MediaWiki - User contributions [en]

Talk:Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac

2009-09-02T16:41:00Z

71.148.38.190: /* References as a part of the article */

Book in hand... we have to disambig "Solon Kitakaze". This thing is awesome. :D - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 08:28, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
:OH MY GOD SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS the number of things that get obscure in-jokey referential names will implode the wiki it is awesome - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 08:39, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
::I wasn't gonna buy it, but now... And they reference Solon? Really? It warms my heart whenever its obvious that the official Transformers people are reading out wiki (especially when its articles I wrote!). --[[User:DrSpengler|DrSpengler]] 11:09, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
:::Solon's not the half of it!! Solitarium! Death's Head! The Twilight! [[Eddie Fairchild and Matt Conroy]] for pete's sake!! - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 11:44, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
::::Damn. I'm going to have to get that book. --[[User:Detour|Detour]] 13:30, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
:I AM MAKING SWEET SWEET LOVE TO THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 14:15, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
::Well, when you guys are done sodomizing your copies, please make an article to accompany this talk page. I won't be able to get mine until next week. :( --[[User:DrSpengler|DrSpengler]] 14:34, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
Considering the book is by Sorenson, I'm not really surprised by any of this! -[[User:Mazenoise|Mazenoise]] 15:08, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
:::About one-third of the book's pages are ''bathed'' in Cybertronix. Given what they just came out and said in the book--what with SKY-BYTE AND EVERYTHING ELSE--I literally cannot even imagine what might fulfill their own standard of a "hidden Easter Egg" to be encrypted in another language. Aaiiiiieee. Also, I fucking call dibs on writing up the Visionaries reference. --[[User:Thylacine 2000|Thylacine 2000]] 15:57, 19 August 2009 (EDT)
::::"The Swiss bank account number of the Bavarian Illuminati".
::::Is that just a joke on our part or did the writers go crazy? --[[User:-Blackout-|-Blackout-]] 14:59, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
:::::That was just a joke, presumably as a proxy until someone actually starts work on translations. Believe you me, I don't intend to run afoul of the Bavarian Illuminati ... again. --[[User:Jimsorenson|Jimsorenson]] 15:06, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
::::::OK.....
:::::: *takes two drinks* --[[User:-Blackout-|-Blackout-]] 15:28, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
:::::::Ah'm doin' translations tonight! - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 15:55, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
::::::::oh sweet jesus this is going to take forever - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 16:21, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
:::::::::For the love of.... the first bit of Cybertronix is the introduction from the instruction manual of the 1988 video game, "Wasteland". My head is fit to explode. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 16:46, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
::::::::::Sorenson, you've played Wasteland? I must worship you now. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 16:59, 21 August 2009 (EDT)

Does this book give the names of all the Starscream clones BTW? Considering the toy bio for Sunstorm at least has been a source of confusion.. -[[User:Mazenoise|Mazenoise]] 16:32, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
:Yes, all the clones are named now.--[[User:Rosicrucian|Rosicrucian]][[User Talk:Rosicrucian|<sup>Talk</sup>]] 16:33, 21 August 2009 (EDT)
::I will take your answer to mean, yes "Sunstorm" is in the Almanac and yes it identifies the show sycophant clone as "Sunstorm." - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 12:06, 31 August 2009 (EDT)

== Annotations ==

Got 'em done. [http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/digipedia/annotated_almanac.html check 'em out] on this rather unglamorous bit of webspace; if anyone's feeling very brave, they might try and add some of this to the article. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 18:40, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
:The DS9 pilot was just "Emissary", no "The" (originally shown, and presented on the DVD, as a single double-length episode). "The Emissary" was a '''TNG''' episode, stardate (per MΑ) 42901.3. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 18:59, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
::Also, note the "-" in front of the universal stream indicator for the writers. That means they're from a Shattered-Glass-like negative polarity universe! (I suspect Quadwal or whatever is the "real life" universe, which would work hand-in-hand with it being a "live performance" stream. Note that the authors are criminal versions of themselves, which again seems right considering the negative polarity.) --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:07, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
::Oh, and you got your Archa Nine and Archa Seven switched. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 19:08, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
:Typo: "...Irwin Spoon, a journalist who appeared in a '''three-party''' story in Marvel UK's..."; three-part, yes? - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 19:09, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
:The Farscape monologue is from S1 & 2. It changed for S3, and again for S4. - [[User:SanityOrMadness|SanityOrMadness]] 19:17, 25 August 2009 (EDT)
::The ''Dune'' fan in me screams at the misspellings in "He is the Kwizatz Haderach He is born of Caladan And will take the Gorn Jabbar" (it's supposed to be "Kwisatz" and "Gom"). Is this how they're spelled in the actual song? [[User:Interrobang|—Interrobang]] 20:44, 25 August 2009 (EDT)

