Loot Crate - April, 2015 - Fantasy

Heya, Peeps! Mike here, and yes, I know, this entry is late. Jess and I actually just got back from a one-month vacation in Vietnam and Cambodia. If you've never visited those two countries before, we highly recommend them. They're beautiful, there's lots to do, and the food is quite cheap (and incredibly delicious!). Want some tips if you're going? Feel free to drop us a line. Jess is quite the travel guru. But, enough about the trip. Let's talk about the wonderful little box we came home to find in our mail box! Check out this month's Loot Crate!

For those of you who haven't heard of Loot Crate, it is a monthly subscription box that caters towards "nerds" and "geeks". Each month, subscribers get a themed box of 6 to 8 items. What's interesting is that Loot Crate has different subscription programs. Here's a breakdown:

1 Month Plan - $19.95 USD / $29.95 CAD per month

3 Month Plan - $57.75 USD / $84.00 CAD per 3 months

6 Month Plan - $113.70 USD / $162.00 CAD per 6 months

1 Year Plan - $215.40 / $312.00 CAD per year (includes Bonus Gift)

APRIL - FANTASY

I was very excited when I first heard about the theme for April. As a huge fan of anything Fantasy, I had my hopes set high, especially for Game of Thrones and D&D swag. Did things pan out? Let's see what was inside the box:

- Loot Crate Mini Magazine ($2.50 CAD)

- Loot Crate Theme Pin ($0.75 CAD)

- Dungeons & Dragons T-Shirt ($15.00 CAD)

- Black Tie Geek Bow Tie ($10.00 CAD)

- Inflatable Gold Crown ($5.00 CAD)

- Game of Thrones Magnets ($10.00 CAD)

- Game of Thrones USB Key ($12.00 CAD)

- Princess Bride Playing Cards ($10.00 CAD)

- Harry Potter Bag Tag ($15.00 CAD)

Custom Loot Crate Box

Once again, Looters were treated to a custom box, though the Fantasy-themed design was less creative than usual. Honestly, though, I don't mind. I have a huuuge pile of boxes in my closet that I keep hesitating to recycle, so a slightly less awesome design makes it easier for me to put the box in the blue bin. Now, if only I could summon the will to do the same to the rest of my box collection...

Loot Crate Mini Magazine

Like the custom box, the cover for the Mini Magazine had a somewhat generic-looking Fantasy design. Once again, I don't mind. For me, it's what's on the inside that counts, and there is a great article about Fantasy shows and another about Dungeons & Dragons. Nice!

Loot Crate Theme Pin

As expected, the theme pin was bland. Unlike with the box and the magazine, I do mind that the pin design was lame. I proudly display my all Loot Crate pins and having a crappy one on the wall sucks!

Dungeons & Dragons T-Shirt

YES! I expected a D&D item and that is what I got! This t-shirt has an awesome design and isn't black! Woohoo!

Black Tie Geek Bow Tie

I love bow ties because bow ties are cool. This red and gold D&D-themed bow tie blew me away.

Inflatable Gold Crown

This isn't a D&D item, but I could definitely imagine myself wearing it while playing D&D or watching "Game of Thrones".

Game of Thrones Magnets

Speaking of "Game of Thrones", YES!, there were items from that series in the box! The first was a sheet of magnets with House signs on them. These will look great on my freezer door. :)

Game of Thrones USB Key

This "Game of Thrones" House Stark USB key is not only the coolest item in the April Loot Crate, but also my favourite. I only hope that it won't start killing files I store on it.

Princess Bride Playing Cards

"The Princess Bride" is one of Jess' favourite movies, so as soon as she saw this deck of playing cards, she claimed them. I also love "The Princess Bride", so I'm currently planning a secret mission to extract the cards from Jess' clutches.

Harry Potter Bag Tag

Another item now in the possession of my nemesis wife is this wonderful "Harry Potter" luggage tag. Man, I wish we got it before leaving for Vietnam and Cambodia. Oh, well. Next time, Gadget, next time.

OVERVIEW

I had hoped for items from "Game of Thrones" and D&D and I got items from "Game of Thrones" and D&D. They were awesome, too! I have to say, Loot Crate continues to impress with its consistently great theming, fantastic items, incredible value, and clear effort put into giving Looters a reason to be excited each and every month. Despite the lacklustre design of the custom box, magazine cover, and pin, "Fantasy" was one of my favourite boxes to date. Well done, Loot Crate Gurus!

