Rotadraw was a completely different method of transferring an image from one place to another, & a clever twist on the concept of the stencil — a twist which ingeniously got around the standard problem with stencils, that of having to leave gaps taken out of the image in strategic locations to allow the frame to support the centre of the characters (the inside part of the letter "O", for instance):
Typical stencil lettering with gaps in the characters, for the frame to support the 'holes'
If the frame moves, then the stencil image can fill in the initial gaps & be completed — but how to move the frame reliably & systematically? The answer was to have the frame rotate about a fixed point. Shades of school trigonometry! And then it could be expanded into a game…
See also: "What Are Transfers — Stencils & Rotadraw"
Rotadraw were one of the most bizarre toys of all time, & yet surprisingly popular. Perhaps I can interest Warner Brothers in making a movie out of them…
From the Catalogues
Letraset appear to have acquired Rotadraw in 1978, possibly as part of Thomas Salter (who they purchased for ONE MILLION DOLL… er… £1M.)
The following scans from the Letraset 1978 & the Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogues give a very good idea of what was available; I'll follow them up with some extra images to give a more rounded (!) view.
Letraset 1978 trade catalogue — original scans by Craig Spivey
I don't think I need to list the different titles that were available, since you can see for yourself. However, it is interesting that by 1981, the 'Tom and Jerry' kit had both come & gone — presumably due to a licensing agreement lapse.
Thomas Salter 1981 trade catalogue
It's also worth pointing out that as of 1981, all the Rotadraw products were still branded "Letraset Toys".
In-Depth Analysis Section
Look-In No.34, 19th August 1978
This advert from Look-In magazine pinpoints Letraset's first big push for the product. Perhaps it was a bit of a mistake to use a completed Rotadrawing as the basis of their competition, since it completely gives the game away. You will note that the completed drawing of Superman lacks a certain finesse, not to mention verisimilitude; this is not a mistake, or a poor rendition: it's supposed to look like that.
While this ensures that a young child will get as good a result as an adult, it also means that you cannot get a better. It will always be this bad.
And yet Rotadraw was very popular for a few years, & I've recently heard from people who remember it fondly from their childhood; I can only conclude that it's not the quality of the result that's important, but the intriguing mystery of how the process of following the simple instructions gets you a result at all. In other words, it's all about the journey.
And I have to admit that the same is true of Action Transfers: rubbing them down requires relatively little skill, but you do a get a better result than you would have got with coloured pencils or paints.
Original photo by franklinwibble
A closer look at one of the deluxe boxes: Super Heroes (or "Super Comic Strip Heroes", to be accurate), in this case. Inside the case… er… box… are paints, & underneath the discs, coloured markers.
Original photos by franklinwibble
On the inside of the box lid are the instructions, which I've shown just large enough for you to be able to read them. So get on with it, then!
Original photo by Nick Tresadern
Here's a later box, but this one is branded "thomas salter toys" & so is much later — after Letraset offloaded all their toys from their Consumer Products division to Thomas Salter.
Original photos by Nick Tresadern
As you can see, there are no longer any paints. Cut-backs, eh?
Now a close-up of a disc — in this case, "Flash":
Original photo by Nick Tresadern
And another disc ("Aquaman") in its tray, ready to Rota.
Original photo by Nick Tresadern
A background all ready to have a Rotadrawing applied:
Original photo by franklinwibble
And finally, the finished result for "Aquaman".
Original photo by franklinwibble
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