Finally, when the anticipation and suspense seemed too great, the public held its breath and the sheet was lifted. At long last, the world was able to behold Ginger in all its self-balancing glory. After a quick glance, the world let out a collective sigh of disappointment, shrugged its shoulders and walked away. But don’t be too hard on Ginger; it’s not really her fault. Ginger suffered because of shoddy marketing and media hype.

On December 3, the eyes of the scientific community and the world at large tuned in to ABC’s Good Morning America to witness the unveiling of a product billed as “so revolutionary, it would be bigger than the internet,” and a modern-day miracle that would “completely redefine transportation as we know it.” The world tuned in to witness the birth of Ginger.

When news of the mysterious invention was leaked early this year, its creator, Dean Kamon, maintained an odd silence. He appeared on CNN, not to shed light on what Ginger might be, but to feed and encourage a futile guessing game we were all to participate in.

Internet forums popped up, their contributors speculating on what Ginger actually was. The ideas ranged from hovercrafts and jetpacks to anti-gravity units and fantastic new engine designs. Even the hilarious “motorized toilet scooter” was suggested. Although this added to the fervour that was making Ginger front page material, on Monday it proved to be a horrible marketing mistake. No actual product, no matter how great, could have competed with the imagined products of millions of people who had bounced ideas off one another for almost a year.

The real Ginger (a standup electric scooter that is steered by the driver’s weight) is not entirely blameless. It has its fair share of problems. It tips the scale at a robust 65 lbs, making it too heavy to carry with you practically. It leaves the rider exposed to the elements, which makes it useless during a Canadian winter. In addition, we haven’t seen Ginger maneuver in the less than ideal conditions of skinny sidewalks and rush-hour congestion.

Now, those same internet forums that were once home to the debate of what Ginger is have been filled with people’s triumphant cries that this will never replace the automobile (although its creator is the first to admit that it was never intended to replace the car). So Ginger is far from perfect, but its true value might lie in what it and the pattern of thinking that developed it might become.

Imagine a future where Ginger is simply one part of a system of clean-energy transportion devices. A system composed of radical ideas brought to life by radical thinkers, perhaps even some of those thinkers who had their own dreams of what Ginger should be.