Living with a Hand Puppet: PRODUCT REVIEW: Lamb Chop (Aurora)

Previously, on this blog, I had talked about how some of my idols like Shari Lewis was what gave me the idea for Living With a Hand Puppet.

And one of my wishes was to be like her. And what better way to make this wish than do so on my 25th birthday.

Yesterday (June 26, 2018) was my 25th birthday, and of course, I had a very special guest...

LAMB CHOP!

That's right! A puppet replica of Lamb Chop is real! She was out there, and I was able to get her off of Amazon. She came in a big box, because I had bought something else. In my opinion, a box as a choice of packaging was fine by me--it sure beats putting the puppet in a flimsy Amazon bag packaging like when I got Dylan the bookworm. It even came with a fine protective plastic bag, which was also okay.

Right off the bat, Lamb Chop makes it perfectly clear that she's "a puppet" with the red tag on her neck. She also came with another tag on her ear that said that she was "The Lamb. The Legend."

(Well, of course she is!)

This tag also had a "To-" and "From-" spot in case someone wanted to give this as a gift.

A celebratory gesture, seeing that I got this on my birthday.

On the back of this tag, we see that the character Lamb Chop is owned by Classic Media (since 2012), which begs the question: "Why haven't re-runs of Lamb Chop's Play Along been given the DVD treatment? (In other words, why can't this show be on streaming services like Netflix?)"

Upon sitting her down on the bed, Lamb Chop exceeds 12 in. (I think Amazon said that she was 17 in. long); and she's made with polyester just like the real Lamb Chop. The likeness of the puppet strongly resembles that of the original--in my opinion, that's good, because it's almost close to the real thing.

The puppet was brought to us by Aurora, which has a website when you type in "Aurora plush." At a glance, Aurora is known to sell plushies and other kid products that have licensed characters.

So then it was time to actually try my hand at using this puppet like how Shari Lewis would.

(Lamb Chop blowing kisses)

Me: "She's a little shy..."

Now, putting my hand into the puppet to work the mouth was both exciting and challenging.

The mouth is manufactured to where you can't really move your hand much to make it "talk." Her mouth doesn't open and close, but does a shuffling movement whenever you fit your pointer, middle finger, ring finger, and pinky in it. I guess the exciting part was that I got to move her arms with my fingers: my right thumb moves her left arm, and my pinky moves her right arm.

QUALITY

You can tell that Aurora took pride in recreating the Lamb Chop character, especially allowing the consumer to operate her as a puppet, just like Shari Lewis. Fine craftsmanship and needle-work show that a lot of effort was put into this product: the polyester, the fabric. The material to this product is super genuine.

The only negative I could give it is that when operating this puppet, working the mouth may not be for everyone: If you have small hands, then you're fine. If you have thin fingers, then you're fine. So, this, unfortunately, is not a one-size-fits-most format, like Dylan.

Rating: 9/10

ASSEMBLY?

No assembly required, other than taking off the tags.

Rating: 10/10

CREATIVITY

This product captures the spirit of the original source material. Having a replica of Lamb Chop--one that you yourself can own and operate--was one of my life's goals, because I wanted to so-badly channel Shari Lewis. So if you got the nostalgia, and if you know who Shari Lewis is and her works, then you'll love this product.

Rating: 10/10

UNIQUE & WEIRD?

There's ABSOLUTELY NOTHING weird about this product. This product is 100% unique, because again, it stays true to the original source material.

Rating: 10/10

DISTRIBUTION & PACKAGING

The way that Lamb Chop was distributed was decent. I respected the box that she came in, and the plastic wrapping that she was wrapped in. And that's saying a lot, compared to how Amazon treated the Dylan puppet with its flimsy bubble-wrap packaging (that wasn't The Puppet Company's fault).

Rating: 10/10

***************************FINAL VERDICT: 10/10********************************

I love--I mean it, LOVE-- this product.