Loot Crate heavily trailed the December franchises: Star Wars, Destiny 2, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and a MYSTERY FRANCHISE! That sounded intriguing. The theme itself works pretty well for all these franchises, so I was looking forward to seeing what they came up with. Plus those three franchises are fantastic!
This is the original box, the Loot Crate, which contains 4 – 5 items each month, including exclusive and licensed items, with a value of at least $45/£35.
One thing to note. This is the December 2017 box. It arrived on January 13th. Hmmmmm. Anyway, let’s take a look.
The box itself was a pretty decent size, though it felt pretty light and rattly.
Not looking very full!
This month’s t-shirt is from Destiny 2, and has a picture of the Wonderwing on it.
It’s quite a nice shirt, and 100% cotton, which makes a refreshing change from the disappointing polycotton offering in the Stranger Things box.
My husband is pretty keen on the Destiny games, and this one actually fits him! So it’s got a happy home.
This is the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 item, a mini calendar.
Apparently the cover is exclusive to Loot Crate. The pictures are quite fun, but its size isn’t really that practical for organizational purposes.
Also, the sixteen month calendar thing it says on the front?
I really don’t think four months together on one (small) page counts.
Star Wars! This Star Wars Adventures Graphic Novel is exclusive to Loot Crate.
This one is set before The Force Awakens, and tells how Rey (awesome character) finds the crashed and abandoned Imperial Star Destroyer.
It’s quite short, but the illustrations are good, and it’s fantastic to get a glimpse of Rey’s earlier life.
So now for the ‘mystery franchise’.
It’s a Twisted Metal Ice Cream Scoop.
Twisted Metal is a (rather old) series of PlayStation games.
The clown face is Needles Kane, a crazy killer clown character who drives an ice cream truck.
Very clever.
As it turns out, this particular ‘mystery franchise’ item refers to Loot Crate including items from other Loot Crate lines, thereby encouraging you to ‘explore’ other things they offer. More on this in the conclusions.
This month’s Loot Pin is pretty cool. A rocket ship is a great way to explore space! And rather than the usual round pin, this one is in the actual shape of a rocket ship. I love the slightly retro design. This is a very nice pin.
Now, this month I discovered there is no longer a a magazine in the box.
Instead you get a flyer with an item list. If you want to see a virtual version of the magazine, with all the details, you have to visit the website.
Oh, and really quickly, here’s the crate transformation:
I don’t really get it. It’s just a bunch of Star Wars ships, but on three sides only, so it doesn’t really make much sense. It’s also not mentioned in the magazine at all.
Anyway, value first.
Loot Crate claims that each box contains at least $45 (about £35) worth of goodies. Most if not all items are Loot Crate exclusive, so it’s difficult to assign a commercial value. However I can sort of find equivalents and guesstimate, though I don’t use eBay as I find their prices are not a useful guide to value.
T-shirt: geeky t-shirts are usually around £10.
Star Wars Graphic Novel: I found another in this series on Amazon at £7.36.
Calendar: the price printed on the back is $7.99, which is £5.79 today. But we’re halfway through January, and calendars are now half price or less. It’s also small. I’m going to call this £2.50.
Ice cream scoop: This was available on the US Amazon site for $9.84 which today converts to £7.13.
Pin: exclusive, but comic pins are around £5.
Total: £31.99
Well, this is the first time the value has come in under the claimed value. It’s still more than the retail price of £24, but it’s not exactly impressive.
Now my thoughts.
I was really excited to have three cool franchises (especially after the disappointment of last month’s box) and I thought the mystery franchise sounded fun.
My husband is very pleased with his new Destiny 2 t-shirt. I don’t think it’s the most inspiring picture, but hey, he’s happy, I’m happy!
The whole family is pleased with the Star Wars graphic novel! We all love the Star Wars movies, so this is a fantastic thing to have, especially as Rey is such a terrific character. We have a daughter, so we love things that promote strong women!
The Loot Pin is great this month, nice design, and a little different to the usual.
Now the less good stuff.
The calendar is, I’m afraid, crap. It’s small and impractical and screams ‘filler’. It’s all very well including a calendar in a December box, but it needs to arrive before New Year! The cover may be exclusive (though it’s pretty damn similar to others I’ve seen), but the pictures inside are the same as other GotG2 calendars. And the cover of a calendar is never on display, so you can’t even properly enjoy your supposed ‘exclusive’.
As for the ‘mystery franchise item’, when searching for a value I discovered that it was actually included in the May 2017 Loot Gaming crate. This strikes me less as an opportunity for subscribers to explore other crate lines, and more as an opportunity for Loot Crate to get rid of a bunch of excess stock. Looking at the magazine, it seems there are ten possible ‘mystery items’; they show silhouettes of them. One was in the shape of Firefly (which I love) so I might have felt slightly more positive had I gotten that one. But I really don’t care about Twisted Metal, and I don’t need another ice cream scoop.
Including an item which has already been included in another box is lazy as all hell, and the ‘Explore’ theme link is tenuous at best.
The online magazine is really annoying. I resent having to fire up my laptop to see details about the items. Having a magazine is a really nice tactile experience, and clicking through on a screen is not at all satisfying.
So this month is another hit and miss. The lazy ‘mystery item’, the naff calendar, and lame contents list did not give me good vibes. Much as the graphic novel is a real standout item, my overall feeling about this box is negative.
******************************************************************************
LootCrate is a monthly box full of geeky awesomeness. As well as their classic original Loot Crate they have several other box types, including boxes for pets, gaming, anime, and wearables!
They have four subscription levels:
- 1 month – £24 p/m
- 3 months – £22 p/m
- 6 months – £21 p/m
- 12 months – £21 p/m plus a bonus t-shirt
- All crates include a t-shirt; you select your size when you order your subscription.
******************************************************************************
A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
