Fans create custom Nendoroids of Genshin Impact characters and more

Howl Pendragon, the dashing young wizard Howl’s Moving Castle, could steal fans’ hearts, but the dreamy-eyed heartthrob doesn’t have an official Nendoroid of his own just yet. This is where fans come in: build their own by purchasing Nendoroids and mixing and matching the parts to create their own custom figures.

These palm-sized chibi figures from Good Smile are a popular choice among collectors and fans. Since the release of the first Nendoroid in 2006, Good Smile has listed 1,800 different versions of its big-headed characters, including characters from anime favorites like My Hero Academyvideo games like over watch, Disney franchises and more. There are still many characters that don’t have an official Nendoroid, so fans are using character parts that Good Smile sells as well as individual parts from unofficial retailers to bring their favorite characters to life.

Kate, known online as Rose.Arrow, is a 21-year-old college student from Texas who started making custom Nendoroids as a hobby in early 2021. She runs a TikTok account and an Instagram page where she posts her characters. Since she started, she has been sharing custom Nendoroids for characters they don’t already have, like Howl Pendragon, as well as characters from games like Genshin Impact.

“The process starts with studying the character you want to create. It really helps to know what her outfit, hair and face look like before buying parts,” she told Polygon via Discord. Nendoroids have interchangeable parts, allowing you to switch features like faces, clothing, and hair between different characters.

While there are countless places to buy Nendoroid parts, according to Kate, that first step can be difficult. “The hardest part of the process is really finding the right parts,” Kate said. “Sometimes I had to buy an entire Nendoroid for a single piece. Although I try to avoid that as much as possible.” After mixing and matching Nendoroid parts to get as close to a replica as possible, Kate modifies the figures with air-dry clay, which she later paints.

The time Kate takes to create them depends on the level of detail. “The Howl jacket took me a while with all the little lines!” she said. “However, I’ve also created custom Nendoroids with much simpler recolors that took far less time, such as B. Tomoe from Kamisama kiss

Kate got the idea to make them after seeing another TikTok user, Apeachbun, post a video shows a custom Tartaglia nendoroid. Kate felt inspired to take up the hobby herself: “During that time I was doing a college term entirely online, so I wanted to do something fun from home!” From there she was able to support custom Nendoroid groups and Discord servers, and since then she has created characters from series like Ouran High School Host Club, Kamisama kissand more.

As for her favorite, she said it’s hard to choose. Characters like Xiao, Razor, and Haruhi will “always hold a special place in their hearts,” but “some of my absolute favorite Nendoroids are characters from books! There really aren’t any official Nendoroids from books outside of Harry Potter, so I really love having them!”