Exactly As The Title Suggests, Go The Fuck To Sleep Is A Novelty Children’s Book For Adults.

The Good: Very funny, Decent artwork.
The Bad: Short, Low practical application, Decent artwork.
The Basics: Adam Mansbach and Ricardo Cortes create an amusing, if entirely foul-mouthed children’s book with the very popular Go The Fuck To Sleep!


There is not much in the way of sophisticated analysis that can come from children’s books, I think. I mean, unless the message is entirely subversive or there is some real social controversy, it is hard to spend a whole load of time considering a children’s book. They are usually short, use appropriately simple diction and have artwork that is bright and clear, large enough to captivate the attention of children. While others may want to write a whole load about the adult children’s book Go The Fuck To Sleep, I find myself considering it pretty much another children’s book, despite the language.

Go The Fuck To Sleep is a children’s book intended for adults where the title line is repeated and rhymed as a parent pleads with his child to go to sleep so he can go do other things, like spend an evening with his wife. The supposedly shocking language is the result of an escalation on the part of the father, who just wants his kid to quiet down, close its eyes and, well, go the fuck to sleep. There is nothing more to the story than that. The book is pretty much a list of things that start with coaxing imagery and develops into pleading and then quiet seething as the father begs the child to go to sleep.

And it is funny. Adam Mansbach has some cute lines and the book is enough to make one smile. But, like most humor books, it replays poorly. I reread the book twice and listened to the audio version with Samuel L. Jackson reading it and by the time he was done with it, I was done with the experience. It wears thin quickly, though it is amusing and as one who is happily child-free, I thought the concept was quite amusing.

Illustrator Ricardo Cortes uses the requisite bright colors and the book looks like a children’s book. But most parents will not want to share this gem with their children, no matter how awful they (the parents or the children) are.

For other humor books, please visit my reviews of:
The Sinner’s Guide To The Evangelical Right By Robert Latham
The New York City Bartender’s Joke Book By Jimmy Pritchard
When You Are Engulfed In Flames By David Sedaris

5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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When the Borg Return, Picard's Character Grows In "I, Borg!"

The Good: Acting, Character, Intriguing plot
The Bad: Nothing tangible, Actually
The Basics: When the Enterprise finds a wounded Borg, Picard must put morality ahead of his own personal vengeance.


Fans of Star Trek The Next Generation anticipated, in the wake of the events in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" (reviewed here!) that when the Borg returned, it would be a very Picard-centered event. After all, being assimilated by the cybernetic creatures and forced to kill thousands of humans was a rather traumatic event for the Captain and it's hard to heal that in a single episode. Strangely, when the Borg did return, it ended up being a remarkable ensemble piece, as opposed to just a story about Captain Picard.

When the Enterprise responds to a distress call, they find a damaged Borg ship and a severely wounded Borg youth. Dr. Crusher insists on saving the Borg's life and when Picard sees it, he decides to use the opportunity to learn all he can about the Borg through Third of Five. Ad Geordi and Dr. Crusher study the boy, they name him "Hugh" and he exhibits signs of individuality. When Data designs a way to use Hugh as a weapon against all of the Borg, Picard is faced with an ethical dilemma: destroy an enemy or do right by Hugh?

"I, Borg" is a great example of Star Trek The Next Generation doing what it does best without seeming boring. Here we have a rather tight ethical dilemma to explore and the person most trusted in the series is compromised. The tension between Picard and Geordi in this episode works very well at establishing a mood that keeps the pace surprisingly tight for an episode that is essentially a morality play.

And the morality play comes across best through Picard's character. Of anyone on the ship, Picard has the most reason to hate the Borg. Essentially, he was raped by the Borg and here the story becomes, what justice exists in revenge? This is an episode that highlights what might be the best in human ethics. Given the opportunity to destroy those who wronged him, Picard may take the high road and his journey to that point is compelling and - when viewed from a psychological perspective - terrifying. In particular, one of the later scenes in the episode where Hugh and Picard speak and Picard assumes his Borg identity is rather disturbing from a psychological/character perspective.

It's also an opportunity for Patrick Stewart to do some great acting. Here, he makes Picard angry and compassionate, splitting the character into both a cold warrior and a victim. Stewart plays it perfectly, negotiating the strange dichotomy with a completely altered physical presence depending on the scene. His eyes become steely in the scenes where he is fighting against Hugh and sad and lighter when he comes around. It's a magnificent performance by the accomplished actor.

Yet, as I mentioned, this is an ensemble piece and the acting and character beyond Patrick Stewart as Picard is extraordinary. Whoopi Goldberg gives a very convincing performance as Guinan, expressing anger for the first time in that role. Goldberg uses her facial expressions and tones of voice to realistically portray Guinan opening up to Hugh. Similarly, Gates McFadden earns her keep in "I, Borg" by infusing her character with a rebellious spirit. At every step of the way, Dr. Crusher opposes using Hugh as a weapon and McFadden manages to make her character's objections sound reasonable and dignified as opposed to whiny and annoying.

The standout character of "I, Borg" is Hugh. Hugh puts a face and name to a villain that has been menacing and cruel and senselessly conquering in the Star Trek universe. Hugh embodies a freedom that the Borg have never had and he makes for a compelling character. Jonathan Del Arco, who played Hugh, makes his mark with wonderful facial control that bleeds away during the episode. As his character becomes more human, Del Arco masterfully infuses more facial and vocal expression into his performance, illustrating the change well beyond the lines.

Rounding out the performances is Levar Burton as Geordi La Forge. Burton gives a wonderful performance beyond what he has done on this series since "The Mind's Eye" (reviewed here!). Here, he is not being tormented physically or psychologically, but as he becomes the person who is expected to carry out the captain's orders to use Hugh as a weapon, it becomes obvious he is morally tortured and that works well. It's a different angle for him to explore and here he makes Geordi interesting. As a side note, I find it mildly amusing that the writers of Star Trek The Next Generation lifted Geordi's relationship with a Borg separated from the Collective from a novel entitled Vendetta (reviewed here!) but failed to make the necessary connection that author Peter David did; a Borg would naturally interface with Geordi because of his cybernetic VISOR!

