I'm A Grown Man And I Bought This: Lego Star Wars Stormtrooper Alarm Clock

A couple of weeks ago I was wracking my brain trying to think of a suitable Christmas gift for a friend who's a big Star Wars fan. I happened to visit the thinkgeek.com website and saw the perfect gift: a Lego Stormtrooper Alarm Clock!

In fact, I thought it was so cool that I couldn't resist it and ordered two; one for my friend and one for myself.

As you are no doubt aware, Lego has been making Star Wars sets and figures for quite a few years now, and this is a large sized replica of one of their Stormtrooper figures, but with a digital clock in its chest. As near as I can tell it's an exact duplicate of the smaller figure, scaled up to around 9".

The clock appears much darker (almost black) in the photo above. It's a standard LCD clock screen and is nowhere near that dark in real life.

When you push on the head, the clock in the chest lights up for a few seconds, allowing you to see the time in the dark.

It has a battery compartment on the back, as well as time setting and alarm buttons, which look somewhat complicated here but are actually pretty simple to operate.

Best of all, it's not just a solid lump of plastic--it's articulated just like a small Lego figure, so you can pose your clock in various positions. Here you can see my clock participating in a sit in, and then recreating his catalog model pose.

I was surprised at the size of the figure when it arrived, as I was expecting it to be a lot smaller. Here it is next to a can of coconut juice (from the Chinese grocery) for scale. By the way, I think that coconut juice has been in my refrigerator for a year or two. I'm quite busy, you know, and have no time for cleaning out the fridge.

All in all, this is one of the coolest gifts I've bought for myself in a long while, and I highly recommend it.

Think Geek also has a Darth Vader Lego Alarm Clock available. It looked pretty cool too, but I just liked the Stormtrooper better. I've never seen one in any brick and mortar store, so if you want one, your best bet is to order one here.

By the way, the ThinkGeek website has a feature that sent me an email that notified me the instant my package was delivered to my doorstep. I buy a lot of stuff online and this is the first time I've encountered this. I think it's a really good idea, and one that every online store (I'm lookin' at you, Amazon) should offer.

Pros:
It's a fully articulated giant Lego Stormtrooper Alarm Clock! What decor wouldn't be enhanced by one?

Cons:
Although it's the epitome of cool, as an alarm clock it's virtually useless. First of all, the clock display is LCD, so it's invisible in the dark. They should have gone with an LED display. You can illuminate the clock face by pressing on the Stormtrooper's head, but if you're like me, you put your alarm clock on the other side of the room to force yourself to get up and shut it off, so a momentarily lit display is no help.

Second, when the alarm goes off, it emits a barely audible "teep teep" sound that wouldn't rouse me from even the lightest of sleeps. It's best used as a desk clock and conversation piece, rather than as a functioning alarm.