Toy Bender

The great thing about running a toy collecting bloggy blog is that when I engage in toy collecting activities, I can consider it work and something that I must do for my readers. Well, I just got done reading a big ass book about G.I. Joe, and since it’s toy related, I thought I’d share my earth shattering insights… uh yeah that’s it…

The Complete Encyclopedia to G.I. Joe is written by a big time Joe collector, Vincent Santelmo and it’s an attempt to document the entire history of G.I. Joe up until publication. As the cover indicates, it starts with the original twelve inch version incarnation of G.I. Joe and stops at about 1999. It’s a fairly hefty tome and considering it covers almost forty years of Joe history, I’d almost expect it to be bigger. The book is in black and white, but it does feature plenty of pictures as well as a section in the middle with a bunch of color photographs.

I’m not going to kid around, The Complete History to G.I. Joe is a good buy only if you’re really into G.I. Joe. While there are many things that will interest a reader with an interest in pop culture history, there are also many, many things which are strictly for die-hard G.I. Joe collectors. For example, there are many times where the construction of the figures is given in explicit and extremely boring detail for someone who doesn’t care about how a classic G.I. Joe’s hands are screwed on.

Skipping those kinds of details wasn’t too much of a problem though, and overall the section about the 60s and 70s era G.I. Joes were a worthwhile read. However, when I got to the eighties line of Joes, it was like I feared when I had gotten halfway through the first chapter. The book provides so much detail about the original Joes that it made me wonder if someone so passionate about them would be able to sustain it during the complete re haul of Joes in the 80s. It is obvious that the author doesn’t have half the love that he holds for the originals. Each chapter of the book is a year in Joe history. When you get to the 80s chapters, there’s a basic overview of the products released and that’s about it. There’s no boring details about the construction of the figures or as much insight to the goings on in the background from year to year as there is with the 60s and 70s G.I. Joes. What’s really funny is that when more extensive details start flowing it’s when you get to the years where Hasbro began making G.I. Joes in the 12″ range. Even then the focus is mainly on the bigger sized figures.

The one thing I did like about the “modern” Joes section was that it wasn’t based solely on vehicles and figures like Mark Bellemo’s The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe. Instead there’s a nice smattering of coverage devoted to the later twelve inch figures and some of the non-toy G.I. Joe items made throughout the years. However, if you’re more of a fan of the 3 3/4th Joes, you’d be better off with a copy of Bellemo’s guide.

It’s kind of interesting to note that there are several times where Santelmo interjects his own thoughts and memories into the book. Most of the time this works out rather well, but a couple of times it’s a bit odd. In the 1994 section he includes a couple of pictures of himself with minor celebrities, a profile of himself at the end, and a Collector’s Hall of Fame that… includes himself. It’s really quite bizarre.

Simply put, The Complete Encyclopedia to G.I. Joe is for rabid fans of G.I. Joe, especially those that are really into the 12 inch versions or if you find a copy of this for cheap and would really like to bone up on your G.I. Joe knowledge.

Score: 3 Yo Joes out of 5

toy, toy collecting, G.I. Joe, book, review, Hasbro