There is a lot to enjoy about "I, Borg," but it is not perfect. The performances are all great and as a result the piece has the feeling of being polished so close to perfection, but it's closer to a 9 in my book. It's just something intangible that keeps it from being the very best television can be. But, it ought to be more than enough for anyone who likes a good debate on the ethics of war. It's also an excellent study of healing and getting to a point beyond vengeance for being wronged. And that's something everyone might enjoy.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Fifth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the fifth season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

9/10

For other Star Trek episode or DVD set reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2011, 2008, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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A Little Lightweight For Me, But The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit Is Still Worthwhile!

The Good: Great layout and graphics, Player tokens are MUCH easier than the originals, Inexpensive (now!)
The Bad: A lot of the questions are a bit too easy.
The Basics: Despite some questions that are a little easy for geeks and cinephiles who have watched The Lord Of The Rings a lot, this Trivial Pursuit is a great game!


For those who might not follow my many, many reviews, I have a great love of the Peter Jackson cinematic adaptations of The Lord Of The Rings (reviewed here!) and I quite love games. That is probably why, a few years back, I fell in love with The Lord Of The Rings RISK (reviewed here!). So when a friend of mine insisted that every real adult has a Trivial Pursuit board, I decided if I was going to succumb to such a banal form of peer pressure, I would at least make it fit my style. So, when I came across The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit Movie Trilogy Collector's Edition, I knew this was the right game for me!

Having played The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit several times now, I suspect that there are two ways to view the game, as a normal person and as a geek. I'm not a normal person: I am a geek, proud and sure. As one of the people who watches things like The Lord Of The Rings over and over again, with all of the different commentary tracks, I'm versed in it. If it appeared in the movies, odds are I know it because, well, I'm a geek. I suspect that a review of this product would be germane from a non-geek perspective as well, but as they say, you've got to dance with the Hobbit who brought you!

Basics

Trivial Pursuit is a ridiculously popular game from Parker Brothers where players answer questions in six different categories in an attempt to illustrate mastery of knowledge in a variety of subjects. Moving around a board with a wagon wheel design, players advance to spaces based upon the roll of a die which compels them to answer a question based upon the color of the space they choose to land on (the average role of the die allows players to move in one of three directions: forward or backward on the wheel or up one of the "spokes" through the center). At the base of each "spoke" is a larger space with a pie-wedge symbol in one of the six colors of the question categories. Answering the question correctly on that spot earns the player a scoring wedge.

The goal of Trivial Pursuit is to collect one of each scoring wedges on the player's token, then return to the center of the board and answer a final question of the opponent's choosing. Success at that wins the game. Trivial Pursuit is intended for two to four players or teams and it generally works best with adults. The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit is marked as intended for adults, but one supposes the younger geeks could get into it, too.

The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit is differentiated from standard Trivial Pursuit by the board, playing pawns, and questions. The game board is essentially the same as the standard board save that the coloring is given a more classic, firelit quality, so it looks like it was made on a parchment of some sort. As well, the iconography reflects the sensibilities of Middle Earth, with things like trees, harps, and leaves instead of bicycles and the likes on the standard Trivial Pursuit board.

The questions in The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit are broken down into categories appropriate for Middle Earth and The Lord Of The Rings. As a result, the categories in this edition of Trivial Pursuit include: Good (green), Evil (blue), Things (orange), Places & History (red), Warfare (yellow) and Behind-the-Scenes (brown). So, for example, when one lands on a blue space, they might have to answer the question "How many Wargs survive the battle and flee after their attack on the Rohan refugees?" Or, landing on a brown space might yield the question "What animal's sounds were used to create the groan for the lake beast outside Moria?" (Both of those were from card 145, by the way). This is basically the test for the geeks when they get together (for something other than watching DVDs).

Accessories

The "pawns" as they are called in The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit are made of pewter for this edition. There are four different pewter pawns (Frodo, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Aragorn) and the sculpts are different enough to allow for easy differentiation of the players. The clever thing about these pawns is how the gimmick improves the playability. One of the pains in the butt for Trivial Pursuit players has always been how the scoring wedges fit into the playing pawn. In The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit, the pewter pawns are attached to plastic bases. This necessitated a different shape scoring wedge and these wedges slide into the plastic base with ease and have a tab that makes them easier to remove at the end of the game.

In addition to the four pewter pawns, there is a Ringwraith pawn that can be added for a side game, which I've never bothered to play. There is also a replica of the One Ring that is far too small for any adult's finger. The game also comes with the die needed to play.

Playability

Trivial Pursuit is remarkably easy to play and The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit is no exception to that. Everything needed for the game comes right in the box, the rulebook is exceptionally easy to understand and the box of questions comes with a deck of three hundred different cards, so this is a game one may return to again and again for quite some time before they truly get sick of it. In this case, it is fun and geeky and that is pretty wonderful.

Collectibility

The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit has mild collectible value to fans of the films and the The Lord Of The Rings books. At the time, it appeared that this was overproduced in such a way that it went from its inflated initial price down to clearance racks everywhere. Now, in the secondary market, interest is growing again and one suspects that when The Hobbit is released, this might be a collectible people want to hunt down. Until then, geeks just tend to enjoy playing it, not collecting it.

Overview

The Lord Of The Rings Trivial Pursuit tends to be fun, but as a real geek, the questions are often a bit too easy for me. I like playing it, but the first time I played it, I played against a friend who I had stomped pretty mercilessly in The Lord Of The Rings RISK (I make no apologies, I'm the Alpha there!) and equally terrifically in Pirates Of The Caribbean Monopoly (twice, in a row, after she bragged about never losing Monopoly and me giving her the board as a gift). She got to roll the die three times before I won the game. This is not ideal for a kind game when you're trying to play nice with a friend. Unless you want to play dumb.

But then, that's not what Trivial Pursuit is for.

For other The Lord Of The Rings products, please check out my reviews of:
The Lord Of The Rings Novel Trilogy
The Fellowship Of The Ring Trading Card Game
The Lord Of The Rings pinball

9/10

For other toy and game reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Awful Pop: Stronger By Britney Spears Is Just A Waste Of Time.

The Good: Good message of empowerment, Duration (for a c.d. single)
The Bad: Duration (poor use of c.d.'s capacity), Utterly lame remixes, Overproduced
The Basics: Despite a good social message, the inane nature of the many remixes of Stronger makes the c.d. single impossible to recommend.


