TeslaKen
Well-known member
- First Name
- Ken
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2024
- Threads
- 108
- Messages
- 1,240
- Reaction score
- 1,695
- Location
- Overland Park
- Website
- www.halocybertruck.com
- Vehicles
- Cyberbeast, M3PD+, GT4, XK140OTS
- Occupation
- Currently Occupied
- Thread starter
- #1
First, for those who may have missed my Day 1 review, Click Here!
Now let's move on to Day 2! After what seemed like a very short night's sleep and visions of drones dancing in my head, I woke up early to head over to the San Mateo Fairgrounds and park my truck in the Cybertruck Showcase which I had signed up for when filling out the sign-up form for the event weeks prior. As I understood it, there would be section of Cybertrucks parked together and some sort of voting going on. We arrived and set up shop, meaning time to put the Gauss Cannon back up on its stand in the bed and clean off any dirt from the day prior. Thankfully I've got the mounting and unmounting of the Gauss Cannon down to where I can do it quickly and I have some ideas for improving transportation between locations in the future.
Here we are sporting our jackets from the night before and we needed them because it was cloudy and cool early in the morning. The individual next to us already had his tent set up as did some others. We decided to walk around and look at who had already arrived and their setups. One of the first trucks we came upon was one brought to X Takeover by Armored Cyberglass and Mirrored Cyber that was riddled with various bullet holes, both in the stainless steel body and the glass. Here are a few pictures showing some of the particulars of their offering:
While I don't need this kind of protection because everyone knows the Covenant uses energy weapons
my colleague from the KC Owners Club was very interested in their offerings. He is ex-military and very familiar with the weapons employed in these tests, in fact he got his own shot at the armored glass windows later, but more on that after a few other photos. Next, I ran into Roger from CYBERTRUCK.co and really liked seeing his new front bumper with the winch, since technically the Halo Warthog vehicle gets its name from the metal tusks on either side of the winch. Roger's bumper gave me some future ideas. I also liked how the bumper wasn't as big or heavy as some of the other aftermarket bumpers.
Next, we spied a large AC Future RV under a tent and went to check it out but it was not yet open to the public as they were still setting things up. It was massive and I wish I would have been able to capture some photos from the inside, if anyone did, please share them in a reply to this topic thread.
We continued to stop by each of the vendor tents, some of which I knew personally, others I did not. Hankook has a new tire for the Cybertruck but sadly it was so new they didn't have any on a Cybertruck at the event. If anyone has tried out their new tire, please let me know the results. Tesla was also in attendance and brought several items for the crowds to look at including the Semi, Optimus and of course the new Cybercab or Robotaxi or whatever you want to call it.
I also had a chance to talk to some individuals that I new at Tesla Energy who literally brought the house! That's right a miniature house towed by a Cybertruck was set up to display all of the Tesla Energy offerings such as the Powerwall, Gateway, solar panels and solar roof. Tesla Energy also had some nice giveaways for the kids.
We finished up our conversations just in time to sit at the main stage for the first presentation which was the kick-off and introduction to the day from John and Kelvin. I watched most of the presentations throughout the day. Some were spectacular, such as the one with Lars or with Sandy, others were OK but could have used more engaging speakers or some demos/videos to spice up their presentations. I suspect some of them were doing this for the first time and will hopefully be better next year. Steve was also very engaging, and a good storyteller and it was interesting to hear his perspectives from the early days. Of course, the highlight was getting to spend 90+ minutes with Elon, but more on that later. Here is a picture I took of the schedule for those who might be interested in what the topics were or who the speakers were:
At times when we were not sitting at the main stage, we went back to see some of the vendors or grab food or participate in some of the ad hoc events around the area. One of those events was giving people swings at the armored glass windows with the Cyber Hammer (12-pound sledgehammer) which is something my colleague took a shot at while I filmed him. Here is a short video of his attempt:
We spent some more time looking at the cars and talking to some of the owners. There were even 2 original Tesla Roadsters in attendance, one of which evidently was a special model:
At one point I was asked to come back to the Halo Cybertruck because some video crew from the BBC wanted to interview me. I came back and met the producer of a 2-part documentary being filmed by the BBC in the Silicon Valley area. I was then introduced to Grayson who proceeded to ask me questions about the truck, about technology and about Elon. After asking me some questions I invited Grayson to check out the truck and the Gauss Cannon in the back. Therron shot a short video of Grayson having fun with the cannon, you can check it out here:
The producer took down all of my information and they are supposed to contact me when the documentary airs so I can see if I end up making it into the documentary or if I end up on the cutting room floor. At one point Grayson sat next to me during Elon's video chat and his crew was filming him so I am hopeful that I will show up at some point in the documentary.
