i've not installed my son's interactive tv gig yet... but I am totally
with you on the friggin wire ties... he received quite a few
transformers... holy shit... what are they afraid they will escape the
packaging?? Small Soldiers II ? they are definitely over done.
On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 13:00:25 -0500, Jim Davis
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> A few observations from a dad who spent many hours setting up toys.
>
> 1) The Fisher Price "Interact TV".
>
> The unit itself is actually pretty well done. Essentially a universal DVD
> remote it offers your children a large touch pad of options allowing them to
> interact with episodes of their favorite shows ("Dora the Explorer" for
> example).
>
> Setting up the unit was fairly painless (if a little obtuse) and it runs on
> three AA battery (like so many other things lately that simply refuse to use
> an even number of batteries) which, of course, are not included.
>
> The problem here was in the packaging. The face of the box featured a
> button which, when pressed, regaled the listener with a recorded speech
> about the product. Upon opening the thing it's discovered that this speaker
> unit is quite large and has printed in large type on it back-side:
>
> "Please discard this sound unit when disposing of package. It is not a part
> of the toy."
>
> So, they provided a complex thingamajig just for marketing. As a good geek
> however I, of course, took a screw driver to the four small screws holding
> the unit together. What do I find inside? Three brand new Energizer AA
> batteries.
>
> So, essentially, they included batteries with the toy, but decided to have
> them power a useless marketing device and instruct you to throw them away
> immediately.
>
> 2) "Klondikers"
>
> My son likes these building toys. That's why we bought them. They are
> flower-shaped plastic widgets that dove-tail together.
>
> My beef is the idea that these toys are, as is emblazed on every square inch
> of the packaging, "educational". I understand that building sets that use
> same-shaped blocks tend to make children exercise their imaginations a bit
> more, but "educational". It seems a silly stretch to me, personally.
>
> 3) Big boxes.
>
> With all of the practical, environmental, and just plain obvious benefits to
> smaller box sizes why do we still have board games being shipped in these
> cardboard coffins? I know - store shelf space is valuable, but that can be
> settled with an in-store display (a cardboard frame the size of the old box
> to display much smaller actual boxes).
>
> "Battleship" is still a pair of simple folding units, but the box the game
> comes in could hold six of them easily. Several rolls of stickers
> ("Spongebob" and "Dora the Explorer" stickers to be precise) are in boxes
> 18" on a side.
>
> 4) Wire Ties
>
> Yes, wire ties. Tightly wrapped, machine crimped, taped closed, impervious
> to scissors, holding-down-every-God-damned-piece-of-the-friggin-toy WIRE
> TIES!
>
> 5) Hermetically Sealed Blister Packs
>
> When did it become a 50/50 proposition that you would break a toy just
> removing it from its packaging? And goodness forbid that you might want to
> actually return the piece of crap with its accompanying pile of twisted,
> sharp-edged plastic and cardboard slag.
>
> 6) "Robosapian"
>
> Actually (since I've already talked about packaging) I've got nothing to say
> about this little guy. It's really freakin' cool. ;^)
>
> Merry Christmas!
>
> Jim Davis
>
>
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