One of the first toys I remember getting as a Christmas present was a wind-up figure skating Barbie. You'd take her delicate little waist, twist her a couple of times, and she'd do spins and twirls on the "ice," which was really just a moving stand on a platform.
The first time I went to wind her up, I twisted her so hard that her legs popped off her torso and I was left with the prettiest legless figure skater in all the land (don't feel that bad for Barbie, though — she went on to be displayed on my shelf as a mutant Barbie that could pass through walls like Kitty Pryde from X-Men).
While the Barbie incident was tragic (and kinda scarring?), it was unfortunately the beginning of a long, long era of toys, tech, and gadgets that I would accidentally be too rough with in one area or another, despite instructions often telling me that I can be a bit more aggressive with whatever object I had in my hands.
One time I snapped the arm off a very expensive tripod. One time I shattered a favourite iPhone lens by forcing my hand and screwing it on too tightly. One time I broke a phone case attempting to pull my iPhone from its tight confines, and while it's not necessarily in the same vein as accidentally snapping/breaking little parts of bigger things…
Remember the time I shattered an entire iMac on the concrete floor while I was in class?
Because I do.
Despite my terrible luck with tech and accessories of any shape or size, I was over the moon to open my new Nintendo Switch with my boyfriend. As we started putting the console together, he handed me the portable screen and asked me to find where to put the game.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the kickstand was more than just a kickstand — it is the cover for the space to add whatever microSD card you wanted to use for additional storage, so getting it open was important, obviously.
I dug my fingernails under the bottom of the stand and applied a bit of pull. Nothing. I tried again with the flesh of my thumb. Nothing. I foolishly used my lower teeth to try and pry it open. Nothing.
The Nintendo Switch kickstand is tough to open on the first go, so if you think you're going to snap it off your device, I wouldn't blame you. I was so careful the first time that even after everything else had been set up, my boyfriend and I were still sitting there trying to open the kickstand without snapping it off and sending it clear across the room or into my eye.
Eventually we ended up taking a Loonie (sorry to all you non-Canadians out there…) and he used the edge along the base of the kickstand to gently pop it open.
TL;DR
I suck at being gentle with things — mainly tech — and I thought the Nintendo Switch kickstand was going to shatter into a thousand pieces with a little pressure, but it's an unbelievably well designed product and it's sturdy enough to withstand even the most aggressive tiny hands.
(i.e. my tiny, aggressive hands...)
Do you accidentally destroy things, too?
Are you someone who's notorious for breaking off little bits and parts from certain toys and accessories? Do you have a Lenny from Of Mice and Men approach to handling your gear here and there?
When you were setting up your Switch, did you feel the same way I did, or did you actually snap the stand off?
Let me know what you think in the comments down below!
