Jim Sorenson

Awaiting James Roberts's next move in Fanwank Chess.

James M. Sorenson, better known as Jim, (born July 15, 1976) is a Los Angeles-based Transformers fan who freelances with IDW Publishing. Along with Bill Forster, he restored and did layouts of character designs in the Ark books. He also wrote the copy and compiled the material from fans and professionals like Andrew Hall (aka Hydra) and Bob Budiansky. In the course of compiling this material, he came across several original series notes, some of which (nicknames and extended biographies) he has made available to online forums. He is also an active participant on this wiki.

Prior to making the leap to pro, he had been a longtime fan, contributing to alt.toys.transformers as early as 1994. He was perhaps best known for deciphering the Maximal and Predacon languages as used in the Beast Wars show and making the text, in canonical order, available as a true-type font.^[1] In the late '90s, Sorenson created fonts based on writing in "Cosmic Rust" and "Decepticon Graffiti!"; in 2007, these fonts were retroactively made official when they were incorporated into the AllSpark Wars Mini-ARG (Alternate Reality Game), and have since appeared multiple times across official Transformers media. He also provided material used by Shout! Factory in their DVD releases, and co-wrote "Trial and Error", an unofficial comic released at TFNation 2017 to act as a "finale" to the Transformers Animated cartoon, with Chris McFeely.

As he doesn't think much of the traditional dearth of female Transformers, he puts them into his work as often as he can and will turn any toy with no specified gender into a woman.^[2]

He has frequently stated that he believes authorial intent has no place in canon. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, he frequently uses his stories to canonize the semi-canon ideas of other creators.

Salsa dancers consider him their enemy, and as many as four at a time have been known to chase him through a convention facility.

Books

IDW

• Transformers: The Ark
• Transformers: The Ark II
• Transformers: The Complete Ark
• Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac
• Transformers Animated: The AllSpark Almanac II
• Transformers Animated: The Complete AllSpark Almanac
• The Transformers 30th Anniversary Collection
• Transformers: The Art of Prime
• Legacy: The Art of Transformers Packaging

VIZ Media LLC

• Transformers: A Visual History

Renegade Game Studios

• The Enigma of Combination
• Technorganic Secrets

Transformers Collectors' Club

• Beast Wars: Uprising:
  • "Broken Windshields"
  • "Head Games" (with David Bishop)
  • "Burning Bridges" (with David Bishop)
  • "Micro-Aggressions"
  • "Intersectionality" (with David Bishop)
  • "Trigger Warnings" (with David Bishop)
  • "Identity Politics" (with David Bishop)
  • "Not All Megatrons" (with David Bishop)
    • "A Brush With Infamy–Prologue"
  • "Cultural Appropriation" (with David Bishop)
  • "Safe Spaces" (with David Bishop)
    • "The Predacon Manifesto"
  • "Derailment" (with David Bishop)
    • "Book of Logos"
  • "The Inexorable March" (with David Bishop)
    • "Lio Convoy: Unity Through Tyranny"
• Ask Vector Prime
• Transformers: Spacewarp's Log
• Transformers: Renegade Rhetoric
• Various posts on Andromeda - Axiom Nexus News Reporter, Rook - Axiom Nexus News: Investigative Journalist, and Axiom Nexus News Editor.
• Numerous TCC Magazine articles, including:
  • "Transformers: 2010" parts 1-3 (issues #31 through #33)
  • "Gone But Not Forgotten" parts 1 and 2 (issues #41 and #42)
  • Recaps for BotCon 2012, BotCon 2013, BotCon 2014 (with Chris McFeely), BotCon 2015, and BotCon 2016 (issues #45, #52, #58, #64, and #69)
  • "Transformers at 30: Flashback" parts 1-6 (issues #55 through #60)

Convention appearances

• BotCon 2008
• BotCon 2009
• BotCon 2010
• BotCon 2012
• BotCon 2013
• BotCon 2015

Voice roles

Transformers Animated

• Sentinel Prime Magnus ("The Return of Blurr" script reading only.)

Notes

So is Sorensa located anywhere near Simfur?

• Jim's most prominent contribution to Transformers outside of his official work is probably the creation of the "Ancient Autobot" and "Decepticon Graffiti" typefaces, which have been extensively used in official Transformers media despite originally being fan-creations. They've even seen use in outside media, being used for the sign of an alien restaurant as part of a Transformers parody in an episode of Rick and Morty! In honor of Jim, the alphabet was given the name "Cybertronica Sorensa" in the Royal Mail Prestige Stamp Book.
• Sorenson's favorite Beast Wars: Uprising characters to write for were Wolfang and Longrack.^[3]

References

1. ↑ ATT Thread from 1999
2. ↑ "[Why do I sometimes make traditionally male characters female?] I hesitate to say it's random, but there aren't any hard and fast rules. One frustration I have with the TF mythology is the dearth of female characters, so for my stories I try to remedy somewhat. For characters with minimal fiction, I generally feel free to reimagine species and faction and personality and, yes, gender. Characters with no specified gender (Major Altitude comes to mind, as does Spacewarp) I'm especially prone to making female as it's not even genderbending in my head."—Jim Sorenson, The Allspark forums, "Beast Wars Uprising: AMA", 2016/10/15 (archive link)
3. ↑ "Oooh, that's a toughie. There's one from the first part of the finale who was really difficult to write for but came out very nicely. Wolfang was a hoot, but Bish did most of the heavy lifting there. Longrack was a lotta fun; I love his officiousness. There's a little bit of Arnold J. Rimmer in there."—Jim Sorenson, The Allspark forums, "Beast Wars Uprising: AMA", 2016/10/15 (archive link)

External links

• Jim Sorenson's blog
• Jim Sorenson's belt

Interviews

• August 2014—Auto Assembly (with Nick Roche, John-Paul Bove, Casey Coller, and James Roberts)
• October 2019—New York Comic Con (with Michael Kelly, Livio Ramondelli, and Andrew Griffith)