Digimon FAQ? Haha. But anyway: "An observation of the events of the first issue of the Animated comic by the trans-dimensional Vector Prime" Please tell me there's a picture of ''Animated'' Vector Prime. Also, "The team is thrashed by real-life football team West Ham at Tigatron Stadium" This might be a reference to West Ham apparently being Furman's favorite <s>soccer</s> football team. -[[User:Mazenoise|Mazenoise]] 03:45, 26 August 2009 (EDT)
: There is no art of Vector Prime. --[[User:ItsWalky|ItsWalky]] 08:19, 26 August 2009 (EDT)
::I want this book so much right now. But I seriously need to try and ignore the stardate for "Babel": as much as I hate to say it, that episode still scares me. --[[User:-Blackout-|-Blackout-]] 08:27, 26 August 2009 (EDT)
:Dude, McFeely? "Quadwal" as the universal stream is a joke. Quad=four. Wal=wall. "Fourth wall." It's the "real world." And it's not a negative universe, it's a negative number. 9/25/3760 ''BC''. That's the day calculated for Creation by adding up the ages of everyone in the Old Testament and subtracting back from the birth of Christ. (And it's a "live performance" because, uh, yeah.) FUCK ANYONE ELSE WHO POINTED THIS OUT ALREADY, IT'S FIVE AM AND I CAN'T SLEEP. [[User:Hooper X|Hooper_X]] 04:52, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
::I had already figured out that the date was probably referring to the day the universe came into existence (just forgot to actually mention that here like I'd meant to...), but I'd still been stumped on the "Quadwal" part. --[[User:Jeysie|Jeysie]] 06:50, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
::You may consider my mind officially blown. - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 07:34, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
Are we not dealing with pointing out picture stuff? Like on page 171 there's a kid dressed like Destro (and another one dressed like a Joe?). Are the guys on 184 at the bottom (1-5) supposed to be anybody? Just curious. --[[User:Crockalley|Crockalley]] 07:21, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
:::Similarly, is it worth mentioning anywhere in the article (or associated articles) about the flip-book animated Pocketbot at the bottom right of the right-hand pages?
:::Also, having gone over the book, I am amazed you could read the Cybertronian writing enough to figure out what it said, Chris. Maybe my eyes are just that bad now, but a lot of it seemed far too faint to distinguish, never mind the large portions obscured by overlaid art. Did you get layered files from which to study or something?--[[User:Apcog|Apcog]] 07:55, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
::::Naw, I just turned on every light in the room and squinted at it like the dickens. I translated what I could of the very first two passages and googled them to see if they were referring to something, so when I discovered that they were straight transcriptions of other sources, I circumvented the obscured-by-art problem by just started translating some of the large visible patches of text and googling it to see what it said. Would you believe that typing patches of the final narration of Robotech into google gets you no relevant hits? Seriously, the only relevant hit you get for "his homeworld and his past" is now ''my fricking annotations''. As to pictures, I was focusing on getting the references added ''for the book'', rather than pre-existing ones from the show and comics themselves, which is what those kids dressed as Joes would be (that said, I shamefully admit I didn't spot them - I've still not, ahem, ''read'' the book fully and properly, and probably would have mentioned them just because that's ''awesome''.) - [[User:Chris McFeely|Chris McFeely]] 07:59, 2 September 2009 (EDT)
:I used to work with Krista Kohlhausen. The likeness between the real person and the EMT character model is, well, perfect. There must be other people out there who look exactly like Derrick Wyatt's drawings too. Maybe he unwittingly creates them, like the narrator-author from "Stranger Than Fiction" who accidentally controls Will Farrell's life. Or maybe he ''wittingly'' creates them, like the author from "In the Mouth of Madness" who uses his simulacra people to summon Cthulhu. --[[User:Thylacine 2000|Thylacine 2000]] 10:49, 2 September 2009 (EDT)

==References as a part of the article==
Now, I can hardly claim to be an unbiased party in all of this, but it seems to me that there is value in having a wikified list of references as a part of the article, rather than shunting people off-site to a web page that may or may not be there in perpetuity. I can't think of another instance of us saying that we shouldn't be codifying legitimate information because 'there is a large amount of it.' At worst we put that information in a sort of side-page, like we do with [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity]] and whatnot. Also, the hyperlinked version allows one to more quickly navigate around, rather than having to laboriously type in each search term. Finally, I won't lie, I'm tickled pink to see a 25K list of just the Transformers references in this book.--[[User:Jimsorenson|Jimsorenson]] 21:44, 1 September 2009 (EDT)
:I agree, plus there should also be a list of who got profiles like in [[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|other]] [[More Than Meets The Eye (G1)|books]]. - [[User:Starfield|Starfield]] 22:09, 1 September 2009 (EDT)
aren't references present in other stuff like Divide and Conqure (Real World and Transformers references both) and Nemesis Part 2 and RID episodes and linkage and so on?

Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac

2009-09-02T00:07:37Z

71.148.38.190: Just the Transformers links

{{Comicstory|
|seriesissue=Transformers Animated:<br />The AllSpark Almanac
|image=Allsparkalmanaccover.jpg
|caption=[[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]'s going to have his hands full cleaning these two up.
|publisher=[[IDW Publishing]]
|written by=[[Jim Sorenson]] and [[Bill Forster]]
|date=[[August 19]], 2009
|illustrated by=
|continuity=[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Transformers Animated]]
|pagecount=220
|ISBN=ISBN 1600104878<br>
ISBN 978-1600104879
}}

'''''Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac''''' is a <s>lusty</s> happy love-letter written to {{SITENAME}} for our carnal pleasure.

==Contents==
*Foreword, by [[Derrick J. Wyatt]]
*Introduction, by the authors
*Interstitial A: ''Transformers Hero''
*Chapter 1: [[Autobot]]s
*Interstitial B: Lighting
*Chapter 2: [[Decepticon]]s
*Interstitial C: [[Transformation]]s
*Chapter 3: [[Human]]s
*Interstitial D: Opening Credits
*Chapter 4: Events
*Interstitial E: [[Transformers Animated (Titan)|Titan Magazines]]
*Chapter 5: Culture
*Interstitial F: Design Evolution
*Chapter 6: [[Detroit]]
*Interstitial G: [[Bee in the City]]
*Chapter 7: Settings
*Interstitial H: Backgrounds
*Afterword, by [[Marty Isenberg]]
*A Word from [[Hasbro]]
*Acknowledgments

==Notes==

This book is an encyclopedic examination of the entire ''Transformers Animated'' storyline universe. It presents exhaustively thorough character profiles and summaries of the first 2 seasons of the cartoon and the ''Animated'' [[The Arrival|Arrival]] comic book...''all written completely in-universe'', in the form of "interviews" with the characters or excerpts from their journals and other in-story media.

"Interstitial" interludes are presented out-of-universe and describe the design process behind the art, animation, and locations, as well as brief story summaries of the Titan Magazine ''Animated'' issues. Elements of toy design are covered as well, but comparatively briefly.

===References===

There are an ''insane'' number of obscure references to Transformers minutiae culled from the 25-year history of the franchise, as well as other sci-fi and entertainment franchises as well. Basically, ''all'' proper nouns and names refer to something or someone, even if that someone is a possibly non-existent character only mentioned once in a letters page of a foreign comic. And that's before we start talking about the ''numbers'': Almost every seemingly incongruous alphanumeric string is a reference to another franchise, be it a ''Star Trek'' stardate or a Terminator's official designation. And that's just the content in English—about a third of the book's pages have large stretches covered in [[Cybertronix]]. Deciphered, these include non-Transformers-related passages, such as extensive, verbatim quotes from diverse sources ranging from Tennyson's ''Ulysses'' to ''Max Headroom''.

====Transformers references====

* Pg 9a – Sorenson and Forster hail from [[universal stream]] Quadwal -3760.925 Theta. Universal streams are a means of classifying the numerous Transformers universes devised by authors [[Greg Sepelak]] and [[Trent Troop]], which first appeared in the Transformers Collectors Club story, [[Withered Hope]]. This particular classification, however, makes no sense, save for the “Theta” suffix, which indicates a “spoken word” or “live performance” scenario. The “-” sign also indicates they're from an evil parallel universe, akin to the Shattered Glass fiction introduced at [[BotCon 2008]], the only other universal stream to be marked like this. “Don't ask,” the authors say.

* Pg 9b – The Reverse-Pretender technology used by Sorenson and Forster is a reference to several 1980s Transformers toy [[commercial]]s, which featured a child leaping into the air and transforming into Ultra Magnus.

* Pg 15 – [[Optimus Prime (Animated) | Optimus Prime]]'s axe is identified as a [[Solitarium]] ultra-axe. Solitarium is a mysterious and powerful element featured in the Japanese [[Robot Masters (franchise)|Robot Masters]] storyline.

* Pg 20a – As mentioned in his tech spec, [[Ratchet (Animated)|Ratchet]]is a Protihex Medical Mechanical graduate.

* Pg 20b – [[Lockdown (Animated)|Lockdown]] refers to Ratchet with the nickname “Cool Hand Lube”. This was an epithet coined for the original G1 [[Ratchet (G1) | Ratchet]] by writer [[Bob Budiansky]], who included it in his original [[Transformers Universe (Marvel comic)|Transformers Universe]] bio. While it didn't make it into the finished Universe profile, it did appear in an early version printed in Marvel's Transformers Comics Magazine digest collection.

