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Antarctic Press has been putting out the Cybertronian series, a very
comprehensive depiction of the toys, with techspecs and other details. Plus
other books that cover more toys in less depth.
Cybertronian Index: An adjunct
to the TRG below, this has simple pictures and basic information of EVERY
Transformer made available in the United States from G1 through Robots in
Disguise.
Cybertronian: the Unofficial Transformers Recognition
Guide: By Doug Dlin, Harold Tietjins and many others, published by
Antarctic Press.
Volume 1: Shipped May 31, 2001. Covers the toys from
1984 and 1985, plus the first 20 issues of the comic and first 29 episodes of
the cartoon.
No reviews of #2-3. Sorry.
Capsule of Vol4: More fine work from the usual gang of scraplets. I
found this especially useful because it covers a period when I really wasn't
paying attention to Transformers (I'd gone off to college with no car, and it
took a while to get back in the swing of finding my way around, plus the
cartoon was no longer covering new toys). I have a lot of toys from this
book, but very few complete and many unidentified or nearly so. }->
Recommended. $24.95/$39.95Cn
Capsule of Vol5: Well, it finally came out, Diamond sat on it long
enough. Unfortunately, there's several printing errors (black text on black
background for labels, missing information, etc). But this issue covers the
last two years of Generation 1 in the US, an area where I'm pretty weak, so I
really enjoyed the information. Recommended. $24.95/$39.95Cn [Later note: I
unpacked my other issues of Cybertronian today, and #5 is significantly
smaller in page size. About 2 cm shorter, 1 cm narrower. The new printer
Antarctic is going with was not able to do comic book size, oddly.] [Even
Later Note: Antarctic is reprinting previous volumes in this new size.]
Capsule of Vol6: This one covers all of the Generation 2 relaunch from
1993-5, plus the Generation 2 comic. The new smaller size is now the default
format (v1-2 have been reprinted at it), which I suppose at least helps it
stand out on a shelf. The format inside is tweaked in several places, most
notably to replace the names-only tables of contents with small pictures and
names, making it much easier to find stuff. There's one or two errors in the
headers (page 65 has the wrong header, and page 92 has "Adaptaions" in it),
but otherwise fine. A number of the recolors in G2 have additional
information that was not available at the time the original versions of the
toys were covered in previous volumes, which helps make this volume feel more
useful. Recommended. $24.95/$39.95Cn
Capsule of Beast Wars Vol1: They made the interesting choice
of retitling and starting over at #1 for the Beast Wars era (the series is on
hold for a bit, but I presume there will be a volume 2 and maybe 3 to cover
Transmetals and Beast Machines). #1 covers the four "waves" of Beast Wars in
the first two years, before the coming of the Transmetals and Fuzors (what I
label as "Phase I" on my review archives), plus the Machine Wars line and a
handful of Botcon exclusives that came out during those years. There's a
few errors (typos like the Basic tab on Arachnid, which should be Microverse,
or omissions like saying Magnaboss was the first combiner to have its weapon
formed from all the component weapons, when it was only the first
U.S. release Transformer to do that), but they're notable for their rarity.
There's plenty of background information, histories of remolds and
exclusives, etc. Then, after the toys, there's profiles of the voice actors
from the Beast Wars cartoon season 1, with pictures of the actors where
available, plus pictures of both the toy and cartoon versions of the
characters. This is followed by an episode guide of all of season 1 (oops,
episode 26 is mislabeled 24), and thanks to the better print quality than
earlier issues of Cybertronian the small type is easily readable. The front
cover art by Fred Perry doesn't quite work for me, it seems both too busy and
(with the blank background) too empty at the same time. The back cover art,
presumably also by Perry since there's no separate credit for it, is a bit
better, focusing on the Machine Wars Decepticons. Oh, and the book is the
now-standard smaller 6.25" by 9.5" (16 x 24 cm) size. Recommended.
$24.95/$39.95Cn
More Than Meets The Eye
Dreamwave's answer to Marvel's Transformers Universe books. This section
will also include any IDW guides.
Generation 1: The original set, 8 issues over Generation 1, a melange of
toy, cartoon, old and new comics.
Issue 1: Aerialbots - Combaticons: The redesigned and renamed profile
book, this is essentially a successor to the Transformers Universe series
from Marvel, but with better art and production values. It has a few odd
choices for design, such as its inclusion of "super robot" combiner teams as
clusters but spreading out the Micromaster combiners separately. By the way,
the super robot teams are alphabetized under group name (Aerialbots and
Combaticons this issue), but the Micromater Patrols are broken up into
individuals (which does give them each their own mottos, at least). The lack
of an index or table of contents combines with this odd organizational scheme
to promise difficulty in finding entries quickly once the full set is out
(unless the final issue includes an index along with all of the conceptual
entries that are alluded to on various pages, like "Combiner Technology").
