Nintendo Monster Copy (怪獣コピー, 1971)

Ever since Ultraman first aired on Japanese television in 1966, he has been a popular license figure, appearing on a multitude of products.

Nintendo also released a fair amount of Ultraman based toys, including multiple boardgames, playing cards and even a clock.

The set shown here is called Monster Copy (怪獣コピー).

A more literal translation of '怪獣' is 'monstrous beast'. Of course, Ultraman is at hand to fight these beasts.

Monster Copy is a hobby set that allows you to make copies of scenes from the television series. Actually, you can use it to make copies of whatever picture you like.

The Monster Copy box measures about 27 by 22 centimeters, roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper.

Nintendo Monster Copy (1971)

It cost ¥600 when it was released in 1971.

Around this time Nintendo had started to use the now familiar logo on its packaging.

The Monster Copy set contains the copy frame (本体) with stand (立て金具), a photographic development sheet (現像シート), 10 printed pictures from a Ultraman story board (原稿紙) and a packet with 50 pieces of photosensitive paper (感光紙).

The photosensitive paper is stored in a black plastic bag, to shield it from exposure to light.

The copy frame is adorned with an embossed Nintendo logo on its front.

The included manual contains clear step-by-step instructions.

Monster Copy instruction manual

The first thing to do is to open the bag with photosensitive paper, take out the sheets and store them in the bottom compartement of the copy frame. Here they are protected from light.

To make a copy of a picture, a single sheet of photosensitive paper is placed in the frame.

The picture is then placed on top of it, and the frame closed. The frame has a magnetic lid, which closes it tightly.

The frame is then placed facing the sun, exposing the photosensitive paper.

The black areas in the picture limit the light passing through.

This creates a negative image of the picture on the photosensitive paper.

As a final step, the exposed photosensitive paper is placed on top of the development sheet, which contains the chemical fluid to develop the picture - much like the regular photographic process.

An assortement of Ultraman images is included with Monster Copy, ready to be duplicated.

The pictures included with Monster Copy

Ten pictures are included, with fight scenes as well as monster portraits.

Monster Copy can be seen as toy version of the range of professional copy devices for office use, called Copilas, which Nintendo started selling in the early 1970s.

For more information on Copilas, please take a look at this post.