I did capture a few images of people speaking, my apologies but when I am listening to what they are talking about I am usually not thinking about getting my phone out to take pictures, but here are a few I did capture:
Wait, who is that guy? If you look at the schedule above, he isn't on it but if you look at the schedule closely there was an empty spot after Lars finished with an open hour. That hour was to be filled by Elon, instead Elon came on and talked for 90+ minutes about a variety of topics from Tesla, AI, Cyber cabs and FSD, Neuralink, Optimus and more. He even poked fun at himself and his "wave" at times. I am sure there are people who recorded the entire 90 minutes but I did not. I did, however, record the first part of it and you can see that in the video below:
I think the interview started off a little choppy with Elon as there were some early questions that he couldn't answer given the nature of the questions, for example about forward-looking items or asking for specifics that he cannot legally provide without getting into trouble. Once those questions were set aside then Elon started to open up and carry more of the discussion. There were a few technical glitches and Elon paused to drink his Diet Coke but for the most part the 90 minutes just flew by with one subject after the next. At one point Elon took us with him as he walked around his house, I think to get another Diet Coke, and it appeared that he was broadcasting from the inside of a Swiss villa, or something given all of the wood we could see. All told, he was pretty engaged and while I don't think he could see all of us, there were certainly times he got a round of applause or some "I Love You Elon"s shouted out which he could hear and did react to. I know that they want to try and get Elon to come in person next year. I hope that works out!
With that, the main event concluded, and awards were given out to winners in each category, although for some reason other categories had 3 winners and the Cybertruck category had only 1. I gave some feedback in my survey that I submitted after the event that I think all categories should be treated equally. There were some really nice prizes given out too. The winner in the Cybertruck division was Kai whose truck must have 100 different things on it, including a great recruitment poster!
BTW Kai says that lightbar is getting an upgrade to work with light shows in the future as current versions don't.
We departed the fairgrounds and went back to the hotel to pack up and leave. I dropped Therron off at the afterparty at a local brewery on the way out of town and he later sent me this picture:
Sadly, I was not able to make the after party as I had to get on the road headed back to KC as I was trying to turn 3 days of driving into 2.5 to keep to a schedule and arrive in time to accomplish some other items. I have plenty of pictures of landscapes and some videos of the trek across country but I wanted to make these posts more about the event itself so I will just share a few of those before wrapping up.
That final picture was taken about an hour from home and shows what I think is an X in the sky (maybe even Xi ) which I thought was a fitting symbol for my trip out to the X Takeover 2025. One again I'd like to thank John, Kelvin and the entire crew responsible for hosting the X Takeover event. They did a fantastic job. As soon as they publish a date for next year's event you should block it out on your calendar and plan to attend! Who knows, maybe next year Master Chief will show up.
Now let's move on to Day 2! After what seemed like a very short night's sleep and visions of drones dancing in my head, I woke up early to head over to the San Mateo Fairgrounds and park my truck in the Cybertruck Showcase which I had signed up for when filling out the sign-up form for the event weeks prior. As I understood it, there would be section of Cybertrucks parked together and some sort of voting going on. We arrived and set up shop, meaning time to put the Gauss Cannon back up on its stand in the bed and clean off any dirt from the day prior. Thankfully I've got the mounting and unmounting of the Gauss Cannon down to where I can do it quickly and I have some ideas for improving transportation between locations in the future.
Here we are sporting our jackets from the night before and we needed them because it was cloudy and cool early in the morning. The individual next to us already had his tent set up as did some others. We decided to walk around and look at who had already arrived and their setups. One of the first trucks we came upon was one brought to X Takeover by Armored Cyberglass and Mirrored Cyber that was riddled with various bullet holes, both in the stainless steel body and the glass. Here are a few pictures showing some of the particulars of their offering:
While I don't need this kind of protection because everyone knows the Covenant uses energy weapons
my colleague from the KC Owners Club was very interested in their offerings. He is ex-military and very familiar with the weapons employed in these tests, in fact he got his own shot at the armored glass windows later, but more on that after a few other photos. Next, I ran into Roger from CYBERTRUCK.co and really liked seeing his new front bumper with the winch, since technically the Halo Warthog vehicle gets its name from the metal tusks on either side of the winch. Roger's bumper gave me some future ideas. I also liked how the bumper wasn't as big or heavy as some of the other aftermarket bumpers.
Next, we spied a large AC Future RV under a tent and went to check it out but it was not yet open to the public as they were still setting things up. It was massive and I wish I would have been able to capture some photos from the inside, if anyone did, please share them in a reply to this topic thread.
We continued to stop by each of the vendor tents, some of which I knew personally, others I did not. Hankook has a new tire for the Cybertruck but sadly it was so new they didn't have any on a Cybertruck at the event. If anyone has tried out their new tire, please let me know the results. Tesla was also in attendance and brought several items for the crowds to look at including the Semi, Optimus and of course the new Cybercab or Robotaxi or whatever you want to call it.
