TRANSCRIPT of Episode 61: "Rubik's Cube"

Review That Review with Chelsey Donn & Trey Gerrald

Episode 61: "Rubik's Cube"

Transcription

*Please Pardon any spelling errors!

THEME SONG: [00:00:00] Everybody's got an opinion.

Every Californian and Virginian.

It's so hard to tell who to trust and who to ignore.

Someone's gotta settle the score.

Trey and Chelsey will help you choose!

Whose views win, which ones lose.

Online haters are comin' for you!

Baby, it's time to Review That Review!

[00:00:30] Chelsey Donn: Hello!

[00:00:31] Trey Gerrald: Well, hello there. And hello there, listeners. Welcome to Review That Review the podcast dedicated to reviewing...

[00:00:39] Chelsey Donn: reviews! We're just like Siskel and Ebert only instead of reviewing cinematic masterpieces, we rate and review those hilarious scathing and sometimes suspicious online reviews.

[00:00:51] Trey Gerrald: That is Chelsey Donn.

[00:00:53] Chelsey Donn: And that is Trey Gerrald.

[00:00:55] Trey Gerrald: and together we are:

[00:00:57] VOICEOVER: The Review Queens!

[00:01:01] Trey Gerrald: For access to additional reviews and tidbits on our weekly after show companion podcast, you have to be a member to hear join over at Patreon dot com slash Review That Review.

[00:01:14] Lillian Pops

[00:01:14] Trey Gerrald: Now, before we get any further in the show, Something happened at the very end of last weeks members only after show companion podcast that Chelsey and I have been getting so much, uh, attention, so many DMS, so many comments on.

[00:01:34] Trey Gerrald: So I thought it's only right that we bring it into today's actual show so that we can properly address. Here we go here is a very abbreviated clipped version so that if anyone is not a member of our Patreon, you'll have a little background info.

[00:01:52] VOICEOVER: I know this was like from the main show, but do you have any guesses what LP might stand for? Um, it probably means Laurel Peter Smith. I was thinking like Lawrence Peterson, like maybe like a Lillian, Lillian pops. I've never met anyone with the last name pops. Lilian pops. Well, thanks Queens. Have a great week stay.

[00:02:22] VOICEOVER: Queenly do all the things stay. Queenly keep Queen and whatever you do, ignore the haters. Ignore the haters question. What would Lilian pops do?

[00:02:35] VOICEOVER: Lillian pops li pops. Well, that's our new merch. Lillian. Karma's. It's so stupid. oh my God.

[00:03:03] Trey Gerrald: so Lillian pops was born. We are now crediting, uh, the quote that has become infamous. Karma's a bitch boys, two Lillian pops and at the tail end of that conversation, right before we signed off Chelsey suggested what if we did a contest where someone draws Lillian pops. So I'm bringing it to the main show.

[00:03:25] Trey Gerrald: If you are an artist, if you have an artistic flare, we would love to create some merch featuring Lillian pops, the primadonna of Review That Review. Please submit.

[00:03:35] Chelsey Donn: William pops is popping off.

[00:03:38] Trey Gerrald: pops is popping off. She's dawning a crown. if you want to submit a piece of artwork, we'll consider it for the next line of merch.

[00:03:47] Trey Gerrald: Anyway, Chelsey, how are ya?

[00:03:49] Chelsey Donn: I'm good. I'm good. You know, trudging along it's summer hot girl summer. I'm here for it. Mm. Yeah.

[00:03:55] Trey Gerrald: Oh, yeah, it's funny. We have two dogs as all of you listeners know. And our first dog Winnie loves to just look up into the sun and bark for no reason. There's, there's like. Yeah. She'll literally just sit there and like bark until we're like, no, no. So that's a joy of summer cuz she doesn't tend to want to sit out there when it's not nice out.

[00:04:22] Trey Gerrald: Uh, she really hates, well, she likes to run around in snow, but she has to like get in the snow first. I've been dealing with that a lot the bark

[00:04:30] Chelsey Donn: About her nonstop,

[00:04:32] Trey Gerrald: just into the sky. Like it's

[00:04:34] Trey Gerrald: so

[00:04:34] Chelsey Donn: think it's a boredom thing. I don't

[00:04:36] Trey Gerrald: Oh really?

[00:04:37] Chelsey Donn: It could be,

[00:04:38] Trey Gerrald: She gets attention.

[00:04:39] Chelsey Donn: yeah, they need attention.

[00:04:41] Trey Gerrald: Well, this week I discovered that I actually have access to Sirius XM through the app, which like, I must have known at some point, cuz we have it for David's car.

[00:04:52] Trey Gerrald: so I have access to the Michelle Collins show, which I am obsessed with Michelle Collins. And so now all week I've just been like binging, you know her two hour morning show. It's lovely. I'm that's been the highlight of my.

[00:05:06] Chelsey Donn: don't know if I know who that is. Is that bad?

[00:05:08] Trey Gerrald: Michelle Collins, you would love her.

[00:05:11] Chelsey Donn: Sorry, Michelle, she's a comic. Mm. I feel like I know like a Michelle Wolf.

[00:05:17] Trey Gerrald: Yeah.

[00:05:17] Chelsey Donn: All right. I'll have to look this up on my off time.

[00:05:19] Trey Gerrald: How was your week? Any, any highlights? Any, um, spectacular spectaculars?

[00:05:24] Chelsey Donn: I saw a jazz show. Love a good jazz show moment,

[00:05:28] Trey Gerrald: like the Utah jazz.

[00:05:30] Chelsey Donn: huh? Nice sports knowledge. Okay. Show off. No, like jazz, like the music jazz. I went to a, a dinner and jazz theater moment. It was fabulous. Food was good. Jazz was better, but the food was good.

[00:05:48] Trey Gerrald: did you think of felonious monk?

