August Marvel Collector Corps Crate

The August Marvel Collector Corps crate theme was "Secret Wars" and cost $45 USD, or about $70 NZD. This is the first Marvel crate not tied to a movie release so makes things a bit different.

The contents this time:
Shirt featuring 4 Pop! vinyl style characters
Comic
Spiderman Pop! figure
Thor Pop! figure
Pin and Patch

The shirt is another official Pop! product and is very nice. The print is really cool, much better than the Ant-man one as it is more prominent.

The comic is an exclusive cover of the Secret Wars #1, featuring a Pop! Thor. Nice, but as the comic has been out for a little while I already have a copy. From the May Comic block, with an exclusive cover as well. This is a shame and with the theme as it is, not surprising. It was at least bagged and boarded this time, so an improvement. The badge and patch are both cool, I'm liking my little collection.

Last up are the figures. Not one, but two Pop! vinyls this time. This is excellent. The Spiderman and Thor figures are both great, the Thor doesn't balance very well, all the hair at the back means it doesn't really bobble either though. Not a big issue (most people seem to keep these in box anyway, weirdos... *Joking*) so I'm really happy.

This is yet another solid offering from Marvel Collector Corps. I feel like this is what Loot Crate and Nerd Block set out to be in their infancy but have since deviated. For me, I want cool figures, shirts and pins/badges/patches. Comics are a bonus. By sticking to this formula Marvel Collector Corps will keep getting my money. As long as it is spare anyway.

The pattern is looking pretty clear now: Shirt, Pop!, Comic, Pin, Patch and a wildcard figure. Nothing wrong with that in my books!

The value of this crate: for a Pop! shirt, 2 Pop! vinyls and a comic you would expect to pay $90-$100. For any given geeky shirt and 2 Pop! figures you could pay around $70. Either way you slice it you are still getting a little ahead, definitely not losing money.

The next theme is yet to be revealed, it should be in the next few days though...

If you want your own you can subscribe here.

August Loot Crate

The August Loot Crate theme was "Villains 2" and cost $30 USD or about $45 NZD.

The contents this month:
A mug (either Venom or Carnage, I got Venom)
A Breaking Bad apron
A Joker wooden toy
A Hydra pin
and the lootcrate mag and badge

There are just four items in this crate and three of them are fairly large. The first one is the mug. I think this was supposed to be the jewel of the box but unfortunately it is pretty rubbish. It would be very hard to drink out of, the paint job is pretty sloppy and worst of all, its ugly. The wife hates it. I think the best use for it will be as a pencil holder, and only just barely.

Next up is the apron. This is pretty nice, includes some pockets but is a little short. It is nicely made though so will find some use around the house.

Last of the big items is the Joker wooden toy. This is nice but more of a young child toy than a collectible. It does come with an alternate head and can be posed to some extent. It looks like this is a custom paint job not normally available though.

To finish out the box was a Hydra pin, a replica of the ones used in the Winter Soldier movie. This is really nice, something I would buy for myself and the highlight of the box.

So the verdict this month: Meh. The best item was also the smallest. I think the box could have been much better just by changing out the mug. A normal mug with a nice print would have been way better and quite possibly allowed for another small item to be put in the box too. I know of at least a couple people who have dropped their subscriptions after the last two boxes and I am one of them. I may yet return but for now I'm happier spending that money on other things, even just a Pop vinyl, comic and patch would make me happier than the last couple boxes.

Thinking of subscribing yourself? Use this link and you get a discount and I get credit too! Win-win!

Week 34 - Keeping Up the Pace

Not a huge post this week as I struggled to get much done. Things just didn't work out in trying to get to the painting table this week, there was a lot going on in the evenings. I have got 5 more Bones figures finished and a Mars Attacks hero done though so I'm still technically on track for the end of year goal. I did manage to trim up most of a set of the Mars Attacks heroes though so maybe I will get more of those done next week. I should probably be trying to get the rest of the toxic zombies done though since they are all about half done...

Day 235
235/235 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 16
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/46
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all Toxic zombies - 14/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

Week 33 - Post Apoc Wargaming

So there was no post last week as I was up in Auckland playing with the TCOW guys. We were playing This is Not a Test (or TNT for short) which is a skirmish game set in a Fallout-like setting. The guys are playing through a campaign and Knightwolf and I will tag along every once in a while too. I will give my thoughts on the game once I've played a couple more times but in the mean time I painted up my starting warband, pictures below.

