Remember how a little while back, Nike finally released its Back to the Future-inspired Nike MAG sneakers. Sure, it was for a good cause, but you’re probably not wearing a pair unless you had had a few thousand dollars to spare.
A guy in Malaysia, simply going by the screen name of “S02” decided to try and put together a pair on the cheap, and I have to say he did a pretty admirable job. Now he had a little help from a guy who sells McFly replica blanks over on eBay for just $200, but those are just the basic shoe form. There’s a ton of additional work required to make them look like the ones Marty McFly donned in Back to the Future II.
S02 started out with a pair of the McFly blanks, then added to them a total of 32 LEDs, with 8 each in red, yellow, green and blue. There’s also a small electroluminescent panel behind the NIKE logo. He managed to carefully run all of the wiring inside of the shoes, and concealed a 9V battery under the insole of each shoe to provide power for the lights.
He also applied PVC details to add the NIKE Swoosh and logos on the sides and back.
About the only thing he didn’t manage to do is build in the elusive Power Laces – but not even Nike has done that yet. Maybe if S02 got together with Blake Bevin, they’d be able to work something out.
If you’re interested in trying this out for yourself, head on over to the RPF for more details on the build, and you can order a pair of Markpoon’s McFly sneaker blanks on eBay to get you started. Just keep in mind that those are only available in US size 9, so if you wear a different shoe size, you’re SOL. While you’re over there, grab a copy of Grays Sports Almanac to complete the look.
