Tuesday, April 20, 2021

[YouTube] PrestoMagiX

https://youtu.be/bnR8A5RslkQ

Created by Gillette's Paper Mate division, PrestoMagiX was a product where users transferred characters and objects onto a page with a related background using a pencil. Like Colorforms, the idea was to create a scene but the original PrestoMagiX could only be used one time since they are not removable once transferred to the paper. However, PrestoMagiX did evolve and later made products that mirrored Colorforms called Stick 'N Lift. Many of the sets featured characters from comic books, movies, and cartoons, though there were others without a special license, such as Discovery of America, Animals of Africa, and Moon Exploration.

I showed a sealed Wonder Woman package back when I did a DC Comics post that I'll show again here. It's not in the video though because I can't figure out where I put it; losing things seems to be a specialty of mine these days. This one has the Paper Mate logo on it while the others say American Publishing Corporation which appears to have taken over in 1979 while production was moved to Italy.


An almost unused set I have is Captain Caveman Haunted House. Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels was a cartoon from Hanna-Barbera that aired from 1977-1980. If you compare the packaging you'll see they both refer to them as games. The Paper Mate one above says "Dry Transfer Game" and the others below say "Rub Down Transfer Game." I couldn't say why as there is nothing involved that would indicate they are games. 



Next is a Looney Tunes set titled Bugs Bunny at the Circus. I applied most of these though Bugs isn't looking so hot and part of his foot is still on the decal sheet.




Here is a Super Transfer Set featuring G.I. Joe from 1986 or '87 that is double-sided. A singe-sided version with only the jungle background was also released. PrestoMagiX made other G.I. Joe sets in both the small and large formats in 1982 and 1983 as well. This set included a MagiX Stick to use for transfers instead of a pencil but I cannot locate that and likely no longer have it.





The last item is the Coloforms-like Stick 'N Lift set of the Transformers. One thing I find odd about this one is Jazz, Starscream, and Sunstreaker are drawn on the background despite those characters also being included as decals. They are small enough to cover up at least if you don't want the same character appearing multiple times in the scene.



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