Editing Transformers: The Ultimate Guide

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[[Image:Ultimateguide.jpg|right|275px|thumb|He&#39;s bigger, faster and stronger too, He&#39;s the first member of the DK crew!]]
'''''Transformers: The Ultimate Guide''''' is an officially licensed guide from [[DK Publishing]], written by [[Simon Furman]] in 2004 and published in 2005. In 2007, a second edition was published, increasing the page count from 144 to 152 (visibly different by having a reflective background on the cover instead of white).

==Editorial priorities==
''The Ultimate Guide'' is one of many similarly titled publications by Dorling Kindersley which cover the histories, characters and worlds of comic characters such as [[Spider-Man]], the [[Wolverine|X-Men]] and many others. However, the ''Transformers'' tome is distinguished by one major detail—while the other books serve as encyclopedias of the characters' long histories in print, ''Transformers: The Ultimate Guide'' gives only the most basic of treatment to the historical aspects of [[Generation 1 (franchise)|Generation 1]]. Instead, its articles are focused entirely on the then-current [[Dreamwave Productions|Dreamwave]] comics [[continuity]]. However, as Dreamwave's universe was so monumentally underdeveloped at the time of the book's publication, most of the information in the book actually had to be created ''for the book''.

Additionally, the book appears to deliberately favor story material from comic continuities as opposed to the [[The Transformers (cartoon)|cartoon]] continuity. This is most conspicuous in dealing with the origin of the [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]] in the Dreamwave universe, where Furman dismisses the notion that they were built on [[Earth]] by [[Wheeljack (G1)|Wheeljack]] ([[S.O.S. Dinobots|as in the cartoon]]) on the basis that it is in contradiction with the "historical evidence" that the Dynobots existed on [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]—from the ''[[The War Within|War Within]]'' comic Furman himself wrote nearly 20 years later. This approach goes so far as to claim that the cartoon's [[Quintesson]]-creation origin for the [[Transformer|Transformers]] is entirely conjectural—when ''talking solely about the cartoon!''

Finally, in the sections where the book ''does'' deal directly with historical aspects of Generation 1 (in the pages covering the [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|Marvel Comics]], the cartoon and the [[The Transformers (toyline)|toys]]), not one page passes without several errors. Several names are spelled incorrectly ("[[Teletraan I (G1)|Teletran-1]]", "[[Carly Witwicky (G1)|Carlee]]", "[[Elita One|Eleta-1]]", "[[Shawn Berger|Sean Burger]]"), various 'toon and comic summaries have inaccuracies in them, and the toys used for images are old, ratty artifacts with peeling, misapplied stickers and various missing accessories. 

The episode guides for the Generation 1 cartoon, ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'', ''[[Beast Machines (cartoon)|Beast Machines]]'', and ''[[Armada (cartoon)|Armada]]'' are also condensed significantly into "best of" guides showcasing the finest episodes, or ones that push the story forward.  A ''[[Robots in Disguise (franchise)|Robots in Disguise]]'' episode guide was deliberately excluded—leaving that series' section of the book brief and incomplete—in order [[To sell toys|to leave more room for the then-upcoming ''Energon'' line]].

==Contents==
* Introduction

===Generation 1===
* [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]]
* The [[Iacon|City of Iacon]]
* [[Great War (G1)|Civil War]]
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]]
* [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]]
* [[Autobot]] Officers
* The [[Decepticon|Decepticons]]
* [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] and [[Decepticon Mini-Cassette|Co.]]
* The [[Dinobot (G1)|Dinobots]]
* [[Combiner|Combiners]]
* [[The Transformers (cartoon)|TV Season 1]]
* [[The Transformers (cartoon)|TV Season 2]]
* [[The Transformers: The Movie|The Movie]]
* [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|US Comics 1]]
* [[The Transformers (Marvel comic)|US Comics 2]]
* [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|UK Comics 1]]
* [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|UK Comics 2]]
* [[The Transformers (cartoon)|TV Season 3]] & [[The Transformers (cartoon)|4]]
* [[Unicron]]
* [[Quintessons]]
* [[Primus]]
* [[Combiner|Special teams]]
* [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]] and [[Targetmaster|Targetmasters]]
* [[Optimus Prime (G1)/toys|Powermaster Optimus Prime]]
* [[Pretenders]]
* Japanese G1 Toys
** This section deals largely with toys that were [[Pre-Transformer|later recycled into Transformers.]]
* [[The Transformers (toyline)|Generation 1 Toys]]
* [[The Transformers (toyline)|Other G1 Toys]]

===Generation 2===
* Transformers Versus [[G.I. Joe]]
* [[Generation 2 (Marvel Comics)|G2 Comics]]
* [[Alignment|Beyond G2]]
* [[Generation 2 (toyline)|''Generation 2'' Toys]]
** [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], [[Pyro]], and [[Clench (G2)|Clench]] are all photographed holding guns that none of them come with. The guns seem to be Hot Spot's.

