Another Near-Miss From ThinkGeek: The Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set!

The Good: Nice artwork, Collectible value
The Bad: Expensive for pint glasses, "Function" does not work properly, Not dishwasher safe, Poor durability
The Basics: The Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glasses from ThinkGeek are cute, but not durable enough to live up to all they promise.


Despite there being a ton of coffee mugs around my house, my wife still managed to find something new and cool for me to drink out of. For the holidays, she decided to further lessen our cabinet space by picking up some pint glasses for me. As I get into drinking more cold drinks (especially milkshakes!), she thought I should be drinking out of something other than coffee mugs. So, she picked me up two different sets of Star Wars pint glasses from ThinkGeek. While the Star Wars Cloud City pint glass set (reviewed here!) did not quite thrill me as much as I hoped based on its promised function, the Star Wars Battle Of Hoth pint glasses were pretty awesome, regardless of the lack of functionality to their special function. Like the other pint glasses, though, the Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set Of 2 utilize a gimmick that does not work like it is supposed to.

The Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set Of 2 are two identical pint glasses that feature artwork from The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!). The pint glasses are predominantly blue and white and feature the AT-AT's coming across the ice plains of Hoth with a snowspeeder headed toward them.

The Star Wars Pint Glass Set Of 2 features artwork that is identical to the promotional photos of the AT-ATs on Hoth that have appeared in books and things like toy boxes for years - since The Empire Strikes Back was released. The AT-ATs are silkscreened on heavy, clear glass. Each set of two is identical and features the same glass in duplicate. As the name implies, each pint glass holds a little over two cups worth of liquid. A whole 16 fl. oz. fits into the glass. Wider at the top, the 5 3/4” tall clear glass drinking glasses are both identical, including the image silkscreened onto them.

The Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set Of 2 was constructed with a color-changing gimmick. The snowspeeder is supposed to be invisible until a cold liquid is placed into the glass. Unfortunately, the snowspeeder is entirely visible, regardless of there being any liquid in the glass and while it is initially faint, it does get darker like it is supposed to. When a cold liquid is placed in the pint glass, the snowspeeder gets more distinct and darker, but it never truly fades to be anywhere near close to surprising for its appearance when a liquid is added. This was less of a detraction for me because the snowspeeder being visible the whole time looks authentic and cool - and is appropriate for the setting without any form of "cloaking."

The Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set Of 2 is not at all durable. It took less than a week of using and cleaning the pint glasses before each of them showed noticeable wear. While the snowspeeder on the glasses held up fine, the rest of the silkscreening showed some chips and scratches. The glasses are not dishwasher safe and having hand washed the pint glasses with softer cloths to try to avoid damage, it was especially frustrating that the glasses already show wear to the silkscreening.

Fans of Star Wars will probably excuse the lack of a true color-changing element to the Star Wars Battle Of Hoth Pint Glass Set because the snowspeeder looks good enough even slightly faded against the Hoth snowscape and the AT-ATs are just awesome. The glasses would have been perfect without the gimmick, but with the gimmick being a mild failure, these just become somewhat average pint glasses from ThinkGeek.

For other kitchen supplies, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Pint Glass Set Of 4
Star Trek Decloaking Klingon Bird Of Prey Mug
Norpro Deluxe Stainless Steel Baster Set

5/10

For other kitchen product reviews, please be sure to visit my Kitchen Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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