T is for This is Really Sad . . .

. . . as I imagined when I bought it, that I would be able to give this book a glowing report/review here or on Amazon, from where I purchased it as a Christmas present to myself.

However, having dipped into it over the holiday, browsed it from cover-to-cover, reading all the picture captions as I went, looked-up a few specific 'test' things and carefully read the composition chapter (chp.11; Toy Soldiers March in Goose Step) in full, I am genuinely sad to report, that unless you are a hardcore library-builder/completist, you can save yourself forty-odd quid (+/- €50 or $60) by not buying this book.

Plastics' purists and war gamers can also keep their pocketbooks free of lightening by waiting for something more substantial in their chosen fields; Plastic Warrior magazine only gets a couple of mentions and is pluralised each time (warriors), so the author's obviously no aficionado of that publication?

It should be noted that some outlets are heavily discounting it already (I paid £26), possibly as a result of its initial reception, so there are bargains out there if you feel you must have it.

And the first thing I want to say is that I believe most of the problems with the work are down to poor translation, poor editing and no apparent proof-reading, so the bulk of the blame can be lain, solemnly, at the feet of the publisher, but some of it does, nevertheless, go back to the author.

The History of Toy Soldiers

by Luigi Toiati

After a series of forwards, prefaces and introductions (or - at least - one of each!) the book 'proper' starts around twelve-pages in, and immediately gets into difficulty with the definitions of 'Hunt' and 'Find' as applied to the acquisition of toy soldiers, the - quite laboured - point is repeated again further-on in the work, so it's clearly meant to be one of many theories espoused by the author, but I would argue the opposite meanings are the ones we work to.

The author suggests (pp. 5, 1st para.) you [we] find specifics and hunt for everything else; I would say that we understand the opposite; we hunt for the yellow-caparison, swoppet, mounted knight and find 'odd things' in rummage trays? Scientists find the properties of materials by accident, and hunt for the specific results that the found-properties say should be there.

Now, I know what you're thinking, having not read the work; Blimey Hugh, you're getting pretty bogged down in the semantic minutiae of a single paragraph, and so early-in, aren't you? Yeah - you all talk like that! But firstly it was going to be the only negative (to prove unbiased 'critique) in what I was still thinking would be a glowing review, and secondly, the same type of semantic rule-making or more general theorising is present, and problematical, throughout the work, so it became the 'sign of things to come'.

Likewise, the mention above of scientists is deliberate and due to the Authors use of his Sociology degree to try, throughout the work and through his various theories to read far more into the ["socio-semiotic" I kid you not] history of toy soldiers than is actually there.

Indeed, the use of heavily over-complicated prose (already highlighted by two other early purchasers as making the work 'difficult to read') is due in no small part to the author's attempts to over-intellectualise (in my opinion) the subject - ephemeral playthings.

While the switch from toy soldiers to space toys & action figures after 1977 might very-well be 'semiotic' (significant, sociologically) and worthy of further intellectual study, the differences between British and German toy production - decades before the invention of the 'global village' - is not.

On page 9 he over-justifies a couple of minor decisions on inclusion, namely of including Pharaohnic grave-goods while excluding the Chinese terracotta army as that would necessitate including sex-dolls! Simple; either exclude all grave-goods and start later, or include both, on the understanding you can ignore sex-dolls by simply not mentioning them . . . unless they are holding weapons!

But, to go through the whole book, would require a smaller book as the work is 600+ pages with ancillaries, so I will use the aforementioned chapter 11 (pp's. 321-368) as an example of the greater sins of the whole work.

We are immediately asked to accept some bullet-pointed 'facts', only the last of which is actually a fact (the others more or mere 'assumptions', but not flagged as such) and a fact which fails to include metal (still with us) in what was actually a three-way equation.

He then devotes two huge paragraphs (over two pages) to tying composition production tightly to the Nazi regime, but the fact is the companies already existed, making toy figures in composition, and while some of his later sociological points may well carry some water, to begin with they simply added the current uniforms of the day, as they were changed by the regime, purely for commercial reasons.

He over-eggs the porcelain-head thing and then fails to endear himself to the reader by describing today's anti-smoking drive as an "...irritating anti-cancer campaign" suggesting he'd prefer to see more cancer today? It's there (pp. 324), in black and white and should have been edited out.

