Fan Mail June 2015 Review

Fan Mail: June 2015 Review, 'Fantasy'

Link: www.myfanmail.com

My Fan Mail box arrived yesterday, which was a lovely way to end June :) I've been seriously excited about finding out what these guys have to offer.

The box was full to the brim and looked very, very promising! The first thing that fell into my lap was this:

A 'Legends & Lore' Info Sheet

This lists a load of upcoming tv and film releases, book releases, video game releases and cons in the next month. I thought this was a really nice touch. The things that they list are diverse, so it should be of some use to most people.

'Toothless' T-Shirt - Created by Fan Mail

I'm a big fan of 'How to Train Your Dragon', so this put a big smile on my face. Even though black t-shirts aren't my favourite, I absolutely love the design on this. My only bugbear is that the sizing is awful. I thought that a box aimed specifically at women would actually put out clothing that felt feminine and flattering, while still looking geeky and fabulous. Apparently that remains to be a pipe dream. I ordered a 'small' but the t-shirt is huge and completely shapeless - although I guess it is possible that maybe they thought I meant 'small' as in 'a small rhinoceros'.

Something tells me that I am not the only one with this complaint, as Fan Mail have sent around an email in the past couple of days announcing that they now do a greater variety of t-shirt sizes and styles.

'Philosopher's Stone' Soap (Note: I refuse to call it the Sorcerer's Stone. Just...no)

Again, love Harry Potter and loved the idea of this. It's really cute and makes a great geeky item while being functional and smelling incredible. Seriously, it smells really good! It's so nice that I almost don't want to use it. It's really authentic looking. I may have to just use it for display.

'Legend of Zelda' Necklace

This was a really nice addition to the box - who doesn't love Legend of Zelda? The string is maybe a little shorter than I would normally like, but it still looks really cute on. I really like that we got some jewellery - that's something that I've always missed in unisex boxes.

'The Hobbit' Thranduil Brooch

I'll be honest, I had no idea what this was until I looked it up. I'm a fan of the Hobbit, but apparently not that much of a fan! It seems like a relatively obscure reference. It is beautiful though, I really like it as a brooch. 

Harry Potter Nail Decals

These are awesome! I've never tried nail decals before, but now I have a reason to. I really like these, they're very subtly geeky.

Game of Thrones 'Purple Wedding' Invitation

I absolutely love this, because I am Game of Thrones mad. I guess there's not that much you can do with it, but I think it makes a really nice wall piece for anyone who is a fan of the books or the show. It's not flimsy either, so it's definitely nice enough quality to display.

'Once Upon a Time' and 'The Hobbit' Badges

Yaaaayyyyy...more badges.

Info Card

The info card for this box was really good - with a full pic and description of each item. I love it when boxes have these in.

Overall:

I honestly thought this was a great first box. They kept firmly to the theme and represented a handful of wonderful fantasy fandoms with great quirky items - and it definitely had a more feminine feel to it than other boxes. As soon as the t-shirts are sorted out then I think this box will be a total winner for the discerning nerdy girl. 

The biggest problem for us Brits is the price. Do I think it has a good value for the American prices that they charge? Absolutely. Do I think that it has good value once you've paid for international shipping? Sorry, but no. I think that more than £30 a month for a sub box, even a really good one, is way too much.

I may still buy one of these boxes from time to time because I think that they have some really good stuff to offer and I love their overall mission. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until I'm feeling a bit richer.

Popinabox Customer Service

Popinabox Customer Service: the Jon Snow Saga

Link: www.popinabox.co.uk

Hey guys, this is neither a review or a new box but I wanted to take a moment to make a positive comment about the customer service from Popinabox.

I decided to try out their order system now that I've had a couple of subscription boxes from them, so I ordered myself a 'Winged Castiel' Pop and a 'Jon Snow Castle Black Muddy Pop'. My Jon Snow came this morning:

Rather embarrassingly, I hadn't realised that the 'Muddy' aspect of the Pop was rather subtle and I assumed they had sent the wrong Pop. I messaged them and lots of emails were exchanged, including a lot of errors/technology hurdles. Basically, we figured out that I was being a noob and the Jon Snow was perfect and exactly as I had ordered. I was particularly red faced for kicking up a fuss on a Sunday of all days!