There's also some strange omissions, like Bombshell or Barrage (unless the
Insecticons are bunched together like the combiner teams). However, despite
the flaws, it's a definite improvement over the old TFU books. The robot
mode pics are in dynamic poses, the inset altmodes are pretty well done
(although it would have been nice to be more specific than "Earth Jet" when
the type of jet was known), plus pics of Nebulan partners, Pretender shells,
Actionmaster partners, etc. Oops, just realized that an index is going to be
difficult without PAGE NUMBERS. Gah. Oh, and there's a one page framing
sequence at the beginning as someone who looks like Storm Shadow (of Cobra/GI
Joe) breaks into Vector Sigma to read all the datatrax. We would have been
better served by a table of contents. On the subject of storyline stuff,
there's some interesting bits here and there that clearly tie into the
current G1 series (such as the origins of the Triple-Changers) and a
non-subspace explanation for some of the massive size changes. Plus a reason
for the Duocons to exist other than "stupid gimmick". :) Overall,
Recommended, but I hope they fix some of the problems in future issues.
$5.25
Issue 2: Constructicons - Grand Slam: The Dinobots are covered together
like the merge teams, and unlike the Micromaster Patrols. There's still no
page numbers or table of contents, making it hard to find stuff given the
erratic ordering scheme. "No known weaknesses" isn't quite as common as in
#1, but it still shows up way too often, and on characters who have pretty
obvious weaknesses (you can't tell me Goldbug has no physical weaknesses!).
Still, it's a lot of nifty art, some good writeups (especially Grimlock's and
Dreadwing's entries about teammates), and it's fairly comprehensive for G1
stuff. Oh, and it's already reignited the FIRRIB/FIBRIR debate (if you don't
know what that is, you probably also don't care). Recommended. $5.25 [Late
Note: Forgot to mention, they mirror-flopped the pic of Frenzy's cassette
mode, heh.]
Issue 3: Grapple - Megatron (including Insecticons): Slowly improving.
There's more of the "in character" bios, which are a lot more interesting
than the simpel dry entries. There's only a few "no known weaknesses" this
time (and face it, Krok rules, so he shouldn't have weaknesses!), and they
give an extra page to Megatron for his Cybertronian mode. It still bugs me
that this is not as useful as a reference, thanks to the lack of page numbers
nad the oddball alphabetizing scheme (Insecticons are clustered under I, but
the Hot Rod Patrol is all spread out, etc.). There's a couple of mistakes
here and there (like calling Mainframe's partner Pushbutton a Targetmaster),
but no major issues. It'd be nice if the art credits specified who did what,
though. Recommended. $5.25
Issue 4: Meltdown - Pretender Monsters: Heh, a nice bit of irony this
issue...in G1 v2 #4, Ultra Magnus muses that everyone has at least one
weakness. And for the first time, everyone in an issue ot MTMTE has at
lerast one weakness. Patyk and Mick's writeups are a bit more engaging this
time out than before, although I think some of that is a result of getting
more "second halves" of Micromaster combiner characters, showing more clearly
the kinds of dichotomy they've been setting up in those teams. The
Mini-Spies and Powerdashers get group entries rather than individual ones.
Recommended. $5.25
Issue 5: Protectobots - Sidetrack: Only one "no known weaknesses" in the
bunch. :) Another pretty good issue, although I quibble with a few of the
altmode descriptions (Nautilator is a crawdad, not a lobster, and Tentakil is
a squid, not an octopus). Still no page numbers or table of contents,
glaring omissions that keep this from being as useful. Recommended. $5.25
Issue 6: Siren - Tailspin, plus the Stunticons: Mick may have trouble
plotting stuff, but he and Patyk are really good at character sketches (the
literary type, not the drawing type). They're definitely hitting their
stride now, and the entries for Soundwave and Starscream let them get into
the mind of Megatron to answer the eternal question, "Why isn't Starscream
currently being scraped off a bulkhead in Decepticon HQ right now?" A few
quibbles on the art, such as the absence of Skyhammer's outer vehicle shell
or Slide's excessively Romitized robot mode, but these are pretty minor. The
usual complaints (no page numbers, no detailed art credits) still apply.
Recommended. $5.25.
Issue 7 - This is one of those places where using the inside front cover
for more than creator credits would be really good, because it would be nice
to have an explanation for the tail-end charlies in this issue rather than
having to deduce the reasons they were left for last (Targetmaster reissues
of movie characters, Classic Pretenders, Powermaster Prime with Ginrai).
