I'm sorry to say that my TIME as a Loot Crate subscriber has come to an end with this crate and I am left with some great figures and collectibles, some nice t-shirts, and a lot of junk. I'm also left with the feeling that I am saying good bye to a service that, while I've decided to invest the fees into other parts of my budget, was a pretty fun ride. If you're interested in Loot Crate, check it out but just be warned that 1/3 of the Crates are going to be subpar, 1/3 will have one or two decent items, and 1/3 will be pretty spot on. So keep that in mind and, to all you Looters out there, happy collecting.
It took some doing but I am finally back in the mud with the console peasants (and yes I have a Wii-U but we both know Nintendo isn't trying to compete with the other two big consoles and they haven't found it to be a threat either...until NDX rears its head next year). And, I gotta say, while the console is gorgeous, it is exactly what I expected:
A more powerful 360. I'll admit that part of my hesitation, to buy either the ONE or the PS4, has been that this generation feels like such a small step forward that I wasn't dazzled by any of the new social features or gizmos. More so than ever, this generation feels like it is holding back technology and falling way behind the PC curve set into motion by services like Steam that give PC gaming a lot of affordable custom options. In fact, the first game I booted up, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, was notably less impressive on my new console as my three year old Dell. This generation of games has been scaled back, again, from maintaining a standard of 60 fps and it shows. And I'm not even the sort of guy to pick apart the graphical nitpicks. It was noticeable different when I booted up the Menu Screen.
BUT, and this is a big but, I didn't buy an Xbone to replace my PC. I bought a Xbone to share multiplayer experiences with my friends who have an Xbone but lack a dedicated gaming PC. And I am still excited to be able to play Halo 5, Battlefront, and Black Ops 3 this Holiday season. Even if it cost me an arm and a leg, friendship is worth it.
summon [sum-uhn] verb
1. To call upon or command an individual's presence or a gathering of individuals.
EX. Can I summon the enthusiasm to continue my Loot Crate subscription? It remains to be seen as I only have one more crate before current subscription expires!
I promised a video for today and, like my mailman, I deliver the goods with a merch breakdown from my Star Wars Sep. 4 haul and an amiibo update that I think you guys'll appreciate!
I just unsubscribed. After a year of crates, I find myself with more misses than hits and the novelty has worn off. I still recommend folks who are interested to try it but, at the moment, I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.
Thanks for watching my unboxings of Loot Crates.
I still have two more crates coming and will unbox them. Anything is possible. Maybe I'll re-sub?
patina [puh-tee-nuh] noun
1. A film, incrustation, oxidization or calcification on implements with a green sheen that indicated old age and is often valued as a visual addition to an item's value.
EX. I do like the patina green colors presented on Palutena's design.
EX. The new trailer for Comedy Central's Moonbeam City, starring Rob Lowe, Elizabeth Banks, Will Forte and Kate Mara as, I presume from the trailer, an elite team of police in a neon and velvet 1980's future city with an art style inspired by the works of Patrick Nagel and comedically inspired by shows like Archer. Looks like a fun ride.
This week I got a video showing of the new amiibos I got and talking about their individual qualities, as I do, and a word of the day for your pleasure:
speed lines [speed-lahyns] noun
1. An art technique where there artist/s uses lines to convey the speed of an object.
metagame [meh-tuh-geym] noun
1. Any strategy, action or method used in a game which
transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the
game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.
EX. Meta Knight, legendarily, was a metagame breaking character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl that, in order to keep the competitive scene interesting, was often banned from tournaments. Other examples of metagame can be found in everything from messing with the knowledge/skillset of your opponent in chess to gaming the metagame of your local Friday Night Magic by playing against the preferences of the usuals by building a deck that counters their favored archetypes. Honestly, understanding and gaming the metagame is often the most important part of competitive sports and games these days.
third party [thurd-par-tee] adjective
1. Video games. Describing hardware or software developed independently from the primary developer on a platform.
EX. This week's first Unbox-King video is about some third party accessories, and a first party controller, that I picked up on Amazon to improve my Smash Bros. experience.
Because everybody should be able to enjoy playing Smash Bros. with a wired Gamecube controller, as Miyamoto-san and Sakurai-san intended.
I think it gets a bad rap in the same way that Super Mario Sunshine gets a bad rap-- it is not a bad game, it just suffers in comparison to the more polished, beloved and innovative titles in the Zelda series in the same way Sunshine is a good platformer but is mediocre compared to 64 or Galaxy.
While the bad controls and some poor level design holds the game back, the production-- from the character & world design to the fantastic soundtrack to the neat little evolution of the Link & Zelda relationship makes this game hold a special place in my heart. Plus...
Today's subject is a figure from Good Smile's Figma line based on the character model for Skward Sword's Link!
Much like review of the Kill La Kill Nendoroid figures, the format I'm going to use is rating the figures based on packaging,
quality, pose-ability/functionality, creativity, and value.
Before we get to the review, check out the unboxing!
Sometimes I wonder if I should ditch the sunglasses? Thoughts?
Now, let's see how the product holds up under the rigors of trial and research!
