The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Star Wars Action Figures, 1977-1985 Paperback – December 17, 2014

OK, my two cents on the new Ultimate Guide to Vintage Star Wars from Mark Bellomo.... -To begin one must realize just HOW MANY different lines and eras of toys do in fact exist. Within each specific line of toys exists literally an entire universe to explore, both in the fiction behind the toys, as well as in the personal history for each of us from our childhoods. Mark has done a wonderful job in covering both a hands down EXPANSIVE list of the Star Wars toys from the original Trilogy as well as illuminating the individual back stories for each character and set that made childhood playtime so great. -The photography and layout are a nice step up in layout and imagination from previous guides, as well as a useful index to speed your journey should you need a quick lookup as well... OR, should you feel like sitting down for a good read one can lose several hours going page by page. -Mr Bellomo went above and beyond in this edition by running down the multitude of variants in existence for many of these toys (very helpful for those who find sport in hunting those individual lines). He has even gone so far as pointing out parts of the toys and sets that after 30+ years may or usually WILL deteriorate, then offering some common and or by default acceptable fixes or replacement parts. Stock or restore? The lines have indeed blurred.... -A note about the author and his various volumes; this edition, like many others has involved years of planning, prep, hunting, writing and more hunting and writing. Mr Bellomo has a personal rule: Nothing goes into his collector editions than he does not own. This means no stock photos, no hearsay, rumor, myth or legends. He has to run down each item you see in this book, ergo it is in its own way self limiting in the amount or type of content. I have seen a few reviews commenting on the lack of packaging or cardback photos. I can attest that those boxes could nearly warrant a companion volume of their own, never mind the space that kind of thing takes up in one's home- a rabbit hole through which only the truly brave should ever consider venturing! In short what you have here is a very complete guide to the actual toys themselves.. -Collecting toys nearly as old as we are (ohai 80's kids!) is a labor of love and a great way to occupy some time, Mr Bellomo really encompasses what it meas love and remember those cool toys and the good times we had with them as children. I very much do recommend this guide as a must for the serious or casual collector and I will look forward to future offerings from Mr Bellomo.Thank You,-CW

I bought Mark Bellomo's The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982-1994 a few years ago, and when I learned that he was doing a similar book on vintage Kenner Star Wars toys, I was jazzed. The G.I. Joe book is the best of its kind, and I fully expected the Star Wars book to deliver the goods. Well... I am not at all disappointed.The photography in the book is outstanding. Every action figure from every line (Star Wars, Empire, Jedi, Power of the Force, Droids and Ewoks) gets more than its fair share of space (most having a full page), and every play set, vehicle, creature, carrying case, mail-away offer, large size action figure, POTF aluminum coin and display stand is shown in detail.While most of the packaging is not shown (there are a few carded figure pictures shown throughout), this was expected since the G.I. Joe book did not feature packaging photos either. This book is all about the toy itself. If you want to see the packaging, I'd recommend Steve Sansweet's Action Figure Archive book from 1999. However, that book includes modern items from 1995-98 as well as vintage, and the photography isn't nearly as good as this new Bellomo book.There are a few mistakes (ie. on page 126 it says that the figures of Romba and Warok were available in the Jedi line, but it was actually Paploo and Lumat), the vast majority of information is right on the money.If you are a fan of the original trilogy and ever had an interest in Kenner's wonderful vintage line of toys, do yourself a favor and get this excellent book. You won't be disappointed.

First of all I would like to say that I am a massive fan of the same author's ultimate GI Joe guide. I have both second and third editions and they are truly amazing.This one however falls short. While there are some good photographs and details of the figures, playsets, ships, etc he spends way too much time on giving us the background of the characters. We all know who they are! Everyone picking up this book knows who Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are. We don't need a definitive background of the character. What most people are looking for are behind the scenes information, tidbits, insights etc on the actual toys themselves. For example: the entry for Han Solo contains six paragraphs. Five of them are dedicated to the actual history of the character in the movies. Only one paragraph is dedicated to the actual toy itself and unfortunately not much is given besides the obviousness of what the character looks like. For example as well it shows the figure with both versions of his head yet gives no reason as to why that change was made in the first place! It just shows them for comparison's sake which to me is lazy. We all know who Han Solo is! There's no need to rehash his entire history in a book that is about THE toy and not the actual character. It's very, very disappointing considering the GI Joe guide book by the same author includes loads of information for each of the actual action figures and toys in that book. Along with the history of the actual character. This one falls way short of getting any insight into the actual toys themselves. So for me as a huge Star wars fan I was completely let down and was hoping to get some more information about the actual construction, designing, goofs and any other information relevant to the physical toys. By comparison the book: Star Wars- From Concept to Screen to Collectible by Stephen J Sansweet is something along the lines of what most people would be looking for with this particular book. So maybe I was expecting too much, but for me that's my two cents.

Easy to read and understand

well what can I say this book has cost me a fortune, let me explain. I thought this would just be a book showing the generation 1 star wars toys I was excited to relive my childhood by looking at what I had when I was a kid and what I haven't had, and what I didn't even know existedthen the bad news the book arrived and wow extremely detailed and what the hell are the last 17. well this book explained everything and that was it hooked is an understatement, dose not explain what I did so now after a lot of luck and hunting and lots of money I'm afraid. I own a full collection of 1977-1985 and its all thanks to this wonderful book (did you know that the x-wing has three variations two of which have lights and sounds ) well this book has it all ,so my advise if your a fan this is great if you like me a collector you cannot go wrong I'm waiting for the the transformers one now :)

I was really looking forward to getting this book but I ended up disappointed!The pictures and layout of the book are fantastic but my main gripe is the actual text about each figure! On almost every figure 80% of the information is about the characters story/history and only 20% is about the Kenner figure! I was expecting nearly all of it to be about the toy I don't need to read about how Chewbacca got rescued by Han Solo when he was younger!So if you want loads of information and history on the Kenner toy line this isn't the book for you!

Great book, great pictures, well printed and informative. However I would say this book is for the beginner collector. a good introduction to the all the major figures and some of the variations of each one. However Stops short to mention glasslite, lily ledy, and Japanese variations etc etc are rarities. I've been collecting for 25 years and am always looking for new insight however this book offered no new information I didn't already know or can be found on websites and forums. Don't let this take away from the great production

OK so the prices may be a bit out of date but actually, if you're a fan rather than an expert looking to collect the original Star Wars toys or maybe sell them this book is a really great guide to working out what's what, what goes with what and whether its rare or not. Lovely illustrations, good clear write up and the right level of information. Best of all it doesn't cost anything near the price of the Kellerman bible and current prices can easily be found on eBay and Star Wars collectors' websites. I was very pleased with this guide!