MIXED BAG. PRESENTS
"BATTLE OF THE BOX"
I just got finished with a great couple of weeks, including taking a vacation, before the Holiday Season kicks into full throttle this week at work: I went to Interstellar (5/5) and Big Hero 6 (4/5), I got my copy of Super Smash Bros. for Wii-U and the first DLC for Mario Kart 8 came out, and I got my Wesley Crusher Star Trek TNG jacket and my Kill La Kill Ryuko figure. Seriously, look at how content I am with the knowledge that I was about enjoy a four day weekend! The belt I'm wearing in these pictures was a giveaway at the Smash Bros. for Wii-U pre-release to anyone who won a match at Gamestop. I was so hyped that when I got home I played until I was passing out mid-match!
All in all, this month has seen a lot of things I've built up expectations for pay off in a big way.
It just so happened that my vacation fell right into the same time span of when I was expecting this month's Loot Crate.
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.
This month's theme is "Battle" and promised to have collectibles from Halo, Mega Man, Assassin's Creed, and Street Fighter.
And now, without further ado, one loot crate enters and one looter leaves!
Let the battle...BEGIN!
I got to say that, as a fan of putting goofy stuff on my head, I really like headband. I'm not a huge Street Fighter fan, but I definitely enjoyed wearing it and taking some goofy pictures for the article and I'm sure fans of the franchise would be stoked to have this for costume purposes or just as a fun little decoration.
SHIRT VALUE: $10-20
RATING: 3/5. Pirates and Ninjas are so 2003.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: But I think Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl will probably stand the test of time as a pirate film classic.
HEAD BAND VALUE: $10?
RATING: 4/5. It had Street Fighter once and Capcom twice (it has the Capcom copyright under Street Fighter, lol).
RANDOM THOUGHTS: You have to Hadouken at least once while wearing this headband.
But, rather than a cool figure to have pose with or some other neat collectible, we got a mini helmet replica blind box with four color options and I just so happened to get the green one. I kind of would have preferred any of the other colors and it was hard to get the helmet on the stand but it is a fine little piece of my shelf.
All in all, not what I was hoping for but it is satisfactory.
VALUE: $10
RATING: 4/5.I wish I got the Blue Helmet...
RANDOM THOUGHTS: My favorite Mega Man? 7!
I feel like it has an amazing premise and experiencing a real world city in an open-world game is extremely special but trying to put out more than one game a year has led to the series becoming stagnant.
Furthermore, Ubisfot likes releasing broken games like the very game this coin is advertising...
VALUE: $5-30?
RATING: 3/5. The fact that it has a place to engrave your name and the quality of the coin outweighs my disinterest.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Who is a better protagonist? Altair or Ezio?
Perhaps if it had been an exclusive I would've been more excited, maybe?
To be fair, the Halo line of Mega Bloks is one of the more interesting lines and they have made an interesting niche as the other block building system for franchises to use for their merchandise.
So...that's something.
VALUE: $2.50
RATING: 2/5. Megabloks is kind of Megameh and the minifig was uninspired and didn't really fit the theme too well.
RANDOM THOUGHTS: He has little teeth around his face mask. Neat.
The rest of the stuff in the box doesn't have a ton of value, but let's discuss them:
50% of Lichdom Battlemage is technically theme appropriate though I dunno if 50% off of a game I don't really wanna pay for is worth it. 2/5.
A full game download for a steam copy of one of the many variations of Street Fighter IV would be a cool inclusion is I was a fan of Street Fighter games and/or Steam didn't have sales like six times a year that made the game cheaper than a "$20 value" and/or if I didn't already have one of the older versions of the game and this isn't even the newest version of the game...etc. 3/5.
Two free Mega Man comics is actually kind of cool and might introduce a kid to Mega Man's comics (which are pretty decent). 4/5.
MISC RATING? 3/5.
VALUE: $20+
TOTAL LOOT VALUE?
Approx. $50+
FINAL CRATE SCORE?
3/5.
I had really high expectations for this month's Loot Crate.
After all, they advertised that it would include stuff from Mega Man, Street Fighter, Assassin's Creed, and Halo. This to me seemed to entail some sweet swag and maybe even a super sweer shirt but, instead, most of the stuff was kind of predictable, acceptable, and/or just sort of whatever.
Still, while I was initially very disappointed, the value of the crate definitely shined through in the end and I am excited for next month's crate, whatever it may be, to cast a shadow upon my doorstep or rather my mail box.
If you're interested in trying Loot Crate, please make sure to use this link to help me out with a referral. Thank you.
Now to go train for Smash Bros.
