There are only two things that are certain in life this fall. One, despite the predictions of a warmer than average winter, it’s getting chilly out there, and two, 2015 will forever be known as the year that Star Wars mania took over again.
And who could blame us all for getting really excited? Star Wars: Episode VII will be released in December and with each and every trailer, fans are getting sick with anticipation.
Thankfully there are a lot of fun ways to kill the time, and I was able to try out one of them this past week when I was asked to review the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster. Normally I’m not into character items in my kitchen; if you do a little digging you will find a dash of Disneyana here and there, but I’m just as excited about Star Wars as my kids are and, let’s face it, this is a seriously cool looking toaster.
Appearance
If you’ve ever gone to Comicon, Disneyland, or just looked at pictures of people dressing up as Star Wars characters, you know there are different types of costumes you’ll see. Some Darth Vader costumes consist of a simple, thin plastic mask, while others are the full, thick helmet that, if you asked a fan, is more authentic than anything else you can find.
The first thing I thought when I unboxed the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster was that if it was hollow, it would make a great mask. It’s very light, with thick walls and an overall durable feel. It also has anti-slip feet just in case you knock into Darth in a fit of joy while pulling your toast or waffle from his head.
Features
The Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster is just that, a toaster, so although he’s going to be the coolest thing on your kitchen counter, it’s main function besides looking great is to toast your bread, waffles, and English muffins.
On the back of the toaster you’ll find a few things: a toast colour indicator so you can choose from the light side (a lighter toasting) or the dark side (an overall more golden toast). There’s also a lever you can use to pop up your toast if you want to check and see if its finished and a crumb tray you can pull out to clean the bottom.
Testing
Once you unpack the toaster and put it on your counter, it’s time to try out a few slices of toast. I normally have a few varieties of things to toast in my kitchen including the standard slices, the thicker Texas toast, and waffles.
The first thing you’ll notice is that standard pieces of toast fit better inside the toaster. I tried one slice of Texas toast and one slice of regular bread and the regular bread fit much better.
It doesn’t take long for your toast to pop out. I’d estimate under a minute if you choose the dark side and less if you choose the light side. The difference in both is the darkness of the Star Wars logo that is blazed across your bread. With the light side you get lightly toasted bread with a light slogan, and the dark side will give you a darker slogan. Everyone toasts differently, but just like in life, I skirt the middle of the dark side and light side with my toast.
As I mentioned, this is a toaster that prefers standard side bread. The logo shows up clear as a bell on thin slices, not so well on thick. Although it toasted our waffles to perfection, the logo won’t show up on waffles either.
This is not a toaster that gets hot to the touch while toasting. The Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster is a Cool Wall toaster, so if you touch the sides while he’s toasting you’ll notice he keeps his cool while searing the bread.
Overall thoughts
Although most people who walked into my kitchen and saw the toaster thought it was one of my kid’s toys, it looks great and toasts really well, and that makes the Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster rank high in my books.
Some of the questions I was asked about it include:
Does it play music when it toasts?
No, it doesn’t. Darth is quite silent when he’s using the force to toast your bread.
Does it come with a light saber butter knife?
Unfortunately not, but that would be a very cool addition to this toaster. If you’re thinking of using your own lightsaber to try to butter your toast, think again. You’ll be cleaning peanut butter off of it for a while after, and as my kids have discovered, it’s a bit awkward.
Would I recommend Darth Toaster?
For a Star Wars fan, it’s a win-win. You get a great looking toaster that toasts your bread to perfection. It helped me get my picky son to eat peanut butter again, and it was definitely a hit when the kids had friends over. For me, it’s unique, fun, and I like having Darth in my kitchen.
If you need to toast 5 pieces of toast at a time or you want the versatility of a larger toaster, this might not be the toaster you’re looking for.
Even more Star Wars
The Star Wars Darth Vader Toaster is one of many Star Wars items now available to help you celebrate the new Star Wars movie, and it’s hard not to get excited when you see what’s hitting the shelves of Best Buy along with Darth Toaster.
Leo has been reviewing all of the amazing Star Wars toys over the past month, and one of the hottest toys right now is the BB-8. He’s an app-enabled droid that’s controlled by your smartphone or tablet, and he will recognize and respond to your voice, develop his own unique personality over time, and can even treat you to a few holographic videos.
I noticed him when he first appeared on Best Buy a month ago and he quickly sold out. He’s available right now, but last I checked there were limited quantities so you’d better hurry if you’d like to grab him for Christmas.
Even computers are getting into the Star Wars craze this year and Brad Moon treated us to our first look at the HP Star Wars laptop available for pre-order right now. This is the type of laptop you might think of buying one of your kids, but it’s so cool you’ll have to ‘borrow’ it a lot of just keep it for yourself.
May the force, and the toast, be with you this fall!
“It’s Toast” seems to have a new meaning
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