A place for heated discussion of the polarising controversies around this Kickstarter project.
Transformers Compendium Kickstarter
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Skybound have sent out backer PDFs for their Transformers Compendium Kickstarter that was blatantly just using the IDW “remasters” and yet somehow got $4m or so in funding. And, er, it’s not going down well.
I’m not even out of issue one and have found multiple typos. These are apparently known mistakes from previous reprints that several prominent online fans could have cited for you. Or just a person with eyes actually reading the comics. Not good enough Skybound.
Skybound’s response to initial displeasure.
Greetings Backers,
We appreciate all the feedback on THE TRANSFORMERS CompendiumPDFs and wanted want to make sure we addressed some backer notes.
Skybound is committed to delivering the highest quality editions with our TRANSFORMERS compendiums.The files were primarily sourced from Hachette’s Partworks editions, as well as some additional sources in the TF community. We made hundreds of additional corrections, with the primary goal of keeping the material as close to how it was originally published, while correcting art, colors, and lettering to fix incorrectly colored characters, typos, broken balloons, and lettering, etc.
While that means there will be some visible imperfections such as creases, color fading, or scan artifacts as part of the archival material itself, we are confident these TRANSFORMERS compendiums will deliver the same reading experience as you’ve come to expect from us.
Thank you for your questions and we look forward to you holding the final hardcovers in your hands!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyboundent/transformers-compendium-set/posts/4494414/comments
I was expect a once in a lifetime physical unified TF experience.
I didn’t back at $600USD (over $900AUD) for essentially bootleg scans I could’ve accquired elsewhere online.
Please take the time to do it right before printing the physical versions, this is what we supported you to do.Looking at the scans for Burning Sky Part Two, and it’s like somebody actively crumpled the comic up before scanning. Yikes.
Yall arent going to do the right thing and fix this garbage or you would have already done it. You have FOUR POINT SIX MILLION and you’re creating mistakes.
Straight up, how do i get my money back?
I mean, come on, the creases are one thing, but whoever scanned the G2 #1 gatefold could have at least laid it properly flat on the scanner…
While it absolutely sucks that people got ripped off for this, as someone who a) saw this coming and b) doesn’t like Skybound, I’m feeling a lot of schadenfreude from this. I really hope it has some impact on the company.
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Skybound have sent out backer PDFs for their Transformers Compendium Kickstarter that was blatantly just using the IDW “remasters” and yet somehow got $4m or so in funding. And, er, it’s not going down well.
I’m not even out of issue one and have found multiple typos. These are apparently known mistakes from previous reprints that several prominent online fans could have cited for you. Or just a person with eyes actually reading the comics. Not good enough Skybound.
Skybound’s response to initial displeasure.
Greetings Backers,
We appreciate all the feedback on THE TRANSFORMERS CompendiumPDFs and wanted want to make sure we addressed some backer notes.
Skybound is committed to delivering the highest quality editions with our TRANSFORMERS compendiums.The files were primarily sourced from Hachette’s Partworks editions, as well as some additional sources in the TF community. We made hundreds of additional corrections, with the primary goal of keeping the material as close to how it was originally published, while correcting art, colors, and lettering to fix incorrectly colored characters, typos, broken balloons, and lettering, etc.
While that means there will be some visible imperfections such as creases, color fading, or scan artifacts as part of the archival material itself, we are confident these TRANSFORMERS compendiums will deliver the same reading experience as you’ve come to expect from us.
Thank you for your questions and we look forward to you holding the final hardcovers in your hands!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skyboundent/transformers-compendium-set/posts/4494414/comments
I was expect a once in a lifetime physical unified TF experience.
I didn’t back at $600USD (over $900AUD) for essentially bootleg scans I could’ve accquired elsewhere online.
Please take the time to do it right before printing the physical versions, this is what we supported you to do.Looking at the scans for Burning Sky Part Two, and it’s like somebody actively crumpled the comic up before scanning. Yikes.
Yall arent going to do the right thing and fix this garbage or you would have already done it. You have FOUR POINT SIX MILLION and you’re creating mistakes.
Straight up, how do i get my money back?
I mean, come on, the creases are one thing, but whoever scanned the G2 #1 gatefold could have at least laid it properly flat on the scanner…
While it absolutely sucks that people got ripped off for this, as someone who a) saw this coming and b) doesn’t like Skybound, I’m feeling a lot of schadenfreude from this. I really hope it has some impact on the company.
Counterpoint.
As one of the backers on this project, I spent a stupid amount of money on it. I have a crazy amount of nostalgia for these comics and I’ve barely read a third of them. As this was the only viable option for me to acquire this collection in a timely manner and for a reasonable price, I was happy to do so. And, I remain happy to do so, to be honest. I look forward to reading/ re-reading this run that means so much to me. Would I prefer better reproduction of this material? Sure. But if the choice is a sub-par repro vs never reading them, I unreservedly choose that. No question.
