Loot Crate - 2015 reviews | All Subscription Boxes UK

My prediction from last month was correct and this month Loot Crate is all about those villains. Loot Crate have done this a little bit differently as well, there are fewer items overall, but those included are more premium items. This month doesn’t include the little bits and bobs that are usually packaged in, it just has four solid items, no mess no fuss. I like it! Fewer but better items, that is something I can get behind, each piece feels like it is worth something and not just stocking filler.

It’s harder to pick a favourite villain than it is to pick a favourite hero, villains are so much more complex. However I think it is safe to say ever since Health Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, the Joker has gotten a lot of new fans. Last month we got Batman in the heroes Loot Crate in the form of a Q-Pop figure and this month in true heroes V villains style Loot Crate has included a Joker figure, this one is a bit different though. It is probably not the type of figure anyone was expecting because it is made out of wood, yeah wood. It has been carved and painted just for Loot Crate subscribers as it is a Loot Crate exclusive and the finish on it from the carving to the paint is beautifully done. If it truly is exclusive and cannot be bought anywhere else I would call this a genuine find because it is truly unique. Due to the uniqueness of it’s form I imagine it will not be everyone’s favourite, in fact, some people might find it abhorrent to the character but I love it and it is definitely my favourite item of the month, it will be a contrast to everything else on my shelf, kind of fitting for the Joker’s unique personality.

I hope you like kitchen activities, for me that involves boiling vegetables and frying eggs, that is as far as my culinary prowess extends but now I can do it while looking kitchen legit in a ‘Los Pollos Hermanos’ apron. This is a bit of a swerve from the otherwise comic book dominated theme in this villains crate, coming in with a Breaking Bad item, the show of the year, every year. It’s bright, bold and fun. For fans of the show, you can wear a cool prop from Breaking Bad while cooking and for non-fans it’s still a cute apron regardless. The quality of the apron feels thick enough to protect from food splashes and durable enough to last the test of time, I can’t attest to how it fares after a spin in the washing machine as I haven’t had the opportunity to wash it but rest assured it does feel well made.

The other item is a mug that is shaped in the form of either Venom or Carnage from the Spider-Man comics, the one I received was Venom. I am always interested in a new mug to drink my coffee/tea out of, but I wasn’t interested in this one. It has no heft to it, it feels thin and cheap and the design could have been better. On the bottom of the mug in small print it also states that the mug cannot be microwaved and must be hand-washed, that might not be a problem for some who don’t use microwaves or dishwashers but for me it’s a disappointing lack of quality. That being said, it retails for around £10 so it is a premium item and you are getting your money worth here. I won’t be using this as a mug, maybe I’ll get some use out of it as a stationary holder, maybe.

The last item is a Hydra Pin movie prop, Hail Hydra! It is made out of metal and feels sturdy with two strong pins on the back that should have no problem piercing whatever material it is pinned through. It is quite subtle and even if you aren’t a fan of Captain America it could still be a cool skull pin to have. For those who are fans, it can be fun to have in plain sight so your fellow Hydra followers can spot you from the rest of the riff raff.

A slight departure from the norm this month with less items included in the box but I thought it was a smart idea, it feels like better value than ever when fewer items are picked for their value rather than trying to fill a box with as much as possible, quality over quantity. I wasn’t impressed with all of the items, namely the mug but the rest more than made up for it in value. Loot Crate continue to offer exclusives in a good ratio, this month it was 1:4. I want to keep seeing general premium items with an exclusive item thrown in, I feel like Loot Crate offer better exclusives when they are concentrating on less of them. Once again there was a good spread over a number of fan favourites including; Batman, Captain America, Breaking Bad and Spider-Man which is great for variety. It looks like next month is going to follow in the vein of variety with hints being released already, but I’ll leave it to you to find out so I don’t spoil the surprise.