[00:05:51] Chelsey Donn: No, I

[00:05:53] Trey Gerrald: Well, I'm glad you enjoyed some jazz.

[00:05:55] Chelsey Donn: did.

[00:05:56] Trey Gerrald: I do love jazz.

[00:05:57] Lodge A Complaint

[00:05:57] Chelsey Donn: What about any complaints? Anything boiling?

[00:06:00] Trey Gerrald: Hmm. Yeah, I think that, I think that I could probably.

[00:06:04] VOICEOVER: Lodge A Complaint.

[00:06:05] Trey Gerrald: All right. So today I really need to Lodge a Complaint. Again, something that happens pretty often with packing tape, but it also happens with scotch tape, anytime the tape disconnects from the Cutty part and just sticks back to itself.

[00:06:22] Trey Gerrald: And then I'm feverishly trying to find where the

[00:06:27] Trey Gerrald: end of the tape is. And then oftentimes I can't peel it back off of itself evenly. And so then yeah, two, two separate forks in the road here of complaining, because one is when it's like little ribbons and you can't get it straight ever. And then the other fork, circling endlessly, digging my fingernail.

[00:06:48] Trey Gerrald: Like where is the tip? Where is the end of this? I can't find the end. Does anyone else encounter this? Why is it so challenging and difficult? And also when you use those tape gun, things like to do packages and boxes. Why is this? So willy-nilly free in the wind. Like there's no contraption to keep it when every motion of that tape gun is like back and forth, up and down.

[00:07:12] Trey Gerrald: Like there's so much movement. So why is there not something to keep it in place? I hated it. It's so annoying. I just wanna tape something and I'm going to war. Mm

[00:07:22] Chelsey Donn: I get it. That's annoying. I've been there before. I feel like I might've even complained about that once. I mean, it's just, if I didn't, it's on my list, it's just annoying. It's one of those things that's like, feels like it always happens when you're in a rush. Like that's when it'll happen or you're trying to wrap a gift and be sort of like fast with.

[00:07:43] Chelsey Donn: Never like it's the right time, you know?

[00:07:47] Trey Gerrald: Right, or it sticks to your hand and then it gets all like bubbly and weird and you're like, well, now it has like a weird discoloration. So now I have to like waste tape

[00:07:56] Chelsey Donn: Right. Oh yeah. You can't use the fingerprinted tape.

[00:08:00] Trey Gerrald: Hey, that's my Complaint.

[00:08:01] Chelsey Donn: I, I hear you. I think a lot of people would agree with that. That's pop and annoying

[00:08:07] Trey Gerrald: Mm-hmm . How about you? What's your Lillian Complaint?

[00:08:11] Chelsey Donn: my Lily Complaint, you know? We all know that I have anxiety, this isn't new. I have an issue with the loud doors. I don't like sounds that I don't anticipate. I also design a website. You know, I designed our website. I've designed quite a few. If you have a website and when I go to your website, it automatically plays a video.

[00:08:34] Chelsey Donn: Please stop. Please stop doing that. It is like, I feel personally accosted when I visit a website and it just forces me to watch a video with

[00:08:46] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, with

[00:08:46] Chelsey Donn: it's one thing. If it's a video starts playing and there's no sound okay, fine. I don't really care about that. But if I open up your website and a video starts playing, or I open up your website and a song starts playing, are there some sort of an auditory.

[00:09:05] Chelsey Donn: Response to me, just clicking on your website, please stop doing that. Okay. Nobody likes it. No, one's gonna wanna revisit your site. I'm not calling out the actors, cuz I love my fellow actors. But like if you're an actor, don't, don't have your real start playing. As soon as you get to your site, it's not a good look.

[00:09:26] Chelsey Donn: Nobody likes it. If you're a musician, don't have your song playing. As soon as I get there. What if I'm somewhere I can't have music and I just wanna read about you or whatever. We gotta stop accosting people with our stuff. Let them select play. They can do.

[00:09:43] Trey Gerrald: this happen to you? When you were at the jazz concert, you were like got bored and were scrolling.

[00:09:48] Chelsey Donn: I don't want anything to get back to anybody, but I was visiting, I'll say an artist site and a song started playing. And I was just like, you know, all of a sudden, everybody around me is like, what's that? What are you looking at? We're like, no, I didn't invite conversation. I thought I was having a silent experience, looking someone up and trying to gather more information.

[00:10:08] Chelsey Donn: And now. I am accosted and, and I just, I wanted to make a public service announcement because I design websites. And because this question has come up, you know, with people who I've helped with their websites, whether or not they should have a video play automatically, the answer is no, don't do it. It's annoying.

[00:10:26] Trey Gerrald: It does make me think of MySpace, but then even when you think of MySpace in the context, you knew you were on MySpace and you were clicking on someone's page. So you knew that music might play,

[00:10:36] Chelsey Donn: Right? that was a

[00:10:38] Trey Gerrald: go to a website, it is very affronting.

[00:10:41] Chelsey Donn: It is, it's just not good. Like give me the option, you know? So that's it. That's my Complaint for today. Like with a little bit of advice sandwiched in there, right? Ugh.

[00:10:51] Trey Gerrald: I hear you. That is very maddening and frustrating. I have, I have been accosted by that as well. I feel similarly, like when you go to like a news website and like, they have like a little like popup of like a video commercial ad like, stop. I, no, I'm trying to read out that the news not about Truva ready.

[00:11:09] Chelsey Donn: Right. And then I gotta find the X, the hidden X and you know how much I hate a hidden X. All right. Well, speaking of online things,

[00:11:16] Trey Gerrald: Speaking of angry, angry, angry reactions,

[00:11:21] Chelsey Donn: yes. To online things.

[00:11:23] Trey Gerrald: should we jump into some reviews, Chelsey?

[00:11:25] Chelsey Donn: I think we should let's do.

