Keith and I are on the road again, finding ourselves in the middle of Orlando, Florida at MegaCon, a comics/science fiction/horror/fantasy/games/anime fandom convention said to be second only to ComicCon for costumes, massive crowds, and enthusiasm. I have been hugged, knighted, threatened with tree-claws (to the best of my understanding), and danced at by such a wild panoply of characters, and that was during the lighter attended first day. How have I been responding to this? By blowing minds, one zombie-witch-soldier-Sailor-Moon-droid-monster at a time with The MakerBot Replicator.

It must date me to admit that I recognize the Star Wars, Star Trek, Buffy, and classic Marvel and DC characters, but get a bit hazy re: the fine distictions among a slew of girls-with-cat-ears and blue-mohawk-massive-sword anime costumes. (Co-worker Ben would definitely recognize all of the anime characters, and I’m tempted to send him pictures for his consultation.) But the level of creativity and ingenuity on display with costumes, props, and fan-collectables is considerably impressive. Part of the reason is that Stan Lee is here, and people have traveled thousands of miles for the chance to meet him and get his autograph. (Because he ain’t a young whipper-snapper.)

In honor of Stan Lee we have been printing and giving away tiny Thor’s Hammers that I created as a keychain derivative of Skimbal’s version. And we are also taking request for a huge variety of comics and fandom related elements from Thingiverse.com.

If you are nearby, press through the throngs of 300k people to come to Booth #529 to visit us. We have a secret show special that is for in-person visitors only!

MakerBot Industries collaborated with The New Museum Store to construct a very different kind of holiday window display than you’d find at Macy’s. A sci-fi fanatic’s fantasy, the window display is a science-fiction-meets-holiday-window mashup. Little green elves in Star Trek-like outfits fight with lightsabers while automaton snowmen resembling the Daleks out of Dr. Who scan the horizon. Another pair of elves circle a gigantic stack of presents (shaped like the silhouette of the New Museum) on the back of a train powered by an Iron Man-inspired arc reactor, pushing a DeLorean time machine. 3D-printed gifts burst from a New Museum-edition MakerBot Thing-O-Matic right into the back of a Cylon-Santa’s sleigh, pulled by X-Wing reindeer.

The printed elements from the New Museum window will be documented at our MakerBot Workshop page and available for free download at the beginning of December from MakerBot’s online community website, Thingiverse.com, where users can post digital design files, document their designs, and collaborate on open source hardware. MakerBot Operators can download and print their own sci-fi holiday scene!

Visitors to New York wishing to see the window should head over to the New Museum at 235 Bowery this holiday season to check it out.

This week’s amazing, superlative Robot Hospital extravaganza is going to hit you like a ton of tribbles.  Why tribbles? Because it’s Space Month, as Keith Ozar explains.  Don’t miss the special Space Month MakerBot Make-A-Thon at 3rd Ward tomorrow, July 16th, 2-6pm, where we’ll be printing some of the space-themed items shown in this Thingiverse roundup!

Desktop Equipment Tilt / Angle Foot by aaronkondziela

This Desktop Equipment Tilt / Angle Foot by aaronkondziela is one of my new favorite things on Thingiverse.  Here’s his explanation:

I needed something to tilt my desktop music synths up at an angle, so that I didn’t have to lean over them to see all the controls. Normally, I’d throw a chunk of wood under them, but I didn’t have any suitable pieces. This foot is the result.

Believe it or not, we now live in a world where it’s easier to design some custom footie-bits for your personal robot crank out than it is for you to go look for a chunk of wood on which to prop your equipment.

I mean, this is the kind of no-brainer Star Trek characters face.  “You want me to what?  Look for a piece of wood?  Are you kidding me?  Ugh – that seems like such a hassle.  Why don’t I just whip something up?  I mean, the machine is right there…”