Sorry, No Magic Here...
Written: Jun 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: None
Cons: Poor Quality, No Fun
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| caconti's Full Review: Marvins Magic Drawing Board |
Yesterday afternoon my Venice job got even more complicated...children. An alumn arrived with three children in tow, desperate for some quiet time with his wife, and begged me to babysit the kids for a couple of hours. Being the good person I am, and being desperate myself for a little spending money, I graciously agreed.
One of the children, an 8 year old angel by the name of Maggie, had brought a bag of toys with her, one of which was Marvin's Magic Drawing Board. Oh no! I'd already read pluckyduck's Epinions expose of this product(the ultimate review on this product by the way), and I had to try it for myself to see if it was as bad as I'd heard. My cynical side was not disappointed...
The Salient Points
1.The Product- Let me tell you something, the construction on these boards makes Ted Kaczyncki's hermit-shack look like the Taj Mahal...they're pieces of junk! The frame is like a cheap Etch-A-Sketch, made with white plastic that is extremely flimsy. The "magic itself" is a thick plastic casing within the frame containing fluid. A viscous black liquid resembling old coffee or ink, it is moved by a small stylus, and the revealed board is of various colors. The "secret" of the board is to move this thick gunk off of the coloring, leaving behind a beautiful bit of artwork. Fat chance! Moving the liquid around is hard going, especially for little fingers...this is honestly not made for children. Erasing is even more difficult, involving of course more hauling of "magic goop".
2.The Price- $20.00 for this hunk of plastic? I'm not sure where all that money is going, but God knows it isn't go for high-quality production or product improvement. For $20 you could buy your children an entire sack of things to do: pencils, crayons, coloring books, paper, glue. Make your child an artist, don't train them to stare expectantly at a screen already...there's plenty of time for that when they get old enough for a computer!
$7.95 for shipping and handling? Now where do these people get off, charging you 40% of the product's price just to get it to you. Whose handling this stuff, highly trained nuclear technicians? Of course not, this extra pinch is just another example of Marvin's greed, I guarantee you a wad of those "necessary costs" go straight into his "magic pocket"...
3.The Reaction- The funny thing about this Marvin's Magic Drawing Board was that it was relatively new, Maggie had just gotten it before the family left for Venice. As we spent the day together, me trying to divide my attention between her and two younger siblings, I could see her already losing interest with the product. Besides the aforementioned difficulty in using it, she just wasn't happy with her final results even when it was working for her. I finally encouraged her to take some of the crayons we had in the house and to color me a picture of the canal...Marvin was soon a memory.
The Final Verdict
The final judgement on this end of this ocean is that Marvin and his friends are a bunch of ladri(thieves). They shill an inferior product to children, using flashy TV ads and youth marketing that would make Camel blush with same. I highly recommend that you give the Magic Drawing Board a wide berth, both you and your child will be highly disappointed by what you find...
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
caconti
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Christian Conti
Location: Washington, DC
Reviews written: 636
Trusted by: 481 members
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