Crayola Ultimate Crayon Collection

Like so many of us are stating, I "love the crayons, but not the case." These crayons are great--there are metallic and glitter colors as well as the regulars, and everything in that department is exactly how it is supposed to be. Therefore, the rest of this review concerns the case.This July I cheapened out and bought this "newer model" instead of the clear telescoping tower (which I purchased last fall), and wish I hadn't. This thick yellow case is square and bulky, and while it looks like it is sturdy enough to last a lifetime, I don't see a reason why anyone would use it that long. It seems like a waste of plastic to me. The handle is flatish and hard for adult or children's hands to grasp properly. The other drawback is the same one my kids have with the regular cardboard boxes of crayons: when the crayons slip sideways or are broken, they are hard to see (plus the cardboard sleeves last only about 5 minutes). This is what usually causes me, like so many other parents, to eventually break out a Tupperware, pencil case, or other such storage device to dump the crayons into. This method is fine, except for why buy this fancy container if you just wind up dumping the crayons out of it?I wouldn't have even dreamed there was any better way unless I had previously purchased the clear telescoping tower. I figured the crayons would get put away a time or 2 in that and it would be onto the Tupperware--but no. My 4 and 5 year old used this container heavily for 6 MONTHS--that is eons in kid time--and the container held up and they were way less frustrated than they are with the Tupperware or the "Ultimate Crayon Case." The major selling points for this were that they could SEE the crayons. The circular design made the tower easy to turn and due to the narrowness of the rows and the different levels the crayons didn't seem to fall over as much. Even if a crayon was jammed in sideways or broken off they could SEE IT from the outside and recognize what the problem was and fix it. This also made it possible to use the broken crayons--if a red was half gone they could still see that a stub of red was there for instance. And because the crayons were both easy to access and easy to see I wasn't being called over to the table to help them find a color every 2 seconds like I am once again with the yellow "ultimate carrying case."On the flip side: my kids love this because it is *new.* They don't see the drawbacks, only that it is filled with great colors. They won't let me take the crayons out and put them in their "old" tower yet, and insist that this new one is working fine for them even though I can see that it clearly isn't.If I were to do this over I would probably buy the clear telescoping tower even though it costs quite a bit more these days. I hope this isn't always the case (no pun intended!), and maybe, with reviews like ours, Crayola will recognize that some of us do not like this thick yellow *newer version.* If they could continue making the clear telescoping tower and somehow design a lid for it, THAT would be the "ultimate carrying case."August 2015 Update:I was online, once again shopping for crayons and praying that Crayola had brought back the telescoping tower--they still haven't, but Amazon is really holding onto the few they have left in stock of this old model. The old clear telescoping ones are now $115! I doubt anyone would pay that for a bunch of crayons, and I certainly won't. I won't buy this useless 'Ultimate' model again either, so I guess my Tupperware storage solution is going to have to work for the time being.