The Essential Guide to Characters

No, no, the ORIGINAL essential guide. You know, the one by Andy Mangels from 1995. The writing is excellent, the artwork is excellent, and the stories are excellent. There is nothing wrong with this book except that repulsive "New" guide which was a waste of paper since I don't know anyone that has it. After Episode 3, Andy Mangels should come back to write another one with all the real facts about everyone in the Saga and EU.

 

Both guides are considered 2 parts of a more complete whole, like a 2 volume series, by Dan Wallace, and LFL, because there is very little overlap between either one.

I like both myself.

However, I like the EGTVV better than the NEGTVV.

 

You said it Val. NEGTV&V kinda sucked. At least now I can find the original fer cheep.

 

The New Guide to Vehicles and Vessels had way too many ships that were barely seen and way too little ships that were actually COOL.

Plus, The new Guide to Charactars is decent to me. It and the old one work well together, and I like the colour.

 

I like the newer version of the character guide too. The artwork is amazing.

 

Color illustrations are definitely a plus!

 

I have both, and I prefer the artwork in the NEGTC. However, it is fun to read some of the things in the original that were omitted in the new one. I like them both.

 

I own both versions of the Guide to Characters, and I'm glad I own both versions. Like Val said, they act as 2 volumes of a more complete whole.

 

I picked my copy up rather early...did they ever fix the typos in it? The one that bugged me most was "Gethszerionb" for "Gethzerion".

 

Mine doesn't have that error, IIRC...

 

I'm going to have to go with what is appearing to be the general feeling of 2 volumes in an encyclopedia set. On the write up for characters in both, I feel they are equal. For the stats, I'd much rather take the stats of the EGtC. The color drawings from the NEGtC are nice, though it would have been nice to see photos from the movies and comic images included along side the sketches as they were in the EGtC. What I liked over the EGtC in the NEGtC is the addition of pronounciation and the appendix of minor characters felt to be worth of a mention but not a full article. Like I've said in the past, if a third Essential Gudie to Characters comes out, they should combine the best features of the two to make the third that much better.

 

I don't have the NEGTC (I want it, just have other things I want more), but the original EGTC was the first EG book I ever got, so it remains my favorite of them all.

 

I have both. I consider them to be equal. They both have their plus and down sides.

 

the problem with the original EGs vs the NEGs is that there's too much overlap and too much time elapsed between them to really consider them to be two volumes of the same, but there are enough gaps in either one to prevent me from definitively choosing one over the other.

 

the problem with the original EGs vs the NEGs is that there's too much overlap

Too much overlap? I'm going to have to disagree with you there. There's really very little overlap in my opinion. Some characters have entries in both, but they're completely updated with new information. Other than that, I don't feel there's very much overlap at all.

 

Too much overlap? I'm going to have to disagree with you there. There's really very little overlap in my opinion. Some characters have entries in both, but they're completely updated with new information. Other than that, I don't feel there's very much overlap at all.

i tend to consider that overlap, simply because even if a few bits gets cut in the update, there's seldom going to be a time when you would use the EGtC entry for, say, Luke Skywalker, when the NEGtC entry is also available. the old one becomes essentially redundant.

there are really enough characters, vehicles, planets, etc. to have multiple volumes, but i don't think the differences between the originals and the new updates work to function that way. unfortunately, i doubt the Essential Guides sell well enough to justify that...

it would be nice to see two volumes, split up by era: volume I including everything up to Episode III, and Volume II with everything after. characters seen in both would be in one or the other based on where they did more important things, with full entries that include everything about the character. Obi-Wan would be in Volume I, with his life up until ANH and his Force Ghosty activities, and Boba Fett would be in Volume II. I suppose Anakin Skywalker would be in Volume I and Darth Vader would be in Volume II. Palpatine/Sidious i'm not sure about...

maybe they should just have one massive double-sized book.

 

I want to get that Essential Guide To Vehicles. I have great plans for that book. Hope I can find a half price copy at Wonder Book and Video.

 

I didn't like the artwork for most of the characters.

 

i tend to consider that overlap, simply because even if a few bits gets cut in the update, there's seldom going to be a time when you would use the EGtC entry for, say, Luke Skywalker, when the NEGtC entry is also available. the old one becomes essentially redundant.

I disagree. For general discussions on on characters who would appear in both the EGtC and the NEGtC with a full entry, I grab both. However, for discussions on info new to a character since the EGtC came out, I grab the NEGtV only. Same for discussions on characters who do not appear in the EGtC either because the character appeared after the EGtC was released or because they did not make it into the EGtC. Yet for characters who do not appear in the NEGtC, or merely appear in the appendix, but who have a full entry in the EGtC sends me after the EGtC. It is therefore redundant to think of it as redundant.

 

The EGTC was more in depth for the sources that were out at the time it was written. However because there is many more sources to write about since then, the NEGTC had to be less-detailed to pack in more periods of time for the character(which involves some details and events not even being covered in it). So the more detailed tid-bits from the first volume can still be useful.

 

Well put, Val. That's exactly the way I feel. I have to say, though, that I prefer Wallace's style over Mangles. Mangles tends to repeat himself over and over again in his character bios, even to the point of using the exact same sentence in four entries or essentially paraphrasing WEG sourcebooks word-for-word. Wallace makes everything a little more interesting, spreading historical information out over several different, related entries and providing enough new information to keep things lively.

TC

 

So is it possible that I can say that's three in a row who feel the use of the EGtC is not redundant with the NEGtC out?

 

What do you mean? ?

 

Oh, one of the folks (not going to say their name though the post I'm refering to is three before my second one on this thread) on the thread said that having the NEGtC means you're less likely to use the EGtC making it redundant. I said in my second post that it's not redundant nor is it less likely to be used now that the NEGtC is out. Valiento and TC both sounded like they were saying much the same, so I was asking if that meant three people posting like that in a row didn't find still using the EGtC redundant.

 

Yeah, I find the old guide to be quite helpful, although I prefer the style of the new guide.

TC