Transformers Legacy: A Celebration of Transformers Package Art

[Paulbot]

wanna know if this is comprehensive as I make it to be, is there character art for Bumblejumper in this book?

No because that toy was never released as a Transformer of its own that would have had box art done for it. This does feature repaint concepts that were never released but not box art for Japanese toys that never became Transformers.

And if there's some foreign language release where he does have box art, no the book doesn't cover those lines. It's really just US and Japanese market. Euro toys are excluded mostly too.

[autobreadticon]

ah thanks for clearing that up with the foreign releases
, ahh the Euro G1 boxart were nice, sad to find out there were mostly excluded

[griffin]

No because that toy was never released as a Transformer of its own that would have had box art done for it. This does feature repaint concepts that were never released but not box art for Japanese toys that never became Transformers.

And if there's some foreign language release where he does have box art, no the book doesn't cover those lines. It's really just US and Japanese market. Euro toys are excluded mostly too.

I think the Bumblejumper/Bumper character art only ended up on Brazilian packaging. So even if the book covered the more obscure items, this is a rare bit of artwork to find, as this cut up card back was the best I could find online.
Unless the pre-Transformers toy had character art on its packaging as well, the Brazillian toy (called Sedan) is probably the only one out there.

[5FDP]

I'm curious what else you were expecting that might make it more appealing?

More text / background information. I've seen most of the pictures already, I'd like to know the stories behind them.

[Sky Shadow]

No real surprises

Mine arrived today, and there are definitely some nice surprises from page 71 on - Pretender faces logo, Decepticon Quickswitch, US Multiforce, G2 Jazz 2.0, etc. Some things are lovely to see full sized - particularly the Action Masters artwork and any packaging art that was cut off or obscured by things like blisters. Also, I had no idea that some Turbomasters and Predators had different heads in Japan. The chosen order of images is odd, but begins to make more sense once you're used to it. This would have been a beloved book twenty years ago - now that the internet has spoiled us, it's a lot less exciting. Ironically, if I were a more casual fan the book would be more amazing, because I wouldn't have spent the past thirty years seeking out 99% of these images myself.

A very pretty book - I now feel inspired to make some G1 box-style art myself.

[lancalot]

My book finally arrived..... and it a massive book , thick with high glossy pages of beautifully art work .... some of the characters i totally forgot about that i own or remembering bugging my parent to get but they didn't , so having it all in one book reminded me how important the art was to fuel my imagination....

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Mine arrived today, and there are definitely some nice surprises from page 71 on - Pretender faces logo, Decepticon Quickswitch, US Multiforce, G2 Jazz 2.0, etc. Some things are lovely to see full sized - particularly the Action Masters artwork and any packaging art that was cut off or obscured by things like blisters. Also, I had no idea that some Turbomasters and Predators had different heads in Japan. The chosen order of images is odd, but begins to make more sense once you're used to it. This would have been a beloved book twenty years ago - now that the internet has spoiled us, it's a lot less exciting. Ironically, if I were a more casual fan the book would be more amazing, because I wouldn't have spent the past thirty years seeking out 99% of these images myself.

A very pretty book - I now feel inspired to make some G1 box-style art myself.

I suspect that without the internet this book wouldn't have been possible.

[griffin]

No matter what the price of it was, this book was more than worth it for this long-time collector.

Every page or two, I was mouthing, "wow"... it was like seeing the boxed toys at the store, as the character art used to be a significant feature of Gen1 toys, so it really took me back to the 80s, 90s, and the early 2000s when I chased up the last of the Gen1 toys.
And a lot of it, like Micromasters and other small packaging images, were blown up to show details I never realised before. The Pretenders pages were also some of the best.
Then there was all the battle art, from the back of boxes and jigsaw puzzles.
And if that wasn't enough, there was a heap of unused artwork that even I didn't know existed. Things like Gen2 Sludge and Swoop, Gen2 Monstructor, and Gen2 Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet. Generation 2 was certainly meant to have a lot of toys in it before it was axed.
Plus the unused artwork that we did know about (like the Gen2 Protectobots and Stunticons), which very few people have seen decent sized copies of their artwork before.

Wow... is the best word I can use to sum up this book for me, because it is so reminiscent of my early years as a collector.
I expected this book to be a necessary addition to my reference book collection, and I was NOT disappointed in the slightest. For me it was value from cover to cover. One of the few books I've bought, that I looked at EVERY single page, at the moment I got it (today), and couldn't put it down until I had reached the back cover.


I hope this book does really well, but unfortunately, I don't expect fans and collectors who got into Transformers after 1995, to have as much interest or see the value in buying it, over what you can see online for free.

[Sky Shadow]

Things like Gen2 Sludge and Swoop, Gen2 Monstructor, and Gen2 Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet. Generation 2 was certainly meant to have a lot of toys in it before it was axed.

That's actually pre-Japanese-Transformers Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet. (Basically Skywarp, Thundercracker and Starscream 'upgraded' with new wings, tailfins and/or weapons, exactly the same as they were in that prototype image from which they created e-Hobby Bad Boy and Pathfinder.) The SpaceBridge.net used to have those illustrations years ago when it was online, but most of it can now be seen here. That 'Thrust' is retconned to become TFCC's Nacelle character.

I suspect that without the internet this book wouldn't have been possible.

Yes and no - yes, of course there's no way all the people and materials involved here would have ever been found without the internet, but pretty much nothing in the book has been 'taken from the internet' in the traditional sense. They've gone back to the original art wherever possible - even box scans generally weren't high enough resolution for the book. It really is a beautiful achievement.

[5FDP]

I've bitten the bullet and ordered via Book Depository It will be a nice little Xmas pressie to myself and the next best thing to actually opening a vintage G1 toy on Xmas morning