Loot Crate Unboxing March 2015

Last month I did a post on the February 2015 Loot Crate, and I thought I’d continue with the March crate.

Maybe it’s just me, because I’m not a big spy fan (except in the case of Archer), but this months crate felt like a whole lot of nothing.

The most notable items were:

• James Bond T-Shirt
• Agents of SHIELD Exclusive ID badge
• Orphan Black comic
• 2 Field Notes mini-notebooks
• Stealth Watch
• Spy Themed Mad Libs
• Ninjak #1 Digital Comic Download Code

Now, I know that when a shirt gets involved, the other items in the box tend to go down in quality.  If it was a great shirt, I’d be find with that, but when was the last time that James Bond was cool among geeks?  Archer, I could understand, but Bond is a relic thrown in among modern pop culture items.  Plus, the shirt was white, and a really thin fabric where you can see the nipples of whomever is wearing it.  And the graphic, if you notice in the video, has some flaws.  Overall, not impressed…

Now, Loot Crate had been plugging an exclusive Agents of SHIELD items all month long, and it’s not a bad item, but it’s not that noteworthy either.  It’s an orange ID badge with a holographic SHIELD emblem on it and a corresponding clip/string to hang it on.  There’s a barcode on it too, but no other identifying features.  I’m not sure if this is what they used in the show or not, but the way they were plugging the item I was expecting more of a mini-figure/model of one of the agent’s gadgets.

The Orphan Black comic is pretty standard, and also a Loot Crate exclusive.  Orphan Black is picking up more steam as a newer BBC series, so this comic may end up being a nice gateway intro into that show.

The Field Notes books are just on the “blah” side.  They’re cheap, they’re cheesy, and I’m pretty sure that yellow caution strip was supposed to be wrapped around them.  I know that’s a small detail, but presentation makes up for a lot in these boxes, and this was just bad filler.

The Stealth Watch, however, is actually pretty cool.  I didn’t quite understand the concept at first – why push a button to see the time “secretly” if you’re already wearing a big, black watch on your wrist?  My son got it though.  He explained that it’s for when you’re walking around at night, trying to sneak around like a Ninja, and you can’t see an analog watch in the dark, and you don’t want the glow of a digital watch making you a target.  Pretty neat once he explained it.  Probably the best item in the box.

But next there’s Mad Libs?  Seriously?!  Why not just say “we’re out of ideas, so have some cheap junk.”  Not only could I buy a similar item for $0.50, but I like Loot Crate for the collectible items.  I don’t like paying for paper goods that are meant to be used and tossed, and having two of those items in one box is just wasting my money.

Then we have the digital comic, which you have to make an account on ComiXology to redeem.  You can store it online and download a backup file, which is a nice feature.  I glanced over the comic and it isn’t my cup of tea, but I’d say my 10 year old will like it well enough.

My son was given a 3 month long gift subscription, and I do believe this will be the end of the line with us and Loot Crate.  My son is pretty happy with the box, but as a parent looking to continue paying for this service, I’m irritated.  Last month was a neat first box, but a number of those items were pretty iffy.  This month, between the Field Notes, the Mad Libs, and the white shirt, I am beyond unimpressed with the March 2015 box.  Next, we plan to try out Geek Fuel and/or Brick Loot (a monthly Lego box), both of which seem to offer a better value.  But, check back in around April 20th to see my son unbox his final Loot Crate.  Maybe that will be the box that wows me.

Loot Create Feburary 2015 Unboxing

Okay, so subscription services are becoming more and more popular lately.  If you’ve found yourself completely lost already – the services I’m referring to are where a company boxes up a number of surprise and/or exclusive items and mails them directly to your house.  They make them for all kinds of things now, but the “geek subscription boxes” seem to have the most services available, and are one of the fastest growing markets.

A little 4-1-1 basics:

• You have no say-so on the items.  So you may end up with things you do not want, you may get awesome gems that you love, or you could get exposed to something you never knew about that you end up adoring.  It is a bit of a gamble, but typically the exclusive items make it worth the effort.
• The retail value of what you get is supposed to be well above what you pay for the box – usually around double what you pay for the box.  Keep in mind, that double is when you find a comparable item in a retail store.  The resell value of subscription service items on eBay or Amazon can be much lower since everyone on the subscription service will get the same items.
• This is not a good service for picky consumers.  Items in boxes may not be identical.  For example, if there is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle figure in a box, you may end up with Rafael (the red-masked one), while a box down the street gets Donatello (the purple one), and so on.  Again, you can’t pick, and items like this are randomly inserted, so it is what it is.
• This was a gift subscription that my son requested from my parents, but be aware that Loot Crate, and many other, similar subscription services, are NOT designed for children.  They are primarily aimed at older teens and adults, and while my son is only 10, I don’t particularly have a problem if he opens a box and finds some gory figurine or a download code for a violent/adult game.  If that is an issue for you, please investigate a service in detail before signing up.
• The last important tidbit that I can think to mention is that most of these services are by automatically renewing subscriptions.  Which means, if you order a one month subscription to try a service out – don’t forget to cancel or else you will be billed again!  The same goes for a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription – cancel after your last box arrives, or else you’ll get billed for a 3, 6, or 12 month subscription, respectively, all over again.

Okay, with the nuts and bolts out of the way, let me share with you my son’s unboxing video for the February 2015 Loot Crate box. This is my son’s first ever subscription box, so we had no real idea what to expect, and I believe every item was something foreign to him, but he seemed pretty happy with everything overall.

I apologize for the less-than-spectacular audio/visual qualities of the film.  We tried using the $20 “HD” camcorders that we found from Walmart around Black Friday.  They are not up to par with my Sony camera, but, unfortunately, you can only truly unbox something once.  Next month we will have this down a lot better! 🙂