Alexis Tsipras & Angela Merkel Battle it Out in the Boxing Ring Thanks to 3D Printed Heads

Have you ever wanted to see German Chancellor Angela Merkel brawl with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras? Now you have the opportunity with these 3D printed Rock’em, Sock’em Robots!

Within the 3D printing space there are so many tremendous stories that emerge on a daily basis, whether it be a child receiving a 3D printed prosthetic hand, or surgeons turning previously believed inoperable surgeries into heart-felt success stories using 3D printed medical models. At the same time though, once in a while, we all need a good laugh; a relief from the daily grind.

If you stay up-to-date with world news, you probably realize that the majority of the stories out there that make headlines are either negative in nature or heavily drama driven. One of these stories comes from Europe, where there seems to have been financial drama for the past 6 years or so. Early last month tensions escalated between Germany and Greece when Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras scolded Germany for refusing to settle reparation payments for Nazi occupation of Greece during World War II.

“Germany has never properly paid reparations for the damage done to Greece by the Nazi occupation,” Tsipras stated.

This come on the heels of Greece facing a major debt crisis, which some say will lead to the country running out of money by the end of April. With Greece looking to Germany for aid in this crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has responded to these comments through her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, stating, “It is our firm belief that questions of reparations and compensation have been legally and politically resolved.”

The battle between Germany and Greece has had its ups and downs over the years, and one witness to this is a Greek man named Stefanos Anagnostopoulos. While much of the world waits in suspense to see exactly what transpires , Anagnostopoulos, has decided to take a humorous approach to it all.  He has done this by taking an old tabletop boxing game that most of us are familiar with, and attaching 3D printed heads of none other than German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“I was inspired by my country’s problems and world wide news that’s been going on for some years now,” Anagnostopoulos tells 3DPrint.com. “More things change, more things stay the same, as we say. [This game] is something fun. It’s something you can use to bring the past back to the present. When all words have been said and all points argued, the only thing thats left is to put on the gloves and get to business.”

Surely the Germans aren’t keen on bringing up the past, but for those of us who remember the game, Rock’em Sock’em Robots, we will certainly remember how much fun and entertainment was had decades ago. The game, which first debuted in the 1960s, is still in production today from Mattel.

“I had the toy in an old box and I had to do something with it to save it from the trash bin,” Anagnostopoulos tells us. “It’s a healthy way to let out stress.”

The game allows you to simply pop the robot heads off of the popular game, replace them with these two political figures, and then battle it out like old times.

As for 3D printing these heads, they take approximately 45 minutes each to fabricate on any FFF-based 3D printer, without any support material required. The design files for the heads can be downloaded for free from MyMiniFactory, and Anagnostopoulos suggests printing them with a layer height of 0.2mm and an infill setting of 25%.

Check out the video below of Anagnostopoulos battling it out with a friend, as well as some more photos below.