Hey guys,

After years "in the making" the Coo Guide 3.0 is published.   

The Coo Guide 3.0 is finally in the making!!! Working on all 21 ANH figures right now and I am sure I will deliver in a week or so (only ANH).

My main problem right now is: I cannot reach _ROG_. Dropped him a line but he is not answering. I need his okay for using some of his pics...hmmmmmm

I also need some other help, but people are working around the clock and trying to help! (i.e. Lee_M). Anyway: I also need some feedbacks from other guys I have lend a picture, so the process of "copyright" is just  to be negotiated  

I also have two figures in the mail that I need to complete the ANH line!

The Coo guide 3.0 will be huge IMO. It won't reach the "beauty" of the Coo guide 2.0 (that was never released), but I hope it will still be a usefull guide. It is "simple" (graphic wise) but very complete (I hope).

Here is an old poll:
http://www.imperialgunneryforum.com/t4155p30-kind-of-a-poll-coo-guide-20

There will be tons of new Coos compared to the old Coo guide 1.0.

Enough with the talking, here is some previews. I really really hope you like it:

*Preview gone...sorry*

I am sorry for the pictures (sometimes), but they were made over years. Starting all over would cost me too much time. I have a hard disk full of pictures made by by myself, and it is now up to finally get those sorted!!

COOl!!

The v1 guide sucked me down the rabbit hole and from what I have seen in the v2 on your site, it kept me down the hole learning to better visualize families.
I can't wait to see what's coming for v3!

I don't have much to offer but will offer anything possible where and whenever I can.

cheers!

Excellent work Wolff

I am glad to see you working again in such a great COO guide, my friend
If you need any from me just drop me a line .
All the best Doc!!
J.

Wonderful Wolff, nice to see you back on the scene  

Excellent work Wolf, Very helpful for many many collectors

That is really excelent news, Wolff!

Thanks for making it happen finally!  

The Roman capitals indicate COO familes?

Really looks fantastic Wolff  

can't wait to see more  

outstanding work Wolff, working on this guide must have been a real labour of love for you, so to finally see the end in site for ANH figures must be very rewarding  I like the way you've displayed all the coos in mould family groups. Your first coo guide has been a collecting bible for me, as it has for many guys involved in the hobby, so i'm really looking forward to seeing the completion of your 3rd edition. Congratulations and well done

I have always loved your work.
It is what got me interested in CoO collecting.
I cant wait to see your new version for the Villain in the black suit. 

Wolff of anyone was going to do it, it was destined to be you!

Look forward to seeing it, and the frenzy of WTB posts from the variant fuss!

Wow...thanky you guys. I knew TIG'S community will love it most, but honestly I haven't imagined such a run guys....Thanks again for the nice words!!  

@ Javi: Thanks my friend. Your Luke Scar picture is in good hands

@Alex: Thanks for the help my friend...will need you for ESB...I am pretty sure! (and as we have already seen also for SW and POTF...LOL)

@Lee_M: You had about 156 emails from me the last days...thanks for beeing so patient and thanks for the help buddy!!!

M4K3R1 wrote:

I have always loved your work.
It is what got me interested in CoO collecting.
I cant wait to see your new version for the Villain in the black suit. 

The Vader is nearly finished my friend. I am just waiting for a package from the US to complete it *hint* *hint*  

There will be 31 Coos on vader from now on!!    

psybertech wrote:

The v1 guide sucked me down the rabbit hole and from what I have seen in the v2 on your site, it kept me down the hole learning to better visualize families.
I can't wait to see what's coming for v3!

I don't have much to offer but will offer anything possible where and whenever I can.

cheers!

Thanks for the nice words. You all will surely see what's missing. I will leave blank placeholders with "sorry no picture", so that the whole community can dig and search.....deep, deep down the rabbit hole!!! LOL

Dr Dengar wrote:

...
The Roman capitals indicate COO familes?

Yes they do!!
Thanky Marco

DarthBerizing wrote:

...
Look forward to seeing it, and the frenzy of WTB posts from the variant fuss!

Hahaha...yeah I see the new WTB threads also incoming! Thanks John

chris.75 wrote:

outstanding work Wolff, working on this guide must have been a real labour of love for you, so to finally see the end in site for ANH figures must be very rewarding :)I like the way you've displayed all the coos in mould family groups. Your first coo guide has been a collecting bible for me, as it has for many guys involved in the hobby, so i'm really looking forward to seeing the completion of your 3rd edition. Congratulations and well done

Wow...so many people now talking coo families. That is just great!! Thank you Chris!

The families btw will be complete I guess....some minor coos will always be missing I think. It will be impossible to track them all down...

So...time to do Snag and Leia...all other are roughly down now!

How do you all like the progress on the two pics above??


After many many many emails, pms and so on, I added:

- small numbers, so that you all can better refer to the pics. Doesn't really make sense IMO but I hope it helps to "talk" the guide.

- I was really personally against "labeling" them again, but well....your wish....hope you like it

Wolff,
 
I can't see your new images so maybe this is done already? Just checked your site  
 
- How about 1 coo family per line? The fett image is dead easy to follow, but the kenobi one may confuse people, with coo family 1 & 2 on the same line.
 
- PM sent regarding some extra info for two of the figures.

Just hit refresh and watch the second post agian...

PM sent!

walkie wrote:

 
- How about 1 coo family per line? The fett image is dead easy to follow, but the kenobi one may confuse people, with coo family 1 & 2 on the same line.