Otherwise, this series goes from Tailwind to Wreck-Gar with Technobots and
Terrorcons. We're back to several characters with no weaknesses, sigh.
Otherwise, another good issue, and I liked the bit about Jazz's Pretender
shell not looking like what was expected. Oh, and as others have pointed out
in email, there's no Unicron in this issue. He may be in #8 with the places,
concepts and so forth, along with Primus. Recommended. $5.25
Issue 8 - This final issue covers all the concepts, places and
ideologies. There are a few places where Mick and Patyk don't seem to be
communicating with each other on some entries, but for the most part it hangs
together. Oh, there's a few things we're just going to have to ignore (like
Cybertron being the size of Saturn), and they try a little too hard to make a
lot of unlinked storylines fit together, but it's generally an interesting
read. They kind of dance around entries relating to the current Dark Ages
miniseries, but do provide some spoilers here and there. Oh, and the framing
sequence started on page one of issue one is closed out, although the visual
storytelling is a little unclear due to trying to cram two pages of stuff
into one while also being cagey about identities. The glossary is worth
reading as well, since the definitions help tie together elements of
different storylines as well. Recommended. $5.25
Transformers Armada: A three-issue series covering the recent line.
Issue 1: Patyk and "Mick" (now suspected to be a pseudonym) definitely
work better in this format than they do in actual connected stories. The
lead-in comic is a three-pager with Alexis as the clear narrator, no
mysterious stranger like in the first MTMTE series. There's STILL no table
of contents, annoyingly enough, but at least the organization is easier to
work out this time. They're alphabetical by main character name (with their
Mini-Con, if any, immeditately following) or by Mini-Con team name
(alphabetical within the team). One nice touch is that recolors are featured
as well, with alternate mottos in some cases. As in the first series, the
entries are sprinkled with "in character" data in the voice of leaders,
teammates and so forth. It's nicely complete: if there was a toy, there's an
entry, even if the character just carried a spear in the comic. Major
characters (Galvatron and Hot Shot, this issue) get two pages of their own.
There's even some Energon foreshadowing, especially with the recolored
Transmetals who became Unicron's Heralds, and their Mini-Con partners (one of
which is the first "canonical" female Mini-Con). There's even page numbers.
The only things I could ask for to make this perfect would be a table of
contents and techspec numbers. Strongly recommended. $4.95 [Later note: Oh
yeah, some of the mottos are environmentally friendly...i.e., recycled.]
Issue 2: There's a certain amount of recycling this issue, both in the
art and in the mottos (cute choice for Leader-1), but that's forgivable. I
do like that the page numbers picked up from last issue, starting at 046.
Maybe the TPB compilation will have a table of contents? There's a few
glitches here and there, like the fact that Commettor's legs appear to both
be connected at his left hip. And while there's lots of new information
(like the origins of Overload), it'd have been nice to have things like a
name for the Crosswise/Rook combination or an in-story explanation for the
Sea Team's recolors. Oh, and it's cute how Predacon seems to get both
aspects of "things that are wrong with Beast Wars Megatron" and "anti-BMac
Megatron". Patyk and Mick continue to do a good job at character creation
and backstory development, it's clear that their only real weakness is in
putting stuff together into a going-forward story. Recommended. $4.95
Issue 3: AN INDEX! YAY! POR FIN! Ahem. Yes, the inside back cover has
an index of characters to go along with the "numbered for the TPB" page
numbers of this series. This issue covers Skywarp through Wheeljack, plus
art of the Powerlinx recolors and some general info entries like
"Powerlinking" and "Cybertron". A few more female Mini-Cons get worked in,
as well as some background stories that interweave nicely. They maybe winked
and nudged a *tad* too hard in making the Space Team into the male members of
the Fantastic Four, though. :) Nice Lovecraft homage in Dead End, though.
Recommended. $4.95
Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook: 4-issue series from IDW using a
similar style to MTMTE. I'm working on a more in-depth review of the whole
series, I'll link it in later.
Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #1: IDW - Ben Yee, who co-wrote this
with Simon Furman, has a fair amount to say in terms of background and
motivation at his website, http://www.bwtf.com. And since I read his
comments before actually seeing the comic, that does make me a bit biased.
