Pure excitement quickly turned to sheer disappointment recently when it was announced that Nike was going to release the MAG, the actual self–tying sneaker that Michael J. Fox‘s Marty McFly character wore in Back to the Future II, BUT that they would only be releasing a limited 1,500 pairs of the shoe via auction (which, on the first day, were running many thousands of dollars per pair) and they would, sadly, not be self–lacing.

But that does not appear to be the end of it. Legendary shoe engineer Tinker Hatfield, the man who designed this brand new Nike MAG and invented the original Pump sneakers, was on hand at the release party for the MAG and had some encouraging words for those saddened by the lack of self–lacing.