The final paragraph on page 325 should have died before birth, the '...olins' are so named for oil of linseed (or linseed oil), not kaolin clay! The rest of the chapter (and the preceding four pages) are therefore written on at least one false premise; actually several once you've understood his theories on German Nazism and Italian Fascism, a semantic-wall he establishes early and sticks to throughout the book!

While kaolin is used in compositions, it's not the first or main ingredient in the camel-dung khaki mixture used by German and Belgian makers (Lineol, Elastolin, Marolin, Duralin, Dursolin et al) which was predominantly wood-flour (not sawdust - another error) and linseed oil.

A fundamental error carried through the whole chapter and which is only exacerbated when the author starts informing us some companies used crushed Linoleum ('lino') as an ingredient in their composition, Linoleum is itself a linseed oil-based composition and the idea you would make a cake by adding bits of broken cake-like ersatz-cake to your pure cake mix is - frankly - daft.

This is poor research convoluting two parallel or contiguous technologies, one in toys the other in soft-furnishings. Now, it may be that at some point a toy soldier manufacturer procured some unmixed or dry-mixed lino ingredients, but that's not what we're told by the author?

And this muddleheaded view of compositions continues over the page when we are told the mixture was porridge-like (it was probably more turgid or dough-like) and casein is introduced as a main component, again caseins are used in some compositions, but the makers being discussed used linseed oil as their mixer/binder.

In the same paragraph (pp. 326, 2nd para.) he also states that plaster was used instead of animal glue at one point, but plaster is a bulking agent (alternate to wood-powder (or kaolin clay)), animal glue is an alternative mixer/binder (to linseed oil (or casein!)), the two have different properties/jobs to do and couldn't substitute each other?

A very convoluted third paragraph on page 328 starts with Hitler and [nearly] ends with a list of Pfeiffer's relatives, then an orphan sentence claims "They then went back to the Czechs in 1946" but to whom - in the preceding list of seven makers - he's referring, is not even slightly clear and the publisher should have excised the line in editing.

The same paragraph - already half-a-page then turns to tin-plate AFV's and Gescha is typo'd as Gesha which is equally close to an registration-abbreviation found . . . err . . . on tin-plate vehicles! Only a typo, admittedly, but a bad one, really, and representative of the rest of the book.

Pages 332/333 delivers some more cod-theorising on Nazism, occupation and 'focus groups' which just doesn't stand-up to scrutiny. Civilians get almost their first mention in the chapter as a core of the theory (Nazi influence verses pre-or-post-Nazi influence) despite the whole chapter barely mentioning the varied output of civilian figures for model railways, or by model-railway makers. There's more on page-336 where we also get the Linoleum references!

On page 341 we get the following line "...some curious oversized 10cm wedding figures similar to those of a wedding cake," . . . err . . . because they are for wedding cakes, perhaps?

At which point - halfway through the chapter - I lost the will to carry on! I won't subject my loyal plastics' readers to many of my thoughts on the plastics section, but suffice to say, he quotes Garratt a lot (and others, throughout the work) and appears to have inherited Garratt's opinion of most plastics, lording Britains Herald's early work and Elastolin's late production and having little to say about the other hundreds of makers!

The chapter gets less of the cod-sociology (his lack of knowledge of the core subject of the chapter precluding social commentary or conclusions) thankfully, but it's really not worth reading even with that minor blessing.

For instance he accredits Hausser to production of WHW's (blaming Fontana) when we don't actually know, and they are - if anybody - more Siku-like, and so it goes on, that the penultimate major movement in toys soldiers (before the current 'New Metal') get only the one chapter is telling.

While the war-games section has a problem with captions for missing images attached to images for which the correct captions are missing - EDITOR!

Apart from the smoking comment and his constant attempts to separate and justify Italian 'Fascism' from German 'Nazism' while seeming reluctant to condemn the latter out of hand either (although he does), there are other moments of personal/political commentary which make some of my rants look tame'ish. Indeed; the amount of time the author spends (through the whole work) on that thirty-year Axis period out of a five-hundred-odd-year toy soldier history is itself concerning.

At one point he seems happy to tell us his father was active against Yugoslavian partisans, that is; he was helping the Nazi-colluding Chetnicks hunt-down Tito's resistance, carrying out reprisals and laying down the bad-blood which then burst forth again, at the turn of this century - I would have kept that to myself, or been less complacent with the fact!

In summery;

At 600+ pages, this work represents the equivalent of half a year's output from a prolific Blog, and several years output from a 'standard' Blog, and had it been issued as bite sized pieces, on a Blog, it would have been perfectly acceptable as a fine body of work, with some interesting theories to develop in the comments, and others; to ignore as nonsense, all for free.

