Product review: Magic Marbles

I bought these Magic Marbles a little while ago, and you simply must buy these things! You can get them cheaper from this place, but you don’t really need that many. The kit came with 5 grams, and the other place sells them in groups of 50 grams. You may want that many, but need and want are different things.

All these things are, is a kind bead that absorbs water and becomes a gel like marble. Simple enough, but they have some fun properties.

The kit comes with a small tank, which helps because it gives you something to put them in. However, you can’t put all the marbles in the tank and expect them to grow to full size. For once, there’s actually too much stuff for the thing that they include to put them in. This means… MORE SUFF TO PLAY WITH! Unapproved uses! WOOO!

Now, what makes these things really fun, is that they have the same refraction index as water, so unless you look very close, you can’t tell they’re in there. If you have colored ones, you just see splotches of color. While they’re being sold as a toy here, the real use for them is growing water loving plants. They hold water and release it slowly, so you don’t need to water quite so often. I’m going to buy some bamboo, which should look neat held up by these marbles. They also feel neat when you slip your fingers in and wiggle them around.

Let’s look at some pictures…

Candy dénouement

So I looked out the kitchen window, right? Now yesterday I never looked, even though normally I do. The kitchen window looks at the back door, where we normally get deliveries. I noticed a box and said “What the hell?” as we weren’t expecting anything. So I went out and what did I find? Well, I’ll show you…

I would like to blame Alex, since he’s only 4, but I know better. My sister doesn’t need a 4 year old to encourage her to buy me candy.

Look at all that.

Yummy!

Boston baked beans, small box.

Candy Cigarettes

Nerds, which are lovely.

Folly, who was watching from afar.

Vienna, who was “helping” up close.

Razzels! Do you remember razzels? Have you ever had a razzle? First, right, it’s a candy. Then… are you ready for this? It’s GUM!

Fundip.

As I didn’t get one good shot of the Cry Baby candies, I went with the one that had V’s nose in it.

Yummy, yummy Sour Patch kids.

Gummy hot dog?
…
‘kaaay

WAX LIPS!

Sour Apple blow pop.

It’s a tootsie pop, but the photo is so bad you can’t begin to guess it’s flavor.

Well, it’s raspberry flavor.

Humph! I like every flavor of laffy taffy except banana.

MMMMMM Sugar Daddy!

Air Head candy

I really like these! I won’t even let Syd know this one exists. Which means I shouldn’t post it. Or I should prevent her from reading. She probably doesn’t read anyway. She’ll just glance at the pictures. Which means she’ll still see it. Damn, this is tougher than I thought.

Skor is nice, I like those.

Well… I like Swedish Fish, but I’m not gonna punch a baby to get them or anything. Unless it was a particularly ugly baby. You know, one you’d want to punch anyway. Maybe Baby Hitler. Tell you what, get me a time machine and some Swedish Fish and I’ll go punch the Baby Hitler in the mouth.

A watermelon ring pop. What the hell can you say about that?

Gobstoppers! Wooo

Bit o Honey! Only two pieces though.

Some sort of peanut butter candy thing.

Two whole toostie rolls. But then, there’s lots of other stuff.

MMMM American Smarties, which are different than the kind from England.

Candy Necklace?

FUCK YEAH!

We live in a world where there are still CANDY NECKLACES!!!!!!!

This pepermint stick was a bitch to photograph.

I took the second shot just to prove I was able to get more than one useable photo.

Thought the were the same thing until I examined the photo. A jaw buster and an Atomic Fireball.

The only time I get cow tails are in packs like this.

Syd will claim this, then forget to eat it, and then not miss it when I munch it down in six weeks. I will bet money on this one.

It’s like a Swedish Fish, only cinnamon and in the shape of a bear.

Well, I did eat pepermits with bible quotes on the wrapper as a kid, so it’s truth in advertising.

Zotz? ZOTZ!

ZOOOOOTZ! Zotz are still obtainable!

If you don’t know what these things are, because you were raised in a communist country or your parents were so idiotically religious that anything enjoyable was banned when you were a child, let me explain. Zotz were the thing that Prometheus actually stole fro the gods. They changed the story to fire when people started to feel like they’d over reacted a bit. You’ve got a hard fruit flavored candy with a sour fizzy center. After you’ve sucked on them for a while, they explode in your mouth with a great deal of fizzy flavor. They are awesome.

