Tag: Lego Star Wars

LEGO Star Wars The Dark Side

LEGO Star Wars The Dark Side | Book Review

Dorling Kindersley has sent me a review copy of their latest book LEGO Star Wars : The Dark Side (Uncover The Secrets Of The Sith).

The book is the latest in DK’s large hardcover titles with free exclusive minifigures, this time an exclusive Emperor Palpatine figure (a character who is hard to find in sets), and it is similar in size to books like the LEGO Yoda Chronicles and LEGO Star Wars Visual Guide.

LEGO Star Wars The Dark Side

LEGO Star Wars The Dark SideThe book is described as a guide to all the elements of the Dark Side, including characters, ships, weapons, accessories of the Dark Side from all six movies and also including The Clone Wars, The Yoda Chronicles and beyond – essentially everywhere there is a LEGO set featuring members of the Sith, then this book has it covered.

Lighter Side Of The Dark Side

But it’s not just a guidebook. The Dark Side has quite the sense of humour too, incorporating funny speech balloons into photos that recreate famous moments from the Star Wars universe with LEGO minifigures.

It also has some truly funny articles like a scandalous report revealing that Darth Vader is none other than podracing champion Anakin Skywalker and includes interviews with a few of Darth Vader’s old friends/foes including C3PO, Wald and Sebulba.

Other articles include ‘excerpts’ from Vader’s diary as well as guide to Galactic Domination, Emperor Palpatine style.

His lordship’s take on Tatooine?

“Ugh, Tatooine. Darth Vader tells me such horror stories about that desert planet. Too much sand for me – it’s itchy and annoying and gets everywhere. Note to sandtroopers: pack plenty of water and dewback food.
Mission: Avoid At All Costs”

So you can see it’s not a dry index of elements but gives fans of LEGO Star Wars a truly humorous approach to the dark side of the force. It’s pretty cool really and a great read for kids, however those seeking a definitive resource on the villains of the LEGO Star Wars universe would do well to look elsewhere (perhaps to the LEGO Star Wars Visual Guide – Expanded Edition).

At just under 100 pages, and an exclusive free figure (of a hard to find character) it is great value and deserves a place on any LEGO fan’s bookshelf. Thanks again to DK for the review copy.

LEGO The Dark Side

Journey to the dark side of a galaxy far, far away and meet the LEGO® Star Wars minifigure members of the ruthless Imperial Army in LEGO Star Wars: The Dark Side!

Witness Darth Vader battling Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, meet the Sith and all of Darth Vader’s minifigure subjects, and explore the Death Star and all of the Sith starships. Turn the pages to find facts and information about your favorite LEGO Star Wars minifigures and vehicles from the dark side in action-packed situations and discover everything there is to know about the legendary Darth Vader.

With new and exciting photography and an evil exclusive minifigure, LEGO Star Wars: The Dark Side will have you questioning on which side your allegiances lie.

LEGO Star Wars The Dark Side Image Gallery

The Yoda Chronicles – LEGO Book Review

The Yoda Chronicles BookDK recently sent me a copy of The Yoda Chronicles by Daniel Lipkowitz to review. So once I received it back from my kids (minus the free minifigure of course) I took a closer look at this large hardcover.

I must admit I had found The Yoda Chronicles a little hard to pin down. I have never really been sure exactly what it was.

To be honest I’m still not sure.
Is it a TV series, a web series, a game, an app, a ploy to sell more LEGO sets or all of the above?

It turns out that there has been a TV series in the US, featured on The Cartoon Network. The story played out over three animated specials which spawned the resulting books, games, apps and LEGO sets. I have no idea whether the series has shown on Australian TV. I’m a bit of a Luddite when it comes to broadcast TV (However, it isn’t on itunes, I know that much).

A press release tells us more:

LEGO Star Wars returns in epic style with THE YODA CHRONICLES, a thrilling, funny and action-packed new LEGO Star Wars story told in three animated TV specials! Set in the “Prequel” Star Wars timeline, THE YODA CHRONICLES stars the one and only Yoda—the Jedi Master who has seen it all, done it all, and taught generations of Jedi Knights—in an all-new adventure. With the help of a fresh class of Padawans, Yoda leads the Jedi in a desperate fight to stop Darth Sidious and his minions from creating a new super-weapon that could crush theRepublic and win the war for the forces of Evil.

So what about the book?

The Yoda Chronicles Book

The Yoda Chronicles Book Page 6-7The Yoda Chronicles Book tells us more about the story, the character of Yoda and other characters that feature in the series, some new, some old favourites. While a thick book, it includes a minifigure (an exclusive Clone Special Forces Commander), so a large proportion of the thickness is an empty space to protect the integrity of the figure and the book’s spine (this will make more sense if you have other DK books which have come with free minifigures).

All up it is 63 pages long and I have to say it won’t get alot of re-reading in my house but that is mainly because my kids are probably a little too old for the intended audience.

Younger fans will no doubt be impressed and pour through the colourful pages with glee, but for the more discerning older fan, the book will appear to be an expensive catalogue for the latest LEGO sets rather than a useful resource book. Additionally, because of the rather elusive nature of The Yoda Chronicles series if, like me, you are unfamiliar with the story then it might not be worth the purchase unless you simply have to have everything related to LEGO Star Wars.

Each page has a different focus (e.g. Where Does Yoda Come From, Pirates And Bounty Hunters, Jabba The Hutt, Yoda’s Galaxy, etc) and every other page features a Star Wars LEGO set prominently.

The facts are interesting and the figure is a powerful incentive for collectors but overall the book lacks something to make it universally appealing, and is best left for younger fans of LEGO Star Wars who are perhaps just starting on their journey into reading and the love of books.

The Yoda Chronicles Book

The Yoda Chronicles Book Page 22-23Includes an exclusive minifigure!

Relive Yoda’s adventures in the LEGO® Star Wars® galaxy with this all new format from DK.

The first in a brand-new series, LEGO Star Wars: Yoda Chronicles features themed spreads based on the legendary Yoda’s adventures, from his leadership of the Jedi council and his duels with Count Dooku and Darth Sidious, to his support of the Wookiees in the Clone Wars and his training of Luke on Dagobah. Specially commissioned photography shows minifigures and vehicles in action, with tons of storylines and facts that kids will love.

The Yoda Chronicles Book Image Gallery

In regards to the animated series, luckily someone has uploaded the cartoon to Youtube but the quality is poor so when it arrives on DVD I would recommend purchasing a copy.