PACKAGING
Much like the box-art and packaging of the Collector's Edition of Skyward Sword, is a work of Zelda art in it's own right: the colorful pallet, using the blue background with clouds and the repeated use of green, gold, white and red, in a very Zelda way, creates a composition that brings me right back to the gorgeous scenery of Skyloft. And, the inclusion of the Official Nintendo product and Skyward Sword logos make this a nice piece for my...uh...box collection. Well, when I say box collection I sound silly, right?
The boxes, though, seriously, are useful when it comes to figma figures as they give you example poses to work off of on the back of the box (pictured further below) and provide a storage unit for the various pieces and instructions.
Furthermore, the package makes a nice display if you wanna keep your toys mint! All-in-all, Japanese figure packaging beats the crap out of all the boxes I've gotten for figures in the States and figma is the best.
QUALITY
The sculpt and paintjob is a fantastic representation of Skyward Sword Link (pictured below) in all of Skyloft Knight glory.
There are some minor discrepancies to break down before we talk about the level of detail presented in the figure. Instead of chainmail armor, it seems they gave link a brown tunic layer under his classic green tunic. The shield and sword, along with his proportions in general, are slightly more heroicly built. In fact, the big and pleasant improvement on the figure over the game model is that the figure better matches the promotional art and design work of Link for the game that makes for a figure model that is superior to the game model.
As for the paint job, I really like how Link's coloration reads across up close and at a distance (the sign of a good work) and, like the fine work of art he is, he will be proudly displayed alongside my amiibos.
POSE-ABILITY AND FUNCTIONALITY
This is where the first problems pop up because, much like the game, this figure doesn't quite work quite like it is supposed to.
Link is quite posable and with a lot of functional accessories/pieces, the figure lacks in execution due to some fundamental limitations of the figure. While the figure has many points of articulation from his ball joint abdomen & neck to the many joins on his limbs, his biggest limitation comes from the sculpt of his tunic. While the sculpt captures the design perfectly, it creates to issues for posing the figure: the tunic's abdoment sculpt makes posing his arms upwards quite difficult and the bottom of the tunic restricts his leg posing quite a bit. This means most of his poses will be difficult to pull off, as opposed to a figure like the Ryuko Matoi figma (pictured above in defeat), and I spent a good bit of time just finding a few poses to pull off. Otherwise, you can pull off several dramatic and amusing poses if you have patience.
The hat joint is plus.
The accessories are a mixed bag ("he said it!"). The Master Sword and Hylian Shield are beautiful pieces of work that, with some trial and error, I discovered could be taken apart in several ways to allow you to pin the items to his back or in his arms in a number of ways. Some other accessories are a bit of a let down. I'm not sure how to use all of the hands in conjunction with the sword and shield, properly, and it can be difficult to attach them to the wrist ports. The other accessory that fails, hard, is the sword swoosh piece. This blue piece, meant to represent the animation of the Master Sword being swung, is too heavy for the wrists of most hands to handle and it is difficult to pose him with it attached to the blade.
And so, when it comes to what I can do with Link, I am left wanting more (maybe the Windwaker Nenderoid would deliver more).
CREATIVITY
This is where the figure, honestly, is most lacking. None of the accessories included surprised me and it would've been nice to get another face plate. The accessories they could've included would have been game items like hearts, rupies and/or chests or the tools that Link uses like the Grappling Hook or one of the lesser known (and therefore stupid) ones like the digging gloves.
But if there is anything to credit this figure with, creativity wise, is that it tried between the blue swoosh, sword/shield pieces, and the action hair piece.
I hope I never need an action hair piece.
VALUE
Usually this figure retails somewhere between $50 to $75 (plus shipping) on the legitimate suppliers I found online, with the less scrupulous websites and stores probably trying to sell something like this for as much as $100 (yikes), but I got lucky and picked it up on Amazon with free shipping for $35.
And for $35? That's a fantastic value.
Personally, I would never have paid $50 or more for this figure and I wouldn't recommend spending your dough like that. Then again I paid $25 for a King Dedede Amiibo that doesn't pose and only functions with Smash Bros. & Kirby's newest game.
So, I guess the value is pretty decent.
CONCLUSION?
I feel more meh or should I say "myeah!" about the figure then when I took it out of the box and played with it. Figma and Nenderoid figures I've picked up have blown me away with their creativity and quality, but this Link figure, while being a beautiful sculpt, fails to live up to the rest of the figures I've purchased in the line. But that doesn't mean I don't like the figure!
If you're a big fan of Skyward Sword or just want a high quality Link figure, I still feel that this Figma figure is best bet and makes a nice addition to any Nintendo fan's collection.
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!
This is my eighth Loot Crate review. If you wanna check out last month's review for MARCH 2015 "Covert" Loot Crate, check out the link HERE.
This month's Loot Crate has a theme of "Fantasy" and so, if you know anything about me, my expectations were high and, with the promise of Dungeons and Dragons, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Princess Bride items (and a T-Shirt), I couldn't wait to open my box!
This week, against all odds, I broke down and paid about as much as I would ever want to pay for an Amiibo ($25 with free shipping) so that I could get an NFC figure of my favorite and main Smash Bros. character, King Dedede.