Last night, I made an important discovery while out waiting for my wife: I cannot write reviews using Safari on my iPod Touch (reviewed here!). For some reason, the iPod Touch recognizes the "Title" in review writing as a legitimate field, but none of the fields that follow. Go figure. This was especially distressing to me because it meant that I could not whip off my review of the Britney Spears maxi-single Stronger while on the fly as I was forced to listen to it over and over and over again while waiting for my wife. She was out with a friend, I went out for a reviewer's night listening to new (to me) music, reading books, etc. I think she had a better time consoling her friend in a lethally smoky apartment.

That said, Stronger is one of the few Britney Spears singles that actually came close enough for me to justify rating the single with a cointoss. It's not an especially glamorous choice, between one and two stars, but essentially, Stronger is a solid three out of ten in my reviewing scale, so there was reason to let the coin decide. Most of this comes down to the strength of the original mix of Stronger which, despite any of the other faults with the song or the career of Britney Spears does have the benefit of being a song that encourages young women to stand up, grow up and get through their obstacles. Social benefit and the flip of a coin win out today. Unfortunately, the five remixes of Stronger that populate the c.d. "single" afterward are so trite, obvious and banal as to make the disc not worth picking up at all.

With six tracks occupying almost thirty-seven minutes, Stronger is a fair example of the talents of Britney Spears, but a far better example of how her works were assembled by a production team. Spears provides the lead vocals for the song, but nothing more. She was not involved in the writing, any of the instrumental accompaniment, nor the production of the song. She was not involved in any of the five remixes of the song, either.

Stronger is very much a Britney Spears song from her dance-pop tradition that came out of her second album, Oops!... I Did It Again. As a result, the song is produced more than it is played and the instrumental accompaniment is keyboards and drum machines. The song has a dance-pop anthem sound with sweeping crescendos and abrupt stops to accent the lines and (presumably) dance movements. The tune is entirely unmemorable, a statement made easier by listening to the mind-numbing remixes.

The five remixes take the original 3:23 song Stronger and add innumerable repetitions of lines (as in the "Pimp Juice's 'Ain't No Shame In This Vocal Game' Mix") and downplay the lyric in favor of generic dance beats (as in the "Mac Quayle Club Mix"). The results are longer versions of the song, combined with less emphasis on meaning and a numbing sense that comes with listening to this single on heavy replay. This was never Britney Spears' most original track and it was pretty much dance pop to begin with, so making it more electric, pop and generically dancable just seems pointless. And yet, five DJs and producers felt the need to remix this song.

Vocally, Stronger is atrocious. Britney Spears is nasal and whiny on the track and it would be easy to be down on her for it, save for the fact that the vocals are so overproduced that it is hard to find an actual human voice in them in this case. Spears' vocals are so altered with reverb and other production elements that she sounds more mechanized than usual and not at all like a real person.

But lyrically, Stronger - the versions where the lyrics can be heard and they focus on lines outside just the refrain - is actually not bad. The song encourages listeners to continue struggling through life and overcoming obstacles with lines like "Stronger than yesterday / Now it's nothing but my way / My loneliness ain't killing me no more / I'm stronger / Than I ever thought that I could be, baby / I used to go with the flow / Didn't really care ‘bout me / You might think that I can't take it, but you're wrong." Given how teens, tweens, twentysomethings and parents were the ones listening to Spears' works at that time, a message of encouragement is not the worst thing to come out of the performer's mouth.

Still, there's not enough here to justify purchasing the single (much less its creation). The song is not a rip-roaring example of youthful talent and the remixes take an already musically dubious product and make it feel mass-produced, stripped of worth and cheap. Insert your own Britney Spears joke: Stronger's inane remixes are a joke in and of themselves.

For other Britney Spears works, please visit my reviews of:
. . . Baby One More Time (single)
Britney
Blackout

2.5/10

For other music reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Mildly Raspberry, Land O' Lakes Raspberry & Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix Is Overpriced.

The Good: Tastes good, Easy to prepare
The Bad: Very expensive in this form, Environmental impact of packaging, Not strongly raspberry.
The Basics: While Raspberry & Chocolate Cocoa Classics from Land O' Lakes taste wonderfully chocolatey, they do not live up to anything like a raspberry flavor.


One of the nice things about having a wife who loves trying new things - at least for a reviewer - is that I get to experience a number of new products pretty constantly. Because my wife enjoys finding new things she thinks I will enjoy, I benefit and my review volume stays pretty consistent and high. Because I travel so much, my wife tends to make me little care packages and she seems to miss me pretty constantly when I am not around. Recently, when we were in Michigan together, but she was off doing her own thing, she gave me a little cocoa care package featuring a favorite of mine, Mint & Chocolate Cocoa Classics hot cocoa mix (reviewed here!). She also picked up and included some Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa mixes because she is trying to get me to broaden my culinary horizons.

The thing with this flavor of Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics is that it is good . . . but it is not a great flavor that actually bears the strength of the fruit flavor that it claims to. As a result, it is far more average and the expense of the packets in this form drag it down into "not recommend" territory, which might seem like a surprise, but for the fact that I have standards I stand by and there are plenty of other flavors in this line that taste amazing and like what they claim to.

Basics

The Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa mix is part of the Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics premium hot cocoa line. The mix comes in a 1 1/4 oz. sealed foil package and is a pretty delicious mix. Each 1 1/4 oz. packet is a single serving and these bear a relatively high price tag virtually everywhere I have found them of approximately three for two dollars. For a single mug of cocoa, this is expensive when compared to other make-at-home products, but about on par with getting a cocoa at a place like Dunkin' Donuts.

Ease Of Preparation

The Cocoa Classics Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa mix is ridiculously simple to make. Having picked up a packet ten days ago (in 2011), this is a product to stock up on as the expiration date recommended using the packet before February 2013. Because it is sealed and has some artificial preservatives in is, this is likely to last virtually forever unopened. A single serving is the packet and six oz. of water. There is no measuring of the product involved!

As a result, preparation is ridiculously simple. The top of the envelope has a perforated edge and one need simply tear open the top, which is quite easy, and pour the contents of the packet into a mug that is at least eight ounces large. Then, simply pour hot water - near boiling, but not actually boiling as boiling water cooks the ingredients as opposed to simply dissolving them - over the powder and stir. Stir the powder until there are no blobs of chocolate powder visible in the water or giving resistance from the bottom. The beverage will have a light purple-brown color to it and will be uniformly smooth and creamy.

