[REVIEW] LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary

[legitimatealex]

Indexed

2853508-1 LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
Price: $21.99
Pieces: Ummm...uhhh...3?
Minifigures: 1
Price Per Piece: Umm..not even attempting this one.
LEGO Description:

The LEGO' Star Wars world is vast and exciting . . . come learn the nitty gritty.

Discover everything you need to know about the LEGO Star Wars universe. This book is packed with information on the history, manufacture and construction of LEGO Star Wars minifigures. Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, Luke Skywalker and more are brought to life with dozens of little-known facts and hundreds of photos. LEGO weapons, vehicles, battle stations and even the Death Star are annotated, explained and photographed in exquisite detail. Includes an exclusive LEGO Star Wars minifigure. Reading level: Ages 4-8 Hardcover: 96 pages Available in English only Publisher: DK Publishing

So Walmart.com is selling this for dirt cheap at around $11.00 or so. I took advantage of this along with their $.97 shipping and got this amazing book. That adjective might spoil this review's ending but I don't care; this book is awesome.



BAM! The cover! I personally would've gone with the upward angled scrolling text with yellow on a black background but hey, that's just me. Very imposing Vader on the front. But wait, who's that in the corner?!



Why it's Luke Skywalker, with his medal he got for blowing up the Death Star. This all, of course, at a time where he still lusts after his sister. Greatest plot twist ever.



He's just suffocating in there. It's secured by a piece of tape. I'm surprised he didn't get stolen.



"Thank you for rescuing me kind traveler. As I a reward I shall aid you in your journeys."

Great, a stalker. Just what I needed. Good printing on the torso and legs. There's no back printing. He's a regular minifigure, the hair comes off etc. etc.



The front page. It's a tantalizing shot of the Slave 1 ship. The pictures are all glossy.



"He looks familiar."

Moving down to the edge of the page there is a picture of Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker. What could he possibly be for?



Flipping in a few pages you get to a couple of pages that list ALL of the Star Wars sets to date, which was 2009 then. While looking at it you realize something...you do not own anywhere near the complete Star Wars collection. Sigh...



"They look like all those Stormtroopers I murdered in the destruction of the Death Star but different...They also remind me of certain male reproductive cells."



"Another picture of that one guy? What is going on here?"

I'm going to ruin it for you, its a flip animation. It's Luke waving around his lightsaber. The other one is clone troopers marching. It's pretty nifty :D



"Didn't I blow this up?"

The book features ALL of the Star Wars sets in huge pictures splashed over all the pages. It also labels all of the parts of the sets and identifies the minifigures. It's Brickset on steroids and on high resolution glossy paper.



"What do you think? I can pull this off better than he can right?"

Luke in half swing with his lightsaber.



"No difference at all."



The book also includes a nifty 'behind the scenes' of LEGO Star Wars, where they show you how they come up with all the pieces and characters unique to Star Wars. There are also some shots of AFOL constructed Star Wars MOCs. I'm not going to include them in here because then there wouldn't be much of a point of buying the book, and my camera wouldn't do it justice anyways. Here's a little tidbit: ALL of the Star Wars Minifigures. There are....a lot.



The back cover of the book! A tantalizing fully printed Boba Fett. I am envious.

Hammertime!

Should I get this book? YES! If you are a Star Wars fan, this book is a nice addition to your Star Wars collection. The exclusive minifigure is icing on the cake.

Is it worth the money? At $21 the book is pretty worth your while, at $11 or $12 like Walmart is selling it it is a freaking steal.

Is the minifigure that cool? Do 70's fashion trends excite you and the idea of a long blonde hair Mark Hamel make your day? Yes the minifigure is that cool. He might be one of my favorites.

Go out and get this set. As always, when you buy a set SHARE YOUR REVIEW HERE FIRST!!!

[Ice]

Thanks for the review!

[legitimatealex]

My pleasure.

[slacker]

This is a great book. that's what got me back to Lego Star wars. I had some of the sets from when it first came out. Then I move to other things. Now I'm back and constantly looking at this book as a checklist. I probably won't get any of the older sets. Even at $21 it's still a good buy.

[DrBeaker]

My son got this book for XMAS 2009 and it rekindled my love of SW Legos. Before the book, I had only the Cloud City set and Slave I gathering some dust in my game room. In the past nine months, I've added much more to my collection inspired by this book.

I only have two quibbles as a new collector/AFoL:

1). In some cases, sets are broken up to be displayed by theme. Nothing that brickset can't sort out, but it was confusing at times when I was looking for particular vehicles or minifigs.

2). The display at the back of the book that shows all the minifigs is very small. I would have loved a spread over a few pages that showed all of the minifigs from the first 10 years of SW Lego in one spot.

Overall, it is just a beautiful book and very well done.

[ncbarrett]

I bought it as soon as it was out.
I'm very happy with it, very well done.

Of course my luke is still suffocating.

[Tomatoe]

Of course my luke is still suffocating.

Mines too. I'm keeping in in the book to keep it mint.

[legitimatealex]

Of course my luke is still suffocating.

Mines too. I'm keeping in in the book to keep it mint.

Awww but how can you ever use him if he's just in the book? LEGO doesn't make sense to me if you don't play with it :?

[ncbarrett]

Of course my luke is still suffocating.

Mines too. I'm keeping in in the book to keep it mint.

Awww but how can you ever use him if he's just in the book? LEGO doesn't make sense to me if you don't play with it :?

But I dont want a hole in my book. 8-)

[legitimatealex]

So you keep the plastic case in there. It fits rather well.

[possum]

Agreed, I just poked little Luke out & left the plastic intact. The tape even stuck back down and it looks like they forgot to pack one in there.

[JPineda]

There seem to be a change (variant) with Luke's eyes and mouth from the first release of the book. The first release has little eyes and mouth, now you are getting the wide open eyes. Maybe the reason for the big eyes version is that the minifig was suffocated? I also wondered why some advertisement about this book shows the battle damage Darth vader?

[Transformers2]

I also wondered why some advertisement about this book shows the battle damage Darth vader?

The damage darth vader was a prelim picture. ;)

[sadowsk1]

This book is a must have for Star Wars Lego collectors and a rare minifigure to boot, it's hard to top until hopefully another book is released someday.

[autobrick]

I am tempted to get this book but there are two things that are stopping me:
1. Released in 2009, so it is missing some sets (Why don't they release a revised edition?)
2. According to the review at Eurobricks, there seems to be many small mistakes. (Again, they should release a second edition).


BTW If you live in Canada, it's only $15.97 (with free shipping at $25) at amazon.ca, so this time we Canadians are barely getting ripped off.

[legitimatealex]

I am tempted to get this book but there are two things that are stopping me:
1. Released in 2009, so it is missing some sets (Why don't they release a revised edition?)
2. According to the review at Eurobricks, there seems to be many small mistakes. (Again, they should release a second edition).


BTW If you live in Canada, it's only $15.97 (with free shipping at $25) at amazon.ca, so this time we Canadians are barely getting ripped off.

They wont do a revised version because they're probably going to release something like this again later down the road with another unique minifigure. As for the mistakes, I noticed 1 or 2 but they were small and minuscule. You would have to be looking for them like I was to notice them.

[koromo]

I ordered mine from Amazon shortly after reading this review and it came in last wednesday. Not as extensive as the Big lego book I got a while back but its a definate keeper in regards to the SW collection.

My Luke is still in the bubble pack so I know where to find him should I do any SW:IV MOC work.

[Everybody]

Bought mine right after I read the rewiew, love the minifig.