Boxes of Stuff - December 2016

A bit later than normal, but keep in mind that it was Christmas so some of them were delayed. But anyway let's get to it. This time, Marvel Collector Corps went to grab some of the X-Men, Geek Fuel found an enemy of Robocop and put a house scarf from Hogwarts on it while either Iron Man or Wolverine beat it up while telling us of the world according to them and Arcade Block had an assassin pay a visit to Hyrule with Tracer not too far behind:

By the way, in case I haven't mentioned already, none of these Boxes of Stuff posts are sponsored by the companies. I subscribe to them with my own money like most people do.

Also this will be the last Arcade Block I'm getting because Nerd Block are now offering everyone the chance to choose between two gaming themed boxes and I went for Gamer Block M which is for more mature audiences like myself (think Assassin's Creed, Just Cause, Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil just to name a few). There is this one called Gamer Block E, but that's for everyone rather than mature audiences (think Super Mario, Legend of Zelda, Skylanders and all those LEGO games, just to name a few). So that will be the new gaming box I will be getting from now on, the first of which will be seen in the next Boxes of Stuff post.



Marvel Collector Corps - X-Men

For a lot of these boxes, there are a few Marvel things that I'm not too familiar with, but I'm happy that its only a few and not many of them. So this time we got the X-Men. Two figures, one is Mystique which looks pretty cool and a Pop bobble of Wolverine with his motorcycle which is also pretty cool too. The t-shirt is your typical college t-shirt with the Xavier's school logo, numbers and what have you which not entirely great, its a good fit for X-Men. The pin and the patch are both great as always and both with a different mutant on each (though I'm not too familiar with the ones I can see, but that's just me). And lastly, we always get a comic book and its an X-Men one with a variant cover exclusive to this box. A pretty decent box overall. Not much in the way of things I'm familiar with, but a good box nevertheless.

Geek Fuel

Geek Fuel. Always random as ever, but unlike some curated boxes, this one generally does pretty well with its curating even if its mostly random items. So the first thing I noticed was that the box was a bit Christmassy which seemed appropriate at the time as well as it being more of a square box than its usual rectangle shape. So for everyone who got this box, it was either going to be Iron Man or Wolverine that you would get as a book and seeing as I had neither at the time I got this box, I was going to be happy whatever happens and as such I got Iron Man so I'm happy. In case you're wondering, in the brown chest is a Hogwarts house scarf and I got Hufflepuff, not my first choice, but I'm happy. Following from last month, it looks like Geek Fuel are going to keep the pins coming similarly to other curated boxes and so this time, I got R2-D2 though I understand its one of two that everyone gets with one being common and the other being rare (I got the former in this scenario). From Robocop, we got a t-shirt of one of the big robots that you see at the beginning of the original first film (I forget the name of them so I apologise in advance). Like last year, Geek Fuel sent me some more wrapping paper and while it was a bit late, I will intend to use them on a later date. And finally, our Steam game for this month is Caveman Craig which could be interesting. A pretty decent box all around with some good items and it mostly fits well into the season that we were in at the time.

Arcade Block

Its the last ever Arcade Block for everyone including myself before Nerd Block start their new gaming boxes so let's see if the last box was a good one. Overwatch seems to be the main focus on the t-shirt this time and while I still haven't played this popular game yet, its a nice t-shirt with all the characters, but having said that, at least I'm getting into it some other way even if I'm not playing the game yet. So for us UK folk, the Assassin's Creed film came out on the 1st and I'm not going to say if its as bad as people say because I haven't watched it yet, but I like the little plush toy that we get in the box that commemorates the occasion I guess. From the year 200X or the Megaman universe if you prefer, we got a book on all or most of the robots that were made in the long running series which will serve us well when playing the games. We then also get a GameBoy light keyring which adds a bit of nostalgia to the block. And finally from the world of Hyrule, we got a Legend of Zelda candle holder and while I personally don't buy nor use candles, its a nice item to put on display. Its a good block and in my honest opinion, its the perfect way to end Arcade Block and I look forward to the next gaming boxes that Nerd Block will be doing from now on.

So for the last boxes of 2016 I liked them all, but I know that I have to pick the one I like the most. I like that Marvel chose to do X-Men for their box this time as I'm a big fan of the X-Men ever since the old 90s cartoon. I liked the Geek Fuel box as it offers some variety, but even though the items are good, I have seen better in previous boxes. And Arcade Block I liked also and apart from Overwatch, it had items from franchises I love and it never seemed to disappoint even towards the end of the line and even though it always arrives last. So for the last month of 2016, the winner is Geek Fuel, purely because while I've seen better, I've always wanted a Hogwarts scarf and now I got one.

So that's it for 2016 boxes and for this new year, it will mostly be the same boxes, but Arcade Block will be changing to Gamer Block with M as my choice for the future. And please follow the links if you want to get your hands on these boxes. Its too late for these ones, but you still have some time left to grab January's offerings.