* Pg 34 – Unnamed in the Animated cartoon, the alien planet visited by the young Optimus, [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|Sentinel]] and [[Blackarachnia (Animated)|Elita-1]] populated by giant spiders is here given the named [[Archa Seven]]. Presumably, this puts it in the same system as [[Archa Nine]], from the [[BotCon 2002]] comic story, [[Betrayal]].

* Pg 35 – Sentinel Prime's [[Skyboom (Animated)|shield]] is dubbed a Skyboom shield, after the [[Mini-Con]] [[Skyboom (Armada)|weapon]] from [[Armada (franchise)|Armada]].

* Pg 44 – Ratchet recalls an old flame from [[Crystal City]], a Cybertronian city that originally appeared in the Generation 1 cartoon episode, [[The Secret of Omega Supreme]].

* Pg 55 – [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|Omega Supreme's]] profile contains numerous references.
:The language describing Omega's strength deliberately hearkens back to Generation 1 [[Omega Supreme (G1)|Omega's]] Transformers Universe profile, describing how he can pulverize “steel cubes” of impressive volume and hit diminutive items from a great distance with his head cannon. Numerous Cybertronian units of [[Category:Measurements|measurement]] are used in the process; Omega is said to be able to like 600,000 kilo-units (a measurement used by [[Bulkhead (Animated)|Bulkhead]] in the Animated episode [[Rise of the Constructicons]]); the dimensions of the aforementioned cube are given in mechanometers (used in the Generation 1 episode, [[City of Steel]] and mentioned twice more in the book); and the distance at which he can blast a small object is given in hics (from the Marvel UK 1991 annual story, [[The Magnificent Six!]], and used once more in the book).
:Omega is also noted to be armed with concussion blasters (the personal weapon of Generation 1 [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]]), pulsar bombs (used by the [[Predacon (RID)|Predacons]] on two occasions in the [[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|Robots in Disguise]] cartoon), quasar beams (Generation 2 [[Blowout]] and Beast Wars [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] both wielded quasar cannons), friction cannons (G1 [[Runamuck (G1)|Runamuck]] was armed with a friction blaster) and aquasting missiles (weapon of choice of the Beast Wars Fuzor [[Injector]]).
:And finally, Omega has armor enhanced with [[rheanimum]], a metal-strengthening gas which appeared in Marvel's [[Generation 2 (franchise)|Generation 2]] comics.

* Pg 60 – Mentioned here and restated on pg 127, Megatron's swords are forged from [[tironium]], an extremely tough metal mentioned in the Beast Wars episode “Power Surge”. As noted in his tech specs, his armor can deflect anti-proton lasers.

* Pg 66 – As on his toy packaging, [[Lugnut]] is referred to with the nicknamed, the “Kaon Krusher”.

* Pg 74 – Shockwave's cannon can fire blasts from anywhere in the electromagnetic spectrum, just like Generation 1 [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] could.

* Pg 77 – Swindle's gyro gun and scatter blaster are named after the weapons of the original Generation 1 [[Swindle (G1)|Swindle]].

* Pg 81 – Starscream claims to be the handsomest 'bot “this side of the [[Benzuli Expanse]]”, a region of space introduced in IDW Publishing's [[Spotlight: Galvatron]].

* Pg 83-84 – Having gone unnamed in the Animated cartoon, [[Thundercracker (Animated)|Thundercracker]], [[Sunstorm (Animated)|Sunstorm]] and [[Skywarp (Animated)|Skywarp]] were all given names and powers derived from their Generation 1 counterparts when they were released as toys. The liar and female clones did not get toys, but The AllSpark Almanac carries on the trend; the liar clone is named [[Ramjet (Animated)|Ramjet]] and is noted to have a reinforced nosecone for mid-air collisions, while the female clone gets the brand new name of [[Slipstream (Animated)|Slipstream]] (which was previously revealed at [[BotCon 2009]]).

* Pg 88 – Numerous weapons used by Lockdown in the Animated cartoon are here given the names of similar weapons from other corners of the Transformers multiverse. He is armed with sleep nets (from the Generation 1 coloring book, [[Bumblebee to the Rescue!]]), [[nova spray]] (from the 2007 movie Glu mobile phone game), and a [[lightning whip]] (the personal weapon of the G1 Pretender [[Cloudburst]]). His chainsaw is also described as being “micro-serrated”, language frequently used to describe the beak of Generation 1 [[Buzzsaw (G1)|Buzzsaw]].

* Pg 94 – Swindle plans to imitate [[Angry Archer]]'s antiquated dialect to help facilitate his next deal with the [[Darkling Lords]] of [[Prysmos]]. This is a reference to the 1987 Hasbro toyline, [[Visionaries]]; Prysmos was the planet upon which that series was set, and the Darkling Lords were the villains of the franchise.

* Pg 101 – The name of Prometheus Black's company is given as [[Biotech Unbound]], referring to the Greek poem, “Prometheus Unbound”, which was also the title of a [[Beast Machines (franchise)|Beast Machines]] [[Prometheus Unbound|episode]].

