Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac [Paperback]

Jim Sorenson (Author), Bill Forster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Transformers

TRANSFORMERS ANIMATED: THE ALLSPARK ALMANAC is a comprehensive, one-of-a-kind atlas to an amazing new universe. It allows you to: discover behind-the-scenes secrets directly from the show's creators; marvel at the gorgeous settings where Autobots and Decepticons do battle; and, admire the show's dynamic and unique aesthetic. This full-color volume is packed with 220 pages of bios, character models, episode summaries and more, all lovingly written from an in-universe perspective!

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Idea & Design Works Llc (August 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600104878
• ISBN-13: 978-1600104879
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim is a super-secret spy, has a motorcycle, marooned in space, meets Hercules ... or not ...

He's been a long-time fan of science-fiction literature in general and Transformers in particular. His guidebooks are well regarded by the fan communities for their exhaustive attention to detail. Reports of his incarceration in another dimension should be dismissed as the unfounded rumors they are.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you don't own this, you don't like Transformers., August 20, 2009

By 

David M. Willis "David "Walky" Willis" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac (Paperback)

The AllSpark Almanac is easily the greatest supplementary material for a Transformers series on God's green Earth. To say this 220-page, full-color book is a mere labor of love falls short of the reality. It goes far beyond the stages infatuation, love, engagement, and marriage, and straight to the raucous honeymoon. Every page is packed with information, whether it be its high-quality color character models, turnarounds, transformation sequences and promotional images; or the full-bodied mass of story information, presented mostly in an "in-universe" fashion, forged from the individual voices of the characters themselves. So not only is the AllSpark Almanac a wealth of Transformers knowledge, but it's a hoot to read. And for those of you who are geekier about your Transformers than most, you will delight at all the obscurest of references to Transformers-past squeezed into the margins. (And I do mean obscure.) Not only does the book chronicle the first two seasons of Transformers Animated, but it expands on the universe - not sloppily, but solely in the spirit of the series itself. To put it simply, the AllSpark Almanac is Transformers in purest book form.

You will want to lick it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best English-language Transformers reference book ever made, August 20, 2009

By 

Matthew Greenbaum (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac (Paperback)

Buy this book. It's what you're looking for.

Books like these are why hobbyists enjoy their hobbies. A lovingly comprehensive tome of all things Animated--detailing every character, every event, every scene, even every nameless background extra--and with great "Easter Egg" references to the last 25 years of Transformers mythology. Whether you're a new fan or old, or if you just really loved this cartoon and its highly enjoyable blend of science-fiction and humor, you will adore this book. There is no other fan resource in the English language like it--and frankly I suspect if some of the Japanese guides were to be translated, they'd turn out to be not as good as this either. For goodness' sake, it's only like $15, if you're interested enough to read up to this point in my review then, trust me, it's what you want and it's worth it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely compliment to a lovely series, August 21, 2009

By 

Matt Frank (Tejas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac (Paperback)

"TRANSFORMERS: ANIMATED" is a bit of an enigma for the Trans-fandom. The youth-oriented stories, the drastically unique character design and the fact that Optimus Prime, OPTIMUS PRIME, mind you, is a rookie are just a few of the divisive elements that put a lot of folks on the defensive, as is the way of the exotic animal known as "fan."
Still, Animated is perhaps the most fresh, innovative and loving take on the franchise since BEAST WARS, and the Allspark Almanac is all that wrapped up in a deliciously thick and lavishly adorned book.
It was very clever of the writers to make each character bio not some dry piece of textbook writing, but rather a stylized and often opinionated "interview piece" written by ANOTHER character of the show. Case-in-point, Bulkhead writes Bumblebee's bio, Blackarachnia writes the Dinobots' bios, and Starscream...writes his own bio, in a delightfully snide manner. The book is also chock-a-block with character illustrations, concept sketches and environment paintings, not to mention episode summaries via character perspectives and other fun little goodies that fans won't see coming. Most interesting are the original character designs for the show's first incarnation, TRANSFORMERS: HERO.
I highly, HIGHLY recommend this book, and I desperately, DESPERATELY want an addendum to cover the stuff from season 3 that didn't make it in. Oh, and I want a season 4.