We’re finishing up the final preparations toward launching our most awesome product ever: the MOSS Huck Tank. I can’t wait until November.

The Huck Tank is the first in the MOSS Artist Series and is designed by Huck Gee.  I’ve been in love with Huck’s work ever since seeing the first toys he did with Kidrobot, and I’m super-proud (and still slightly amazed) that he agreed to design a MOSS kit.

The Huck Tank kit has 32 MOSS blocks and is designed to be assembled into a little tank that drives around and shoots things with foam darts.  This is a janky hand-painted prototype, but just look at it!

There are two different ways to play with the tank.  In autonomous mode, it’ll drive around and avoid obstacles, firing its dart whenever it hears a double clap.  Or, download the iOS/Android app and remote control the tank and turret.  Of course, you can also build anything you want, or mix and match the Huck Tank modules with your normal MOSS modules to create huge foam dart shooting monster robots.

The white plastic frames that give shape to normal MOSS blocks are injection moulded at one of our suppliers in China.  We’ve never been able to injection mould plastic parts in the USA; it’s just always been too expensive.  Way too expensive, like we’d need to charge $100 more for a kit expensive.  But things have changed: we’re manufacturing the plastic parts that are new in the Huck Tank at an injection moulder in the USA!  In Colorado!  The supplier is pretty awesome.  They’re building the moulds out of aircraft aluminum instead of tool steel, and they should last plenty long.  Easier machining in aluminum makes for USA moulds at a competitive (yes, it’s still more expensive, but not double or 10x) price to Chinese manufacturing.  Cool.

We offered the Huck Tank as a reward tier on our Kickstarter campaign from six months ago.  We’ve shipped out 80% of the MOSS kits from the kickstarter, and the remaining 20% are Huck Tank backers.  I’m sorry we’re later than we estimated in the crowdfunding campaign!  We expect to ship Huck Tanks in late October 2014, and I’m confident the wait will be worth it.