Video: With The Magic Of LED Fans And 3D Printing, This Guy Made A Real(ish) Pokémon

“Pokémon aren’t real”, they say. Well, I definitely saw an electric mouse the other day. Presumably, Pikachu wasn’t created by chewing through wires like this one was, but still. (For legal purposes, this is a joke, and all the mice in my house are very much alive.)

But this recreation of hard-to-get Pokémon Spiritomb is almost as real as the actual creature itself. It’s the creation of BigRig Creates on YouTube, a man who has a history of creating cool projects (like his steam-powered Poké Ball) and showing off cursed technology (like his McTable).

The tech behind Spiritomb’s recreation is holographic LED fans, which you may have seen before in Hacksmith Industries’ incredible Dr Strange cosplay. The LED lights attached to the fan blades are programmed to flash specific colours very quickly, creating the impression of a solid, “holographic” image when the fan is spinning, because of an optical illusion called “persistence of vision“.

The Odd Keystone base and the purple crack that runs down its face were 3D printed and sanded, and the rock part was painted in a rock-like textured spray paint.

Which Pokémon would you like to craft into a real(ish) thing? Let us know in the comments!