:) I will, however, repeat what I said about Megatron Origin #1 and Eric
Harding...it kinda sucks to have your first big pro outing screwed up by the
people at the visual end of things. I mean, at least this time there isn't a
story to get ruined by muddled art, but there's plenty of ways for production
foulups to reflect badly on the writer. Stuff like utterly incorrect colors
on BB, or showing a character in Transmetal robot mode and non-Transmetal
beast mode. That aside, while the general look and feel of the Dreamwave
"More Than Meets The Eye" books is followed with tweaks, it all looks a
little open and empty, probably because the backgrounds are mostly white with
a little mottling. The inside front cover lists the characters in this issue
(Air Hammer to Drill Nuts) with artist credits. Yee and Furman do a decent
job splicing together continuities (and non-continuities, like the Happy Meal
toys) that were never really intended to mesh, and bringing some differences
to characters that share a mold but not a name (i.e. Apache and B'Boom).
Given that there's so much blank space in the entries, it would have been
nice to include a note about the origins of each character (like, whether
Beast Wars show, BW toys, BWII, BW Neo, convention exclusives, Happy Meal,
etc...for instance, it would have helped to say that Blackarachnia's
Transmetal form was a McToy). All told, it looks like a somewhat pale
imitation of Dreamwave's books, but most of the fault lies clearly with the
production people, not the writers or artists (well, except for Orange BB).
The raw materials are good, they're just assembled in a half-assed fashion.
Note, while the book mixes in a lot of Beast Wars lines, it does NOT include
Beast Machines. I shudder to think of how they'd have tried to cram
Blackarachnia into one page if they'd had to include her BMac version too.
:) Speaking of the page counts, some of the two-page spread choices are a bit
odd. Blackarachnia only gets one page for three distinct versions (so 6
pieces of commissioned art) of a well-known character, but obscure Cohrada
gets a two-page spread, as does Big Mos. And I'm not sure why Double Punch
is placed between Drill Bit and Drill Nuts. Recommended for the content, but
you might want to wait for the likely trade paperback collection to see if
they fix the production issues. $6.99.
Update: Finally got a hardcopy from someone whose store had extras.
Diamond is pretty bad about backorders. It's nice to see that the new
personality Bump was given here is consistent with his appearance in
Ascension #4, as a freelance consultant type. I also noticed now that
Double Punch is in the wrong place, he should be ahead of Drancron so that
Drill Bit and Drill Nuts can be back to back.
Scientist Count: 2 (Bump, Drill Nuts. The latter is more of a combat
engineer, but he has engineer in his function, and he invents stuff, so I'll
count it.)
Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #2 (of 3): IDW - Still no sign of #1
here, sigh. Elephorca (Blentron recolor of Torca) through Noctorro.
Amusingly, since both the U.S. and BWII versions of the lion/elephant/eagle
combiner were named Magnaboss, the BWII version gets to be called Magnaboss
II. Luck of the draw kept most of the "same name, many toys" characters out
of this set, and Megatron merited enough pages to at least get his original
two-pack and barneytron versions in art, although the Transmetal and
Transmetal II forms aren't shown. Showing the "croc" (actually a gavial)
mode is an odd choice, though, as the bio note doesn't mention it at all.
The backgrounds aren't quite as empty as they looked in the CBR of #1 (I
still don't have the hardcopy of that), but there's still an awful lot of
empty space. Even if they didn't want to go back and get the writers to
provide more text, they could have played with font size to fill the space a
little better. Still, recommended. $6.99 [Correction, gatorMegs gets one
line in the writeup. And for that nearly half the space given for the entire
character goes to art for it. Horribly bad editorial decision.]
Scientist Count: 1 (Fractyl)
Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #3 (of 4): IDW - Onyx Primal through
Silverbolt. At least, I think it's of 4 at this point, could even be 5 at
this point. Nice seksi (well, sorta) drawing of Scylla by Simon Williams,
whose style feels kinda late 70s/early 80s in general. A few of the other
artists in this volume contribute to a rather retro feel. I am amused at how
they obliquely explain away the two Prowls...Magnaboss Prowl is the G1
version, while Owl Prowl is the Alternator version, who is established as a
separate entity from G1 Prowl. And while the Transmetal Jaguar gets
redefined as Ravage, Shadow Panther is defined as a Ravage fanboy. ;)
Recommended. $6.99 [Later note: Ah, Simon Williams has done work for the
U.K. TF Armada comic...so it's not so much 70s Marvel as U.K. Marvel. Heh.
Personally, I like the weirder interpretations in this issue precisely
because they're NOT the same Guidi/Roche/Figueroa versions everyone else
seems to want.]
Scientist Count: 0 (several have science skills, like Rhinox, but none
with a Function of Scientist, Engineer, etc.)
Transformers Beast Wars Sourcebook #4 (of 4): IDW - Wrapping it up with
Scourge (Transmetal II) through Wolfang, no appendix or anything like it.