[00:11:30] VOICEOVER: That Review. Assess that

[00:11:33] Chelsey Donn: All right. As you know, we are your trustee review Queens. We bring in reviews from the internet that we feel need to be inspected.

[00:11:42] Trey Gerrald: We read you a review, break it down and rate the impact of the review on a scale from zero to five crowns. It's a very Regal process that Chelsey and I like to call.

[00:11:55] VOICEOVER: Kvetch.

[00:11:57] Chelsey Donn: what do you have for us today?

[00:11:59] Trey Gerrald: All right. I actually have two open right here and I've just landed on the one I'm gonna actually do today. So today I have a One-Star-Zinger Amazon review

[00:12:09] Chelsey Donn: Okay.

[00:12:10] Trey Gerrald: from a user named Jeff

[00:12:13] Chelsey Donn: Another Jeff. Oh, wait. That was Craig buddy. Jeff.

[00:12:16] Trey Gerrald: This might, he probably might. Well, I Donn

[00:12:19] Chelsey Donn: he could be the buddy.

[00:12:21] Trey Gerrald: don't wanna say anything, so.

[00:12:23] Chelsey Donn: Jeff, no last initial, just Jeff.

[00:12:26] Trey Gerrald: Just Jeff. Jeff was the first Jeff to register on Amazon

[00:12:29] Chelsey Donn: Madonna. Okay.

[00:12:30] Trey Gerrald: mm-hmm so this is Jeff's One-Star-Zinger Amazon review for the kids toy.

[00:12:36] Trey Gerrald: The Rubik's cube

[00:12:37] Chelsey Donn: Oh, nice.

[00:12:39] Trey Gerrald: Jeff's subject is, oh, I have to tell you this too. Jeff. This is a verified purchase. And next to Jeff's name, there is a green denotation that says top contributor in the

[00:12:53] Trey Gerrald: category of pets.

[00:12:56] Chelsey Donn: Of pets,

[00:12:57] Trey Gerrald: Yes. P E T S.

[00:12:59] Chelsey Donn: dogs, cats, birds.

[00:13:02] Trey Gerrald: So Jeff is a top contributor and items related to pet.

[00:13:05] Chelsey Donn: So Jeff has a lot of animals. I'm thinking ACE, Ventura, Jeff.

[00:13:09] Trey Gerrald: And this is Jeff's review for a kits toy. So Jeff's subject is garbage with a good name.

[00:13:16] Chelsey Donn: mm-hmm

[00:13:19] Trey Gerrald: all right, here we are. This cube should be the iconic example of a product that is 100% name recognition and 0% quality. I came to Amazon looking to buy a Rubik's cube parentheses by Rubik's cube. I realize now, I mean the three by three cube puzzle invented by Erno Rubik and parentheses. And I was overwhelmed by the number of companies making three by three cubes to choose from.

[00:13:57] Trey Gerrald: I didn't want some cheap knockoff. So naturally I chose the Rubik's brand as the iconic name. I knew from my childhood parentheses. My childhood happened in the eighties. When it arrived nine days ago, I was so focused on learning to solve the puzzle that the poor quality of the product went largely unnoticed until the algorithms became more natural and intuitive. The only thing I really noticed on day one was the tightness of the cube and the shards of plastic that caught the skin on my fingers. As I got better at solving the puzzle, I began to realize how poorly constructed the cube is. The cube is incredibly tight in the center. Yet many of the pieces seem to wobble and clack.

[00:14:53] Trey Gerrald: In various states of solving the cube. I find that one face may be incredibly difficult to turn while its opposite face spins loosely. I can even see through the cube from some angles and not others. When I look along any side of the cube, I can see that the face of each piece is slightly different from the others.dot dot.

[00:15:19] Trey Gerrald: Some are concave, some convex, some lopsided, the little plastic inserts that have replaced the old stickers appear. Haphazardly popped into place. The cube as a whole often appears to lean and rarely ever has a squared cube appearance. It looks squashed. If I rotate the top face a one eighth turn, I can see the corner pieces hanging down and sag. had attributed some of the above disappointments to the cube, not being broken in, but I have used this cube for nearly 15 hours since it arrived. And since the cube is still very cumbersome to deal with, period, I've continued to practice the algorithms until they are becoming second nature to me and take very little of my focus.

[00:16:16] Trey Gerrald: That is when I really began to notice the worst aspect of this cube.dot dot the sound every little movement. I make.dot dot every turn of a face.dot dot. Even just passing the cube from one hand into the other.dot dot this cube creeks. It sounds like a hallway full of kids with damp sneakers. Every time I touch this annoying little cube.

[00:16:45] Trey Gerrald: I can hear the sound to 26 cheaply made pieces rubbing against each other two worsen matters. I don't believe it can even be Lu. I started looking for a better cube by Googling quote, rubiks versus speed cube end, and found a page on Rubik's website, explaining how this cube is almost impossible to take apart.

[00:17:14] Trey Gerrald: This cube is garbage. Now I wouldn't normally take time out of my day to write a review on a toy that cost only $10. It's not like I'm out much here, but after doing a little research into all those other brands of three by three cubes, I have come to realize that for the same $10 parentheses or less. I could have bought any number of well constructed, high quality cubes that even expert solvers use in competitions. The Rubik's cube is just one of those purchases where I feel completely ripped off by the same principle that as a product, the most recognized name brand fails in every conceivable way. This is probably the best example of a company using a trademark to market a product that is egregiously inferior to other products of the same type and purpose.

