Big Bot Books: The Total Package in Transformers Legacy!

WHEN the Transformers Generation 1 toys first came out from Hasbro in 1984, I fell in love with the idea of toys that turned into another toy. There was just something about the ingenuity of action figures that turned into vehicles or other machines that sparked interest with the coherent themes of subterfuge and duality. But as the years went on, I came to a stunning conclusion: As much as I loved the toys, what I really loved was the packaging! The packaging for the G1 TF line was just perfect. The boxes or cardback were coded red for heroic Autobots and purple for evil Decepticons, with that splashy and iconic Transformers logo. On the front was this amazing depiction of the robot poised to attack, on the back was a sweeping battle scene with so many TFs transforming to face their counterparts, the tech specs (which could “only” be decoded by the provided red plastic strip, and, of course, the bio complete with motto, function and personality (provided by, among others, Marvel comics writer Bud Budiansky).

Big Bot Books: Transformers The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe!

Pop-up books represent an altogether different dimension as far as being books are concerned. They’re more like feats of engineering rather than reading material. The recent years have delivered more elaborate pop-up books and more talented pop-up book designers. Matthew Reinhart is certainly one of the two best pop-up book artists in the world (the other one is Robert Sabuda). Together, the two worked on the impressive Encyclopedia Prehistorica trilogy. But on his own, Reinhart has already visited the science fiction dimension with the popular 2007 “Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy” and 2010’s “DC Super-Heroes: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book,” making him the perfect person to devise a pop-up visit to Cybertronian space. Licensed by Hasbro and published by Little, Brown and Company, “Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe” came out in 2013 and easily represents Reinhart’s best work yet. While it usually helps to have some familiarity with pop-up books to fully appreciate volumes such as this one, such a lack of familiarity will actually help you be amazed by what “Transformers: The Ultimate Pop-Up Universe” can offer.

Book Sighting: Transformers Vault and RoTF Photo Book!

07.04.2011 - For those who not only into collecting toys, and would expand their knowledge of the Transformers mythos should check out the books that are being sold at the special book shops. If your a Transfan expand your horizon. You should not be limited to the cartoons and movies that inspired the franchise. There are several books and collected graphic novels that would benefit you some knowledge of the characters you hardly not seen or heard in the movies or previous iteration of the cartoon series.

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