The Book is always better then the movie, because you are picturing it in your own mind. So i Say see the movie then read the book. Otherwise the same thing will happen with Star wars.

A buddy of mine read the X-Men III: The Last Stand book before the movie and while he still enjoyed the movie, he was disappointed because there is stuff that is always in the book that doesn't make it into the movie. I say see the movie then read the book.

"Movie first all the way!" I say reading the book first is like knowing the future and knowing the future ruins the suprises the movie will have for us. Secondly the few times I have done what your thinking about is I see some of the stuff in the book that was left out of the movie in the deleted scenes which we all know there will be.

I say see the movie then read the book and think of it as a "directors cut"

Movie first. On topic of toy hunting I hope I can get the new blue arcee at target in the next week.

Movie first. I didn't read Empire Strikes Back untill about 2000. It was still better than the movie. I can even tell you why. In the book they were talking about how the Carbonite Freezing process smelled. There are always details like that in a book that will never make it into a movie.

It's like Anakin's conversion. How do you know it was in fact a gradual process? Because in the book you can read what he's thinking.

In the movies you only see actions and spoken words. Add that to the time limits and ratings system and the movie simply will never be as good as the book.

Wow, how very interesting, it's unanamous! Is there really no one who thinks reading the book first is a good idea???

On a side note, I've had to delete several different postings here in this thread. Please, be curtious to your fellow fans. Voice whatever opinions you'd like, but please do not write spoilers... Thank you.

i talked to someone at walmart that stocks the toys at night ,and she said that there is 4 pallets of new transformer toys .now im releaved. so me and my brother will be at walmart at 6:00 am when they open. happy hunting everyone ......................... read the book first then the movie so you can fill in any gaps that r missing in the movie .dig what im sayin. then you can say "oh ok".

I don't think that it would hurt to read the book in this case, only because the book isn't actually based on the finished script. It's based on the older script, so there really isn't anything in it that you wouldn't have known if you didn't read the script. Even if you didn't read the script, the book is still vastly different from the movie to a point where the movie still comes as a surprise. And there aren't very many hidden details about the story like the Episode III book. In fact, a scene from the movie that has narration has absolutely nothing in the book.
But it still does have a lot of actual spoilers in it, so read at your own risk.

Well, my opinion may be late Perceptor, but I also bought the book, and I am already about 40-45% done with it, heheh. Don't worry about it being addicting.

Obviously I decided to read the book before the seeing the movie, but I also read the Star Wars Episode 3 book before the movie too, and I still enjoyed the movie (although I see your point).

My opinion, I think the movie cannot be in anyway disappointing to me despite if the book is better, even if I know how everything turns out (different script draft usage aside). Of course it is up to you solely to decide on whether or not to read the book now or later, personally, I couldn't wait to see how the story plays out, and even though I haven't finished the book yet I still can't wait to see that movie blast onto the big screen.

i bought barricade the day before his release,apparently the local Toys "R" us didn't get the memo that they were supposed to be released on the second of june.

Well Perceptor I would wait for the book until after ythe movie, although I'll admit last night at Barnes and Noble I did something pretty dumb: They had the movie story books there, and lots of other books as well, so I read some of the books and found out how it ends. Oh well, I read a detailed summary of Cars on Wikipedia before seeing the movie, and it was still good when I saw it, and also read the graphic novel of Revenge of the Sith and still absolutly loved the movie.

i just got back from walmart and me and my bro went crazy . i got prime and starscream and the helmet . note on the helmet . some helmets dont sound like prime i check a few of them the one i got sounds like prime . i wonder if anyone else noticed , if so they mabe worth more on ebay we'll find out .

Waitaminute!!! Megatron, do you mean to tell me that some helments have the voice of Peter Cullen????

I've got a helment, and DANG it's cool even w/o the a cullen sounding voice. Surprisingly fun! I put it on and told my children it was time for bed, they both stopped what they were doing and listened! LOVE it!

Wal Mart didn't put the deluxe figures out like the manager I spoke to on Wednesday said that they would. They weren't even out on the shelves when I went in this morning. LIARS!!
But, there were LOADS of "real gear" figures, and some cyber slammers and those pvc figure sets. I bought the Real Gear figure of Zoom Out 25X, and have since renamed him "Reflector" since he's a Decepticon and a camera, though he's a video camera. I figured it'd be the only way I'd get a Reflector. lol
But, after wandering around for about an hour or so, a sales associate was back in the department, and was putting out more stuff. This included voice changing helmets, a double figure set of a remake of Optimus Prime from 1984 (like the one that is in the set with Gen 2 Megatron) and a "quick change" version of him from the new movie. And several deluxe figures were finally being put on the shelves as well.
So, I now own Bumblebee, Jazz, Zoom Out, Barricade (with Frenzy!), and Bonecrusher. As well as bragging rights to being the first person in my town to have any of the figures.
*dances*

LOL, "told my children it was time for bed, they both stopped what they were doing and listened! LOVE it!" lol. you should have also snuck up on your wife and scared her thats what I would do if i was married.

yes they do have peter cullens voice some of then, it was weird to find that "percepter". found megatron at target he has a wider body than prime

I was at a Wal-Mart today, tons of deluxe and voyager figures, and OP (which looked so cool!), and the Prime helmet. They do have different voices on the helmet, the first one I tried had Cullen's voice, but another sounded rather generic.