[00:18:12] Trey Gerrald: I've since seen a dozen, how to, and review videos, showing what the other cubes can do. They are faster, more precise, better constructed, more evenly designed, and much quieter than this one. Do not buy this. The only reason anyone should ever buy this product is if they teach a marketing class and want a good example of a bad product sold under a recognized name, that, or if you have a friend with O C D who you'd like to torment dot, dot, dot, this would make an excellent gift for that purpose. Uh,

[00:19:00] Chelsey Donn: Jeff, I'm getting flashes of. Linky lady. Well, was it Mrs. Something? The teacher Mrs. SCOs

[00:19:09] Trey Gerrald: six people found this helpful. You have one.

[00:19:12] Chelsey Donn: I do have a Rubik's cube. I'm just

[00:19:15] Trey Gerrald: What brand is it?

[00:19:17] Chelsey Donn: it looks like the brand is actually called inter gear.

[00:19:22] Trey Gerrald: Oh,

[00:19:23] Chelsey Donn: No, we're, they're not sponsoring us, but

[00:19:26] Trey Gerrald: is it cheap?

[00:19:26] Chelsey Donn: don't even remember where I got it, but it feels like pretty good. Like I like turning it. I have it memorized the algorithms. I can usually get one side, but I, I do have trouble.

[00:19:38] Trey Gerrald: Let's go through some of these Jeff points. Can you see through it? Does it tear the skin on your fingers?

[00:19:44] Chelsey Donn: It definitely does not tear that my, the it's kind of smooth. It makes it sound. Can you hear it?

[00:19:50] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, but that feels satisfying to me.

[00:19:52] Chelsey Donn: It feels satisfying when you're like playing with it. I was wondering like on Amazon, sometimes it can be hard to tell if it actually is the brand name. And then also what's the statute of limitation on the, the name.

[00:20:07] Chelsey Donn: Rubik's cube. The reason why I ask is because there is a statue of limitation on some products, like for example, ketchup and bandaids, right. Used to have to call it cats up and bandages because both of those things were brand identifiable, but they're outside the statue of limitations. So now you'll see, uh, Kroger.

[00:20:27] Chelsey Donn: Brand ketchup or something like that. Right. So is this page where Jeff got this product definitely owned by them or are they just using it as popular vernacular or maybe misrepresenting

[00:20:41] Trey Gerrald: No, it is the Rubik's brand toys. And I actually found this review, not for the podcast, but because I was interested in getting a Rubik's cube and I wanted to find what the best one was. Cuz I have a nephew or a cousin on David's side. Who had learned the algorithm and he could do it like in 40 seconds.

[00:21:00] Trey Gerrald: Like I,

[00:21:01] Chelsey Donn: his back,

[00:21:01] Trey Gerrald: yeah, it was really cool. And I was like, oh, this could be fun to like take on, but I'm not doing this now. But then I started reading lots of reviews cuz I, I also like Jeff noticed that there are millions of these companies that make these sort of QBI things.

[00:21:15] Chelsey Donn: the three by

[00:21:16] Trey Gerrald: Three by threes as Jeff says. And so I also, I'm assuming I might be of a similar age as Jeff, because my childhood was kind of the eighties.

[00:21:24] Trey Gerrald: I mean, I like four years of it.

[00:21:26] Chelsey Donn: We're nineties kids.

[00:21:28] Trey Gerrald: Yeah. I guess that's true. But I, I, but it's, that's the whole thing. Like I call facial tissues, Kleenex, and I say bandaid, and I say, Rubik's cube.

[00:21:38] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. I'm just happy that in the end that Jeff self-identified as having obsessive compulsive disorder.

[00:21:46] Trey Gerrald: no, they say, if you have a friend that has it.

[00:21:48] Chelsey Donn: I, but I kind of think that was an omission.

[00:21:51] Trey Gerrald: Oh, you

[00:21:52] Chelsey Donn: Oh for sure. Cuz it's like this whole rant that Jeff is going on. I don't know that the average person is gonna feel this way is gonna have this much issue. Like the length that they went to describe, you know, the spaces in between. And the sounds that they didn't really realize until 15 hours in, and just so many factors that really, as Jeff was going on and on.

[00:22:24] Chelsey Donn: And I guess that's where I feel like Jeff sort of lost me, you know, throughout this review. I really like someone who, even when they have personality and have these things, which I do appreciate if they're able to carry me through. The key points of what is wrong with this product and not get so overwhelmed by their own Misha or their own.

[00:22:52] Chelsey Donn: What is the issue? Because there were so many issues that were brought up that I'm left sort of confused. Like I'm not really understanding.

[00:23:02] Trey Gerrald: Well, I That's. Yes. Also quickly the spelling grammar here is pretty fantastic. I think there was maybe two misspellings, but they use pretty high level vocabulary words. They use lots of parentheses. They.

[00:23:19] Chelsey Donn: about the writing of this.

[00:23:21] Trey Gerrald: but the grammar, I guess maybe it's not even grammar. The formatting is just one giant paragraph.

[00:23:28] Trey Gerrald: And I would think if you were someone interested in the Rubik's cube, there might be a preference to visual appearance. And I would assume if there are maybe six or seven points of why this is not an excellent cube, maybe like an intu could help represent all of your points.

[00:23:46] Chelsey Donn: Right. Yeah. Like if

[00:23:48] Trey Gerrald: might also,

[00:23:49] Chelsey Donn: one, the issue, is it creaks number two, the issue is it. Not put together well, it's, you know, feels cheaply made, like whatever, like, can you see the space between like, yeah, like you can, it's a little wobbly. It's not like perfect. If I really wanted, like to see the space, like yeah, I could pull it apart and you could see the spaces in between, know what I mean?

[00:24:12] Trey Gerrald: same brand.

[00:24:13] Chelsey Donn: It's not, but I'm saying like, is this Jeff has not revisited the Rubik's cube in the flesh since childhood, right.

[00:24:23] Trey Gerrald: and that's my biggest point about to counter Jeff here.

