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.
This is a larger version of a toy called “Nikko-shasin”, which has been on the market in Japan since 1904.
ReplyDelete*“Nikko-shasin”= Sunlight photographic
≒pinhole photographic
In Japan, there were about four “DAGASHI-YA” cheap-candy and toys shops four stores per elementary school.
The store owners were seniors of grandparents' generation, and their sales were about $200 per month.
Because of different purchasing channels, the shops stocked small toys and inexpensive, low-quality candys that were not available in department stores.
Until the 1960s, Japanese boys under the age of 13 would gather at DAGASHI-YA after school. They bought sweets and toys to eat and play with that day. DAGASHI-YA also served as a hub for the exchange of information, passing on rumors and childs and boys games among elementary school students.
The design of the Nikko-shasin” toy was in the shape of a twin-lens reflex camera.
It has a glass cover.
A layer of “seed paper” and “photographic paper” is set between the front and back covers before exposure to the sun.
The seed paper is thin paper (ex.tracing paper or glassine paper) with characters (people, faces, animals,etc) printed on it with black ink.
In a sunny place, the seed paper and photographic paper are placed in a glass frame with a glass frame, and fastened from the back with a clamp.
Burn it in the sunlight.
After a while, the black parts of the seed paper turn white and the white parts turn black, and the characters appear on the photographic paper.
Since the outline of the seed paper is white, only the white areas are sensitive to sunlight, and the shape of the character appears as a reddish-brown image on the photographic paper.
Sales of “Nikko-shasin” declined because the major film manufacturers stopped producing photographic paper in Japan.
At first, we used unwanted photographic paper used by DPE stores.
Scrap paper that could not be used for products was cut, wrapped in black paper, and sold.
Or, we would buy old, unusable photographic paper at a discount and produce it.
They purchased the products almost for free and sold them at a price, which was recycled.
In 1924, a frame stand was created exclusively for “Nikko-shasin”.
The stand allowed the photographer to stand up and freely change the angle at which the picture was exposed to sunlight.
In the 1930s, Japanese toy manufacturer were exported to the United States,“ Nikko-shasin”
In the past, they were also called “blue-prints” or “light- photos".
Photographic paper was also called “POP" in Japan.
It was called “printing out paper".
Silver chloride was used as the photosensitive material, which was mixed with gelatin to make an emulsion and applied to paper, which was difficult to manufacture by oneself.
Indirect sunlight should be used as much as possible, and direct sunlight should not be used except in special cases.
In direct sunlight, the image will be flat with little shading and detail is often lost.
Burned images are unstable, and if placed in a bright place, the entire surface will gradually turn reddish brown under the action of the light rays, and the lines will disappear.
If the image is immediately placed in a fixing solution, the unchanged silver will melt and the lines will be fixed, but the hue will be unpleasant.
In 1943, in addition to “Sunlight Photo Frame,” “Sunlight Photo
Album” and “Sunlight Photo Paper Box” were also sold.
In the 1990s, I have seen a toy in the United States called the “Soler Graphics Kit,” which develops the shape of an object by exposing it to the light of the sun.
The toy was similar to a “Nikko-shasin” in that it was placed on a transparent tray on top of photographic paper, and when something (such as a leaf) was placed on the tray, the shape would appear on the photographic paper, which was then placed in water for two minutes and dried to fix the image.
Nice! I grew up watching Ultraman in syndication, I didn't know Nintendo had been working with the brand since before making video games.
ReplyDelete