Geek Juggernaut Felicia Day Teams with Thangs for 3D Printable Minis and More

May 8, 2024 by Jay Rincher 3D Design 3D Printing Business Consumer Goods Cosplay & Gaming Featured Stories

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3D printables repository Thangs has announced a new partnership with geek media powerhouse Felicia Day. This collaboration, FeliciaDay3D, will feature a line of STLs co-designed by Day in collaboration with Moonlight Minis, Kaizen3D Prints and Mimetics3D.

“This is the first substantial collaborative creative venture I’ve done since leaving my company Geek and Sundry,” said Day. “It’s always been one of my greatest joys to figure out how to be creative in new areas by diving into them head-first. This project is no exception and I cannot wait for people to get inspired and explore the wonderfully-creative and limitless world of 3D printing.”

The rollout for this project includes models featuring Codex and Vork, from Day’s iconic web series The Guild. The collaboration will feature monthly drops of models in the Cosplay/Jewelry, Tabletop Gaming, and Kids/Toys categories. Accessing the models will require subscribing to one of the two available support tiers: $10 for basic access or $40 for a commercial license to reproduce and sell the models.

“This collaboration marks a significant addition to the realm of geek culture, digital sculpting, 3D printed textile fabrication, and innovative 3D printed toys to bring joy to family and friends.” said Thangs CEO & Co-founder, Paul Powers.

While this partnership might seem out of left field to the casual observer, if you look closely, all of the pieces to this puzzle fit quite well. Still a niche application in hobby space, 3D printing is becoming more prominent in discussions around the production of tabletop miniatures as well as cosplay props and toys. The accessibility of desktop material extrusion and vat photopolymerization 3D printing has made it more difficult for traditional game publishers to sell expensive miniatures kits to players. Meanwhile, the cosplay props market was valued at $35 billion in 2022, and it is expected to more than double by 2028.

Not only does it make sense for Thangs to stake a more aggressive claim to these markets, but formalizing its relationships with makers via a recognizable figure like Felicia Day immediately lends the needed “geek cred” to bring fans to the table. Internet juggernaut Critical Role and its upstart Dungeons & Dragons competitor, Daggerheart, probably would not exist without the groundwork laid by Day’s Geek & Sundry network. For those of you who don’t speak nerd: Imagine Michael Jordan coming out of the woodwork to sign a deal with an indie sneaker company.

With recent news that Hasbro is stepping away from the production of one of its most popular toy lines, and its tabletop sector mired in staff turnover and fan dissatisfaction, perhaps now is the exact moment for competitors to rise up and lay claim to ground that has been ceded. This play by Thangs might end up as one of the first moves to change up the geek toy industry and control the ‘kidult’ market.