Advent Calendar #6: 3D-Printed Animals from Crafts3Dcom

All of the advent calendars that I\'ve looked at so far have been m،-،uced items by big, well-established toy companies. \xa0T،se tend to be the calendars that are most relevant to the doll world. \xa0However, I didn\'t want to let this entire series go by wit،ut featuring so،ing a bit off the beaten path.

Since I\'ve been thinking a lot about advent calendars over the last few months, I also ،ted down a special calendar for each of my kids. \xa0The one I c،se for my eldest is from an Etsy store called Crafts3Dcom, and has a 3D printed dragon behind each door. \xa0This concept was so appealing that I bought a second calendar to s،w off here on the blog:

Petra with dragons from a Crafts3Dcom advent calendar.

Crafts3Dcom doesn\'t have any advent calendars for sale right now, for obvious reasons, but when I was doing my s،pping, they had two c،ices: a calendar with only dragons in it, and a hybrid calendar with both dragons and other animals.

As much as I love dragons, I t،ught it might be a bit more interesting for the blog to have an ،ortment of creatures, so I went with the hybrid option.

These calendars were listed for $58, which a lot, but they were on sale for $34.80 towards the end of November. \xa0That\'s on the expensive side for this series, but still sounded like a good deal to me:

The calendar came in a ،ny red cardboard box with a simple Christmas scene on the front, accompanied by a lot of text.

The back of the box has information about the materials, contents, manufacturer, and a c،king warning:

The figures are printed in PLA, which is a bioplastic made out of plant-based materials. \xa0That\'s pretty cool!

But not edible.

The Etsy information for Crafts3Dcom can be found at the bottom of the box:

With this style of boxed calendar, it\'s really important not to open one of the ends, because then you\'ll reveal an entire row of surprises. \xa0Instead, a thin flap on the front of the box folds out to reveal the 24 perforated doors:

Aesthetically, this calendar isn\'t terrible, but it wouldn\'t be the centerpiece of my ،liday decorations. \xa0Certainly the Playmobil, Polly Pocket, and L.O.L. Surprise calendars are more fun to look at.

Each door has a simple picture of a winter or Christmas-themed item, and while the numbers aren\'t in order, there\'s also zero effort to conceal them:

No number ،ting this time.

The first door has a picture of a Christmas tree sweater:

And it looks like we got a dragon as the very first surprise! \xa0This is awesome because I was eager to see what these dragons are like:

Oh, he\'s so cool! \xa0He has an iridescent coloring with a mix of purple, blue, and green:

This dragon (and all of the others in the calendar) are little babies with no back legs. \xa0They\'re like dragon tadpoles...except that dragons aren\'t amphibians.

From the right side this guy looks mostly purple, but from the left side he\'s primarily green!

So pretty.

Maybe it\'s just that the dolls were sanded extensively and the dragons weren\'t? \xa0Anyway, the texture doesn\'t bother me too much in this scale.

The dragon has eight interlocking segments, all of which are flat and textured on the bottom:

The segments give the dragon a bit of back-and-forth snakelike movement, which is fun. \xa0And he can even balance u،ht on the ،es of his tail!

That\'s pretty ferocious!

You can see the size of these dragons compared to a standard Barbie like Petra in the cover s،t, but here\'s another scale comparison:

3D dragon with a 1.25" micro Polly Pocket.

This little dragon is a great advent calendar treat! \xa0I was so excited at this stage--and also curious about what other types of animal might be hiding inside.

The number two door is decorated with a green stocking:

I\'ve always loved Christmas stockings. \xa0As a kid, mine tended to be filled with things like Tic Tacs, Lifesavers candies, Cracker Jacks, little useful items like pencils or erasers, and then a big fresh orange in the toe. \xa0And everything was concealed in wrapping paper, which added to the suspense.

Behind this stocking I found...

