Sure, there are already licensed World of Warcraft figurines by way of DC. But those are just so generic, you know? Now, what if I told you you could get a figure that looks exactly like your in-game character, outfitted in any gear you own? That's exactly what FigurePrints, a new venture that is set to go live on December 11th, promises to do for you. They are apparently official -- check out the "Licensed Blizzard Product" badge in the bottom-right -- and I find the idea quite intriguing. From one perspective it's the next logical step in merchandising, but really, look at the future we're living in: create a character in an online fantasy game, and have a third party step in, take a model of the character, make a custom 3D print of it, and mail it to your doorstep. This type of stuff has been done before, yes, but the quality on the sample FigurePrints is quite impressive.

Here's some information from the site's FAQ: The data is pulled from the Armory, which makes me wonder: how do they get your appearance right? The Armory, unless I'm mistaken, doesn't include things like hairstyle and the other various customization options. The actual statuettes are built using rapid prototyping (AKA 3D printing) using vertically-stacked slices of "plaster-like powder" and then hand-finished. The scale is 1:18, which means a male human comes out about 4 inches tall, not counting the base. And the price? $99.95, plus $14.95 shipping and handling. They warn that availability is limited, and that the best way to guarantee you get one is to make an account at their site, although I wasn't able to get past the "Open December 11th" banner to actually click on anything. So how about it? Will you be lining up to pay $100 plus shipping to bring your toon out of Azeroth?

Tags: 3d, 3d-printing, figurine, figurines, merch, merchandise

Filed under: Items, News items