To my shame, I did not purchase any of them, but I wanted to so bad... its my parents, I'm 18 now (don't go to college for a few months) but they hate me buying "toys" at my age. As much as I want to continue my Transformers collection, they won't let me here the end of it. I'm sure some here have faced this problem at some point. Despite this, I still bought a few Alternators not so long ago, and I think I may still get Leader Prime, because it looked too awesome, I'll just do it online so they don't have to see it, lol.

I can guarantee I won't read the book. I get more out of watching the movie. Master Dex, don't do what your parents think. Do what you want to do. An good answer for your parents would be "You should be happy I'm collecting Transformers and not using drugs."

Hey Dex, a girl who both my niece and I work with has an almost abhorrent mindset for the fact that I still buy toys at "my age." (I'll be 25 in August, by the way.) My dad also feels the same way, as do a few other people, but most of them understand that its something that I cherish, and I collect them. And, since the figures that I have are ones that are of Generation 1 characters (remakes, or ones that I can kitbash, or somehow allude to their being who I want them to be, etc), then I see it as a strict collection, despite my having figures from multiple series.
But, she kind of freaks out over the fact that I do it, and even ranted over it at work after I bought Bumblebee and Jazz before anything was on the shelf.
But, I think that I *might* have shut her up finally, because I told her about a Star Wars "Power of the Force" figure that I have of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. It's still mint on the card, with minimal wear to it.
I checked the price range on it, and it's value has gone WAY up in the 11 years since I bought it. It's now worth between $30 and $125.
So yeah, she hasn't said anything else about it.
So, if you can get your parents to understand that you collect them, whether or not you keep them in the packaging; and that you enjoy it, etc, etc, etc then I think that they'll lay off of you. But, even if they don't understand (like my dad doesn't with me), they'll have to accept the fact.
Just keep the faith, and remember "TILL ALL ARE ONE!!!"

Heh, my parents are much happier with my collecting TFs than playing video games. Guess I'm lucky one way and not so much the other.

Thanks for the comments people, I was pretty resolved to at least get Prime one way or the other. My mother actually isn't bothered by it that much, she accepts it as a collecting thing, as I have explained to her, she is the tolerate one, it is my Dad that doesn't get it. However, as you all have said and I agree on, I'm going to do it anyway, they can't stop me as I am spending my own money anyway.

Scorpomike and Duckie raise good points, although I have a feeling that despite the gratitude I would get from using Scorpomike's line on my Dad would be great, he would get rather upset at me for it. He already has trouble believing that I respect him at all (which I believe to be in his head, though would never say that to him, lol). Also yes, I believe the monetary value that the figures will collect over time is one of the reasons that my mom doesn't have a problem with it.

I do admit however that I don't see Transformers as toys these days, but as much more, and they are almost the only thing that I actually look at in the Toy aisles nowadays. I don't have a lot of older Generation 1 things, very expensive now, heh, but I grew up during the Beast Wars era so I still have a lot of those figures (from that I spanned my interest into G1 though, so I like the entire TF universe... though I'm not so fond of RiD).

"Though I'm not so fond of RiD", OK, who is? everyone knows that RID is one of the top 3 worst series ever. The top three include Beast Machines, Transformers Energon, and RID. The order varies from person to person but most would agree that those are the top 3 worst ever lines. The only character that made it worth anything to me is scorge (for his robot form) and Brave Maximus ( A.K.A. Fortress Maximus).

Yes, I'd have to agree to that, I put it from worst to least worse as RiD, Energon, and BM. I tried to be tolerate about BM because it was the sequel to BW, and I thought it wasn't that bad, though I hated the whole Rhinox going bad thing.

As far as the Unicron Trilogy, I watched half of Armada, then lost interest. I watched Energon to a point, and same thing, lost interest, it didn't get to me like Beast Wars did, or the DVD's of G1. I didn't even watch Cybertron, so I can't really judge it, knowing that it is a pseudo sequel to Energon turned me against, but I know in Japan it was totally different. Maybe someday.

Cybertron... I dont really consider it a sequel to anything but I kinda liked the whole planet to planet thing and the civilian touch but what really got me into the toys was how so many were almost 100% realalistic (i.e. Lugnutz and Jetfire).

P.S. If anyone wants to talk more add my e-mail to aim list or windows messanger list i'm always on.

blastenblaster@hotmail.com

I also started out in the beast wars era back when I was 5. I still remember the actual first transformer figure that I ever actually bought was beast wars manterror, then the next week it was retrax. I did have two G1 figs when I was younger but they weren't technicaly mine. they were my grandmas for when me and my cousins would come to play over there so we would have something to do to keep us out of her hair. we had Optimus prime without the trailer which I still have though legs are broken, and Jetfire.I lost jetfire and have tried to look for him but no luck so far. btw Blastenblaster I'll be sure to ad you to my freinds list.