The experience has taught me three things though, 1) Popinabox have great customer service, 2) their order system is just as good as the subscription service, 3) they will not openly laugh in your face if you're a bit of an idiot.

Jon (very definitely Muddy) is now settled in with the other GOT Pops:

Infinity Crate June 2015 Review

Infinity Crate: June 2015 Review, 'Gather'

Link: www.infinitycrates.co.uk

This month's Infinity Crate reached me on Friday - apologies for not posting it until now. This was one of my favourite boxes last month, so I was really excited to get my June box.

'Over Encumbered' Skyrim T-shirt

I absolutely love the t-shirt again this month. I'm a massive fan of Skyrim (well, all of the Elder Scrolls really!) so this was a huge hit for me. I will wear this a lot. The lettering is gold and slightly glittery, and the picture shows a massive pile of loot. I like that it's quite subtle, so only people who have played Skyrim will really get what it's driving at. It looks like there was a variety of t-shirts you could end up with this month, including a Pokemon one, a Marvel one and a Disney one. I like all of those to some extent, but I'm thrilled that they sent me a Skyrim t-shirt. I also think that this was an amazing fit with the theme - and not one I had anticipated!

Ultron Funko Pop

I was quite amused to find this in my box after I was complaining the other day about the size of my Marvel Funko Pop collection. To be fair to Infinity Crates, Marvel is on my list of interests! I do have way more Marvel Pops than I need now though. I still really like this guy - he's a cute bobblehead and he's got some really nice detailing on him. It looks like people received 1 of 4 different Pops, and Ultron is actually the only character I know/like out of all of them, so it was the best outcome for this box ultimately. For me though, this fit the theme least out of all of the items. None of the Pops seem to be overly relevant to the 'gather' theme, so I was a little disappointed that they didn't have some different ones on offer.

Yoshi Keyring

This is adorable. Yoshi is my favourite character in the Mario franchise and always my first choice in Mario Kart! He's a little bigger than I would like for a keyring, but he's got a nice place on my shelf. I liked how this fit into the 'gather' theme as well.

Golden Nuggets Bubblegum

I haven't tried this bubblegum before, although I was always a big fan of the cereal growing up. The bag is a really nice way to present the sweets and it was a cute little addition that worked nicely with the theme.

Infinity Crates Badges

Everyone knows badges are my favourite...These guys are forgiven though, because they included a badge of the First Blade from Supernatural. I also like the Pokemon badge quite a lot. The minecraft and skull badges don't really interest me, but they can be added to my badge pile.

Collectibles for Dummies Poster

This poster has kind of a similar feel to last month's poster, but I like it. It's very quirky. It lists all the ways in which you can gather loot in video games.

Information Card

I love the information cards that Infinity Crates include. Some boxes don't include cards or they include cards with limited information, which really annoys me. Infinity Crates always tell you exactly what you should have had in your box, as well as showing you the alternative options - which always reassures me that they are doing a good job of matching the boxes to my interests.

So, although the Pop wasn't perfect, Infinity Crates remain to be one of my favourite subscription box companies. I think they do a great job to sticking to your interests when they put the boxes together and they always give you a very reasonable amount of stuff for what you're paying.

The theme for July 2015 is 'Time & Space'. I have no plans to cancel this box any time soon, so look out for more reviews :)

I just hope people stop sending me Marvel Pops!

My Geek Box June 2015 Review

My Geek Box: June 2015 Review, 'Abilities'

Link: www.mygeekbox.co.uk

I finally got my first My Geek Box on Saturday! It arrived a little later than I thought it would, but I think they had a lot of customers this month due to the promise of a European exclusive Funko Pop. The theme was abilities, so I was expecting a lot of superhero/Marvel/DC type items.

