When I saw Loot Crate were releasing a Stranger Things-themed box to coincide with the hotly-anticipated Season Two, I absolutely had to sign up! Who wouldn’t want amazing exclusive Stranger Things loot?
If you’re reading this I’ll assume you’re a fan. If you’re not, try watching it again. It’s amazing. If you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for? Get on to Netflix at once and immerse yourself in the fabuously retro world of Hawkins, IN.
The price for this box was £65.88, and according to the Loot Crate site, the value should be $111+, which is £83.32 according to today’s exchange rate.
I ordered this box way back in June, and it was supposed to arrive in time for Season Two at the end of October. It arrived in mid-December. Apparently there had been some manufacturing delays, so we’re talking a six month lead time. Was it worth the wait or the cash? Let’s have a look.
As usual for the Loot Crate limited releases crates, the shipping box is individually themed.
See what they did with the ‘Limited Edition Crate’ printing?
On the left is the t-shirt, so let’s see that first.
OK, so it’s not a t-shirt. This is an Eleven & the Boys Punk Raglan.
This is a pretty cool design. I love the little details, such as the Demogorgon silhouette, and the fact that the picture of Will is actually upside down. Very clever.
It was designed by Butcher Billy, an artist who specializes in contemporary pop art. A great choice! You can read more about him here.
Size-wise, this shirt was a Unisex cut, so I ordered size Small. It’s kind of loose, though not impossibly so. Extra Small would have been a little more fitted, but Unisex sizing is so tricky it’s better to be slightly large than too small. (For context, I’m UK size 8 – 10.)
UPDATE: I’ve just looked at the label properly, and realised it’s bloody POLYCOTTON!
Seriously LootCrate, when will you learn? Polycotton is a horrible fabric, it feels unpleasant once it’s washed, it makes you sweat, and it’s generally crappy quality. Suddenly I’m really pissed off with this.
Loot Crate are big on their exclusive items. This Creation Crib Eleven & Mike Figure is one of the two exclusively designed figures in this box.
I have to say right here that my first reaction on seeing the box was that Mike looked like the evil offspring of Martin Short and Dudley Moore. What a terrible picture.
Here’s the blurb from the box.
And here’s the figure! Eleven has the little drop of blood, and is looking pretty damn traumatized. Though that’s hardly surprising if you’d just flipped a van over the heads of you and your friends using only your mind.
Mike’s face looks a little better than it does on the box, but if I was the kid who played Mike I’d be pretty unimpressed.
The figure comes all in one piece, though the Eleven figure is incredibly wobbly. I don’t know if this intentional or a manufacturing flaw.
These Stranger Things Trading Cards Wax Pack is a properly retro item!
The package design extends to the back. I love the Sensory Deprivation Pool offer! And the extra detail of sending in 84 pudding lids. Very clever again.
Anyway, open up the paper and there are the cards.
Five cards with scenes from Season One, and six with Season Two scenes. The poster cards are actually the stickers showing the promotional posters from both seasons.
They even feel like trading cards from the 80s, cardboardy and slightly rough to the touch.
As well as the scenes, the reverse of the cards have a little surprise.
Yep, put ’em together like a puzzle and you get the Season Two promo poster. Very neat.
SuperEmoFriends Eleven vs. Demogorgon Scene Variant.
(The SuperEmoFriends website is here.)
The box is numbered.
This came in three pieces and fitted together to form a 3D scene.
Now, when I first saw this, my immediate thought was ‘what the hell, this was in October’s box!’
Then I looked again.
On the left is the scene from the October box. On the right is the scene from this limited edition box.
Same setup, but further along in the the scene.
There’s that blood drip again.
The colors and expressions are different. I can see they’ve used the same mould for both, but I think it’s pretty awesome how the tone and atmosphere of the scenes are completely different. Even though it’s not colourful in the same way, I love the determined expression on Eleven’s face here.
Barb, despite not having a ton of screentime (and y’know, dying) became a hugely significant character in Stranger Things, especially in Season Two.
This SuperEmoPlush Upside Down Barb shows her, I think, dead in the Upside Down.
See the little bandage on her hand? That’s a great detail.
