PRODUCT REVIEW: The Puppet Company- "Dylan"

I never thought that I would ever own such a product; but ever since I got into puppetry, I had to invest in one. And what better way to find a puppet than to buy one off of Amazon.

On Amazon, there are many companies that sell puppets and accessories, but I wanted a puppet that was unique and original--I wanted a character that got my attention, one that made me curious about it, one that stood out above anything else.

Case in point: The Puppet Company.

The Puppet Company specializes in creating puppets of different creatures--whether worm-like characters, dragons, etc.--and the characters would have their own names. But the one that stood out the most for me was Dylan, a worm-type creature (I call him a bookworm) who wore glasses and a necktie. For some reason, he reminded me of myself (I'm also a bookworm).

So I bought Dylan from Amazon, and got him a couple of days later, thanks to my Prime membership. Now, at first, I was a little nervous in getting the puppet, because on Amazon, he almost looked creepy, the way his mouth was hanging open.

But when I took him out of the Amazon Prime white-and-blue bubble-wrap package (Yeah, rather than put him in a box, Amazon used their bubble-wrap packaging), he wasn't so creepy at all. Plus, the weirdness of this character was what intrigued me to buy him in the first place. I had owned an iZ toy before; so the weirdness is nothing new.

Upon taking him out of the packaging, Dylan had a tiny hanger sticking out from one side of his head--this was in case he wanted to hang somewhere for retail purposes.
He also came with a tag with the company logo.

When you open the tag, it tells you the company's mission statement, and how to wash the puppet (hand-wash its surface).

On the back of the tag, it tells you the suitable age range (explaining it also in 20 other languages inside the tag)

and the well-appreciated line: "Please retain this label for future reference."

When putting my arm through the puppet, the material felt comfortable.

The mouth part was cushioned while the mouth itself were two cardboard-type slabs on the top of my hand and below my thumb. In short, the mouth was easy to move, and I automatically got into the creative aspect of breathing life into the puppet.

Funny thing is: I gave him a German accent (partly because I was studying the Dutch language in school--Dutch and German have some similarities). (You may want to turn up the volume to hear what I was having the puppet say.)

Looking closer at this puppet, I saw that the eyes were a solid material, which popped out to make him more cartoony.
His antennae were easily adjustable.

And when you squeeze his tongue, it's like listening to a squeak toy.

Finally, the majority of this puppet was knitted material, which was done with little to no flaws.

As I researched this product more online, I found out that The Puppet Company had a working website where you can buy their products there. I found this out when I reading the product tag. The takeaway is that this company has more than one distributor.

QUALITY
A lot of work was obviously put into this product. The product was easy to use, and it fit me really well, with its one-size-fits-most physique.
Though, the only somewhat downside is that my hand would get sweaty after wearing the puppet for a long while, due to its stitching, and the material not being ventilated. On a hot sunny day, this could be a slight annoyance, but it can be a warm Godsend for your arm in cold weather. But that's all okay--it's doable.
Rating: 9/10

ASSEMBLY?
There's no assembly required. All you would have to do is remove the hanger and the tag. But keep the tag, in case you need to hand-wash the product.
Rating: 10/10

CREATIVITY
The character Dylan is, of course, a bookworm type. Despite the concept of a literal bookworm being a cliché in it of itself, seeing a worm creature with glasses and a necktie is both funny and cute.
Rating: 9/10

UNIQUE & WEIRD?
At first, the product came to me as weird, because of the picture of it shown on Amazon's website; but when seeing Dylan in person--or in this case, in physical form--the weirdness had faded away. So, ultimately, Dylan won me over with his uniqueness, not weirdness.
Rating: 9/10

DISTRIBUTION/PACKAGING
This product has more than one distributor (the official company website and Amazon, as far as I know).
However, I wasn't a big fan of the packaging courtesy of Amazon Prime. Amazon should think twice before placing the product in a bubble-wrap package, because what if the package got crushed or mangled during the shipping process? Luckily, the package was handled with care; but a cardboard box would've sufficed. I don't know the type of packaging that The Puppet Company uses to ship their products, but as for Amazon, they should rethink the choice of a bubble-wrap type bag to ship something like a puppet like Dylan.
In other words, the packaging wasn't The Puppet Company's fault, but its partner Amazon.
Rating: 8/10

*************************** FINAL VERDICT: 9/10 *******************************
The only minor issues I had were the non-air-ventilation for the operating arm, and shipping and handling (the way it was shipped, not the S&H fee because there was no fee).
The fact that your arm can get sweaty after a while is, like I said, doable. But, if I was to order another puppet (one of the other sockette characters from The Puppet Company), then I would expect the product to be delivered in a more suitable packaging, rather than hastily push it out the door in a bubble-wrap packaging and hope that nothing bad happens to it.

As for me, I'll probably buy a different character to accompany Dylan because... I think he needs a friend. Plus, he's already made his home in the puppet stage that I had built with a cardboard box. (By the way, curtains for the puppet stage COMING SOON!)

"Dylan, what time is it?"

Sources:
Amazon, 2018. https://www.amazon.com/
The Puppet Company, The Puppet Company Ltd., 2018. https://www.thepuppetcompany.com/