Anyone familiar with the movie "Steel Magnolias" remembers the line uttered by Shelby:  "Pink is my signature color."  Well, substitute the word 'purple' for 'pink' and you'll get an idea of my signature color.  So when my old messenger bag went kaput (right after the start of the new semester, naturally), I frantically searched for a replacement.  Lo and behold, JanSport's Market Street Messenger Bag in Black/Electric Purple Flitter popped up and seemed to fit the bill (and seeing as how I love butterflies as well, it all seemed perfectly synchronicitous [I don't think that's a real word, but, hey, making up words worked for Shakespeare]).

The pluses:  1.) The strap is fairly sturdy and, with the adjustable shoulder pad, allows for comfortable carrying.  The strap itself is adjustable in length, allowing the bag to be carried closer to the body for security if desired.  2.) The padded back panel is nice.  Even though I don't currently carry a laptop, should I need to for school, I won't have to worry about cracking it against the floor or desk.  Plus, the padding carries around to the side panels as well as to the bottom, so any device put into that back pocket will be well protected.  3.) The front flap is also padded, so although the pocket is small, should I carry an e-reader or a tablet rather than a laptop and put it in the front flap, it'd still be well-protected from any jouncing, jostling or random hard knocks.  4.) The Velcro closure on the front flap allows for quick access, which is nice on those days when I'm running late to class and I have to get my crap out quickly to catch up.

The minuses:  1.) It doesn't hold quite as much as my old bag.  My old messenger bag had an expandable bottom, which meant it could go from huge to back-strain huge.  This bag doesn't have an expandable bottom, so once you reach its B.S.L., that's it.  (Every bag comes with its own built-in B.S.L. [Bag Stuffage Limit].  Once you reach that limit, it's really not wise to exceed it and JanSport has nicely provided a measurement of how much you can stuff into its Market Street Messenger Bag [1345 cu. in/22L] so hopefully you don't reach the point of bag explosion or back implosion.)  Currently, I've only got one (really thick) textbook and one large 3-ring binder in the bag and while technically there should be room for at least another textbook and a few more binders and folders, it already feels a bit... I won't say cramped, but it is cozy in there.  So it isn't the roomiest of bags.  2.) The description says it has a side mesh pocket to hold a water bottle, but it doesn't.  I don't know if this feature was on an older model of the Market Street bag which was then discontinued or is only available in certain colors.  I do know it was rather disappointing when I received the bag.  3.) The organization pockets for pencils and whatnot is on the inside of the front panel, which is awkward and inconvenient.  It would've been better placed on the outside of the front panel, where a mesh zippered pocket currently sits.  Not only that, but the pencil pockets (of which there are only two) are on the small side.  My mechanical pencil doesn't fit into either one, so that's rather a poor design.  4.) I wish it had at least one more pocket.  It's got the interior pocket for a laptop and the smaller pocket on the flap for books or whatever and that's it.  It would've been nice to have had an additional pocket on the back panel of the bag, just to have more storage.  Again, to refer to my old messenger bag, it had five pockets, so that there was room for everything.  5.)  The biggest minus is the strap.  It's sewn down to the bag on both ends instead of being attached by swivel clips.  This means when the strap gets twisted (and it's a strap, it lives to get twisted), you have to set the bag down and really work to get it straightened out.  With swivel clips, a twisted strap is untangled with a flick or two of the wrist, even when the bag is on your shoulder and you're on the move.  It's a small detail, but the fact that there are no swivel clips is indicative of quality, in my eyes; not only that, the lack of those clips is frustrating and, especially when the bag is full, a real pain to deal with.

All-in-all, while I don't see what the fuss is all about concerning JanSport (this is my first purchase of the brand), I can't say I'm too disappointed.  Then again, I can't say I'm too impressed either.  However, the bag is sturdy enough and if I get five years of good use out of it, then I'll have gotten my money's worth and that's something I can't complain about.