My guess is simply that "Meister" looked enough like "Martini" for the d00ds at Takara.

I always made this connection:

 

Meister and Meistro both meant Master, and in the case of Meistro, it was strongly connected to Music.

 

Jazz, Music, Meistro, misunderstood translation, Meister.

I always made this connection:

 

Meister and Meistro both meant Master, and in the case of Meistro, it was strongly connected to Music.

 

Jazz, Music, Meistro, misunderstood translation, Meister.

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The American names came later, though.

The Maestro?

 

:tflaugh

Meister was the original Japanese name for Jazz in the Gen 1 toon.

 

plus jagermeister is good stuff...

Meister was the original Japanese name for Jazz in the Gen 1 toon.

 

plus jagermeister is good stuff...

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Takara toys -> American toys -> American comic -> American cartoon -> Japanese cartoon

Meister was the original Japanese name for Jazz in the Gen 1 toon.

 

plus jagermeister is good stuff...

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Takara toys -> American toys -> American comic -> American cartoon -> Japanese cartoon

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Actually

 

Diaclone  -> American toys -> American comic -> Takara toys -> American cartoon -> Japanese cartoon

 

So the name Jazz came up before Meister.

Meister was the original Japanese name for Jazz in the Gen 1 toon.

 

plus jagermeister is good stuff...

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Takara toys -> American toys -> American comic -> American cartoon -> Japanese cartoon

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Actually

 

Diaclone  -> American toys -> American comic -> Takara toys -> American cartoon -> Japanese cartoon

 

So the name Jazz came up before Meister.

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D'oh'D!!

Could it be that the Martini Porsche 935 Turbo was also called "Jagermeister?"

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Tamiya-1-20-Martini-Po...1QQcmdZViewItem

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Uhhh, the Martini Porsche wasn't called Jagermeister.

 

The Porsche 935 was raced with several different sponsor liveries and the Jagermeister and Martini versions had completely different paint jobs.  The kit in the posted auction is simply capable of making either of the two versions.

 

The Jagermeister sponsored car is orange and looks nothing like Jazz.

 

PS:  the drink Jagermeister is considered an herbal liqueur and is usually served as a "digestiv" or "after-dinner" drink.  Me, I prefer a nice highland single-malt.

What if Takara had some older, slightly crazy, Japanese guy working in their mailroom, who was once a Japanese officer who worked with Nazis during WWII. He might have just been spouting gibberish and passed the Takara TF team and yelled out "meister!".  The team, hard up for name ideas, thought it sounded good and decided to use word for a character's name. :tfgrin