Review of Star Wars Logo Bookends

Introduction

In the current Internet, everyone's connected, you can reach them at anytime digital age, there are few surprises. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say that the surprises aren't surprises for very long.

This is especially true in the world of toy collecting, where everything is seen, discussed, nit picked and vilified months before it's ever on the peg. Long gone are the days when you didn't know what you'd find at your local toy store til you were pacing the aisles.

But once in awhile, there's that rare exception where something pops up that you didn't know about in advance. You usually don't see it first on the pegs - that's still an eve greater rarity - but someone someplace happens to mention "hey, I just saw X on the shelf!", and sure enough...there it is.

Such was the case with the subject of tonight's review. I had heard nothing about this Border's exclusive set of bookends being produced by Gentle Giant. Perhaps I just wasn't paying enough attention, or perhaps I just don't hang out in the cool kid circles, but when someone mentioned that it was available through their website, it was definitely a surprise to me.

I'm also a Borders Rewards member, and that means I get the fairly regular discount coupon. These usually are for 25% - 40% off one regularly priced item, but anyone that shops at their stores knows that 'regularly priced' means pretty damn expensive, so the coupons often just bring their price in line with the competition.

But with an exclusive like this, the coupon really came in handy. These are currently available at their web store for $60, but by using one of their coupons you can get this for around $35 shipped! At a price like that, I couldn't resist - but are they worth even that?

Packaging - ***
You can't get much more basic than the plain black box with the license logo. But there are some worthwhile features here that keep the lack of design from hurting too much.

First, there's the sturdy Styrofoam inserts. None of that cheap crap that ends up all over the house, thank you very much. 

Second, there's the cool baseball card style Certificate of Authenticity that's always a hit. This one even points out that this is a Borders Exclusive.

Finally, there's the trifecta of edition numbers, one on the box, one on the COA and one on the bottom of the book ends (the left half) itself. There's no instructions, but this is one of those rare occasions where even my cat knows how to use these.

Sculpting - ***1/2
The Star Wars logo is a fairly straightforward, but classic, design. Sleek lines, sharp edges, and a sci-fi font give the logo a clean, futuristic appearance that was copied over and over again.

The classic logo is split near the middle, creating two very heavy, very thick polystone bookends. They'll work for books, DVD's, video games....or just as a cool backdrop to your Star Wars display.

They stand about 4 1/2 inches tall, and are quite thick - about 2 inches. They are solid, giving them enough weight to hold quite a few books in place.

The bottom includes small soft round feet to avoid damaging your shelf, or the bottom of the bookends. It also keeps them from slipping on the shelf when they are holding up heavier items.

Paint - ***
The paint is simple, much like the design. The silver front is painted, while the rest of the polystone is black.

Both the silver and black have some consistency issues, especially in the finish. There's a little slop along the silver edge, but it's fairly minor.

Overall, the quality is good, but not something that would be acceptable on a $200 statue. This isn't, however, and the quality is very much in line with the $60 price point, and above average for the Borders Rewards Members cost.

Value - ***
I'm grading these at $35, the price I paid. The reason is because anyone should be able to get this price - joining the rewards program is free, and they always have one of the 40% coupons going on. And at that price, these are a very good deal.

However, if you don't go for that price break and pay the full $60, I'd drop this a full star. Now you're getting into the kind of money a bust or small statue might cost, and the simple nature of these bookends doesn't support a feeling of value at that price.

Things to Watch Out For -
Don't drop one on your foot.

Overall - ***
The best feature of these is the price, especially for the Borders Rewards members. It's very rare to get this much polystone in any shape, let alone a classic licensed logo, for $35.

There's nothing surprising about the look, or the quality, or the function. But they've executed on the design well, and at this price you really can't beat them with a stick.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ***1/2
Paint - ***
Value - ***
Overall - ***

Where to Buy 
This is a Borders Exclusive, and the web site says "Not Available in Stores". I don't know if thats just for know or forever, but free shipping applied to my order so all was good.

Related Links -
I've reviewed so much Star Wars product, there's no way I could list it here. Head over to the review search page and either use the Google search box to look for what you seek, or go one link deeper to the All Reviews Listing page and do a search using the Search function on your web browser.

Over at Galactic Binder there's a terrific interview with Eric Lyga, the man behind this and many of the other great GG Star Wars products!

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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