yes its actually been in the works for well over a year, i have interviews with a handful of actors dicussing the aspect of their likeness and what it slike to see themselves in such a realistic likeness in addition to the process involved, also touches on the process from licensing, prototyping, research amd development, so from idea to production down to distrobution, it also inlcudes other elemnets such as cleaning and caring for figures, the types of materials used, why we see some figures displayed but then never see them make it to market or get made and i know that one is a big ??? for a lot of people including myself, always frustraing.
i talk about diff companies, their backgrounds etc.. and i interviewed a number of sculptors from various companies including hottoys, threeA, enterbay, etc.. got some behind the scenes info and insight into their ideas and inspirations. I interviewed a handful of customizers, as well as some collectors and did a focus on various collections, allthou that is one chapter i need to add much more content to before i finish, a lot of collectors had conflicting schedules so it has ben difficult to meet up in person or even do interviws via email and gather high qaulity images for print.
it has a trove of info and focuses on everything from the original barbie doll style G.I.joe from the late 60' and early 70's a quick blurb about hasbro/kenner 12" dolls and all the ones in betwen but mainly focuses on all the many licenses we all love and collect today. such as back to the future, marvel, DC, star wars, and so on, there is something in there for everyone. I am in the process of creating a comnpanion website to have as an updated area of content as more figures are made and technology progresses once the book goes into print, i was aiming for 2nd qrtr 2019 for release, but im torn between funding it myslef with a publisher or going the way of crowdfunding, but this will be a hardcover book and will be an addition to anyones collection for refference and FAQ's details, pics, variations, timelines, interviews and so on.
i am hoping to have it widely distributed to most retail and online outlets that carry books, as well as the site itself. Its been in the works since about Nov 2017 so a lot of time, effort, energy and resrpouces have been devoted.
i ahve to say I have been met with such gracious welcome and fantastic feedback thus far with this whom have participated. if anyone else cares to share or participate just send me a PM. I did mention this before a while back when discussing the book in progress that i was suprised tohave bneen wlecomed with open arms so to speak by a comapny like Hot toys with just a small list of do's and dont's but sideshow wanted absolutely nothing to do with me literally after a few emails back and forth they stated theyve published multiple books and it would only be a conflict of interest, i try to expalin that this was an indepth book on the apsect of collecting and all that goes into the process of 1/6 figures. but they continued to say there photo books and the ones that go out free to buyers sometimes is basically already the stabdard for collectors.
i want my book to act as an actual addition to your collection where you can read up on how and why and learn about your collection. But to each their own, i included sideshow but only basic info that was previously shared and available for most to read, i thought with them having so much time and skin in the game they would be interested in contributing but NOPE, where as most other comoanies where almost excited to participate and share.
I appreciate any interest and feedback as to how i should proceed....but theres so many books on vintage figuers, on collecting toys and sculptures, whether it be disney or lego etc.. but nothing as indepth as this, that answers so many of our questions and lets us delve deeper into our passion for collecting 11/6 figures.
Sounds extremely cool (and I am sure it will be conveniently proofread, everybody!). Like something I could crowdfund if price was reasonable. But a book like that would have to contain lots of pics. And lots of text. OMGs it would have to be real thick and expensive right?
Anyways, I always wanted to have some in-depth, go-to 1/6 bible with a "mapa mundi" of sorts of both 1/6 History and 1/6 populace. I like to find out about the past and beginnings of things, especially hobbies I have: pioneering manufacturers, first figures, first collectors, first bulletin boards, milestones... all up until how the scene stands nowadays. Maybe even providing an index and profile of all 1/6 companies (past and current) and all figures thus far? Oh the latter would certainly be too hard to do, even though the good fellows at figurerealm.com do keep an index going back into the 90s/80s (not only for 1/6, and definitely not complete). There are more sites that were started long ago and certainly hold ancient and authoritative data (rebelscum.com and jeditemplearchives.com are the only ones I remember right now; both do 1/6).
But I guess you already know this stuff. The point is that such an evolutionary compendium would be just amazing to have close at hand. Finally I might get to know for sure why Very Hot figures from the 10s were so similar to, albeit vastly improved upon those military figures Hot Toys did in the 00s (and seems to want to forget about...!).
It is really sad SSC won't cooperate. I think they really brought new concepts to the game back in the 90s and 00s, that we all take for granted now. You will always have their Product Archive and the Wayback Machine though (I use it myself from time to time when I am in the mood for 1/6 Memory Lane). But it is definitely not the same as going down there and digging historic data off them. Sure as hell older guys in there must have awesome 1/6 stories to tell...
Also, I think that one real walking bible with ancient knowledge about the trade (not only at 1/6 scale) would be good ol' Michael Crawford. Have you contacted him? I bet he would be delighted to lend you a (historical) hand.
I don't know what else I could brainstorm for you... I'd definitely recommend you to create a kickstarter (unless you already did and I missed it!), even if you already are very deep into the work. It will sure help no matter what.
Of course, an exhaustive bibliography of all 1/6 or general collecting books (used by you or not) would be a veeeeeeery powerful selling point too, and if you can clear up for us fans how a company like HT (or smaller ones like Asmus) goes about when deciding whether to do a figure or not (including acquiring the licence), and how they design and develop it, your book will certainly become mandatory reading on here, sooner or later! Also, giving some thought to how the hobby has evolved over here in Europe, would make the book even more interesting on this side of the pond.
Last but not least, I'm curious now: do you write books for a living? Why doing one about 1/6??
LusK!
m.
EDIT: what about clearing up where the hobby is heading to in terms of pricing? I have heard a couple of times that prices go up and up because manufacturers only think of the Asian market, which would have deeper pockets than we do(?), or are even madder than we are about figs and are ready to spend crazier amounts on them. But if this is so, how come minor companies like Pangaea create figs like their Samurai General, which is based (w/o licence) on a long forgotten Tom-Cruise-in-Japan flick, which I wouldn't say was a hit in Asia by any means, in the hope to boost sales? That would mean the occidental market is most important to them, right? Oh well... what do I know...
