A couple of weeks ago I got "Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary" and yesterday I received "Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia". Pretty cool, both of them .The best IMO is the "Character Encyclopedia", because it has more info and is more up-to-date. "The Visual Dictionary" is nice, but it only shows sets up to 2010 and the pics of the sets are a bit sparse for my tastes - I would rather have seen (WAY) more pics. Still, it brings a wealth of info on SW sets in general, and I hope a more updated edition comes out soon, though I doubt it will be out before the end of 2012, if ever. On the other hand, "Character Encyclopedia" covers up every minifig up to now, and it even shows at least some of the variants, so for a minifig collector I think it's an invaluable asset.

A cool thing about the books are the special minifigs that come as a bonus:

Both "Ceremonial Han Solo" and "Ceremonial Luke Skywalker" are only available through the books, and are a very nice addition to any SW fan who collects minifigs .

Am I the only one tempted to get those books just for the minifigs alone? :)

Edited January 4, 201213 yr by mortesv

If you want just the minifigs probably it would be cheaper to get them on BL. I can't really say about Han, but I sure remember seeing some store offering Luke for a not-absurd price.

Go into any bricks n' mortar store/supermarket you will likely find the books where people wanted just the minifig and granted themselves a five fingered discount Really wish DK would secure them better.....

Just did a quick search on BL and you can have Luke for around $8 and Solo for $10.

Not bad at all.

Got both books, and can say they are cool and worth of buying (specialy since they are really cheap)...unfortunately both have some inacurate data...

minfigs are really cool

  On 1/4/2012 at 4:54 PM, Werlu Ulcur said:

If you want just the minifigs probably it would be cheaper to get them on BL. I can't really say about Han, but I sure remember seeing some store offering Luke for a not-absurd price.

Some places have the book for close to the BL price, though. I think Costco had the Character Encyclopedia for $10.99 USD before Christmas, and I got my Visual Dictionary from Amazon for $12. You really just have to look around, because I see those deals on the books a lot.

Yeah, you're right. I forgot that I paid $21 on my Encyclopedia at Amazon, but that was with shipping.

So it makes more sense to get the whole book instead of just the figs.

These minifigures are very unique,I wish I had it especially Luke

My main hobby is collecting minifigures and have all the SW minifigs Lego has released so far. The book is helpful but it isn't good enough. The way the minifigures are listed is confusing. The book is also incomplete since it doesn't list/recognise all the different variants that have been released but only some of them.

Edited January 4, 201213 yr by legolandia

From what I saw, these are the two most stolen Lego figures ever. It was harder to spot a book with a figure still there than a book with it ripped out.

I actually like the books more than the figs....call me weird, I know.

Tempting, extremely tempting, although I think I need to find this on sale vs. full price.

I have them too... Also the books are pretty cool to have in a collection.. :thumbup:

got these figs too, now to add a leia and shiny chrome 3po to the frey

While both of the books you mentioned have been around for a while (and are chock full of errors which one will have great fun finding ) you've provided a succinct evaluation of their content and posted a very nice picture of the exclusive minifigures included. For that reason:

Edited January 5, 201213 yr by fallenangel309

  On 1/5/2012 at 9:16 AM, fallenangel309 said:

...and are chock full of errors which one will have great fun finding .

Buying the books and having fun with them is for us normal geeks.

Finding the errors is for the uber geeks .

  On 1/4/2012 at 7:01 PM, StoutFiles said:

From what I saw, these are the two most stolen Lego figures ever. It was harder to spot a book with a figure still there than a book with it ripped out.

Thats what I found when I see these books. I like both books as they are Lego and Star Wars + bonus excusive minifig .

I'm not sure how but Someone is selling a version of this Han on eBay with the dot eyes and head from 7749, is this a legitimate version or has the head just been swapped? I'm not too bothered if it is because it'll match my doted eyed Luke version better.

Did you guys know that if you flip through the lower corners of the book, that there is a "movie" of I think Luke swinging his lightsaber and a different one for the other bottom corner.

That new Solo head they've been using makes him look ten years younger

  On 1/5/2012 at 10:50 PM, Legoroni said:

Did you guys know that if you flip through the lower corners of the book, that there is a "movie" of I think Luke swinging his lightsaber and a different one for the other bottom corner.

Cool! Just tried it!

  On 1/5/2012 at 3:04 PM, Mr Man said:

I'm not sure how but Someone is selling a version of this Han on eBay with the dot eyes and head from 7749, is this a legitimate version or has the head just been swapped? I'm not too bothered if it is because it'll match my doted eyed Luke version better.

According to the Encyclpedia there's only one variant of Ceremonial Han, with white pupils. So if the book is to be believed, a figure with dot eyes means a swap.

  On 1/6/2012 at 12:08 AM, Werlu Ulcur said:

According to the Encyclpedia there's only one variant of Ceremonial Han, with white pupils. So if the book is to be believed, a figure with dot eyes means a swap.

Ah OK Thanks.