This is a photo I've found in my archive from a few years ago. I will have found it online but don't know where from now [hope it's OK showing it if it's yours!]
The picture is of a German toy fair in 1969. You can see a large rocket with MATTEL written on it. But the main point of interest is the huge Mattel Captain Laser seemingly dangling from a crane. You can see how big it is compared to the people below.
I'm unsure what to make of this photograph. The argument for its authenticity is the Mattel rocket next to it. The arguments against, I would say, include the fact that no-one appears to looking upwards at the huge attraction and that the figure doesn't appear attached to the crane.
Is it genuine or has it been photoshopped? What do you think and does anyone know?
The figure seems to be standing on the crane's truss, rather than hanging from it?
ReplyDeleteThere is a logo of the Nuremberg Toy Fair on the wall. The picture could be a blow-up of a film frame. British Pathe perhaps?
ReplyDeleteThanks for that guys. I'll have a look at British Pathe. the model figure looks perfect, like the toy itself. Could Mattel have made such a huge perfect model? It must be 20 feet tall.
ReplyDeleteThe light quality on the captain is different to the background. I think hes been 'shopped in.
ReplyDeleteIs everyone overlooking an obvious possibility, or am I missing something that eliminates it as an option? It seems to me this is a regular size Captain Lazer suspended near the camera to create the perspective illusion that the figure is nearly as tall as the 50-foot rocket prop in the distance. Quite possibly this was one of a series of photos with the cameraman dangling the toy in front of his camera in different positions to produce the illusion of a giant Captain on the scene.
ReplyDeleteYes, it could also have been pasted in, and the edge concealed by meticulous airbrushing, but a trick photo on site would be a LOT less work.
Naw, i could photoshop that on my phone. Its simply a question of placing the object in similar lighting conditions, photoshop does the rest.
ReplyDeleteYes of course, but could you have done that in 1969? My whole point is, I think this is a staged vintage photo taken on site at the 1969 International Toy Fair in Nuremberg using an actual toy as a prop -- not something photoshopped at some point since the invention of Photoshop in 1990.
ReplyDeleteStill inclined to think that the photo is genuine, regarding the lack of rationale in doing the composite afterwards. Looking closely, you can see the rigging both of the feet and the head, plus how the good Capt. is attached to the crane as KevinD suggested.
ReplyDeleteSome hairs and spots in the picture give it away for me as a film frame enlargement, not quite sure though.
I still say its a very recent phony, if you look at the crane position, its way behind the captain and none of the people are paying the slightest bit of attention to a 50 foot spaceman hanging precariously above them!
ReplyDeleteFound the site I first saw the picture on
ReplyDeletehttp://www.captainlazer.com/capt.htm
Really can't decide about the photo.
Some footage of the Nurnburg Toy Fair 1969 might help. Anyone?
This photo was a mystery to me also when I saw it first. I did a research a few years back. Without any doubt the pic was taken on ground of Nuremberg Toy fair in 1969. Somewhere I found the information Mattel did a special promotion in that year, but I found nothing about a giant toy figure. Guess the promotion was the rocket. The Captain Lazer shows the toy itself. You can see it, if you look sharp. Also you can see he is loosing his right jet shoe and he is not hanging on the crane. In 1969 it was possible to fit two different photos together, but it was a lot of work. Why should someone do such a laborious work? Easy way was to throw the Captain in the air and make a shot. So I´m with Richard Bensam.
ReplyDeleteBlechroboter from Germany
I think we are all missing the obvious here. Its very clearly a modern fake produced in Photoshop in the last decade. If it had been staged at the time, Im sure the creator would have gone to more trouble to make it look realistic as the amount of preparation to create a film based stunt would be immense.
ReplyDeleteThis has been created in Photoshop after someone discovered an old shot of Nuremburg Fair, showing the Mattel Rocket with the crane which probably brought it in and a large area of dead space left behind by the careless photographer, probably taking a quick snap on the way past. With more than a little skill, someone has suspended a Lazer figure against a blank backdrop, matched the lighting conditions as near as possible and matted him into the shot. The grainy nature of the original has allowed the new layer to be added and the edges softened without making it obvious that its a composite. Captain Lazer is too sharp and at a different level of toning to the base and this can be seen if you look at his face relative to the background. Also, if your going to go to all the trouble of hanging a fifty foot figure above the scene, why not use a complete one and at least hang him straight ?
Fake! That's fighting talk Bill. Outside now! And, yeah, bring your mates Callisto and Scorpio, I'll deck the lot of ya!
ReplyDeleteVery belated comment, but I agree with Richard Bensam as well (sorry Bill). It's a toy figure and it's most likely a single photograph taken at the time.
ReplyDeleteApart from it being by far the simplest solution, I can make out a light piece of string just behind the watchamacallums on top of the Captain's helmet from which he's suspended. That string is almost vertical (the entire picture is tilted a bit to the left) and would be something very likely to've been left out in a montage (either then or more recently).
It being a toy is blindingly obvious from all the detail, which would've been an enormous amount of work to add to a 30-foot tall statue, and which would never exactly match the detail on the toy. From the light we can see the surface is very even and smooth (compare with the dented rocket) which again matches what I see on my plastic toy. And an enlarged statue would require visible ropes, chains or cables to be held up as previously stated.
It being one shot is clear from the depth of field. The camera is focused on the toy, the background is fuzzy. Without that toy in the foreground, I'd expect the background to've been taken in focus, or we'd be talking about a serious degree of premeditation by the photographer. And without that toy where it is, I'd've expected a very different picture composition as well, giving more attention to that rocket.
Yes, the background could be cropped and blurred in photoshop nowadays (and such a montage I could do pretty quickly in photoshop, as could Bill). But if I were taking the trouble to to do that, I'd probably put the figure in a different place to make a nicer composition. Which leads me to why in heck anybody would go to the trouble of photoshopping a toy figure into a vintage picture in the first place (or stripping him in photomechanically at the time), and in this awkward position too?
Best -- Paul
Occam's Razor could provide two separate but 'supportable' explanations to the photo's authenticity.
ReplyDeleteOne being, as suggested, it's a PhotoShop creation for reasons stated.
The other being it's a model-toy suspended in the foreground and using forced prospective to create said illusion.
I do a lot of photo-analysis recreational now and previously as a vocation, what raises my doubts are the lack of shadows from the '50 feet tall' figure and the mis-match of light levels of the background and the foreground.
Also if one goes to the trouble of erecting a large scale Captain Lazer, why is his hand-held weapon left empty of accessory ?
Patron, your my kind of guy!
ReplyDeleteThere is no shadow cast on the wall next to the rocket's shadow. That settles it.
ReplyDeletebut does it!
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