But it's not a Blog, it's a book, it costs a fair-whack of one's dosh and needed to be a darn-sight better than it is. It's a very personal work and represents a massive undertaking, but it would have been better as a Blog; instead - written to deadline - it's sputtered under the weight of the text, not packed, but 'stuffed' into it, often incoherently and with no self-control.

He has over-intellectualised the book, tried too hard to cover everything, including facets of the hobby he clearly lacks knowledge of. Long, rambling, sometimes inaccurate, sometimes muddled paragraphs are the result. There is far too much reliance on borrowed images and quoting previous authors yet wanting that collated (and sometimes mixed) opinion to back-up the authors own socio-semiotic cod-theorising.

The work is episodic without obvious order beyond a vague chronology (and I mean vague!) yet neither does that episodic-nature encourage 'dipping-in'; because of the writing style. It can be/is repetitive and has been poorly translated, poorly edited and I can't believe it ever saw a proof-reader.

In the acknowledgements at least four individuals are named as having had a hand in editing this manuscript, I'm not sure any of them did their job or earned their money, maybe they didn't get paid? But 'Philip' should lose some sleep!

They should have dropped the composition, plastic's and war gaming chapters, edited until their eyes hurt, getting it down to 380-odd pages on the history of metal 'toy' soldiers, and it might have been useful to those collectors? Although the latest feedback on Amazon would suggest the metal sections suffer all the same faults?

But as it stands it's a curate's egg wrapped in a dog's dinner and wearing odd, often Nazi, socio-semiotic theory as a hat . . . a big dud.

Now - I know the guy, I recognised his picture, I think I used to chat to him at the London Toy Soldier Shows in Russell Square fifteen-odd years ago, he's a perfectly reasonable, nice, personable, intelligent, polite, knowledgeable man, and I hate that I've done such a hatchet-job on his book, but it's such a weird book (it is weird) people need to know that, before they buy it.

The 30-odd chapter-heading cartoons are funny and the 'Cameos' written by his friends are fine! But they are less than 25 pages out of 600?

N is for New Book Reviews

Continuing the new feature of 'Product Reviews' with a couple more books from Pen & Sword, both of which are easy to say nice things about, not because I've been given them but because they are very good!

And it's worth having a word about Pen & Sword; they are quite clearly a very discerning publisher, not so long ago they took over the Leo Cooper imprint, a publisher that some of you will know has - itself - only ever published at the top end of military history, memoir and military fiction, quality wise.  P&S are of the same mould and with so many people forecasting the 'end' of books (because commuters are reading text-based - mostly fiction - on a limited-use 'device'), it's nice to know that firms like P&S are continuing to produce high-quality research-aiding books that are image heavy, with colour on top-grade paper-stock.

Today we're looking at two books which couldn't be more different but are at the same time similar, one on - specifically - girls toys and playthings through the ages, the other being James Opie's recent complete updating of his original book on collecting toy soldiers. One dealing with the pastimes of the 'fairer sex', the other covering the full gamut of the war-machine in boys foot-lockers! But...both dealing with the history of toys, their collecting, archiving and what they meant to us as kids, often covering different products - in each book - from the same companies.

The first is a first; a book entirely devoted to looking at the history of toys from the feminine angle, although the early history is quite unisex, certainly in the last century the division into 'boy's toys' and 'girly pink stuff' (my words!) was quite rapid and the author tells us the tale of how we got from hoops, paper theatres and wooden arks to the vast pinky-purple-mauve section of Toys-R-Us!

While there have been many books on general or 'antique' toys and their history and as many devoted to dolls or teddy-bears (or; dolls and teddy-bears!) this is the first time I know of where a study of all the other toys girls have enjoyed has been published. Although the book does cover both bears and dolls it also looks at things like 'pocket toys', TV and movie characters that appealed to female children (Muffin, Sootie, Noddy, Bagpuss et al...), 1970's and '80's favourites like Cabbage Patch and My Little Pony, games, puzzles and other pastimes, bricks, blocks and other constructional or craft toys, and all sorts of things I'd forgotten friends sisters having like Strawberry Shortcake, Victoria Plum and Holly Hobbie.

