At 1,000 pieces, this was my standard fare, but in terms of dimensions, "24 x "30, it was a little bit bigger than the puzzles I usually do. Being so large, it was a bit of a challenge to try and get a decent picture for the blog.
Even the sell sheet inside was oversized, so much so that it wouldn't all fit on the scan tray; hence another glarey picture.
99% of my puzzles come from thrift stores, so it was nice to work on a brand new one for a change. This is only the second new one that I've done in recent memory.
The puzzle itself was very fun to put together, but I do have two minor complaints:
1. There were an awful lot of pieces that weren't cut all the way through. Now it's not uncommon to find a few pieces in any puzzle that are still attached on the back, but this one had more than a few. There were even a couple that had completely missed the cutter. Partially cut pieces are one thing, at least you can take a hobby knife and finish the backs on those, but when they haven't been cut at all, you're kind of SOL. This is the first White Mountain puzzle that I've ever done, so I don't know if this is a common issue with them, or if this was just an anomaly. Either way, it's something to keep in mind if you're looking to pay full price for one of their puzzles.
2. For the most part the artist, James Mellett, did a pretty good job with his documentation of television history, but there were two notable exceptions missing from the group; Perry Mason (cast or just Raymond Burr by himself), and George & Gracie. The former was noticed right away, while the latter didn't come to me until I was taking it apart. Two pretty big whiffs if you ask me.
Also, not a complaint, but still worth noting. Mr. Mellett decided to use existing animation for all of the animated characters rather than illustrate them himself. I don't know if this was part of a licensing agreement, or if it was just a choice on the part of the artist. It doesn't take away from the overall aesthetic, it just makes for an interesting juxtaposition.
Final thoughts: Fun puzzle to put together. Great subject matter. Poor Machinery. Might not be worth paying full retail price for.
My folks used to do puzzles all the time. Lots of mind-numbing scenery and such. I'd contribute during visits but I'd contribute more often if it was something interesting like this.
ReplyDeleteI've done my fair share of scenic puzzles, though I do try to stay away from those of the mind-numbing variety :)
DeleteIt was fun to blow up the picture and look at it closely. Looks like the artist was more interested in the '60s, '80s and '90s then the '50s or '70s. Definitely a few '70s snubs.
ReplyDeleteI noticed Mark McGwire on the bottom there, too.
I don't know how well the picture blows up, but I thought that the 70's were represented pretty well, some just might not be too visible via my bad pictures.
Deleteglad to see they went with original casts of three's company and charlie's angels.
ReplyDeletejigsaw puzzles are fun but take up a lot of space. tough to leave out unfinished with a cat around.
Probably because they know that people would've rioted if they hadn't :)
DeleteI've got a table that's dedicated just to puzzling. And I don't have any cats, but I did at one time, and do remember that they did like steal puzzle pieces... and Scrabble tiles!
I always have puzzle around in my classroom that students can work on when they're finished and bored. I've been working on the same one since the start of the pandemic. It's the space battle scene from Star Wars (A New Hope). Been sitting on my dining room table the whole time. I've pretty much given up. There's way too much black (for the space background). I just don't have it in me to toss it back into the box.
ReplyDeleteLots of black can be very problematic, especially if you're tired, or the puzzle is located in an area where it gets lots of glare. Glare is really bad for me with black backgrounds.
DeleteI am terrible at puzzles, but everyone in my family loves them. There is so much color here, I cannot imagine how long this would take me. I had to look at the enlarged picture for awhile. I think my three favorites are Marvin the Martian, Mark McGwire, and Captain Kangaroo.
ReplyDeleteIt actually didn't take that long, because your always like "Oh, here's so an so's face, or here's so in so's hair" and so forth. It goes pretty quick when you know who everyone is, and can recognize pieces of their person. I would imagine though that it wouldn't be very fun if you didn't know who anyone was.
DeleteOddly enough I only do puzzles at Christmas time. Not sure why.
ReplyDeletePuzzles are often a family activity, so maybe it has something to do with that? Families usually are more family-y during that time of the year. Or maybe, you just like doing puzzles around Christmas time, I've certainly heard of crazier things.
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