Reading – Transformers: Decepticon Hijack

Yesterday’s “Reading” post, Masters of the Universe: The Sword of Skeletor, left me inspired to dig out this ancient Transformers book and flip through it again. And at 24-pages it didn’t take any time at all to read
Transformers: Decepticon Hijack*, which shouldn’t surprise any of us when we keep in mind that this 1985 “Big Looker Storybook” was definitely not intended to keep anyone entertained for long.

In fact, I’m kinda shocked that after 26 years I can sink as much time as I did into playing with the book. And, as it my duty with battlegrip.com, it is time for me to steal a little of your life and distract you with something completely unnecessary to your life.

The book’s story is very simplistic and summarized at the TFWiki so check that out if you want a play-by-play report of the action locked inside. For me it’s not at all the story that is entertaining, but the unusual character designs and pen-n-ink/watercolored artwork that captures my attention and has me remembering this book over two decades after I first read it as a child. Almost every single Transformers character in the book is twisted and warped in some way or other, not looking like the toy or cartoon or comic or . . . well, the designs are basically unique to this book. And that fascinates me more than it probably should.

Swoop is especially odd, looking almost fleshy and metallic in the one shot of him in dinosaur mode. And the sharp lines with the rough watercolor work throughout the book is a bit jarring — as are the Autobot and Decepticon symbols on the characters which often look like pasted on elements — but for reasons I cannot explain that artwork style holds my eye and my imagination. The artist, John Speirs, should be congratulated because I think his choice to go with an art style and character designs so unlike what we were seeing in Transformers at the time helps this book to continue to stand out. And looking at this book after all these years is making me want to track down the others in the series.

Closing Thoughts

By no means a remarkable work, Transformers: Decepticon Hijack* is a book I’m happy to own if only because it is one I had as a child and because the artwork is so different from what we see in most Transformers releases from the eighties. And like the Masters of the Universe book we looked at yesterday (reading post here), this is nothing more than pure fun. And fun is what we should get out of these trips down memory lane . . . even if there’s a chance I’m the only person who enjoyed this particular trip.

For more photos of the book see this Flickr set. If you’re brave enough to want to know more about this book see this page at Steve-O’s Transformers site.

Fair warning, guys. I’m in a mood to pull down another ancient book. In fact, I’ve got a Transformers coloring book around here somewhere that may deserve a little attention. You have been warned.