No! Don’t! (darn) Leave It To A Blumaroo To Zap Himself With The Lab Ray
Written: Apr 04 '06 (Updated Apr 26 '08)
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Pros: Fun 100 piece puzzle, a must for Blumaroo fans, 10x13 finished size.
Cons: Hard to find in retail stores.
The Bottom Line: Never trust a curious Blumaroo near the Lab Ray, you know he’s going to pull that lever no matter what you say.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Milton Bradley 100 Piece Lab Ray Puzzle |
Milton Bradley and Neopets teamed up to make a series of four 100 piece puzzles. I first saw them at K-Mart but there was no way I was going to pay $4.99 for them when I knew that other places would be selling them for less. This time my plan to ‘shop around’ for the best price backfired. Either these were extremely popular and they sold out quickly or didn’t move fast enough and were turfed off to the clearance section. I finally had to break down and buy them online from someone who was selling all four of them for $20.00 including shipping. As much as I grumbled about it I broke out my MasterCard and ordered them. I do have a secret passion for Blumaroo's then again I am a die hard fan of Scorchio's, Shoyru's and any pet that's been painted with a Halloween paint brush. If nothing else I was able to cross four more things off my wishlist at the Neopets website, now if I could just get my paws on some of those older interactive talking pets.....
Milton Bradley Neopet 100 Piece Lab Ray Puzzle
If there is one thing that is a constant at the Neopet website it’s the artistic side of the employees. This puzzle has a lot of detail to it but sadly a lot of it gets lost because of the jigsaw cut out design. How can you not help feel a little sorry for that Blumaroo sitting on his squishy tail looking up at the ominous Lab Ray. Too bad this doesn’t feature a before and after image of him; those cute little hearts on his paws might have turned into little skulls or his droopy nose into some beak or snout. Those are the chances you take when you zap your pet with the Lab Ray. The one thing that I really like about the image on the puzzle is that it has a lot of equipment; this makes it a little harder to build and gives you more of a challenge. This is suggested for those ages five and older, I don’t think that has to do with a skill level as much as it does with a choking hazard. Annabelle snapped up the Aisha Princess one and did it in about twenty minutes but she isn’t a puzzle kind of kid so it took her longer than it would other kids her age. It took me about five minutes to do this one but I’m an adult [well, age wise I am].
The completed puzzle measures thirteen inches high and ten inches wide and the puzzle pieces are a little larger than normal so they are easy for kids to work with. The pieces all fit together nicely and there aren't any warped or wavy sections that you can get from cheaper puzzles [cough Gungan Sub mini puzzle cough]. Since the designs on the puzzles are really nice and colorful I am hoping that I can find a frame that I can have all four of them in. It would be nice to be able to have them mounted and on the wall rather than sitting in a box collecting dust. When you go to open the boxes make sure that you use a sharp knife to cut into the sealed sections on the sides of the box, if you just try to tear into it you are going to destroy the box and have to find something else to store the pieces in.
Out of all four puzzles, this one is the one that is the hardest to build because of the wires, panels and things in the scene. By no means is that what I would call a difficult puzzle to build but out of the four, it’s the one that is going to give you the biggest challenge. I started off with the left side where the screen says “Ray Energized” and then built the border, from there it’s just a matter if building smaller sections outside the puzzle frame and working them into it. There are a lot of colors in it so that helps you find pieces that link up, I wish there was a card or something that came with it so you had something smaller than the box to work with when building it but alas, you are stuck with using the box as your guide.
The Four Puzzle Series
There are four puzzles in this series, the "Lab Ray Blumaroo", "Scorchio Scientist", "Aisha Princess" and "Jeran Knight". I was kind of hoping that Neopets would have these as a set but so far I have only seen them sold individually; the seller had all four puzzles in this series and offered them to me "at a great price" [yeah, whatever]. There has been talk that Neopets will be putting out a new series of puzzles where you can remove several of the side pieces and connect them to another puzzle to make a huge one. Who knows where the marketing team at Neopets will go next, let’s just hope they keep these on the shelf longer than the ones in this series.
Price
As I mentioned, K-Mart was selling these for $4.99 a piece and there was no way I was going to pay that much for them. Yes, I am a Neopet addict but even I have to draw the line somewhere. I eventually ended up paying $20.00 for all four puzzles but that price included shipping so I averaged it out to $4.00 a puzzle. That's still a little high but what can you do? They were all brand new and still sealed so I wasn't getting something that may have little peanut butter finger prints all over it or missing pieces. What would a fair price be for this puzzle? $2.50, maybe $3.00 but asking $4.99 for this is one of the many reasons why I go to K-Mart as a last resort.
The Bottom Line
If you are a Neopet fanatic then this is a cute puzzle to get; the completed image is really nice and there is a lot of color to it. Most retail stores have long since discontinued this puzzle but there are some online places that you can try. If you belong to a larger guild at the Neopets website you can try asking there or posting a request for it at one of the Neopet message boards. I'm glad that I was able to get all the puzzles in this series but I am still kicking myself for dragging my feet and not looking for them at Target and Wal-Mart. Let that be a lesson to you, don't assume that things are going to be around forever ... especially when it comes to Neopet stuff!
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
Neopets, Neopets Official Magazine, Deluxe World Meridell Game, Deluxe World Faerie Land Game, Talking Shoyru Plushie, Talking Uni Plushie, Mutant Kacheek Interactive Game, Krawk Island Pocket Neopet, Neopets Islandberry Crunch Cereal, Red Shoyru NeoPen, Pirate Blumaroo Plushie, Purple Grundo Plushie, Hasee PetPet Plushie, Neopet Notebooks, Neopet Binder & Folder Set, Aisha Sticker Set
Six Inch Plushies: Red Scorchio, Purple Grundo, Blue Aisha
Neopet Collectible Figurines
Chomby, Scorchio, Uni, Shoyru, Grundo, Aisha, Moehog, Lupe, Wocky, Cloud Kacheek, Gelert, Kougra, Cybunny, Mynci, Cloud Ixi, Lupe
And the editorials ...
Neopet Scams, Hacks, Cheats & Darkside of Neopia
The Pant Devil, Dr. Sloth, Boo Brothers, Esophagor & Tax Beast!
The Neopets Primer: Getting Stared On That First Million!
The Neopet Primer II: Making The Second Million!
So You Want To Get Rich At Neopets? Quests, Quests & More Quests!
Spoil Your Neopet! Get Them Their Very Own Petpet!
So You Want To Be A Restocking Guru At Neopets?
Restocking Seasonal Items At Neopets: Making A Killing Without Cutting Your Throat
NeoCash: Buying Cyber Items For Cyber Pets With Real World Cash
NeoCash Cards Arrive Just In Time For The Holidays!
Neopet Food Finds: From Budget To Gourmet & Everything In Between
Making The Most of The "Neopets 2007 Advent Calendar"
Neopets Trading Post: Making The Most of Your Unwanted Items
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): see review
Type of Toy: Puzzle
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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