Back in January, Tesla-founder Elon Musk debuted the Boring Company Flamethrower, selling all 20,000 in its first weekend. Now, the first 1,000 have made their way into the hands of owners who lived close enough to the SpaceX headquarters to manually pick theirs up.
In an unsurprising, yet unfortunate turn of events, Musk was blocked from shipping the Boring Company Flamethrower in February when customs agencies point blank refused to deliver a device with such a volatile name. Musk swiftly proposed his solution of a name change to circumvent quarrels.
While customs agencies have yet to release a further comment on the changes, the Boring Company’s not-so-subtly titled Not a Flamethrower should be able to make its way into the hands of the remaining 19,000 with Musk planning to ship the devices on time – relatively.
First 1000 Boring Company Flamethrowers being picked up today! pic.twitter.com/hBMp5fGzAB
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 9, 2018
In actuality, the Not a Flamethrower is genuinely not a flamethrower by traditional standards. Falling well below the 10-feet limit to classify as such, it is more of a novelty torch or a simple barbecue lighter. Still, customers were happy to pose like the villain from a James Bond movie outside the SpaceX headquarters.
The purpose, you ask? Well, the most logical guess would be that Musk’s Boring Company raising $1 million from sold hats and a further $10 million from Not a Flamethrowers, minus production and shipping costs, could be contributing to Musk’s multiple start-ups without taking on the same debt or diluting ownership like most ventures usually would.
KitGuru Says: At the very least, Musk is allowing himself to run wild with his ideas in the Boring Company and there’s no telling what the mad man genius will end up doing next. What would you like to see the eclectic billionaire do next?