Transformers: Vault
Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 3:23 pm
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......
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......