Hershey’s Special Dark… meh

Syd will want the pop rocks. I know that.

I don’t know why I bothered photographing these. They’ve already been eaten.

Holly would want these Sprees if she were going to be here. I might save them for her, she’d like them.

PUSH POP!

Yup, push pop.

Swords of Might Grab Bag 2: A Very Disappointing Grab Bag

Got another $100 Swords of Might bag… or did I? I would almost say we were charged for a $100 bag but received a $50 bag, since this is nothing like the first one.

I don’t even think I could flog this off on ebay and get my $100 back. I’m pretty much stuck with a severely undervalued grab bag. The problem there is they keep saying how they give people far more than their money’s worth. Tell me, is this worth $100?

FIRST lets have a look at the first grab bag we got. 3 swords, an axe, a stand, some knives and other bits of stuff. 12 items in all.

Now, this bag…

Cutest thing in the box.

Instead of 36, it comes in at 16 pounds.

Maybe you can’t see how small and paltry the box looks from here. Trust me, it is.

A sweatshirt and a t-shirt for Halo 2.

Two small tea light holders. Cute, but not impressive.

A crystal light thingy.

A sword they sent me last time.

And this thing

Which turned out to be a knife.

With nekedness.

7 items, and nothing that impresses me. One sword, one knife, two shirts, a crystal light thing and some candle holders. Nothing like the box we got last time. I’m not even going to hunt down the values, it’s just not worth the time or effort this time. Certainly not worth the money.

I am severely disappointed. I think I’ll even write them to express that.

Another Grab Bag

So after my last adventure with a Grab Bag, I’m giving it another go. This time we’re going with BudK’s $50 grab bag, which promises a $100 value. I’m a little annoyed today, because of some things that happened here. I’m only stating that because it’s connected with buying things and spending of monies and accounting and things like that and… it might have tempered my review. I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll say at the outset that I wasn’t elated at what I found when I opened the box.

This is the box.

Okay, so it’s a $50 box and I knew that when we ordered. I also knew what the value would be when I ordered. $100, that’s going to be the total value of the contents. First thing I see upon opening is a catalogue they sent me two weeks ago. Okay, no problem, they’re a mail order company and it’s part of the deal. I should stop being so fatuitous, but you’ll see in a moment why I am feeling this way. I am perfectly willing to admit I wasn’t feeling my best when it arrived, but it didn’t lift my spirits either.

So what do we get when we pull aside the brown paper and get to the meat of the box?

A plastic grocery bag…

Ooooo-kay
Still, let’s not be shitheels about this, let’s do it right! Professionalism and stuff.

Hmmm…

I can’t help but feel these are meager pickings. I just know some of these things aren’t going to be on the website. That’s going to make the value of the box hard to decide. Well, let’s see what we can do.

Okay, firs thing out of the gate has me troubled.

This clock isn’t on the website, not that I have trouble imagining why.

You may notice the pixilation of the art on the clock face, you might also notice there isn’t pixilation in other places on the photo. That’s because the clock face has a badly done art. Someone did not love and baby the art on this clock. I can’t actually find information about this company.

The clock is supposed to be from The Alchemy Guild, it’s Copyrighted 2006 by Alchemy Carta and under license by Urban Station, but the trail grows cold after that.

I’m pretty sure I’ve got the right website, but I can’t find this clock anywhere. Further investigation leads me to the Alchemy Gothic Art Library where you can get art for your products. Looking through it I’ve found the art, it seems to be called The Green Skull. So now we know where the art came from. Still not a single step closer to guessing the price though. This is a battery-operated clock, so I’m going to guess. I went to Amazon and found a twin bell battery-operated clock and since it says it costs $10 I’m going to go with that. I might see my way up to $15 in a pinch.

I have now done 5 times as much research as this thing deserved. I mean, it’s probably going to wind up being mailed to some poor unsuspecting soul. It’s kind of mean when you think about it.

Oh, how nice. An ugly, large, possibly pewter, skull, pendant… thing.

