Adventures in Loot! Month two: Villains!

Well, it's that time of month again! Lootcrate is on the prowl and have delivered a fresh box off wonders onto my doorstep and into my heart. I found last month's crate to be extremely agreeable, with plenty of fun stuff (and one magnificent t-shirt! That I've worn since and is incredibly comfortable) but also a fair bit of filler that I'm still shrugging over. Although I think I need to apologise to MLG just a little, because their armband was utterly fantastic at keeping my PICC line in place and not flapping around when I went out. So good job and thank you guys! But that was last month, this is this month, so let's crack it open and see what's inside!

First of all, I am utterly enamoured with this box. I don't know if they're all the same and it's printed on, I think it must be for the amount of work it would require otherwise, but I love the markered on style and every joke on there hits the mark. I especially love the Killing Joke homage on the camera. You have to give these guys respect when even their boxes are tiny little works of joyful artwork.

And then we come to the contents, and I can tell you already that I love that t-shirt. I can't even see it all, but that design made me smile like the Joker when I saw it and I cannot wait to wear it. The rest also looks fairly tantalising under there, mind...

Here we go! The main design in all it's glory. My friend and I debated endlessly about this t-shirt, speculating it was either going to be Loki, Ledger Joker or the big daddy of them all - Darth vader. I have to admit I'm surprised it's not Darth, considering the high comic focus of the rest of the box (spoiler!) but I'm very happy with this. It's a great compromise between the big two, a really fun design and both villains really blend into each other into an intriguing concept. My only complaint is that the t-shirt itself isn't of as good a quality as the previous one in the Transform box, the material feels thinner and it just doesn't feel as robust. Then again, it's by no means poorly made - In fact, this was the quality I was expecting from the Transform t-shirt, and that one bowled me over, so I figure last month was just special. 

But the good times with clothing don't stop there! Marvel seems determined to kit me out for my trip back to the ward tomorrow, as there's these wonderful Deadpool socks! I don't really have much to say about these, other than I love them and this is the kind of thing I invested in Lootcrate for. Great, geeky merch that I never knew I wanted to own, but now I do own them want the whole world to know I own.

A gaggle of assorted bits and pieces, including this months badge, which I'm hoping will act as the mirror of next months badge, two fantastic trinkets in the Bowser fridge magnet and the Darth Vader keyring. Bowser has joined my Batman and Kano magnets in the part of the fridge I seem to be cultivating for geeky nonsense.

And a documentary from DC, which I'm very much looking forward to watching back on the ward. Again, hopefully we might see it's sister in a crate next month! Speaking of DC, their other contribution to the crate is perhaps the only thing in it that really misses for me.

I'm not really into Harley Quinn or the Ledger mouther Joker that's spawned since The Dark Knight so these don't do anything for me, but they're still nice pieces of art in their own right. If anybody feels like they want to give them a good home, give me a shout!

Then we pull out the pre-advertised star of the show, the Lootcrate exclusive issue of Rocket Racoon. It's a lovely cover indeed, and the comic itself is a lot of fun. I love Skottie Young's art and his style really fits Rocket and Groot. Not sure it hooked me in enough to get the next issue, also kind of thought the swear words censored by various symbols was a little distracting - But then it was nice to see a comic that could be enjoyed by a younger audience so I'm glad they didn't go all out on the language. Besides, how can you dislike a comic that has such great sound effects? 

FRAGBABOOM indeed! 

Heck, even when you get to the very last item, this is a box that just keeps on giving! 

I really can't fail to love this one. The items and the box art really enforce the Villains theme and give it a great touch of personality. If I was to be picky I'd say that a comic about Rocket, that doesn't really feature a big villain as focus, perhaps wasn't the best choice - But then again, it was very savvy marketing and I'm not complaining. One could also make the case it's a little too comic book focused, but that doesn't bother me one bit. Besides, if there's a genre that's defined by its villains it's comic books - Most of the classic, memorable and well developed icons of evil rise up from their pages and I have no problem with them being paid homage too here. This crate has been utterly fantastic, though, and I can only hope next months Heroes themed one matches up! 

Adventures in Loot! Month one: Transform!

So, while I was in hospital, during one of my prolonged stages of utter boredom, a friend posted a link to a very curious website with a very curious concept. That website is Loot Crate, and the service they provide is a subscription based package where you hand them money (of course!) and in return they send you a box packed to the gills with hand picked nerd themed curios from a variety of organisations. My interest was piqued, but I thought there was no way I was ever going to be able to afford to even try this out, what with this being an American outfit and myself living in dear old blighty. But much to my surprise, the prices, even combined with international shipping, weren't that unreasonable and looking at past crates on the website that contained t-shirts and Funko figures it seemed that even though each one had its fair share of filler nonsense (more on that later!) these things could definitely be worthwhile. So I signed up. Then I waited.

The waiting period was a curious thing in and of itself. It's clear that Loot Crate are really striving to build a community around them, as I received weekly newsletters containing news they thought might interest me and of course, status updates on the crate itself. The specifics are kept under wraps, but what they do let you know is what the big, flashy item is going to be (in this case, a t-shirt) and the general theme. This months was TRANSFORM, so no prizes for guessing what the main thrust was going to be.

