Nerd Block - January, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Mike here! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and had a great time ringing in 2014. I think you'd be happy to hear that my family, friends, and I survived Icepocalypse 2013. If any of you were affected by the ice storm, I hope you weren't without power for too long and that you were able to stay warm. Now it's January and that means I have a brand new Nerd Block to review! In case you didn't know, Nerd Block is a monthly subscription box and each month, people receive all sorts of products from "nerdy" franchises. Here is some information:

NERD BLOCK

- $19.99 USD plus shipping per month

- $30 CAD total per month in Canada

- arrives around mid-month in Canada

January, 2014

Being the first Nerd Block of the new year, I was extremely excited and had high expectations. As a business, although every single Block should be mind-blowingly awesome, I think it makes sense to open a year with a bang. Well, let's see if that happened. The following is a list of what I received in my Nerd Block with approximate Canadian retail prices in brackets next to each item:

- Batman T-Shirt ($15.00)

- Star Wars Luke Skywalker Pop! Figure ($10.00)

- My Little Pony Mystery Mini ($8.00)

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Splat Flyer ($6.00)

- Hunger Games Catching Fire Figurine ($2.00)

T-Shirt

I love most things Batman, so this month's T-shirt was right up my alley. The design is also really, really cool. For those of you who are wondering, the Japanese text says "Ninja of Justice", or at least that's what my friends who know Japanese tell me. My biggest concern, however, lies in the fact that Nerd Block has been around for 5 months and this is the third black shirt I've received. The other two shirts are two different shades of blue. So, as of right now, I can rightly say that there is very little variety in the shirt colours. However, I will give Nerd Block points for having different franchises. None have been repeated in the shirts yet. Now, if they can give me a red, green, white, orange, yellow, or anything-but-black-or-blue, I'll be truly happy.

Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) Pop! Figure

Speaking of a lack of variety, subscribers have received yet another Pop! figure. Now, I myself am a huge fan of these cute "Chibi" style toys, but not everyone is. I wouldn't be surprised if some people are getting frustrated with receiving more and more of these things. Nerd Block really needs to branch out a bit more in the non-blind-box figure department. As for this month's figure, it is from the Star Wars collection. I got Luke Skywalker, which is awesome. My buddy Ryan, however, got Jabba the Hutt and is quite disappointed. Which figure did you get?

My Little Pony Mystery Mini

Bronies rejoice! Yes, a My Little Pony product finally made it into Nerd Block. I am not a Brony, but I don't dislike My Little Pony either, which is why I opened my Mystery Mini. I honestly think that the figure I got looks really cool. Some of you may notice, however, that this is the third Mystery Mini Nerd Block has included in their boxes. Thankfully, unlike the shirt colours or the Pop! figures, at least with Mystery Minis, different brands have distinctly different figure types. There is variety! So, I'm good with this.

TMNT Splat Flyer

Right off the bat, I'm going to say that I personally find this product to be stupid. It's Raphael's head made of a material resembling that used on Schticky products. You throw the thing onto the floor or at a wall and it flattens and sticks to the surface. This thing gets dirty really quickly and can be washed clean in warm water. But, seriously, who would pay $6 for it? I certainly wouldn't. And, judging from the lack of sales of this product at stores I frequent, not very many other people will either. I understand that Nerd Block is meant to introduce people to new products, but this is one toy that will be... tossed aside.

Hunger Games Figurine

The most disappointing item I have ever received from Nerd Block is this month's Hunger Games figurine. I've seen this product at the local dollar store being sold for $2 and have been mildly curious. The packaging is quite large, leading one to believe the figure inside is also on the larger side. $2 for a blind box figure sounds pretty good, right? Well, not for this. The figure, as it turns out, is TINY! Just look at the picture! What an absolute waste of packaging! And, what a horrible bit of trickery! I wouldn't pay $2 for this. It's worth $0.25 tops! WTF, Nerd Block?

Overview

Wow. Just... wow... And, not a good wow. This is a really bad wow. If you add things up, the products included in this month's Nerd Block are worth more than the cost of the subscription, but not by a lot. Also, there were only 5 products, 2 of which were ridiculous, 2 of which makes me worry about variety, and 1 of which was pretty cool, but was not for everyone. Overall, I was quite disappointed. Nerd Block should have opened 2014 with a bang, but it just ended up being a splat.