Taste

Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa is an excellent idea that is executed with only middling success. While the expense might seem stifling, chocolate raspberry is an increasingly popular flavor that seems to be the focus of many premium products in both chocolate and hot chocolate. So far, it seems like Land O' Lakes has benefited by being the only fish in the sea in this way. The Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa immediately strikes the consumer with a scent that is richly chocolate and very much what one expects to smell from raspberries. It has the scent that is easily identifiable to anyone who likes shampoos, perfumes and skin care products intended to smell like raspberries (somewhat different from actual raspberries, but this is pretty much the industry standard). This immediately prepares the consumer for a taste experience that is richly raspberry.

And that is likely to leave the consumer disappointed the moment it cools enough to taste. The Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa is exceptionally weak in terms of raspberry flavor. In fact, it does not taste raspberry or even fruity at all. The taste is a smooth, chocolate flavor that has a very milky texture to it, especially as the beverage cools. The scent is overwhelmingly that of raspberries, but the taste is solely chocolate.

That said, the chocolate flavor is a good one for anyone who likes milk chocolate. The taste is light and chocolatey and hot this beverage is delicious . . . just not terribly raspberry flavored and as a result, it seems awfully expensive for a raspberry chocolate premium hot cocoa drink.

Nutrition

Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics are hot cocoa mix and therefore not the most nutritious things in the known world, though the Raspberry & Chocolate flavor could be far less nutritious than it is. While I am used to reviewing things like all natural teas where the ingredients are all easily pronounceable and recognizable, the Raspberry & Chocolate hot cocoa has a few ingredients that cannot be easily identified. The primary ingredients are sugar, nonfat dry milk and whey. It is not vegan compliant as a result. Ironically, there is nothing even resembling a raspberry or raspberry flavoring in the ingredient list, so it is little surprise that it is so un-raspberry flavored.

What is not a mystery is how high this product is in sugars. In each cup of Raspberry & Chocolate Cocoa Classics, there are 140 calories, thirty of which are from fat. There are three grams of saturated fat, so while one might be tempted to curl up and enjoy this while resting, they are likely to pay for it later on! While there is no cholesterol, a consumer gets 11% of their recommended daily allowance of salt out of a single packet of this beverage! There is a little protein, but not enough to live off this. In other words, this product is not a nutritious food product. But it is good!

This product contains soy and milk and because there are no notations on it, one must assume it is not Kosher or gluten-free.

Storage/Cleanup

So long as one leaves the Raspberry & Chocolate Cocoa Classic powder in its packet, it ought to stay usable. Given that it has an expiration date almost two years away, one assumes it will last quite a while and dissolve appropriately when one attempts to use it. The packets, for those of us who consider the environmental impact of such things, are terribly wasteful and expensive. The foil/plastic wrappers are not recyclable anywhere I've been.

Cleanup is very easy as well. If the product spills while dumping it into the mug, simply wipe it up or brush it up with a dry or damp cloth. If it has already been reconstituted with water into hot cocoa, simply wipe it up. Light fabrics are likely to stain if this gets on them, in which case consult your fabric care guide to clean it up.

Overall

Land O' Lakes Cocoa Classics are expensive for what one gets and the Raspberry & Chocolate is delicious, but it fails to meet my most basic litmus test, which is "does it taste like what it claims to?" In this case, the answer is a resounding "no." It might be good, but for the expense, it is reasonable for consumers to expect better, more flavorful hot cocoa that actually tastes, not just smells, like raspberry.

For other hot chocolate drinks, please visit my reviews of:
Land O'Lakes Chocolate Supreme
Land O' Lakes Chocolate & Caramel Cocoa
Forrelli Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa

4.5/10

For other food or drink reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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No Rush To Sequel: Catwoman Disappoints!

The Good: Good casting
The Bad: Poor acting, Terrible script, Dull plot, Horrible soundtrack, Lousy effects
The Basics: When Patience Phillips learns too much about the secrets of a beauty cream, she is killed and resurrected by cats to become a bland female stereotype, er, superheroine.


Sometimes a review ought to start with the bottomline and with Catwoman, I am inclined to do just that. Watching Catwoman makes me fear the forthcoming (eventually) cinematic debut of Wonder Woman. I mean, here's the big question: how can you screw up a movie about a leathered-up Hollywood-beautiful woman who runs around cracking a whip and kicking butt? I suppose one could ask writers Theresa Rebeck, John Brancato, Michael Ferris, and John Rogers and director Pitof (who I had a great deal of respect for from his work on The City Of Lost Children). This line of thought brings to mind the phrase "[Insert name here] could screw up a wet dream!" Apparently, it took a team of five to mess up the wet dream of about five million teenagers.

Reinventing the wheel, Catwoman finds Patience Phillips stumbling through her day doing artwork for a cosmetics company. She works under George Hedare who is marketing a toxic facial cream that will addict its users and ultimately make them biodegrade. When Patience haplessly learns this fact, George has her executed and Patience washes up among cats who resuscitate her and guide her to a woman who can help her accept her new identity as Catwoman, avenger of . . . sigh.

I'm sick of cliches and this whole movie is a tremendous collection of many of the worst ones. We begin with the death, jump backwards and then follow the story forward. It's been done. It's been done, dare I say, to death. It does not add anything new or extraordinary to this telling, so we wonder why the writers bothered with this technique or convolution. The problem is, in her opening monologue, Patience claims to be an unremarkable woman, living an unremarkable life. I'm sick of seeing movies about supposed "unremarkable" people who have great jobs (she works for a fashion company in a capacity that the head of the company knows her name!), apparently unlimited money for wardrobe and accessories, and several friends. Not to mention the ability to attract a potential mate (in this case, the police detective Tom Lone). Perhaps I miss the concept of unremarkable, but all those things seem pretty decent to me.

The next cliche involves the whole weird female desperation mythos that Hollywood insists on perpetrating. I suppose that's to be expected from a film about a strong woman which is presented by a creative team where men outnumber women four to one (see above writer/director list). As a result, Catwoman falls into or perpetrates some of the most banal stereotypes of women. Patience Phillips, from the opening shots, an attractive woman, is accompanied through her professional life by a perky yet not-as-attractive-by-Hollywood standards, dressed-to-accent-her-slight-overweight best friend who only seems to get excited when she's contemplating getting her friend laid. Then there's Ophelia, the pretty generic crone character who instructs Patience on the noble tradition of Catwomen in the Sisterhood of Women. All three are simply archetypes. And, of course, there are Laurel Hedare the dominant woman who wants to make women strong and the woman who her husband is sleeping with whose sole niche is the "slut."

