Developing Happy Ending Under The Sea

We don't always get to show you how we develop our toys, but with our in-house designed Happy Ending Under The Sea, the opportunity presents itself! Join us and take a look at the development process of the new sensual princess of the seas.

CONCEPTUALISING

The idea for the Happy Ending series came during a brainstorm session when the idea of "tasteful nudes" was floated. We have always been fans of princesses, but instead of going for the "childhood ruined" approach, our take is more of a... "childhood abandoned". Our concept artist, Samantha, took on the challenge and came up with a variety of poses for the piece.

There are countless of nude takes on these beloved characters, but Samantha came up with concepts that did not overtly sexualise the character. Emphasis: tasteful nudes.

With her coral hair and angelic face, this little mermaid treads a fine line between sensual and innocent. The design went through multiple revisions to get the right pose and expression, before landing on the final design we see here.

 

You might be wondering - why does she have legs instead of a fish tail? And what's with the sand base? The design represents many firsts for the character - she's grown up, she now has legs, and for the first time she is on land. A clue that tells us about her past as a mermaid? Find the shell-shaped bra (bikini?) that she has left behind on the beach.

Her design isn't about sexualising the female body, it's a celebration of the character's new found freedoms and her sexuality. The pensive look on her face captures the uncertainty and excitement a changing body brings to a growing woman. It's the crossroads of growing up, where she's not a girl, not yet a woman.

In this fairytale, there's no (arguably dumb) prince, just the princess and herself finding her own path to her own happy ending!

Think back to when you were growing up and your body went through all the changes puberty brought with it - how did you make sense of all the changes? How did you celebrate your body?

Check out our full interview with Samantha in our Mighty Stories video below!

SCULPTING

After conceptualising, the design goes into the 3D sculpting stage. Our 3D sculptors Adam and Matthew worked together on the sculpt of Happy Ending Under The Sea.

Starting out with a general base sculpt of a female, they referenced images of people online to keep details as realistic as possible - for example, how different body parts look in contact with one another.

With the references in mind, the base sculpt was worked into the conceptualised design. Translating 2D artwork into a 3D sculpt isn't as easy as it might seem as the 3D form has very different considerations to keep in mind.

A flat 2D image doesn't always provide all the details and angles needed for a 3D form, an issue tackled by our 3D team by consulting real life references.

Sculpting the hair of the piece, they referenced stylised designs from other concepts, toys, and even animation to capture the desired flowy locks for the piece.

With everything in place, and details pretty much locked down, they begin the clean up process. Ensuring that every part looks as best as they should, and most importantly, that the whole design is in proportion.

In the second part of our Mighty Stories video on Happy Ending Under The Sea, watch the interesting 3D printing process. Using our 3D printer, the very first physical, but not to size, piece of Happy Ending Under The Sea is born!

Wanna know more and see our 3D artists in action, and catch more behind the scenes at Mighty Jaxx? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep tabs of all our exciting content we have coming your way!