A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

YOUR TAUNTAUN WILL FREEZE BEFORE YOU REACH THE SOUTH MARKER (BUT YOUR LITTLE ONES WILL BE TOASTY AND WARM): My Mom, being awesome, bought the Little Earthling (and two of his cousins) each a Tauntaun Sleeping Bag.

The Little Earthling is on quite a Star Wars kick (and is especially fond of his Star Wars Lego and, moreso, his Lego Tauntaun). I had, nevertheless, kept him completely ignorant of the existence of this thing. He was blown away -- I can only imagine this was as good as Mom running down the last BigTrak in 1979 after resetting my expectations that there were none to be bad -- and the Wee Earthling (two in February) screaming Tauntaun! Tauntaun! at the top of her lungs was the first time I'd ever really regretted not having a video camera immediately at hand.

Enough ink has been spilt about the concept, so I just wanted to make a quick note on the product itself. It's great. It's adult size -- it's safe to say I don't box welterweight and I fit in very comfortably -- and surprisingly warm. The construction seems solid. The only weak part I can tell is the horn, which I would have stitched on completely, rather than at the base and with a single (but solid) attachment at the point. That part will fail first, but not soon. And heavy rough-housing might give the limbs a bit of a fright. It's plush, so this is a strictly indoor bag and I'd avoid even a tent in the backyard since this will pick up dirt easily. Of course, given that no one wants the things to smell bad on the inside, apparently machine washable (says the website; the tag inside says surface wash only).

This could have been all hat and no, er, Tauntaun, but it's a solid piece of merchandise. Is it worth the $99 list price over at ThinkGeek? I don't know about that, but you won't be disappointed by the item itself. It won't last forever, but I trust I will be fighting to keep this around the house long after the Little Earthling has gone to college.