Hello all,
Huge BTTF fan here - longtime reader of the forums but first-time poster. I've been following this thread since it started; like so many of you I was elated of the announcement of a Mattel-sponsored hoverboard project and have kept a close eye on all of the developments during the last year. Since it appears I am one of the first to have received my boards, I thought I would offer some photos and a few thoughts on this product.
First off let me start by saying that I own several versions of fan-made boards - in addition to some of my own, I have both wood and foam versions of the BTTF123* boards and I am just as interested in the accuracy and details as I know many of you are. With that in mind, we already all know the basics here - there is no 'lenticular' material, the foot pad is sunken into the board, the dimensions of the logo are off, and the magnetic plates are terribly bad in scale. None of these things should come as a shock to anyone who has been paying attention to this thread the last several months.
In some ways, I felt pretty prepared for what I would be receiving; although it is not "screen accurate" by any stretch of the imagination, I have found myself coming around slightly to this board in the last few weeks as I believe if Mattel were to have ever legitly released one of these things to the mass public (as in, if hoverboards did exist and Mattel was manufacturing them), this is likely pretty darn close to what we'd get. They would definitely use one sticker to grace the top of the board (as different pieces of velcro and stickers on top of lenticular would just start to peel off and warp in time), and the recessed channels for the pink velcro are actually pretty smart. I might be burned at the stake for that opinion, but looking at the film boards now (and especially with all the variations between 'hero' boards and 'stunt' boards) they start to look downright homemade by comparison… almost like the high quality 'fan-made' boards that exist today. Of course, that's what they really were - and it's also a testament to the fantastic amount of work that has gone into the fan-made boards. But a true production Mattel board would never look like the one in the movie… so this is basically as close as I believe we would come to a properly released Hoverboard designed by Mattel. In that mindset, it's a pretty cool piece and I think it's nice to own one.
Don't start to get out the pitchforks yet though - my review is not all sunshine and roses. While I had come to terms with my purchase and was somewhat happy to own it as a collection piece next to my other boards, what really mattered was what it looked like in person once it arrived. I was actually able to open my box with next to zero damage (get out a really sharp, flat knife and just run it along the seam between the two glued pieces of cardboard and you should be OK), and carefully remove the board from the styrofoam inside. It should be noted that the box is one of the coolest parts of this piece - they really did a great job with it. The first thing you'll notice about the board is that it's fairly heavy and mine makes a good deal of rattling noises which appear to be coming from under the 'magnet plates'. I haven't tested out the sound effects because I have zero interest in that feature. It does NOT appear that the plates are molded to the pink plastic, so that will be extremely good news for many DYI'ers - HOWEVER there is a matching element to the red plastic surrounding those plates (where the screws are), meaning that the diameter of the plates is sort of "built-in" and it may still be somewhat difficult to alter. That's probably a little confusing; I may try my hand at unscrewing everything later tonight to give a better visual representation. The plates themselves are just huge and it's probably the thing I hate the most about this model.
The pink plastic that the board is made of itself is very solid and a nice material. In that one aspect, I like it better than any of the other boards I own. This is where it starts to go downhill, however. The sticker application on both sides of the boards is AWFUL (see pictures). There is bubbling everywhere, absolutely terrible creases running throughout, and even places where it is joined together by SCOTCH TAPE. In reality, the top sticker is actually two stickers - and they come together in the middle of the footpad where they are misaligned and literally taped together. I tried to take the best picture of this I could… get ready to be disappointed. There are other places where the adhesive is already giving way (the sticker is raising up from the board), and it's extremely glossy so it's easy to see where there are defects.
The bottom of the board seems to be better (I don't mind things like the small text on the purple battery compartment - again, this is how a 'real' hoverboard would accurately be if it were to be released), but obviously there are some color and scale issues with the graphics as well.
I think like many others here it is extremely disappointing to know what this board "could have been" given all of the resources they had at their disposal... and I have a feeling many of you will hate it even more than I do. Some elements of the design that others find unacceptable I actually have grown to really like about this board, and just the fact that it's the only studio-sanctioned, official Mattel release gives it inherent collectable value. But the shoddy craftsmanship combined with the complete lack of attention to key details make this a 6/10 at best for me. The box art is responsible for one of those points, which doesn't say a lot for the product itself.
If you guys have any other questions or would like to see more photos, let me know and I would be more than happy to share. Thanks.
