For April Fools’ Day 2009, ThinkGeek launched a tauntaun sleeping bag as a fake-yet-awesome product. As everyone knows, pranks make the best market research, and now LA Weekly reports that they are going ahead with the product. Yes!
Shane Peterman, PR rep for ThinkGeek, shared the news:
We are definitely trying to make it in to an actual item to be sold ?on our site. As of right now, it’s still an “if,” but it’s turning in?to more of a “when.” Things are looking pretty good, we just don’t want ?to get too far ahead of ourselves. There’s certainly been enough of a?demand, both from customers and from those of us that work here. Right now, we’re aiming to have it available ?for the holidays, or at the latest, the 30th anniversary of The Empire ?Strikes Back next spring.
Don’t you want a sleeping bag that “simulates the warmth of a Tauntaun carcass”? Of course you do!
Don’t Joke About Tauntaun Sleeping Bags: Star Wars Fanatics Get Pissed [LA Weekly] (via Cinematical)
PREVIOUSLY:
Fake April Fools’ Day Product Sparks Demand For Real Version
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Glorious.
I just hope they don’t smell any worse on the inside…
Cute! If I had little kids I’d want one.
@geoffhazel: Who needs little kids? I want one anyway!
@waffles: +1
I would hope for a Wookie one too.
@DerangedRoleModel: Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be remotely as clever or interesting as a product because it completely abandons the entire concept.
@mgy: Absolutely correct. A Jar-Jar one would be far more appropriate.
@DerangedRoleModel: Over Chewbacca’s dead body!!!
Oh wait… That’s the point.
in for one!
@zentex:
Me too!
“Since we haven’t gotten to the production stage yet, it’s hard to say what the price will be, unfortunately. I think it’s safe to assume that the kids size will be at a lower cost than the adult size, that much I’m pretty sure of.”
There’s adult sizes!
@hydrargyrum: i was just going to ask that!
yay adult sized!
@fjordtjie:
Get a set for the whole family and be the envy of all the other campers.
@Starfury: if by ‘the whole family’ you mean my boyfriend and our cats, then hell yeah!
@hydrargyrum: I’m beside myself with nerdy excitement now!
WOOT!
@hydrargyrum: Woohoo! I was worried they’d only have children’s sizing, but then I realized that Think Geek knows their market.
@utensil42: it’s nice when a company knows their market. i worked in a toy store when “The Tick” toys were discontinued because “adults don’t buy toys and it’s an adult show”
the clearance sale for them was like a feeding frenzy
Meh, they’ve done this before. The 8-Bit tie comes to mind:
[gizmodo.com]
@peterto: But this is a little tougher than making a tie. This involves licensing.
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave: They seem to have a habit of making one of their April Fool’s day products a reality each year. First the 8-Bit Tie, then the Soundtrack T-Shirt, and now – hopefully! – this. Interestingly enough, it seems to be a more difficult process each time – I’m sure the logistics of creating the soundtrack t-shirt were harder than making the 8-bit tie, and the licensing nightmares attached to the sleeping bag trump all of those many times over.
@Ubik2501: I’ve become convinced that they use their AFD items as actual market research.
I still want one…
They made a yoda backpack and an R2D2 trash can, why wouldn’t they make this too?
They instituted a sign up on their Taun taun bag page to get notified if they got the product into production shortly after 4/1. The biggest hurdle is licensing from Lucas.
Yeah! Maybe squeezable bacon is next?!?
@meechybee: I was completely on board with that idea. It would go well with the bacon salt I got from a woot-off.
Great. April Fool’s Day has become Test Marketing Day.
Of course, next year, they will have to make Planet Hoth pajama sets, including goggles.
But I’m in for one, for the future Little SteveDave. Just have to make sure the ladies don’t see it so there will be one.
