By AverageGuyShopper This review is from: LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (Hardcover)
On a whim, I purchased this book for my son to enjoy reading about his LEGO Star Wars figurines. Upon receipt, I thumbed through the pages and was totally blown away with the detailed pictures and fun and obscure facts that the publisher had put together in this compilation of LEGO SW history.
I posted a few pictures above to illustrate some of the amazing detail this book has -- also note the entire list of figures listed in the two page table of contents.
First off, the book is not too large, and could be easily carried around by a five year old. It is hardcover and the glossy pages are printed on thick paper. The colors in the pictures are lively and the layout of each page is very organized and easy to follow. The publisher/authors definitely put a lot of thought into the presentation of each lego figure. About 1/4 of the thickness of the book is taken up by a cardboard insert that holds the heroic scoundrel Han Solo. He looks pretty clean cut and is wearing the medal given at the end of Episode IV by Princess Leia. He even has Han's smirk on his face. This figure is an exclusive to this book, so if you want to add him to your collection, you need to buy this book.
Each individual figure is color classified into the episode they appear, as can be seen in the table of contents. The figures are printed quite large, around 7-8 inches tall, with exceptional detail. Droids are also included. A small descriptive blurb is in the top corner of each page. Then a "data file" box will tell you which year, lego set#/name, # pieces, and # of variants of manufacture. Lots of smaller white boxes point out all kinds of details about each and every figure, such as:
1) "Stolen imperial binoculars hang from Han's torso" p. 92
2) "On duty on Hoth, Leia wears her hair back in braids. This Lego hair piece is also seen on Leia in her Endor outfit (p.139)" p. 93
3) "Lando's exclusive cape is blue on the outside and yellow on the inside. It is a status symbol that distinguishes him as Baron Administrator of Cloud City." p. 111
4) "Yoda's head is made from rubber, like the Plo Koon (p.164), Kit Fisto (p.45) and classic Yoda (p.17) minifigures" p. 158
5) "Only one other Lego astromech droid has a blue status display, R2Q2 (p.201)" p.46
As can be read above, the book is quite good about cross-referencing pages to give the reader the ability to quickly find the same attribute in other figures. When appropriate, a nice colorful picture of the actual Lego set from the whence the figure originates is also included. Additional boxes also appear with pictures of variant figures including very rare figurines created for very specific events (like a bronze Bobba Fett). At the end of book, an index is provided that lists ALL the lego set#'s the figure has ever appeared in. You can then go to the Lego website to find the set (you must use the Holobrick archive, not regular search box):
I believe every single human, alien, and droid figure in the Lego Star Wars universe up to this point is included in this book -- even the obscure and very limited event specific ones. The way this book was put together, from the large high quality pictures, the fun descriptions, cross references, esoteric facts, figure variants, and lego set#'s makes this book truly encyclopedic. I was very impressed with this book... and I think my 5 year old will enjoy it too.