arrived to provide backup.