what would be a good robotic arm for a complete newb like me 
well, you could get some experience with the SES (servo erector set) brackets and build yourself a metal arm, or you could buy one of the lynxmotion lexan arms
here are the links:
lynxmotion.com/images/html/build077.htm
^SES arm
lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=27
lexan arms
hope this helps, btw, if you use the SSC-32 (servo controller able to control up to 32 servos) you can get this software that is really easy to make its move its called RIOS and if there is more quetions about that, there is a topic just for RIOS on the main forum page, you could also use the SSC-32 visual basic software, which is quiet easy to use too, as i’ve been told
hope this helps 8)
The L5 arm combo kit is easy to build, has good supporting tutorials and mnanuals. It’s a solid arm for learing about this sort of thing.
lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=2