Barbie's been an astronaut, a veterinarian -- and now can reenact scenes right out of 'Ben-Hur.'
A new Kickstarter campaign reimagines the iconic blonde doll as a Roman warrior equipped with a trident, armor ... and a chariot that can be pulled by your cat.
Jim Rodda created the cat-chariot campaign, called "Faire Play 2: When in Rome," as a sequel to his original 2014 Faire Play project, which involved Barbie-compatible 3D-printed armor.
"Faire Play demonstrated that people enjoy seeing Barbie in non-traditional roles, so revisiting the Barbie-as-warrior trope was a no-brainer for Kickstarter #2," Rodda explained on the page for the new Kickstarter campaign. "But what else does the Internet like? Cats. I'm told the Internet likes cats."
And so it was born: a 3-D printed chariot for Roman warrior Barbie that can be looped around the neck of an unsuspecting housepet.
Backers who pledge $11 to $20 will receive Barbie-compatible 3-D printed items like daggers and "combat-ready wedge sandals so Barbie can stand on her own two feet without falling over." Those who give $25 get a digital file they can take to a 3-D printer and make the chariot themselves, $75-backers get the 3-D printed chariot parts, and $100 or more scores an assembled chariot.
As of Friday afternoon eastern time, Faire Play 2 had raised about $2,500 toward its $15,000 goal with 19 days left before the campaign ends on February 12. (Kickstarter projects don't receive any money pledged by backers unless they raise enough within a certain time period to hit a goal chosen by the creator.)
Rodda plans to use the money to "make a go of running a small 3D print shop," he wrote. "I've got plenty of ideas and I've got a 3D printer, but lack the infrastructure necessary for churning out designs at anything approaching craft-batch quantities. That's where your backing comes into the picture."