[00:24:28] Trey Gerrald: seems like Jeff did an excruciating amount of research after having the product for nine days and then realized how defective I get that, that is sort of the thesis statement up top was like, I thought I would get one. I thought of this brand, cuz I knew it as a kid.

[00:24:44] Trey Gerrald: Then I saw there were so many, so then I did a couple of Googles and then I just went with this one, but then it's like, you didn't even notice. That it was not so superior until you started using it many, many days. I mean, he did 19 or he did 15 hours and nine days. And then realizes how inferior it is.

[00:25:02] Chelsey Donn: I don't know. It just feels like something that you like, you know, similar to the slinky almost, right? Like you have this vision of it in your head from when you were a kid. You think it should be a certain way. You're overdoing it with the Rubik's cube because now you're an adult and you're not a kid.

[00:25:21] Chelsey Donn: And you're like, really? We have algorithms. Now we didn't have algorithms in this sense when we were a kid, right? Like there might have been someone somebody's brother that figured out like, you know, left, left twist, right. you know what I mean? Like the 15 hours, you know, like you were playing with this thing for 15 hours.

[00:25:41] Chelsey Donn: I mean, it's a $10 toy. You're really, you're putting the toy to the test. How much of this is sort of overuse of a $10 toy or,

[00:25:53] Trey Gerrald: right.

[00:25:53] Chelsey Donn: or is specific to Jeff with like the sound? I don't know, like, I don't know how much I trust Jeff, I guess.

[00:26:01] Trey Gerrald: Well, I think even the statement of, um, I've to worsen matters, I've come to find you can't even lubricate

[00:26:08] Chelsey Donn: What is that?

[00:26:09] Trey Gerrald: I think that's just highlighting how intensely serious Jeff is taking this. I don't think that's a joke. It doesn't read as a joke to me. I think the only joke Jeff makes is about tormenting, a friend with OC.

[00:26:23] Chelsey Donn: I mean, is that even, is

[00:26:26] Trey Gerrald: But like, I actually love the visual of damp sneakers.

[00:26:31] Chelsey Donn: thought that too. That's where I was like, that's interesting. Like that, that was interesting to me, that metaphor,

[00:26:38] Trey Gerrald: like that instantly takes me somewhere. Like I instantly hear that, uh,

[00:26:41] Chelsey Donn: a gray same.

[00:26:44] Trey Gerrald: But to sort of like, we, we recognize that Jeff's taking this ceramics cube very seriously and they even point out, like, I realize that, you know, it's $10. Some of them were less like whatever. Is there value here? Is, will this make you, do you think there's any information here that would help you choose this brand versus the 19 million other competitors on Amazon?

[00:27:05] Chelsey Donn: there's information? Oh, yay. Yay. I Donn know. I mean, I guess the only value I could possibly ascertain is that I understand the thought process of like, if I was gonna buy a Rubic cube, Like this one was given to me, but if I was gonna buy one, I probably would wanna buy the Rubik's brand. So maybe in that sense, I could see a similar logic happening.

[00:27:26] Chelsey Donn: And me looking at this review being like, oh, maybe, maybe like, The Rubics is the OG. And I should really look at some of these other brands that maybe put an improvement on the original and maybe the OG hasn't really changed much, but at the same time, I kind of feel like it's similar in a way to like the Nair or, you know, the name brand products where it's almost like if you're going on Amazon to buy this product.

[00:27:53] Chelsey Donn: You're just gonna buy it. Like, if you want a Rubik's cube, you want a Rubik's cube. Rubik's cube. You're gonna go here personally. The only reason why I look to the, these reviews when I'm going to name brand products, is that there has been a pattern of, oh, I'm buying this Nike shirt on Amazon and oh, it's not a real Nike shirt.

[00:28:13] Chelsey Donn: So that was the only place where I was going. That's why I wanted to know, like, how are we sure that this is definitely Rubik's cubes. You know, trademarked page and not like somebody that is selling a knockoff,

[00:28:26] Trey Gerrald: Mm.

[00:28:27] Chelsey Donn: because that would be the only thing I would

[00:28:30] Trey Gerrald: but that, but that is like the same with one of those mini SOS we did where that Armani code, I think it was cologne where it did link back to Armani, but it was a knockoff. So I Donn don't know how

[00:28:43] Trey Gerrald: that

[00:28:44] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, So I don't know like that. I think that's becoming honestly like a real problem on, on Amazon that I've been noticing lately is like, sometimes if I am gonna buy even like a Rubik scoop or even something that's like a name brand, I might not buy it on Amazon because I am a little worried that I'm not gonna get the same quality as if I ordered from like a toy store or, you know, somewhere that's more

[00:29:07] Trey Gerrald: rubics.com. Well, that's exactly right. Well, that I think is the value of this review, because if this is the page, that's a ver verified purchase and you're reading this. I mean, I didn't buy that. Armani. I went to armani.com and I think for this, I would either click on someone else's link, um, or I would go tos.com.

[00:29:33] Trey Gerrald: So I think there is value

[00:29:35] Chelsey Donn: Do you remember when you looked this up? If it was common for people to have this level of review or like were most people

[00:29:43] Trey Gerrald: Most people weren't as lengthy. Yeah. They just sort of were like, just like, I remember like, uh, the Rubik's cube. I icon. like they weren't lengthy in depth, which I also wonder if most people buying a Rubik's cube, aren't planning to master the, like, they're not planning to spend 15 hours in nine days, which I think Jeff really was like, I wonder.

[00:30:04] Trey Gerrald: You sort of brought up this point earlier is like how many people are planning to like actually master this or just like, you know, it's fun. We'll play with it for a little bit. And then we move on. Cause we're

[00:30:14] Chelsey Donn: Yeah, like I'm going to Rubik's cubes homepage right now. I mean, it looks pretty good. Whatever I'm seeing, it looks nicer than what I have here. Yeah. It's a little like off balance. It's gotta be a little bit off kilter though. Interesting. So there's something called a Rubik's speed cube.

