Rant Review: Frederick the Literate 250 Piece Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle (Buffalo, art by Charles Wysocki)

This is my first wooden puzzle, aside from the simple ones I did when I was a toddler, that is. I'd been wanting to do a wooden puzzle for awhile now, and had been eyeing several at various online stores. This one was randomly 53% off a few days ago, and I couldn't resist ordering it. Packaged in a wooden box, its presentation is a few notches above a typical cardboard puzzle. Obviously it's thin, cheap wood, but I'm not expecting top-tier handcrafted finery for $15. The drawer has a puzzle piece-shaped handle, and there is a drawstring bag included to hold the pieces. I typically enjoy funky puzzle piece shapes, so this was right up my alley! Some are random shapes, and some are shaped like animals. It's undoubtedly an easy puzzle, but an enjoyable build all the same. It's small and fun enough that I can see pulling it out here and there when I'm just in the mood for a puzzle but don't feel like tackling a massive one. 

On the QC front, I came across a surprisingly large splinter while removing pieces from the drawer. I didn't get a pic of it, unfortunately; I said something brilliant like "What the hell?!?" and set it aside, at which point it promptly vanished. I'm sure I'll rediscover it while walking to the kitchen or something any day now. Anyway, the pieces are obviously sturdy, and cut well. Some of the fits are rather tight, and can take some finessing to get in place, especially if you're locking more than two together at once. With my big meaty man hands, finesse is not one of my chief attributes, so pieces were accidentally knocked apart on several occasions before tidily fitting together while I was building this thing. Thankfully, I was well-prepared with a varied arsenal of colorful language, and that kept things flowing smoothly. The print is nice and clear, with sharp lines and vibrant colors. It's a cute image with a couple of surprisingly creepy touches lurking within its brush strokes. I like it enough that I'm tempted to hang it on the wall, but then I wouldn't be able to build it again, so that's out for now. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this puzzle! I can easily see myself doing more wooden puzzles in the future if the price is right. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention one of the big positive aspects of a wooden puzzle: There is no puzzle dust! (Though you might get splinters.)

 

Halloween Season 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (White Mountain, art by Lewis T. Johnson)

This is the second puzzle I got during last week's visit to TJ Maxx. It had been on my wishlist, and finding it there for $9 cheaper than MSRP was quite a nice score! (The thrift stores here are terrible, so I have to take my wins where I can get 'em!) I've only done one White Mountain puzzle previously, and liked the brand well enough based on that experience. This puzzle did nothing to blemish my opinion of them. There was little dust, the pieces were thick and sturdy, and they fit well together. False fits were certainly possible, but the design generally made it very easy to avoid them. The collage is fun to look at, and putting it together revealed plenty of details I'd missed from viewing the box, as many of the of the best puzzles do. My favorite bits are some of the most obvious ones, however, such as the Aurora Universal Monster models and the vintage greeting card art. I really like the often funky piece shapes, too. I can easily see this puzzle becoming a favorite that I rebuild annually during the lead-up to Halloween! I have a few Xmas-themed White Mountain puzzles in my to-do stack, and based on my experiences with the two I've put together, I'm looking forward to assembling them in a couple of months!

Rant Review: Family Game Night 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (MasterPieces)

 

This brand is a staple of Ollie's, so I've done a few of their puzzles. Their collages may seem a bit lazy to some, but I tend to like them because of the vintage art. This one was a must-buy the moment I saw Mr. T! MasterPieces' quality varies a bit from one puzzle to another, and unfortunately, this one came up rather short. I've enjoyed their random cut puzzles more in the past, but most have had the standard grid cut found here. The pieces are tiny, making the puzzle a bit more challenging that it might appear. The fit was quite loose, and false fits were very common. Fortunately, the colorful design generally made it easy to tell whether or not any given pair of pieces belonged together. There was a piece missing, unfortunately. This is the second time I've gotten a new puzzle with at least one missing piece, and both times, it's been this brand. I'll be avoiding MasterPieces in the future unless I see one with an image that is just irresistible, or find another of their better quality random cut puzzles. The overall quality is very reasonable for a puzzle you can get new for $5, but missing pieces get on my damn nerves, and it's becoming a theme with this brand. 

