Even at 24 years-old, I have to admit, Marty McFly is my hero. Maybe it's because he can travel through time in a Delorean, or maybe it's because he fronts a bitchin' rock band that's "too darn loud" for the high school talent show, or maybe it's because of those killer shoes he wore in Back to the Future II.

Those shoes were so rad, they inspired an online petition begging Nike to make them in real-life. And seriously, who wouldn't want sneakers with a self-locking lace system that could light up?

According to Sneakerhunt.com, word on the street is that our dreams might become reality. He posts photos from an "undisclosed source" that show some Nikes that are very similar -- though not quite exact -- to the pair Marty wears in the film. "The only thing I can gather from this is that they may be a Nike prototype/sample which hopefully will see the light of release day at some point in the future. Even if only in extremely limited quantities, this would be absolutely amazing."

To be fair, these rumors have been around since 2006 when a pair showed up on eBay, but -- at least to my knowledge -- the company never made the shoes in large numbers. So, let this be a notice to anyone at Nike who has a say in these sorts of things: if you make these shoes, I will buy them. I promise.

[via MetaFilter]

Update: According to Michael of the McFly 2015 project -- the official website of the movement to get these shoes formally released by Nike -- the eBay Air McFlys were "made by some kid in his mom's basement," and thus, fake. Check out the site if you're interested in the real thing.