Review - Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, Volume Two
A few months ago I posted a review of Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye, Volume One, IDW’s guide to Transformers characters paperback written by James McDonough and Adam Patyk. At the time that I purchased the first volume, from Rogues Gallery -- a Round Rock, Texas comic and game store - I also grabbed the second volume in the series. I had intended to follow that first review with a second, but life got in the way.
Well, after some time off from work I sat down with Volume Two and read it over again. Here’s what I think.
What is this thing?
As I said in the earlier review, this is basically page after page of Transformers artwork and character descriptions. This second volume, subtitled Protectobots to Wreck-Gar, follows the same basic format as the first volume, with most characters filling a single page while larger and more important characters - like Shockwave (the greatest Decepticon of all time) - filling up two pages. If you’ve read my earlier review then you know what to expect from this book; if you haven’t read that review, then please do so now.
How does this book compare to the first?
It's pretty much more of the same, including the same problems as the first volume. The artwork, again, is fantastic, with almost every image beautifully rendered no matter how bad the original toy looked (trust me, the Throttlebots never looked this good).
What’s different?
In my review of the first volume I complained about the fact that the book referenced sections that don’t appear in that volume but, instead, appear in this second volume. Where the first book is nothing but characters, this one fills pages 197-257 with encyclopedia-like entries on a wide number of topics, including:
Well, after some time off from work I sat down with Volume Two and read it over again. Here’s what I think.
What is this thing?
As I said in the earlier review, this is basically page after page of Transformers artwork and character descriptions. This second volume, subtitled Protectobots to Wreck-Gar, follows the same basic format as the first volume, with most characters filling a single page while larger and more important characters - like Shockwave (the greatest Decepticon of all time) - filling up two pages. If you’ve read my earlier review then you know what to expect from this book; if you haven’t read that review, then please do so now.
How does this book compare to the first?
It's pretty much more of the same, including the same problems as the first volume. The artwork, again, is fantastic, with almost every image beautifully rendered no matter how bad the original toy looked (trust me, the Throttlebots never looked this good).
What’s different?
In my review of the first volume I complained about the fact that the book referenced sections that don’t appear in that volume but, instead, appear in this second volume. Where the first book is nothing but characters, this one fills pages 197-257 with encyclopedia-like entries on a wide number of topics, including:
- The Ark - The Autobot spaceship that started it all, The Ark fills two pages with details on the ship’s capabilities and information on Teletran-1.
- Combiners - A two-page section with a great image of Devastator (identified as a dissection) and a history of the combiner technology.
- Cybertronian Martial Arts - Two pages on Circuit-Su, Crystalocution, Diffusion, Metallikato, and Pit Fighting. If you’ve ever wanted to run your own Transformers roleplaying game campaign (most likely using Cartoon Action Hour), this section’s gonna really come in handy when a player wants to run an ass-kicking martial arts robot.
- Energon - Why does Soundwave create semi-transparent cubes?
- Guardian Robots - Three pages all about Omega Supreme’s brothers.
- The Nemesis - If you’ve ever wanted to know about Megatron’s flagship, the space ship that pursued The Ark, then this is the place to go. A two-page spread shows a great shot of the ship. (2.5 miles long? This thing could fight a Star Destroyer.)
- Quintessa - Homeworld to the Quintessons, this section is one of the better resources for those of you looking for information on this unusual race of bio-mechanical beings. I’ve read this over a few times over the past couple of months as I worked on reviews of Impossible Toys’ Quint series of bootleg toys. (If you care, the short review is that most of these are pretty cool toys and exactly what Hasbro should have manufactured over twenty years ago.)
- Space Bridge - Described as “an instantaneous gateway between locations through which Cybertronians could travel.” This page is more art than text, but - again - a useful section for your Transformers roleplaying game.
What good is this?
Honestly, it’s not fine literature but it is fun. At $25, this 264-page book is an excellent value if you’re a fan of the Transformers mythology. Most of the text in this book is adapted from the old Tech Specs cards (it’s too bad they didn’t include the numerical values for each of the characters’ stats) with tweaks necessary to bring everything inline with the latest Transformers material (up through the Dreamwave run).
As with the first volume, this one stays in my collection because it’s fun. And fun is all that really matters when it comes to books like this one.