[tab title=”July 2015 review”]

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Another month and another Loot Crate, this month the crate went back and visited Heroes, but this time it was Heroes 2 and it was personal. It seems as though Loot Crate get more and more industrious every month, they seem to have expanded their merchandise alliances even further by getting together with Quirk Books and QMX for this month’s Loot Crate exclusives and they are impressive. There’s no overwhelming inclusion of a particular franchise, the items are well spread across various fans favourites.

I criticised last month’s Cyber themed box for being a little too heavy handed with the Loot Crate branded items and this month I think they have returned with a better compromise.

Contents:

‘League of Regrettable Superheroes’ Book
QMX Q-Pop figure
Nintendo licensed Zelda sweatband
Paladone Batman multi-tool key-chain
Star Trek car air freshener
Non branded Wonder Woman mashup poster
Game freebies for the Brawlhalla video game

The best item this month has to be the QMX Q-Pop Batman figure, it’s modelled after the classic TV show, aka Adam West. It comes bundled with a marker for a customisable speech bubble that attaches to the figure, you can have Batman exclaiming whatever you want, “BAM”, “POW” or even “I <3 Robin”. The figure is a really nice quality, it feels solid and well built, definitely worth the money and it’s something I would have actually bought myself as an individual item. The ‘League of Regrettable Superheroes’ book comes labelled as ‘The Loot Crate Edition’ which seems to be a stripped back version as it has 127 pages and the version I found online has 256 pages so something is clearly missing. That being said this book is still very nice, it’s a hard cover and has detailed information on a number of odd superheroes from years gone by, I’m not sure which one I find the most unfortunate, it’s a tossup between ‘Speed Centaur’ and ‘Thunderbunny’.

The lesser items also have a nice quality, the Zelda sweatband is the right level of elasticity to firmly grip your wrist, it feels thick and absorbent with a stitched logo on the front. The Batman multi-tool feels strong, I tried bending it with my hands and there was no give, you shouldn’t have an issue with day to day durability. The one problem I did find with the Batman multi-tool was that it is quite big for a key-chain, 2-3x the length of any key I have ever owned so you might find it difficult fitting this one in your pocket along with your keys. The Star Trek car air-freshener smells great and provides you with minimalistic Trekkie adornment for your car so you can be prosperous wherever you drive, even if you are not a fan of Star Trek it provides a nice scent, still worth using even if you do prefer the Rebel Alliance to Starfleet.

Finally, you can do it too with the Wonder Woman x Wartime propaganda poster, a new take on the ‘She can do it’ poster used during World War 2. I haven’t measured the poster but laid out flat it is not much bigger than the top surface of a Loot Crate box, it is as thick as a standard poster and has a glossy finish. I think the design looks great and I’ll be looking for a suitable wall area to hang it. The last item is an in-game code for use with Brawlhalla. It appears to be a bit of an advertisement effort for the game, the game itself is free to play but the code gives you some free extras which are 3 skins and a Gnash Legend unlock. I haven’t played the game myself and can’t comment on the quality of the in-game extras but it doesn’t look like something I would be interested in.

It has been another successful month for Loot Crate, bringing back the Heroes in exquisite style. I loved the Q-Pop figure, the book was a fun read, there was a new multi-tool for my key-chain and an air-freshener for my car. Worth the money? Yes, there is a good range of heroes involved this month, offering something for fans across the board. If you aren’t a Batman fan there is still a lot of loot for you too, a smart move from last month which was a little heavy on The Terminator for me. If this month is anything to go by, there was a nod to the past with heroes, we could be looking at another villains theme. If you are on the fence or were taking a break, it could be a good time to get in because you just know Loot Crate will be pulling bats out of hats next month, fingers crossed anyway.

[tab title=”June 2015 review”]

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The monthly Loot Crate reviews are back! :)

This month’s crate is all about cyber…as in robots. To break it down this month’s box contains items from Terminator, Battlestar Galatica, Borderlands and Transformers. The Terminator theme is strong in this one, it’s used as the main box art and has the most related items, which makes sense considering Terminator Genisys is out in July and it’s on everyone’s radar.

