My interest in Japanese toys has very little to do with actually playing with them.
Oh, sure – it can be fun to twink around with the more intricate ones from time to time but this is rare, occurring during moves or photo-shoots only. I don’t find myself pulling them off the shelf, otherwise. It’s kind of sad, really; I seem no longer capable of playing with them in the proper sense. My imagination wont go there.
No, for me it is an aesthetic fascination and one not restricted to the toy’s contours. Books, photographs, and ads for the toy or character can hold similar attraction for me. Art on the packaging, too, and – yes, instructions.
Many Japanese toys, of the sort that have captured my attention, anyway, require specific instructions for assembly or play and the sheets used to impart this information can be minor works of art unto themselves.
Many moons ago, I got the idea to play around graphically with the contents of Japanese toy instruction booklets. I was inspired by a particularly surreal example of manglish found in the instructions for a Taiwanese knock off of a Daitarn 3 toy (you can see them here, well down the page but worth a look). With it as my inspiration, a flat bed scanner, and a stack of vintage instructions, well, we didn’t stay in Kansas long.
As this collage is large with lots of little details, I felt forced to upload it in two chunks for viewing here on the Skull, so be sure to page through the images if you click below – that or you can just buy the poster – I did. 🙂
http://www.cafepress.com/coreyshead – t-shirts, mugs and more!
[…] around with the detail collage for my post on the “Instrucciones” poster inspired me to create a few fun (and totally stupid) products utilizing an iconic […]