And on another vein, I hope other companies take note of this. Why? I own a king size bed. I don’t like “plain” sheets. I would but Star Wars sheets for my bed. For that matter, I would buy Under-roos as well. Maybe it’s the leak in the exhaust vent for my fireplace, or maybe it’s nostalgia, I don’t know. But I would wear under-roos if they made em.
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave: Add in some Garanimals and you’ll be all set!
(all set to ensure there will never be a miniSteveDave, that is)
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave: Under-roos…YES!
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave: I hope you’re already married, cause there’s little chance it’ll happen after you get your Ewok Underoos and Death Star sheets.
@ceriphim: Look, if a woman doesn’t like my taste, how can we be happy? Besides, my dream girl is a little geeky. “Honey, I’m bored. Want to crimp some cat 5e patch cords or some BNC cables!?” She’s out there somewhere, and I have a crimper.
@utensil42: I mostly want them in adult sizes, because then girls can wear them!
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave: You know, I’m honestly surprised there aren’t stylized adult underoos. I mean boxers come with all sorts of fun styles and whatnot.
I will occasionally buy hubby some incredibly geeky boxers. This Christmas I plan on tracking down some that had a latin embroidery of a quote from St. Augustine… Yeah, that’s how it is.
I would also love, LOVE to have cool sheets. Plaid is about as wild as it gets. Floral makes me want to retch. I’d kill for some Spiderman or LOTRs sheets.
@Jabberkaty: A friend of mine has some ladies Wonder Woman underwear. To say I was morbidly jealous is filthy understatement.
@Jabberkaty: I have been lucky to find some nice sheets in King Size at Target, such as my monkey sheets:
and my “Enchantment Under the Sea” set:
@DayWeSpilledThePaint_GitEmSteveDave: Love!
Though, I think hubster may regret my purchase after too many renditions of “Under da Sea” and the Spongebob theme song. *coff* He puts up with a lot.
@DayWeSpilledThePaint_GitEmSteveDave: Nice bobbleheads!
@DayWeSpilledThePaint_GitEmSteveDave: i sense a new career opportunity here
@Jabberkaty:
Batman sheets for me. Or Joker. YES!
@HogwartsAlum: I don’t know if I could sleep on Joker sheets. I suppose it depends on if it’s cartoon Joker or Dark Knight Joker…
@Jabberkaty:
Dark Knight Joker eclipsed Cartoon Joker. At least for me.
RIP Heath.
:’(
@SetDipSwitchesTo_GitEmSteveDave:
I would completely and totally love new Under-oos! That said, I have been on the notification list for the sleeping bag since ThinkGeek put it up, and I am also looking for sheets for our bed that don’t bore me to tears or feature something pink and cutesy (although I would totally buy Strawberry Shortcake sheets if I could find them just to torture my husband… at least the once before he burned them…).
Did they custom-print that intestine liner fabric??? Wow.
Trying to imagine how much Lucasfilm or LucasArts or whatever will charge to license this.
@ElizabethD: Given the amount that is showing on the pictured item (the original prototype), I’d guess that they only hand-inked what could be seen in the photo, rather than getting custom-printed fabric.
@ElizabethD: Photoshopped. I can tell by the pix… err, I mean, they came clean about the liner pattern during the initial furor. The liner was plain white. I’d been hoping it was some odd print that was available somewhere, but no.
There’s a flickr set of the actual construction: [www.flickr.com]
I’m positive that every member of our family needs one.
They need to make it large enough for an adult – wait – make that an obese, geeky adult.
@techstar25:
Not all geeks are obese. Some of them are really skinny, underdeveloped geeks.
I know what my nephew is getting for either his first Christmas or his first birthday!
I love the light saber zipper pull. The details really sell this one.
they should rate the bag for sub-zero temps!
*rimshot*
I’m still waiting for Thinkgeek to make the caffeine inhaler that they featured a few years ago. I still remember the horrified looks on my coworkers’ faces as I tried to order 5 of them before realizing it was a joke.