Star Wars -
The Action Figure Archive
edited by Stephen J. Sansweet with Josh Ling

Published by Chronicle Books

Scott's Rating:   4 out of 4

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This book was originally printed in Japan and was compiled by Eimei Takeda and Seiji Takahashi. Sansweet and Ling have translated it to English and updated it.

This book has detailed photos of every Kenner and Hasbro action figure made, as well as the vehicles, playsets, and 12" action figures. Each character is shown, with the weapons and accessories detailed. Card variations are reported, as well as variations of the figures. Codes on the pacakages are also explained. To add to it, trivia and rare photos are included. I've seen a lot of Star Wars photos, but there are some in here that were new to me. They included a great shot of the Imperial Dignitaries, an Imperial Royal Guard attacking an Imperial officer, as well as a shot of General Madine kicking butt. There are a lot more, but I just thought of these off the top of my head. The trivia is great, too. The figures shown go up to the Expanded Universe figures and the exclusive Insider and Internet figures.

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Scott:

    I think this is a great book for both collectors and movie buffs. There's a nice mix of stuff that the movie buff has never seen before and a great compilation of all the figures. Not only is it fun to glance through, it's a good reference. There are a lot of great shots from the film and of the figures. The price of $30 is also reasonable considering it's all color photos and pretty packed with them.

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Scott:

    Some of the photos I was most interested in were teeny tiny. I wish they had been bigger, but I guess we'll see them pop up somewhere new. The section with the newest figures could have used a few more photos to round it out. The Expanded Universe figures could have used paintings from the covers, panels from the comics, or shots from the video games. The cover was also pretty boring and could have used a bit more flash.

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Scott:

    I realized I have most of what was shown in this book. How much money HAVE I spent on Star Wars?

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