Customer Reviews

Transformers Animated: The Allspark Almanac

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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.

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.

"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.

If you were one of the dismissive fans of "Transformers Animated" when it was first announced back in 2007 and still are, even though it ended, then picking this book up might actually change your mind. If you were those fans that came to enjoy - in others' case, LOVE - "Animated" when it finally aired on Cartoon Network (and other stations depending on location), then this is one of those MUST-BUYs Transformers materials. Transformers in-jokes and references to some of the obscurest parts of the franchise's history, anecdotes and bios from the characters' perspective (and one or two from those outside that particular -verse), references to not just Transformers but almost every other geek/nerd-related aspects (such as anime and video games)... Jim Sorenson and Bill Forster pretty much put petal to the metal on putting this thing together. Done? In the words that Animated Swindle and Stan of the "Monkey Island" series would definitely say: "but wait, there's MORE!" Not just episode summaries or bios written from the characters' perspective, there's also sections that are set as if not within the -verse that covers character and background designs, early concepts, and other how-things-work (you'll understand once you read it).

Parts of your body/self will either thank you (your inner child/geek/nerd/TF fan gleeing giddily) or want to kill you (your brain for the overload-to-explosion and your stomach for laughing like a loon in some parts) for purchasing this.

There was a little Transformers Animated mini-calendar for sale around the 2008 Christmas season that had a different piece of background art from the cartoon for every month. The images were really beautiful, and since then I was hoping for a book of some kind for TFA. This book is -awesome-. There's art everywhere, and the whole thing is written from the viewpoint of various characters. There's pages and pages of character models, some early concept art, and blurbs from the guys who worked on the cartoon itself. It covers seasons 1 and 2, and I can only hope that there'll be one more book to cover 3.

Having already been impressed at vol. 1 of "The Ark" (which has recently been reissued as part of the Complete Transformers Ark), picking this up was a no-brainer (especially given the opportunity to have it signed at a recent event in Burbank, CA!). But when I realized that it was all full color (the original "Ark" was just black-and-white line art), I was even more impressed. Between the HUGE amounts of Animated art for pretty much every conceivable Season 1-or-2 character and the text pieces (all written "in universe" from the perspective of other Animated characters), this really is a "must have" for any TF: Animated fan.

I had been waiting on this book's release for months and when I finally got my hands on it, it completely blew me away. By far, it's the greatest Transformers series guidebook I own. It has so much great art and attention to detail that I read it cover to cover in one sitting.

Concept art, character models, background images, character profiles and episode/comic summaries written as though by the characters themselves...this book has it all. Half the pages were designed with such care that they have personalities all their own, such as those made to look like stationery pages from the desk of Sari Sumdac or police report files organized by Captain Fanzone. The book begins with a lovely Forward by Animated Lead Character Designer, Derrick Wyatt, and rounds out nicely with an Afterword written by series Story Editor/Head Writer, Marty Isenberg. Even just in paging through this book, one can tell that the staff who put it together loved their work. And while the book only covers seasons one through two, I do hope that a second Almanac will follow to cover season three.

If you enjoyed Transformers Animated, this book is an absolute MUST HAVE.

I have been waiting for this book since I saw the cover way back in February and pre-ordered it! Oh I wasn't disappointed that's for sure! This book has everything a fan of Transfomers Animated would adore! There is gorgeous concept art, backgrounds, character models and so much more! It is a truly unique book! The book it self is narrated from the characters point of view which definitely makes it more enjoyable to read. Not only that but the page setup is fun, creative and a feast for the eyes-I mean optics! If your a Transfan you have to get a copy of this! I wouldn't have wanted to spend my 13 bucks any other way! It's more then worth it!

when i got my hands on this book and started to flick through it looking at the lovely character models... I then sat down to read this book and realised that the text was written "In Universe' this added a whole other dimension to the joy i got while reading this book. I can not recommend this book highly enough there is something for everyone, on the one hand it's a collection of pictures from the show, on the other it respectfully expands the TF:A universe and finally for those with a keen eye and a love for pop culture the hidden easter eggs in this book would just make them swoon in pure joy. there is absolutely no reason not to buy this book and here's hoping to a volume 2 in the very near future!!!

So, I finally got the Allspark Almanac in my hot little hands (thank Primus for Amazon), and totally devoured it (thank Primus also for sick days) and it is AMAZING!

As promised it is written almost entirely "in universe", the premise being that the authors complied the information at the bequest of Porter C. Powell and compiled artifacts and interviews to tell the "story" of TF:A. It has thousands of beautiful, crisp pictures, including model shots with details and back views for all of the main characters and detailed background paintings.

The attention to detail on the show just shines through in all of these, almost everything you see adds something to your knowledge of the show and the characters.

And the writing, oh the writing, is truly glorious. The authors do best (unsurprisingly) with the characters who have the most distinctive "voices" (each of Blitzwing's sections, for example, have contributions from all of his personalities, and Sentinel Prime's sections are just studies in arrogant, frustrated ambition). The Easter Eggs are so abundant and delicious that I could feel my cholesterol levels rising while I devoured them. And they're not ALL Transformers related, either. My favorite is a cringeworthy Clerks reference that has NO place in a book that is obstensibly for children (which I think was the point).

This book needs a sequel. As it ends with the end of season 2, we don't learn very much about Cybertron at all. The creators have indicated that if this volume is well received, then they will most likely create the sequel. I heartily urge those of you who can to buy this book, make your friends buy it and shout from the rooftops how awesome it is.