I'm going to start with the exclusive Pop, which everyone was very excited for:

Unmasked Cyclops Funko Pop (European Exclusive)

I have to admit, an unmasked version of an existing Pop is not an overly exciting reveal after all of the anticipation that had built around this item. Having said that, I love Pops of basically any kind and I do seem to be building (unintentionally) quite a large Marvel Pop collection! He fits in great with the theme and he's an adorable little bobblehead - so I can't complain.

'Mutant Academy' X-Men T-Shirt

This t-shirt is great for any X-Men fan - it's a really subtle design and I absolutely love that about it. It's great to see a white t-shirt in one of these boxes too. I understand why they don't send a lot of t-shirts in really bold colours, but I'm not a big fan of black t-shirts and my wardrobe is almost completely grey as it is. It fits great and looks great, so I'm very happy with it.

Star Wars Mouse Mat

I'll be honest - I don't like this item at all. 1) I don't like Star Wars and 2) I don't use a mouse with my laptop. It's completely useless to me. It will either be sold or thrown in a bin because I don't even know anyone who would appreciate something like this. A little disappointing to be honest, but hopefully other people got more out of this item than I did. I think they sent out a couple of different designs too (all Star Wars).

Spiderman Cards

I don't really know what these are - I'm assuming something that's collectible? Cards aren't really my thing, so they'll probably go the same way as the mouse mat. This would be a nice little filler item for a collector though.

Marvel Badges

I think everyone knows by now that I don't think much to badges in these boxes, but these are definitely some of the nicer badges I've received. I'm building an extensive badge collection thanks to these boxes - I need to figure out something to do with them all!

Now & Later Sweets

These appear to be American sweets, labelled as 'long lasting chews'. They're kind of a brightly coloured, strongly flavoured mixture of gum and Starburst type sweets. They're very weird. I can't tell if I like them.

Overall, the box was okay - it had good points and bad points. I liked the two big items, which is always a good thing. I could have done without any of the rest of it though. I'm wondering if the exclusive Pop is the reason why the rest of the box is a bit rubbish - as previous boxes that I've seen just seem to have way better content.

I'm signed up for 3 months, so I'll definitely be getting the next two boxes at least. So far I'm not convinced, but I'll reserve judgement for now. July's box is going to be themed 'Nemesis', so anything could be in store for the next box.

NerdBlock June 2015 Review

NerdBlock: June 2015 Review, 'British Invasion'

Link: www.nerdblock.com


My NerdBlock arrived today! It was incredibly speedy (as it was last month) and arrived within a couple of days of shipping.

As a Brit I was a little sceptical about how we would be represented in this 'British Invasion' box, but I'm happy to report that this box was actually the best geeky subscription box I have received yet! Almost everything in the box was a total hit for me and I enjoyed unboxing it all so much.

First up:

Mr Bean's Teddy

This was the first thing that I saw upon opening the box and I was literally so happy I squealed! When I heard that there would be Mr Bean items in the box I was worried that they had the potential to be a little bit rubbish/useless, but this is actually amazing. I grew up watching Mr Bean and Teddy was always a favourite for me - I used to love the Christmas episode where Teddy got new eyes in his stocking :) This item is very nostalgic for me and will be much loved. He's great quality and really squishy, with bean bag type material on his insides.

Doctor Who Titans Vinyl Figure

As if Teddy wasn't enough, we also got a fantastic Doctor Who item! I'm not sure if the figure was the same for everyone, but the one that I received is David Tennant's 10th Doctor (who happens to be my favourite). I've never had a Titans figure before but he is really cute and really well made. I took him out of the packaging and discovered he also comes with a little sonic screwdriver to hold in his hand, which is adorable! Totally made up with this item - I'm a massive Doctor Who fan.

Sherlock 'Bored' ShirtPunch T-shirt

Another one of my favourite fandoms being represented in this box! I'm really loving every ShirtPunch t-shirt that I've been sent so far, the artwork is always fantastic and they look really unique. This t-shirt is a huge win for any Sherlock fan - I'm so pleased with it.

