mimobot
  | |
| Private | |
| Industry | designer toys, Consumer Electronics |
| Founded | United States of America |
| Headquarters | Boston, USA |
Key people | Evan Blaustein |
| Products | MIMOBOT |
| Website | www.mimoco.com |
MIMOBOT (pronounced mee-mo-bot) flash drives are a line of collectible designer toy USB flash drives launched in 2005 by Mimoco, Inc., headed by Evan Blaustein. Designed by contemporary character artists, preloaded with original media content like music, video, animations, or games, and produced in limited runs of usually between 500 to 5,000 units, MIMOBOTs merge the aesthetics of art toys with the functionality of USB flash drives. Their memory capacities range from 2GB to 64GB. The MIMOBOT line can be found at stores like the MoMA, Kidrobot, Giant Robot, Colette, and other lifestyle institutions worldwide.
MIMOBOT characters have been produced in 3 categories: original MIMOBOT characters, artist series collaborations, and licensing partnerships.
As of June 2016, the MIMOBOT range is distributed exclusively in the UK by It World Services Ltd.
Original MIMOBOT characters
Cosmos & Go (Core Series), released July - November 2005 – Protobot0, Protobot1, Isadore, Jolibear, Vera, Magma, Galaxor, Ta2b designed by contributing artist Yahid Rodriguez (Mexico)
Core Series 2, released July 2007 - Fairybit Fairybot, Galacula, Gigglebyte, Pupstar, Psy & Ptry (the Clops Bros.), RayD8, Swirl, and Owsley Owlbert designed by contributing artist Dino Alberto (NYC)
Community-designed Series
VDC MIMOBOT Series, released in November 2008 - The six winning designs from Mimoco's forum-based Vimobot Design Contest (2007) were released as MIMOBOT flash drives. Designs: Cosmobot (Roxie Vizcarra), Holybot (The Fickilians), Golden Panda (ShanDurRah), Zombie Tiki God (heyimlindsayp), Mimoshroom (bananafromcanada) and Yakuza (eetteekers).
Artist series
Artist Series ’06 - mimoco has collaborated with influential contemporary character artists in the vibrant designer toy community, including: Shawnimal Smith (Chicago), TADO (UK), Jon Burgerman (UK), Circus Punks/Jim Koch (US), Devilrobots (Japan), Worldwide Biggies/Dino Alberto (NYC), Lili Chin/Brian McCarty/Phofo (LA),
Artist Series '07 – Mori Chack (Japan), Hanazuki (Amsterdam), and Sket One (New Haven, CT), Reach One (Taiwan)
Artist Series '08 - Bubi Au Yeung (HK), Gary Baseman (US), FriendsWithYou (US), and tokidoki (US)
Licensing
In partnership with Lucasfilm, several series of Star Wars mimobots have been launched. The original included Darth Vader, R2-D2, Chewbacca, and an Imperial Stormtrooper, all sold out for several years. Star Wars Mimobot Series 2 included Boba Fett (ESB), Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot), Princess Leia and Han Solo. Series 3 included C-3PO, Wicket the Ewok, Emperor Palpatine and Imperial Royal Guard. Series 4 included Darth Maul, Captain Rex and a new Darth Vader Unmasked,with both a prequel look and a ROTJ look with and old, white face. Series 5 included a new R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jawa and Luke and Han as Stormtroopers. Series 6 included an Imperial Snowtrooper, Luke Skywalker (Hoth), Wampa, Yoda and Tie Pilot. Series 7 included Boba Fett (ROTJ) Han in Carbonite, Leia Boush and Lando. Series 7 includes Slave Leia, Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight), Jabba the Hutt and Admiral Ackbar.
Star Wars Limited editions;
2009 SDCC: Darth Vader Unmasked Luke Dagobah Variant (500)
2010 SDCC: Lobot (1000)
2010 Star Wars The Force Unleashed II Video Game (Xbox 360 & PS3) Starkiller mimobot.
2011 SDCC Bossk: (500)
2012 May the 4th: Hooded darth Maul (504)
2012 SDCC: Biker Scout (1000)
2013 April Fools: Jar Jar Binks (500)
2013 May the 4th: R2-A6 (1000)
2013 SDCC: Chewbacca with C3PO (1000)
There has also been a series modeled on the popular Xbox video game Halo, featuring Master Chief as well as a red and a blue Spartan.
Domo Kun has a MIMOBOT series, as well as Happy Tree Friends with Giggles, Flippy, and The Mole.
Recent licensing partnerships include DC Comics for a Batman MIMOBOT series and Sanrio for a Hello Kitty series.
Fictional character biography
Mimobots are happy, memory-loving creatures who hail from the planet Blõôh in galaxy 4210 where a massive memory-loss epidemic is spreading. To find a cure they have enlisted the help of humans by creating mimobots clones and “flashporting” (transporting) these clones to Earth on a memory recovery mission. In a symbiosis of sorts, humans using mimobot clones to store personal data on the clone’s internal flash memory, send vital “memergy” back to Blõôh. With the help of RALF computer, this memory transfer is the mimobot’s only hope to help cure their collective amnesia and save them from the dreadful fate that lay before them.[1]
External links
References
- ↑ http://www.mimoco.com/about_mimoco/blooh Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.