1 comments about Teddy Bear Collector's Record Book: A Guide to Managing Your Collection.

1. This book is layed out simply; gives understandable instructions on its' use; and two different examples. Great way to catalog your collection and also to have a record of the number, type and value of your collection for insurance purposes should anything (ie. fire, theft) happen to your collection.Note: You would then want to store your book in a firesafe place!

1 comments about My Doll Organizer Fact Sheets Album: Over 60 Fact Sheets.

1. This is a must have for anyone looking to organize or just expand thier doll collection. Perfect for the new or long time enthusiast. It helped turn my hobby and passion into a well cataloged album that my family and I will treasure for years to come!

1 comments about Barbie Doll Treasures 1959-1997: Features : Fashion Booklets, Fashions, Dolls, Structures, & More... (Barbie).

1. This book has a lot of different categories and therefore none are complete. You will get a sampling of items across different areas and times, but this will not help you identify the vast majority of what you own or are looking to buy. Price guide in the back only covers those items pictured in the book. Is a good starter book, probably not for the serious collector.

No comments about My Doll Organizer.

5 comments about Kiddie Meal Collectibles.

1. I'm a collector of stuff, and most of the price guides I see are simply lists and prices, or slight variations on that theme. Here, finally, is a price guide that not only gives you lists of things with prices, but also offers you some insights into the background of the material priced. Misters Sodaro & Malloy have delivered an extended, clever, insightful look into the world of fast food toys and collectibles. most of the 40 or so resturants that are listed have company profiles, plus there are articles about the backgrounds of the various types of toys available at the various franchises. There could be more color photos, but they do have plenty of them in black and white. Hopefully they will issue an updated version of this very fine book soon.



2. I first read about Mr. Sodaro's book in my local newspaper (The Hour, Norwalk, CT), and found his concept for a book to be facinating. I later heard him speak on the topic of fast food toys and (of course), his book, at a couple of events in the area, and determined to seek out the book and purchase a copy for myself. Sure enough, it proved to be every bit as interesting as Mr. Sodaro was in person. While I am a collector of toys and such, I really had never given much thought to fast food giveaways as legitimate toy items until I heard Mr. Sodaro speak, and then read his book. Very informative. I recommend it to anyone who collects toys, or has eaten at a fast food location.



3. I saw this book on Top 5 on the Food Channel. That show (originally broadcast Nov. 10) listed the top five give-away premimums as 5) Crackerjacks; 4) S&H Green Stamps; 3) Bazooka Bubblegum comics; 2) Breakfast Cereal toys; and the #1 giveaway as Kiddie Meal Toys! Top 5 interviewed Mr. Sodaro, and he spoke rather elequently about Fast food toys, their history, and why we all love them so much. Needless to say, he goes into greater detail into all of this in his book. Great stuff I highly recommend it!

   SpyderB0y




4. Admit it or not nearly everyone has been to a fast food place. These toys are fun and exist in everyone's home. Now we have a guide to find out how much they are worth.



5. Mind you while I'm not a huge fan of fast food toys, I do find them interesting. So saying, I've certainly acquired my share of these items over the years, and yes, I like so many other folks at my office, have some of them on display at my desk.
   
   Needless to say, Mr. Sodaro is very knowledgeable on the subject. (I remember seeing a segment about him on The Food Network, and heard him talk about fast food toys on my local radio station. Plus I know that he has written about fast food toys for Barbie Bazaar Magazine, and American Antiquities, as well as other publications, I understand that he's even been quoted in no less than The Wall Street Journal on the subject.)
   
   He provides readers with an impressive array of facts and info on not only the toys themselves, but on the various food franchises that dispense them. Plus there are chapters on specific genres (comicbook superheroes, Beanie Babies, Star Wars).
   
   So if you have these toys, want to know more about these toys, or simply want to know how much the ones you have are worth, I highly recommend this book.
   
   Now all he needs to do is to come out with a volume 2 to bring the list up to date (it was originally published in 2001, and certainly could stand to use updating.)

No comments about Norah Wellings Cloth Dolls and Soft Toys.

5 comments about Vintage Toys: Robots and Space Toys.

1. Gorgeous 192 page, up-to-date book featuring more than 400 superb full color very large, sharp photos of more than 300 robots, spaceships and ray guns. This 1999 book uses a great format, with 2 toys per page, complete with a load of information on each item ! One of the best formats I've seen. It covers the years from the 40's through the 70's. A full color photo of the box is even provided with most toys. Topics range from Acrobat Robot, Astroman, Buck Rogers and Cape Canaveral, to Roby Robot, Smoking Spaceman, Space Trooper and Yonezawa items. You can't miss with this reference book.