[00:30:36] Trey Gerrald: Correct? Yes. Like

[00:30:37] Chelsey Donn: and I wonder if that's for people that are trying to use it like Jeff, so like do it, who are trying to do it really fast with the algorithm

[00:30:45] Trey Gerrald: product. Is there a price difference?

[00:30:49] Chelsey Donn: cue? Yeah, it says the speed cube features a stronger core.

[00:30:54] Trey Gerrald: Mmm.

[00:30:54] Chelsey Donn: a mechanism designed to make it faster, smoother, and more reliable than ever no more frustrating snagging or popping core. The speed cube comes pre lubricated you get faster times and more can be added when needed. The traditional stickers have been replaced with original and eco-friendly abs material, which means no fading, no peeling.

[00:31:18] Chelsey Donn: And most importantly, no cheating glossy tiles with a good grip for a classic look, interestingly enough, you can't buy it on rubics.com.

[00:31:31] Trey Gerrald: No

[00:31:31] Chelsey Donn: does give you suggested retailers. When I go to the speed cube. Actually it says, we're sorry, but unfortunately this product is not currently available,

[00:31:41] Trey Gerrald: well.

[00:31:42] Chelsey Donn: so I don't know, but it does seem like there is some sort of understanding from Rubics that like the standard cube might not do it for you.

[00:31:53] Chelsey Donn: If you're one of these, you know, people that wants to. Okay, cool. So I just went on a different one. There's rubrics impossible, which is the original three. It's the advanced version. And they saw that at target and at Walmart and it's $15, 1499.

[00:32:10] Trey Gerrald: Right. There are speed cubes that are 1499, but this one specifically was 6 99.

[00:32:34] Chelsey Donn: not sending anybody to Amazon.

[00:32:36] Trey Gerrald: That's interesting.

[00:32:38] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. So I don't know what that means, but that, that is, seems to be a thing.

[00:32:44] Trey Gerrald: now it feels to me like why didn't Jeff mention that, like Jeff sort of skirts around that,

[00:32:50] Chelsey Donn: It just feels like Jeff did so much research. After purchasing and not before. Right when we have such a specific goal, it seems in mind, some people have a, like, I have this Rubics cube, non Rubics cube Rubics cube. Right. And it like sits on my bookshelf maybe I fidget with it every once in a while, but I'm not really doing much with it.

[00:33:13] Chelsey Donn: So like, it doesn't need to withstand. Anything serious. Right. But if I were buying a Rubik's cube, cuz I was like, I wanna master this skill and I wanna have that party trick up my sleeve. I feel like I would do a little bit more research, but maybe not

[00:33:32] Trey Gerrald: Well, like neither you, nor I, before you looked it up, knew there was a difference between a Rubik's cube and a speed cube. So like, should we blame Jeff for

[00:33:41] Chelsey Donn: I mean, yes and no, because we're not, we're not interested in going into competitive Rubik's cubing. Like not everybody that is going to go onto this page is gonna be using it by Rubik's own admission. They said creeks and you know, like they pointed those. The the snags and yeah, they pointed that out, which is, which in my mind is like this original thing was not designed to be

[00:34:10] Trey Gerrald: In competition,

[00:34:12] Chelsey Donn: yeah, like doing that with it.

[00:34:14] Chelsey Donn: So that's what you're trying to do with it, maybe you should buy another product, which this new information I Donn, Donn don't know if that makes me like more team Jeff or less team Jeff at the end of the day. Because if there's someone like Jeff, that didn't do the research, who's going to this page, maybe now they will.

[00:34:31] Trey Gerrald: Well, we should say, do we think Jeff is being truthful or shady?

[00:34:35] Chelsey Donn: Hmm. I think Jeff is telling his truth.

[00:34:39] Trey Gerrald: Right.

[00:34:40] Chelsey Donn: So I Donn don't think they're being shady. Like, I don't think that they're, they have malice. In fact, they brought up a lot of other brands make this product, but they didn't like send us away to somewhere else, which does tend to make me feel like, okay, like they clearly don't have any, they're not like in cahoots with another brand.

[00:35:00] Trey Gerrald: Correct.

[00:35:01] Chelsey Donn: I Donn, I Donn don't think that Jeff is shady, but I do think that Jeff is particular.

[00:35:07] Trey Gerrald: Me too. But I do feel like the depth of research here is just pointing to Jeff, trying to like help other people like that is why I do think it's probably more truthful than shady, especially your whole point about. Use this company versus this one, do we think this is gonna be a typical experience? Like, do you think

[00:35:28] Chelsey Donn: I don't think so.

[00:35:30] Trey Gerrald: I

[00:35:30] Trey Gerrald: don't either.

[00:35:31] Trey Gerrald: I don't know how many people just pick up and choose to become a competitive three by three Cuba. You know, like now I don't even wanna say Rubik's Cuba,

[00:35:40] Chelsey Donn: Three by three.

[00:35:41] Trey Gerrald: but it is, that is so wild to me to think that you need a, a special one, if you're gonna be very serious about it. I mean, that seems so interesting to me.

[00:35:50] Trey Gerrald: So that's

[00:35:51] Chelsey Donn: like I said, I don't think that the product was originally designed to be used this way. And then once people did start using it this way, then they like,

[00:36:00] Trey Gerrald: Well, now I wanna

[00:36:01] Trey Gerrald: know.

[00:36:02] Chelsey Donn: and then having like the super version,

[00:36:06] Trey Gerrald: right. I wonder what company sponsors those competitions like, is it not Rubics is it your company?

[00:36:13] Chelsey Donn: gotta be Rubics I feel like this is like a free giveaway or something that I have here.

