Get Your Very Own 3D Selfie
The idea of being able to get a Barbie-sized clone of yourself has been an internet tease for so long that I almost walked past the studio displaying these super lifelike figures that had obviously been modeled on real people.
Surely there would be the usual fine print: “GET A PERFECT PINT-SIZED REPLICA OF YOURSELF (for only $100,000,000,000)” or “NOW ANYONE CAN IMMORTALIZE THEIR AWESOMENESS (as long as they’re related to the inventor and willing to wait six months for it to be handpainted by magical elves)”
But WHOA when I stepped up to the counter and asked, it turns out this is a genuine get-scanned-in-five-minutes shop that will deliver a photographically detailed figure within three weeks, for a sum that isn’t usually associated with buying a house!
All you have to do is make an appointment at the Loft store in Shibuya and…
…stand on the X in the middle of a crankload of digital cameras (102, to be exact), all precisely angled to capture the nooks and crannies needed to build a 3D model.
Shutters click and lights fire a couple of times, then your bits and pieces are whisked away to a couple of hella fast desktops for compiling.
It takes about 20 minutes for all the scraps to assemble, but you can watch with Wonka-esque fascination as your figure becomes more and more detailed on the screen.
The artist can rotate you around and zoom in at any time to fix glitches. (Regrettably, he couldn’t give me the nose job of my dreams or fix my bad hair day, but I guess the whole point of this is that we don’t all end up looking like identical members of idol bands.)
Wow, looking pretty detailed, about 15 minutes in!
And voila! Me and my cheapo umbrella!
Now all that’s left is to decide whether I want to be Minifig size or Gundam Perfect Grade…
Okay, I realize you may be one of those rare people who don’t have a burning desire to see yourself immortalized in eternal plastic, but what about…
Fido!
Or the cutest baby in the whole world?
Or your Significant Other, dressed as his favorite video game avatar?
Check this out – these things are seriously detailed, and the color is integral to the plastic, not painted on
So finally, let’s go bottom line – it’s still not cheap. But which would you rather have – sixty skinny soy lattes or a Mini Me who can battle your 1/25 scale Megatron on a level playing field?