The items in this crate seem to be custom made across the board, from what I have seen there are usually 3rd party items included, but this month everything looks to have been created just for this crate. The box itself is also an item, as per usual it has a custom design and can be rearranged from a box shape into a mini set type shape for added enjoyment, its art continues the secondary theme of The Terminator.

The content is neatly packed and each time I lifted up a layer of ‘loot’ I was surprised to find another beneath it, so much so that when I got to the bottom I was trying to lift up the box flaps to find out if there was anything else hidden underneath, it’s a bit of a treasure trove. The main items in the box are; the Terminator skull, Borderlands mouse mat and the Transformers x Tron t-shirt. The rest of what I considered to be the lesser items are; 2 x Battlestar Galatica shooting range posters, circuit board pencil case, Terminator brain chip keyring, an owl patch (which as of the time of writing I am still trying to work out its theme origin), a NerdHQ sticker sheet and the Loot Crate magazine.

For me the best item in the box was the Borderlands mouse mat, it is surprisingly big and appropriately themed as Borderlands is a PC game, useful if you don’t already have a large mouse surface of your own or if you are looking for an upgrade. Next best is the Transformers x Tron t-shirt, it features Optimus Prime of Transformers fame in the Tron pose with Prime written underneath, it’s a good design that usefully incorporates two big cyber franchises, although to me it is still a Transformers t-shirt . For those of you who know the difference, the t-shirt is Gildan soft style which is one of Gildan’s lighter style t-shirts, it has a regular fit in respect to its width but I found it a little long height wise.

On to the Terminator skull that was made by Chronicle Collectibles. Initially I thought that the skull was made using hard plastic but it is actually soft, similar to a squeaky dog toy but without the squeak. The decision to use that type of material split my opinion, on one hand it makes it more durable but on another it made it feel cheaper. The paint work on the skull has been finished very nicely, so nicely that upon my first inspection once out of the box it looked a lot more premium than it actually is. Overall it will make a perfectly terrifying/pretty (delete the adjective based on your preference) ornament for your shelf, have no fear adding it to your figure collection.

As I said the rest of the items are just great extras, the Terminator brain chip keyring is surprisingly weighty making it feel like good quality, an excellent addition to your set of keys. You can put up the Battlestar Galactica posters to beautify your walls or use them for your weapon of choice target practice, you can even do both because Loot Crate has added two of them, thoughtful! There’s the NerdHQ stickers and Owl patch that you can use to decorate your stuff, sorting you out for whatever you need to decorate – laptops, desks, books, backpacks or jackets. Personally I am more of a minimalist and won’t use these extras much but they are cool additions to add value to the crate, I would have missed them if they weren’t there.

To be critical, I would like to see more 3rd party items and less of the Loot Crate branded merchandise. Even though I am not personally interested in many of the smaller bits and bobs in this month’s crate, I do see their value. It’s clear the people over at the Loot Crate HQ are still crushing it in whatever department curates these crates, the crate curators (the caped crusaders).

[tab title=”February 2015 review”]

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Wow! It has been a hard month with lots of setbacks, family events, etc. It’s finally here though, LootCrate February Review… Enjoy!

The theme for February’s LootCrate is…Play. It is, as the title suggests, all about play and gaming. The theme touches on how far gaming has come over the years and highlights everything from the start of board games, to cartridges and roms, to the games we have now. Play is an important part of leisure. Games encourage cooperation, socialising, creativity, turn-taking and of course they’re fun!

