Review – Incubot Nekobot Flash Drive

So I’ve mentioned the Nekosaur vinyl toys from Incubot (website, Twitter) a couple of times now (last mentioned here) but what I’ve neglected to tell you guys about is Incubot’s Nekobot Flash Drive toy (available now). This is a 2 GB USB flash drive, which is always a handy thing to have around, that’s designed as a cute robot toy. At $30 you’re paying more for the toy than you are the drive, but fortunately it’s a cute enough toy that the price feels just right.

Packaging

The photos here give you a good look at the attractively-designed Nekobot box. A small, single-piece construction box, what surprised me the most when I opened the envelope was that the box wasn’t even assembled. The toy was loose and the box was flattened out. Unusual, but not a problem since folding the box was very simple and took less than a moment.

The front of the box shows the red, blue, and yellow Nekobots as well as the special “stealth” version (no longer available) and there’s even a tiny drawing of the Nekosaur. It’s cute, stylized artwork and overall the box feels and looks like a professional design. I have no idea if the Japanese writing on the box actually says something or if it’s merely decorative, but the blend of English and Japanese text really helps make the package feel like it’s not from a US-based company. A nice touch.

That’s enough about the box, though. You didn’t read down this far just to hear me talk about type and art so it’s time we get to the toy!

Rubbery Robot!

Standing roughly 3.5-inches tall, the Nekobot isn’t a hard plastic but, instead, is a rubber-like material that makes him fairly bendy and durable. It is a flash drive so I wouldn’t go throwing it off of any interstate overpasses, but I suspect that the toy would survive an accidental drop. It’s not a super soft rubber but feels a bit like one of those tough erasers we used in school. And it looks like most of the colors on the toy are actually from the cast rubber; I think that what happened here was each part was cast and then the individual bits were glued together. But since I don’t know anything about making rubber toys I could be way off on the process.

Rough Mold Lines

The design is great, but there’s a seam all of the way around the robot where you can see the two halves of the mold came together. It’s minor — and I have no clue how rubber toys are made but I can’t see how you would “sand” these seam lines down — but I know that some guys get really upset about mold lines on their toys so I thought I should mention it. I don’t see this as a negative at all; after all, how many other robot toy flash drives do I have around the house?

An Articulated Flash Drive!

While a robot flash drive is neat and all, I love that Incubot took it that extra step and gave the toy some basic articulation with twisty shoulders and neck. It’s not a lot, but it’s just enough to take this rubbery guy from a robot statue to an honest to god robot toy. Fear my USB robot, puny mortals! He’s got enough articulation to windmill you but good!

His Chest Lights Up!

So revealing the flash drive portion of the toy is simple: grab the legs and chest and pull. The two halves come apart and the USB drive lives in the toy’s chest. And when you plug him into your computer a red light in the chest — ya see that heart, guys? — lights up. It’s not a blinding light, but it’s enough illumination that you notice and it’s really cute.

Closing Thoughts

Sure you can find a 2 GB USB flash drive for $10 to $20 at a nearby Wal-Mart of Best Buy, but you’re not going to find a fun robot toy flash drive at one of those chain stores so it’s worth the extra cash that Incubot charges in order to get one of these in your collection. Who wants one of these? Any robot geeks who are computer nerds would likely love one, and anyone out there who has a thing for cute robots would be overjoyed to get one of these as a gift.

The rubbery material makes the toy feel relatively durable. It’s a bit too bulky to slip into a pocket (I’ve got a few tiny flash drives that drop right into a pocket and those are handy), but it’s cool enough that this is one of the only flash drives that you’ll be happy leaving out on your desk at work. Just keep your eyes on it; some other robot geek make figure out what you’ve got and the next thing you know there will be a war for control.

I know that this is one flash drive I won’t be using to share files with anyone else. They’d likely “lose” my robot.

To see another review of the Nekobot visit CollectionDX. And scroll all of the way down because there are lots of photos of the drive/robot toy.

Philip Reed is now debating on whether or not the Nekobot is a part of his messenger bag — like his other flash drives — or if it’s a toy and goes on one of the toy shelves. Philip also wants to find out where these were made because he would love to get a custom toy flash drive made for the office.