A small note on collecting Amiibo's (a defense and a warning):
To those of you that might not get what all the hubbub is about around these pieces of Nintendo plastic, I would start by defending collecting figures and figurines, in general, by pointing out that, one way or another, a lot of us wind up spending money on small pieces of plastic.
Whether or not a piece of plastic has value is pretty much dependent on one's personal taste. It might be odd to clutter up my room with figures, to some, but value in an item can, to paraphrase "tidying consultant" Marie Kondo from her book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing", when de-cluttering one's house simply pick up an item and ask yourself, "Does this item spark joy?" If they do, keep it. If not, ditch it.
I'll be keeping this in mind if I ever need to tidy up my space but at the moment, I can assure you, that holding Dedede in my hand inspires joy. Why?
Ever since I saw the introductory cut scene of Super Smash Bros. Melee, in which a Mario figurine comes to life, and, enjoying the collection of figurine trophies in the game series, I have always wanted to own real Nintendo character figures. There have never been products of the quality widely advertised by Nintendo and, with the added benefit of being compatible with several games by unlocking DLC and other bonus features, these figures caught my interest. Ever since I saw that Skylanders and Disney Infinity were clearly a big success and here to stay, I knew Nintendo should take a risk and try it themselves. And, with the toys seeing such high demands from Nintendo fans, old and new, it is clear that the product was something many of us had been waiting to buy.
But, like anything with high demand and low numbers (the latter is something I blame Nintendo for not doing a better job at), scalpers have made collecting Amiibos a lot less fun. At first, it was just very difficult to acquire some of the early Amiibos but you could find them with some diligence. But, by the third wave of figures, the less common figures sold out within minutes online and store exclusives made it even harder to collect them all. Scalpers, by buying up large numbers of the figures to sell later for a profit (that I'll point out Nintendo is missing out on and that I know stores let them buy in bulk because they often have retail boxes in their ebay photos), are driving demand even higher but the number are still low. Some of the rarest figures sell for over $50 and so, if you wanna collect them all, it goes from a casual collector's hobby to something really only reserved for the hardcore and, while I would love to have all the Amiibos, I'm not paying $50 for a immobile figure when I could pay the same for a Nendoroid.
In conclusion (ooh, way to get high school essay on us), if you want to collect Amiibos, have at it, but I wouldn't recommend trying to collect them all until Nintendo does something about their low supply.
While it is wise to preserve the value of collectibles by keeping them in the box, sometimes you gotta play with the toys you buy.
I take a look at the Star Wars Commemorative Collection: Episode III set and, as it, as far as I know, the first 3.75 inch figures I've ever had, I gotta admit I got pretty excited.
A couple days late is better than not at all, right?
And, to be fair, I had a very busy March:
I went on a week long trip to Florida for my friend's wedding with two of my best buddies and it was the first road trip I ever drove!
The trip was a blast: I got to spend a day in Disney World's Magic Kingdom with four of my best friends, enjoyed the 80 degree weather during the Bachelor Party, got nauseated at Busch Gardens, looked dapper at my friend's wedding, had lunch with my Grandpa and step-uncle and I can't wait to go on another trip soon!
I beat Link Between Worlds and Shadow of Mordor, I binge watched The Boondocks as I got back into GTA V, I played the beta of Heroes of the Storm, and I increased my Amiibo count dramatically thanks to Mario Party 10 and irresponsible compulsions!
I finally got to run D & D again and played Vampire the Masquerade.
I watched Samurai Cop. Seriously, watch Samurai Cop.
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!
This is my eighth Loot Crate review. If you wanna check out last month's review for FEB 2015 "Play" Loot Crate, check out the link HERE.
This month's theme of Covert promised James Bond, Agents of Shield, and Orphan Black paraphernalia. Let's see how it delivered-- was my interest shaken or stirred?
This week we're taking a look at the Mario Party 10 Amiibo bundle and the accompany Super Mario line of Amiibos. Will Unbox-King ever find a catch phrase? Why does he wear sunglasses? Why am I asking questions?
Unbox-King and Dumbledore Shot First are back with a very special exclusive straight from Club Nintendo! Enjoy my nasally voice and scratchy baritone as I try to maintain composure (pfft) for about twelve minutes of nonsense!
Nonsense and Nintendo go together pretty well, though.
First a quick update on my life in the second month of 2015:
I made a half-dozen unbox-king videos on my blog to try something different. You should check them out.
I survived the apocalypse, specifically "Snowmageddon 2015: The Revenge of the Ice", by mostly using common sense and digging a trench in my drive way to keep the backdoor from flooding.
I watched a couple seasons of Legend of Korra and Cowboy Bebop with my parents. I also finished Fringe and finally saw John Wick (5/5.)
I am in the after-game of Pokemon: Omega Ruby, started Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, finishing Portal 2 (again), and still trudging thru Shadow of Mordor.
I found miniature cows between my house and my friend's house. They were about three feet tall. Look. Small donkeys for scale:
And next month is gonna probably be the most exciting month of my year (I'll be taking a week off for my trip to Florida) and I can't wait to tell you guys about it but, right now, in the present, let's talk about Loot Crate:
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!
.jpg)