OOO, even better! TWO OF THEM!
Again, no information on the BudK Site, but I am hopeful. There is a sticker on one that says $9.00 and a sticker on the other that says Young Zone Jewelry. So maybe if we look around we can find something, yes? NO! They’re a wholesaler and I can’t find anything like the code sequence on the site. I’m not willing to look forever, so I’m taking the $9 each as their price. That gets us up to $30 I guess.

Again, about 10 times more research than these fugly things deserved. Again, I’m just going to send them to someone who won’t deserve them, not for all their sins.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Little, tiny, ickle knives! Hmm, it claims these are for the ultimate collector. I assume the ultimate collector of knives since by its very definition there could only be one ultimate knife and thus it would be impossible to have a collection. Actually it just says ultimate collector, so someone who collectes everything? Am I the ultimate collector? Surely not! So, legally, is it okay for me to have these? I’m not the ultimate collector, and yet I’ve got these knives. Should I try to figure out who this Ultimate Collector is and send them to him? Is it Galactus? It’s Galactus isn’t it? I’m beginning to sense I’ve milked that joke for all it’s worth now.

So what about these little knives? Well look at them and notice the magic.

Hmm, Stars.

BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Tilt the other way and you (Sort of) get stripes!

And then back to stars again!

So, yeah, tilt change pictures that suggest the US Flag without actually being the flag. I always find things like this mildly offensive. I’m not into Flag Cult things. The flag belongs on flagpoles, the shoulders of public servants, the side of service vehicles and not much else. Most places where I see it used, like here, actually feel disrespectful of both the flag and the people who fought and died for it. Flag fetishism always seems to be sort of desecrating the flag to me. It’s so over used that it fails to have much meaning to me to be honest. And the effect doesn’t even work that well. If you’re going to fap at the flag you could atleast fap more effectively than this. If you’re going to have flag wank, have GOOD FLAG WANK DAMNIT! How much would you pay? Well, The web site once again refuses to help. Searching and looking and hunting down part numbers (why am I taking this much trouble for these things? Seriously, they are destined for a padded envelope!) brought me to this web site where I found them. The third item down is… USA Flag Mini Hologram Knife which is in a half dozen blister pack for the princely sum of $6.95! So now we know. If you’re keeping track that puts us up to $36.95

NEXT!

Okay the box says its from Rigid Knives, but it looks a lot like something from a Ridge Runner set I bought last year for VEWPRF and broke up to give to multiple people. So how to judge what just one of these should cost? Just breaking the pack up and saying it cost $3 wouldn’t be right, because they wouldn’t charge that for just one. Magic of these packs is that you pay less for getting more knives. Rigid, like Tomahwak, is actually another company that either works with or under Untied Cutlery, but that doesn’t help much. The closest I can come is this Rigid Foreman Work Knife, but they claim $13 and that seems over reaching at best. Besides, the design is all wrong. Screw it, I’m going to say $5 and be done with it. No, wait! $5.95, that sounds more official. $42.90 so far.
Holly consented to keep this around, she has one sort of like it. Part of that set I mentioned before, and putting them together you can see the major differences between companies.

What do we have after that?
Well!

Um…

IT HAS DEER ON IT! You take your claims where you can find them. Another deadend as far as finding this knife goes. Outdoor Life is a knife company though, so that’s something, right? Most their knives sell under the $10 mark, going for about $7 as far as I can see and most of them are nicer than this one.

American Outdoor Series is no help when looking. Ohhh, wait, don’t give up just yet. I found one on Ebay! Heeeey! I didn’t get a camo case! Why does he get a camo case? And why does he get to claim $18.95 when I was going to peg it at $5? Clearly, it’s all about the camo case. Now I wish I had a camo case. Okay, we’ll meet this one in the middle and call it $12.95 because I feel funky. $55.85 so far kids!
Holly wants a flat knife to keep in her pocket, she’ll take this one until I can find something that doesn’t have deer on it.

A big honking folder from what I believe is one of BudK’s internal brands. Timber Wolf is not a brand I would want to bet my life on, but I know of no reason why you shouldn’t buy them. Let’s open this massive mother up and see what we’ve got.

