IDW’s much-delayed book of Transformers package art is finally showing up, and it’s well worth the wait. A quick read of the intro shows just how much research, love, and legwork went into trying to compile all the various airbrushed images that, for many of us, served as our first intro into this world of transforming robots. Hasbro was not as meticulous in saving all of the painted images that went onto their package as we as collectors are, so it was left in hardcore fan-hands to populate this book.
This is a slightly oversized coffee-table book, with generous pages to give the art room to breathe. There are a ton of images, and while it’s true that with the amount of artwork and the number of years that had to be covered, some of the pages can be a bit cramped with images, but there will be no eyestrain involved in enjoying the pictures. In other words, we’re not getting screwed over with thumbnail images here. Big robots get big pages, some a full page all their own, and the smaller figures are arranged neatly to their pages. It’s all very pleasing.
As you can see in the photo of the index page, The book covers a wide variety of Transformers, from the familiar G1 that started it all through to the post movie years and into the little known — depending on the audience — Japanese-only Transformers like Godmasters, Victory, and so forth. It then transitions into Generation 2 images, where Megatron is a tank and things are a little angrier — because the ’90s! While the hardest of hardcore fans might have at minimum a passing familiarity with all of this and at maximum a Doctorate in this stuff, there’s something for everyone to learn from and enjoy. I consider myself a pretty big Transformer fan and there’s a lot I’ve never seen, especially as it veers towards the Japanese end of things. There’s even artwork from before Transformers was “Transformers” and was Micro-Change or Diaclone.
The pages are structured so it takes you through the timelines by faction in more or less chronological fashion, so you can use the artwork to track the evolution of Transformers. They even cover the non-transforming Action Masters concept, something whose comeback would be awesome. It’s interesting watching familiar characters evolve over time. For instance, as Optimus transitions from his basic familiar form through his Powermaster and Godmaster iterations on through to Laser Optimus.
I was most appreciative that the book presented not just the singular character images but also the large-scale art spreads that were used as promotional material in various catalogs, booklets, and posters. I remember getting a spare catalog from a friend who had already managed to acquire a handful of Transformers and staring at that image — the one that adorns the cover of the book – -constantly before I had any TFs of my own.
In fact, looking through this book rekindled something unexpected in me. I’ve always been a Transformer fan by way of the various media interpretation like the comic (first and foremost) and the cartoon, but looking at these images really made me remember what it was that captured that spark (Transformers pun!) of excitement in me a long long time ago. While other ’80s properties were fairly consistent in their presentations — G.I. Joe looked more or less the same from card art to toy to comic to cartoon — Transformers often varied wildly in their presentation from toy and package art to cartoon and comic. Designs were simplified and “humanized,” or changed altogether in some cases, and they were made a bit more approachable and less… I’m going to say “alien” in structure, but what I really mean is less toy-faithful because the drawings came from the toys and did what they could with the limitations. But now I’m wondering if they were really limitations.
When I was a kid I often wanted the Transformer toys that never were, the ones on the cartoon and in the comic, the toys that I’m now getting in the Masterpiece line. But looking at these pictures actually made me appreciate the toys that I did get and made me remember that feeling of excitement spurred on just by package art and the representational quality of toy-faithfulness.
There are many many more images in the 300 pages, way more than I’ve touched on here. Highly recommended for every fan of the brand.