*Pg 103 – In the Animated cartoon, the bat-monster is noted as having formerly been Meltdown's lawyer. Here, Captain Fanzone notes that the shark-monster was his stock broker. In addition, he calls it a “[[Seafood Louis creature]]”, after the [[Seafood Louis|crab salad]] notable among Transformers fans for having been served at several BotCons.

* Pg 105 – [[Solon Kitakaze (Animated)|Solon Kitakaze]] is named after [[Deathsaurus (Victory)|Deathsaurus]]'s [[Solon Kitakaze|cyborg son]] from the infamously kooky [[Victory (franchise)|Victory]] manga.

*Pg 112 – An observation of the events of the [[Dispatches|first issue]] of the Animated comic by the trans-dimensional [[Vector Prime]], one of the original 13 Transformers, introduced in the Transformers: [[Cybertron (franchise)|Cybertron]] series. He uses the aforementioned Universal Stream classification system to catalog this manuscript, identifying the Animated cartoon universe as “Malgus 1207.26 Alpha”. The designation is later used again on pg 117.

* Pg 116 – Presumably, the trans-dimensional magazine [[Venus (magazine)|Venus]] is named for Beast Wars [[Blackarachnia (BW)|Blackarachnia's]] voice actor, [[Venus Terzo]]. Whatever currency its cover price is in, its represented with a “B” in Predacon Cybertronix! In addition to the large illustration of Animated Blackarachnia wearing the crown, shoulderpads and cape donned by Generation 1 Starscream for his coronation in The Transformers: The Movie, the cover contains numerous references, many of them to some very obscure characters and concepts.
:“Sparkmate” is a term used in the N64 Beast Wars: Transmetals video game, to describe Tigatron and Airazor's romantic bond.
:[[Chain of Command]] is the title of a Beast Wars episode.
:[[Clio]] is a Decepticon [[Powermaster]] mentioned by [[Blaster (G1)|Blaster]] in the letters page of issue #315 of Marvel UK's Generation 1 comic. She is pitted against [[Lyzack]], sister of Decepticon Breastforce warrior [[Leozack]], who appears in the final issue of the Victory manga.
:[[Manta Ray (BW)|Manta Ray]] is a Beast Wars McDonalds Happy Meal figure, who was established as being female by IDW Publishing's Beast Wars Sourcebook. She is up against the equally aquatic [[Scylla]], from [[Beast Wars II (franchise)|Beast Wars II]].
:[[Flamewar]] and [[Nightracer]] are both BotCon [[exclusive]] female Decepticons, from 2005 and 1995, respectively. The match-up has a deeper meaning; Nightracer was created by notorious Decepticon fan [[Raksha]], and some fans believe that Flamewar's personality is based on Raksha, though her creator [[Ben Yee]] denies it.
:Revenge of the Fallen's Pretender [[Alice]] teaches readers how to disarm a foldspace warhead, a weapon which appears in the second issue of the UK's 2007 live-action movie comic.
:The magazine's gossip columnist is [[Freezon]], the Decepticon car included with Tyco's Transformers Electric Racing Set released in the 1980s. She is dishing the dirt on Lugnut and [[Strika (Animated)|Strika]]'s relationship, which was established in Strika's profile, published in issue #24 of the Transformers Collectors Club Official Magazine.
:[[Beta Maxx]] is the partner of BotCon 2007 exlusive Alpha Trion, while [[Caliburn]] is partnered with 2004 exclusive, [[Megazarak]]. The cover identifies them as Mini-Cons, despite the fact that no previous writings ever done so (Caliburn is explicitly a [[Micromaster]], while Beta Maxx has only been referred to as an Autobot). Funnily enough, in late 2008, author Jim Sorenson was involved in an argument on the Transformers Wiki about Beta Maxx being a Mini-Con... hmmmn. Anyway, they're talking to Cybertron [[Thunderblast (Decepticon)|Thunderblast]].

