• LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded
• written by Hannah Dolan, Elizabeth Dowsett, Clare Hibbert, Shari Last, & Victoria Taylor
• published by DK (2015)
• Roar Score: 5/5

I don’t even know what to say about this one. If you like Star Wars, if you like LEGO, if you like awesomeness . . . then this one practically sells itself.

The LEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia is essentially a comprehensive guide to every Star Wars minifigure every produced. And since it’s a DK book, that means it’s chock full of excellent photos and goodies. Each page features a close-up, highly detailed photo of one minifigure. Surrounding the photo is a bit of flavor text, describing the character/figure; a data file identifying when the figure was first released, which set it came in, and what accessories it came with; and information about any significant variations that have been released.

It’s basically more information that you ever wanted to know about LEGO Star Wars minifigures, but it makes for downright fascinating browsing.

The book is divided into nine sections: Episodes I through VI, The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Legends (i.e., what was previously known as the Expanded Universe). The minifigs are ordered according to the property in which they first appeared (or appeared the most).

A quick note about the difference between a “version” and a “variation”: Versions are separate minifigures and have their own page. For example, Luke Skywalker in his Tatooine clothes and Luke Skywalker in his Dagobah clothes are two VERSIONS of the same character. There are ten versions of Luke in the book. One of those versions is Luke in his X-Wing pilot’s uniform. That particular minifig has been released in six different VARIATIONS. They’re all X-Wing Pilots, but the design of the minifig has slight modifications.

This book doesn’t include a comprehensive catalog of all variations, but it does present significant variants on the relevant page.

What it does include? 72 pages of brand-new material that the previous edition lacked and an exclusive white Boba Fett minifigure that’s all kinds of cool.

This book should come with a warning, though. If you put it in the hands of a LEGO/Star Wars-obsessed child, you’ll probably have a lot of explaining to do. Many of these minifigs are no longer available or only available on the secondary market (i.e., eBay) at inflated prices.

For example, your kid might fall in love with and absolutely NEED to have that Watto minifig (though I’m not entirely sure why). Well, good luck. He appeared in exactly ONE set in 2011, which is currently selling on eBay anywhere from $80 – $100. Alternatively, you could just buy the minifigure, but that would still set you back about $10.

That’s what makes this book so incredibly drool-worthy. It’s a more or less comprehensive photo catalog of almost 280 minifigs (plus variants), most of which you’ll never own.

For me, this is better than the real thing. It takes up less space, I won’t step on it in the middle of the night, and it’s endlessly fascinating.

Sadly, though, this “updated and expanded” edition is already out of date. The figures from the first wave of The Force Awakens sets aren’t included. With more definitely on the way, I’m sure we’ll see yet another revision of this encyclopedia down the road, but for now, you simply can’t ask for more.

This one comes with our full marks. Highly recommended for LEGO and Star Wars fans of all ages.

(Disclosure: DK provided me with a review copy of this book. All opinions remain my own.)