I also remain faithful that the physical product will bring me much joy. Irrespective of the reproduction quality or lack thereof. Having this material collected in high end hardcover is something I never dreamed of previously and cannot wait to see on my bookshelves.
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I think you’re letting them off far too lightly. And also:
I spent a stupid amount of money on it
only viable option for me to acquire this collection in a timely manner and for a reasonable price
which is it? A stupid amount of money or a reasonable price? If you just wanted the series to read as a PDF, you’d genuinely be better off with pirated scans, because there are much better quality ones out there. And this isn’t your only option for physical. The Titan trades are still out there, as are the IDW ones (which admittedly don’t do all the UK material) and the Hachette partwork. And they’d probably cost less to get a set of than the upper tiers of this kickstarter.
high end hardcover
Is it really a “high end” hardcover, if they haven’t put in the effort on actually restoring the contents (or indeed making a contents page, according to the PDF)? It’s like making an expensive steelbook UHD blu-ray release of a movie but only using a 4th generation VHS dub of it.
Your “well at least I’ve got it in some manner” attitude has absolutely been taken advantage of by Skybound here.
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It was both. A stupid amount of money and my only viable option. I’m not paying inflated prices for existing copies of the Titan editions or the Hachette partworks. I also have neither the time nor the inclination to hunt down the original comics.
I don’t do piracy.
The physical product can be high end even if the repro inside is poorer. Not sure what there is to disagree about there
I’m glad you’re enjoying the show, Martin, but I don’t feel taken advantage of here so maybe don’t assume we’ve all been taken for a ride.
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Yeah, sometimes you have to be realistic about what’s achievable with this stuff. I’ve paid for books in the past that I know aren’t going to have perfect reproduction (with pages taken from scans, etc.) when I know there aren’t any available original files, so there isn’t a better alternative option.
As for leaving in typos from the original comics, when it comes to the question of whether or not you correct that stuff for archive reprints, it’s is a matter of opinion. Personally I’d have been pissed off if the first Marvel ASM Omni had removed the early gaffe when Doc Ock called Spidey Superman, for example, because it’s all part of the charm and sense of seeing the stories as originally presented. (Thankfully they left it in.)
Back to Transformers, the production values on the books themselves look to be pretty great, and as a set they look very nice indeed, so I hope you enjoy them Vik.
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when I know there aren’t any available original files
There are absolutely original files available. Titan used them. Marvel used them for their five trades of GI Joe. IDW and Skybound just chose not to use them with Skybound saying they’re “not available”. Given that Marvel have been able to use original files for reprint editions of old licensed series like Conan, Rom, Micronauts, Godzilla and more, I find it hard to believe the only files they didn’t hold onto were Transformers and GI Joe issue 51 onwards. Clearly IDW and Skybound didn’t want to pay Marvel’s price and are trying to make it sound like they don’t exist.
As for leaving in typos from the original comics
These aren’t typos from the original comics though. They’re errors introduced from the terrible OCR IDW did when doing their (low res) scans of the original series, that they didn’t bother to proofread and correct. This isn’t someone in the 80s forgetting the odd letter or mispelling something, it’s “Goldbuggy” being bastardised into “Goldbussy” because their OCR sucks and no-one could be arsed to correct it, despite these being known errors for over a decade now and Skybound having a crowd-funded budget of over $4m to work with.
If you want to buy cheaply produced crap, by all means, fill your boots and justify it any way you want. But to claim this isn’t just a lazy cash-grab by Skybound is disingenuous.
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I’m not an expert in this area, but checking in on what the guys on the Transformers forum are saying, the consensus seems to be that the issues being cited are mainly with the Marvel UK stuff and it’s believe that the original files aren’t available in many cases and original art would need to be tracked down etc. – plus, it also seems like Skybound were upfront initially that it would be the IDW/Hachette files that were used and that it was a reprint project rather than a restoration/remastering, which would obviously be a different deal.
So it doesn’t seem like people are really being fooled into buying something they didn’t expect, and most people who were paying attention seem to feel like they’re getting what they paid for. The loudest complaining voices seem to be from those who chose not to stump up for the set and want to feel good about their decision.
Again, this is just from observing what is being said by people more expert than me in this area.
If you want to buy cheaply produced crap, by all means, fill your boots and justify it any way you want.
This seems a bit unnecessary when you know there are people on here who have signed up for the book and are happy with what they paid for.
