Transformers: Vault
by Pablo Hidalgo
This is the latest reference book to cover the franchise. This sort of reference book can be hit of miss. The DK book from '04 was, to put it bluntly, a trainwreck. It was incoherent in places and had obvious biases towards recent material. The two "The Ark" volumes are good compilations of reference art, but not much else. Ultimately, I was sold on this by the fact that Hidalgo made such a strong showing on a "GI Joe" sourcebook from a few years back.
Over all, "Vault" is more ambitious and competent than the above, (beating the DK book on both counts, and "The Ark" on ambition). But, it is not flawless. The wiki has a partial list of errors. Rather than doing an exhaustive review of the book, I will post brief thoughts on each chapter, and answer any specific questions that people may have.
There are a number of extra items included with this book. Those will be discussed with the relevant chapters.
Chapter 1: toys and merchandise
This chapter covers the history of the franchise from the pre-TF Takara days up through the modern era. Given the space limitations of the book, it is about as comprehensive as one could hope with a good mix of text and pictures. I would not recommend using it as a reference for every bit of merchandise ever made, but there are some very nice pictures of rare items in this chapter. (My personal favourites are the Jazz pedal care, the Decepticon disguise backpack, and character art for the unproducted G2 Mirage and Sandstorm figures.)
This chapter includes a reproduction of an early product catalogue and a sheet of character profiles along with a decoder. The character profiles are for Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, Inferno, Wheeljack and Smokescreen. Aside form them all being 84/85 characters, I can see no rhyme or reason for how and why these characters were selected. Presumably, it had more to do with the preference of the writer than anything else.
G1/G2 gets the bulk of the attention of this chapter. And, aside from "Robots in Disguise", (which Hidalgo counts as being distinctive from both the Beast and UT eras), there are few examples of blatantly ignoring one part of the franchise in favour of another.
Chapter 2: Comics
To be perfectly honest, I was happily suprised just to see this chapter included. Comics tend to be the most ignored and under-appreciated part of "Transformers". The extra piece, a piece of black and white art, feels almost perfunctory. (Yes, it is a reproduction of an actual draft for art that was ultimately used. But, it does not measure up well against the extras from chapter 1.)
Marvel US/UK G1 gets no small amount of page space. The coverage is broad, if shallow, and hits points that will be familiar to most fans in terms of important stories and creators. Dreamwave gets what is probably the most positive coverage they have every gotten outside of their own editorial pages. (No mention is made of Pat Lee's criminality and various ethical lapses.) IDW gets more than a few pages. However, none of the controversies surrounding various IDW books are mentioned. Even considering that this book is a step away from being a house organ, the omissions regarding IDW and Dreamwave are glaring.
Another glaring omission is in the very minimal page space devoted to various manga series. While many western fans may not be able to get ahold of it consistently, manga is a huge part of the TF franchise in Japan and was as vital to the franchise there as the comics were in the US/UK for a time. And, I do not recall there being any mention of the Blackthorn 3D comics.
Dom
-more to come......
Transformers: Vault
Re: Transformers: Vault
-chapter 3:
The third chapter covers the various cartoons. As one would expect, the main focus in on G1. However, the Beast era and "Unicron Trilogy" get respectable amounts of coverage. RiD gets shafted again. TFA gets proportionate coverage. The "Prime" coverage suffers for being too current. As with the second chapter, variuos controversies are glossed over, but not as egregiously. (Fan reaction to "Beast Machines" is mentioned, but the full degree of the tantrums are not.)
The extras:
-reproduced animations cell: Not bad. But, it would be an obvious reproduction even if the word "reproduction" was not printed on it.
-a small pull out poster of the the original 1986 movie poster. I have seen the image before, but only online. If I had a spare copy, I would consider hanging this one up.
-a reproduced page of script and control art or HotRod. The script is for a scene that was not in the movie, but it does explain one of the children's books that accompanied the movie.
-chapter 4:
The fourth chapter focuses on the Bayformer movies. Each movie is given as much space as other franchises were given in their entirety. Despite the page count and space devoted to the movie, more than a few plot points are condensed, at times to the point of the plot summaries being inaccurate. There are good descriptions of the process of developing them movies and toys, but fans are likely already familiar with the information.
The only extra is a reproduction of a ticket to the movie's premier in '07. This is one of the more anemic extras.
-chapter 5:
The fifth chapter is titled "the Future", and focuses mostly on Hasbro's unified context for the series, including the "War For Cybertron" video game and the "Exodus" novel. The plot summary bounces between the two and glosses over a few points, but is generally more faithful than the summaries of the movie in the previous chapter. While there are no extras, this chapter has enough information from Hasbro's brand bible (including one fo the few pictures of the original 13 to be legitimately released by Hasbro) to make it worth reading. There is a full map of Cybertron, lising cities and major characters hailing from some of those cities. (And, no, the map does not look like the Primus toy from '06.)
Over all:
"The Vault" is much better than the DK book from '04. And, there is enough new (or at least rarely published) information in this book to justify it for long time fans. This book would also be good for new fans looking to acclimate themselves to a hobby with more than 25 years. But, "The Vault" is hurt by focusing a bit too much on G1 and some lackluster extras.
Grade: B/C
The third chapter covers the various cartoons. As one would expect, the main focus in on G1. However, the Beast era and "Unicron Trilogy" get respectable amounts of coverage. RiD gets shafted again. TFA gets proportionate coverage. The "Prime" coverage suffers for being too current. As with the second chapter, variuos controversies are glossed over, but not as egregiously. (Fan reaction to "Beast Machines" is mentioned, but the full degree of the tantrums are not.)
The extras:
-reproduced animations cell: Not bad. But, it would be an obvious reproduction even if the word "reproduction" was not printed on it.
-a small pull out poster of the the original 1986 movie poster. I have seen the image before, but only online. If I had a spare copy, I would consider hanging this one up.
-a reproduced page of script and control art or HotRod. The script is for a scene that was not in the movie, but it does explain one of the children's books that accompanied the movie.
-chapter 4:
The fourth chapter focuses on the Bayformer movies. Each movie is given as much space as other franchises were given in their entirety. Despite the page count and space devoted to the movie, more than a few plot points are condensed, at times to the point of the plot summaries being inaccurate. There are good descriptions of the process of developing them movies and toys, but fans are likely already familiar with the information.
The only extra is a reproduction of a ticket to the movie's premier in '07. This is one of the more anemic extras.
-chapter 5:
The fifth chapter is titled "the Future", and focuses mostly on Hasbro's unified context for the series, including the "War For Cybertron" video game and the "Exodus" novel. The plot summary bounces between the two and glosses over a few points, but is generally more faithful than the summaries of the movie in the previous chapter. While there are no extras, this chapter has enough information from Hasbro's brand bible (including one fo the few pictures of the original 13 to be legitimately released by Hasbro) to make it worth reading. There is a full map of Cybertron, lising cities and major characters hailing from some of those cities. (And, no, the map does not look like the Primus toy from '06.)
Over all:
"The Vault" is much better than the DK book from '04. And, there is enough new (or at least rarely published) information in this book to justify it for long time fans. This book would also be good for new fans looking to acclimate themselves to a hobby with more than 25 years. But, "The Vault" is hurt by focusing a bit too much on G1 and some lackluster extras.
Grade: B/C