BSA306, proposal, 1 April, 2017

Your Way, Every Day: The Simplification of Collectible Toy Production Through 3D Printing

In the world of toys, what if you could have what YOU wanted instead of what you were told you SHOULD want?  This is the tantalizing promise of 3D printing to makers and consumers alike.  While it may seem that we have many choices when we go shopping, there aren't:  80% of the world's toys are manufactured in China in vast quantities that only guess at consumer demand and produced before what they’re promoting make it to the public sphere.  (Lipson, 2013) In the new paradigm that 3D printing offers, a collector can order and pay for a character online, a pre-existing digital file can be modified to meet requirements, and production can take place close to the buyer.  Designers are similarly offered the exciting possibility of modification, replication, or duplication of the original without the tedious and expensive back and forth of working with an overseas manufacturer.  (Lipson, 2013)

This semester, I will undertake the development of a children's TV show with a view to pitching the show for funding and production.  While 3D printing the characters will certainly assist in refining the designs and story of the show, in the world of children's TV, the show is not the only thing that needs to be produced.  Effective merchandising makes the marketing of the show easier and more profitable which keeps it on the air for longer.  Newspaper strip characters had merchandising tie-ins from their beginning in 1895 and Walt Disney was the first to make merchandising deals for animation in 1929.  Disney historians Robert Heide and John Gilman wrote, "Disney realized that the future of the studio could become secure only if enough revenue was generated by the character merchandising division." (Hollis, 2015) Virtually every animation studio has followed his example and merchandising tie-ins now bring in the lion's share of profits for each production.  In fact, a familiar pattern began to develop: with each new medium that a character appeared in, product availability surged which fueled viewer interest in the program which fueled interest in the product.  (Hollis, 2015) It is estimated that the total economic impact of 3D printing technology will be $US230-$550 billion per year by 2025, $US100-$300 billion of which will be direct consumer products such as toys. (Borison, 2014) 

Pez dispensers have been a popular merchandising tie-in for over 60 years.

In the past, toy prototypes would have been hand sculpted in clay with molds taken to mass produce millions of plastic figures.  The work would have been laborious and time consuming.  With the advent of 3D printing, contemporary entertainment companies can disrupt the traditional process of manufacturing toys by developing the products themselves.  Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the wildly successful World of Warcraft and Overwatch video game titles, use Happy Worker to 3D print prototypes of their toys (Happy Worker, 2017), Activision's Skylanders model makers have 3D printers in their offices (Clarke, 2017), and McDonald's excited the industry in 2013 by theorizing that they could have 3D printers in every store to print out the Happy Meal toy each child wanted on demand.  Only the safety of heated plastics in a food preparation site stopped them from moving forward at the time, but technology will catch up with this idea (Plafke, 2013). 

Blizzard Entertainment: toys from their Cute but Deadly Series I

The aims of this research project are as follows: characters from the show will be sculpted in Maya, refined in Zbrush, and printed in 3D.  They will be produced in a series of poses and analyzed for their likeability, collectability, and functionality; their profitability in both the collector's and toy markets will also be assessed and the ensuing range of figurines will be used in the marketing of the series to potential stakeholders and funding bodies.  Using base designs, the characters will be translated into one and multi-piece jointed styles: bobble head, Pez dispenser, bubble bath container, and posed collectible are just a few of the forms they may take.  Final versions will be painted and packaged to be used as promotional material as the show is shopped around.  The opportunity to realize my characters as toys will be an invaluable part of the development and marketing of my show.  

Concept art from the children’s TV show I am developing

References

Borison, R. (2014, September 3). All The Ways Your Kids Can Now Customise Their Toys. Retrieved from Business Insider Australia: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/3d-printing-toys-2014-8?r=US&IR=T

Clarke, W. (2017, January 27). How They Make Skylanders, Disney Infiniti, and Shovel Knight. Retrieved from Polygon: http://www.polygon.com/features/2016/1/27/10811024/manufacturing-skylanders-disney-infinity-shovel-knight

Happy Worker. (2017). Toy Design & Prototyping. Retrieved from Happy Worker: http://www.happyworker.com/toy-design-prototyping

Hollis, T. (2015). Toons in Toyland : The Story of Cartoon Character Merchandise. Jackson, US: University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Lipson, H. &. (2013). Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing. Somerset: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com

Plafke, J. (2013, November 9). McDonald’s wants a 3D printer in every restaurant so they can print Happy Meal toys. Retrieved from www.geek.com: http://www.geek.com/gadgets/mcdonalds-wants-a-3d-printer-in-every-restaurant-so-they-can-print-happy-meal-toys-1576582/

 what's the diff between toy and action figure:  first is for play, second is for display.  statues?  Funko?

is printing molds a thing?  Or does that have to be made separately from a positive print?

 Before turning paper in, check that the following things have definitely been addressed!