January 2013 Loot Crate: Excelsior Review!

Hey geeks and geekettes!

Henry's Loot Crate just came on Thursday, and we were super excited to open it up since they had given us the theme to their crate early on their facebook page, "Excelsior". We had come to assume a Marvel related theme, of course. This made my expectations for the crate high since we hadn't received a crate in a while that really wow'd us. I had tried speculating on what kind of Marvel goodies would be in there, but there was just so much potential epicness, that I just settled on trying to be patient for the crate to arrive. And alas, it did!

Here's a quick rundown on things you should know about Loot Crate:
- Monthly subscription box for gamers and geeks
- Items can range from food, shirts, energy drinks, toys, etc.
- $19.37 a month with shipping and handling (gets cheaper with the more months you buy at a time)
- Referral program
- Being a subscriber means you get the chance to win a Mega Crate! (~$250 in value)
- They do NOT ship internationally (yet)

January's Loot Crate: Excelsior!

It came in a larger box than usual this month!

The item list almost seemed to be cut off at the bottom.

Spiderman! First thing I saw when I opened it!

Hmm... looks a little... empty?

What was in this month's box?

Marvel Spiderman Workman's Carry All, Translucent 7 Dice RPG Set from AwesomeDice.com + Chessex, 8-Bit Zombie Power Pack from 8BitZombie.com, and Hello Panda Chocolate Snacks from Meiji.

Total Value:

$22.00

Translucent 7 Dice RPG Set in Smoke w/ Red ($5.50):

Wow, when I saw this, I was like thinking... "What the heck am I going to do with these?" Henry also had the same look on his face. I guess we aren't as geeky as we thought. :/ I'm actually disappointed to realize this. I do have a few friends back home who'd know exactly what they'd use it for though. I guess if we ever buy a board game that needs these or start playing a card game, it'll nice to have extras? I mean, they look pretty nice. I like the smoke color and I love red. Just.. have no idea what to do with them.

Hello Panda Chocolate Biscuit Snacks (~$1.50):

Hello Panda!!! I love these! Right after Yan-Yans though. And although I do love these delicious little pandas to death, I was disappointed to see them in the box, ONLY because I feel like I could just go to my local Asian supermarket and buy it if I wanted to. But maybe that's because I'm Asian. In any case, I freakin' love Hello Pandas, and I'm glad that it's making it's way into the lives of people who have never had it before. They are really crisp and light, and have a milky, smooth chocolate center with the cutest panda prints on the biscuit itself. I actually ended up putting it in my big purse and snuck them into Hansel and Gretal: Witchunters to munch on.

8-Bit Zombie Power Pack ($5.00):

Henry thought this was kinda cool. But we've gotten stickers in the past crates and I think he's actually getting a little tired of it, since we only have so many places we can stick it. Buttons are okay since he pins them on his lunch cooler. He's started a little loot crate button collection there. I didn't care much for this item since I'm into cute, fluffy things like Pokemon. Zombies are definitely not cute and fluffy. This definitely should have been in October's crate. Another thing that I was a little bothered about was that when I went to check on the price of the Power Pack on 8-Bit Zombie's website, it listed more things than we got in our pack. 

8-bit NES PACK: 
1 Logo patch with iron-on backing 
2 8BZ GPK stickers 
1 Die cut Powerglove sticker 
1 Mondo NESball sticker 
1 Mini NESball sticker 
1 Logo sticker 
2 Random vintage NES cards 
4 Random pixel buttons

The description says that it should come with 6 stickers, a patch, and random extras, but we only got 5 stickers, 2 buttons, and no patch. This is the reason that I bumped the value of this down to $5.00 instead of the original $10.00 that it says on the website. They're cool collectibles though.

Marvel Spiderman Workman's Carry All (~$10.00):

This was the star of the box for sure. Henry's not really into Spiderman though. I think he probably would've liked getting the Captain America tin that other people got, but that's the luck of the draw, I guess. His brother in-law is REALLY into Spiderman though and would probably love this. I think we might store it away for next Christmas as a cool way to wrap his actual gift. He doesn't read my blog so I'm not worried about ruining the surprise. I did think about using it myself as a lunchbox or a "frequently used" nail polish storage, but I just wouldn't appreciate it as much as our friend. I think I'll save it for him. It's kind of small so I wouldn't think that you could pack a real man's lunch in it... maybe a dieting girl, like me. I mean, it is a pretty nice looking tin though. I wish they had other characters from the Marvel line available in these tins... I kind of get the impression that Spiderman and Captain America aren't really the most popular Marvel characters. It would have been super cool to get an Avengers or X-men tin. Although, you know, they did make like four movies out of Spiderman.

Overall, both Henry and I thought this month's crate was still just okay. The value still hasn't changed much from the original price I paid for it, and being a Marvel themed crate, I thought it could have used a lot more "Marvel" to it. I think because I was so excited for a Marvel themed crate, it made me expect that it was going to have some really awesome items in it, but most of the items weren't that exciting. There was also only four items in it this month, which was kind of a bummer, and only one of those items were something Marvel. I guess they just didn't hit the demographic with us this time... it probably would have been much more fun to open up if we had kids. We still have one month left on our subscription, so I'm hoping February's box is AWESOME, or else we're going to have to let this one go, because the price is just not worth what comes in it. The worst part is that I probably wouldn't have bought any of these items on my own, except for the Hello Panda, and even if I wanted to buy them on my own, it'd come out to be about the same price. In the words of another Looter friend I have, "The novelty is starting to wear off." :(

Sorry, Loot Crate... I was really hoping that this month would've been one of my favorites!

I totally give the Loot Crate team props though, since I know that they work super hard to try to put these boxes together for their loyal Looters, and they always have excellent customer service. A friend of mine also organized a St. Jude's Casino Night at our school recently, in which all the proceeds go to charity, and Loot Crate was kind enough to donate January's Loot Crate and a code for a free 3-month subscription that they were able to raffle off. The recipient was very happy and was smiling like a maniac when I saw him claim his prize. They were also able to raise $2,500 in ticket sales for that event, which was partially because the prizes that were donated were so awesome. So don't get me wrong, Loot Crate makes a TON of people happy every month, I'm sure. It's just doesn't seem to be working for me and Henry that well, and that's fine. I'm almost certain that once they get bigger, and can really start upping the value and quality of their crates, I will be subscribing again. 

One of my biggest reasons to order a subscription box every month is high value, and that way, I don't have to feel so guilty about spending a certain amount of money a month on things I wouldn't normally buy because it was worth it. But that is just my personal thing. Loot Crate is a great company and if you feel like you would totally love these items, that's awesome! Sign up for a subscription! You can also use the code "3OFF " to get $3 off your first subscription, but I'm not sure how long that will be good for.

Oh, and here's January's Mega Crate (if you were curious to what it was)!

I also wanted to say a big thanks to the people that have used my link to sign up for a Loot Crate! I feel very honored to have readers that appreciate my reviews even if they're not always the brightest and shiniest. It's always important to stay honest! :)

Thanks for reading!

TheRxNina