I suppose you could also pick up on some of the things involved in the smaller crate by what they tell you is coming in the Mega Crate. That being the prize sent to the home of one subscriber every month that contains hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. But I wasn't really interested in fishing for clues, I was more interested in cracking open the box

And today, much to my surprise, it arrived!

Have to admit,considering all the menagerie of things they show coming out of it on their website? I expected it to be bigger. But you know what they say about good things and small packages, so let's have a look!

You'll note that I wasn't joking when I said 'rammed to the gills' and it looks like we've got some cool Transformers stuff in there at least (surprise!), let's dig straight into the main event.

T-shirt! I may have mentioned before that I love t-shirts, it's something of an addiction of mine, but I can also be incredibly picky about what I put on my chest. I did expect to have to forlornly sigh say 'Well, it's nice but it's not for me...' but thankfully that's not the case here. I've actually seen this design before, and almost bought it in the past. I never did, but that's largely because I have a much more clever design of a TARDIS transforming into Optimus Prime with a bow-tie, but this is still really cool and will compliment the Doctor Who one perfectly. Clearly I now need mash up's of time machines and transformers to wear every day of the week... H.G. Wells Time Machine Prime, anyone? 

And then we have this! This is where I think I come to understand Loot Crate's business model a little more. I'm going to need time and a couple more boxes to verify, but going off their website a lot of their crates seem to involve these blind boxes, or pieces that are part of a wider collection, so this is almost like a geek sampler menu. You liked that one? Well, if you look on the back of the box... Still, I don't blame them. I think it's clever really. I'm a chronic collector, I had to pull myself back from collecting the Doctor Who Titan blind boxes because I'd go mad. But for people looking for that thrill of the chase, this is a great way to hook them in and make them aware of what's out there. For me though, I just want a cool vinyl robot.

And cool vinyl robot success! I have to admit, I'm not a huge Transformers fan so I have no idea who this is - And honestly, given the style they've rolled with only the very distinct bots like Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron really stand out and look much different from the others going by the box art of them. But he's pretty well made and sturdy for a figure of his size, and it's nice to see he has accessories that actually fit in his hand and look good while he's holding them too. Great head and joint movement as well, left arm is a little loose but you can at least get the poses you want out of it. Even though, obviously, the range of poses is limited. 

And here's the bone fide Transformers stuff all together. As you can see there's a pretty decent sticker back there (apparently there's a Decepticon one too, some people getting one, others the other - Not all crates are created equal!) and a nice little badge and then there's... Um... This...

I've got to be honest with you, this is the most what the feck item in the entire crate. It took me a good five-ten minutes pawing at the packaging and then finally getting it out and prising it open to figure out what it actually did (I didn't discover there was a booklet at the bottom of the box explaining *everything* that was inside until after I'd done this, because I'm clever that way) and when I did I was kind of disappointed. What you see here is a Hexbug, and it's kind of like our friend the blind boxed figure above in that it's one of a set. Basically you flick a switch and it vibrates to the point where it can charge across flat surfaces and then veer dangerously off kitchen work surfaces. Basically the kind of tacky kids toy that Transformers staked it's name on, with the option to get more than one and battle them against each other - Presumably by turning them on and hoping then ram into each other rather than spiral off towards your shoes on an out of control suicide mission. Initially I did kind of tilt my head and wonder if this was really the kind of thing I needed in my life, then I found a flat surface...

And the little kid in me realised there's at least a good couple of hours of fun to be had in this! Not least in dropping it on unsuspecting people and watching them jump out of their skin as this big, vibrating plastic bug suddenly invades their lives.

Glorious.

And then we get down to the aforementioned filler.

MLG nonsense and some Warheads! For those of you unfamiliar with MLG, they're an E-Sports promoter who I mostly know as being associated with Starcraft 2 tournaments but also broadcast and organise events and teams for a variety of games. I think the cross promotion aspect is nice, I know they did something with Polaris last month and I love those guys so I don't mind this in principle, but on the other hand I'm not really all that interested in competitive gaming so these do nothing for me. Still, if anybody wants a black sweat band for any reason whatsoever... I've got your back!

As for the Warheads, not had them in years! Can't remember if they're sold in the UK any more, but if people want to send me sour candy? I am all for this! Plus, who doesn't love candy that comes with health warnings?!

Overall impressions? Not too shabby. I know I'm going to get some joy out of most of the Transformers themed stuff, and to be honest that t-shirt feels so well made and has such a nice design that I think it's practically worth the box price alone. I think the greatest shame with this one though, is that the theme was 'Transform' and yet there was nothing really in the box that lived up to it. Nothing with multiple functions, or changed colour or even... Say... Changed from a robot into a car? The closest you get is the War Heads, which having just put one in my mouth - Holy crap they have a sour kick when you first throw them in! But they soon settle down to something sweet and very enjoyable. I suppose what I'm trying to say is rather than just cherry picking stuff with the Transformers logo on it, a little more creativity and thinking outside the box for things to put in the box could've made this theme something really special.

Still, not a bad start! We'll have to see what fresh delights next month brings!