Exploring the Labyrinth of Lockwood’s Fool Throttle Line
Product Information Courtesy of Megan Egglesden, Lockwood Product Manager; commentary by Terra_Cide, HSM Editor
It’s been discussed in previous PR announcements about the importance of brand identity, and how Lockwood seems to have a rather good grasp on this. In a sense, they have emulated a very-much-scaled-down version of Berkshire Hathaway. Virtually everyone knows who Warren Buffett is, but very few people are aware of what his corporation does outside of dealing with the stock market.
If you live here in New England, you’re probably familiar with Jordan’s Furniture. I’ve been to their store in Reading, MA and like their other locations, it’s a showcase that is all about delivering an experience to the customer. It is also a Berkshire Hathaway holding, but most customers don’t know that. They simply know it as Jordan’s Furniture, the same company that has been offering great value for money furniture for nearly a century. If you have a young child, you’re probably familiar with the clothing line Garanimals. They have a matching animal tag theme, which is designed to teach children how to coordinate outfits by themselves. It too is a Berkshire Hathaway holding. Such is the power of a strong brand identity.
Lockwood had adopted this concept of brand identity over the past year. And it makes sense, really; had all of these very distinctive lines were simply lumped together under the LKWD banner, it would be frustrating for the consumer when looking for that perfect piece.
If you’re in the market for a mecha-themed outfit, you look to their Iron Fusion line. Looking for fashions that are a bit upscale, but still young and trendy, Drey is where it’s at. If your tastes fall into the futuristic, cyber-punk style (and a none-too-shabby gaming experience to boot), Sodium is where you want to go. And these lines aren’t just recognized as being under the Lockwood umbrella; they are becoming recognized as their own stand-alone names.
So where does the Fool Throttle line fall?
How Norse sees himself
Since its debut last year in February, we’ve seen Fool Throttle go from romantic to camp and everything in between. Of all the Lockwood lines, it appears as if it’s not as clearly defined as its companions, but that may not be the case. It’s the line you go to when you’re looking to be larger than life. And this is definitely exemplified by its newest addition.
I probably ought not to be the one writing about Enkomi the Minotaur, the new costume coming to Home via Lockwood’s Fool Throttle line. The resident bull around here – in case you didn’t know – is Norse himself. He’s a Taurus, and if you were to peruse a list of Taurean qualities, you could tick pretty much all of them off as pertaining to the Norseling.
Here is what Lockwood’s PR has to say about their newest addition:
How Terra sees Norse
A new age of Fool Throttle is dawning. Their latest costume is more than just an outfit. Become Enkomi the Minotaur and unleash the power of the bull! Demonstrate Enkomi’s awesome strength by pounding the ground.
It’s also worth noting we’ve been seeing an increasing amount of full-model outfits offered in recent months. Where before, we had costumes whose pieces were interchangeable, we are now seeing a trend towards all-over avatar changes. While you would think – and rightly so – that these full-model designs would be less appealing to the Home community because you cannot play mix and match with them (a common meta-game in Home), they come with something that is definitely a selling point: the unique actions.
Having our avatars do more motions than what is already in our default list has been a long-time desire by the community, and these full-body costumes are catering to that portion of the market. Lockwood’s new Enkomi has its own signature moves, which you can see in the video promo below:
So what does this new age mean possibly mean for the future of the Fool Throttle line? Will we be seeing an expansion in a direction towards mythical creatures, or more full-body costumes with custom movements in general? That’s for Lockwood to decide. It is, for the time being, a good substitute for more actions for our avatars on a broad scale.
March 12th, 2012 by Terra_Cide | 4 comments
Terra _Cide is the former Community Manager for Lockwood Publishing and Editor Emeritus for HomeStation Magazine.
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A nice bit of trivia: “Enkomi” is the name of a town in Crete (mythical home of the Minotaur), where statues of horned deities have been excavated. You can see some images here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enkomi
Someone in Lockwood is paying attention. I like that.
The devil is in the details, and Lcokwood certainly gets that, don’t they? It’s not simply just the rendering, but in the little things, like the naming of an item, too. Just take the names of the two samurai mech suits they recently released -- Kojiro and Musashi. Both were named after actual legendary samurai, who fought in the early 17th century.
It’s little things like that which let you know a company cares about more than just simply producing a product to sell.
Do you suppose we could talk Lockwood into creating a line of shapeshifters — avatars with human and animal forms? Some of the mechs already go through major transformations. I would dearly love to show my selkie self in Home.
Well, I’m sure they’re reading…