Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in! With the quality of their crates declining and all of the business issues Loot Crate has been having the last couple of years, I canceled my regular subscription long ago. Since being taken over by NECA, Loot Crate has attempted to catch up on crates owed to subscribers. Unfortunately, many customers are getting junk boxes comprised of old LC items from previous crates and Loot Wearables they didn’t order (sometimes in the wrong size). So I told myself, until they’ve righted the ship, I was gonna hold off. That is until the 50% off code came in the email.
The crate came a couple of months late, but it arrived nonetheless. Even though I ended up not being a huge fan of all of the contents, I have to admit that it was a quality crate. It reminded me how good Loot Crate used to be. The theme was “Icons” and boasted a pretty solid lineup of Batman, Doctor Who, and PAC-MAN. The box was long and had some weight to it, so I was eager to open it up as soon as I got it from the mail box.
First up was a replica of the Batmobile from Batman Begins. My initial thought was, “Cool! Batmobile!” But when I pulled it out of the crate and got a closer look, I realized it was the Nolan Batmobile and was disappointed. I was never a fan of that version, but the replica comes in a nice case depicting the Batmobile on a rooftop. This was one of several Batman vehicles randomly inserted into the crate.
Next up was a nice, high quality Batman notebook. This is one of the types you can find on the Sideshow website or at most retailers that sell this type of thing. They usually fall in the $10-12 range. This one was, like the Batmobile, one of several available themes.
The third item in the box was a Loot Crate exclusive edition comic of the Thirteenth Doctor. It features a cover with the new Doctor, as well as Matt Smith and David Tennant's Doctors. As a big Who fan, this was a welcome surprise.
This crate’s pin, an “eye-con” pin was a bit of a let-down. It would’ve been nice to have something representing a character. For me, Loot Crate’s pins have always been hit or miss. When they’re original designs, for the most part, I usually give them away. This one will definitely be finding a new home.
Last but not least was a PAC-MAN T-shirt. Now this is what I’m here for! This is a nice, high quality tee that I would probably buy at my local GameStop. I love the design and the color choice. For the price of the crate, this was worth it to me. It’s not enough to sway me to continue my subscription, but I’m definitely going to keep my eye on how they’re improving their business. If they can get back on track, I’ll be happy to become a monthly subscriber again.
Inside January’s “Icon” crate:
-Batman Begins Batmobile
-Batman Notebook
-Icons Themed Pin
-Loot Crate Exclusive Doctor Who Comic
-PAC-MAN T-Shirt
I keep telling myself that I’m going to cancel my Amazon/Funko Marvel Collector Corps box. But somehow, they keep announcing themes that pull me back in. When they announced the "Marvel 80 Years" box, how could I not get it. It HAD to be epic, right?!?! I had imagined it would have something with Spider-Man, Stan Lee, maybe even Captain America. The people/characters that built Marvel. But no...we basically got a Marvel villains box.
First up was a Hydra pin. Now, I can’t complain because I have been disappointed at the fact that we haven’t gotten any pins/patches since the box made the jump to Amazon. This one, with the Hydra logo in a POP! aesthetic, is pretty awesome.
Next up was a sticker featuring Loki, Thanos, and Green Goblin. While it looks cool, it’s...a sticker. We’ve been getting a lot of these in the Amazon boxes. Not a fan.
This box did come with a pretty awesome t-shirt. It’s a black tee with Green Goblin getting ready to hurl one of his pumpkin bombs.
We got two POP!’s in this box- Classic Thanos and Classic Loki. Both are based on their first appearance. As much as I love both of the characters, I feel like we’ve gotten enough POP! versions of them over the last few years. It’d have been nice to have at least gotten a couple of characters they haven’t done yet. Overall, this was a pretty solid box, but disappointing for the theme.
Inside this month’s Collector Corps-
- Marvel Villains Sticker
- Hydra POP! Pin
- Green Goblin POP! Tee
- Loki POP! Figure
- Thanos POP! Figure
December's Loot Crate franchise line-up was out of this world! With items from Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Destiny 2, I thought that this Christmas crate would be epic. I was wrong. Dead wrong. This was hands down, in my four years of subscribing to Loot Crate, the WORST box I've ever received. I've heard rumblings and read about LC's troubles paying vendors over the past year and a half and I hope this isn't a sign of the start of the decline of the company.
It arrived in probably the biggest box I've ever received from LC. My first thought was, "This is going to be AWESOME!" Until I picked it up and found that it was light as a feather. I thought that maybe there would be a hat or something inside to justify the bigger box. But, when I opened it, there was just a lot of wasted space. I feel like Loot Crate totally dropped the ball and threw together a sub-par crate. A shirt, pin, mini dollar store calendar, comic, and mini build-a-figure came in the crate. There wasn't even a magazine this month; just a slip of paper with a list of the items inside the box.