And, as in any good patriarchal system of archetypes, all of the women (save Ophelia) derive pleasure and/or meaning from the men in the movie. Ophelia, as crone, cannot be associated with men and she is not. Patience and Catwoman are defined and saved by Tom in various capacities (including literally saving Patience from falling off a ledge when they first meet). Laurel comes to power by crushing George. Sally resolves her character arc by being attractive enough to woo her doctor. All of them are dependent upon the men. Catwoman's costume even comes from a man! Whenever the characters need an idea, it's the men who float the ideas they go with (case in point, it is not Patience who ultimately reasons how to keep her identity secret, but Tom).

Everything about this movie is canned. From the opening concept of "I had to die before I learned to live" to the "I called it five minutes before it happened" applause in the office when Patience tells her boss, George, off, this is a predictable movie with overused themes and an ending that hinges on the idea of a woman being insecure in a relationship with a man when she has freedom and/or power.

The only moments that have even remotely decent acting occur in Patience's initial transformation. Halle Berry does an excellent job of convincing the audience that her character is shocked by her newfound abilities and confidence. She sells us on that. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie does not fare so well and none of the actors give performances remotely near memorable. This is one of those cases of "excellent cast, used poorly." Lambert Wilson portrays George Hedare in a way so similar to his role in The Matrix Reloaded that I expected at any moment for him to begin droning on about cause and effect. Alex Borstein mortgages her charm and charisma to take on the droll role of Sally. Benjamin Bratt never seems remotely charming and Sharon Stone lacks any of her usual presence on screen.

And Frances Conroy, all I have to ask is "Why?!" Six Feet Under (reviewed here!) was successful, why put yourself in this . . .?

One of the ironies of Catwoman is that many of us have been waiting for a Catwoman movie since Michelle Pfiffer played the character in Batman Returns (reviewed here!). On the IMDB, alternate titles for Catwoman include "Untitled Batman Returns Spin-off." The shame of that is that this movie does no justice to the mythos or character created in Batman Returns. More than that, one of the most successful aspects of Batman Returns is the way the visual mood created by Tim Burton mixed with the haunting music of Danny Elfman.

In contrast, Catwoman is a boorish collection of current stars in the rap, r&b and pop world belting out tracks that are heavy on the bass, low on intelligence or intelligibility set to images that evoke almost no real mood. As I said before, it takes a lot to screw up the combination of positive or marketable elements the concept of this movie had going into it. Yet, it manages to do just that. It's a shame, too. The world could use more positive, strong, intelligent female characters.

This just isn't the place to find them, though.

For other live-action DC superhero films, please check out my reviews of:
Superman Returns
Batman Begins
Green Lantern
Jonah Hex

2.5/10

For other movie reviews, please be sure to check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Far Less Impressed, The Hamilton Beach 45802B Electric Kettle Disappoints!

The Good: Actually boils water?
The Bad: Weird controls, Small capacity, Plastic jug gets hot, Odd taste of water
The Basics: If one does not enjoy weirdly boiled, off-tasting water, pass the Hamilton Beach 45802B Electric Kettle by!


As I consider the various electric kettles I have tried over the last year, few stick out in my mind the way the Hamilton Beach 45802B does. Unfortunately for Hamilton Beach, this is not a good thing. As far as electric kettles go, Hamilton Beach has been largely underwhelming to me; I was not a fan of their Hamilton Beach K1050 Electric Kettle and the 45802B is actually worse . . . by far. The smallest electric kettle I've tried by far, the 45802B is overly complicated for users who just want to boil water and have something to drink. As well, unlike every other (larger) electric kettle I have tried, the 45802B has a plastic jug which gets hot and leaves the water tasting off. It would not surprise me if Hamilton Beach starts going for metal liners or full-metal jugs for their electric kettles, but if they are looking to have a discount line (as opposed to quality) it would make sense why they have not started there.

The Hamilton Beach 45802B Electric Kettle is a squat, jug-type electric kettle that plugs into the wall. This had an initial price of $19.99 + tax, but many sites on-line offer it for less. Given that I am not recommending the unit, I would not recommend consumers pay that much for it. I suppose the niche market for this smaller electric kettle is people who live in apartments with very little counter space or shelf capacity. This is a small unit and with its translucent blue jug, it is hardly stylish. I cringe to think how this would not fit into a nice kitchen done up with stainless steel appliances!

The 45802B Electric Kettle from Hamilton Beach is a one-piece electric kettle that makes the user feel like they are boiling water in a little coffee pot. This is white for the base and blue for the sides of the jug. It is a one-piece electric kettle (though the top comes off for the addition of water). The 45802B Electric Kettle is comprised of white and blue plastic, with a detachable flip top, elongated spout, and a wider base, which conceals the heating element.

The base is approximately six and a half inches in diameter with a cord that plugs into a three-prong wall socket. The cord is only three feet long, but for those who do not need a cord that has to stretch even that far, below the base is a space that allow the user to wind the cord up and contain it under the unit. This is handy and there are no issues (I've had) with keeping the base level after winding the cord under it. The base simply plugs into the wall when one wishes to activate the unit and it has a dial one needs to turn when one wishes to activate the unit.

Here, though, the unit is overly complicated for most users; the electric kettle has a dial with little blobs above it, turned as far clockwise as possible boils the water. The minimum setting brings cold water up to room temperature. These options seem pointless as the only real use I've found for an electric kettle is boiling water. If you don't need the water boiling, you can always turn it off before the water boils or let it boil, then cool for a few minutes before using it to make whatever you needed less-than-boiling water for. The lesser dial positions seem like a waste of energy to me and if one uses a lesser position than the maximum, the water will still boil, it just takes longer. I shudder to think what this would do to the electric bill!

The kettle portion is attached to the base, fused together as a single unit. This has the advantage of not needing to worry about losing any parts to the 45802B. The unit is approximately seven inches tall and has a sturdy blue and white plastic handle that extends back past the limits of the base that makes it easy to grab, hold and maintain control over the electrical kettle. At least, that is the theory. The handle is curved and made of smooth plastic which makes it less stable (the handle is rounded as well) and it easily slips from the hand.