Rant Review: Spooky Mansion 500 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Galison, Art by Katherina Castano)

After completing one of the worst (from a QC standpoint) puzzles I've ever done, I wanted to do something quick and easy as a palette cleanser, and this cute little Halloween-themed puzzle I picked for $8 at TJ Maxx fit the bill. Apparently Galison releases a bunch of these cute, cheap Halloween and Autumn-themed puzzles every year, but as I almost never go to TJM, I had never seen any until this year. Wish I'd known sooner! I was thinking this was my first Galison, but after checking, it turns out that one of the puzzles I got at Ollie's last year was also one of theirs. Unlike that one, this puzzle has a standard grid cut. I don't have a strong preference either way, so that was fine with me, since it was at a similar level of quality. The pieces are thin and sturdy, with white paper backing. Dust was practically non-existent. The pieces have a pretty snug fit, and I had no false fits. Assembling this puzzle was easy and breezy, and exactly what I needed after dealing with a puzzle that seemed to hate me. I'll have to keep an eye out for Galison puzzles in the future, and I will most certainly make a point to swing by TJM more often to check their seasonal section! Hopefully some Xmas and winter-themed Galisons will show up there soon, or if I'm very lucky, a restock of some of the Halloween ones I missed. 

Rant Review: Comic Book Heaven 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Springbok, Art by Ed Wargo)

 

I ran across this last week on clearance for $4.97. It was a no-brainer at that price, especially since I quite liked the art. I remembered old Springbok puzzles as quite good when I was a kid, but I hadn't done any of their newer ones. Springbok's quality control is definitely not what it used to be, if this puzzle is any indication.

This puzzle had the worst cut I've ever seen, by a wide margin. The bottom edge of every piece was ragged, and just did not feel good in-hand. Dozens of pieces were still clinging together in twos and threes, capped off by an entire corner chunk of eight pieces. The cutter used on this one was in dire need of retirement! Dust is normally not a big deal for me, as I simply cut the tip of a corner off the bag and shake it over the trash, which gets rid of the bulk of it, but there was a ridiculous amount of it here. Even after doing my normal dust removal ritual, what dust remained was more than I normally get from an entire puzzle of most other brands. The tops of several pieces have white spots where part of them had been torn away along the edges. (A side effect of that antediluvian cutter, no doubt!) An unreasonable amount of force was necessary to connect each piece. I remember them being harder to connect than other puzzles when I was a kid, but not to this degree. No reference poster was included, though this was not a problem for me personally, as I rarely use them anyway.

On the positive side, I like the art, as mentioned previously. I also enjoyed the funky shapes used for the pieces, though this did occasionally lead to some pieces not actually snapping together until another adjacent piece was added to connect them. I know some find that frustrating, but it kept things a bit more interesting for me. I didn't encounter any false fits. Pieces stay tightly together once assembled, which should be expected given how much force was required to connect them in the first place. This has the unfortunate side effect of causing damage to some pieces during disassembly, however.

Given that I paid so little for this puzzle, I'm not about to get all bent out of shape over the poor quality, but it didn't do much to make me want another modern Springbok puzzle. Cutter blades obviously dull with usage, but quality control exists to keep things like this from getting shipped to customers. Back in the day, getting a Springbok puzzle in this condition would have been unthinkable. If I see another cheap one that I like the look of, though, I may give them another shot. Surely I can't get two that are this bad, right?

Rant Review: World of Dracula 1,000 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Laurence King, Art by Adam Simpson)

I started doing puzzles regularly again early last year, and it finally occurred to me to start reviewing them here. I've had my eye on this puzzle for some time now, and this past weekend turned out to finally be its time to emerge from its cardboard coffin and strut its stuff across my puzzle board. I really enjoyed this one! It was definitely on the easy side; the only somewhat challenging bits were the large expanse of gray near the bottom and the sky at the top. The art tells the entire story of Dracula as your gaze roams the puzzle. The included poster explains what is happening in each scene for those who haven't read the novel, or just need a refresher. (Though it did get the date wrong when referring to the Bela Lugosi film.) I really liked the texture of the pieces, the fit was good, and there was no dust! There were some false fits, but it was generally very easy to tell if two pieces didn't actually belong together. My only gripe is that some pieces were damaged slightly when separated, an unfortunate side effect of how snug the fit is. I just had to exercise a bit more care than usual when separating pieces. A very nice puzzling experience overall, and I will definitely be doing more puzzles from this series in the near future!