Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection Review

• 22nd Nov 2012

If there is one book on Star Wars that long term fans of the franchise will be happy to see on shelves it’s this! Star Wars has had various brands of just about anything you can imagine as far as merchandising goes. But the first stop for most fans, the item at the top of the list of mentions has to be the toy figures.

There is of course an introduction as well as a visual guide to the various Star wars figure product lines that released the toys. From here on in (starting with everyone’s favourite medical droid and ending on a giant moth headed bounty hunter) the book shows in alphabetical order each figure that has been released (the various versions released and the product line it was released in). This will gave way to some character favourites getting several pages to themselves.

At over 350 pages there is barely any room left for anything else here – although there are plenty of film/animated captures in the sidebars so you do know what some of the characters looked like in on film or in animation. Yes it isn’t just the films that are covered, expect input from the various cartoon and animated series as well.

The only astonishing fact is that it has taken so long for this volume to be released. It’s a fascinating study of time as well as childhood enjoyment. The attention to detail that has progressed over the years on each mould is also worth inspecting.

Serious collectors will want this as a great visual check list for what they still need to find. Wannabe collectors or one time figure collectors will look more adoringly at what they once owned or played with in their youth. This is a great visual reminder of childhood play (which is always a big door to opent), and it’s also a good look at how the moulds have changed over the past 3 decades.

Steven Hurst