I also had a chance to talk to some individuals that I new at Tesla Energy who literally brought the house! That's right a miniature house towed by a Cybertruck was set up to display all of the Tesla Energy offerings such as the Powerwall, Gateway, solar panels and solar roof. Tesla Energy also had some nice giveaways for the kids.
We finished up our conversations just in time to sit at the main stage for the first presentation which was the kick-off and introduction to the day from John and Kelvin. I watched most of the presentations throughout the day. Some were spectacular, such as the one with Lars or with Sandy, others were OK but could have used more engaging speakers or some demos/videos to spice up their presentations. I suspect some of them were doing this for the first time and will hopefully be better next year. Steve was also very engaging, and a good storyteller and it was interesting to hear his perspectives from the early days. Of course, the highlight was getting to spend 90+ minutes with Elon, but more on that later. Here is a picture I took of the schedule for those who might be interested in what the topics were or who the speakers were:
At times when we were not sitting at the main stage, we went back to see some of the vendors or grab food or participate in some of the ad hoc events around the area. One of those events was giving people swings at the armored glass windows with the Cyber Hammer (12-pound sledgehammer) which is something my colleague took a shot at while I filmed him. Here is a short video of his attempt:
We spent some more time looking at the cars and talking to some of the owners. There were even 2 original Tesla Roadsters in attendance, one of which evidently was a special model:
At one point I was asked to come back to the Halo Cybertruck because some video crew from the BBC wanted to interview me. I came back and met the producer of a 2-part documentary being filmed by the BBC in the Silicon Valley area. I was then introduced to Grayson who proceeded to ask me questions about the truck, about technology and about Elon. After asking me some questions I invited Grayson to check out the truck and the Gauss Cannon in the back. Therron shot a short video of Grayson having fun with the cannon, you can check it out here:
The producer took down all of my information and they are supposed to contact me when the documentary airs so I can see if I end up making it into the documentary or if I end up on the cutting room floor. At one point Grayson sat next to me during Elon's video chat and his crew was filming him so I am hopeful that I will show up at some point in the documentary.
I did capture a few images of people speaking, my apologies but when I am listening to what they are talking about I am usually not thinking about getting my phone out to take pictures, but here are a few I did capture:
Wait, who is that guy? If you look at the schedule above, he isn't on it but if you look at the schedule closely there was an empty spot after Lars finished with an open hour. That hour was to be filled by Elon, instead Elon came on and talked for 90+ minutes about a variety of topics from Tesla, AI, Cyber cabs and FSD, Neuralink, Optimus and more. He even poked fun at himself and his "wave" at times. I am sure there are people who recorded the entire 90 minutes but I did not. I did, however, record the first part of it and you can see that in the video below:
I think the interview started off a little choppy with Elon as there were some early questions that he couldn't answer given the nature of the questions, for example about forward-looking items or asking for specifics that he cannot legally provide without getting into trouble. Once those questions were set aside then Elon started to open up and carry more of the discussion. There were a few technical glitches and Elon paused to drink his Diet Coke but for the most part the 90 minutes just flew by with one subject after the next. At one point Elon took us with him as he walked around his house, I think to get another Diet Coke, and it appeared that he was broadcasting from the inside of a Swiss villa, or something given all of the wood we could see. All told, he was pretty engaged and while I don't think he could see all of us, there were certainly times he got a round of applause or some "I Love You Elon"s shouted out which he could hear and did react to. I know that they want to try and get Elon to come in person next year. I hope that works out!
With that, the main event concluded, and awards were given out to winners in each category, although for some reason other categories had 3 winners and the Cybertruck category had only 1. I gave some feedback in my survey that I submitted after the event that I think all categories should be treated equally. There were some really nice prizes given out too. The winner in the Cybertruck division was Kai whose truck must have 100 different things on it, including a great recruitment poster!
BTW Kai says that lightbar is getting an upgrade to work with light shows in the future as current versions don't.
We departed the fairgrounds and went back to the hotel to pack up and leave. I dropped Therron off at the afterparty at a local brewery on the way out of town and he later sent me this picture:
Sadly, I was not able to make the after party as I had to get on the road headed back to KC as I was trying to turn 3 days of driving into 2.5 to keep to a schedule and arrive in time to accomplish some other items. I have plenty of pictures of landscapes and some videos of the trek across country but I wanted to make these posts more about the event itself so I will just share a few of those before wrapping up.
That final picture was taken about an hour from home and shows what I think is an X in the sky (maybe even Xi ) which I thought was a fitting symbol for my trip out to the X Takeover 2025. One again I'd like to thank John, Kelvin and the entire crew responsible for hosting the X Takeover event. They did a fantastic job. As soon as they publish a date for next year's event you should block it out on your calendar and plan to attend! Who knows, maybe next year Master Chief will show up.
Sponsored
Last edited:
. Huge thanks to you, Ken, for capturing and sharing it for those who couldn’t make it.
... I did see families at the event.
