You can now turn yourself into Princess Leia, the Mandalorian, and Iron Man. At least in action figure form.
prototype and create one-of-a-kind products. The company specializes in stereolithography 3D printing, or resin printing, known for its ability to create smooth, highly detailed products.are desktop machines that lower a build platform into liquid resin. Rollers squeeze resin into a thin layer on the platform, which is then cured and solidified in selective areas using a laser. The process repeats, layer by layer, until the 3D-printed object remains.
Those mechanical properties aren’t necessarily standard in 3D printing, as the materials used are often brittle. That’s not ideal for an action figure that has to withstand being thrown around by kids of all ages. Their Tough 1500 Resin is fairly sturdy, with an “elongation at break” of 51 percent, which means the material can be stretched by 51 percent before it breaks.
You then choose from one of five hair colors and a number of different hair styles. Because each figure body is unique, some hairstyles are only available for figures that can accommodate them. Another challenge arose from the next step: Choosing facial hair, if any. Facial hair, like facial features like eyes and lips, would need to be inkjet printed on the heads using Hasbro’s, which made a real difference when it comes to making figures that look like the actors portraying the characters. Beards weren’t necessarily going to be available at launch because they added another complication.
“We joke about that a little bit in the sense that you submit your order and you get grouped with 24 of your closest friends who you’ll never meet, who have some of the same skin tones that you do,” Marr says. “And so what happens is you go through that process, and the neat thing is you stay with that group all the way through until the final assembly.”
“He’s doing all the latest special effects, you know, doing all the crazy entertainment. And he was amazed by the Selfie Series. We’re like, ‘I think we have something here,’” Chapman says.