* Pg 119a – Most of the weapons Swindle sells Lugnut and Blitzwing, and the planets he gets them from, are established, if obscure, Transformers items and locales. Most of them were named in the comic story this page covers, [[Everything Must Go]] but a few more things are named here. The full list includes:
:*An anti-gravity cannon (from the Find Your Fate Junior book [[Desert Flight]]) from the planet [[Andellor]] (from the second issue of Blackthorne's Transformers in 3-D comic).
:*A triple-crusher cannon (the personal weapon of the G1 Seacon [[Nautilator]]) from the planet Talos Four (probably derived from a mistake on TFWIKI.Net, which misspelled [[Taros Four]] from the Transformers Collectors Club story [[The Dark Heart of Sandokan]] in this manner for a time).
:*A decompression pump from [[Torkulon]] (as seen in the Generation 1 episode [[Webworld]]).
:*Glass Gas (the personal weapon of G1 [[Cliffjumper (G1)|Cliffjumper]]) and a Digital Impact Mace (the weapon of choice of [[BotCon 2000]] exclusive toy [[Apelinq]]) from the planet Dahros (a misspelling of the planet [[Darhos]], from The Headmasters anime episode, [[Find MegaZarak's Weak Spot!!]].)
:*Super glue from the [[Menonia]] (an other-dimensional world visited in the G1 episode [[Madman's Paradise]]).
:*An [[omega bomb]] (from the G1 episode [[The Quintesson Journal]]) from [[Ganzvort]] (mentioned in G1 [[Rewind]]'s Transformers Universe profile).
:*Two nemesis shields (from the Armada Playstation 2 video game) from [[Garo]] and [[Comb|Com]] (both from the Beast Wars Neo episode, [[Mach Kick Voluntarily Enlists!?]]; “Com” is a misspelling of the planet's correct name, “Comb”).
:*A Chaosmaster bomb (from issue #4 of the Marvel Generation 2 comic) from [[Xeptos]] (a subatomic planet mentioned in the biography of the eHobby exclusive toy, [[Magnificus]]).
:*Circuitry repair patches from [[Cheyne]] (from issue #63 of the Marvel Generation 1 comic).

* Pg 119b – Optimus's evaluation form is rendered in the style of classic Transformers [[Tech Spec]]s, but not any one particular design. The training exercise from the comic story “Survival Skills” is revealed to have taken place on [[Kaiba-5]], a planet mentioned in the 2007 live-action movie video game as having been destroyed by Ironhide.

* Pg 124a – The events of [[Attention Surplus Disorder]] from The Arrival #2 are rendered as an issue of the [[Detroit Powell Press]], the newspaper which appeared in the Animated episode, [[Three's a Crowd]]. The lead story is written by [[Irwin Spoon]], a journalist who appeared in a three-part story in Marvel UK's Generation 1 comic. The article contains several references to numerous other characters and concepts of varying obscurity.
:*[[Quake-Maker]] is a supervillain from the UK's Animated comic, later pictured on page 152.
:*The [[Mechanic]] is a human criminal who battled the Autobots in two issues of the Marvel's original Generation 1 comic.
:*The [[Jack Boys]] are a motorcycle gang from the Super-God Masterforce cartoon.
:*[[Jake Lomax]] is a mob boss from issue #13 of Marvel's Generation 1 comic.
:*[[Jacob Lee Bonaventure]] is an industrialist from IDW's [[Hearts of Steel]] mini-series.

* Pg 124b - The sidebar on the page also makes numerous references:
:*“Defensor United” refers, of course, to the Generation 1 [[Defensor (G1)|Protectobot combiner]]. The team is thrashed by real-life football team West Ham at [[Tigatron Stadium]], the venue named for the [[Tigatron|Beast Wars character]], which appeared in the Animated episode, [[Five Servos of Doom]].
:*In the Animated universe, the Generation 1 Decepticon ally, mad scientist [[Doctor Arkeville]], is the surgeon general! He recommends [[Ding Dong]]s (favored by the [[President of the United States]] in the live-action movie!) as a cure for the [[Hate Plague]], a rage-inciting disease that appeared in the Generation 1 two-part episode, [[The Return of Optimus Prime]].
:*Racing queen [[Junko Shiragami]] is a human female from the Binaltech Asterisk toyline (who was in turn based upon [[Kelly]] from Robots in Disguise). Here, she is dating scientist [[Michael Avery]], who appeared in the 2007 movie prequel novel, [[Ghosts of Yesterday]].
:*Street Demon racer Roxy Sparkles (earlier named on page 105) is here noted to be a member of the band [[Purple Fungus]], who were a favorite of [[Buster Witwicky (G1)|Buster Witwicky]] in the Find Your Fate Junior novel, [[Attack of the Insecticons]].
:*“Princess Ringo” was the nickname by which Kiss Players character [[Ringo Chikuma]] preferred to be known. Here, she has recently visited [[Mont Porte]], the country that is home to the Super-God Masterforce Headmaster Junior [[Minerva]].

