The Xounts Up, a speaker in the shape of a pyramid, reached its goal on Kickstarter earlier this month. I know because I received PR on it. Two hundred and twelve people backed it, allowing it to successfully raise more than $78,000. Those 212 people will walk into their homes later this year when the Xounts Up ships, and they'll see this:

Yes, The Verge was sent a $269 Xounts Up speaker, and we chose to protect you all from it. Whenever someone walks by the Verge-ified Xounts Up, which we hide in a closet, they marvel at how truly ugly it is and why anyone would be interested in it. But Xounts does make its pyramid look good in its promotional material, as demonstrated by 212 invested backers.

I don’t fault you, Kickstarter funders. We all fall for advertisements, like when we see people’s dating profiles and imagine them as a glorious statuesque-figure and they’re actually a troll. It’s sad and unfortunate, but at least we didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on that bad date, and our relationship ends after a drink. A Kickstarter purchase is forever. I’m sorry. But hey, at least you got a conversation piece out of it! Oh, and at least we can verify that this product is real, unlike a lot of Kickstarters.