Action figures always have been and always will be cool. But they almost always look like someone else and very rarely look exactly like me or you. Hasbro and 3D printing specialist Formlabs now have a way to fix that.
The companies are partnering on the Selfie Series to produce personalized action figures that add realistic renderings of customers’ heads to G.I. Joe, Ghostbusters, Power Rangers, and other characters. Users can grab the Hasbro Pulse app, scan their face, get their hair and everything else just right, and then click order and wait for a tiny version of themselves to be delivered.
3D printing hasn’t always been an ideal technology for producing durable products at scale. But Formlabs said the technology has progressed enough in the past decade so the company now has the reliability and precision to participate in manufacturing.
The action figures from Hasbro use a custom resin that’s only available to the company. Patrick Marr, senior director of model development at Hasbro, said it was important for the resin to cover all the different skin and hair tones. Yet despite the level of detail in the figures, the companies said they have perfected the process so that the personalized figures don’t come with “astronomical prices.”
Formlabs and Hasbro have been working together for years on prototyping and this project is an extension of that work. Hasbro started with a “mini factory” near its Rhode Island headquarters before making the investment in a full facility. Now, the companies have grown the Selfie Series from a small batch service into a continuous one.
For Formlabs, the expanded Selfie project with Hasbro comes as the company is introducing its latest Fuse 3D printer that’s capable of creating stronger materials while scanning and printing faster than before. For all of us, the evolution of 3D printing means we’ll all have a chance to own a Dr. Pete Venkman action figure with our heads instead of Bill Murray’s.