* Pg 125 – Adverts on this page refer to:
:*[[Dancitron]], a musical event named for a dance club from the Generation 1 cartoon episode [[Auto-Bop]]. Cold Slither is playing here, a band from the G.I. Joe cartoon episode of the same name, created as part of an evil Cobra plot. The piece of music composed as their [[Cold Slither|signature tune]] was used as incidental music in several Transformers episodes.
:*Wyatt Toys, the toy store named after Animated art director [[Derrick J. Wyatt]] which appears in several episodes of the cartoon. The advert notes that the store sells [[Diaclone]] and [[Microman]] figures, the two toylines that were Transformers' progenitors.
:*Roadhog Horton's Motorcycle Show, named after [[Randy “Roadhog” Horton]], a member of the bounty-hunting motorcyclist [[Roadjammer]]s from [[Ca$h and Car-nage!|issue #46]] of the Marvel Generation 1 comic. His show also features autograph signings from Rorza, a reference to the [[Rorza, the Rocket-cycle Racer from Rigel III|Rocket-Cycle Racer from Rigel III]] of the same name from issue #44.
:*A horror movie named “[[Monster from Mars]]”, an elaborate reference to the movie of the same name that was the central plot element of [[Monstercon from Mars!]], issue #45 of the Marvel comic. In said issue, Decepticon Pretender [[Skullgrin]] starred in the title role; this poster features a monster designed to look like Skullgrin in the style of Meltdown's [[fusion creature]]s, in reference to the fact that Skullgrin's fellow Pretenders [[Submarauder (G1)|Submarauder]] and [[Bomb-Burst]] were the base for the two fusion creatures in the cartoon. In both the original comic and this version, the movie is directed by [[Rollie Friendly]] and stars [[Jake Colton]] and [[Carissa Carr]]; this version also adds [[Karen Fishook]], an actress from the Generation 1 cartoon episode, “Hoist Goes Hollywood”. The movie's soundtrack is by the [[High Rollahz]], a band featured in the “Keepers Trilogy” novel, [[Hardwired]].

* Pg 127 – Unnamed in the original comic, “Bots of Science”, Ratchet here notes that he has dubbed the cure for Cosmic Rust “[[Corrostop]]”, which was, of course, the name of the cure invented in the Generation 1 episode that originally introduced the disease (and was later name-dropped by Rodimus Prime in the Animated episode, [[TransWarped]]). Its ingredients include [[Ingredient X]] (also a component of Corrostop in the G1 episode in question) and razon gas, from the Kid Stuff storybook [[When Continents Collide]].

* Pg 134 – The Elite Guard ship is here given the name the [[Steelhaven (Animated)|Steelhaven]], after [[Steelhaven (G1)|the craft]] commanded by Fortress Maximus in the Generation 1 Marvel comic.

* Pg 136 – Sari's notebook paper is decorated with an illustration of “Hello [[Nekomimi A and Nekomimi B|Nekomimi]] Pop-Star”, a chibified, “Hello Kitty”-style version of Nekomimi A from the Energon episode, “Distribution”. Nekomimi B appears on pg 147 in a similar fashion.

* Pg 138 – The brand of the tire in the [[Garbage-O's]] logo is Wheeljack Tyres!

* Pg 139 – References on the back of the Garbage-O's pack are copious.
:*In the “fueltritional facts” box alone, there are references to mercury sauce, a favorite of the [[Mecannibal]]s from the Marvel Generation 1 comic; [[Rarified Energon]], introduced in the Transformers Collectors Club magazine storyline, [[Crossing Over]]; [[Energon Z]] from [[Zone (franchise)|Zone]]; budianskium basil (referring to Transformers writer [[Bob Budiansky]]); grated gears (a serving suggestion for ants by Beast Wars [[Rampage (BW)|Rampage]] in [[Transmutate (episode)|Transmutate]]); and janick jaAm (see below.)

:*The word jumble unscrambles to read “You lived like a warrior ans died to an hero”, an infamous quote from the late-1990s fanfic by MG-Dinobot, “Dinobot's Old Technology”, which was itself a misquote from the Beast Wars episode [[Code of Hero]]. The quote went on to become one of the most famous online memes from that era of Transformers [[fandom]]. The answer at the bottom of the page, however, claims it actually says “WhY mY ShOuldErs hUrT?”, a tortured quote from British fan Blueshift's famous re-scripting of the first Armada pack-in mini-comic. This was also the source of the above-mentioned “jaAm” line, which was since been immortalized on the license plate and packaging bio of the 2009 Universe Hot Shot figure.

:*Illustration B in the “spot the difference” puzzle is, of course, Generation 1 [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock's]] [[character model]].

* Pg 145 – Ultra Magnus's memoir is prefaced with a haiku from “Sky-Byte, Decepticon poet”, referencing the loveable haiku-writing Predacon [[Sky-Byte (RID)|Sky-Byte]] from Robots in Disguise. He has to be Decepticon here, of course, because there are no Predacons in the Animated universe. In the course of this page, Magnus mentions mitotic sparks, a term from [[Magmatron]]'s Beast Machines toy bio, the Angarix Sector, a region of space introduced in the Generation 1 episode, [[The Quintesson Journal]].

* Pg 148 – Megatron refers to the act of branding the Constructicons with the Decepticon symbol as the “[[Rite of the Deceptibrand]],” after the Autobot equivalent, the “[[Rite of the Autobrand]]”, from issue #14 of the Marvel Generation 1 comic.