The 45802B electric kettle has a pretty pathetic .95 Liter capacity (in practical terms, this is about one full steeping pot worth of tea!) and that takes approximately eight minutes to come to a very full boil, when filled with initially lukewarm water and turned to the maximum setting.

Operating this is so simple it almost defies explanation: fill with water, plug the unit into the wall socket, turn the activation dial clockwise (it is located on the side of the base of the kettle) and wait. The 45802B does not whistle when the water is boiled, so one needs to pay attention to it. Supposedly, it has a function that shuts it off automatically whenever the water level gets too low, but mine never activated. It is easy enough to turn the dial back to "off," unplug the kettle and pour water from it when it has boiled.

Then all you need to do is pour your boiling water out. Refilling the unit is a snap as the top flips open easily.

Cleanup is also incredibly easy. First, I recommend only using filtered water in the unit. This forever eliminates the need to clean inside because nothing ever builds up inside. Unfortunately, after even limited use, I noticed there were stains inside the 45802B. These do not appear to be stains from the water, per se, but rather from the plastic denaturing. I scrubbed them, but they did not go away, leading us to the conclusion that extended use of this product denatures the plastic over time. The base cleans up with a damp cloth and because of the electric components in it, it should not be submerged in water.

The real drawback I've noticed, though, comes in the fact that the plastic jug heats up a lot - more than some of the metal electric kettles I've owned or reviewed. I suspect this also has a lot to do with why the plastic seems to denature (the element might well be cooking the jug) and the water tastes funny coming out of this.

Even though this is made of plastic and has limited potential to break and it generally cleans up easily, this is easily the worst electric kettle I have yet reviewed and it is quite safe to pass this one by!

For other electric kettles and kitchen appliances, please check out my reviews of:
Krups FLF31W Electric Kettle
Chef's Choice Electric Kettle
Westinghouse WSTBW2 Waffle Maker

2/10

For other home and garden product reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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More From The Family On The Fall: Arrested Development Season Two Is A Quiet Winner!

The Good: Funny, Good acting, Amusing storylines
The Bad: Characters are almost universally unlikable, Plays same card (joke) repetitively.
The Basics: On DVD, Arrested Development shines as one of the best ensemble comedies of our time with a dysfunctional family of self-absorbed individuals and one son who binds them.


Perhaps the best moment in the DVD presentation of Arrested Development Season Two comes on the blooper reel. At the end of the reel, actor David Cross, who plays Tobias, artfully tells the camera and the audience a list of the awards the show had won and suggests that the problem with Arrested Development is not the writing, acting, directing or anything associated with the actual show, but rather with the marketing. He takes the marketing department at Fox to task for failing to capitalize on Arrested Development and, well, to market it effectively.

Following the escape of white-collar criminal George Bluth Sr. from prison, Michael Bluth abandoned the Bluth Company and his family, taking his son George-Michael and heading for Phoenix. Unfortunately for Michael, he forgot to get his last paycheck before going and he and George-Michael find themselves once again living in the model home of the Bluth Company with Michael's assorted siblings and in-laws.

While Michael strives to hold the Bluth Company together, he begins dating again and he finds himself in a power play with Gob for head of the company. Lucille continues to manipulate her children and the search for George Bluth takes a turn when an unlikely family member stumbles upon him. And once George is found, Buster loses something important . . . and hilarity ensues.

Arrested Development was, quite simply, too smart for the Fox audience. That is not to say the audience that continues to keep The Simpsons on the air is not smart enough to enjoy Arrested Development. But Fox, whose motto ought to be "Three episodes to success . . . or you're outta' here!," failed to keep Arrested Development in a stable timeslot, failed to promote the show and basically failed to market it. The series won its second season simply by blowing away the few people who watched it sufficiently to win all kinds of awards, like the Emmy for Best Comedy. Take that, marketing department! It's pretty much impossible to cancel the Emmy Award-winning Best Comedy right after it won, so Arrested Development got a second season and with the strength of the DVD sales, we're glad it got a third.

This show is essentially a comedy documentary on the fall of a family. Every member of the Bluth family is self-involved, with most of the family members never noticing what is going on in the lives of the others in the family. So, for example, no one notices that Maeby, Tobias and Lindsay's fifteen year-old daughter, has managed to land a job as a movie producer. The obliviousness of the characters to the people most important to them results in much humor.

But even better is the speed and quality of the dialogue. In one of the three commentary tracks in this boxed set, one of the participants notes that everything seen in the episode they are commenting on is packing into twenty-two minutes and it's fairly amazing how much can be accomplished in so short a span. This is a sharp show where the humor turns quickly on a muttered phrase, a look or the sudden changing of a circumstance.

Also, Arrested Development utilizes a narrator, a la a documentary, which keeps casual viewers up-to-date, reminds loyal viewers and amuses those who pay attention to it. What could be a cheap device is utilized quite effectively and Ron Howard, who voices the narrator, is an exceptional choice for the part.

Like all great works - and in its second season, Arrested Development hits a stride few comedies ever manage to - the show is about characters. Here is how season two finds the primaries:

Michael Bluth - Continually plagued by problems with the Bluth Company and trying hard to raise his son despite the influence of his other family members, he finds himself in the dating world once again. This season, he finds himself dating the daughter of the rival housing development company and in a tug-of-war with Gob for the leadership of the Bluth Company,

Lindsay Funke - While still Michael's confidant and twin sister, Lindsay begins to strike out on her own as she and her husband Tobias try opening up their marriage,

Gob - The magician, still blacklisted by the Alliance, attempts to run the Bluth Company in the absence of George and finds himself in over his head. This leads him to attempt to woo the Alliance with increasingly dangerous illusions,

Buster - In his quest to distance himself from his mother, Buster finds himself volunteered for the Army. As he prepares to ship out to Iraq, though, he learns a startling truth about his family and his father, which leads to tragedy,

George-Michael - Distancing himself from his cousin Maeby, he begins to explore a relationship with a bland Christian Fundamentalist named Ann Veal. His new relationship leads him to protests and family events with another family, possibly stranger than his own,

Maeby Funke - In an effort to help her father, Tobias, and rebel against Lindsay, the youngest member of the Bluth-Funke family swindles a school into charity drives and lands a job as a script editor/producer for a motion picture company,

Tobias Funke - Oblivious to the problems between himself and Lindsay, he becomes convinced he would be an ideal understudy for the Blue Man Group, until his professional attempts land him far from his family and his method of return becomes . . . disturbing,

Oscar Bluth - George's twin brother, harassed by police for his resemblance to fugitive George, finds himself living with Lucille. His attempt to rekindle a romance with Lucille and act as a father to Buster put him in the crosshairs of George's vengeance,

Lucille Bluth - Still meddling in the lives of her children and the Bluth Company, Lucille volunteers Buster for the Army, takes Oscar as a lover once again and essentially makes herself a pain to Michael with her spending habits,

and George Bluth - On the run from the law for allegedly building housing developments in Iraq, George finds himself on the run. After leaving Mexico, where he is presumed dead, he takes up residence closer to the family than any suspect, where he begins to go somewhat batty.

