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Gi Joe: Official Identification and Price Guide 1964-1999
Provides information on variations in faces, body types, markings, packaging, and gear of the popular toy soldiers.
208 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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March 15, 2017
Oddly enough, Vincent Santelmo's fabulous guide book, G.I. Joe: Official Identification and Price Guide (1964-1999), seldom gets the respect that it truly deserves from some collectors of vintage G.I. Joe action figures. Yes, a number of nitpickers complain that the book isn't truly complete, and doesn't include absolutely every single G.I. Joe product put out by Hasbro between 1964 and 1999 (such as the Deep Sea Diver set, various vehicles, and some equipment and accessory sets).
One particularly vocal reviewer on Amazon.com even charged that the "book was not licensed or approved by Hasbro," which, believe it or not, is an absolutely and totally FALSE assertion. In fact, Paul Kennedy, Acquisitions Editor at Krause Publications, has confirmed that this highly informative and richly detailed paperback volume, "like others written by Vincent Santelmo on GI Joe, was licensed and the manuscript was reviewed and approved by Hasbro Inc." And that's just a fact.
But then again, I honestly really do not know what motivates some people to trash certain aspects of various product lines (and even whole movie and TV entertainment franchises) that they, curiously enough, claim to actually be die-hard fans of in the first place! What's more, it absolutely mystifies me why anyone who loves vintage G.I. Joe as much as a lifelong collector (such as yours truly) would not find this book to be as highly indispensable and practically priceless as I sincerely do.
After all, every single page of the book is rendered in color on high quality paper, and the vast majority of those pages feature sharp, vivid, well composed full color photos of literally hundreds of G.I. Joe products. Is the guide 100% complete? Maybe not... but it IS just exactly what the title implies; an "Official Identification and Price Guide." And besides, all I can say is that it really is one of my absolute favorite books ever published, bar none.
So, how about this? How about we just make a solid attempt to appreciate the book for what it actually does do so very, very well? So how about we just ignore the somewhat outdated "price guide" aspect of the book? After all, most price guides are kind of silly and overly ambitious publications anyway, given that prices are always changing, as the popularity of various collectible items wax and wane over the years.
By the same token, if we also don't sweat all that "missing" stuff (which isn't all that much, really, and can easily be found in other, highly notable books about G.I. Joe - such as the Collectible GI Joe: An Official Guide to His Action-Packed World, by Derryl Depriest, or The New Official Identification Guide to G.I. Joe - 1964-1978, by James DeSimone), then Vincent Santelmo's identification guide is actually a really, really wonderfully informative and extremely well conceived and executed book. Seriously. Come on! It's a really gorgeous book, people! And if you honestly, really do love G.I. Joe as much as you think you do, you'll probably also find plenty of info in this book that is pretty darned irresistible too.
What's more, unlike some of the other, similarly themed G.I. Joe guide books on the market, this volume is often somewhat easy to find at an affordable price, and is usually in very good condition to boot. And given that the book is chock full of good old fashioned G.I. Joe goodness, I really don't see how anybody who actually enjoys this particular hobby can go all that wrong by owning a copy. Heck! Vincent Santelmo's guide even includes full color photos of 3 3/4" inch carded G.I. Joe figures from the 1980s and 90s. PLUS, all the sixth scale figures produced from 1991 to 1999 are also included. So yeah... five stars all the way from me for Vincent Santelmo's G.I. Joe: Official Identification and Price Guide (1964-1999). I for one, absolutely love the book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
One particularly vocal reviewer on Amazon.com even charged that the "book was not licensed or approved by Hasbro," which, believe it or not, is an absolutely and totally FALSE assertion. In fact, Paul Kennedy, Acquisitions Editor at Krause Publications, has confirmed that this highly informative and richly detailed paperback volume, "like others written by Vincent Santelmo on GI Joe, was licensed and the manuscript was reviewed and approved by Hasbro Inc." And that's just a fact.
But then again, I honestly really do not know what motivates some people to trash certain aspects of various product lines (and even whole movie and TV entertainment franchises) that they, curiously enough, claim to actually be die-hard fans of in the first place! What's more, it absolutely mystifies me why anyone who loves vintage G.I. Joe as much as a lifelong collector (such as yours truly) would not find this book to be as highly indispensable and practically priceless as I sincerely do.
After all, every single page of the book is rendered in color on high quality paper, and the vast majority of those pages feature sharp, vivid, well composed full color photos of literally hundreds of G.I. Joe products. Is the guide 100% complete? Maybe not... but it IS just exactly what the title implies; an "Official Identification and Price Guide." And besides, all I can say is that it really is one of my absolute favorite books ever published, bar none.
So, how about this? How about we just make a solid attempt to appreciate the book for what it actually does do so very, very well? So how about we just ignore the somewhat outdated "price guide" aspect of the book? After all, most price guides are kind of silly and overly ambitious publications anyway, given that prices are always changing, as the popularity of various collectible items wax and wane over the years.
By the same token, if we also don't sweat all that "missing" stuff (which isn't all that much, really, and can easily be found in other, highly notable books about G.I. Joe - such as the Collectible GI Joe: An Official Guide to His Action-Packed World, by Derryl Depriest, or The New Official Identification Guide to G.I. Joe - 1964-1978, by James DeSimone), then Vincent Santelmo's identification guide is actually a really, really wonderfully informative and extremely well conceived and executed book. Seriously. Come on! It's a really gorgeous book, people! And if you honestly, really do love G.I. Joe as much as you think you do, you'll probably also find plenty of info in this book that is pretty darned irresistible too.
What's more, unlike some of the other, similarly themed G.I. Joe guide books on the market, this volume is often somewhat easy to find at an affordable price, and is usually in very good condition to boot. And given that the book is chock full of good old fashioned G.I. Joe goodness, I really don't see how anybody who actually enjoys this particular hobby can go all that wrong by owning a copy. Heck! Vincent Santelmo's guide even includes full color photos of 3 3/4" inch carded G.I. Joe figures from the 1980s and 90s. PLUS, all the sixth scale figures produced from 1991 to 1999 are also included. So yeah... five stars all the way from me for Vincent Santelmo's G.I. Joe: Official Identification and Price Guide (1964-1999). I for one, absolutely love the book, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Displaying 1 of 1 review