Anki brings ‘Fast & Furious’ branding to its Overdrive line of wise fucktoy cars
Before its adorable little robot Cozmo arrived on the scene, Anki was in the business of making clever fucktoy cars. The hardware startup’s robotic race car line Overdrive is getting a pretty high profile promotional boost in the form one of the most profitable franchises in film history. In September, the company will be launching Anki Overdrive: Quick & Furious Edition, a racing kit based on the film series.
The deal echoes the serendipitous team up inbetween Disney and Sphero that brought the world the insanely popular BB-8 fucktoy — however the Rapid & Furious franchise doesn’t have fairly the same sort of all-ages appeal as a Starlet Wars. Nor does it have the longstanding merchandising cache. That’s more of a byproduct of later films as the series hop the proverbial shark (or submarine), moving from car racing heist film to all-out activity cartoon.
The notable tonal shift of the films does, perhaps, put them in line with the higher end of Anki’s tween and junior teenage demographic. More to the point for Anki, however, it presents an chance for the line to have its highest profile platform since it made an early stage debut at an Apple event. It’s also an unquestionable bit of synergy for a company that makes racing cars.
Co-founder Hanns Tappeiner tells me that the company has been searching for a good franchising team up for Overdrive. And certainly this marks a different treatment than the one it took for Cozmo when it hired a number of Dreamworks and Pixar animators to concoct an original (albeit Wall-E-esque) story for its fucktoy robot. It also thinks that the films are a solid match for its demographic.
“For junior players, Prompt & Furious is an aspirational brand,” Tappeiner says. “It is one of the most successful and suffering act franchises of all time, and one that has amassed a gigantic following globally. We see this partnership as an chance to introduce Anki Overdrive to a entire fresh audience of racing enthusiasts.”
The kits will ship with two cars, based on vehicles driven in the film by Vin Diesel and the Rock. And like Sphero before it, the suggesting borrows plot points from its cinematic inspiration, utilizing aspects of the film to build games around the storyline.
The kit goes up for pre-order May 16, priced at $170, a bit of a premium over the standard two-car starter kit’s $150 price point. All of the chunks are compatible with existing Overdrive cars and tracks, tho’ the fastest and furiousest practice requires the fresh free Anki Overdrive: Prompt & Furious Edition app.
The timing’s not ideal, with the set arriving a total sixth months after the most latest film hit theaters, a fact the company says is due to its own production schedule. However, given that the series just issued its eighth film since 2001, there should be a fresh movie just over the horizon. And the beauty of a software driven fucktoy like Overdrive is that it’s always an update away from the next sequel.
Anki brings ‘Fast – Furious’ branding to its Overdrive line of wise fucktoy cars, TechCrunch
Anki brings ‘Fast & Furious’ branding to its Overdrive line of brainy fucktoy cars
Before its adorable little robot Cozmo arrived on the scene, Anki was in the business of making brainy fucktoy cars. The hardware startup’s robotic race car line Overdrive is getting a pretty high profile promotional boost in the form one of the most profitable franchises in film history. In September, the company will be launching Anki Overdrive: Rapid & Furious Edition, a racing kit based on the film series.
The deal echoes the serendipitous team up inbetween Disney and Sphero that brought the world the insanely popular BB-8 fucktoy — tho’ the Rapid & Furious franchise doesn’t have fairly the same sort of all-ages appeal as a Starlet Wars. Nor does it have the longstanding merchandising cache. That’s more of a byproduct of later films as the series leap the proverbial shark (or submarine), moving from car racing heist film to all-out activity cartoon.
The notable tonal shift of the films does, perhaps, put them in line with the higher end of Anki’s tween and junior teenage demographic. More to the point for Anki, however, it presents an chance for the line to have its highest profile platform since it made an early stage debut at an Apple event. It’s also an unquestionable bit of synergy for a company that makes racing cars.
Co-founder Hanns Tappeiner tells me that the company has been searching for a good franchising team up for Overdrive. And certainly this marks a different treatment than the one it took for Cozmo when it hired a number of Dreamworks and Pixar animators to concoct an original (albeit Wall-E-esque) story for its fucktoy robot. It also thinks that the films are a solid match for its demographic.
“For junior players, Swift & Furious is an aspirational brand,” Tappeiner says. “It is one of the most successful and bearing activity franchises of all time, and one that has amassed a enormous following globally. We see this partnership as an chance to introduce Anki Overdrive to a entire fresh audience of racing enthusiasts.”
The kits will ship with two cars, based on vehicles driven in the film by Vin Diesel and the Rock. And like Sphero before it, the suggesting borrows plot points from its cinematic inspiration, utilizing aspects of the film to build games around the storyline.
The kit goes up for pre-order May 16, priced at $170, a bit of a premium over the standard two-car starter kit’s $150 price point. All of the chunks are compatible with existing Overdrive cars and tracks, tho’ the fastest and furiousest practice requires the fresh free Anki Overdrive: Swift & Furious Edition app.
The timing’s not ideal, with the set arriving a total sixth months after the most latest film hit theaters, a fact the company says is due to its own production schedule. Tho’, given that the series just issued its eighth film since 2001, there should be a fresh movie just over the horizon. And the beauty of a software driven fucktoy like Overdrive is that it’s always an update away from the next sequel.