You spent six months building that armor. Hand-stitched every seam. Weathered the pauldrons with sandpaper and acrylic paint until they looked like they'd survived an actual dragon fight. You wore it for three glorious days at Comic-Con. The photographers couldn't get enough.
Or maybe you've spent two years playing the same Level 12 Rogue, surviving critical fails and saving the party, only to have the campaign finally end.
Now it sits in a closet. Or on a character sheet in a binder. Collecting dust next to last year's Mandalorian build and that cyberpunk jacket you swore you'd wear to the office.
Photos are great. They capture the moment, sure. But scroll through your phone right now. You have 47 shots of that same pose. They're flat. They don't capture the weight of that foam EVA armor or the way the fabric caught the light when you moved. They're ghosts of something real.
Here's what most cosplayers and gamers don't know: you can save that moment. Not as a JPEG. As an actual, physical, hold-it-in-your-hands statue. SnapFig takes your photos and turns them into permanent custom 3D figurines. This isn't a novelty. It's a way to preserve something you actually built.
Think about it. If you're the kind of person who bonds with your partner over character builds and weekend game sessions - the Healer dating the Tank, the Jedi matched with the Sith - this is how you memorialize that. Together.
Not a Mini, But a Masterpiece
Let's get one thing straight right now: this is not a 28mm tabletop miniature.
You know the tiny painted figures you use on a battle map? The ones where you squint to see if that's supposed to be a sword or a stick? Not those. SnapFig statues start at 6cm (about 2.4 inches) and scale up from there. These are display-grade pieces. The kind of thing you put on your desk next to your mechanical keyboard and RGB lighting setup.
Industry Reality Check: According to recent market research, the cosplay costume industry reached $4.93 billion in 2023 and is projected to hit $7.76 billion by 2030. That's a massive community of people pouring serious time and money into their costumes. But here's the problem: after the convention ends, all that effort vanishes. Photos fade into your camera roll. The costume goes back in storage.
A 6cm statue might not sound huge, but it's the Goldilocks size. Big enough to capture actual detail. Small enough to live on a shelf without taking over your entire apartment.
At this scale, we can show the weathering on your shield. The individual lace patterns on a corset. The specific makeup you wore that Saturday when the lighting was perfect. We can even capture the exact way your cape hung when you held that pose for the photographer.
How It Works: Your Photo to 3D Reality
The process starts simple. You upload high-resolution photos of yourself in costume. Front, back, sides. The more angles, the better. If you have a friend who's good with a camera, even better. We're talking about the difference between a blurry phone pic and something that actually shows the texture of your costume.
This is where it gets interesting. SnapFig doesn't just run your photos through an algorithm and call it done. You work directly with designers. Need your cape to look like it's blowing in the wind, even though it was hanging limp in the photo? We can model that. Want your character mid-spell-cast with hands positioned a specific way? We'll adjust the pose.
The Magic & The Constraints:
The magic happens with PolyJet technology. Full-color printing. No painting required. The printer lays down material in thin layers, and the colors are baked in from the start. This means the metallic sheen on your armor looks different from your skin tone. The leather texture on your belt doesn't blend into your pants. The details hold.
Here's the part that matters most: we don't just print a floating figure and call it done. We build scenes. Mini-dioramas. Your fantasy paladin can stand on a rocky terrain base. Your cyberpunk mercenary? Street grating with neon underglow. Your galactic rebel? A starship floor panel. The base isn't decoration. It's context. It tells the story.
One note: PolyJet doesn't do translucent magic effects like glowing energy blasts or ethereal wings. We're dealing with solid materials here. But what we can do is compensate with smart design. Add accessories, adjust the pose, work with the base to create drama.
The Ultimate "Fantasy Wedding" Hack
Let's talk about the couple currently planning a medieval-themed wedding. Or the pair who met at a sci-fi convention and want their big day to reflect that. Or the two people who spent their first date rolling dice at a game store.
You've seen wedding cake toppers. Plastic bride and groom in generic poses. Boring. Predictable. A missed opportunity.
Imagine this instead: your Level 12 Warlock and your partner's Oath of Devotion Paladin standing atop your wedding cake. In full costume. Accurate down to the spell components on your belt and the family crest on their shield. These aren't random fantasy characters. These are you. Your characters. Your hundreds of hours of campaign history condensed into a single statue.
This is where SnapFig becomes more than a novelty. It becomes the centerpiece. Literally.
The photos on social media will go hard. But more than that, it'll sit on your shelf for the next 30 years. Your kids will ask about it. You'll tell them about the campaign where you first met. About the night your characters confessed their feelings in-game before you two did in real life.
Data Point: According to demographic research on tabletop RPG players, 37% are married and 16% are cohabiting - which suggests that couples gaming together is far from rare. The shared hobby isn't just about rolling dice. It's about building stories together. A custom statue captures that permanence.
A Note on Fandom & IP (Fan Art Celebration)
Let's address the elephant wearing power armor: what about copyrighted characters?
If you're channeling a hero from Baldur's Gate 3, or you built a Star Wars original character, or your cosplay is your interpretation of a specific fantasy archetype - this falls under fan art. SnapFig isn't selling you an "official" Astarion figure or a licensed Rebel pilot. We're making a statue of you dressed as your interpretation of that character.
Think of it like this: when you wear the costume to a convention, that's fan expression. When you commission artwork of your character, that's fan art. A SnapFig statue sits in the same category. You're not buying merchandise. You're owning a piece of your own creativity.
Whether you're bringing a fantasy paladin to life, crafting your version of a galactic rebel, or building out a cyberpunk mercenary from scratch, the work is yours. The design choices, the weathering, the specific pose - that's all you. SnapFig just helps you keep it.
Your Adventure, Solidified
Your closet is full of costumes that deserve better than plastic bags and darkness. You put work into them. Real work. Late nights with a heat gun. Sore fingers from hand-sewing. YouTube tutorials watched on loop until you figured out that specific technique.
Don't let it end with a photo gallery nobody scrolls through anymore.
Turn your best builds into something permanent. Something you can hold. Something that sits on your desk and reminds you that you made that. You and your partner can stand side-by-side in miniature, frozen in your best moment. The healer and the tank. The rogue and the bard. The two people who decided that rolling dice together was more fun than doing literally anything else.
Upload your photos. Work with the designers. Build your legacy.
Your adventure deserves more than a memory. It deserves to be solidified.