* Pg 161 – Starscream uses the expression “a few [[lipole]]s short of a nest”, referring to the metal-eating bat-creatures native to Jupiter's moon [[Io]], from the Generation 1 multi-part episode, [[Five Faces of Darkness]].

* Pg 164 – Lockdown's spaceship is named the Death's Head, after the bounty hunter from the Marvel UK Generation 1 comics. , but has been upgraded using parts obtained from the planets [[Jörmungandr]] (from the [[Beast Wars Neo (franchise)|Beast Wars Neo]] episode, [[A Battle Fought Alone]]) and [[Taxxon]] (a world of alien centipedes from [[Animorphs]]), and the [[Jabbi-Ko]] (aliens mentioned in the Marvel Generation 2 comics). Vandarian holographic technology (from the same planet as the [[Vandarian fuzz-worm]]s mentioned in a [[Mini Mayhem!]] strip on the Transformers Collectors Club website) and [[cybertitanium]] cables (made from the metal introduced in the Japanese Generation 2 storyline).

* Pg 170 – Bulkhead describes candy as being like [[Ultra-Energon]] for kids, referring to the super-charged form of the Transformers' customary fuel that first appears in IDW Publishing's [[Infiltration]] series.

* Pg 174 – Newscaster [[Lester Black]] is revealed to be the great-nephew of [[Hector Ramirez (Animated)|Hector Ramirez]], the [[Hector Ramirez (G1)|news reporter]] created by Sunbow writer [[Buzz Dixon]], who appeared in [[G.I. Joe (franchise)|G.I. Joe]], The Inhumanoids, Jem and the Holograms and the Transformers episode [[Prime Target]].

* Pg 178 – [[Augustus Edsel|Mayor Edsel]] is revealed to be the nephew of famous actor [[Harold Edsel (G1)|Harold Edsel]], who appeared in the Generation 1 episode [[Hoist Goes Hollywood]].

* Pg 183 – The [[Sidney Biggles-Jones Memorial Solar Fusion Plant]] is named after the [[Sidney Biggles-Jones|scientist]] from the Marvel Comics G.I. Joe storyline that led into the Generation 2 comic. Scientists named as working on solar fusion are [[Brian Jones (Energon)|Brian Jones]] (from [[Energon (franchise)|Energon]]), [[Daichi Onishi]] (the Japanese name of Doctor [[Kenneth Onishi]] from Robots in Disguise), [[Professor Morris|Peter Morris]] (from the Marvel UK Generation 1 comics) and [[Felix Adle]] (named after [[Professor Adle]] from [[The Stargate Battles]] manga, who did not have a given first name).

* Pg 200 – The generic Sumdac Systems technicians are named [[Eddie Fairchild and Matt Conroy]]. These are the names of two prototypical characters who existed in the development phase of the Generation 1 cartoon, who eventually evolved into [[Spike Witwicky (G1)|Spike Witwicky]] and [[Chip Chase]].

* Pg 203 – Noted architect George R. Apple. [[Grapple|G.R.Apple]]? Anybody? Anybody? C'mooon!

* Pg 206 – The [[Nemesis (Animated)|Nemesis]] is equipped with a Grand Mal class force field, named after the [[Grand Mal]], the giant fortress-cum-giant head occupied by Beast Wars [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] in the latter stages of the Beast Machines cartoon. It has a cybertroid alloy star drive (just like the Generation 1 [[Nemesis (G1)|Nemesis]], as mentioned in the G1 episode [[Microbots]]), and has the most sophisticated sensor array this side of the [[Eshems Nebula]], a region of space introduced in IDW Publishing's live-action movie-based [[Defiance]] series.

* Pg 207 – To escape the damaged Nemesis, the Decepticons used Devolan escape pods. The planet [[Devola]] was the site of a huge victory for the Decepticon [[Tidal Wave (Armada)|Tidal Wave]] in the Armada universe.

* Pg 211 – The crashed Decepticon ship on Archa Seven is named the [[Twilight (Animated)|Twilight]], after the [[Twilight (G2)|flagship]] from the Marvel Generation 2 comics.

====Real-world references====
Too many to count here! (But see External Links below.)

==Errors==
*Page 33: The [[Magnus Hammer]] is referred to as a "Storm'''breaker'''" hammer instead of "Storm'''bringer'''," a previously-given name for the weapon.
*Page 95: The "d" is left out of "Powdered Sugar."
*Page 133: "...have tried harder to recruit the Dinobots as allies, but I was so angry at Prowl's deception that I..." is repeated immediately following the first use in the third paragraph.
*Page 145: The "c" is left out of "First (and Second) in Flight."

==External Links==
[http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/digipedia/annotated_almanac.html Full annotated listing of MOST hidden references in the Almanac]

[[Category:Animated]]
[[Category: IDW titles]]
[[Category: Reference texts]]

Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac

2009-09-02T00:03:45Z

71.148.38.190: /* External Links */