Mr Bean Bendable

This is a cool figure, but it didn't excite me as much as the inclusion of Teddy. I've yet to take him out of the packet and test his bending skills but he seems like a really fun, quirky item to have around. I can't say it's necessarily my thing but it fits well with the theme and is a lot more interesting than receiving badges/stickers/tat.

Monty Python Magnets

I feel like a really bad Brit when I confess that I don't like Monty Python. I feel like I've failed my country. Fortunately, my parents are fond of Monty Python and can hopefully have some fun with these magnets. It's a really lovely, well made set and seems like it could be endlessly fun to play around with if you're a fan. It's a fantastic fit with the theme and I think a lot of people will really enjoy finding this in their boxes.

Whovian Art Print

I love this Doctor Who print - it has gone straight up on my wall! The paper is really thick compared to prints that I've received in other boxes, and it arrived in perfect condition without any bumps or creases. 

Now, just a quick shot of the info card that came with the box:

As I said at the start, this is the best geek box I've had yet. I either loved or liked everything in it. I think Brits in particular will get a lot out of this month's items. Last month's theme wasn't overly relatable to me, so I've loved having the opportunity to get a box from NerdBlock that really spoke to my interests.

NerdBlock have announced that the theme for the July box will be 'Humanity's Last Hope' (I will do a spoilers post as more info is revealed). It isn't really speaking to me as a theme, so I think I may deviate a little for July and switch to either the HorrorBlock or the ArcadeBlock temporarily.

Let me know what you thought of this month's box!

Popinabox June 2015 Review

Popinabox: June 2015 Review

Link: www.popinabox.co.uk

My popinabox for June finally arrived today! Getting new pops is one of my favourite things in the world right now, so I always find these boxes especially exciting. Last month I opted for the '1 pop' box, but this month I decided to spend a little more and go for the double pop experience.

Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed when I opened the box. Part of that is my fault - I am completely responsible for saying which pops I do and don't want to receive (popinabox will never send you a pop that you have 'disliked'). However, the real problem for me wasn't that they sent a character that I didn't want, but that they sent me two versions of the exact same character.

Now, I can appreciate Iron Man as much as the next person, but I really didn't want to see two of him in my box!

The pops themselves are pretty ace though - they are both bobbleheads and super cute. I would have been thrilled to have received one of these along with another, more varied, pop.

I don't really blame popinabox for my disappointment at the end of the day, I think I have just learned an important lesson about being more specific with them about what I like/dislike. I've realised that I find the superhero/Marvel pops a lot less exciting than pops representing other fandoms that I love, so I've adjusted my settings accordingly. 

Hopefully next month will reflect my tastes a little better and I'll be really happy with the next two pops they send!

(Oh and I forgot to mention that the box came with popping candy as per usual, which I really love!)

Noob Cube June 2015 Review

Noob Cube: June 2015 Review, 'Creature Feature'

Link: www.noobcube.co.uk

I actually had no idea what was in this package when it was delivered today - it was massive! When I took off the brown paper I discovered that it was...

Double Noob Cube! This month's items took up so much space that double cube space was required.

The box on the left contained the information leaflets and the majority of the items, while the box on the right only contained one large item.

These just gave some basic information about Noob Cube, along with a nice flier that showed the 'top 3 things happening in June' and revealed the theme of the next box.

Goliath Pop Vinyl

This was the large item in the box on the right hand side. It is amazing! It's honestly the largest Pop I have ever seen and the detailing is extremely impressive. I looked up the price and found that these go for £15 new, so that's a great value item to get in a £20 box. 

Unfortunately I have never played Evolve, as I'm not particularly fond of first person shooter games, but I love this guy in his own right. I'm definitely going to be keeping him in my Pop collection.

I took a pic of him with a couple of my other Pops, so that you can get an idea of the size:

There was only one other substantial/significant item in the box(es), which I'm guessing is down to the size and price of Goliath but was a little disappointing.