The Theme for the May Loot Crate will be "Unite", which I am quite excited about since it is being advertised as having items from one of my favourite series of all time, "Power Rangers"! If you're interested in learning more about or joining Loot Crate, please check out their web site HERE. You can get $3 off a new subscription by using the code SAVE3

That's all for April. Thank you as always for reading our blog. See you again soon! :D

Nerd Block (Classic) - December, 2014

Heya, peeps! Mike here, and I bet you're looking at this entry and going, "WHAAAAAAT?!" I mean, I did say back in March that I was Nerdvorcing Nerd Block, right? Right. So, what's this madness, you ask? Well, my buddy Ryan just HAD to tell me that the December Nerd Block Classic had an autographed item that I could not pass up since it would make a wonderful Christmas gift for Jess (which is why she isn't allowed to read this entry until after Christmas, ha ha). Yes, I was swayed to give Nerd Block a booty call because of an autograph. Sigh.

A lot has changed since the last time I was a subscriber. The overlords over at Nerd Block HQ apparently thought it was cool to create a bunch of different Blocks, so now there's Nerd Block Classic, Nerd Block Jr. Boy, Nerd Block Jr. Girl, Horror Block, and Arcade Block. It blows my mind that they think this is a good idea. What's next? Sci-Fi Block? Fantasy Block? Nerd Block Baby? Nerd Block Teen? Nerd Block Young Adult? I can kind of understand why they're splitting everything up, but for me, one simple Nerd Block should be enough. Adding a Jr. was okay, but now it's just too much.

Anyway, 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:

- $19.99 USD plus shipping per month

- $30 CAD total per month in Canada

- arrives around mid-month in Canada

DECEMBER, 2014

Like I said above, I came back to Nerd Block because of a stupid autograph. Of course, when I clicked the "Subscribe" button, I was still hoping to be wowed by the other items in the Block. So, what did I get? Here's a list:

- Harry Potter Butterbeer T-Shirt ($15.00 CAD)

- Firefly Peanuts T-Shirt ($15.00 CAD)

- Tetris Notebook ($10.00 CAD)

- Gremlins Gizmo Plushie ($15.00 CAD)

- KRE-O D&D Figure ($2.50 CAD)

- Autographed "Willow" Poster ($10.00 CAD)

Harry Potter Butterbeer T-Shirt

OMG! WHY?! Had this shirt arrived one week earlier, I would have been able to wear it to my friend's Harry Potter birthday party! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Still, I love this shirt. Great design, good colour combo. It's a keeper!

Firefly Peanuts T-Shirt

This month's Nerd Block is special because Shirt Punch gave subscribers 2 shirts instead of one. The second shirt in my Block had the above Firefly design drawn in the classic Peanuts style. It's nice, but not for me. My only complaint is that the shirt was stained, as seen in the second photo above. It's worse because the shirt is white! I'm gifting this item, so I hope my buddy I'm giving it to won't mind washing before wearing.

Tetris Notebook

I like and don't like this Tetris notebook. It's cool and all, but when I first saw it in the box, I wasn't really blown away. When I showed it to Jess, however, she immediately wanted it, so it's hers now.

Gremlins Gizmo Plushie

I loved the Gremlins movies growing up, so getting this plushie was pretty awesome.

KRE-O D&D Figure

I love Lego and Lego-like toys, but for some reason, I've never been able to bring myself to actually buy any of the KRE-O Dungeons & Dragons random figure packs I've seen in stores. It may have something to do with the poor quality of the KRE-O Transformers toys I've bought in the past. Or, maybe they just don't look very good. I mean, check out the figure I got. Lego Castle totally kicks its butt...

Autographed "Willow" Poster

We now come to the reason why I subscribed to Nerd Block this month. That above is a poster card of the movie "Willow" featuring a real deal autograph of Warwick Davis. Nerd Block had stated that the poster could have his autograph or that of Val Kilmer. Jess loves both actors, so I  just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get her this poster. I admit that the size of the poster was smaller than I expected, but I'm still happy with it. I'm sure Jess will be delighted when she finds this under the Christmas tree!

OVERVIEW

I'll be honest - I was completely underwhelmed by Nerd Block. Sure, the combined value of the items was more than worth the price I paid and I'm happy to have an awesome poster for Jess, a cool T-shirt for my pal, and a shirt for myself. However, as a whole, I generally feel "blah" about this Block. Others may have been blown away, but I just didn't get the feeling of joy and excitement that I normally get from unboxing a Loot Crate. So, this December Nerd Block shall forever be known as my One Month Stand.

I'm sorry for cheating on you, Loot Crate.