I recall this discussion that my younger brother and I had once about the idea that 3D printers would someday become a common household item. At the time, the costs of these machines was very high, and I thought that although it was possible, it had to be a good number of years away. He was, however, convinced that not only would the time be soon, that the technology would overtake the toy industry. Fast forward to today, and we have the announcement that Mattel (MAT) is going to sell a low cost 3D printer, using an old trademark they own called "Thingmaker". I think the concept is intriguing, so congrats to my bro for getting it right. As far as overtaking the toy industry? No, I don't think that's likely, because printing your own parts at home will cost more than traditional injection molded products made on a massive scale, and you'd have to paint them all yourself. Barbie will not be in competition with Thingmaker. That said, I do think there is a lot of potential here to make fun, at-home projects. I'm especially interested in the applications for anime fans and garage kit builders. I'm looking forward to buying one of these when they are made available for sale. And I am long Mattel shares, it is the largest holding in my portfolio right now. The stock closed up 80 cents to $30.76 on Friday. I have a price target of $38 on the shares and am considering raising it.