So apparently, getting a mini-me made of yourself is a thing in Japan.
A company in Akihabara called Clone Factory urges women to preserve that special moment in life (e.g., your wedding day) with your own special Jibun-san [自分さん], which roughly translates to “Me.”
The dolls are modeled after not only your face, but also your makeup, hair, and dress!
The dolls, which cost around ¥138,000 each ($1,350 in USD as of this writing), are created by first obtaining a 3D scan of yourself with the help of a few strategically-placed digital cameras. Blogger Danny Choo was able to get a first-hand experience:
A computer then creates a rendering of your face, and a 3D printer carves out the head.
In Danny’s case, he chose to have his head planted on the body of a Storm Trooper action figure. (A nerd true to my heart!)
Perhaps it is the Star Wars body that makes the doll less creepy? Because while Danny’s Storm Trooper looks pretty kickass, the dolls of the women at the beginning of this post look a bit creepy. Is it the theory of the uncanny valley coming into play?
That being said, I actually wouldn’t mind having my own Jibun-san made — not as a memorabilia or in an act of vanity, but because I believe some people look REALLY different through the eyes of a camera…and I want to know if I am one of those people. Sure, I can just look in a mirror, but a reflection still isn’t completely trustworthy. (Don’t believe me? Try taking a picture of someone you know and flip it horizontally in Photoshop. I guarantee some people will look drastically different!)
So in other words, I want to know how I look to other people. Wouldn’t you?
…But then again, if the pictures below — from Clone Factory’s Facebook page, showcasing the dolls next to their owners — are typical of the Jibun-san service, I’m not sure how accurate the results will be. Sure, the dolls look realistic enough, but they look nothing like their real-life counterparts!
Here’s another image I found via a Google search. I wish I knew some Japanese so I could do a proper web search, because the quality and size of the pictures below aren’t that great. Even so, it’s painfully obvious that the doll looks nothing like the owner.
(image source)
In case you’re wondering, human doll replicas are just one of Clone Factory’s many offerings. Since they have the ability to clone pretty much any solid object, you can bet that the possibilities are endless! Take these, for example…
Heck, they’ll even do your dog!