Post by padimus on Jun 20, 2011 19:51:42 GMT
Just got this the other day so i thought i'd stick up a few thoughts.
The book is a handsome looking hardback inside a slipcase. The slipcase has G1 Optimus and Megatron on the front and back covers respectively. The cover to the book has different versions of the two characters through the ages (G1 toy artwork, Beast Wars art and Movie renders).
The book covers a history of the brand from diaclone up to the present. There’s a few decent pictures of early prototypes and pre TF transformers like battle convoy and a black version of the G1 Ratchet & Ironhide mold that was released in the US prior to 1984.
The book has a brief (and I mean brief) history of G1 covering the toys, TV show and comics. There’s some nice photos included but to be honest bar a few exceptions, such as unused G2 colour guides for a desert camouflaged coloured seeker and neon versions of Motormaster, Hot Spot and Mirage there’s nothing a lot of fans haven’t already seen.
The Author seems to be mostly interested in G1 as other series and toylines such as RID, The Unicron Trilogy and Animated are glossed over besides one of two pictures from each series and maybe a paragraph or two of text.
Most of the pictures are either comic artwork or pictures of toys with (other than what I mentioned above) most of it having been seen before in previous Transformers guides like the Ultimate guide released a few years back.
One thing the book does right is the inclusion of reproductions of old catalogues a new sketch by Casey Coller, an alternate 1986 movie poster and a set of G1 tech specs which are removable. But you’re probably not going to want to remove them anyway as it would ruin the book
There’s not a whole lot of text in the book, I read the entire thing in much less than an hour and most of what’s covered in the book is done much better (and far more in depth) on the TFwiki.
Also, there is a giant, GIANT, spoiler for Dark of the Moon, which is pretty annoying to be honest, especially since the entire write up for that movie is about 3 sentences long and could have very easily been avoided.
Basically, it looks nice but ultimately doesn’t have a whole lot to offer long term fans, it’s mostly just a very basic primer for those whose first introduction to the franchise is via DOTM and even then the Ultimate Guide does that a whole lot better.
I’ll bring it along to the next meet-up if anyone wants a look.
The book is a handsome looking hardback inside a slipcase. The slipcase has G1 Optimus and Megatron on the front and back covers respectively. The cover to the book has different versions of the two characters through the ages (G1 toy artwork, Beast Wars art and Movie renders).
The book covers a history of the brand from diaclone up to the present. There’s a few decent pictures of early prototypes and pre TF transformers like battle convoy and a black version of the G1 Ratchet & Ironhide mold that was released in the US prior to 1984.
The book has a brief (and I mean brief) history of G1 covering the toys, TV show and comics. There’s some nice photos included but to be honest bar a few exceptions, such as unused G2 colour guides for a desert camouflaged coloured seeker and neon versions of Motormaster, Hot Spot and Mirage there’s nothing a lot of fans haven’t already seen.
The Author seems to be mostly interested in G1 as other series and toylines such as RID, The Unicron Trilogy and Animated are glossed over besides one of two pictures from each series and maybe a paragraph or two of text.
Most of the pictures are either comic artwork or pictures of toys with (other than what I mentioned above) most of it having been seen before in previous Transformers guides like the Ultimate guide released a few years back.
One thing the book does right is the inclusion of reproductions of old catalogues a new sketch by Casey Coller, an alternate 1986 movie poster and a set of G1 tech specs which are removable. But you’re probably not going to want to remove them anyway as it would ruin the book
There’s not a whole lot of text in the book, I read the entire thing in much less than an hour and most of what’s covered in the book is done much better (and far more in depth) on the TFwiki.
Also, there is a giant, GIANT, spoiler for Dark of the Moon, which is pretty annoying to be honest, especially since the entire write up for that movie is about 3 sentences long and could have very easily been avoided.
Basically, it looks nice but ultimately doesn’t have a whole lot to offer long term fans, it’s mostly just a very basic primer for those whose first introduction to the franchise is via DOTM and even then the Ultimate Guide does that a whole lot better.
I’ll bring it along to the next meet-up if anyone wants a look.