The box this month has, you guessed it, a game inside! The lovely team at LootCrate have created a board game of their very own called Crate Packing Simulator 2015, which I shall explain in detail later…

Contents –

Exclusive Looter Edition SUPERFIGHT Card Game
Exclusive Rock-Paper-Scissors Dice Game
Hexbug
Waka Waka Poster by Manny Peters
Exclusive Firefly online Premium Ship unlock code
Ready Player One novel by Ernest Cline
A DIY Munny Figure
Play theme magazine
Play theme badge/button

The SUPERFIGHT game is just amazing! I’m a huge fan of Cards Against Humanity, which is very similar, but you can’t beat this game! The LootCrate edition has a few special cards thrown in there to spice the game up. The SUPERFIGHT game is great to play with friends at a party or gathering. You pick your best Superhero/Supervillain and Special Power for the scenario against your opponent and the results are hilarious. You really get to see creativity, or the dark side in your friends.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline has been described as, “Willy Wonka meets The Matrix”. The book is a sci-fi adventure from the future (2044) and doesn’t disappoint. If you love puzzles and a novel full of twists that you can’t put down, definitely read this! A well written book and great read whether you’re a geek or just love a good book.

Waka Waka poster by Manny Peters. This is a lovely poster and has been printed on thick poster paper. It features a simple blueprint design of a PacMan Atari cartridge, which is great for any collectors or simply for nostalgia. My husband really liked this one and commented on how it would look good in a frame which I have to agree with, however it’s not something I’ll be hanging up soon. Maybe I’ll keep it for his future Games Room…

Hex bug – My girls love these, not to mention the cats! I must admit, although I’m not a fan, I do like this one. (Mainly because it’s large and can’t be put in your mouth or lost under the sofa!). These toys fascinate me as they look like a simple design but can do all sorts of tricks and they’re so fast! They’ve come a long way from the little wind up toys I had as a kid. We received the Ant and I must say it’s very durable. It’s survived being pulled at and thrown around by three girls of various ages. I’m slightly gutted that I didn’t get one of the Glow in the Dark ones though as they look great!

LootCrate have come through again with another exclusive code for an online game. I don’t personally play Firefly online, but my husband now wants to give the game a try so he’ll be using it soon. The code allows you to buy and commandeer LootCrate’s “Overland” transport and is only available to LootCraters.

I love, love, love the DIY Munny figure. (I’ll post mine later) It’s similar to the Pop! Vinyl figures but you design it yourself! You can make anything you like, add pieces to it, use your own pens or the three felt tips included. Let your creativity flow and create your own hero collectable again and again (provided you use the wash off markers included). The figure is very robust, great quality and the arms move too. You can keep it as a collectable, gift or let the kids play with it when you’re done. I used some Sharpies on mine and I was very pleased with the results (well my daughters knew what it was anyway!) I also used the pens included which are good quality and easy to use.

The Rock Paper Scissors dice are a fun addition to the box. They seem to pair the classic game with dice, which makes it unpredictable. You each take one die and roll against the other. The dice come in a little bag too which is handy for passing the time on buses, road trips, etc. My family and I played this for a while and enjoyed not knowing what we’d have. (We use them to make small decisions fun too).

This is the Crate Packing Simulator 2015 – The game instructions are included in the box (in my opinion they should be printed in the magazine as they can easily be lost or misplaced). The magazine has counters which can be removed, displaying a T-shirt, 8-bit glasses, Funko figure, badge and poster. You use the Rock Paper Scissors dice with this game to move around the board. Each has a numerical value. The aim is to be the first player to get all of their items into their crate. I played this with my husband and we quite liked the simplicity of it. When our eldest daughter (eight) played it with her sister (three) we found our three year old got a little confused with the numerical value of the dice and the complexity of the board and rules. The game itself is good for passing the time and playing as a family. I’d recommend for maybe 7+ years.