===Beast Wars===
''Aside from the introduction page, all artwork in the ''[[Beast Wars]]'' and ''[[Beast Machines]]'' sections was provided by [[Mainframe Entertainment]]''

* [[Beast Wars (Part 1)|The Arrival]]
* [[Optimus Primal]]
* [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]]
* The [[Maximals]]
* [[Predacon (BW)|Predacons]]
* [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|TV Season 1]]
* [[Fuzors]] and [[Transmetal]]
** In one caption in this section, [[Rattrap]] is mislabeled as [[Cheetor (BW)|Cheetor]] 
* [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|TV Season 2]] &amp; [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|3]]
* [[Beast Wars (toyline)|''Beast Wars'' Toys]]

===Beast Machines===
* The [[Reformatting]]
* [[Maximals]]
* [[Vehicon (BM)|Vehicons]]
* [[Beast Machines (cartoon)|TV Seasons 1 & 2]]
* [[Beast Machines (toyline)|''Beast Machines'' Toys]]

===Transformers: Robots In Disguise===
* [[Robots in Disguise (toyline)|A New Wave]]
**[[Hightower (RID)|Hightower]] is incorrectly labeled as being a pre-TF ''[[Diaclone]]'' design; apparently [[Simon Furman|Furman]] got his "Car Robot"-named lines confused. 
* Autobots and Decepticons

===Transformers Armada & Energon===
* Cybertron Revisited
* Autobots
* Decepticons
* [[Mini-Cons]]
* [[Armada (cartoon)|The TV Series]]
* [[Armada (toyline)|''TRANSFORMERS Armada'' Toys]]
** The image of Super Mode Optimus Prime has several different paint applications than his general release.
* [[Energon (franchise)|''TRANSFORMERS Energon'']]
* Autobots
* Decepticons
* [[Energon (toyline)|''TRANSFORMERS Energon'' Toys]]
** The [[Energon (cartoon)|''Energon'' cartoon]] did not have a section in the original printing because at the time, it hadn't finished airing.

===Dreamwave Comics===
* [[Prime Directive|Generation 1]]
* ''[[The War Within]]''
* [[Armada (Dreamwave comic)|''TRANSFORMERS Armada'']] & [[Energon (comic)|''Energon'']]

===Other===
* Index
* Acknowledgements

==Influence==
''The Ultimate Guide'' has no doubt been used as a reference by more than a few individuals working on official ''Transformers'' material. Sadly, its influence is always easiest to determine when it causes someone to make a mistake.

The earliest example was the ''[[Transformers Legends]]'' story, "[[Lonesome Diesel]]", in which an author clearly unfamiliar with Transformers parroted several of Cybertron's landmarks singled out by the guide, and when listing off the Decepticons, only named those who received profiles on the guide's Generation 1 Decepticons page... when the story was supposed to be set ''in the Armada universe''.

The guide's incorrect spellings for "Teletran-1" and "Carlee" (as opposed to "Teletraan I" and "Carly") were carried over into the characters' ''[[Transformers Animated (franchise)|Animated]]'' counterparts, although "Carlee" got corrected in [[The Arrival issue 4|issue 4]] of the ''[[The Arrival|Arrival]]'' comic book. The "Teletran" spelling could well have resulted in [[Devil's Due]]'s "[[Teletran 3]]" as well.

[[Roberto Orci]] and [[Alex Kurtzman]] beat tradition by not repeating any of the guide's mistakes when they regularly consulted the guide while writing ''[[Transformers (2007)|Transformers]]''.[http://boards.transformersmovie.com/showthread.php?p=385868#post385868]

==Vital statistics==
'''First Print'''

ISBN 0756603145<br>
ISBN 978-0756603144<br>
'''Pagecount:''' 144<br>
'''Publisher:''' DK Publishing<br>
'''Date published:''' [[May 5]], 2004


'''Second ISBN version'''

ISBN 1405304618<br>
ISBN 978-1405304610<br>
'''Pagecount:''' 144<br>
'''Publisher:''' Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd.<br>
'''Date published:''' [[June 24]], 2004


'''Updated paperback edition'''

ISBN 0756630126<br>
ISBN 978-0756630126<br>
'''Pagecount:''' 152<br>
'''Publisher:''' DK Publishing<br>
'''Date published:''' [[May 21]], 2007


'''Japanese HC version'''

ISBN 4861760348<br>
ISBN 978-4861760341<br>
'''Pagecount:''' 141<br>
'''Publisher:''' Jive<br>
'''Date published:''' [[February 1]], 2005

[[Category:Reference texts]]