Would work with most, but difficult on a few:

C-3PO: 6 families
Darth Vader: 11 families
Chewbacca: 7 families

What I am trying to say is: Giving every family an extra line makes it more difficult to compare them "overall"
Haing 6,7 or 11 rows kills the "overview" IMO....

What do you guys think??

I would prefer a small space...one look.....comparing them all on one screen (if possible) ???

You are doing a great job Wolff.

I have also some feedback for you:

• I would also prefer having the COO familes in separate rows, to avoid confusion.
  You can also leave out the space holders then.
  
  
  
  
  
• Give each individual member an unique label Ia, Ib, etc. (I think this has already been addressed though)
  
  
  
  
  
• Change the arrows to solid lines with a big dot at the end or no dot at all. Arrows indicate movement, but you use them merely as a pointer. That is confusing, at least to me.
  
  
  
  
  
• Maybe refrain to one individual representant per family? In that case you need only one pic per family. No need to put them in rows anymore, and you got your overview.
  Off course I understand the die hard COO hunters would like to see the very subtle differences within one family, but maybe reserve that for a parallel MOAC Guide. (Mother Of All COOs Guide)  
  
  
  
  

wbobafett wrote:

What I am trying to say is: Giving every family an extra line makes it more difficult to compare them "overall"
Haing 6,7 or 11 rows kills the "overview" IMO....

What do you guys think??

Wolff,

I agree with both points of view.
I think the two goals can be met with a small tweak to the layout.
Goal #1 - keep them as compact as possible on one image to see everything
Goal #2 - Keep the families grouped but where they bleed together on one line, have them stand out

Proposed tweak:

Place a border around the families like so:


And I do like the idea of a specific label for each, however, I prefer to utilize the family to help keep things straight in my mind.
So in the case of Ben, I like the idea if Ia, Ib; IIa, IIb, IIc, IId; IIIa; IIIb
To me that helps separate them, keeps them in the correct families and allows for growth ... i.e. if a new COO is documented in family II, you would not need to fix or update all the latter numbers, It would simply become IIe, allowing IIIa, IIIb etc, to stay as is.

Just my two cents.

Love it no matter what!

cheers!

Jay

edit to add:
I may not have much to offer in the way of pictures or info (YET!), but I am a Photoshope guy and would volunteer time editing images if that would be of any help.

Oh yeah, maybe the most important thing.

When you upgrade something, make sure it is still compatible with a previous version.

Make a link with the old guide somehow. In many threads people discuss about COOX and COOY. It would be nice when we can still understand these threads in a few years from now when COO 3.0 will be the new gold standard.

So for example use labels like:

Ia (3) Ib (5), Ic (6)  :  Family I, representant a , old COO number 3, etc.
IIa (2)
IIIa (1), IIIb (4)

Or better (using one representant in COO guide 3.0)

I (3,5,6)
II (2)
III (1,4)

First things first though, this can always be incorporated at a later level.

Dr Dengar wrote:

Oh yeah, maybe the most important thing.

When you upgrade something, make sure it is still compatible with a previous version.

Make a link with the old guide somehow. In many threads people discuss about COOX and COOY. It would be nice when we can still understand these threads in a few years from now when COO 3.0 will be the new gold standard.

So maybe use labels like:
Ia (4)  :  Family I, representant a , old COO number 4
IIIb (2): Family IIII, representant b , old COO number 2

I kind of agree, but I am also all about the new and shiny! If the old guide was to disappear completely overnight and be replaced with the new 3.0, we all would adapt quickly to the new system.

The sheer beauty of the original guide was it's simplicity. To me, having a ton of extra text labels there would make it a) more confusing for some people, b) take away from the simple images and c) clutter up the images (OK, same as b really). But I like simple and clean and easy and based on Wolff's opening remarks:

wbobafett wrote:

... It is "simple" (graphic wise) but very complete (I hope).

one of his goals was to keep it simple and clean. Having too much info will definitely stray from that goal in my opinion.

I am not saying it isn't a good idea, but I think the COO Image should be clean.
I can see a small table underneath it with cross reference data for those who want to know more to to see what the old ones were like so:

(that is NOT real data correlating to any figure!)

This could be done by the community COO folks.
Keeping it separate helps both old and new folks follow the "visual" guide and adds more reference/research information to those who are really interested.
It could also take a ton of pressure off Wolff and allow for the community to contribute  in other ways.

Again, just my 2 cents..............


cheers!

A small cross reference table would be an elegant solution, Jay

Either way people would be able to translate old into new.

Okay...head is exploding!!!!  ...too much input...

Guys...I am on the way to finish them!....I just numbered Vader from 1 till 31!!!!!!!   

Psybertech is right IMO....too much numbers in there means too confusing! (...and means too much stress for me....seriously....I am working 24 on this right now!)

I originally wanted no numbers and no labeling! Both for the same reason...the confusing posts and ebay adverts all around!

I think I will leave the numbers from 1 till whatever...no matter which family. IMO coo should be talked like:

COO family II "no coo" (#06)/ Coo family IV HK (#21). The numbers are actually not needed.

A family always contains simple (sth that can be described as HK, CH, No COO etc) forms. And all HKs, CHs, No Coos raised bars etc simply go togeher. Long since people tried to differ No Coos on a Walrusman beeing French, UK or PBP...they are ALL present in UK, France and Spain!

Anyway...I actually like the idea of summarizing the families in a colored line. That is a great idea IMO and keeps the overview "alive".

As said: MAking rows would destroy many of the ANH characters....

Will make a stop to it all right now....photoshopping for over 12 hours now....need to think and read again what you all have suggest!

thanks guys

Wolff