The February magazine goes more into depth on games and the history of game play. It has a two page spread of all the game controllers over the years. I found it quite interesting to look back and reflect on how much they’ve all changed and improved over the years. It also has a competition for the Munny figure. Any LootCrater can enter. There are categories such as Best Hero/Villain, Judges Pick, Best Modified and Best Lookalike. Definitely worth entering :)

This is my Munny. I’m sure anyone who has a daughter can guess what the design is…My three year old is over the moon with it, and I shall be entering it in the LootCrate contest too. I definitely wouldn’t say no to another, so if they become available as a buy now item on the site, I shall definitely be ordering more! :)

Conclusion – The Play theme has definitely been fun. It has brought out my creative side again and also allowed me to play some fun games with friends and family. Generally it’s reminded me of the fun of games, competitions etc. I have also been pleasantly surprised with the items in the box. They are of great quality and I believe they will last a while. The poster was probably my least favourite, but I guess you can’t please everyone. More of the same please LootCrate :)

PS. for those who can’t guess the Munny, she is AppleJack from My Little Pony ;)

[tab title=”January 2015 review”]

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Now this is a theme I can sink my teeth into…Rewind! Born in 1985, I have grown up with Atari, Tetris, Snake, Star Wars etc; all the classics that shaped our films and games today.

The box itself has a retro look on the inside. When folded down it looks like an old Nintendo NES! Love it! LootCrate have covered every detail.

Contents –

Unemployed Philosophers Guild Comic Notebook
Exclusive 8 bit glasses
Exclusive Voltron Blueprint t-shirt
Star Wars Comic Book issue 001
10-Doh! Figures
Black Tie Geek Retro Arcade Skinny Tie
Rewind LootCrate Button/Badge
Rewind LootCrate theme magazine

Well my husband and I liked all of the contents between us. The Star Wars, Doh figures and 8-bit glasses were a huge hit with him whereas I preferred the Comic Notebook, t-shirt and retro tie.

The Star Wars magazine is a LootCrate Exclusive issue 1. Definitely a must for any comic book fan/collector out there. It’s presented in a clear plastic bag to keep it in pristine condition if you’re a collector. I’m more a reader than a collector, but I know they’re worth more in bags, covers and unread, so this is great for those of you who do keep a Star Wars collection. The story in the comic book (not giving too much away) is a good one and features some of the original characters from Han Solo to Chewbacca. The artwork looks great too, a must have for any fan.
I’ll be honest, the 8-bit glasses were not my favourite item in the box. The glasses are a retro, almost Calvin Harris, style of sunglasses. I can appreciate they look very retro and would be great for parties, but not something I’d wear daily. My kids absolutely loved the glasses however so they were a hit, just not for me.

The tie is from Black Tie Geek and looks very retro with its pixelated alien design, similar to Space Invaders. The best part is that it can dress any outfit up and can be worn by men or women. A fab design!

One of my favourites, now. The comic book notepad. Now this is something I have never seen in the shops. It’s a notebook with printed squares and rectangles inside just like a comic. I love that you can either show off your budding comic book artist skills and create your own graphic novel inside, or simply use it to take notes and doodle. Either way, it’s a great little book and would make a great present too (if you decide it’s not for you).

The t-shirt of course was another of my favourites. As you know by now, I love my shirts, and this is definitely in my top 10. The blueprint design of Voltron looks very good, especially on the black background. The t-shirt this time around is made a little small, so if you’re back ordering one, opt for the larger size if you prefer your t-shirts baggy rather than fitted. Love it!

What’s a 10-Doh figure I hear you ask? Well I hadn’t heard of them either to be honest, until this box… The figure is a collectable cartridge with arms, legs and a prop. I know they don’t sound very appealing, but they do actually look quite quirky and fun. The arms are moveable and the prop can be attached or detached depending on your preference. I received the Alien Attack one with a gun which is a nifty little collectable for your desk or shelf :)

Conclusion – I must admit that I was a little more excited about the theme when I heard what it was. The contents of the box, although good and great value, left me a little disappointed. For me, rewind would include some Pacman, Space Invaders, Pong, as well as Star Wars. But I did find the items fun and they appealed to myself and my family, plus they were all great quality. Thank you LootCrate :)