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'Fear and Loathing' in your USB port

The Vimobot Design Contest sought innovative character designs to add to the ever-expanding line of quirky Mimobot drives.

Leslie Katz Former Culture Editor
Leslie Katz led a team that explored the intersection of tech and culture, plus all manner of awe-inspiring science, from space to AI and archaeology. When she's not smithing words, she's probably playing online word games, tending to her garden or referring to herself in the third person.
Credentials
  • Third place film critic, 2021 LA Press Club National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards
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Leslie Katz
Winners of Vimobot Design Contest
Mimobots by the people, for the people, include a cosmonaut, a panda, a totem pole, and a Hunter S. Thompson-inspired drive. Mimoco

"We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the data began to take hold." That's what you may be saying when you get your hands on one of the latest Mimobot flash drives, which appears (to my hopefully coherent mind) to be a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The gonzo drive is one of six winners of the Vimobot Design Contest, a do-it-yourself vinyl art toy challenge that sought innovative character designs to add to the ever-expanding line of quirky drives from Boston-based design studio Mimoco. You may have already seen Star Wars Mimobots, Halo-themed Mimobots, Domo-kun Mimobots, and designer Mimobots. (You get the point; the world has seen its share of Mimobots.)

The victorious designs, chosen from hundreds of submissions, represent the start of a collection of community-created characters that will add to Mimoco's portfolio of nearly 100 limited-edition Mimobots. The winning drives are now available in capacities ranging from 1GB ($24.95) to 8GB ($79.95).

The designers hail from the U.S., Canada, and the United Arab Emirates. Each gets a cash prize and shipment of their design in Mimobot flash drive form.