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Posted by Xenomrph
 - Feb 08, 2024, 05:46:01 PM
Quote from: Mr.Turok on Feb 08, 2024, 04:14:25 PMIt's a shame that its simply a reformatted The WY Report and not an actual militarized survival guide against the xenos. Fireteam Elite did expansion of the UA Colonial Marines and the overall world of the Alien series so much better than what the book supposed to do. Only difference is that it has the app that allows you to see aliens on your phone and that last few pages where how they can use xenos for military applications.
There's nothing in the book about Alien military applications, in fact early on it says "yeah the Company might have applications, but we're the USCM and we kill on sight." Maybe you're thinking of the WY Report? The last few pages in the Book of Alien are Alien identification guides and some of David's drawings.

Quote from: Slutty Badger on Feb 08, 2024, 02:03:40 PMWhy does the Covenant section have no AR sequences when that's the primary selling point of the book?
The primary selling point of the book is the first two movies (same as the WY Report), it just includes Covenant because it would seem incomplete without it given when it came out.

As a contrasting example, see the upcoming Encyclopedia that's excluding material released before the book comes out.



I'm about 2/3 of the way through my re-read and I gotta say, while I was hard on it for its errors (and I stand by what I said then, the errors are egregious and the book needed a fact-checker very badly), I'm softening on it on the re-read. As a casual fan coffee table book like the WY Report, it's got some fun ideas and the presentation is solid. As a dedicated fan, the errors are disappointing but it's got some interesting franchise deep-cuts and covers a surprising amount of material that conveys to me that the author was passionate about the assignment but presumably just wasn't up to the task on a technical level, and I'm okay with that. The AR stuff is a fun addition. And as a long-time fan, it's just such an oddity based on what it includes vs when it was released (namely the Aliens Colonial Marines content).

It's not an authoritative tome on the USCM (that book arguably already existed), nor is it even a particularly convincing in-universe document, but just like the WY Report I don't think it's trying to be. Just like the WY Report it's a casual fan coffee table book, a novelty.
Posted by Mr.Turok
 - Feb 08, 2024, 04:14:25 PM
It's a shame that its simply a reformatted The WY Report and not an actual militarized survival guide against the xenos. Fireteam Elite did expansion of the UA Colonial Marines and the overall world of the Alien series so much better than what the book supposed to do. Only difference is that it has the app that allows you to see aliens on your phone and that last few pages where how they can use xenos for military applications.
Posted by Slutty Badger
 - Feb 08, 2024, 02:03:40 PM
Why does the Covenant section have no AR sequences when that's the primary selling point of the book?
Posted by Xenomrph
 - Feb 08, 2024, 12:38:35 AM
Quote from: Xenomrph on Nov 20, 2018, 10:38:31 AMI keep forgetting to reach out to the author of the book and pick his brain about it.
I'm going back through the book again and I still need to do this.

It's just such a weird book. With a proper editor and fact-checker behind it it could have been a really cool companion to the WY Report.
Posted by Xenomrph
 - Nov 20, 2018, 10:38:31 AM
I keep forgetting to reach out to the author of the book and pick his brain about it.
Posted by Prez
 - Nov 20, 2018, 06:06:04 AM
Quote from: SM on Nov 20, 2018, 05:33:34 AM
Yeah I was almost tempted to get a copy at Dymocks the other day.  I'd only seen for $50+ before that.

Flipping through it, my suspicions about the amount of silly errors was confirmed.  It was nicely put together though.

Funnily enough my local I mentioned was Dymocks here in Adelaide. Still might get it...
Posted by SM
 - Nov 20, 2018, 05:33:34 AM
Yeah I was almost tempted to get a copy at Dymocks the other day.  I'd only seen for $50+ before that.

Flipping through it, my suspicions about the amount of silly errors was confirmed.  It was nicely put together though.
Posted by Prez
 - Nov 20, 2018, 04:55:54 AM
Had no idea this book even existed until today in my local book store - had a bit of a play with it and even downloaded the app but couldn't get it to work.

The book was retailing for $AUD40. Was tempted to get it.
Posted by Xenomrph
 - Jan 30, 2018, 04:46:00 AM
Quote from: Local Trouble on Jan 29, 2018, 05:09:45 PM
Do you have a list of complaints compiled yet?
Not all in one place, my posts in this thread will have to do. :P

Speaking of, I don't think I've actually finished my page-by-page analysis I've been posting in this thread. I've finished the book, but I think my PC died before I could finish posting about the last chunk of the book.

To go back to what I'd said earlier in the thread, it's just a really baffling book. The production values are on-point from a visual standpoint (although the WY Archive beats it out in terms of original artwork) and the AR gimmick is well executed, but the book is so riddled with easily-fixed minor errors that it's as if there was no editor whatsoever. It's got minor sparks of brilliance and clever references to obscure stuff, but the mistakes make it read like a work of fan-fiction. It's got a ton of explicit references to 'Aliens: Colonial Marines', as if the book was originally meant as a tie-in to that game, but it got released in 2017 and has a chapter about Alien Covenant.

I certainly don't regret buying it - it's one of the most fascinating pieces of Alien tie-in stuff in a long time just because it's such an oddity.
Posted by SM
 - Jan 29, 2018, 09:26:53 PM
I've only looked at some screen grabs and there seems to be an inordinate amount of minor errors.
Posted by Local Trouble
 - Jan 29, 2018, 05:09:45 PM
Do you have a list of complaints compiled yet?
Posted by Xenomrph
 - Jan 29, 2018, 09:30:08 AM
I still need to try and get ahold of the author and see if I can get more info on this book in general. My PC has been dead until this afternoon otherwise I'd have probably tried sooner.
Posted by SM
 - Jan 29, 2018, 05:11:41 AM
I should think so too.
Posted by Local Trouble
 - Jan 29, 2018, 02:35:42 AM
/order cancelled
Posted by SM
 - Jan 29, 2018, 02:13:03 AM
Nil.
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