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I’m not an expert in this area,
I kinda am. I’ve been deep in TF fandom for over 20 years.
mainly with the Marvel UK stuff
The complaints are about the poor scans of Marvel UK material partially yes – certainly that’s where the crumpled pages come into it and questions about ordering and integration with the US material and that many covers haven’t been included (some of which were used in the Kickstarter promotion). This isn’t an insignificant element, given the set was sold to many on the appeal of having the UK material mixed in with the US for the first time (and it warrants as much care as the US stuff whichever way you look at it). The original files are available – Titan used them, Marvel or Panini will own them. But the complaints are also about the low quality scans of Marvel US, the poor OCR that hasn’t been corrected, the newly poor scans of G2, the lacking colour restoration and the poor attempts at “error correction” that, much like with IDW’s trades, focus on things that aren’t errors, such as this:
Soundwave in his correct, original Marvel US colour scheme with an original art error of him having a face, newly “corrected” to:
Soundwave in his animated series colour scheme with his “correct” face bodged over the original.it also seems like Skybound were upfront initially that it would be the IDW/Hachette files that were used and that it was a reprint project rather than a restoration/remastering, which would obviously be a different deal.
They were not upfront about it at all. They actively avoided engaging with anyone asking about it or eventually pointing this out and casually mentioned it in passing on a Near Mint Condition stream.
Meanwhile the Kickstarter page was throwing around phrasing like “magnificent” “premium hardcover”, and “the ultimate reading experience”. I mean to me it’s not the “ultimate reading experience” if it’s objectively worse than the original monthlies and previous publisher’s tpbs.
The Kickstarter buries in its FAQ only
Have any of the files used for these compendiums been remastered?
We’ve worked with Hasbro to source the available files.
Which says nothing. The main Kickstarter page talks more about spot gloss than it does the source material. People who approached Skybound to offer help with making new, better scans (especially of the UK material) such as JP Bove (the colourist for the Hachette collections of the originally black and white Marvel UK material) were ignored (and in Bove’s case, not even credited for his previous work). And remember, after the funding ending, they had $4m to work with. And people were offering these scans freely and considering they knew the stuff they had to work with was crumpled, off colour etc, was bold.
So it doesn’t seem like people are really being fooled into buying something they didn’t expect,
Literally a string of Kickstarter comments linked above (as well as posts on social media and other forums) say otherwise. Never mind the fact they used Kickstarter FOMO on the combined US/UK versions (whereas the mass market paperbacks will only have them separately) to get people to pre-order them sight unseen.
The loudest complaining voices seem to be from those who chose not to stump up for the set and want to feel good about their decision.
I was considering getting this set, or the paperback versions, when it was announced. I am very much in the market for OHC of the complete Marvel US and UK. It was only because I dug into interviews and waited for previews of the paperbacks (thereby missing the Kickstarter) that I was able to make an informed decision and thankfully dodged a bullet. So yeah, there’s definitely some gloating on my part here, but also mainly disgust that Skybound would rake in $4m for this “premium” project and not give it the effort it deserved.
Again, this is just from observing what is being said by people more expert than me in this area.
Yes, hello again, this is me, a people more expert than you in this area. Many people are justifiably pissed off, or at least disappointed at being duped into buying an “ultimate” collection of Transformers that is severely lacking, especially as this isn’t the first time for a lot of us. IDW did the same thing when they immediately started their second run of reprint trades after the first ones, where they hadn’t bothered to negotiate the use of Circuit Breaker etc with Marvel, so just skipped those issues. The idea that this was a once in a life time, limited premium product that you absolutely had to Kickstart or miss out on was not insignificant to attracting attention (and they hadn’t solicited or listed the paperback UK compendiums before the Kickstarter was launched IIRC). And yet, it’s the same old stuff served up in a new hat and a premium price. I get Vik’s attitude of “well at least I have it” but even on that front, the paperbacks will be across the next year or so, with all the same material in the same poor quality for a fraction of the price. This is Lyle Lanley levels of hucksterism from Skybound and no-one should be making excuses for it.
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Well at least you’re being calm about it and not overreacting.
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But you didn’t pay for anything though, Martin. Not entirely sure why you care. At all.
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I’ve moved this unexpectedly-resurrected conversation into its own thread so it doesn’t overwhelm the other one.
Sorry you were upset by my earlier comment Martin, it’s my nature to try and use humour to defuse situations where I think someone is behaving unreasonably so that I don’t have to explicitly call them out on it in a way that seems confrontational. It wasn’t meant as pointed or personal.
I see where you’re coming from on this, but I think you’re also going a bit too far in rubbishing aspects that other people who have actually backed the Kickstarter (including members of this forum) are totally fine with, and behaving as though it’s all objectively awful and anyone who doesn’t agree is foolish and wrong.
This stuff is all subjective to some extent and at this point maybe it’s best to just wait and see what the final product looks like rather than us getting heated about a set of books that hasn’t even been shipped yet.
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This is far more of a Quintesson thing
And they contracted the job out to the Junkions.
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