A saw! That’s pretty clever actually. A nice little travel saw, not bad. Now for the ultimate test though, can I find this silly thing at the website?
>Wait
Time passes.
BudK’s website is very slow
>Wait
Time passes.
No, I can’t find it at the website. I’m beginning to suspect they’re doing this to me deliberately. Well, I have a catalogue (supplied with the box) so maybe I can find it there.
>Wait
Time passes.
Huh, not there either. Ah, but I found one elsewhere! $9.95! Which brings us to $68.80 so far.
We’ll probably keep this for cutting down trees in the early winter. It’ll be better than using a little hacksaw anyway.

Okay this next one is a Cold Steel knife.

They must have this one, right? Right? HEY! They DO! How about that?

Costs $22.99, bringing us up to $91.79. Mostly because Cold Steel is a quality item and so it’s probably really worth that. I’d have never bought it myself, but it’s bound to be a good solid knife. So we’ve got that going for us. I’ll probably keep it.

Now this last one was the first I looked up.

As you can see the metal tin looks just like the paper sleeve.

It’s called a Tiny Trapper and this is the closest I could come to finding something like it on the web site. The main page says it’s on sale for $28.96, which would bring us to $120.75 if I’ve calculated correctly.

I wasn’t quite through yet though. Not quite yet.

I went to the Case web site…

And I STILL can’t find the bastard!

Seriously! What the pfuck?

I am discouraged.
I have been beaten.

I don’t mind telling you guys, I feel like I’ve been licked. They win. I give up.

I don’t feel cheated, I know I probably got my money’s worth, but I can’t help but feel I should have gotten another box from Swords of Might with the $50 I shouldn’t have been spending anyway. I think Syd said it best when she commented that, “We just would never ever have bought any of this stuff on our own.” I’m not sure that I wouldn’t have bought the Case knife at some point. I’ve heard they are very good knives and I was interested in getting one to see if they lived up. Considering I brushed the Case knife and managed to give myself a little cut, I find that a semi encouraging sign. It’s sharp at any rate.

Still… I feel sort of let down by the whole ordeal. Unfortunately, that was my big splurge for the next month or two. If anyone wants to get me an Archie McPhee Surprise Bag or Mystery Box so I can track that and give a full report that would be awesome, but I’m not expecting it or anything.

UPDATE!
HEY! I found the case knife! C. Platts’ Sons Tiny Trapper Knife $37.95! So… yeah. Something found.

My First Swords of Might Grab Bag

Grab bags are a gamble, but usually one that pats off enough for you to want to play again. Does anyone remember my adventure with the Archie McFee surprise bag? You should, some of you now have the stuff featured in those photos.

Now I’ve learned a little about how these things tend to work recently. You tend to get three kinds of items in a grab bag. Overstocked items that aren’t shifting fast enough, discontinued items that are just lying around taking up space, and samples from manufactures that can’t really be sold as normal products. From what I’ve learned they tend not to be big profit items, if you get a $50 grab bag, then it probably cost them close to $50 to fill it. However, and this is the important part, if you check the list price you can often find you’ve got anywhere between two and five times the value of the amount you paid. A $50 dollar grab bag can get you $150 worth of stuff (by the prices listed in the catalogue) so it usually comes off feeling like a good deal. It works for the shop, because they get rid of unmoving stock, make a sale, and the customer usually feels fairly warmly toward the shop.

The only real peril in buying a grab bag is that you never know if what you’re going to get in the package. No choice means it could be a lot of junk, or just stuff you plain aren’t interested in. However, as people learned to their possible chagrin, I have ways of dealing with that. I keep a drawer O’ fun and the things I don’t want go in the drawer for later distribution. Actually the drawer is the third stop. Syd and Hol get pick over stuff I’m not interested in before the drawer gets it.

So what I’m leading up to is another set of photos! Today’s box O’ fun comes from Swords Of Might and I got the $100 option.

SO I start with the box. It’s about 4 foot tall.

36.7 lbs

So what happens when we open the box?

Now I saw the big box on the right, but I didn’t want to get to the big stuff at the start. So I moved some of those packing peanuts aside and started on something smaller. Now, we’ve got $100 that we paid, so what value did we get? I’ll keep a running tab of the prices.

A skull goblet that should cost $22.50.

