Thoughts on 3D Printers and Collecting

[mareepsheep]

Hi everyone

Comments

[roxiired]

3D printing technology is awesome for sure. While I think it is cool to be able to print your own figures, and I totally support designing and printing figures for your personal collection, I think it will ultimately be negative for collecting. I foresee bootleggers basically copying existing figure designs. Also, even if you design your own figures, I don't think you should be able to sell them, since they're really easy to reproduce. I'm pretty sure it's illegal too. I remember reading about this person who designed Final Fantasy VII characters based off of their cubed art style in the games. Even though these types of figures weren't being sold commercially, Square Enix shut him down.

[mareepsheep]

Yeah, I heard something similar where someone was selling 3D prints of my little ponies like the one below, and they were shut down as well. I think right now it seems like 3D printing is so rare that it's not really affecting anything, but yeah, I think that if 3D printing becomes as common as 2D printing is now, I worry that bootlegs will be widespread :(

[roxiired]

Woah, that's actually a really nice figure! 3D technology is really amazing with all of the things you can do.
Right now, bootleg figures look really terrible, but yeah if 3D printing becomes widespread, then every legit figure is a potential blueprint that a bootlegger can analyze and copy.
While I do believe 3D printing is bad for collecting, I still see it as overall a good thing and I want it to become more common. I see so many good things done with it, such as printing tools or even prosthetics!

[xxstarcassxx]

aah I remember that 3d print, I'm still kicking myself that I didn't order it Q _ Q

[xxstarcassxx]

I think it's cool if you use it for, printing your own designs of figures, as that's a custom.

but trying to re-print existing figures isn't cool :C

[mareepsheep]

Yes! I think that when it does become popular, maybe there will be more figures of the human characters n_n! I am so tired of waiting like a year and then some for partners figures haha

[neeko48]

I think it really opens up possibilities for customs! I really don't think it will affect things like kids, since you can't really print using the same plastic. The molding and casting processes are pretty different. I would love to be able to print vinyl/pvc figures, but they need hot metal molds to cure properly. Since most pokemon figures are made of pvc, I think collecting is pretty safe

[rainyan]

I actually have a 3D printer at home. (My boyfriend built it himself since he likes weird machines.) This Christmas we used it to print cookie cutters for my friends and little sisters :3 Including Pokemon and ponies, they turned out pretty nice. As presents they're alright, but getting profit for printing licensed characters would just feel wrong. I hope 3D printing getting more common doesn't mean increased amounts of bootlegs...

[schenzi]

Just how different would for example, kid figures be printed vs original? I mean, they would have the same shape I guess, but they'd have different finishes wouldn't they?

I'm sorry, I'm not technically minded at all ^^;

[pupstergirl]

I agree!
Although these figures could look exactly the same as kids, the overall finish of them would probably be completely different.
The same mould and colours from Google images for example wouldn't provide the correct paint, glaze or finish no matter what figure.
They could still provide an outbreak of bootlegs, but as long as us collectors can tell the difference then we should be fine. Correct me if I'm wrong though hehe.

As well as this though, how awesome would 3-D printing for customs be!? You could print out figures of your favorite drawings!