After reading almost all the reviews we got one. Its magical! It's very well done. Not skinny. It's plastic, so it certainly doesn't look "realistic," but it's not entirely banal either. The tip of the wand has multiple glow settings that it cycles through, ranging from a faint glow to a more intense glow. (brilliant even) to have that little 'knob' to dim/boost the glow when needed. We've had the same batteries in the wand for a few weeks now and it's still working.