2. Vintage Toys: Robots And Space Toys is an outstanding compendium of 300 space and science fiction toys from yesteryear. Jim Bunte, Dave Hallman, and Heinz Mueller collaborate in offering the history of the companies that made these popular toys and the present day market valuations of each toy cited. Profusely illustrated throughout in full color, specifically designed for ease of use as a reference, authoritative and exhaustive, Vintage Toys: Robots And Space Toys is nostalgic, practical, and an invaluable reference for avid collectors and antiquarian dealers alike.



3. ... yes, it has lovely production values with super clear pictures but it also has its faults.

   1) With so may space toys the book could have covered (and remember, this book does not claim to exclusively be a tin toy robot book) there are far too many of the same sort of toy. Many are just duplicates with a different paint job and could have been ditched in favour of a bit more variety, or at least shown in the context of the original toy they were based on. Where are Ideal's Zeroids? How about Major Matt Mason? Surely important space toys? Instead we get Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots twice!

   2) The toys are shown in alphabetical order within their respective decades which means that it's hard to see how trends developed within any ten year span. Sometimes toys are described as copies or alternative versions of existing toys but the original is only found further on in the book because its name is later in the alphabet. So much for their clear, easy layout which is hyped within an inch of its life.

   3) Information is sketchy at best with many discriptions being almost identical and relying only on visual observations of the toy, something which anyone could do. Surely someone can supply reliable information about Japanese tin robot manafacturers? Some information is also incorrect. The UK Smash robot came from an advertising campagin for instant mashed potato not a comedy show whilst toys described as being influenced by real-life rockets are in fact copies of Thunderbird 1 from the Gerry Anderson 60's TV show.

   All in all this is a nice coffee table book with nice photography but as a resource for space toys from the 50's to the 90's it sure lacks a lot. The authors would have been better off doing better research and thinking more about their choice of toys than to constantly congratulate themselves about a page layout that isn't very special at all.




4. Granted, this is just a pretty slide show, but its done well, and I love looking at these old toys, some of which I had as a kid. The book is really well made, but lacks SUBSTANCE, know that you are buying a picture book and you will be happy with it.



5. I agree with Wil Overton's review (see above). This is a nicely done book for the tin-litho robot collector I suppose, but if you are looking for a real breadth of coverage on vintage space toys, in my opinion you will probably be disappointed. I am a big fan of rockets and spaceman/alien figures (Space Patrol/Tom Corbett/Rocky Jones, etc.)and found very little in this volume of interest to me. In fact, I bought it second-hand at half the publisher's price and felt it had not been a good purchase; but, then again . . . I was looking for much more than robots.

5 comments about Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll.

1. This is not a "pro-Barbie" book, or an "anti-Barbie" book. It is an exploration of all aspects of Barbie the author finds significant. Topics include:

   The history of Barbie's creation, her marketing and engineering by Mattel.

   The differences between male and female executives in handling of the Barbie line.

   Ruth Handler, Barbie's creator, and other prominent women in Barbie's life such as Charlotte Johnson, who designed her clothes in the early years, Judy Shackelford, Mattel's first female vice president, and Jill Barad, the marketing director & later Mattel COO, who pioneered the "We Girls Can Do Anything" advertising campaign in 1984.

   A history of Barbie and ethnic identity (unfortunately someone had clipped pages out of this chapter in the library copy I read, so I can't say too much about it.)

   Explorations of symbolic, sexual, & psychological meanings of the doll.

   I found this book fascinating. A very enjoyable read. While it explores both the positive and negative views women have had of Barbie, I especially enjoyed the positive, including Barbie's history as a single independent career woman, the powerful career women involved in her creation, manufacture, & marketing over the years, and the somewhat fanciful but enjoyable discussion of her as a mythical archetype of the feminine.

   I like when this book ventures into realms of the bizarre, like the exploration of Barbie's image in the context of fetishism and pornography. I suppose some people might be disturbed or offended by this, however.

   I was frustrated by the lack of a list of illustrations, since photographs appear throughout the text, & are often mentioned later in the book. It's hard to go back and find the picture she's talking about.

   I was confused by the author `s seeming lack of awareness that people might read the book 6 or more years after its publication. For instance, she refers to women of the Barbie generation as "women under 40." I had to think to realize this included me, since I'm not under 40 now, but I was when the book was published in 1994. The confusion will increase as years go by.

