For once I hadn’t seen any of this month’s items trailed, so I had no idea what to expect this time around. I only discovered the theme, UNITE 2.0, when I got to the menu at the bottom of the box! LootCrate did a UNITE box back in May 2015, which had some pretty awesome stuff in it. Perhaps this would be something similar!
As a reminder, here’s the blurb:
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!
I’m reviewing their original box, the Loot Crate, which contains 4 – 5 items each month, including exclusive and licensed items, with a value of at least $45.
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.
Here’s the shipping box.
On the inside you can see the printing for whatever is this month’s crate transformation. I can’t see any perforations, which means it should be relatively simple!
First, the t-shirt. Voltron: Legendary Defender is a reboot of an 80s animation about a giant super-robot piloted by a group of astronauts.
The bright colours and the retro 8-bit design pay homage to the original series. You can catch the new version on Netflix right now.
This is the Funko POP! you could see at the top of the box. This figure is Widowmaker from Overwatch.
This colour scheme is a LootCrate exclusive version. As you can see from the picture on the box, she usually has red on her helmet, and is dressed in purple.
What you can’t tell from these pictures is that this figure has one leg shorter then the other. I don’t think this is intentional, at least I hope not. What it does mean is that it won’t actually stand up. It just keeps toppling over. There’s actually a whole bunch of blu-tac under and behind the left foot holding it down. Otherwise this would be a picture of Widowmaker looking like she’s just been knocked out.
This is a Power Ranger figurine. The Pink Power Ranger is one of five possible figures that all link together at the base.
If you want the whole collection, LootCrate is going to release all the figures to buy individually from the LootCrate shop.
I couldn’t see what company manufactured it, but it’s another LootCrate exclusive figure.
One for the comic book fans, this is a reprint of The Brave and the Bold #28, featuring the first appearance of the Justice League.
It’s sealed in plastic, and also includes this Certificate of Authenticity.
This month’s Loot Pin has a pretty cool design. I can’t quite tell if it’s a kind of generic ‘superhero team’ pose, or if the symbol is supposed to represent the Atom. There’s also a guy with a Flash symbol, but The Flash doesn’t wear a cape.
Anyway, I really like the retro look and colours of this pin.
Quick whizz through the menu booklet:
Same as the pin design!
This month’s crate transformation involves nothing more complicated than turning the box inside out. It’s supposed to be the Power Rangers Command Centre, so here is a picture with the Pink Power Ranger figure.
This is what the Command Centre looks like for real. I’m not quite seeing the resemblance.
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 – these are usually around £10.
POP! Figure – this is an exclusive, but as a rule you can get a POP! for a tenner.
Power Rangers Figure – perhaps £5. It’s pretty small, and the quality isn’t great.
Comic book – difficult to figure, so I’ll say £5 at the very most.
Pin – comic pins are around £5.
So for the £24 price of the crate, you get a fair bit more value.
OK, now my thoughts.
If you had already got the impression this box didn’t really grab me, you would be correct.
First of all, I’m not interested in any of these franchises. The 2015 UNITE crate featured Marvel and Rick & Morty, among others. I would have been totally down with those. But Power Rangers and Overwatch? Meh.
The t-shirt is actually a pretty fun design. I really like the retro homage aspect to it. But I’ve never seen the show and have no intention of doing so.
POP! figures annoy me because they have become so ubiquitous. Every damn character and franchise has a bunch of POPs. I’m also not a fan of the design, because they all look so samey. Yes, I know that’s the point, that there is that distinctive Funko POP ‘look’, but I prefer my characters to look a bit more like themselves. This one has an exclusive paint job, but is otherwise identical to the Widowmaker POP you can buy in any geeky store. Oh, and the damn thing doesn’t stand up! That’s poor quality control right there.
For the avid collector, fine, this might be great to have (want mine?), but I think including a POP is kind of lazy. Also, I’m not interested in Overwatch.
The little Power Rangers figure is also unimpressive. This strikes me as an attempt to get people to buy the rest of the figures. Also, the paint job is poor, and the seam where the two moulded halves have been stuck together is extremely visible. My estimate of a fiver value is generous. And again, I don’t like Power Rangers at all, I think they’re naff.
The reproduction comic is great for the Justice League fan or comic collector. I’m neither of those things.
I totally understand there will be Power Rangers/Funko POP etc. fans out there who think I’m full of crap. But I don’t care, this is my opinion.
I do like the pin. It’s a terrific design, and I love the colours.
Overall, I’m really disappointed. I loved last month’s box, so this is something of a letdown. I know that there’s no guarantee that one will like every item, but I’ve loved been properly enthusiastic about at least one or two items in previous boxes. It’s unfortunate that I’m not a fan of any of this month’s featured franchises, but I also think including two figures is just lazy. One thing that I’ve appreciated about LootCrate is that it’s not heavy on the figures, and you often get useful stuff (such as the glass in August and the koozie in July). Don’t get me wrong, I like figures (they’re a great strength of Lootaku) but I like a little more variety from Loot Crate.
Anyway, it looks like December is going to feature Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, so I reckon this is simply a blip. Roll on the December crate!
A different version of this review was first published on allsubscriptionboxes.co.uk.
