Jim Black of the Kre-O Wiki had the chance to sit down with Brandon T. Snider, author of the Kre-O Transformers Encyclopedia, for an interview. Check out the entire interview below and be sure to check out the Kre-O Wiki webpage for complete information about Transformers Kre-O as well as every other variety produced by Hasbro. And thanks to Jim for sharing this with our readers! Discuss the interview here in our forums and be sure to check out Brandon’s book, the Transformers: Kre-O Character Encyclopedia: With Special Figure available on Amazon.com now.







Brandon T. Snider was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the birthplace of Carmen Electra. As a writer he’s authored the best-selling Dark Knight Manual as seen in Entertainment Weekly, Time, Forbes and Wired. He’s also written for and appeared on Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer. Brandon has penned books featuring pop culture’s most recognizable icons such as Superman, Spider-Man and The Muppets. As an actor he’s appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Chappelle’s Show and Law & Order: SVU, as well as various commercials, stage productions and short films. Brandon lives in New York City where he’s a member of both SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Find out more @ www.cootiekid.com

I recently had the chance to interview Mr. Brandon T. Snider, author of the Kre-O Transformers Character Encyclopedia. He was gracious enough to answer almost all of my questions.

Kre-O Wiki What first inspired you to become an author?

Brandon T. Snider I’ve been writing stories since I was a little kid but being an author was sort of like a distant dream. I graduated college with a degree in theater and moved to New York City to be an actor. After further developing my writing skills through sketch comedy and playwriting, I randomly ended up doing rewrites on a Fantastic Four movie book. It was a total surprise that I was even asked but I got to go to Marvel and read the top secret script which was pretty cool. I thought it would end up being a one time deal but 10 years and 30+ books later, I’m still here! And I’m lucky to have worked with a lotof great editors on a lot of very cool projects.

K.W. Why Kre-O? What brought you to write about this brand in particular?

B.T.S. My editor at Little Brown asked me and I said yes! That would be Mary-Kate Gaudet. We’ve worked on a handful of projects together over the years and she’s the best. She thought I could bring some fun to the Transformers Kre-O world and here we are a year later. I’ve carved out a nice little chunk of literary land as a go-to guy for guidebooks and I like that. Plus I’ve been a fan of the Transformers since I was a kid.

K.W. There has been much feedback from the fans, both praising the book as a valuable resource for the Kre-O brand, as well as finding faults with it with things such as typos, exclusions, and such. What limitations or restrictions, if any, did you have when writing the book?



B.T.S. I didn’t have any limitations or restrictions on writing this book. I knew going in what the tone would be (light and humorous), the target age-range (6 years old and up) and what specific characters they wanted to feature. A personal goal for me with this type of character guide is to make it accessible. That means simplifying a bit so that it’s engaging to more than just the core fan base. I like to think of this book as a calling card for the Transformers Kre-O world. The thing about character guides is that, for a kid, there’s always something to discover. You might buy it because you see Optimus Prime on the cover but start digging into it and you’ll find there’s more than meets the eye! Pun intended. As for any perceived faults, the truth is that a publishing schedule is tight and, sometimes, when you’re working with a licensor, information is unavailable. Not only is that okay, that can be a good thing! That means people are developing things. It means people want to make sure they reveal them only when they’re ready and at their awesome-est. I think it’s important that fans know that everyone behind the scenes wants to make a cool product.

A quick story- I had the chance to interact with fans in person about a month ago at the Wizard World Philly Comic Con and kids loved the Transformers Kre-O book. It’s bright, it’s light and it comes with a figure. If I was 10 years old now, I would be begging my dad to buy me a copy! But about a week before the Comic Con I was reading comments online and some fans were complaining “This book is for kids!” and claiming that as a negative. If those people could meet some of the excited kids that came by that day, I doubt they’d say that. Perspective is truly a wonderful thing.

K.W. Is there anything at all the legions of Kre-O fans can do in any way to support and contribute? (Aside from obviously going out and purchasing the book. )

B.T.S. I think the best way to support anything is to respectfully communicate your opinions to the companies who produce the things you like. When someone does something cool, tell them! Tell them why it’s cool, why you like it and what you’d like to see next. And do it nicely.

K.W. Do you have anything you would like to say to the Kre-O fans at all?

B.T.S. Thanks for liking the book! It was a lot of fun to make.

Sadly there were a couple other questions that he was not permitted to answer, but the rest of the questions more than made up for it. I would like to thank Brandon T. Snider for all of his help and hard work, and a special thanks to the folks at Little Brown publishing.

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