by Ken Tuccio

I have this reputation among people I know; I’m known as the guy who buys random crap.

I’m sure I’m also known for a lot of other, less complimentary, things but we’ll save those for another time.

In my circle of friends and acquaintances, I’m known as the guy who buys things I find interesting.

People I know don’t think it's odd when they walk inside my apartment and find a 4 foot tall Umaga Punching Bag next to my TV, or when they see action figures from the TV show Dinosaurs on the bookcase in my bedroom. It’s to the point where people expect that of me, and when they see it they simply shrug their shoulders and say, “That’s Ken”.

Since I have such a unique reputation, a lot of people recommend random crap to me. It’s not uncommon for friends to send me text messages about awesome action figures they found in Wal*Mart, or emails about clearance items at the local Toys R Us. They know I enjoy that kind of stuff, so they do what they can to feed into it.

In the long list of random product recommendations people have made to me, there’s been one constant. A product known as Moon Sand …

I’ve had countless people recommend Moon Sand to me; friends, family members, and I’ve received at least 20 emails from readers of the site asking me to write about this product.

I’ve never had a good reason to not write about it. It’s always been one of those things I’ve meant to do, but never pulled the trigger on.

During a recent excursion to Target I decided enough was enough. When I saw tubs of Moon Sand on sale for $4 a pop, I figured it was a sign from the Gods to finally experience this amazing moldable sand that "never dries out".

Moon Sand bills itself as the next evolution of playable dough.

I grew up with Play-Doh, was into Nickelodeon Gak when it was around, and I’ve messed around with Floam. Apparently Moon Sand is the next big thing in that realm.

Moon Sand has quite a following. If you go online you’ll find countless websites from Moon Sand fans showing off their Moon Sand creations. I’ve seen everything from classic sandcastles made out of Moon Sand, to framed pieces of art crafted entirely out of the “sand you can mold”.

The people who develop Moon Sand sell play sets, kits, and other products that can make the Moon Sand experience even more enjoyable. Much like the Play-Doh people before them, the folks at Moon Sand want to make sure that their product is not just another toy, but rather an entertainment investment.

To say I’m a little intrigued about this stuff would be an understatement. If so many people recommended it to me, and so many folks on the wonderful world of the internet find it exciting, it’s got to be something I’d enjoy.

Well, atleast I think so.

Moon Sand comes in 8 different colors, I opted to go with the Rocket Red.

I figure red is a color that stands out, thus whatever creation I construct will be that much more vibrant and life like. I also figure the red would come in handy in the event a stray bull begins roaming around the area while I’m writing this. If that happens, Moon Sand may just save my life.

I’m a huge fan of the container the Moon Sand is housed in …

Not only is it sturdy tupperware that I can use to store egg salad during springtime picnics, but it’s also got an indentation of a circle, a star, and a triangle on it. The design on top of the tupperware looks like something that could be a band logo for Jem and the Holograms.

I'll be honest, without even using Moon Sand, I can virtually assure you that it’s a product Jem and the Holograms would endorse. They always seemed to have a thing for arts and crafts; I mean, did you see the earrings they used to wear?

The Moon Sand comes vacuum-sealed in a plastic baggie …

Right now it looks more like something that I’d throw on my grill at my Memorial Day BBQ than it does a playable hunk of dough, but I won’t judge a book by its cover.

When taken out of its vacuum-sealed fortress, the Moon Sand looks like this …

The first thing that comes to mind when I see this is a memory from my childhood when my dog ate three packets of Cherry Kool-Aid and vomited it up. It was rather disgusting, and it obviously wasn’t something you’d want to pick up and play with.

One of my friends found that out the hard way.

The first thing I noticed about the Moon Sand is that it doesn’t have an odor, which is strange, because I’ve always found that playable clay has a stench to it.

For example, Play-Doh always smelt rather delectable, and I always had the urge to see if it tasted as good as it smelt, which is probably why my parents never bought me the McDonald’s play set. Gak stunk to high heavens, and it always made everything it touched have that same disgusting stench; that’s not a horribly appealing feature of a plaything. I also vividly remember Floam evoking a rather disgusting scent, and it taking a good ten minutes of solid soap on hand action to eliminate the stench from my skin.

So, in terms of smell, Moon Sand is ahead on points.

The thing is, you don’t buy a product like Moon Sand because of its smell, you buy Moon Sand because it’s supposed to give you the artistic outlet needed to wow your friends with statues and abstract pieces that automatically get you a scholarship at some respectable Ivy League school.

Atleast that's my belief.

My first goal when it came to molding Moon Sand was to create a ball …

Mission accomplished.

The first thing I noticed in handling the Moon Sand is that it’s extremely gritty, gritty to the point that as I type this I’m afraid some stray Moon Sand is going to find its way into my laptop keyboard. Thus causing me the humiliation of knowing that my laptop was busted by something from the Target toy section.

Try explaining that to a member of Geek Squad.

Sand is a good word to describe this product, because that’s exactly what it handles like. It breaks apart in your hands, and is tough to maintain. Once you get enough of the Moon Sand together, it molds rather easily, but it doesn’t seem that sturdy.

One of the big perks about any type of playable clay is the ability to have a design maintain its integrity until you decide to destroy it. Moon Sand simply doesn’t seem capable of doing that, as I truly feel like I could poke that ball with my finger and watch it crumble into a million pieces.

Actually …

Yup, that’s exactly what it did.

The other downside to Moon Sand is that it’s nearly impossible to collect together again.

I can tell that many grains of this Moon Sand are not going to make it back into my Jem and the Holograms container. I seriously expect to lose at least .25 cents of Moon Sand after this one playing experience.

Not cool.

Thus far I’m not impressed with Moon Sand. While the container it comes in rocks, the product itself has been sub-par. Sure, I made an un-sturdy ball, but I could do that with mashed potatoes at Ninety-Nine.

On a side note, Ninety-Nine frowns upon 20 summod year old folks making balls out of their mashed potatoes; I learned that lesson a week ago.

Maybe the Moon Sand would perform a little better if I tried to create something else.

How about I try to make a Moon Sand dog?

I’m not gonna’ lie to you, I just spent 10 minutes trying to create anything that looked remotely like a dog, that’s the best I could do.

That looks less like a spry puppy and more like the Chihuahua that got run over by the Mr. Softee truck when I was a kid.

I consider myself a Picasso in the world of playable dough. Over my years I’ve created many houses, animals, and imaginary monsters out of clay from every walk of life. The fact that after 10 minutes of incessant struggling I couldn’t build anything that looked remotely like an animal makes me flat out say Moon Sand sucks.

Sure, the $4 container of Moon Sand allowed me to make a ball that fell apart after one touch, and it also allowed me to have grains of red sand all over my table, but that’s not what I was in the market for. I wanted what was advertised, I wanted “Sand You Can Mold”. Instead, what I got was “Sand I Can Curse At”, and after I was finished it became “Sand I Can Vacuum Up” , and eventually it morphed into “Sand I Can Never Buy Again”.

On the plus side, I did get a cool tupperware container, and I can tell you that my Mother’s fresh baked corn-muffins never looked hipper …

It’s safe to say, Jem would approve.