Transformers: The Junior Novel

Transformers book series »
Kids, in this book we turned down the violence against robots so that you won't feel bad and/or scared - but we decided to kill humans in it. Good night and sleep tight.
Transformers: The Junior Novel
Publisher	HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint	Harper Entertainment
First published	May 31, 2007
Writer	S. G. Wilkens, based on the screenplay and story of the 2007 Movie
Illustrations	DreamWorks' promotional images of the characters in the movie on colored backgrounds.
Continuity	Movie continuity
ISBN	ISBN 0060888350 ISBN 978-0060888350
Page count	134

Synopsis

The events of this book are generally identical to the film.

The only notable omission is that Frenzy does not disguise himself as Mikaela Banes's cell phone.

Differences/Notes

• The AllSpark is described as the 'last remaining' source of the Transformers lifeforce. This is similar to the Transformers: The Movie Storybook's description as 'the last remaining AllSpark.'
• Jorge Figueroa is named "John Figuerosa" throughout the book (and he dies in the novelization; in the movie he survives, though seriously wounded).
• Maggie Madsen is named "Maggie Marconi" throughout the book. Her backstory and relationship to Glen Whitmann are laid out much more thoroughly here than in any other source.
• Glen Whitmann is Maggie's co-worker at the Rand Corporation.
• Unlike the movie, Blackout was knocked out by the shoulder-launched attack and remained offline for several hours.
• Bumblebee has a Moustache Man (again, like Transformers: The Movie Storybook.)
• After Mikaela attacks Frenzy with a saw, Sam knocks his head off with a piece of rebar instead of kicking it.
• Bumblebee quotes Muhammad Ali "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" to introduce himself. (In the movie he uses a clip from the hip-hop song "Second To None"... while doing an impression of a boxer.)
• Megatron is described as 'feeding on' the sparks of his conquered enemies to grow stronger. (This idea was dropped completely from the finished movie.)
• Tom Banachek appears to normally be assigned to the White House.
• The Sector 7 SUVs are described as Chevy Suburbans, whereas in the movie they're actually GMC Yukons.
• Unlike the movie, Maggie and Sam arrive at Hoover Dam on separate helicopters.
• The always-inconsistent date for the discovery of the AllSpark is given as 1920.
• Megatron could sense the AllSpark when he was near it.
• Frenzy is destroyed by John Keller, not his own discs. Keller drops a heavy, ancient fax machine from the storage room on him.
• The freeway battle is omitted; instead, Bonecrusher is destroyed by Bumblebee, and Mikaela's "I'll aim, you shoot" takes on a much more literal meaning, as she helps lift Bumblebee's arm (a task which he is too weak to do on his own).
• The final battle takes place in Las Vegas, not Mission City.
• Optimus Prime instruction to Sam is to use the Allspark to kill Megatron, rather than to merge it with Optimus's spark.
• Megatron's arms become two dozen firing turrets instead of a fusion cannon. He also shoots fire from his arms, rather than using a chain whip.
• Maggie and Keller are physically present at the Decepticons' burial-at-sea.

Featured characters

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Autobots

Errors

• Sam's phone call to the police ends before he mentions the transforming car... but Simmons mentions it anyway. Oopsie!
• Frenzy did not disguise himself as Mikaela's cell phone... but it is nonetheless stated to have summoned the Decepticons to Hoover Dam. Oopsie!