What do you think?
Rate this book
Transformers Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging
Remember the thrill of tearing open a gift on Christmas morning, discovering a brand-new Transformer in a shiny new box? While the toys were amazing in their own right, what made the packages stand head-and-shoulders above the myriad competing action figures on shelves was the stunning box art. Legacy collects hundreds of beautifully airbrushed paintings from the iconic first decade of The Transformers. Hasbro, Takara, and private collectors opened their archives, yielding an unparalled level of quality. This book is chock-full of extras, including never-before-seen artwork from toys that never were, original design sketches, catalog artwork, and more.
300 pages, Hardcover
First published May 6, 2014
4 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Jim Sorenson
15 books5 followersJim is a super-secret spy, has a motorcycle, marooned in space, meets Hercules ... or not ...
He's been a long-time fan of science-fiction literature in general and Transformers in particular. His guidebooks are well regarded by the fan communities for their exhaustive attention to detail. Reports of his incarceration in another dimension should be dismissed as the unfounded rumors they are."
He's been a long-time fan of science-fiction literature in general and Transformers in particular. His guidebooks are well regarded by the fan communities for their exhaustive attention to detail. Reports of his incarceration in another dimension should be dismissed as the unfounded rumors they are."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 28, 2014
This book is great and an excellent collection of most of the Transformers box artwork that graced the toys when I was growing up. Wonderful reproduction and solid design. It brought back tons of memories and captured my creative self as the artwork did so many years ago.
A couple of quibbles. This book is begging for an index for readers to quickly search for their favorite characters. It would have been amazing to include info on process and the artists' names, but I understand that's another huge task on top of what must have been a Herculean effort to acquire this much art for the volume. Those bits would have been icing on the cake of what is already a great book.
A couple of quibbles. This book is begging for an index for readers to quickly search for their favorite characters. It would have been amazing to include info on process and the artists' names, but I understand that's another huge task on top of what must have been a Herculean effort to acquire this much art for the volume. Those bits would have been icing on the cake of what is already a great book.
February 3, 2020
More robots and art please.
Loved it, great reference for all designers and robot fiends. I feel like it’s my fifth birthday all over again.
Loved it, great reference for all designers and robot fiends. I feel like it’s my fifth birthday all over again.
April 18, 2020
Amazing!!
August 22, 2020
Excellent!
I really like this book. It's an art book with a lot of great memories, plus some interesting curiosities. Highly recommended!
I really like this book. It's an art book with a lot of great memories, plus some interesting curiosities. Highly recommended!
January 6, 2021
Beautiful and nostalgic stuff
April 18, 2021
It’s a collection of the Amazing transformers box art from the 80’s. if this interests you at all, this book is perfect.
September 25, 2022
A fun blast of nostalgia.
October 22, 2014
Here's what's awesome about this book: preserving, collecting, and highlighting the importance of the Transformers box art, such an important part of what captivated me and so many other kids.
Here's what's not awesome: so many missed opportunities. There's very little text here—no information on how the art was created or what inspired it, only chance mention made of the various products these illustrations were used on. The bar for a $50 coffee-table book is really a lot higher than this.
Any Transformers fan will enjoy flipping through this once, but you might be surprised at how little time you really need to spend with it.
Here's what's not awesome: so many missed opportunities. There's very little text here—no information on how the art was created or what inspired it, only chance mention made of the various products these illustrations were used on. The bar for a $50 coffee-table book is really a lot higher than this.
Any Transformers fan will enjoy flipping through this once, but you might be surprised at how little time you really need to spend with it.
July 15, 2016
I learned a few things while going through this book. First and foremost is that I was nowhere as in to Transformers as I remember being. I didn't recognize probably about 90% of the Transformers shown in here. That being said, the ones I did recognize did bring a smile to my face. Secondly is the fact that made a whole heck of a lot of characters, and quite a few were rather strange. An octopus Transformer named Tentakill, and a gorilla one named Apeface.
The art inside is great to look at. The very classic 80s style Transformers art. There is a bit of text and history, but the majority of the book is just showcasing the great looking art.
The art inside is great to look at. The very classic 80s style Transformers art. There is a bit of text and history, but the majority of the book is just showcasing the great looking art.
September 2, 2016
Pretty to look at, and extensive, but I was disappointed that there wasn't more work put into describing the background of the art. (B)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews