Product Description

Discover everything you need to know about Star Wars LEGO If your child loves Star Wars LEGO, theyÂ’ll enjoy this book complete with an exclusive Star Wars mini-figure. Watch as they find out all about Star Wars LEGO weapons, battle stations and even the Death Star through amazing photos and incredible details. TheyÂ’ll come face-to-face with LEGO versions of Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Yoda, Luke Skywalker and more and discover hundreds of little known facts about the Star Wars characters. Packed with information on the history, manufacture and construction of Star Wars LEGO.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2024 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Binding: Hardcover
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Deceptively thick, but still with plenty of detail
A book like this could have gone two ways. It could have been nothing more than a product catalogue for Lego, listing the sets they have made and telling you what they contained. Or it could have been yet another Lucasarts marketing tool - lots of glossy pictures of models of their iconic creation leaving you wanting nothing more than to go out and watch the films and buy more merchandise. Thankfully, the Lego Star Wars Visual Dictionary manages to avoid both extremes while incorporating elements of both.

The book does work as a complete catalogue of all the sets in the Lego Star Wars line. There's a timeline in the first few pages giving pictures of every box and the date of its release. As you go through you'll find further details of each set (and variants) on the relevant pages. Every version of the Vaders TIE fighter that has been release is shown, for example, along with date of release, number of pieces, and minifigures included. Where a character has been represented multiple times, its more likely that only one will be shown, but details are given of variant editions - how many times Luke Skywalker has been released, what colour his hands were and whether or not his lightsabre could actually light up, and so on. Not a bad place to start then if you're thinking of hitting the auctions and carboot sales to build a collections then.

There are times however, when it feels as if some unseen editorial force has slightly hamstrung the production. Some of the Lego Star Wars models are quite huge and packed with little details to make them feel authentic. Why then, are these sets not featured in matching detail? The Ultimate Collector's Millenium Falcon for example - the set has thousands of pieces and loads of moving parts including a detailed interior. The pages dedicated to it are fairly brief though - only a few pictures, most of which are of the complete model. The UC Death Star gets similarly short shrift.

It feels as if the editors made a bad decision here - to steer the book away from being a Lego catalogue and try to keep it more like a straight visual dictionary. I wouldn't say they missed the point of Lego Star Wars - sets and their spirit are well represented - just a chance to really make the most of what they contain. The designers of these sets work hard for authenticity and this is sometimes underrepresented in this book. I get the impression other titles in the Visual Dictionary series are somewhat more detailed, its a shame they didn't keep up that quality here.

When you open your package from Amazon you'll think you've got a really nice, heavy, coffee table type of book. Unfortunately the truth is roughly half the book's thickness if made up of the 'free' minifig it comes with. Rather than being mounted on the front cover, the fig's casing is integrated with it meaning the book feels nearly twice as thick as it really is. The case is not easily opened and resealed - a warning to collectors!

So, overall, its a pretty good package. I don't know of any other product with such a comprehensive list of Lego Star Wars prodcuts. The details of pack sizes and differences in versions make it great for collectors. It could have been a lot thicker though - mounting the minifig on the cover would have left room for more photo's and more details.

Great dictionary - comprehensive and well illustrated
I had been waiting for a guide to the Lego Star Wars collections and thankfully one has arrived that delivers in almost all areas. The guide itself is well illustrated and is very up to date (includes sets that were brought out in August 2009)
The 96 pages may not seem much considering the volume of lego sets/figures that have been churned out since 1999. However the pages are filled with each set, when it was released and its product ID. The layout is also by chronology (what sets were released and when) and by each film. it also provides a good insight (aka 'Brick facts') into certain characters.
This book is not for those looking for 'what is the most rare, the most collectible', nor does it go into detail on ALL of the figures available. It does however illustrate the sets that have been released, shows what some of them do, and obviously what figures come with them.
The books also includes and exclusive Luke Skywalker mini figure !
Overall a good overview, well illustrated, great for all ages. One cannot wait to see something similar for Lego Batman and Indiana Jones.......

My 7 year old son LOVED this book....!!!!
My son Peter loves Lego & Star Wars so the PS2 game is a firm favourite. When he saw this book in a shop he was immediately captivated. The book itself is big, bright & features extensive information on the versions of Lego released along with "brick data" about the variations & anomalies. The pictures are big & bold & he's not put the book down in the two weeks since it was delivered. So it may not be enough to satisfy the Lego/SW 'experts' and may feature a few errors or ommissions (I couldn't tell you myself as I'm not a fan!) but as a book for a child with a huge imagination, you can't go wrong.