MIXED BAG. PRESENTS
"WALKING CRED"
This last month has been rather blah and trying in some ways:
A few minor family problems (like a wrecked car and missing my Mom as she went on a two week trip), my Ajani figure showed up and...I plan to show yo how lame sauce it is when another order gets in, the weather has my sinuses and knee hurt, work has been work.
I also discovered Kickstarter. Not sure if that's a good thing or not yet.
Anywho, during this hectic month, I barely registered that I got my October Lootcrate (which came a few days early) and I suppose the week of Halloween is the best time to review it!
You need a reminder as to what a Loot Crate is again?
Loot Crate is a subscription based service where members pay a fee (based on their subscription plan) to receive a themed mystery box every month in the mail (last month's theme, pictured above, was "Villains") filled with nerdy products from companies like Nintendo, DC, Marvel, Capcom and much more. The contents of the box usually contain things like exclusive figures, a t-shirt, a magnet, pin/s, posters, comics, books, toys, and pretty much everything you can think of from "dragon-flavored" Jerky in April's "Dragon" Loot Crate to Deadpool socks (pictured above).
This is the perfect surprise for self-professed nerds that love cool stuff and weird stuff alike.
If you're lucky, you might even be the lucky member to get the monthly Mega Crate which always has a value of $750 or more!
And so, for as low as $11.67 + $6 SH, you can become a Looter too! Plus, if you use any of the various codes you can find online, you can get discounts.
So, without much more ado except for my own verbosity, let's see what we got in this month's crate.
In this review, I'll talk about every item, try and value it, rate it, and conclude with some random thoughts.
"BOO!"
People have been complaining that the last two crates did not have a t-shirt and, while I loved the last two crates, I really wanted an exclusive Loot Crate shirt since some of the older ones were pretty cool mash-ups.
This month is a skull made of cats. Uh, it is an acceptable design. I guess. If you're a cat person. And I'm not.
VALUE: $10-20
RATING: 3/5. I actually wore the shirt around and, while I don't love it, it is an okay shirt.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Cats steal the breath of babies. Look it up!
A full length book was the last thing I expected this month and this appears to be in the tongue-in-cheek style of books like the Zombie Survival Guide. It is clearly some Sharknado merch from Syfy (I watched the film and it was gloriously dumb and funny). The book gives a summary of a ton of bad Syfy monster and disaster movies (I really hate "Syfy". I miss "Sci-Fi"), has some useful and funny advice on how to survive, and some passable commentary from the characters of those films.
But I don't think I'll be reading it from cover to cover as it got rather repetitive (like the movies it is based upon).
VALUE: $5-10
RATING: 4/5. This is a perfect gift for a fan of Sharknado and other monster movies.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: They need to make a movie about land sharks.
This is the sort of thing I expect in my Loot Crate!
When I heard there was gonna be a Capcom exclusive item in the box, I expected a Megaman zombie shirt or a Resident Evil action figure, but instead we got this really kooky pen inspired by the custom weapons you can make in Dead Rising 3.
A pretty neat item and, out of everything in the box, it'll be the only item besides the shirt that I can see myself using/displaying.
VALUE: $5-$10
RATING: 5/5. I've never played the Dead Rising sequels but I invested hours into the demo for the first game before buying it (and I never REALLY beat it cuz I am weak).
RANDOM THOUGHTS: I'm going to pose this in my Spartan figures hands but it may be a little too big.
I watched the first season. And it was good.
But, much like the comic, I lost interest pretty quickly when more ridiculous characters and elements were introduced (looking at you Michonne (sp?).
Anywho, this month we got a post card and a comic. Personally, I don't really like getting two items from the same franchise in my crates and, while a comic fan, I can only see the collector's value of the comic. Meh.
VALUE: $10-20
RATING: 2/5. Zombies are overplayed. But I do like playing Left 4 Dead.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Rick is a cool protagonist.
The rest of the stuff in the box doesn't have a ton of value, but let's discuss them (except for one neato item):
The most neato item in the box had to be a digital code I could actually use; a code for a character and skin in Smite. I already had the character but the Halloween skin gave me a good excuse to revisit a fun free-to-play title. 5/5.
Horror-themed temporary tattoos. Temporary tattoos are the filler of the gift bag world. 2/5.
Toxic Waste candy. Disgusting and vile. The note of Watermelon was nice but was quickly replaced by a funky sour flavor that was unpalatable. 1/5.
And the month's pin was just a generic zombie pin so meh, but the inside of the box was as cool as ever with a Dead Rising 3 themed autoshop tool room with custom weapons and Capcom references for a cute diarama.
MISC RATING? 2/5. The Smite code is a winner in my book but the rest was part bland and part gross.
VALUE: $5
This month's magazine is in 3D and came with 3D glasses. The scariest part of the whole box is the remind that, in the past, this was an acceptable technology for watching films. I see purple.
TOTAL LOOT VALUE?
Approx. $35-65 (Variant comics and t-shirts are overpriced)
FINAL CRATE SCORE?
3/5.
This theme was kind of a wash for me. I'm not a big horror fan.
Correction. I'm not a big fan of "popular" horror.
I'm more into suspenseful science fiction horror like John Carpenter's The Thing, the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft, and the comedic horror of Evil dead. In fact, I like writing horror stories and fiction because it allows you to push the envelope in exploring the human psyche.
Popular horror seems to consist of slasher films, exorcism/possession, found footage, torture porn, and zombies. Zombies are great when used correctly but I am tired of zombie apocalypses. There are no more metaphors left to be explored with zombies.
Walking Dead started out strong but devolves into silly madness and melodrama over time. I don't particularly like it. So, I knew I was gonna have trouble getting into the box and having two items I don't particularly like didn't help out the box (especially when these were key items).
The rest of the items range from passable stuff like the Sharknado book and cat shirt (disappointing, but is fine) to the Dead Rising pen that, while a neat collectable, doesn't stir much excitement in my heart.
The scariest thing of all in the box was the candy. I hated it.
But I still like Loot Crate and, while this Loot Crate didn't appeal to my tastes, I will continue my subscription for another 3 months based on the strength of the first two boxes.
This month, as my third month, I also got my Loot Crate member card and I will be continuing my subscription... for now.
