Transformers: The Ultimate Guide [Paperback]

Simon Furman (Author)

Book Description

Grade Level: P and up

Taking a detailed look at the fantastic world of these mechanical marvels, Transformers: The Ultimate Guide follows each character's history and witness the amazing evolution of the Transformers, from physical structure and weaponry to personalities, alliances, and important battles.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Reviewed with Scott Beatty's Catwoman.

Gr. 6-12. What kind of equipment does Catwoman carry? Where did the Transformers come from? How did Catwoman become who she is? These two oversize, illustration-rich books, on slick paper typical of DK, have all the answers, allowing new readers to come into an established comic character's world without wondering what they have missed. They are also a great way for fans to revisit or understand more about a character's background. In Catwoman the art is lush and varied, covering nearly 65 years of history. transformers uses art to great effect to provide "technical" specs of the robots that readers know and love or want to learn about. Tina Coleman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Simon Furman cut his comic book teeth editorially on Scream! - a junior horror title published in 1985 by IPC Magazines - and Captain Britain Monthly (for Marvel UK). His first script work appeared in the UK Transformers comic, for which he wrote numerous stories before taking over the script duties on the US Transformers book with issue #56. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; Updated edition (May 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0756630126
• ISBN-13: 978-0756630126
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #896,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Meets The Eye, June 5, 2004

By 

Bruce Aguilar (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover)

Every Transformer fan, new and old, needs to have this book. People who are only familiar with the newest incarnations can learn how it all started and long time fans will appreciate having a complete chronological account of the phenomonon. The book starts right where it should - before the original toy line or TV show and eplains the history of the Transformers homeworld Cybertron and the beginning of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. What follows is a detailed examination/explanation of EVERY incarnation of the Transformers up to and including Energon. Character bios, selected show synopsis, toy descriiptions and inner workings of key players are all covered and supported by detailed artwork and photographs. Multiple pages are givin to the Japanese toy line and continunity as well as the US and UK comics, including the latest from Dreamweave. What more could you ask for?

Before reading this book I was skeptical about it's ablity to cover the entire Transformers universe with the detail it demands. Now that I've read all 141 pages, it has become a jewel in my Transformer collection. For once the title "Ultimate Guide" has been used appropriately!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robots in Disguise, March 27, 2006

By 

Gord Wilson "alivingdog.com" (Bellingham, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover)

I was skeptical that this book could deliver, but on opening the cover was immediately drawn in by its graphic spreads and the marriage of art and type. No one could hope to chronicle the multifarious incarnations of Takara's transforming toys; but someone has. No one could untangle all the plot threads weaving through the saga of Cybertron; but someone did. No one could possibly provide an engrossing account of Hasbro's marketing variations or its Sunbow division's many animated series; no one except Furman, himself an astute observer and able author of Transformer comics.

Amazon's low price shifts this book from its intended specialty audience to the wider fringe fandom with some tangential interest in its subject: Seen the transformers movie, or the Armada series or owned an original Optimus Prime. Transformers raised the bar for toys, transforming action figures into complex and intriguing robots, and for cartoons, giving all those blocks of steel individual personalities. Furman's guide will delight the cognoscenti among collectors while opening for the casual reader Takara's transforming world.

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You lost me at "Ultimate", February 2, 2005

By 

Bobble (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transformers: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover)

When looking at an item such as this you have to factor in three things:

1. Transformers (or any toy, TV show, movie, etc. with a fan base) is personal. Not everyone will like everything all the time and what one thinks is fantastic another will hate.

2. A writer makes promises to his/her reader that should be kept. Mr. Furman tried, but fell flat. Let me explain with some selling points from the back of the book: "Cross-section artworks of the inner mechanics of the TRANSFORMERS". Yes, both of them..there is only 2 such drawings in the entire book (Prime and Megatron) and there are fairly forced explainations of the inner workings. "Extensive reviews of the toy lines, TV series, and comic book chronologies". These are extremely brief..2 pages for the TV series season one (12 episode recap with scarcely more than a paragraph each), 2 pages for season 2 (12 episodes, again the same), 2 pages for the Marvel series (issues 1-37). 37 comic issues in 2 pages is an "extensive review"??? Add to this a quote from page 8: "The saga has spawned many inconsistencies and divergent storylines, but now, at last, the one true history can be revealed". Guess what Furman was referring to...yep, Furman's comic script. A tad biased and not really appropriate for a guide that covers all storylines. Another troubling section is the toy coverage seeing that all this *is* based on toys. Let's take Generation 1 for example, only 16 characters are shown in toy form (multiple Primes and Megatrons). Many of the toys actually show paint and sticker wear. This may be a bit unprofessional since it is the "ultimate" guide and they can't get a First Aid with a readable decal?

3. Finally the question: What generation are you? 77 pages are devoted to G1 - G2 and 64 pages are Beast Wars and beyond. People that don't like Beast Wars will be bored with almost half the book and the same for people uninterested in G1. If you are a fan of both then you probably already know 98% of the material presented.

Hope this helps and I apologize if I was harshly negative, but people do expect something top notch when the word "Ultimate" is tossed around.