Musso, Milkovich, Williams and Frank dominate the artwork, with just a few by
Isenberg and Khanna, and one by Figueroa (who has apparently departed IDW for
reasons unknown to me at this time, but I've heard loads of speculation
(Update: He just wanted to try other things, and parted ways amicably with
IDW. Not that fandom's gonna believe that.)). An oddity of ordering puts
Silverbolt (Fuzor) in #3 and Silverbolt II (Magnaboss component) here. In
fact, Scourge should have been several pages from the end of #3, suggesting
someone dropped the ball (either Williams was late on the Scourge art, or the
editors misplaced it). Milkovich's Skywarp, by the way, is even weirder than
his Silverbolt I. I continue to like the variety of art styles (although I
would have picked a different artist than the blocky Milkovich to do
Transmutate), but I have serious issues with the editing. Why does Sling get
a two page spread? Bad toy, not very good art, very minor character. Same
with Mutant Soundwave...it's like the editors realized the weren't going to
make it to a full fourth issue, and rather than adding more content (like an
appendix, a timeline, am illustrated glossary, any stuff that fell through
the cracks when the book changed editors, etc.) or putting out a cheaper and
smaller #4, they just padded out some arbitrary entries. And characters who
might deserve two pages, like Tarantulas or Terrorsaur, get three. Where
were these extra pages back in #1 and #2 where characters who could have
easily filled three pages productively got crammed into one? Overall, this
issue gives the impression of the editors just throwing their hands up in
disgust, saying, "Just stretch the stuff we have left to fit and get this
turkey out the door, maybe we'll just fix the whole thing when we do the TPB.
Or maybe I'm just going to go have a very large, very strong drink. Hold my
calls." Feh. $6.99 they utterly failed to earn.
Scientist Count: 1 (Tarantulas)
Scientist Count overall: 4
Other Guidebooks
Warman's Transformers Field
Guide: By Mark Bellomo. Kinda disappointing, but relatively
cheap. (Gets a full review because I need more space to kvetch.)
Transformers Identification and Price Guide: This is
the full book that was hacked down to make the Warman's Field Guide, and it's
a LOT better. Loads of pictures of all modes and combination, plus separate
pictures of all the loose/easily lost bits. There's also commentary from
Mark Bellomo that's half-review and half-reminiscence on the 1984-1989 toys,
but for space reasons the 1990 line got short shrift. Definitely worth the
$25 cover price. Nifty lenticular motion cover of G1 Prime in both modes.
Transformers Energon: The Ultimate Guide: Put out by
Hasbro, this 6" by 9" paperback is 48 pages and contains art, toy pictures,
techspecs, bio notes and trivia bits for the characters that have shown up in
the cartoon through about episode 26. The techspecs and bio notes are not
the same as those on the Hasbro webpage (where there ARE entries on the
webpage), and the techspecs are presented in slightly different order (Rank
leads off). Not too bad for $6, though.
TransManual: by Mark A. Kimmel, self-published. I
only have volume 2 (1987-1990) right now, and there are apparently only two
volumes. Part 3 is downloadable for free from galvatron.com, though. TransManual does
have a lot more pictures than either Cybertronian or Alvarez's guides, and
very visually complete. However, it's maddeningly lacking in information of
the word variety. Micromasters that are part of squads are not individually
named, nor are some Actionmaster partners. Nebulans are sometimes named,
sometimes not. There's no bio notes, just the name, function, motto and
techspec numbers. A good art reference, I suppose, but Cybertronian is much
more informative.
Unofficial Guides: By J.E. Alvarez, published by
Schiffer.
The Unofficial Guide to Transformers: 1980s through
1990s: Put out by Schiffer Publishing in October 1999, this is a big
book of Transformers photos. Covers U.S. Transformers pretty well through
Pretenders, a bit spottily through Action Masters and Micromasters.
Beast Wars Transformers Unofficial Guide: Not going to do a separate file
for this. Alvarez covers Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Beast Wars II, Beast
Wars Neo and (because it doesn't really go anywhere else) Machine Wars, plus
various "artifacts" from all the lines as well as the BotCon exclusives of
the era. Published in 2002, I got it because I had a 40% off coupon. :)
Anyway, about the same level of quality and style of layout as the previous
two books. Pretty good about showing variations and applicable action
gimmicks, although some of the in-package photos have brightness issues
(i.e. too dark to see inside the box). Definitely toy-driven, as the Beast
Wars Metals stuff is presented before BWII. As a price guide, it's obviously
pretty useless by now, but it has pictures of stuff I didn't even know
existed (mainly European stuff, but a few Japanese things that slipped past
me).