Arrested Development's characters are all self-centered and generally unlikable. What keeps the viewer engrossed in their story is the quality of the acting. The performers in this show are brilliant, creating one of the most memorable casts on television with performers who are not terribly well known separately.

Tony Hale plays Buster with brilliant awkwardness, David Cross brings his considerable comedic talents to the mix as Tobias and Portia de Rossi is fabulous as the always-preoccupied Lindsay. The children, Michael Cera as George-Michael and Alia Shawkat hold their own with established veterans like Jessica Walter (Lucille) and Jeffrey Tambor (George and Oscar). Given the absurdity of his character, it was a surprise on the commentary to learn that Will Arnett was primarily a dramatic actor before landing Arrested Development.

But it is Jason Bateman who is given the heavy lifting on Arrested Development. As his character ties together the family and business, Bateman's performance ties the viewer to the show. As the least objectionable character, Bateman evokes empathy for this family that would otherwise be delicious to watch crumble. He is funny with a very quick delivery and a simple ability to play a bemused expression with subtlety. It is no surprise he was nominated for awards as Michael Bluth.

Anyone who enjoys intelligent, serialized comedy and is looking for something new and clever will enjoy Arrested Development Season Two. And one of the nice things is, this show is very accessible to new viewers, including a bonus on disc one that recaps season one. Outside the repetition of some jokes that were pretty well beaten to death in the first season, this is a unique and charming series that will continue to entertain viewers for years.

For other worthwhile second seasons of comedies, please check out my reviews of:
Frasier Season Two
Gilmore Girls The Complete Second Season
30 Rock Season 2

9/10

For other television reviews, please check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Esoteric And Very Addy, Collectors News Magazine Is A Tough Sell To Casual Readers.

The Good: Thorough for its specific topics, Fairly well-written
The Bad: Very addy, Information seems like it would be easily available elsewhere...
The Basics: Shockingly well-written with great sources, Collectors News is a monthly magazine that truly establishes itself as an authority on maintaining and growing valuable collections.


Magazines as a medium may be one of the legitimate casualties of the internet, but as I consider Collectors News magazine, I am beginning to think that that might not be an ideal thing. Reading Collectors News, one immediately feels like they are in the presence of people who know exactly what they are talking about . . . even if what they are speaking authoritatively about is of no interest to the reader. I am a collector of trading cards and a few other things, but Collectors News seems to be a generalized magazine on collectibles in general, with a bit more emphasis on toys and dolls.

I picked up Collectors News because I was hoping to find something other than eBay (or as I call it "the devil incarnate") to use as a market standard or guide for pricing. Far from what I expected, Collectors News is a glossy magazine discussing the current trends in general collecting and offering advice on how to collect better. For the purpose of my review, I investigated the September 2009 issue of Collectors News.

Collectors News is a magazine published monthly as a glossy, full-color magazine that is remarkably short and surprisingly expensive. For the expert opinions of the writing staff of Collectors News, readers pay $3.95 for a 36 page (including the covers) magazine. I include the covers because the page numbers do (the inside cover is page 2). With only thirty-six pages, the magazine devotes an inordinate amount of space to advertisements and opportunities for collector's to gather and acquire, so this has the feel of being a social network and business tool as much as it seems like a magazine about utilizing free time for fun.

Out of the thirty-six pages, sixteen are filled with advertisements for products, places, events or services. Collectors News must be quite useful to those working with antiques because a large section of the advertisements are for restorative artists. Similarly, there is an extensive section listing locations of flea markets, collectible fairs and conventions for the entire month. Given how this magazine is advertising events for the month ahead this gives readers a chance to truly plan their travel plans around the locations with the best collecting fairs. Still, it does seem like a lot of space taken up in a paid publication for ads and listings.

That said, Collectors News is like the magazine equivalent of Antiques Roadshow. After the page of Table Of Contents and the editor's note (this month it was about making travel plans to witness the collections of others, which is a lot less creepy or boring than it sounds), the magazine leaps into regular columns. The columns detail the current events in Hummel collectibles, Antiquing, obscure americana, general collecting, books on collecting, mid-20th Century collectibles, pottery and evaluations of general collectibles. These sections contain a wealth of information for people who might not otherwise have access to the internet or other open information sources.

For example, the column on Hummel was of no interest to me as I have no interest in tiny ceramic collectibles. However, the columnist for that column detailed a complete collection and included a checklist of the pieces in the collection along with the rarity of each piece. That seemed remarkably useful for collectors who might otherwise be bamboozled by people with forgeries if they did not know what was supposed to be in the collection. For people who do not have access to the internet, where such information is easily found, this strikes me as quite useful.

Similarly, the care of antiques and the evaluation of what is worth saving and what is worth throwing away presented in these various columns offers an authoritative position on some obscure potential collections. This, too, is quite valuable to readers. All of the columns are written simply and directly with diction that can be understood by virtually anyone who reads English. Still, columns like the one that detailed 19th Century Sailor art this month do not insult the reader's intelligence and the history lessons are kept to a minimum to explore the benefits of collecting instead. As a result, seasoned collectors are liable to enjoy reading this as much or more than the novices just entering collecting.

Collectors News delves slightly into the craft niche with articles like one on making paper dolls and how some now collect those. The emphasis on toys and dolls in Collectors News is pretty strong as the cover featured a doll that recently sold at auction for over a quarter million dollars! As well, there are articles this month on tin toy collecting, a doll maker and a profile on a toymaker. None of the articles in Collectors News are more than two pages long, so this is a very easy read.