Since then I have also painted up a couple extra models for my next additions and hope to get hold of a few more guys to round out my options. I also managed to finish up my commission work today so pictures are below also.

So that makes 20 models in two weeks, which just catches me back up. I've pulled out some Bones models to do quickly as some critters for TNT as well as some of the extra Mars Attacks heroes, giving me a nice range to work on. I'm bound to get back to those zombies sometime soon too...

Day 228
229/228 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 20
TNT models - 10
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/46
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all Toxic zombies - 14/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16

June Marvel Collector Corps Crate

The June Marvel Collector Corps crate theme was "Ant-Man" and cost $45 USD. (About $69 NZ.) This crate was a little late due to some payment issues with my initial subscription but is still available if you start a new subscription.

The contents this time:
Shirt
Comic
Pop! figure
2 blind box figures (with 4 possible figures)
Pin and patch
All of which are Ant-man themed

The shirt is nice quality and is from Pop! vinyls new clothing range. It gives me high hopes for that range as it is nicer than any shirt from Nerd Block and on par with several of the Loot Crate ones. The print leaves a little to be desired, it is cool and clever but that doesn't always make for the best of geeky apparel.

The figures this time are really good. I'm all for boxes that are mostly figures so I was bound to be happy. We get an unmasked Pop! Ant-man with exclusive mini Ant-man and two blind figures. The full sized Pop! is great and the mini figure is cool but it is claimed as a bobble head, which doesn't work very well. On the other hand the blind box figures are really good. It helps that I really wanted Yellowjacket and got him but they are also bobble heads and work great.

The last items are the comic, pin and patch. The pin and patch are great, the same quality as the last crates offerings. The comic was a nice read but does drop you in the middle of a story a bit. As it is issue number 5 this is kind of to be expected but in some ways I would have expected an issue 0 or 1. This is an interesting move since not many people knew much (or anything) about Ant-man before the movie, so it does tie in well that way. (I assume issue 1 covered some of the origins, much like the movie...) This poses the same issue I was worried about with Comic Block, how often are we going to be dropped into a story part way through, without knowing much about who is in the book?

So the pattern of the Marvel crates is starting to unfold, with the first one containing a shirt (with 4 possible prints), Pop! figure, comic, extra figure, pin and a patch. It seems like you will always have something that has variable odds which is a nice little feature to go with the guarantee of a Pop! and a shirt. The next one (orders close on the 16th BTW) will really solidify what these will contain in the future.

So what is the value from this box? Well the shirt, Pop! and blind figures add up to about the cost price, so the comic, patch and pin are free. Everything is exclusive though so you could swing the values a bit that way. This does mean that if there is something in the box you don't like (particularly a bigger item) then you may struggle to find the value.

The next theme is "Secret Wars" which will be pretty interesting...

If you want your own you can subscribe here.

Week 31 - Back at the Desk

Its been a little while (again) since I was able to get some painting done, but I have another commission so I needed to clear a path to get some work done. I have another 10 circle models on the books to complete so they have had a bit of attention the last couple days. I also got the last couple details on my Dreadball Xtreme Ada-Lorana team. These guys were pretty easy since they were cast in transparent blue, I tried to accent the transparency while also not letting them look too flat. I tried anyway...

I'm hoping to get the commission wrapped up in a couple weeks but that depends a lot on life. I just unloaded a pile of models on Trademe, including almost all of my Undead and a lot of my Robotech. I've just about emptied my big box of sprues now, which means I can gather up some of the other boxed items to cram in there. I should be able to start moving freely through my work-space soon! It has been a long time since that was ever possible. I've also fallen behind on my target again, hopefully it wont take too much to get back on track.

Day 214
209/214 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Commission models - 10
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Paint all DZC Scourge - 36/46
Paint Xtreme Ada-Lorana - 9/9
Paint all Directorate - 44/44
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 4/4
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 68/83
Paint all Toxic zombies - 14/37
Paint all Berserk zombies - 0/37
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - 12/16