Breaking Bad, breaking all the rules when it comes to product quality. Well done, guys
Just finished up the entire series...and I loved every second of it. No spoilers. But the show has high entertainment, and replay, value. I spent $119 on this (Amazon Deal of the Day), and I feel it was money well spent. At the current price of $136, it's still a good value. The picture quality was amazing, but it should be noted: from Season 4 on, the discs would sometimes refuse to load or take a long time loading. This has never happened with my BluRay player before, or with anything else since. Maybe every 1 out of 4 times loading, the disc would go THOK-A-THOCK-A-THOCK in the player & do nothing. Maybe that silly warning about using a current BluRay player comes into effect here? Anyway. Course of action: I ejected the disc (which took 45 seconds) and simply had it take the disc in again. Fixed it every time, and playback from that point on was flawless. The quality of the barrel & subsequent packing is simply fantastic. It is not only functional, but also a work of art. It's hard to describe the clear disks of plastic that are pictured surrounding the barrel, but here goes: They're multiple disks that hold the BluRays in each season. They all have bits & pieces of artwork on there that form a random, and yet meaningful, image from that season. Sometimes it's a theme; sometimes it's a side note. But it's really cool & it shows how much thought & care they put into the packaging. All the plastic discs that house the BluRays are held together by three small magnets on the edges...you know, I'm just going to have to upload a few pictures later. It's very, very well done. Especially with "special edition", "collector's edition" complete series sets, the quality tends to be....lackluster. For example, look at Dexter. The wooden box set is the higher rated of the two, but people constantly comment that it looks & feels "cheap", that when it arrived discs were all scattered around & out of order. And don't even get me started on the mannequin bust; that one was rated even worse, and with good reason. But as poorly as those are constructed, this one stands out in stark contrast. Whoever designed this appealing, functional, and solid packaging deserves a big, fat raise. If I must post criticisms, I'll post two: One, I could see the plastic hinges on the side opening of the barrel as a potential weak point. However, they did the best with the medium they were working with, and if I remember correctly the barrel was all nice & taped shut for shipping. It was packed so very well. Just keep it away from kids, who will inevitably destroy it. Two, those anti-piracy ads....seriously. I paid $119 to have advertised to my face, (every time you boot it up & go into a new episode) "This material is copyright protected by feduhral lawz, sooper seerious. Big, big fines, and we'll put you in JAIL. Don't steal this or we'll punish you." I don't care about your protection laws, and neither do thieves. They edit that cute little warning out when they steal. The only people being punished are paying customers who have their time wasted looking at warnings that don't apply to them! Knock. It. Off. Again, no spoilers, but the ending was prodigal. It very tastefully brought the series to an end, in a way that I'm sure satisfied most Breaking Bad fans. It's so wonderful to see such a talented crew treat their work with respect, end it with dignity, and exit the stage before they are asked, begged, to leave. The alternate ending, while funny, would have been a copout & I'm glad it was just that. An alternate. In summary, great series, very well done in both production & packing, no real complaints besides nitpicking...pictures of the barrel & its contents to come later. Seriously. With so many Breaking Bad fanatics I am shocked no one has done it sooner. Read more