   This is too bad, since the book is a unique treatment of Barbie in cultural context, and should be read well into the future by students of popular culture as well as individuals who like to ponder such things. Unfortunately, it's out of print. This makes it unlikely that a 2nd edition will ever appear, which is also too bad, since I would love to know what the author has to say about innovations subsequent to its publication, such as Barbie's new more lifelike proportions, and the introduction of her belly-button.

   Some people might find this book too intellectual, or possibly over their heads. Probably many people who like to ponder the meanings of popular culture are anti-Barbie, and might be turned off by the book's positive spin on the doll. Barbie enthusiasts might be put off by the negative spin, as well as the stranger explorations. I love the book, but I have to admit it's not for everybody. Maybe that's why it's out of print. But if you are open to both sides of the Barbie controversy, and like to wax philosophical and think about things, this book is definitely for you.




2. This book isn't the next _war and peace_ nor was meant to be. Just like that dude J. Alfred Prufrock, it's good for swelling a crowd, and giving you something less-embarassing than watch television to do when you want to just relax. Analyzing pop culture, learning obscure facts about something I am vaguely ashamed of myself for being interested in in the first place . . . mmmmmmmm, pass the oreo ice cream, please. The author definitely shares my sheepish fascination with Barbie. His/her(?) text explores many aspects of our relationship with Barbie - as children, parents, adult women, queers, artists, etc., as well as a lot of very interesting background info on how she was created, the company who has promoted her over the years, and the toy industry in general. Holding my interest *without* getting so serious that I wished the book had come with a discussion section that met once a week, _Forever Barbie_ was like a long, interesting cultural-analysis chat with an amusing girlfriend. I would read it again in a few years or recommend it to friends . . .



3. On the one hand, this is an impressively researched book written with humor and intelligence. I'd love to see a new edition tracking some of the more recent developments in Barbie's empire. But some of Ms. Lord's arguments drift unpersuasively far into psycho-sexual realms. When she used an obscure 43 minute 1987 documentary as her three-page focus for the conflicting causes of eating disorders, she completely lost me.



4. I know you think I am a little young for this book but trust me it's great! It's so good! I never looked at a Barbie the same way again! This is a must-have for Barbie fans! I like how she talked about how Barbie made African-Americans and American-Asians feel undermined what with not a lot of ethnic Barbies being sold now. I loved loved hearing about the collector things and the weird people who think Barbie is the most fabulous thing ever. She also covers feminism, society's messages towards women, anorexic stars, and rituals that seem to be incorporated into Barbie play. And she gives some neat background dirt on Mattel. He, he!
   I did not like how she said the pregnant Midge doll was "icky". This book is cool with lots of photos and stories of interesting people and disturbing artists as well as the acessories made to make up for Ken's groin loss (lol) and the secret messages implanted in Barbie's accessories. I will never see Barbie as a cheap piece of skinny plastic anymore. Now, she is society in doll form. Believe it!
   Wamina!



5. I grew up thinking that Barbies were evil dolls that were part of the Establishment's plan to keep women in their place. I never had a Barbie and I only gave one to a child who specifically requested it. After reading this book I realized that I had been too hard on Barbies. They were part and parcel of our culture, not part of a plot. Just recently I read a "Best Toys for Children" review that still recommended dolls for girls and toy trucks for boys.
   
   The author covers a tremendous range of Barbie-related material, and the book seems to have been well-researched, with many good references.
   
   I began to wonder what it would have been like to have had a Barbie (instead of a working toy cannon), so after finishing the book I went to Toys R Us to see the current Barbies. Then I went to a thrift store.
   
   There were dozens of Barbies at the thrift store, most of them hanging feet-up, naked in plastic sacks. I bought one of the few of them that was dressed and took it(her?) home. She (I haven't named her) has been sitting on the edge of the sofa all week. I am trying to get a feeling of what it is to own a Barbie doll. I look at her, but she just stares into the distance. I could not tell you if she is dreamy or disdainful. I get absolutely no "velveteen rabbit" emanations.
   
   All I can think of is a poem I read long ago - Keat's "Ode On a Grecian Urn"*.
   "She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
   Forever will thou love, and she be fair!"
   
   She is, I guess, what you make of her, and still reflects our culture.
   
   *I looked it up.

No comments about Toy Soldiers: The New Compact Study Guide and Identifier (Identifying Guide Series).

No comments about Marx Western Playsets: The Authorized Guide.