Steven Universe - Peridot's Tape Recorder Help

I was wondering if anyone could identify a model of tape recorder that closely resembles this one? I've looked around as best I can and haven't found one that quite suits me, but I thought that maybe someone here might have a little more expertise?

Ha, this is great, Peridot's tape recorder was on my to-do list for quite some time..but I must finish Billy's Hero Gauntlet. Anyway, I've done quite a bit of research myself and I've come to the conclusion that it's definitely a caricature of a 90s Sony tape recorder combined with that of some 80s models. Reason being, the horizontal layout of the tape on compact handhelds are rather exclusive to Pansonics and Sonys in the 80s, and they quickly moved over to the vertical layout of the tape (because it allows for less width).

Her tape really looks like a Sony M9 Microcassete player with a lot of liberties in its design. Major exception being, of course, the orientation of the tape. So I've long suspected that the inspiration for the design came from something in Sony's comprehensive M series of tape recorders.
This is one of them. The sleek layout of the tape I see in Peridot's recorder insert door is unique to Sony's M line.


Hope that helps. For my version of the tape, I was thinking of just 3D printing my own design.

Thank you so much! It's really breaking my heart that I can't find something like the M9 with a horizontal tape, but that definitely seems like the best option. I'd try making one from scratch (or at least frankensteining some together), but I plan on making it functional and I definitely don't have the skills right now to get that technical. I certainly look forward to seeing how yours turns out, though!

Numbuh1Nerd said:

Thank you so much! It's really breaking my heart that I can't find something like the M9 with a horizontal tape, but that definitely seems like the best option. I'd try making one from scratch (or at least frankensteining some together), but I plan on making it functional and I definitely don't have the skills right now to get that technical. I certainly look forward to seeing how yours turns out, though!

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No problem. I don't think there should be much issue with Frankensteining one together. It'd be neat to gut something like the m9 and put it into something else.