Jurassic World Model Car

I can see this being a big win for people who collect this type of thing as it is really nice and in perfect condition. Unfortunately vehicle models like this really don't do a lot for me. I will display it along with all my other dinosaur related memorabilia, but I don't feel all that excited to own it if I'm being honest. I was sort of hoping that the Jurassic World item would be something a little more fun/useful, though I'm glad that it turned out to be an actual collectible rather than a piece of tat!

Guardians of the Galaxy Festival Wristbands

These are quite a cool filler item. I used to collect festival bands (back when I was a teen with an actual life), so these really take me back to that. They're good quality too, so definitely wearable. The one thing that confused me was that I found the link between Guardians of the Galaxy and 'Creature Feature' a little tenuous. I mean, it sort of works...? But there are way more relevant fandoms that could have been represented in this box.

Maynard's Mini Creatures

These were really tasty (though there weren't enough of them). They're basically animal shaped wine gums. They tied in with the theme well though and were a nice treat.

Minions Temporary Tattoos

I love minions and I have a childish affection for temporary tattoos, so these are nice. They're a pretty typical filler item, but at least I may actually get some use out of them.

Tamagotchi Friends

I saved this until last because I still have the 'wtf' expression on my face. The packaging does very little to enlighten me about what this actually is/does. I think it's just a model? Obviously it relates to Tamagotchi. Other than that, it's just a small and very, very pink mini figure. I just...don't know. Are these a thing? Does anybody know why on earth they would include this? If anyone can enlighten me I would really appreciate it. It's currently sat on a shelf with my dinosaur collection and it really couldn't look more out of place. It's SO PINK!

Overall:

I loved the big Pop, but I felt that the rest of the items really suffered from its inclusion. Even disregarding the bizarre Tamagotchi thing, the other items weren't overly impressive. The idea behind the theme was so good that I think there were some missed opportunities to include some really great games and fandoms. The quality was certainly there though and the value of the items was far more than I paid, so I cannot complain on that count. I will give them another chance in the future I think, but I will wait until they bring out a theme that I really can't resist.

(NB: This subscription does NOT auto renew, so you have complete control over which boxes you do and do not receive)

Noob Cube: July 2015 Spoilers

The theme for next month, July 2015, is 'Bad Robot'. This could either be a reference to all things robot and cyber in general or it could be a reference to the production company Bad Robot, which made Lost, Fringe, Star Trek (the film) and others. Either way, this theme is not for me and I will not be ordering this box. I'll keep an eye out for other upcoming themes though and let you know if I'll be getting another box in.

Thank you for reading!

NerdBlock June 2015 Spoilers

NerdBlock: Spoilers for the June 2015 box!

Link: www.nerdblock.com

The theme for June's NerdBlock has been announced: 'British Invasion'!

This is potentially a good one for us Brits and there's a lot of stuff that would be exciting to see. NerdBlock has confirmed that one of the items in the box will be 'Mr. Bean' related and one of the items will be 'Doctor Who' related.

I'm not personally a huge fan of Mr. Bean, so I'm hoping that item won't be one of the bigger ones. It seems a slightly random choice to me for a geeky themed box, but I'm hoping that I'll be pleasantly surprised.

I am very excited for the Doctor Who item though. NerdBlock have stated that the t-shirt is not the Doctor Who themed item, but it could be anything else. I'm praying for a Pop or any other awesome collectable - I hope that it isn't just a filler item.

Last month NerdBlock massively advertised the inclusion of a 'My Neighbour Totoro' item, only for it to be a rubbish pack of badges. If that happens again with the Doctor Who item then I will definitely be annoyed about that. The themes that they advertise should be present on at least half-decent items.

Other than that, I'm really excited about the theme. I'm personally hoping that there's no Red Dwarf stuff included, but there's a ton of other amazing British shows that could be represented (Sherlock and Harry Potter themed items would be incredible).

Last month I received my box on the 18th (I think?), so I'm guessing it will arrive around the same time for this month. Keep checking back for my review of the British Invasion NerdBlock!