Prin-C

Box art

The Prin-C (Japanese: プリンシー), also stylised as ♥プリンシー is officially a joy home computer (Japanese: ジョイ・ホビー・コンピュター, Joy・Hobby・Computer) and brand by Tomy, though it is primarily known (and advertised) as a printing and design tool. It also includes some video game and uranai support. It was released only in Japan with a younger demographic in mind. This computer was introduced in the 1990s and given a copyright notice, may have been released in 1996. It uses a Fujitsu MB90611A CPU.

In 2014, following the merger with Takara, Takara Tomy also released the Prin☆C (Japanese: プリン☆シー); a label printer using the same name (excluding name styling conventions) as the previously released Prin-C.

Name

The origin of the name "Prin-C" is unclear, but there are potential influences such as "print seal" (sticker printing), print clubs (a machine for printing designs typically found outside of the home, popular in the 2000s commonly among girls and women for kawaii culture), or its similarity to the word "prince".

Description

Released only in Japan, it was released primarily as a printer and design editing tool, though it also supports video games, such as memory and uranai/fortune telling (a genre also popular among women in Japan), as well as separately released ROM cartridge support. The Prin-C has full-colour printing features and is advertised with the slogan: "Full-colour printing for both [text] characters and [picture] illustrations" (文字もイラストもフルカラーでプリント！), including "pretty", "simple" and "interesting" designs.

The Prin-C requires a television/monitor for its graphical user interface, though it is also marketed for easy or convenient designs without one.

Support for the Prin-C name has also continued after the merger from Tomy into Takara Tomy.

Components

• Main unit
• Dedicated AC Adapter
• Dedicated Connection Cord
• Dedicated Ink Ribbon (also sold separately, including red, blue and green)
• 5 multi-colour sheets
• Special trial/test paper
• Dedicated card paper (for creating/editing postcards) (also sold separately)
• Dedicated stickers (for creating/editing postcards)
• Instruction manual
• "Easy Guidebook" (Japanese: かんたんガイドブック)
• Dedicated Memory Cassette (sold separately) (used for storing cards and postcards made with the Prin-C, details whether there was a Prin-C pack-in are unknown)

Word processing

The Prin-C uses JIS encoding with support for kana, kanji and romaji (roman characters). Characters can be input using the keyboard and there is support for the conversion of kana into kanji. There is alphanumerical colour pictogram support. There are also functions for converting hiragana into dingbat symbols or romaji. It supports 2965 level-1 kanji, and 152 level-2 kanji.

Character sizes are full-width, vertical double-angle, horizontal double-angle, quadruple-width, and it includes 14 font colours. There are 377 types of built-in illustration data, 28 types of POP characters, 45 unspecified built-in formats, a caricature creation function and an illustration combination function.

ROM Cartridges

The Prin-C ROM cartridges are separate sold-separately ROM cartridges that can be inserted into the unit. They are typically cartridges containing illustrations like character and seasonal-themed designs to be printed using the unit, rather than video games. The cartridges may also include an instruction book and postcard.

The total number of cartridges released for the Prin-C is unknown, and specific cartridges may be scarce to find second-hand. Some of these cartridges are themed around Sanrio characters, again for colourful print designs:

• Hello Kitty (Prin-C)
• Bad Badtz-Maru (Prin-C)
• Pochacco: The Yorimichi Dog (Prin-C)

Another example of the Prin-C cartridge is a New Year Card with Family (家族で年賀状) cartridge, featuring a selection of wafuu (Japanese-style) New Year print designs.

Prin☆C

The Prin☆C is a label printer released on July 17, 2014 officially for 6,980 yen (excluding tax) after the merger from Tomy into Takara Tomy.

This printer uses Prin☆C Tape Cassettes (sold-separately), and one such product is for special designs from the Hoppe-chan franchise, classed as a Tze Tape. The size of this tape is 12mm wide and 5m long, unlike the earlier Prin-C ROM cartridges. It is advertised as being waterproof and resistant to rubbing. Tze Tapes are a type of more environmentally friendly Tz Tape, used for label printers. Another large company to use the names Tz Tape and Tze Tape is Brother Industries.

Menus

The menus in the graphic user interface include:

• Postcard editing and slimming (Japanese: ハガキ＆痩せん)
• A notebook and memo (Japanese: 手帳&メモ)
• Card editing (Japanese: カード)
• A free creation tool (Japanese: フリー　メイク)
• A sticker club (Japanese: シール　クラブ)
• A memory game (Japanese: メモリー)
• An illustration club (Japanese: イラストクラブ)
• Uranai/fortune telling and games menu (Japanese: 占い＆ゲーム)

Mascots

The main mascot is a blue and black cat-like character, seen with a fish around its neck (possibly either as a yellow accessory/charm, or a yellow-bagged carnival fish (a controversial practice)). This cat also has an orange mouse friend (as seen on the design of the instruction manual). There is at least one other Prin-C mascots as well, such as a bear.