Divided into thematic chapters by toy type, research is easy either from the index or by browsing, and tables are included for the more desirable members of a given collectable's 'cast', such as the colours and motifs of Care Bears or the hair colour and preferred pets of the aforementioned Strawberry Shortcake dolls. While for someone like me it will always remain a reference work to be consulted from time-to-time, it is also a good read from first page to last.

There are lovely little surprises as well, peppered with little nuggets of information and anecdote, who knew there was a board-game called "Lively Polly the Fascinating Wash Day Game"! Or that Monday was traditionally the nation's wash-day. Who remembers French knitting, Fuzzy Felt or Furbies?...I loved Fuzzy Felt, although I put the ballet dancers on tractors and had them engage in a bit of demolition-derby!

If I have one criticism of the book it is the author's own words at the start; In the introduction she makes it clear she expects the reader to be a female, and I quote "...it's odds on you are, or once were, a girl...". Well, I beg to differ, although I've been given my copy, I would have bought it if I'd known about it earlier, if you are remotely interested in toys and their social history or the commercial histories of the companies that made them, you should add this book to your library.

The other title is real tour-de-force, and by an author who should need no introduction if you're a regular to this blog. There are only a handful of people who can be said to have been a major influence on or, made a major contribution to the world of toy soldier and model figure collecting; JG Garratt (company histories and personalities), Norman Joplin (British civil, farm and zoo) and Richard O'Brien (US and dime-store) are the names that spring to mind along with the author of the work here reviewed; James Opie, the foremost writer on Britains and wider British and world makes of military figurines.

This book is a companion to his earlier work; Collecting Toy Soldiers, first published in 1987, but reprinted several times since, and is a truly wonderful read. For me the real delight is the eclectic nature of it, James goes from hollow-casts to solids, from plastic to composition, from flats through semi-flats to fully round in all sizes and from all over the world - sometimes on the same page! Written in an easy to read style and full of detail without resorting to endless lists of colour variations or box types!

The enthusiasm the author has for his subject flows through the work and is backed up by some of the best photographs I've ever seen, clearly culled from a lifetimes collecting and this is one of the major differences between this work and its ancestor, there are so many images here, all with full narrative captions it is hard to take it all in and several reads will reward. I know for a fact that this book calls upon one of the most comprehensive reference libraries of catalogues and ephemera ever assembled.

There are chapters on general collecting, thematic collecting, small or cameo collections or displays, and looking after toy soldiers, other chapters are more anecdotal and recall a lifetime of studying the subject and all points along the way, casting back to Jame's previous works, the exhibition held at the London Toy and Model Museum in 1985 and his work for Bonhams, and looking forwards through 'new metal' and new trends.

Each chapter or section has clearly headed sub-sections; there are a few tables or lists of things like makes and marks, famous collectors, historical highlights etc...I personally found parts of the Chapter on values a bit...(hummm!), but then I've never done this collecting malarkey for money (or with much!) but do appreciate that some do, particularly the 'high-end' metal collectors, and if it's your 'thing' the chapter has a lot of interesting points on the subject.

It's very easy to wax lyrical on a book by someone I know (and who has been kind to me), about I subject I have more than a passing interest in, and - indeed - I could happily write the same again without feeling I'd fully covered either the book or my thoughts on it, but I'll stop before I get too sycophantic! I can't recommend this book highly enough, it is so full of useful information and stunning images it will stand the test of time and to not have this on your shelves is to deny yourself a real treat.

N is for New Product Reviews

Well - we've got the 'New Look' without a choice and already I'm wondering why? Orange text with pale grey? Readable? And what's happened to images (shut-up Hugh, at least they're getting them in the right order now!)...the only way I've found of getting this paragraph written is in the HTML window as the old 'compose' window won't let me start writing above the image?!

Anyway. I'm sure there'll be more whingeing from me on this score (why is the 'stats' page less wide than it was a week ago, despite the fact that the whole world is trending toward wider screens?!!), so to this post...a new thing for the blog; new product reviews.

A few words on the subject - I've never asked a company directly for 'free stuff', as I've seen how it can lead to sycophantically false copy, however, like just about everyone I like to get something for nothing, and if people want to send me things I'll look at them and post a review here. My budget only goes so far and is primarily dedicated to vintage figures and old ephemera, new production being very much an afterthought...So eMail me (top left of page) if you'd like to send me free stuff! But bear in mind that I will be honest.

