This review by Ojobenito on the Matty Collector site was a great read and pretty much sums it up nicely:
http://forums.mattycollector.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8481097447/m/7731084567
"So, the hoverboard has finally been spotted at Comic Con 2012 and I'm very disappointed.
Scott, from Mattel, said in the beyondthemarquee videos that the hoverboard from Toy Fair (and the one they spotted on that videos) was just a "look-a-like" model, and that the final version would look much better and closer to the screen-used. They also hinted here at the forums that the hoverboard that was going to be showed in SDCC 2012 was going to be a near-final (if not final) product. And what do we have? A WAY worse hoverboard than the look-a-like model. You can chek out a close-up photo from the SDCC hoverboard here:
Photo by abbyluna • Instagram
So, for now, two types of errors for me. Some bigger than others.
BIG errors:
- Where's the honeycomb lenticular-style sticker all across the hoverboard? That plain pink sticker is cheap and awful. The look a like model was not holographic/lenticular, but at least it had the honeycomb design sticker.
- Where's the velcro on the green zig-zag stripe and on the pink stripes near the handles hole and the footpad? Once more, the look a like model had velcro.
- The footpad doesn't look nothing near the original hoverboards. The light green wide stripe (that it's supposed to be velcro also), doesn't go until the edge of the footpad, and the pink rubber stripe to hold the foot doesn't have the fur that the movie version had. I can't clearly see if it has fur or not, but if it has, it's fewer and shorter fur that it should have.
Minor errors:
- What's up with the letters spacing to the edge? The "HOVER" word is touching the bottom limit (the H is connected to the pink colour of the hoverboard itself), and the "BOARD" word is almost touching the upper limit. I mean, Bob Gale went to Mattel with a couple of originals hoverboards. We saw in the videos some guys from Mattel with CALIBERS measuring everything in the original hoverboards. How did they measure it? The words are not even CLOSE to their limit. There's almost 1-2cm of yellow colour spacing between the words and the edge. You can clearly see it here:
http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net...4844_682370501_n.jpg
The look a like model had smaller words, but the spacings were right done.
- The bottom right yellow part of the sticker is not that big. It was much more accurate in the "look a like" model.
- The footpad LOOK like it's carved on the hoverboard, not just on top of the board itself, but I can't confirm this.
So, overall, I think the "look a like" was closer to the original thing that this hoverboard presented at SDCC 2012. And it's sad, because we put out hopes in it and it's just getting worse. Stop scrambling your heads about the hoverboard "gliding" and all that nonsenses, and make it as much screen accurate as you can, because that's what you promised, and for the looks of the SDCC 2012 hoverboard, it's going the opposite direction. Making it less accurate (maybe to make it cheaper to produce, I don't know). I just want to point out the errors to improve the product. I'm not angry, just surprised and hoping a better final product.
PS: The product box is cool ;-)
EDIT: New photo arised on the net.
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tum...dS1r3eltro1_1280.jpg
We can see at the background that another hoverboard is inside a display along the 6" mini-hoverboard. That model looks like it has the lenticular sticker and maybe that's the final version. I can't see in the photo if it has velcro or not. The lenticular sticker looks like it's there, but with the bottom-right yellow decoration on the sticker still incorrect. Much closer to the original in the look a like model.
I don't understand then why the booth babe model' hoverboard is so awfully looking. If I was wrong before and the hoverboard is better than that, I'm deeply sorry and I'll edit this message.
EDIT 2: New photo, with a closer look of the hoverboard under the display.
http://distilleryimage3.s3.ama...4522000a1e8aaf_7.jpg
So, the lenticular sticker is there, but the "cells" or "scales" on the holographic pattern are bigger that they should. Not a big problem, but a noticeable one and with an easy fix. I still can't believe how measurements errors can happen when they showed us people taking measures and with calibers on the videos...
What's almost clear is that the green and pink stripes are not made of velcro, like the "look a like" model Mattel did months ago or like the originals. Why no velcro? Are we going to do some "do it yourself" work at home to make it a good replica?
EDIT 3: Let's see the bottom of the hoverboard with a declaration from the team doing the hoverboard replica (and my reply XD):
http://i49.tinypic.com/2myojd2.jpg
The bottom of one of the hero screen-used hoverboards:
http://www.proparchives.com/co...listings/m/14048.jpg
Seriously... was it so hard to do it right? You could've ask some fans or put near-production designs before produce them to check any flaws before doing this mess (and I think 99,99% of people who ordered the hoverboard don't mind about the sounds or that useless "it gently glides for 2 feet") We wanted what you promised, the best replica Mattel was going to ever do. And things like the "no velcro" (it shouldn't have on the bottom part but it does have velcro on the top part green and red lines), the bad scale of the honeycomb pattern (it's way bigger than it should be), the screwholes, the bad spacing of the "hover" and "board" words with the edges of the yellow box containing them (this is funny because THAT is exactly what you showed us you were measuring with calibers on the videos.... it's good to have calibers, yeah, but you didn't measure properly at all), or the wrong footpad (the light green strip of VELCRO goes until the end...) makes this "replica" less "replica". And you've been telling us for months that it was going to be accurate as a Mattel toy never has been. Well... yeah... kind of...
I mean, it's not that hard. I noticed all this flaws in 10 seconds and you didn't noticed in a whole year? Something's wrong here...
Edit 4: The gravitation pads are much larger than they should be, too. The black parts of the pads are touching the edge of the hoverboard, and if wee see the original hoverboard I posted or the photos from Bob Gale's original hoverboards we can see the pads are not that large and there is some sticker to the sides of them. Once again... I don't know how can be so many measure errors. Maybe they should have measure with a ruler and not with a caliber if they don't kow how to use it.
I will make a composition this night with all the differences... To see if they can fix it in time. I won't put my hopes on it, but let's try it...
outatime"