Sometimes the simplest toys can be the most fun, and sometimes the most innovative part of a project is the process leading to an insanely fast schedule. This brand includes both! Shout outs to Benjamin Dermer, Fraser Paterson, Gerry Cody & Craig Drobis. Toy Stories Chapter 17: Nano Speed!

In one of our many meetings with the inventor relations team, Ben Dermer pulls out this pullback motor with wheels and comments on how he had lost it and then recently found it in his apartment. Then he demoed it and it raced faster than anything we’d seen. “Who is that from,” we asked, but it wasn’t an inventor item. It was simply a sourced part. No problem!

Our Design team led by Fraser Paterson got cracking, and soon found out that these pullback cars were not only insanely fast, but you could also use them in motorized boosters, so they were literally the fastest micro vehicles ever. Triple loops were a piece of cake. However, what was really insanely fast was the development schedule. We presented the concept at the Spring 2013 Brand Directional Outline meeting, and the partners decided they wanted it for Fall 2012. We had two weeks to go from concept drawings to Looks-Like/Works-Like models for Fall Customer Previews. And we did it! Unique designs and NASCAR vehicles. Another great team effort! And another great toy on my desk that I still play with to this day!