All the information readers need about the Small Soldiers--character profiles, vehicle sketches and blueprints, a weapons guide, a parts manual, and more--is in this dossier.

The adventures of the Small Soldiers? continue in an original prequel about the Gorgonites and their search for the Gorgon Dimension.

This serves as an update of the author's successful Collecting Toy Soldiers (Collins, 1987; pbk edition, New Cavendish, 1991). In it James Opie gives the collector the benefit of thirty years' experience as the world's leading authority on traditional toy soldiers (as opposed to model soldiers used in wargaming etc) and a lifetime as a collector himself.

John Franklin has been collecting traditional toy soldiers for over sixty years, mostly Britains but, as the title suggests, including other interesting additions. In this book he shares some of the in-depth knowledge gained through experience and countless hours of careful research, but most of all the passion and enthusiasm for his hobby. He explains how he was inspired to collect soldiers, like so many, in early boyhood and how a hobby grew into an obsession. The various chapters then examine themes he followed in his collecting, such as Britains Special Painting Orders and Indian Army Pipe Bands for example, or address questions regarding the manufacture or identity of specific sets that he has researched or, in some cases, is still seeking the answer to. It is packed with anecdotes, useful technical information and helpful advice for the collector but it is above all a proud tour of inspection of a sixty-year labour of love. Over four hundred photographs, show much of the author’s magnificent collection in a parade of miniature pomp and splendour.

A complete look at how Small Soldiers? was created, jam-packed with fascinating movie-making facts.Find out exactly how the people at Stan Winston Studio made the Gorgonites and the Commando Elite come to such realistic life!

“The definitive history of the studio” created by the larger-than-life team of Spielberg, Geffen, and Katzenberg (Los Angeles Times). For sixty years, since the birth of United Artists, the studio landscape was unchanged. Then came Hollywood’s Circus Maximus—created by director Steven Spielberg, billionaire David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who gave the world The Lion King—an entertainment empire called DreamWorks. Now Nicole LaPorte, who covered the company for Variety, goes behind the hype to reveal for the first time the delicious truth of what happened. Readers will feel they are part of the creative calamities of moviemaking as LaPorte’s fly-on-the-wall detail shows us Hollywood’s bizarre rules of business. We see the clashes between the often-otherworldly Spielberg’s troops and Katzenberg’s warriors, the debacles and disasters, but also the Oscar-winning triumphs, including Saving Private Ryan. We watch as the studio burns through billions of dollars, its rich owners get richer, and everybody else suffers. LaPorte displays Geffen, seducing investors like Microsoft’s Paul Allen, showing his steel against CAA’s Michael Ovitz, and staging fireworks during negotiations with Paramount and Disney. Here is a blockbuster behind-the-scenes Hollywood story—up close, glamorous, and gritty.