Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Star Wars comics, novels and non-fiction books.
Post Reply
User avatar
Reverend Strone
High Colonel
High Colonel
Posts: 1533
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:30 pm
Country: New Zealand
Location: Wellington

Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by Reverend Strone »

Steve Sansweet has a new book coming. Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection: 35 Years of Characters is listed at Amazon for preorder at US$26.40.

352 pages, publishing October 17th.

Image
User avatar
MattG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 4921
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:46 am
Country: New Zealand
Location: Auckland

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by MattG »

Just saw this, this morning. Love the cover! Hope we get some details about the internal format soon. Can't have too many picture books about action figure collecting :)
User avatar
Reverend Strone
High Colonel
High Colonel
Posts: 1533
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:30 pm
Country: New Zealand
Location: Wellington

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by Reverend Strone »

User avatar
MattG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 4921
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:46 am
Country: New Zealand
Location: Auckland

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by MattG »

The description almost sounds like it might be organised on a per character basis, which would be interesting variety over previous chronological guides.
Fans and collectors can finally trace the evolution of each character in toy form from the time of their first appearance through the designs of today...
User avatar
MattG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 4921
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:46 am
Country: New Zealand
Location: Auckland

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by MattG »

Jedi Temple Archives has a few preview pages:

http://www.jeditemplearchives.com/news/ ... ig-JTA.pdf
User avatar
Reverend Strone
High Colonel
High Colonel
Posts: 1533
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:30 pm
Country: New Zealand
Location: Wellington

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by Reverend Strone »

Just received my copy in the mail today. While criticisms of the book have some validity from the point of view of using it as a collecting resource, as a flip through gallery and quick reference guide, it's both fun and useful. Really, this book would have to be a very different and more expensive animal if it was going to be a truly comprehensive reference. For what it is and for the asking price, I think it's excellent, and as someone who has put together books faced with similar challenges myself, I can appreciate what a staggering amount of work went into making this.

I came across some errors almost as soon as I picked it up, but I'm not going to hold them against the book. In the end, it's an attractive coffee table book and conversation piece, and it's a great way to own a visual record of all the many figures I don't own. I've never had pretensions towards completism and this is fun to own in lieu of the actual toys in most cases.

I'm trying to resist the temptation to turn it into a checklist or shopping guide, but for the most part it actually serves to validate my purchasing activity, as flicking through it casually, pretty much anything I see and really like, it turns out I have.

edit for spelling
Last edited by Reverend Strone on Tue Feb 19, 2013 1:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Buzz Bumble
High Colonel
High Colonel
Posts: 1490
Joined: Sat Feb 13, 2010 2:50 am
Country: New Zealand
Location: North Shore, Auckland

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by Buzz Bumble »

There's also these two volumes which are reportedly good:

Image Image

They're available from Amazon and probably places like Fishpond and MightyApe.

I haven't seen them in person, but I have obtained a few bits for the author (like the Slingers that didn't get in America) and there might be my name and a photo of mine in them (or the next issue). :)
User avatar
MattG
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 4921
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2009 5:46 am
Country: New Zealand
Location: Auckland

Re: Star Wars: The Ultimate Action Figure Collection

Post by MattG »

I borrowed a copy of this (thanks Rob!) to check it out, and am likely to grab a copy sometime soon based on the opportunity to look through it in advance.

As mentioned, it isn't designed as a flawless checklist, but I do like the format, and one thing the character-centric organisation facilitates is the comparison of various releases of a specific character/costume to choose settle on the best/preferred sculpt and articulation.

There are more figures that we don't have in our collection, that we actually want, than I realised...mostly from comic 2-packs and other boxed sets/exclusives. Got some work and hunting to do yet.
Post Reply