Inside December's Crate:
-Exclusive Destiny 2 T-shirt (Bungie, Loot Crate)
-Exclusive Star Wars Graphic Novel (Lucasfilm Ltd., IDW)
-Loot Crate Edition Guardians of the Galaxy Mini Calendar (Marvel, ACCO)
-Exclusive Retro Metal Rocket Pin (Loot Crate)
-Gundam Buid-a-Figure (Bandai)
October's Loot Crate, "Mythical," boasted some of the coolest franchises in all of Geekdom. Buffy, Ghostbusters, Stranger Things, and Thor were all packed into last month's crate. All of them fit perfectly within the theme and sounded like another couldn't miss crate.
The first item in the box was the monthly pin. The pin, boasting art by Gabriel Silveira, featured none other than Dracula. The monthly pins have all been pretty solid this year and have contributed to my new pin addiction. This one is definitely finding a spot on my backpack.
This month's shirt features the Ghostbusters with an 80's twist. You can't go wrong with the Ghostbusters logo on a tee! Out of all the tee's I own, I (oddly) don't have a Ghostbusters one. Loot Crate corrected that issue with this crate!
Being a HUGE Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I was excited when I found out that it was going to be a part of the crate. Unfortunately, it was a less than spectacular item. As much as I love "Mr. Pointy," a Buffy bookmark was a bit of a let down.
This box gave us not one, but two figures!
The first was an exclusive Thor and Loki PhatMojo figure. Timed for the release of Thor Ragnarok, this was the second piece in the PhatMojo line of exclusive Loot Crate figures.
The second figure, and last item in the box, was an exclusive Stranger Things item! The SuperEmoScenes Diorama Figure features Eleven and the Demogorgon.
Inside October's Loot Crate:
-SuperEmoScenes Stranger Things Diorama (J Salvador/Loot Crate)
-Ghostbusters T-Shirt (Loot Crate)
-Thor and Loki PhatMojo Figure (PhatMojo)
-Buffy the Vampire Slayer Bookmark (Loot Crate)
-Dracula Pin (Loot Crate)
February, the month of candy, hearts, flowers, and LOVE. For normal folk. For Geeks it's also the month that sees the return of The Walking Dead on AMC. Because of that, Loot Crate brings subscriber's "Dead" as this month's theme. It's filled with, of course, some pretty neat swag from The Walking Dead and that "Merc with a Mouth," Deadpool. All in all, this was a fun box that well exceeded its $20 price tag.
First up is a really neat Loot pin featuring a Zombified Loot Crate "in search of its next victim." It's only the second month, but I'm really digging the new style of pins they're putting out this year. They're fun, well designed, and the quality is much nicer than the older ones (which I always gave away). Loot Crate is going to be including a shirt in each box this year and this one was awesome- an exclusive Deadpool "Tacos?!" tee. This is the perfect shirt for Taco Tuesday!
This month's exclusive figure comes from Quantum Mechanix and was a very cool Deadpool Q-Fig. There were two versions- a regular red version and an X-Force variant. Supposedly the red is packed 9:10 and the variant comes 1:10. Lucky lucky me received the rarer X-Force variant. I may have to go to evilBay to score a regular edition (because I NEED both).
Next we get the new Loot Crate magazine. This issue was jam packed with some great articles/features. There was an interview with i-Zombie's Rahul Kohli, a "How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse" guide, a closer look at Deadpool, and a recipe for "Deadpool's Delicious Tacos." It looks like the new year also brought a new Loot Crate magazine, filled with bigger and better content.
Finally, we got a handful of sweet The Walking Dead exclusives. The first was a soap-on-a-rope replica of Daryl's ear necklace. Yeah, you read that right. Awkward, but cool. Next was a TWD "Big Head" build-a-figure blind bag from McFarlane Toys. A cool variant on the regular version sold in stores; I received Rick. Finally was a code to unlock Carl Grimes in The Walking Dead: Road to Survival mobile game, which is apparently a "rare" character and is a $10.00 value.
Inside this month's crate:
- The Walking Dead Carl Grimes DLC (Scopely)
- February 2016 Loot Pin (Loot Crate Labs)
- The Walking Dead Soap-on-a-Rope (A Crowded Coop)
- The Walking Dead Big Head Figure Construction Set (McFarlane Toys)
- Deadpool Tacos T-Shirt (Fifth Sun)
- Deadpool Q-Fig Figure (Quantum Mechanix)
