Post by toasterberry on Oct 25, 2023 14:31:47 GMT
How I Found It
In March 2019, I was browsing a Japanese eBay video game seller I frequently bought from. He sells a large variety of consoles and video games. I was scrolling through his many listings for used DSi consoles, and happened to click a random one that didn’t even show the top in the thumbnail. In the 3rd picture, I saw a weird symbol on it. I thought it was a sticker at first, but looking closer I thought it was too centered to be a sticker, and I quickly bought it. When I got it, I could tell it was printed on in some sort of way.
(3rd picture from the eBay listing)
The Logo
The logo is printed on with some type of thick material. It stands out and has a little bit of texture. You can feel it easily, unlike a smooth seamless print. The logo shows a Coca-Cola vending machine, holding bottles and cans, with a crown on top, containing “全国ベンダーMD選手権” on the machine under the glass window, with the year “2008” under the machine.
(Close up of the full logo on the system)
One other instance of this logo was found on a pin by the GBAtemp user PRAGMA. The logo itself appears to be the same, but instead with the year 2007 to the bottom right of the logo. The picture of the pin was found from a cached page of a mercari listing with the title “Mercalli-Coca-Cola not for sale Pins Pin-Buck [Novelty goods]”. The link is unfortunately dead and does not seem to be archived anywhere, although I don't believe it contained any further important info.
(Image of the listing photo)
Contents on the DSi console
The DSi console came missing a stylus, but had a 2 gigabyte SD card. In the camera app, there are 3 pictures: 2 of a Japanese adult man with a warped filter, and a picture of 5 people sitting on what appears to be a train. All of which I intend to keep private for now. The console is on firmware 1.0j. There’s no sound recordings, and no additional software.
Unanswered Questions
Here are my questions that are left unanswered. There may be good speculative answers, however they lack sufficient evidence to be sure at this time.
Under the assumption it’s from a competition or similar event;
Speculation & Evidence
Here are some theories with supportive evidence & reasoning. Nothing below is concrete.
This DSi could have been given away as a prize in some sort of internal competition for a work team. Supporting reasoning being the crown on the logo, “選手権” translating roughly as “Championship”, and there being little documentation to do with the logo and the logo’s text, as may be expected from an internal competition.
MD could stand for merchandising (or merchandiser), supported by the context and this dictionary definition. Others have also guessed “Marketing Department”, or a region.
It can be speculated that this console was made between Nov 1st (DSi release date) and Dec 18, due to both the firmware being on 1.0j (with Dec 18 being when 1.2j was released), and with the year on the logo printed as 2008. Although, there is a possibility it was an older DSi branded at a later date, and that the contest took place in 2009 to celebrate something in 2008.
It's strange for the DSi to still be on v1.0j given the amount of public wifi spots. It might lead me to think the system wasn't used very much, but it was very dirty, and has some (minor) physical damage. It may not have been well taken care of while also being unused.
Possible Leads
I've been intending to contact ccbji.co.jp. I haven't done this yet because I assume I need to get a well written message in Japanese to even have a chance of a response. The company and website post dates the console by almost 10 years, but it's connected to parts that have archives that go much earlier.
Another idea is to somehow look for someone who's made logos for Coca-Cola, and see if they have a portfolio that might contain this logo.
Extra Pictures
Various upscale and repair attempts of the logo
Full picture of the top of the system closed
I've been on this hunt for over 4 years now, any help is appreciated.
In March 2019, I was browsing a Japanese eBay video game seller I frequently bought from. He sells a large variety of consoles and video games. I was scrolling through his many listings for used DSi consoles, and happened to click a random one that didn’t even show the top in the thumbnail. In the 3rd picture, I saw a weird symbol on it. I thought it was a sticker at first, but looking closer I thought it was too centered to be a sticker, and I quickly bought it. When I got it, I could tell it was printed on in some sort of way.
(3rd picture from the eBay listing)
The Logo
The logo is printed on with some type of thick material. It stands out and has a little bit of texture. You can feel it easily, unlike a smooth seamless print. The logo shows a Coca-Cola vending machine, holding bottles and cans, with a crown on top, containing “全国ベンダーMD選手権” on the machine under the glass window, with the year “2008” under the machine.
(Close up of the full logo on the system)
One other instance of this logo was found on a pin by the GBAtemp user PRAGMA. The logo itself appears to be the same, but instead with the year 2007 to the bottom right of the logo. The picture of the pin was found from a cached page of a mercari listing with the title “Mercalli-Coca-Cola not for sale Pins Pin-Buck [Novelty goods]”. The link is unfortunately dead and does not seem to be archived anywhere, although I don't believe it contained any further important info.
(Image of the listing photo)
Contents on the DSi console
The DSi console came missing a stylus, but had a 2 gigabyte SD card. In the camera app, there are 3 pictures: 2 of a Japanese adult man with a warped filter, and a picture of 5 people sitting on what appears to be a train. All of which I intend to keep private for now. The console is on firmware 1.0j. There’s no sound recordings, and no additional software.
Unanswered Questions
Here are my questions that are left unanswered. There may be good speculative answers, however they lack sufficient evidence to be sure at this time.
- Where did this DSi come from?
- How was it obtained?
- Where was it obtained?
- Who did the print?
- What is this logo?
- Do more exist than mine?
- How many were made?
- Was there branded packaging or other unique pieces to this DSi?
- Is there any evidence of this DSi existing prior to me and the seller I purchased it from?
- What does “MD” mean?
Under the assumption it’s from a competition or similar event;
- What other prizes may have been given away besides the DSi & pin?
- Who was allowed to “compete”?
- What exact date did this 2008 competition happen?
- What years did these competitions happen?
- What kind of environment, and under what conditions was it won?
Speculation & Evidence
Here are some theories with supportive evidence & reasoning. Nothing below is concrete.
This DSi could have been given away as a prize in some sort of internal competition for a work team. Supporting reasoning being the crown on the logo, “選手権” translating roughly as “Championship”, and there being little documentation to do with the logo and the logo’s text, as may be expected from an internal competition.
MD could stand for merchandising (or merchandiser), supported by the context and this dictionary definition. Others have also guessed “Marketing Department”, or a region.
It can be speculated that this console was made between Nov 1st (DSi release date) and Dec 18, due to both the firmware being on 1.0j (with Dec 18 being when 1.2j was released), and with the year on the logo printed as 2008. Although, there is a possibility it was an older DSi branded at a later date, and that the contest took place in 2009 to celebrate something in 2008.
It's strange for the DSi to still be on v1.0j given the amount of public wifi spots. It might lead me to think the system wasn't used very much, but it was very dirty, and has some (minor) physical damage. It may not have been well taken care of while also being unused.
Possible Leads
I've been intending to contact ccbji.co.jp. I haven't done this yet because I assume I need to get a well written message in Japanese to even have a chance of a response. The company and website post dates the console by almost 10 years, but it's connected to parts that have archives that go much earlier.
Another idea is to somehow look for someone who's made logos for Coca-Cola, and see if they have a portfolio that might contain this logo.
Extra Pictures
Various upscale and repair attempts of the logo
Full picture of the top of the system closed
I've been on this hunt for over 4 years now, any help is appreciated.