The magazine closes with an article on current market trends and that especially was very heavily supported with outside citations. Whether one is into collecting or not, Collectors News clearly is well-researched and they go to great lengths to establish themselves as the authorities on collecting. The result is an easy-to-read tool that seems like a must for those collecting antiques or dolls, but is easier for the general population to pass by.

For other magazines reviewed by me, please check out my take on:
The New Yorker
Newsweek
The Progressive Populist

5/10

For other magazine reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Good Enough Concept To Have Been Recast Plenty, The Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter Pilot Is Fair.

The Good: Decent detailing, Good accessories
The Bad: Low collectibility, Balance could be better, Limited articulation, Cloak inhibits play function.
The Basics: The Attack Of The Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter Pilot goes for gimmicky and is lighter on substance.


When it comes to Star Wars figures - or toys of any sort, for that matter - function and accuracy trumps style every day in my book. That might be why I'm not so fond of the cloth/plastic blends that happen with some action figures. Frequently, they look doofy and sometimes, they even inhibit the functioning of otherwise well-designed toys. In the case of the Attack Of The Clones Jedi Starfighter Obi-Wan Kenobi action figure, the toy is about average, but two gimmicks actually drag the figure out of the realm where I would recommend it for most collectors..

For those unfamiliar with Obi-Wan Kenobi, he was seen above Geonosis in Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!) in his Jedi Starfighter. Following Jango and Boba Fett to the remote world, Obi-Wan Kenobi leaves his starfighter, sheds his cloak and soon ends up the prisoner of Count Dooku!

The 4" Obi-Wan Kenobi figure from the Attack Of The Clones Collection is the Jedi Master in his tunic, covered with a cloth brown cloak that is pretty good for accuracy, but plays havoc with the figure's play feature!

Basics

This Obi-Wan Kenobi figure stands 3 5/8" tall to the top of his head. He is dressed in the standard beige Jedi tunic, which is then covered with the brown cloak Obi-Wan is seen in frequently in both the prequel and original Trilogies. Obi-Wan Kenobi looks like virtually every other Episode II Obi-Wan, with the tan tunic, white leggings and brown boots, save in the head. There, Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter Pilot differentiates himself from others by having a headset molded onto the head and face. This figure is made of hard plastic with a soft plastic skirt which has limited flexibility. This means the figure can be put in a sitting position, though the skirt will resist that. Moreover, the cloth cloak, which is a bit gangly over the plastic figure, makes it difficult to squeeze the figure into the cockpit of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s human face is well-sculpted and is entirely recognizable and looks very much like Ewan McGregor's! Hasbro tries to get the spiky hair and beard right and they mostly do, but the headset is slightly larger than realism would demand and was later fixed in subsequent sculpts of this exact figure.

The coloring of the human elements, the face and hands, is very all right, but not extraordinary. Matching the rest of the coloring of the uniform, the face and hair are monotonal. This Obi-Wan Kenobi lacks any shading or depth. So, his skin is peach, the tunic is tan, the boots are brown and his leggings are white with no sense or wear or depth to them. This is a very clean look for the character. The only real depth comes in the hair and then the sandy brown hair, which isn't quite the right shade, is accented in the crevices with slightly darker highlights. His eyes are barely black dots in the white dots on his face.

Accessories

Obi-Wan Kenobi, skilled Jedi pilot, comes with three accessories. He has his lightsaber, a communicator and a radar dish. The lightsaber is a pretty typical lightsaber. It is 2 7/8" long with a blue translucent blade. The gray hilt looks nothing like the one in the image on the package for this figure and it does not, unlike most of the lightsabers in the Attack Of The Clones toy line, feature a removable blade. It fits best in Obi-Wan's right hand, whatwith the left hand being open and having a large magnet in it. This allows the figure to mildly attract the hilt of the lightsaber, but not hold it with any real sense of stability.

The Jedi Communicator is a 3/8" long slightly curved piece of plastic that looks vaguely like the device used by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the film. This fits wonderfully in his right hand and is exceptionally easy to lose when not there.

The final accessory for the Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter figure is pretty a radar dish accessory. This is a 3" tall radar dish and stand assembly which allows Obi-Wan Kenobi to boost his signal from Geonosis to Tatooine! The 5/8" in diameter radar dish may be detached from the stand and put onto the Attack Of The Clones Jedi Starfighter and that is pretty neat. Otherwise, it rotates about 90 degrees atop the stand and is a decent support accessory for play or display.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and this Obi-Wan Kenobi is fair in that regard. Obi-Wan Kenobi has mildly good balance. He is molded to stand in a heroic pose with his legs spread, ready for action. He looks like he may run or hold off an enemy with a lightsaber defense, but he frequently tips over, especially when out of the flatfooted position. His legs come together slightly for a seated position in the cockpit of his Starfighter, but for straightforward standing poses, he is one who benefits from having a playset or vehicle which might utilize the peg holes in his feet for stability.

Obi-Wan Kenobi has some additional play functions, notably, the slashing arm feature. When the arms are raised, a button on the back of the figure allows the arms to lower together, simply by pushing the button in! This might have been a cool function, but the cloak inhibits the movement the button would provide. As well, the magnet that should be a cool bonus is very weak and does not truly support the lightsaber.

This Obi-Wan Kenobi figure is articulated at the groin socket, shoulders, biceps, wrists and neck, making him one of the least articulated figures of this era of Star Wars toy. All of the joints are simple swivel joints, so his range of motion is pretty limited, even more so with the bulky cloak.

Collectibility

Obi-Wan Kenobi is part of the Attack Of The Clones line that was released in 2002. He is 2002 Attack Of The Clones Collection figure #36. Obi-Wan Kenobi was fairly common and demand for his was easily met. Because this particular version of Obi-Wan Kenobi has since been recast in more articulated, better-balanced versions, this is a terrible figure for investment.

Overview

The Attack Of The Clones Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Starfighter Pilot is an entirely underwhelming figure that was based upon some good ideas with fairly poor executions.

For other Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones action figures reviewed by me, please check out my reviews of:
#01 Acklay Battle Obi-Wan Kenobi
#02 Arena Escape Padme Amidala
#04 C-3PO
#10 Shaak Ti
#13 Kamino Escape Jango Fett
#18 Zam Wesell Bounty Hunter
#23 Yoda
#26 Luminara Unduli
#27 Count Dooku
#35 Orn Free Taa
#39 Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
#41 Coruscant Attack Padme Amidala

5/10

For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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