Witness Faire Play III: a fully articulated, 3d printed, Barbie-compatible battle tardigrade.
The tardigrade, hereafter to be referred to as Brenda, is roughly the size of a domestic cat when printed at 100% scale, and comprises 61 separate pieces. Brenda has five body segments, eight articulated legs, and is fully poseable.
This time around Barbie eschews the full plate from the original Faire Play in exchange for a fantasy barbarian furkini. The furkini and boots are printed in NinjaFlex TPE, and are designed to fit a Barbie Made to Move doll. They’ll probably fit other dolls of similar size, but I haven’t tested them yet.
Brenda’s saddle includes a mounting bracket for Barbie’s yoga mat because it’s always wise to warm up with some sun salutations before sack and pillage day.
Also included in but not pictured are a Mongol-style recurve bow and a three-headed flail.
I’ve set this playset up as a pay-what-you-like download with a $1 minimum. Yep, you can get the tardigrade, the furkini, a full compliment of Barbie-compatible weapons and armor, a saddle, and— AND! a 3D printable yoga mat for a BUCK, people.
Better yet: it’s Creative Commons licensed! You’re free to remix and redistribute this work as long as you credit Jim “Zheng3” Rodda as the original designer. Credits for the giants upon whose shoulders I’ve stood to create Faire Play III are listed in the .ZIP file.
Designing and executing Faire Play III was a yuuuge endeavor and a full description of it is beyond the scope of a single blog post. Watch this space for more photos and behind-the-scenes stories of how the latest and greatest in Barbie-compatible wargear came to pass.
UPDATE: Hello, SciFri Twitter followers! Here’s an extra couple of photos just for you guys! While you’re here you might want to check out SciFri Bingo in advance of tomorrow’s show.
Tardigrades LURVE themselves some garbanzo beans. It is known.
And as always, #staytuned, my friends. I’ve got the Next Thing bubbling in the hopper already. See pics of embryonic Plutarch on Ye Olde Instagramme.
Lao Zheng out.