September reports in the New York Post and the Toronto Star, quoting parents' Web site "reviews" of the Mattel $19.99 Nimbus 2000 plastic- replica broomstick from the latest Harry Potter movie, highlighted its battery-powered special effect: vibration.

Wrote a Texas mother: "I was surprised at how long (my daughter and her friends) can just sit in her room and play with this magic broomstick."

Another said her daughter fights her son for it but complains that "the batteries drain too fast."

A New Jersey mother, sensing a problem, said her daughter could keep playing with it, "but with the batteries removed."

Still another mother, age 32, said she enjoyed it as much as her daughter.
[New York Post, 9-7-02; Toronto Star, 9-7-02]