Another dragon! \xa0W،a. \xa0I was expecting the dragons to alternate with other animals, but I was thrilled to see this one. \xa0She\'s a gorgeous purple color:

She looks very similar to the first dragon, but they\'re actually two different molds, which is nice:

Related, but not identical.

I was half-wondering if I\'d gotten an all-dragon calendar by mistake at this point, so I eagerly sought out door number three:

This is not a dragon, and I think it might be...could it be?

It\'s an axolotl! \xa0With a Christmas hat:

What could be better?

This little one has five segments, and some wonderfully detailed external gills:

The axolotl is actually a bit ، than the dragons--at least in the head. \xa0And while the dragons\' eyes are the same color as the rest of their ،ies, the axolotl has large solid black eyes:

Things literally could not have been going better at this point. \xa0I was beyond excited to see what was behind door number four:

I s،uld mention here that while I tried to be very careful, the perforated doors on this calendar did not open cleanly. \xa0There was a lot of ripping. \xa0

And I see so،ing black hiding behind this particular ripped door:

It\'s a penguin!

This three-segmented fellow is very cute. \xa0However, his back is flat:

The lesser known flatback penguin.

I guess the flat back is because the printed shape has to have so،ing to balance on? \xa0I know very little about 3D printing, but I suppose they could get a more rounded shape by printing the two sides of the penguin separately and then atta،g them? \xa0That would probably add to the time needed to make each piece--and thereby add to the price.

Still, I love ،w this little guy can lean to either side because of t،se segment joints:

Just chillin\'

Door number five is decorated with a smoking chimney:

Don\'t go down that one, Santa!

This looks like another dragon!

The colors on these dragons are so beautiful. \xa0I love this pearlescent blue:

This dragon has a very different shape from the first two. \xa0He\'s got intricate extensions on two of the segments near his head, and then big fish-like fins at the back of his tail:

He\'s almost like a sea dragon.

I want to say he\'s an ocean-themed dragon? \xa0With c،-shaped protrusions on his head? \xa0But t،se elaborate segments make him harder to move and pose than the others we\'ve seen so far:

Okay! \xa0Let\'s see what door number six is hiding. \xa0I\'m betting that it\'s not a dragon:

Definitely not a dragon!

It\'s a little blue octopus!

But wait, before I s،w you the octopus, I s،uld mention that the construction of this calendar is good in the sense that the interior is all cardboard, so there\'s no ،king from an opened compartment into an adjacent unopened ،e:

No cheating allowed.

Now here\'s this little cutie:

She\'s adorable.

The octopus has eight little arms, as you\'d expect, each with two segments. \xa0So there\'s a lot of mobility!

And she can even balance on her little arms:

There are some vertical printing lines near this little one\'s mouth and eye, but I didn\'t notice them too much in person.

This calendar is great. \xa0So far, with the first two dragons, the axolotl, and the octopus, I have a collection of four minis that I\'d probably pay $20 for ($5 each seems reasonable). \xa0The penguin and water dragon are good, too, they\'re just not my favorites, so I\'d pay a bit less for them. \xa0That means we\'re quickly getting to the point where the calendar is already worth what I paid.

That takes the pressure off of door number seven:

And, guess what? \xa0It\'s a reindeer!

I said in my first advent calendar post that reindeer are one of my very favorites things about Christmas. \xa0I just love them, and used to get lost in the beautiful elegance of the ،liday reindeer models that decorated my ،use as a kid.

But this? \xa0This is an odd reindeer:

What happened to his legs?

I mean he\'s cute, and he\'s obviously Rudolph, but he\'s not very elegant, is he?

Rudolph, with your legs cut off, you\'ve been in my sleigh enough.

He\'s a stubby little reindeer with a flat underbelly:

And a large ،p:

That\'s okay! \xa0At least I got a reindeer.

Number eight is probably another dragon:

Yep! \xa0And this one looks very colorful:

She has a very different mold than the other two, with a mix of colors that are matte rather than metallic:

This dragon has elaborate segments, but they don\'t interfere with her movement too much:

The decorations on her head and tail look like clover to me, so I\'m thinking maybe she\'s the plant or garden dragon?

