A Reading List for Toy Fans

While working on Each Sold Separately and Action Figures Not Included I consulted a few dozen different sources, twenty of which made their way into the references section for each book.

For your convenience, and because I believe that many of you will find this entertaining and useful, here are twenty different books that were referenced as I wrote the two different books about action figure marketing in the eighties. This isn’t at all a complete list of sources, but these are the ones that really stood out and I believe are worth tracking down if you’re at all a fan of action figures and business.

• A Profile of the United States Toy Industry*, Christopher Byrne, 2013.
• Action Figures of the 1980s*, John Marshall, 1998.
• Coining A Galaxy*, James Gallo and Mark Salotti, 2012.
• GI Joe: The Complete Story of America’s Favorite Man of Action*, John Michlig, 1998.
• Inside Santa’s Workshop*, Richard C. Levy and Ronald O. Weingartner, 1990.
• Just Can’t Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the 80s that Rocked*, Matthew Robinson and Jensen Karp, 2007.
• Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea*, Roger Sweet and David Wecker, 2005.
• Playing by Different Rules*, Ellen Wojahn, 1988.
• Prime Targets: The Unauthorized Guide to Transformers, Beast Wars and Beast Machines*, Lars Pearson, 2002.
• Saturday Morning Fever*, Timothy Burke and Kevin Burke, 1999.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Visual History*, Andrew Farago, 2014.
• The Real Toy Story: Inside the Ruthless Battle for America’s Youngest Consumers*, Eric Clark, 2007.
• The Ultimate Guide to G.I. Joe 1982-1994*, Mark Bellomo, 2005.
• Totally Tubular ’80s Toys*, Mark Bellomo, 2010.
• Toy Wars: The Epic Struggle Between G.I. Joe, Barbie, and the Companies That Make Them*, G. Wayne Miller, 1998.
• Toyland: The High-Stakes Game of the Toy Industry*, Sydney Ladensohn Stern and Ted Schoenhaus, 1990.
• Transformers Vault*, Pablo Hidalgo, 2011.
• The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Star Wars Action Figures, 1977-1985*, Mark Bellomo, 2014.
• The Unofficial Cartoon Guide to He-man and the Masters of the Universe*, James Eatock, 2010.
• Watching Television: A Pantheon Guide to Popular Culture*, edited by Todd Gitlin, 1986.

Related articles

• Reading – Mastering the Universe (battlegrip.com)
• 1985 Masters of the Universe Bashasaurus Toy Commercial (battlegrip.com)