"The Essential Guide to Droids," by Daniel Wallace, Bill Hughes, Troy Vigil [Ballantine, 1999]

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Summary:

Some of the coolest personalities in Star Wars--both big parts and bit players--aren't really persons at all. They're droids. From the comedic duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO to the beeping, gonking peanut gallery in the belly of the Sandcrawler, you can tell that Lucas loved his droids. In fact, as Essential Guide author Daniel Wallace wisely points out, A New Hope opens not with a princess or a Jedi, but with the bickering R2 and 3PO. Wallace shares that affection, and in The Essential Guide to Droids, he lovingly describes a hundred of the hardest working bots in the galaxy, drawing from the Star Wars movies, novels, and comics. (As Wallace puts it, "We like to think we covered all the cool ones.")
Every droid you remember (or maybe just recognize) is here, from R2 and 3PO to the syringe-packing interrogator orbs on the Death Star to the eyeball-on-a-stick security drone that minds Jabba's front door. Each entry lists the unit's specs and history (and sometimes even marketing strategy), and a technical blueprint points out all the features. (How else would you find the retractable paralysis cord on the cone-headed bounty hunter IG-88?) With its droids of all callings, from medical to military and protocol to processing, this Essential Guide is a tour any SW fan will love.

Read the TF.n Book Staff Reviews!

 

Good book. The only problem with it that I have is that it was released so close to Phantom Menace, it should have included the profiles of the Trade Federation droids.

Despite that, 10.

 

Unlocked. Up.

 

I give it a 10, I think its a great read for the star wars tech minded, of course I did color in the krath war droid in woodland camouflage when I was bored so that probably took down the value.