 

So paragraphs now centre automatically do they? Here are today's review items, the book was supplied by Pen & Sword publishing (thanks to Rachele there) while the figures came from a new company; AJ's. (thanks go to Jim who is - I suspect Mr 'AJ'!), both items are easy to review as both are really good at being what they are - a book on war-gaming and a new concept in toy figures.

We'll look at the book first;

This is a timely book as I've noticed in the four years I've been Blogging that this period is not only gaining in strength, but is also popular in the larger scales, where it can involve 'Toy Soldiers' as several of the blogs I link to attest. Written by a Neil Thomas, who I don't know from Adam, it is a good primer on the subject, and covers the period between the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the later part of the nineteenth century.

About half the book is put over to historical battle 'scenarios' with each receiving a potted history, suggested number of moves played, disposal of forces, special rules if applicable and so on. There are also various appendices; a very useful annotated bibliography, a guide to the various figure scales and a list of useful contacts. I found this third one to be a bit thin, but I'm coming at it from the angle of someone archiving ten-thousand-plus toy and model figure companies...for someone interested in this period I suspect the list is a good guide to the main publishers and figure/accessory suppliers..

I wouldn't say it was 'profusely' illustrated, but it has all that is needed with regard to maps and diagrams, lists and tables with the added bonus of a colour section in the middle.

As the period was one of great change the most useful sections for me (as a non-wargamer) were the historical background, time-line and army lists. I also liked the fact that throughout the work provision is made for converting those relevant pieces of the rules for use in different scales.

The reason for the strange date is that this book is specifically about Europe, and therefore ignores the American Civil War and the various colonial adventures in Africa, Asia and further afield. Starting with the congress of Vienna and finishing with that in Berlin following the end of the Russo-Turkish war and the formation of Bulgaria. In fact; the most fascinating period of recent European history and a period not taught well in school, if at all?

So - Very happy to recommend this book. I believe the author has also published a book on the Napoleonic era, and one hopes he will complete a 'trilogy' with one on the foreign wars of the 'colonial' period mid-to-late century? It is also so rare to get an entirely new book on the subject it's nice to read one that doesn't have the familiarity of the old in a new jacket!

Our second sample for review is just fantastic! Soupie covered these on his blog a while ago (MinifiguresXD/Toypedia) and Plastic Warrior covered the 'rival' set from Kid Robot the other month (Plastic Warrior, subscribe!). Clearly a trend toward non-military 'army men'...Green? Check!...54/60mm? Check!...small bag with header card? Check!

But that's where the similarities end, these are very well sculpted/finished figures, and with 3 each of eight different poses you can produce a small skate-park of fun  in seconds. Obviously they are not aimed at me or my generation, but if they bring the younger collectors back to model figures so much the the better. And with snowboarders and surf-boarders on the way this is shaping up to be a fine range of figures.

One needs also to bear in mind that two of the best 1950/60's sets for holding on to their value and/or commanding a high price are the Mettoy/Playcraft hospital figures and accessories and the Britains ballet dancers, so it's never been only about killing and guns...or marching up and down the sqway'er!

Here we see (from the left) front and rear views of the figures described as; Tail-grab, Nose-grab, Cruising 2 and Ollie. The figures really are very good, with some having the awkward 'gangly' stance of a teenager growing faster than his wardrobe can keep up with him, others having the 'too-cool dude' attitude of the guy with the pink kryptonics at my own school 32 years ago!

This really is a 'new concept' and with Kid Robot producing Brake-dancers and street-performers, there is mileage in them if they prove popular, with the whole gamut of teenage-culture and 'extreme sports' to pick from...how about a set of Italian Lambretta-kids showing off down the sea-front promenade? BMX/Griffter-kids? Also for the older readers; a couple of these will make excellent message 'runners' for your middle-east scenarios!

If you have a young lad between say; 6 or 12, buy him a pack and see what he does with them?

The other four figure poses; Manual, Smith, Pushing and Cruising 1. 'Pushing' is the annoying one we've all seen careering down the centre of the pedestrianised town-centre oblivious to the 'No Skateboards' signs and everyone else!

There's a website at www.toyboarders.com and also a short stop-frame animation;

Toy Boarders on Youtube

These are made of one of these modern hybrid plastics and while being I suspect - mostly an ethylene type polymer, there seems to be  a bit of a softer material like a PVC included, giving the figures a slightly rubbery surface texture like some 'posh' kitchen knives, hand-tools or cigarette lighters these days and I think they will take paint very well. Certainly the detail is worth the effort with a paint brush and so - 2 out of 2 on tonight's reviews!