I'll appoligize in advance for being a buzz kill. I'M SORRY! But, Master Dex you need to be carful just how far you push your dad. I have a little different perspective than some of the people here as I'm 32, married, and have 2 small kids.

I won't tell you to stop collecting or to hide what you're doing. But, you do need to realize your dad may be trying to help you the best way he understands. It could be a responsibility thing i.e. your broke all the time but manage to buy toys. It could be a maturaty thing i.e. he thinks toys are strictly for kids. For all I know he may be worried about your romantic involvment, or lack there of, with girls.

Agian, this isn't ment to tell you that your wrong. I'm not interested in repremanding anyone. But, I thought you may want to imagine what his complaints are. If your dad is a fair and reasonable man, sit down calmly and ask him what the real problem is. Discuss it like adults. He may very well never approve, but he may grow to respect your devotion.

All of my TFs from my childhood were sold off at grage sales by the time I was 14-15. I re-started collecting about 4 years ago. Keep in mind I was 28 at the time, married and had a 6 month old baby. Neither of my parents liked it. They were worried there was something wrong with me, untill they were over at a neighbors house. The only recent picture these people had of their adult sun was of him in a Star Trek uniform. Shortly there after they watched a local marathon and saw a Stormtrooper running. He was being cheered on by Han, Leia, and Chewie.

As it turns out the "adult toy collecting" is really a generational thing. In general, not always, we collectors are less than 40 and grew up watching our collection of choice. If your dad is notibly older than this he really just dosen't understand, which isn't his fault.

Knight Wing, thanks for the advice, but don't worry, the situation isn't as extreme as it may have been led to appear. I actually don't collect that much anymore at all (not that I don't wish I was). I have grown up from a lot of that, but still being a Transformers fan I still find myself wishing I could get more of the stuff, and from time to time I do (just not easy to get that done).

Most of my collection from younger years is gone now (probably by way of a dumpster more than a garage sale), and I don't have much more than maybe 10 figures anymore, some older, some newer, the only 2 Alternators I have being the newest things relatively. Not a very big thing.

The only thing I really plan on doing is adding Movie Prime, I don't think I'm going to get much more anyway, despite that I'd like to. Maybe someday I'll make a bigger collection, who knows, but I'm content with how things are, just adding what I really want most a bit at a time.

I know my dad probably has good reasons for all his beliefs, that doesn't bother me that he doesn't understand the collecting thing, and I wouldn't want to push him in any way, all I have is a small collection and I don't plan on going behind his back for a major operation that he wouldn't like. No need to worry, but thanks for the concern.

MasterDex sorry I haven't weighed in sooner. I've been out of town most of the weekend (and STILL haven't found any movie toys in stores...)

Anyway, I have a very strong opinion on the subject. Also to clarify we're talking about being an adult collector of toys, not and adult toy collector right!? :) (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

Here's the thing. The key is to have a full and happy life outside of one's "hobby". I'm 34, married and two kids and I have a lot of married friends and what I have found, is that the 99% of the husbands have some "crazy hobby" that the wives don't understand. I know guys that obsess over fantasy football, Star Wars movies, video games, hunting/fishing, their favorite NFL/NBA/MLB team... I could go on. The point it, it's harmless fun. (At least "in moderation" it generally is). Come to think of it I know wives who are "totally into" things like reality television (something I *totally* don't get) or other such forms of mindless entertainment... Truth is everyone needs an escape and from the daily grind. And if you get pleasure from little escapes such as this, then more power to you!

Next issue, the book... hm well I think for now I will heed the advise of many site visitors and hold off reading the book. No spoilers for me. At least assuming I can stand the suspense another few weeks! Ugh.

I understand all that, it makes perfect sense... wow.. I seem to have started something out of what really wasn't a big problem (maybe I shouldn't have added my whole story there, lol).

Moving on, enough of all that, seriously... it's done, lol. The Book, yes, well, I've since finished reading it, and it is definitely worth the wait Preceptor. I can respect your waiting decision very easily because I know it will be a very amazing movie to see, whether one knows what happens or not.

Interesting MD, so you've read the book and you're still advising me not to read it, huh? Thank you for the advise.

Okay, then I'll move right onto another book-movie I've been excited to read. Knowing that the book will be WAY better than the movie, I'll divert my bedtime pleasure reading time to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. One thing I will say about Alan Dean Foster, having read the TF prequel novel, with all due respect he is no J.K. Rowling!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not disappointed in reading the book first, just saying it's really good and worth the wait.

As for Harry Potter, I've read all 6 that are out and I do of course plan on reading the final when it is released next month. Yes, Rowling is an amazing author. Not much more to say on that though, heheh.