Well, it’s pretty ugly, but in a neat way. I’m quite fond of ugly, but skulls bore me. There is actually a glass in the goblet though. You can remove it from the resin base, which makes it easier to clean.

Skull ashtray? Is it worth $18? Up to $40.50

Oh my dear, you are ugly aren’t you? Doesn’t need to be used as an ashtray. You could use it as a present for people who like skulls.

Now, there was another sticker on this box claiming $49.99. I didn’t notice it until after I put the camera away. I’m claiming the lower price for fairness, so we’ll say it’s 90.49 so far.

Oh my lovely, you are ugly aren’t you?

A hideous metal pole. And what does it do?

You pull it apart and there are two swords inside. I’d promised Syd she could have one of the swords, but I soooo wanted to keep this one for myself.

Hmmm…. No marker of price. Gimme a second.

I think the best thing in the package is in this box.

Sword, bag, that box contains a stand.

Layered steel? Not bad.

Nice looking…
I got kinda pissed, because I’d promised Syd one of the swords right? I wanted that ugly pull apart sword, but I would be damned if I was giving up this beauty. I sighed and resigned myself to her taking the ugly dragon sword.

Very nice. There is bit of damage on the back of the box (not pictured) which is probably how this got into the grab bag. However! There is no damage to anything else in there, just the carrier box which will probably end up tucked away in a closet until we move and I need it again. So who cares if there is a dent in the box?

I didn’t get a better shot of the scabbard. Now… I didn’t find this sword, but I found things like it. Looks about worth $250 on the site. So that puts us up to $340.49 now.

A CHEAP AXE!

The handle is wrapped in plastic!

Decent blade I guess. I can’t find it on the site… let’s say… $15 which brings us up to $355.49 so far.

Simple 8 sword wall hanger. I can’t find it on the site, they’ve got one like it that goes for $24.99, but this one is a bit more simplistic than that one. Say 19.99 which brings us to $375.48 now.

I did not see Eragon. HOWEVER! This would probably be a sword I could give to Syd. It looks okay, right? She wouldn’t want my ugly, ugly pull apart blade… right?

I clearly decided that I needed two shots of it uploaded onto the internet.

Original price? $169.99! Total? $545.47

Back of the box.

Comes with a plaque!

Nice looking sword.

Decent detail.

Interesting pommel.

Are we done yet? Well no. I saw the bottom of the box, I didn’t see anymore stuff. I grabbed the box and heard something rattle. I didn’t want to reach to the bottom of the box. So I upturned it…

HA! FOLDERS!

Cheap folders!

Whenever you see something calling itself a “Super Knife” and claims “Best Quality” you know you’re getting shit. Nothing on the box claims its price. I’m pegging it at $9.99 for reasons you’ll soon discover. $555.46 for those of you keeping score.

BLAND!

MEH! Nothing wrong with it… I guess.

Night Warrior? $9.99? That sounds more promising. ($565.45 btw)

Oh look at that box. You KNOW something terrible lies within.

OH! I am entraptured!

How terrible! OOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

No idea who Tom Anderson is, but he made a knife that got a Tom Cruise movie named after it.

$9.99? I am noticing a pattern! 575.44

Looks okay. You notice it comes with a tool?

That tool (in this shot at well) is for tightening or loosening the tension on the blade. So it won’t flip open too easy but you can crank it down if it’s too hard. Not wild about this blade design, but Holly might like it. Or someone else might like it.

SILVER! DAMASCUS! KNIFE! The words themselves fill me with horror. $9.99 again! Leading to a current value of 585.43 which ain’t too bad.

Not just any knife, a DELUX knife.

That’s deluxe these days, is it?

I am not blow away by the deluxness.

FINAL ITEM!

Oh M Tech, it’s so cute that you’d suggest a retail price of $19.99. It’s cute that the shop made it the customary $9.99 leading us to a $595.42 total value.

Actually, not a bad looking knife. And we get another tension tool.

So what do we have? 12 items, had they inserted just one more knife we’d have a $600+ value, and while not everything is awesome, I got some things I really like. The folders can be picked over by Syd and Holly, and anything they don’t select will go in the drawer for later distribution. All in all, pleased!

Next time I hope to snag one of BudK’s grab bags, which are cheaper and probably come filled with wonderfully cheap folders.