Go Fest 2020 Crafts: Gift and Pikachu Visor

A few days prior to this year's Pokémon Go Fest festivities, I detailed that if one is feeling crafty enough, one can take on a few craft projects graciously provided by Niantic to enliven this year's event no matter where one may be. I noted that I too was interested, and so I took on the project of creating a couple of them. As noted, I was interested in the Gift papercraft model and Pikachu visor, so I set out to create exactly those things... and I was able to make them, within that time and just before the festivities started.

The first one I set out to make was the Gift papercraft model. The pattern fits into a single page, which makes it convenient - only that single page really needs to be printed. This and the other papercraft creations are to be assembled simply with scissors and tape, but one can of course use a cutter and glue if one is so inclined. Even so, upon first glance at the Gift pattern, I realized that it was "tab-less" in a few parts, which I thought would decrease its stability; I therefore took the liberty of adding a few tabs to different parts to suit the assembly process, and it seems to work fine. The result for assembling this is a Gift composed of the purple base and yellow cover with the ribbon and frill, which is not only pretty but functional: something can be put inside after removing the cover for a nice bit of surprise. Since a Gift is appropriate any time and the Go Fest logo is on the bottom, this can conceivably be made any time and still be appropriate. If one were to enlarge the pattern, it could be a more life-size Gift that can hold bigger surprises.

The second one I made was of course the Pikachu visor. Unlike the Gift pattern, this one is simpler, but it is also larger, taking up two sheets. Accordingly, it also took less time to assemble; whereas the Gift took around one and a half hours to assemble, this one took much less than an hour. The result is also as expected, a visor with a Pikachu image and a headband. Likewise, I added a couple of tabs for assembly to attempt to provide extra stability, but followed the simple instructions otherwise; about the only tricky part is folding one part according to a curved line. After assembling it, however, I realized that it might be a bit small for my head - it seems more fitting for someone with a smaller head, for example children. Next time, I may have two options for assembly: enlarge the pattern slightly or conceive an additional yellow band to make the headband longer. For now, I'm happy just to have assembled one.

All of the craft projects are supposed to be print-at-home projects... but I don't own a printer. Thus, I had to print these outside. Fortunately, there's a print shop near home that I've always been curious about, so I printed my chosen projects there. They turned out to look really good, and I could even opt for special paper - although for these ones there may have been a bit of a misdirection regarding the paper I wanted. In effect, I was also testing said print shop, even if this may possibly be my only chance to do so for one reason or another. This still affirms the quality of the print shop, which means that I could print the other projects there if interested with good quality, or practically any other printing needs.

By now, Pokémon Go Fest 2020 is yesterday's news, and the crafts are likely to disappear soon unless archived, which I fortunately have done. But the craft projects I chose to make still remain today and as nice as ever, which should hopefully be the case for some time. Niantic really went out of their way to ensure that everyone this time could enjoy Pokémon Go Fest wherever, and this is evident even in the two projects that I then made. The expectation is that one had as much fun with the event as one had with these projects.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Event Rollup, 7/30/2019

Two years ago: Leaving a Lasting Legacy

Three years ago: Cosplay: ACOLYTES 2017