Harry Potter too good for Cardboard?

Everyone knows, Harry Potter is my all-time favorite book series.   The entire Harry Potter franchise of books, movies, toys, clothes, Theme park, and more amounts in the billions.  I would say it has been a very influential part of my generation’s culture.  To see if this is so, I looked at the 3 “most helpful customer reviews” of the Harry Potter Paperback box set of all 7 books in the collector’s box on Amazon.

I thought, well, out of the three reviews, there must be one that is negative towards the books. Maybe someone religious who doesn’t believe magic should be glorified.  Anyways, looking at the reviews all three were extremely positive about the books.

The first review said, “When is the last time you have read a book and instantly wanted to pick it up and read it again? It doesn't happen often.”

The second reviewer said, “There's no question that the contents of the books inside this so-called chest are of the highest order.”

And, finally, the third review said, “I am a big Harry Potter fan and am no less than thrilled to pieces to finally own the complete set of books.”

Just from these three reviews, I can extrapolate and assume that everyone in the world loves Harry Potter.

The interesting parts of these reviews, however, were not the positive regards for the book series and of J.K. Rowling herself.  Two of these three reviews had a very negative take on the collector’s edition.  These reviewers were extremely upset that the “collector’s edition” was just a box of cardboard with a plastic clasp and really, a cheap product overall for what they thought was supposed to housing bricks of gold.

The second reviewer said, “I wasn't expecting something that was as heavy and substantial as, say, a pirate's chest, but I certainly was hoping that the box was more sturdy than a few flaps of cardboard rather cheaply assembled, and easily DISassembled.”

The third reviewer exclaimed, “Given the obvious fact that Harry is huge worldwide, it would had behooved the publishers to do right by this commemorative set and make the case out of engineered wood (at the very least!) Instead they opted for the cheaper route and decided to make it out of... drum roll please.... CARDBOARD!”

(I especially like the third reviewer’s comment.)

What this tells me of the reviewer culture the Harry Potter Book Series is that they believe Harry Potter is too good for a shabby cardboard box.  They would have much preferred something they could show to guests and feel like a True Harry Potter Fan.  Though I own all Harry Potter Books on my Kindle in both English and German, I someday would like to own my own Harry Potter collector’s edition boxed set, and I think I would feel the same way about the packaging.