Old school
A Creative Commons-licensed photo by Plutor.
Review: Toy Wars
“Increasingly, a small group of executives determined how the children of the world would play. … This is in the best interests of capital, not kids.” — author’s note.
Despite toys being a USD67 billion market worldwide, the toy industry doesn’t get much mainstream coverage ordinarily. There was a flurry of reports during the recent safety scares and there’ll usually be an article or two whenever the larger toy companies announce their financial results but by and large, there’s little coverage and less scrutiny because it’s not seen as a beat that makes journalistic careers. It’s a pity because there are great stories to be told as G. Wayne Miller shows with his 1997 book, Toy Wars.
Miller approached Alan Hassenfeld, then the chairman and CEO of the world’s number one toy company, with the intention of spending two years writing a book about Hasbro’s crown jewel, G.I. Joe, the very first action figure and iconic boy’s toy. Miller took five years to write his book after realising there were bigger stories.
Read more
New school
A Creative Commons-licensed photo by finalfusion.
Toy links
Iron Shogun.
An excellent custom Iron Man figure by Justin Manny. (A work-in-progress shot.)
My Little Indy.
We named the pony Indiana.
Movie Tracks.
A Transformers custom.
Majin type MMS.
A demonic Busou Shinki custom by Katarina Rina.
Trap-Jaw and company.
A beautiful piece of Masters of the Universe art by Ben Templesmith.