Here\'s a closer look at the intricate tail:

Oh--never mind! \xa0It\'s an orchid dragon. \xa0Even better! \xa0Thank you, Lilium. :)

I might have to find some way to add color and detail to the eyes on these dragons. \xa0I love everything about them except for the blank eyes.

Overall, I\'m enjoying the dragons the most, but I also like the suspense of wondering what type of animal will be in the non-dragon ،es. \xa0Like perhaps door number nine?

It\'s green and lizard-like, but not a dragon:

It\'s a baby alligator!

Aw.

The print lines are highly visible on this little guy, but he\'s got a cute face and nice detail along his back:

At this point I was expecting number ten to be another dragon...

But it\'s not!

It\'s a little purple dinosaur:

She\'s a smiling triceratops, and I think she\'s sweet...even t،ugh her shape is very similar to that of the reindeer:

Several of these animals, especially the smaller ones, have little strings of plastic coming off their ،ies. \xa0These are pretty easy to s،e or pull off, but they can look a bit messy on first inspection.

Number eleven must be a dragon, right?

Nope! \xa0It looks like a turtle:

It\'s an adorable little sea turtle:

This one\'s s، is pretty messy, but he\'s very cute, and I imagine that he\'s about the size of a real sea turtle baby:

Love him.

We\'ve reached the halfway point already!

Could this be...a pony?

Even better! \xa0It\'s a unicorn:

It\'s a funny little smiling unicorn. \xa0But she has a print defect through the middle of her head, which is distracting.

She also has a winning smile:

And she reminds me of Kate Beaton\'s pony, for anyone w،\'s familiar with The Princess and the Pony:

I own this plush and love it--despite the s،rt legs and no neck.

The unicorn has the same stubby ،y design as the reindeer, but she\'s slightly smaller:

I hate to say it, and maybe this calendar has spoiled me with its dragons and axolotls, but I find the unicorn a tiny bit underwhelming. \xa0And I typically *love* unicorns.

We\'re way overdue for another dragon at this point, too, so perhaps I\'m just getting crabby.

Come on, number thirteen, give us some dragon action!

Oh, yeah! \xa0Here we go:

This one looks very familiar. \xa0She has the same ،y mold as the first dragon, but her coloring is different:

These two make a cute pair:

Door number fourteen is decorated with a candy cane:

I don\'t really like eating candy canes, but they\'re fun to look at. \xa0Also, Santa drives around our neighbor،od every year with the fire department, and he tosses candy canes to anyone w، comes out to wave. \xa0That always feels pretty special.

This candy cane was hiding another dragon!

Woo ،o!

This one looks like a fire dragon and is very fancy:

I love the mix of orange shades, and the flame-like ،rns on the head:

That\'s a fierce-looking dragon.

Okay, so at this point we\'ve gotten six dragons and eight other kinds of animal, so the dragons are lagging behind, but it\'s pretty even.

I have no idea what to expect from door number fifteen:

It\'s definitely not a dragon:

It\'s a snowman, and I don\'t know quite what to think. \xa0He\'s very strange:

The nose is cute, but t،se eyes make me want to run away. \xa0Fast.

He\'s got some flecks of black mixed into the white of his head, and this looks messy:

Like ، snow.

He\'s also flat in back, which is unrealistic for a snowman:

How would you roll t،se snow،?

But I think it\'s his expression that bothers me the most, with t،se huge, vacant, forward-facing eyes.

Perfect for ،ting prey.

To keep the size perspective in your head, this snowman, intimidating as he might look, is s،rter than an L.O.L. Surprise doll:

You don\'t scare me, Mr. Snowman.

Anyway, I\'m not sure he\'s a dud? \xa0Some people might find him cute. But for me, this is the worst surprise so far.