SilverDragon
6th September 2009, 09:06 PM
I only got this today, but I think it's a really great book.
Basically, it's like if the DK Ultimate Guide had a one-night-stand with the More Than Meets The Eye series. It's half characters, half actual series.
All the characters from the first two seasons are profiled, Autobot and Decepticon (each have their own section). In addition to having images of their robot and alternate modes, there are others, such as facial expressions and tools. In contrast to previous character bios in such books, they are all written from the perspective of one of the other characters. E.g. Blitzwing (all three of him) gets to talk about Lugnut, and vice versa. This is rather fun.
There's also a heap of other art from the series, such as background humans, concept art, and background art. There's even unused concepts, such as a Decepticon spark. Most interestingly, there's sketches from when the series was called Transformers: Hero. It looks vastly different from what it eventually became-more like a cross between the Unicron Trilogy and the movie-verse.
It also has a guide to the first two seasons, which are also told by the characters. One may think this in-universe approach would make it more shallow-after all, Megatron couldn't see most of Megatron Rising Pt 1. It isn't like that at all, really. There are also guides to the IDW comic issues interspersed where they fit into the overall timeline. The comic and episode guides generally take the form of data logs made by the characters, although there are some exceptions-one comic issue is made up like a Transformer gossip magazine, and the one for Garbage In, Garbage Out is the back of a pack of 'Garbage O's'. Interestingly, the section on the first issue is narrated by, of all robots, Vector Prime, watching from another time stream.
Also, the Almanac has utterly epic levels of fanwank, both for Transformers and for other series. The epitome of this is the ingredients list for 'Garbage O's', which mentions, amongst other things, jaAm, kryptonite, and dalekanium. This is awesome.
The only thing I dislike about it is that there's a lot of blank white space-not even a border around the edges of many pages. I think, though, that this may be done in order to highlight the art.
In the end, it's a pretty good book. It's pretty much recommended for fans of Animated.
Basically, it's like if the DK Ultimate Guide had a one-night-stand with the More Than Meets The Eye series. It's half characters, half actual series.
All the characters from the first two seasons are profiled, Autobot and Decepticon (each have their own section). In addition to having images of their robot and alternate modes, there are others, such as facial expressions and tools. In contrast to previous character bios in such books, they are all written from the perspective of one of the other characters. E.g. Blitzwing (all three of him) gets to talk about Lugnut, and vice versa. This is rather fun.
There's also a heap of other art from the series, such as background humans, concept art, and background art. There's even unused concepts, such as a Decepticon spark. Most interestingly, there's sketches from when the series was called Transformers: Hero. It looks vastly different from what it eventually became-more like a cross between the Unicron Trilogy and the movie-verse.
It also has a guide to the first two seasons, which are also told by the characters. One may think this in-universe approach would make it more shallow-after all, Megatron couldn't see most of Megatron Rising Pt 1. It isn't like that at all, really. There are also guides to the IDW comic issues interspersed where they fit into the overall timeline. The comic and episode guides generally take the form of data logs made by the characters, although there are some exceptions-one comic issue is made up like a Transformer gossip magazine, and the one for Garbage In, Garbage Out is the back of a pack of 'Garbage O's'. Interestingly, the section on the first issue is narrated by, of all robots, Vector Prime, watching from another time stream.
Also, the Almanac has utterly epic levels of fanwank, both for Transformers and for other series. The epitome of this is the ingredients list for 'Garbage O's', which mentions, amongst other things, jaAm, kryptonite, and dalekanium. This is awesome.
The only thing I dislike about it is that there's a lot of blank white space-not even a border around the edges of many pages. I think, though, that this may be done in order to highlight the art.
In the end, it's a pretty good book. It's pretty much recommended for fans of Animated.