A new Amazon listing has come up revealing an exciting book for collectors and inspiring collectors of vintage Transformers: The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Transformers Action Figures. This guidebook is written by none other than Mark Bellomo, who has done previous work in the past, most notably the Transformers: Identification and Price Guide.
The book has a list price of $27.99, but is currently on preorder at $20.71 through Amazon. July 5, 2016 is when we can expect to see the book released. We’ll update you when more information becomes available.
alldarker
I've been reading the rerelease of Mark Bellomo's book for the last couple of days. It's a really nice book, with great pictures and any book dedicated to G1 Transformers is a huge hit in my eyes.
Still… There are some jarring mistakes in the book. First of all, the values put on figures seem to not have been updated at all since the first release of the book in 2007. In the years since, values have shot up but unfortunately the book doesn't reflect this at all.
Secondly, I've already encountered a few mis-transformations of figures. For example, Breakdown's legs haven't been folded out, and Vortex's engine mounting hasn't been turned around towards the front in alt-mode.
Thirdly, there seem to be quite a few spelling mistakes and editorial errors. For example, Wheeljack's sponsor is Alitalla, not Alitallia as the book states, with the point being that Takara changed the original i to an l.
All in all, it's still a very enjoyable book, and I'm glad they decided to reprint it.
KMITB
I received mine from Amazon yesterday. The book is huge for $20. Lots of great photos and info. My only complaint about it is that some of the pictures straddle 2 pages…so you don't get to see the whole image. Overall, it is a quality book all G1 fans should grab.
Swoop Dogg
It's out. I should have it tomorrow.
madhatprime
My original copy got wet.
So is this out? The listing says July 5th, but it also says "In Stock"
Swoop Dogg
Judging by the few sample pages that are on Amazon, this book appears to be pretty close to the first book. Most (but not all) of the pictures are different (i.e. – clearer) but the text is pretty much the same. If you don't already have the first one and are interested in G1, I would totally jump on this. I'm still going to get it because my copy of the first one is starting to get a bit worn out.
Hoffman
Thank you, that is very cool.
What's the general consensus on how complete and accurate this book is?
gbm
Curious, how is this one different from his other? (which I already have)
Canbot
I always prefer books. Hopefully the pages have some nice glossy pictures, and other artwork. I'm not really buying this for the collector info (which always changes), but rather to support someone who really cares about TFs enough to write a book. It scratches that itch of back when you'd flip through catalogs, drooling at photos over the stuff you never had!
I'll be picking one up definitely.
GizmoTron
Well using this book is a lot faster and easier to find large, clear, and in color pictures of the toys and their accessories as well as some general pricing info.
When compared to this, TFwiki is a much better source about the characters backstory and fiction as well as stuff this book doesn't cover like Japanese G1 or eHobby variants and reissues, but as a simple buying guide the wiki really doesn't have anything all that useful especially with pricing between certain variants or differences about whether the item is MIB, MISB, MOC, etc.
And TFU.info as of right now is still down. A book's servers can never go down.
rosewater
I received mine yesterday. It's a really beautiful book! I have lots of toy reference books like this, and they're fun to pour over on a rainy day. I think stuff like this really augments a collection.
peckda
If you click on the book cover on the amazon page you can read about a dozen pages.
Ninjak
None that I have seen so far. Also of note, it seems that only the publisher, Krause, offers an ebook version on their site.
Hoffman
Are there any sample pages online?
Starscream 91
Hmmm, I may not collect G1 but I want this. Holy shit I want this!
Ninjak
My copy arrived from Amazon today (it released earlier than the July 5th publication date) and I love it. Well worth the wait. I've got all my old G1 loose items in a box and this is perfect for helping me catalog them. The photography is great. I'd love a book just like this (in English) eventually covering post-G1 through to Titans Return. Even if they need to make a separate one for the Takara releases.
TaintedPiffy
What's the point of any book when you can just download it instead?
Some people enjoy having these to display and thumb through. Certainly why I bought it.
SG Roadbuster
ummmm i dont see a point to this book when TFwiki.net and tfu.info exist.
Sweep
Its available now through Amazon BTW.https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Vin…dp/1440246408?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
koonfasa
Does he hang out here or close by?
Canbot
His Identifcation and Price Guide has a lot of great reviews (and is expensive as shit on the secondary market)…I was hoping this was a reprint of that, but that doesn't look to be the case. Perhaps another pressing of the IPG is on the horizon.
Any way we can see what's actually inside this thing?