Came back to read this thread a bit later than intended and I gotta say Mr. Space Monkey sir...

You are exactly right.
I saw my son and his friend sitting down the other day with a box of Hot wheels cars and they systematically went through them all to see which car belonged to whom before heading home. There was absolutely no chance of a stray car ending up at the other's house, no trading, no borrowing.

It was nice to see them paying attention and taking care of what is "theirs" but it was sad as well...

There was an attempt of a coffee table book like this- that showcased all the DC figures ever made (all companies)--- but it turned into a partial list partial picture book- and the end result wasnt very good. I know it came out a few years ago- and my brother found me one recently at closeout for 5.00 at Borders I think.

I'm credited in that book! I sent them a bunch of my DC Direct collection for the photographs.

D.

I'd gladly pay $100 for a GOOD white knob windup collectible book, that covered all the vintage, licensed WKW's from 1977 til 1995 or so, all the Tomy's, Bandai, Galoob, Durham, Nasta, etc. I have the only WKW book made, and it's got some cool stuf I don't yet have, but it's too short and has to much restaurant premiums and current windups. I'd like an entire breakdown of all the TOMY windups as well as the other lines.

I miss the simplicity of toys. Gone are the days when you, the child created the theme for the toy. While "action features" are nice, give me a sandbox any day. I am sure my parents did not like when my toys were returned home missing a few body parts (mostly legs or heads), but that had been the most fun.

Jeez, I didn't know the Commish was worth that much.....

I gotta dig mine out wherever I put him.

When people say that kind of thing, and I see just how immense their collection is, the only thing I can think of is.....Why don't you write it yourself?

I'm not trying to be condescending here, I'm trying to be honest. You obviously have a passion for such things. You want to see it done, but you're waiting for someone else to do it. Why not you?, Wouldn't you love to see your name in print?, Wouldn't you love to see your collection as the focus of a book?

I've given this a lot of thought myself, and I think I want to write a book at some point. SOMEBODY had to write "World's greatest Toys!", because if they didn't it'd never happen.

why not be that guy?, Why not write the definitive guide to white knob windups? Then you can choose what goes in it, and what stays out!

Whoops. I missed the whole "vintage toy" criteria.I was just complaining in general...

Yup, It's written by Scott Beatty, and it's called the DC Comics Action Figure Archive.

it's a good book, but with a little more effort, could've been a GREAT book. Glad I only paid about $3.50 for mine.

but an all-encompassing Kenner Book?, featuring full details on all of the great lines I grew up with as a kid (Star Wars, MASK, Ghostbusters, Silverhawks, Super Powers, etc.) I'd drop cash on that in a new york minute.

Yeah, my only problem would be a lack of technical knowledge on how to put a book together. It would have to be more a zine, unless I could get a publishing company on board....Also, it's a bit of an esoteric niche in toy collecting (but one with RABID collectors). Also, another good thing about windup collecting is the cross market appeal from Disney collectors, vintage toy line collectors (like the Power Lords and Voltron windups), Arcade memorabilia collectors, Advertising premium collectors, Smurf and Snork collectors, TOMY collectors, Snoopy collectors, robot collectors, 80's collectors, Wizard of Oz collectors, etc. They have an appeal to more than just wind up collectors...

you don't have to know how to write to be able to write a book.

that's what editors are for.

as for formatting, etc, once again, layout and formatting isn't hard. you can find someone to do it. As for finding a publisher, if you have an almost-finished, or completed, professional product, shopping for a publisher is a lot easier.

You're looking at this from entirely the wrong POV, if you're serious about doing it. If you don't want to do it, that's fine, and I'll shut up, but I can put you in contact with people who have been published professionally, if you're interested.

I'd very much like to write a book at some point, I just need to find a subject I love as much as you love wind ups, and put pen to paper, as it were.

Worst comes to worst, you could always get everything together and publish it as a PDF download. Like Blis says, the tech/layout part of the book isn't hard (or hard to find someone to do it), it's having someone with the passion and the real knowledge to put together something good. There are dozens of books on collecting Star Wars stuff and almost all are just slapped together and completely useless from a collecting or history perspective. It's nothing I do for a living, but I've got quite a bit of amatuer experience with publications from high school yearbooks to church bulletins to fanzines, if you decide to do this, let me know and I'll help out as much as I can.

Probably the only reason that would hold me back from a Super Powers book would be the incompleteness of it. No way in hell would Mike Mensinger want to partner up on such a thing.

It's sad, but hey...that's life.

Peace,

Chip

I have desktop publishing skills, I just lack the time due to my job, at the moment.

it's definitely something I want to do at some point, and there's dozens of other things I want to do as well.

I just lack the time, and if I had that I lack resources.

Possibly, if I find the time. Right now I'm going through a legal battle. But I do know how to write. I have a 140 IQ and majored in english in college. That wouldn't be the problem. It would be getting it made, the technical aspects of making a book, of finding someone that will turn my manusctipt into a bound book with photo's, especially in such an esoteric market. And I don't want to hand write it, I'd have to type it, which means getting my printer fixed. I would like to do something like that when I have free time and help with where to start..