Its the little things I remember the most from childhood, those small bits and pieces that came with toys.
One such trinket would be the stickers that came with Major Mat Mason toys like these control panels.
These were some I saw online so I saved the snap. They could be repro. I imagine most real stickers were peeled off the paper and put on the various MMM vehicles and the Space Station.
Did you like these stickers? Would you say decals [or deecals]?
I was always fascinated by the Matt Mason stickers. Most of toys feature simple line work and flat colours (the sort of style that would all be done with vector graphics today). I was surprised that the Callisto stickers featured a different, more realistic style, drawn with sqeaker spirit based markers.
ReplyDeleteI see your example here features a painted astronaut on the tv screen.
Interestingly, he's wearing a Mercury style helmet as opposed to Matt's trademark yellow visored version!
I loved the stickers when I got them on straight. And if we're pronouncing them I've only ever heard 'deecals.'
ReplyDeleteDecals, Deecals.............we used to call them Transfers.
ReplyDeleteIf you'll pardon the pedantry, technically speaking those aren't decals. They're stickers, although Mattel called them Space Labels at the time.
ReplyDeleteDecal is short for decalcomania, décalcomanie in the original French. Which describes something being removed/transferred from tracing paper (papier calque). First used for porcelain and glass. Model kits have water-based transfers, older tinplate toys have decals applied with methylated spirits for durability. Best -- Paul
Thanks for the correction and information Paul. Fascinating!
DeleteWe always called em "DE-cals" with the accent on the first syllable.
ReplyDeleteI've also heard some folks pronounce it as "DEC-als" (rhyme with 'pickles' which just sounds weird to me.
It's easy to get into a pickle when pronouncing decal Scott for sure!
DeleteStickers (in this case) or waterslide transfers, decal is a Cajun-Americanism popularised for PVC vehicle graphics as first developed for military aircraft in the 1950's I think, but, like 'sprue', you can't reteach falsehoods to hobbyists!
ReplyDeleteH
What's up with Sprue Hugh?
DeleteThose simple graphics designed for space toys, whether decals or stickers, were always so fun to me. I liked the fact that they often conveyed a “comic art” feel, rather than trying to accurately replicate a highly-detailed representation of authentic control panels and instruments. But then again, I’ve always loved the more fantastic, toy-like aspect of these things - realism be damned! SFZ
ReplyDeleteHear hear SF! Up the toys!
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