This is a nicely made (other than the odd loose thread) and detailed plush, but damn, it’s sad. Like I said, I’m pretty sure this shows her dead. OK, the brand is called SuperEmo, so they’re not going to specialize in rainbows and unicorns (unless the rainbow is dismembering the unicorn or something), but wow. Looking at this made me feel pretty miserable.
Let’s lighten the mood a little.
Here’s another wearable. Like the box? Remind you of the box in the woods where Hopper leaves the Eggos?
Well, this box doesn’t contain Eggos. Or does it?
Eleven & Hopper Socks!
I would have assumed the Eleven socks would be like the (now iconic and instantly recognizable) classic red striped white athletic socks she wore with her disguise at the end of Season One. But instead they’ve gone for a yellow Eggo waffle pattern, with the logo around the opening.
The Hopper design, in a classic 80s brown and beige, has a really fun pattern. What looks from a distance like your standard hideous decoration, is actually tiny donuts and hip flasks! That’s incredibly neat.
And look at the toes! Very clever indeed.
While there’s no label or tag, it’s pretty certain these don’t contain much cotton. They look quite small, but they’re soft and stretch out quite a bit. They look cool, but I suspect they might be a bit sweaty to wear, as the 80s tribute definitely extends to lavish use of man-made fibers.
This Hawkins Middle School Journal is another fun item. I don’t know if real American schools have their own branded notebooks, but this has a pleasingly retro look.
I don’t know if you can tell from this picture, but it’s surprisingly good quality. The pages are sewn rather than glued in, and the paper is smooth and nice quality.
I think they’re pushing it calling it a journal, as really it’s a lined notebook, but either was, it looks good.
Oh, and the blue bookmark you can see is made to look like a strip of arcade tickets. Nice nod to Season Two there.
Finally, who didn’t have a bunch of little pins all over their denim jacket? This 80s Concert Button Set has four designs, including Max, one of the new Season Two characters. Nice that she’s got a shoutout in this box.
I really like the Hopper button, though I think Mike (wonky eyes) and Lucas (unintentional mustache) have come off rather worse than the others in the AV club design.
These pins were designed by someone called Cristina Young, but it’s too common a name to be able to figure out who she is from Google.
This is the reverse side of the menu card, showing Will’s sketch of the Shadow Monster from the Upside Down.
It’s a nice piece of artwork (that kid really can draw!) though the card itself is just regular shiny card, not any kind of special print cardstock.
And here’s the menu itself. The colours are atmospherically muted.
So, there you have the Stranger Things Limited Edition Crate!
Let me whizz through the value.
Like I said, Loot Crate are big on their exclusives, so pricing is tricky. Occasionally items from their limited edition crates pop up on their store, Loot Vault. For example, the hardcover Aliens comic from the 2016 limited edition Aliens box is on sale there for $9.99. However there’s nothing yet from Stranger Things, and if they’re going to sell individual items it’s definitely not going to be for quite a while.
So, I’m going to be estimating the value, according to similar things that might be available. Again, I know they’re exclusive, and there’s no telling what some of this stuff might fetch on eBay, but I’m going to go for what I think is a fair value based on the items themselves, not crazy eBay stuff.
Raglan shirt: £20. This is a little generous, I think, but it seems that Stranger Things wearables aren’t all that cheap. I suspect this is something to do with the cost of licencing. If it was any other franchise I’d put it at £15.
Eleven & Mike Figure: £10. I’m really guessing here, and also being generous, but it’s not that big, and I think it’s the weakest item in this crate.
Trading Cards: £5. There are a couple on eBay for a tenner, but who knows what people will pay!
Eleven vs Demogorgon scene: I valued the similar one in the October box at £15, so I’ll say the same here, but only because it’s so similar. The October box version was on sale in the Loot Vault a while ago for $9.99, about £7.50, but it’s now sold out.
Barb Plush: £10. That’s about average for a plush this size.
Socks: Loot Vault seems to price socks from $5.99 – $7.99 so I’m going to say £10 for both pairs.
Notebook: Because this is nicer quality than average (that sewn spine) I’m going to be generous and say £8.
Button Pin Set: I’ll be nice and say £5, though that’s on the high side.
Total: £83. Pretty much on the nail for the advertised value.
