Pillows?

Hey guys!

So, today I'm going to tell you about my most recent cube order. Wont that be fun?

First, there will be an unboxing video (I just need to edit it), and when there is, it will be on my YouTube channel. Keep your pants on. I'm busy.

So, on to the cubes.

This order was mostly initiated by my brother. Once upon a time, he had, each an Eastsheen, a 2x2 and a 4x4. Both of these, however, quickly were no more. His 2x2 was in his pocket, or something, and he fell on it. I don't believe that that broke it, just caused some of the pieces to pop out and disassemble. However, in the process of trying to reassemble it, one of the core arms broke. It may or may not have cracked in the fall. His 4x4, however, didn't break; he was simply solving it outside, somehow got it to pop, and lost one of the tiny internal pieces in the grass. Either way, within a week, neither cube was functional.

So, upon being paid for a job caring for my neighbors pets, he decided he wanted to order replacements, which is understandable. But, since he doesn't have an account on Amazon, I decided that I couldn't order him cubes and not get some for myself. Duh.

He also decided to get a 3x3x1, like mine, as well as an Eastsheen Double 2x2 (his is white: this is, I believe, the only instance of the colors being switched. He tends to favor black cubes; I, white. But, my double 2x2 is black, and his is white), and finally, a QJ Pyraminx Crystal. This is the first time he has ever owned a type of puzzle that I don't (he'll have different brands than me, but never a different kind of puzzle). And, he actually can solve almost the whole thing by himself. Within a day of opening it, he had all but the last layer solved. It eventually thwarted him, but still, I was impressed.

So, anyways, the two cubes I got were two QJ pillowed cubes, the 4x4 and 5x5. I do already have a couple 4x4's and a 5x5, and I did not get them because I thought that they would be better (although I have heard some good reviews of the QJ Mini 4x4), but rather, because I thought that having a pillowed 4x4 and 5x5 would be awesome. And, I'm right:
 

I love them. They're so cool looking. Something about them bulging out, as if all that coolness was itching to free itself, just makes them visually striking. And, they feel good to hold. I'll do a few solves on the 4x4, then switch to my cubic one, and even though the quality of the LanLan is greater, I definitely prefer the feeling of the pillowed one.

Speaking of quality, they're pretty good. The 4x4 turns smoothly, especially the 2-layer turns. It does have some friction when you're going to turn a layer perpendicular to one you just turned; it's as if the inner pieces that have to slide around each other have sharp edges, and very tight tolerances. If you've ever turned a void cube, you know what I'm talking about. It's like that. But, it is fun to turn, and, while it's not as good as my LanLan, it's still fun to solve, mostly because of the curve.

The 5x5, however...Hmm.

The funness of the curved shape is still there, and it's not a bad quality turn. Each layer turns pretty smoothly and easily, especially the two layer turns. However, because of the way it's pillowed, the outer layer turns are a little picky. Let me explain.

On a V-7, the edge and corner cublets are larger than the others. This is partially done for the same reason it's pillowed in the first place: to avoid having the corner cublets fall off when the top layer is turned 45 degrees. I do believe that there's another reason, though. Pillowing it like this, making the edges and corners larger cublets, helps them from being tiny. Think about the corner of a square. If you rounded the edges slightly, the way you would to pillow a cube, you remove some of the square. The curves start on the straight lines that intersect to form the corner of the square, but then curve inwards, meeting each other on the bisector of the corner, but pulled in some from where the corner is. So, by making the corners and edges from larger original cublets, the finished, pillowed cublets are closer to the same size as the regular cublets than they would be if you started with regular cublets and then shaved them down into a pillowed shape. You following me so far?

On the QJ's, however, they chose the latter; they pillowed standard sized cublets.

In this picture, you can see how the corners on the V-7 are about the same size as the center cublets, because they chose bigger 'original' cublets. The QJ, however, used normal 'original' cublets, and thus the corners are about a quarter of the size of the center cublets.

I can't speak for the 4x4, but my brother has a normal QJ 5x5, and if you hold it next to my pillowed on, the distance between opposite centers is the same, but then it pillows down. It's the same shape you'd have if you took a normal cube, peeled off all the stickers, pillowed it yourself with a sander or Dremel, and then restickered it. Because of this, the corner cublets are noticeably smaller. On the 4x4, this presents no issue. On the 5x5, though, the outer layers are positively tiny. Not only does this make turning feel a little odd, because the layers aren't really the same size, but it also means that the relatively smaller pieces in the outer layer have a tendency to get caught on each other and lock up.

I realize that that may sound odd. I agree that it doesn't make sense that modifying the outer surfaces of the cublets should make the internals catch more, but that's the only thing I can think of. Again, my brother's normal 5x5 is the same size, and because of this, I feel like they're basically the same puzzle; the internals should be identical, with them just using molds that differed with regards to the shape of the outer cublets. So, the only difference I can think of is that mine's pillowed. His doesn't lock up this way.

It could be a result of breaking in and lubrication. His has been broken in, through use and Vaseline, and is lubricated. But I don't remember his locking up this much. I plan on lubricating them and breaking them in with Vaseline, and I feel like that will help the tension on the 4x4, as well as the catchiness of the 5x5. My brother's is pretty good. We'll just have to see.

So, that's about it for now. All in all, I really like solving them, and hopefully breaking in and lubricating will help.

Thanks for reading, and check this out. It's pillowed, but it's an 11x11 (notice the larger edge pieces!).