[00:36:18] Trey Gerrald: I mean, I feel like this is like a grandma is gonna buy this for like a kid's like stocking or something, you know, it's

[00:36:25] Chelsey Donn: And it's gonna sit there and it's not gonna

[00:36:27] Trey Gerrald: gonna collect us.

[00:36:29] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. So I don't think that this is common for people that buy this product, but I do think it, it happens.

[00:36:34] Trey Gerrald: Correct. Humor entertained. I don't know. I think it's really long. I tried to like

[00:36:39] Chelsey Donn: long,

[00:36:40] Chelsey Donn: long to, to be funny again, like the, visual of the kids running down the hall, you know, that was nice if on its own, but like we've really got lost in the weeds.

[00:36:52] Trey Gerrald: It's just

[00:36:53] Trey Gerrald: that. Yeah, there's a lot of, um, notations here about why it's inferior. And I think there is, I think it is full of value, but I think you would either

[00:37:05] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. So the final impact is like, if you were gonna buy a Rubik's cube for your cousin slash nephew slash whatever person

[00:37:14] Trey Gerrald: to keep reading or not.

[00:37:15] Chelsey Donn: and you came across this review, would you, would you pause?

[00:37:20] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, I would not get this for that person.

[00:37:22] Chelsey Donn: Yeah. Would not get oh. Okay, well there that That's, that's some impact then. All right. Should we go into the crowning?

[00:37:28] Trey Gerrald: Yeah, let's do it.

[00:37:29] Chelsey Donn: Okay.

[00:37:29] Trey Gerrald: So Chelsey and I each have our own set of zero to five crown cards in an effort to be fair and not influenced by one another. We will simultaneously reveal our rating.

[00:37:41] VOICEOVER: The Queens are Tabulating.

[00:37:49] Chelsey Donn: Four crowns four crowns, I'm holding up three crowns, three crowns for Jeff, cuz you know, at the end of the day you are someone that was looking to buy this product and you were impacted by this review. And I do think that that holds value. I had to take it away, uh, take away a couple crowns. Cause I Donn don't think that this is gonna be the common experience.

[00:38:11] Chelsey Donn: I think that Jeff is a little bit more particular. I think if he was this research heavy. It's possible. He could have done a little more research before the purchase, as opposed to after. And so that's, that's where I, I took away those crowns, but I feel like three crowns. You gave us information. Anyone else who's maybe in a similar boat to Jeff might be swayed to look elsewhere.

[00:38:32] Chelsey Donn: So that was why I went for three crowns. How about you try why four crowns?

[00:38:36] Trey Gerrald: Well, I did for, for Jeff because it did have an impact on me in real life. Like this was separate of the podcast and I did end up reading it and this isn't my world. I'm not competitive. I learned more from when you Googled and went to Rubik's homepage. So I took the full crown away because I do think brevity is awesome.

[00:38:59] Trey Gerrald: I also think. there was more for me to learn outside of just review, which is why I didn't think it was a Review Queen. I also think way too long. So it's not a Review Queen, but ultimately I think there's more good here than there is negative. If, if you see the length of this review and keep reading, then I think it will be very helpful to you.

[00:39:20] Trey Gerrald: And that's very important in queenly, but ultimately. This was written in 2016 and it only has six people that found it helpful, which I think is pretty low. So I think that points to your point that this maybe is more fluky, but I think Jeff had good intentions and I just think it's so peculiar that it's denoted that Jeff is a top contributor in pets.

[00:39:41] Trey Gerrald: And

[00:39:42] Chelsey Donn: I was gonna say, we gotta read some of Jeff's review in the pet category see if we still feel the same way. What kind of pets do we think Jeff has? I wanna go with

[00:39:53] Trey Gerrald: I was gonna say maybe like exotic animals, but then I actually think Jeff probably wants things very clean.

[00:39:58] Chelsey Donn: right? right. That's true. All right, Jeff, nice spending the, uh, evening with you.

[00:40:03] Trey Gerrald: I think Jeff has birds.

[00:40:05] Chelsey Donn: Birds.

[00:40:05] Trey Gerrald: Oh, but they might be loud though. They might, he seems sensitive to noise. Yeah.

[00:40:10] Chelsey Donn: Mm you're. Right. Well, Jeff, call us up. If you're listening, let us know

[00:40:14] Trey Gerrald: if anyone has been a competitive Rubik's cuber call in Jeff. If you're listening, call in.

[00:40:19] Chelsey Donn: 1 8, 5 0 review zero. We wanna hear from you. right.

[00:40:24] Trey Gerrald: All right. My Queen, we have reached the most Regal portion of our show. Chelsey. Who are you inducting today for?

[00:40:33] VOICEOVER: line.

[00:40:34] Chelsey Donn: Well,

[00:40:35] Trey Gerrald: Mm-hmm

[00:40:36] VOICEOVER: Listener voicemail. Hey Queens, how are you? This is Michael, just calling with a Royal Highness nomination, free wifi at Starbucks. Ugh. What did God send? I Donn wanna used to live in New York. I'd have to be walking around with my computer and I have to send an email, be nowhere near my desk, and I can hop into a, a Starbucks to do that.

[00:40:57] VOICEOVER: But. You know, you Donn don't even have to go into a Starbucks to access the free wifi That's Starbucks. You just have to be near one. You can just wait around, out front, and if you're not getting good phone reception or whatever, you need to get on wifi to make, I have to make a call to make a FaceTime call.

[00:41:11] VOICEOVER: Whatever you can get on it, then you can get on after hours. It saved me in cities, I'm traveling. It saved me, certainly, you know, wandering around New York because Starbucks almost on every block of new. So essentially it's like pre wifi everywhere. So shout out to the good people at Starbucks.

[00:41:26] VOICEOVER: Hook him up with that free wifi, 24 7, no matter where we go. All right, Queens, we love you. Keep on doing what you're doing. Bye.