I’ve already given some thoughts as I went along, but I want to throw in some more.
I like the design of the shirt very much. But as in update above, great design, DREADFUL fabric. Cheap and nasty. I’m really, REALLY disappointed with LootCrate for this. They should know better, especially as they’re getting much better at putting 100% cotton shirts in their regular crates.
I really don’t like the Eleven and Mike figure. The facial design of Mike is creepy and strange, and I’m unimpressed with the wobbly Eleven figure. I’m not quite convinced by the Loot Crate Artist Series, I think it’s very variable in quality and design. I understand they need to be original and exclusive, but this one is definitely a miss. Great idea (it’s a wonderful moment in the show) but the execution is poor.
The trading cards are fun. They’ve got the retro feel just right, though they’re a a bit of a throwaway item.
Because I already had one Eleven vs Demogorgon scene I’m happy to have another one. It seems like a tiny cheat to have the same shape but different colours, but it is kind of logical, as it’s not a moment when anyone’s moving around a whole lot. I’ll let them off on that one. However, even though this scene is technically different from the first one from October, it’s still a variant of a regular item.
I think plushies should have a little bit of humour to them. Even plush versions of horrible monsters are cute and funny, because they’re soft and furry, right? Even Michael Myers looks cute as a plush! But a plush of a tragic dead person? Just no. The details and colours are great, but damn, it’s just not nice. Given the thought that’s been put into some of the items in this box, I’m kind of surprised. Did someone at a development meeting say ‘hey I know, let’s throw in a plush figure of a corpse! That’ll be fun for the fans.’ I don’t want to hug it, stroke it, display it, or give it to my daughter (she often ends up with plushes). Yeah, no. Not for me at all.
The socks are fun, and the designs are very clever, especially the Hopper pair. Like I said, I’m not sure how nice they’d be to wear (I’ve got a couple of other pairs of socks from Loot Crate that look cool but feel horrible on, so I don’t wear them) but I can appreciate the ideas and how much thought has been put into them.
A Hawkins Middle School Notebook (sorry, it’s not a journal) is another fun item. Definitely a novelty, and I’m sure some people will use it and others will add it to the collection of random stuff they hoard.
I think the button pins are OK, but not amazing. There are a million Stranger Things buttons out there, so including them in a box like this strikes me lazy. The other items in the box, even the ones I don’t like, at least are fairly original. When it comes to button pins, you might as well throw in a sheet of stickers and be done with it.
The menu is well designed, and the reverse print is nice to have, though it’s not the right kind of quality for display unless you’re a serious obsessive.
Overall there wasn’t one big item with any wow factor. I think at least two (or three, if you count the crappy fabric of the shirt) of the items are poor in general, and overall I don’t think it’s a particularly imaginative selection.
I’m very unimpressed with how late this arrived. I know manufacturing problems can’t be predicted, but this box was hugely promoted for the release of Season Two, and for it to be more than six weeks late, long after the hype had died down, is pretty crappy. At the very least I think they should have put in an extra bonus item as a little compensation for the appalling lateness. They also should have added an apology inside the box itself. It’s things like this that make Loot Crate look corporate and arrogant. I know it’s a huge company, but they work hard to give a touchy-feely it’s-all-about-the-fans vibe, so they should live up to it when the shit hits the fan.
They did send out a code for a $5 dollar discount (which ended up in my junk mail) but you have to buy from them to use it and it doesn’t even cover shipping! No doubt they’re counting on not many of them being used and saving themselves the bother and the bucks of sending everyone an actual thing that will cost the company money. Not good enough.
One more specific moan. The box, as far as I can tell, doesn’t turn into anything. Loot Crate boxes always transform, it’s one of their hooks. But not this one.
All in all I think this box is not up to scratch. Of course not everyone is going to love everything (I really don’t) but I think they could have done much better. The value is technically higher than the price, but if I’d valued according to how much I personally value the items, it would have been way below.
If it had arrived when it was supposed to then the excitement of the new season would have definitely have softened my feelings towards it (though nothing would make me like the dead plush.). But if they’re going to screw up this much they’d better dazzle. They didn’t.
What do you think? Love it? Hate it?