[00:41:33] Trey Gerrald: Whoa. Is that a sticker? What

[00:41:34] Chelsey Donn: What a good nomination. And I just wanna say, hold on, I got something else to hold up. I'm all full of visual. Aids today, but look at what's on my right behind my desk.

[00:41:43] Trey Gerrald: is that

[00:41:45] Chelsey Donn: it's laminated Starbucks. it's laminated Starbucks from when I was a Starbucks cup. When I went to a game of Thrones party, because.

[00:41:53] Trey Gerrald: Uh,

[00:41:54] Chelsey Donn: I didn't know anything else about game of Thrones.

[00:41:56] Chelsey Donn: Other than that, there was a Starbucks cup in the shot, but wanna say thank you, Michael, for calling in with that worthwhile induction. I love that nomination. I wouldn't have thought about that even though it's like, so there that that's so genius, like there is a Starbucks everywhere, like there's so many Starbucks.

[00:42:14] Chelsey Donn: So if you find yourself in danger and you need wifi stat, who are you gonna call Starbucks?

[00:42:22] Trey Gerrald: That is a great nomination. I wish I had thought of it. My like default thing about how there's like a Starbucks everywhere in Manhattan is like, you can always use a bathroom at a Starbucks, but I've never stopped to think that's where you can get free wifi.

[00:42:36] Chelsey Donn: Yeah.

[00:42:37] Trey Gerrald: Good job, Michael, that's such a like great point.

[00:42:41] Chelsey Donn: good like nomination plus.

[00:42:43] Trey Gerrald: do you need like a VPN, like protector or something? If you're gonna be using public wifi, like isn't that how people like steal your identity?

[00:42:52] Chelsey Donn: Oh, no, you know, you're probably right. I don't even know about these things. I should really do a little more research

[00:42:57] Trey Gerrald: Cause you know,

[00:42:57] Chelsey Donn: I, before I have this conversation, Trey

[00:43:00] Trey Gerrald: Because there are like random airports in the United States that will sometimes have complimentary wifi, not every airport, some of them. And that also makes me feel like, I mean, I'd use it cuz ultimately it's like, who cares? But I do wonder like, is this how people steal your information? Well, let's stay in Michael's vein and be positive and, yes, concur 1000%. We will via Michael as the review Queens, we will help Michael induct all the Starbuckses for having free complimentary wifi that you can just simply be standing outside of and get access to. So Starbucks, wifi, you are our, and Michael's Royal Highness.

[00:43:46] Chelsey Donn: We heart you Starbucks. Thank you.

[00:43:48] Trey Gerrald: heart you Starbucks. So yes we do. All right, Lily and pops, we did it. That's another round on the R a RQ Ferris wheel of actors leaving props behind them. And period pieces says.

[00:44:08] Chelsey Donn: Yes. Thank you for joining us today. If you'd like what you heard, please tell a friend.

[00:44:13] Trey Gerrald: you didn't like what you heard, please tell an enemy.

[00:44:16] Donate!

[00:44:16] Chelsey Donn: If you'd like to support the production of our show, visit Review That Review dot com slash donate where even a dollar tip is appreciated. Also tip your Starbucks workers to San.

[00:44:26] Trey Gerrald: Join our mailing list at Review That Review dot com to stay up to date with all of the goings on in the Queen.

[00:44:32] Chelsey Donn: And hit up our voice mailbox. 1 8 50 review zero. You can follow us on all the socials at the review Queens. I'm at ChelseyBD and I'm at

[00:44:43] Trey Gerrald: And I am at

[00:44:45] Chelsey Donn: on today's after show PODD, we are rating and reviewing a three star review from Amazon for. Chia, pat, Bob Ross with seed pack, decorative pottery planter, easy to do and fun to grow novelty gift.

[00:45:04] Chelsey Donn: Perfect. For any occasion. Exactly.

[00:45:09] Trey Gerrald: Oh my

[00:45:10] Chelsey Donn: out what made Trey say.

[00:45:12] Trey Gerrald: my white, and to find out what made, ChelseyBD say.

[00:45:18] Chelsey Donn: I know, I could tell you were turned off. I wasn't, that turned off.

[00:45:22] Trey Gerrald: Then join our Patreon at Patreon dot com slash Review That Review so that you can access our weekly members only after show companion podcast. Also very important, please remember

[00:45:38] Chelsey Donn: Ignore the haters. You're our Queen.

[00:45:41] Trey Gerrald: gender non-specific Chi pet Queen. Bye. Oh,

Review That Review is an independent podcast. Certain names have been redacted or changed to protect the guilty. Executive produced by Trey Gerrald and Chelsey Donn with editing and sound designed by me with voiceover talents by Eva Kaminsky. Our cover art was designed by LogoVora and our theme song was written by Joe Kinosian and sung by Natalie Weiss.

[00:46:05] Chelsey Donn: Do you think anyone's gonna submit any photos for Lily and pops? I hope so.

[00:46:09] Trey Gerrald: I hope so.

[00:46:10] Chelsey Donn: I wonder if anyone knows anyone with a last name pops.

[00:46:13] Trey Gerrald: I know Boston pops.

[00:46:15] Chelsey Donn: What's Boston pops.

[00:46:16] Trey Gerrald: It's like a orchestra thing. I think Marvin Hamlet be the conductor.

[00:46:20] Chelsey Donn: oh, I Donn don't know

[00:46:21] Trey Gerrald: I Donn know what that means. Maybe that's like when symphonies do pop music. I don't know. I made that up.

[00:46:26] Chelsey Donn: Uh, oh wait, I think I have heard of that. Yeah. I Donn don't think that's the same thing as the last name.

[00:46:31] Trey Gerrald: No, that's not. Boston's last name.

[00:46:33] Chelsey Donn: Nope. Nope. Nope.

---

Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash