Arcade Grab Block

As part of signing up for the Arcade block in the last post I had the opportunity to get a half price 'grab block.' These are boxes containing a random assortment of items from recent-ish blocks. I figured I would give this a go and post about it, for those on the fence. Bear in mind that these are only available when you sign up for a new subscription (for the time being) but the new Sci-fi block is out very soon... Which is obviously why I've been checking them out again. This set me back $23 USD, or around $35 NZD.

The contents:
CounterStrike shirt
Evolve Pop!
Portal 2 magnets
Street Fighter key chain
Blue Shell on Board sign
Sonic comic

The shirt is from Shirtpunch but is quite soft, which is good. The print is reasonable and I have nothing against more grey for my wardrobe.

A Pop! vinyl is always welcome, I've not played Evolve but the concept sounds pretty cool. This adds to my set nicely but I'm probably not going to add the others any time soon. Too many other cool options on the list first!

Now for the rest, the portal magnets are cool and look to be reasonable quality. The street fighter key chain lights up and plays the hadoken sound bite. This is pretty cool, hopefully it will survive regular use. The comic will prove to be a nice read I'm sure but I have no idea what I'm going to do with the blue shell sign...

As far as pseudo-random packs are concerned this one turned out pretty well. Between the Pop and the shirt I've not lost any investment and I only got one item of little to no use. Given the reduced price I'm pretty happy all up.

Value: The shirt and Pop cover the costs, everything else is a nice bonus.

Get your own here.

October Arcade Block

The October Arcade block just came through and cost me $33 USD, or about $50 NZD. I got a bit sucked back in with all the Fallout 4 hype, I've already stopped the subscription as the next set of spoilers don't really interest me.

The contents:

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 shirt

Atari cap

Fallout Funko blind box figure

Titanfall K'nex set

Retro City Rampage computer game

The shirt is the usual fare from Shirtpunch, it feels a little rough but the print is actually pretty cool, which can be a bit hit-and-miss from these boxes. I'm happy with this one.

Next up is the Atari cap. I'm not much of a hat person but it is reasonable quality and has both print (the rainbow stripes) and embroidery (Atari logo) so with summer upon us I'm just as likely to wear it as any other hat.

This box also came with a Funko Fallout blind box figure and a K'nex Titanfall set. Luckily for me I got one of the figures I wanted out of the blind box. I hadn't looked too closely at that set as there are quite a few 'odd' figures in there. The K'nex set is interesting, it didn't take long to do and it all seems to be made of thinner stuff than the normal sets. This isn't something I would usually get for myself (I prefer Lego) but it was nice to see what else is out there. I'm not going to get more though.

Lastly the block came with Retro City Rampage DX. I've not had a chance to load it up yet but it looks like it will be a nice little time waster. It comes in a old style box, with an old floppy disk style CD cover but has a download code as well. Solid effort all up.

So I've had a couple Arcade blocks in the past that weren't so great. This one is certainly a step up from those, all of the items are real, solid, pieces unlike some of the paper heavy ones in the past. If Nerd block keep this up I may be back on a more permanent basis.

Value: There are 5 items in this block and they are all worth at least $10 each so there isn't anything lost. No complaints from me, I'm content with this one.

Get your own here.

May Loot Review

For Mays loot review I received a Loot Crate and the new Comic Block from Nerd Block. Pricing structures below:

Comic Block - $14US/month + $10US shipping = ~$32 NZ
Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

The Comic Block:

A Simpsons Shirt, Marvel Secret Wars #1, DC Convergence #1, Mythic #1 and a Batman print.

The Loot Crate:

A Power Rangers Shirt, Bravest Warriors comic, Mad mini mag, Avengers car decal, shoe laces and ice tray, Rick and Morty puzzle and team fortress badges. And the usual Loot Crate badge and mag.

This Loot Crate had some great stuff, the wife loves the ice tray, the shirt is cool and I quite liked the badges. I'm not really into Mad magazine and this month the Looter badge had 2 variants, which bugs my collector senses. There is nothing in this one that I wont get use out of which is always good.

The comic block wasn't too bad. The comics were all decent choices and a good read, the DC and Marvel ones are limited edition covers too. The shirt is good, far better than some of the ones in sister blocks past. The Batman print is nice too. The main problem I have with the block is that I'm not sure how well it will hold up over time. There can only be so many first editions available and coming in part way through a story would really bother me. I was also disappointed that the first block contained an unsigned, not numbered print. A random collectible would have made this block perfect. Value-wise this just doesn't compare to the Loot Crate (for just a $9 difference) and I could buy the comics for ~$20, less for digital copies. I've dropped this crate for these reasons.

Loot Crate - June theme is Cyber

March Loot Review

Another slightly late monthly loot review, this time March. I received a Loot Crate and Classic Nerd Block this time. Here are the costs:

Nerd Block - $19.99US/month + $12.50US shipping = ~$44 NZ
Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

This months Nerd Block Classic:

The shirt is from Shaun of the Dead, a Simon Pegg book, Guardians stacking toy and magnet, Munny blank figure and a prank pack with ice flies and whoopie cushion.

The Loot Crate:

This contained a James Bond shirt, spy themed mad libs, Orphan black comic, a pair of notebooks, Shield lanyard, Spy watch, Paracord bracelet and a digital Ninjak comic. (Plus the usual looter mag and pin.)

The Nerd block contents are okay this month, the shirt is nice enough and I'm not about to say no to another DIY figure. The Guardians stuff is a little low quality though and while I understand the prank gifts tying in with April 1st they are a little bit lame. I'm not likely to read the book any time soon, I'm not one for biographies. It is nice they are doing books more now, but I pick books that I want to read more than I read what others recommend to me, so it probably doesn't suit me very well.

Loot crate has done pretty well again this month. Not pictured above is the box, made to look like a computer console, which provides a web address and clue to a mini-game, involving cryptic questions about items in the box. The completion of the tasks gets you a bonus item in next months crate. A cool idea, I should find out what the bonus item is in the next of couple weeks... The shirt is nice (I wore it last week already) and the paracord bracelet is pretty nifty (it comes with instructions on how to use it for several emergency and survival tasks) and the lanyard is actually very cool if you follow 'Agents of Shield.' The watch is cool as it only displays the time when you touch the front face, otherwise it is black all the time. The Ninjak comic wasn't bad but the Orphan black comic was a bit hard to follow. The notepads are okay and mad libs aren't really my thing.

I really think that the last couple months have really shown the differences between Loot Crate and Nerd Block. Loot Crate is cheaper, contains more and the items are generally of a higher quality. That is just my opinion, obviously, but they seem to have the process fairly well in hand at this stage. The addition of digital items obviously lets them get more value into the box without upping the weight or materials costs so you can get more. The licensed products also tend to be better too. Good job Loot Crate, I'm sticking with you guys a while longer.

I've got the new Marvel crate coming soon in place of Nerd Block, at least until I decide if it is worth the cost (its about $60 every 2 months...)

Nerd Block - April theme is 80s
Loot Crate - April theme is Fantasy

February Loot Review

This is a review for February's Nerd Block and Loot Crate, here is what they cost:

Nerd Block - $19.99US/month + $12.50US shipping = ~$44 NZ
Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

This months Nerd Block Classic:

The shirt is Flash themed, also included is a notepad, Saul Goodman figure, Star Wars comic, 2 packs of Cliccors and 2 packs of cosplay cards.

For Loot Crate:

There is a Hexbug ant, Superfight card game, Paper/Scissors/Rock dice pair, Dice bag, Book, Munny DIY figure, Pacman poster, badge and a Firefly online starship.

I'm going to start with the Loot Crate this time; I squeed a little bit when I opened this one. Seriously, a grown-ass man, ecstatic with glee. I've wanted a Hexbug, the dice are awesome (the box acts as a game too,) and the firefly digital item is cool. I had never considered a DIY figure before but after a mate sent me a request for doing a custom one (he got a crate too this month) I had a quick play and it was really fun.

So, on to Nerd Block. The Saul figure is cool, I've not seen much Breaking Bad though. The Cliccors are ok, but all the stuff I could find online show cars, these are just bracelets. The shirt is just okay, the comic would be great, if I hadn't got the same one in Loot Crate last month (alternate cover and not really Nerd Blocks fault.) The cosplay cards had a lot of potential, if they were done well. The cards are a little cheap and a quick look on Reddit and you will find quite a few people who got two identical packs in their box (randomness is quite important!)

Loot Crate clearly won this month (I Squeed...) but the Nerd Block was okay. With belts needing to be tightened this months array made the decision of which subscription to keep quite easy. I've got quite a few geeky shirts now (some better than others...) so Loot Crate not always having a shirt (and replacing it with cool stuff) tips the scales even further.

I do like Nerd Block, but I think they spread themselves a bit thin with so many different theme options. Their Horror block shirts are generally nicer than any of the others, Classics have some decent collectibles and the Arcade blocks tend to have nice figures. Wrap them all together into one box and I would subscribe for a long time. Drop the bad, keep the good, simple really.

I've still got one more Classic Nerd Block to come, so there will be a final comparison next month.
Nerd Block - March is curated by Simon Pegg.
Loot Crate - March is "Covert" and includes a shirt.

January Loot Reviews

Yeah, its a little late... This is a review of the contents of the January Loot Crate and Nerd Block Classic. I'm going to do a direct comparison this time, we will see about future installments. First up, the cost.

• Nerd Block - $19.99US/month + $12.50US shipping = ~$44 NZ
• Loot Crate - $13.37US/month + $16.52US shipping = ~$41 NZ

Each has 3, 6 or 12 month plans that drop the cost a little bit but only loot crate has subscriber specific discounts (clicking my referral link gets you a discount and me some credit.)

So first up Nerd Block Classic: Theme "A galaxy far, far away"

We have a Dr Who Shirt, Star Trek / Planet of the Apes Comic, Star Wars film cell, Lord of the Rings Elf ears, pen and bookmark, a Grumpy Cat Plush and some toy Darts.

Then we have the Loot Crate: Theme "Rewind"

This contained a Voltron shirt, Star Wars comic, Space Invaders tie, Pixel glasses, Comic notebook, Dr Who cartridge figure and a badge.

So both crates contained shirts and comics (which are always decent items) and easily make up about $30 of their respective values. A film cell equivalent retails at $50 on Mighty Ape including a frame, so it would be fair to say $15 for that, making the pen, bookmark, darts, ears and plushie basically free. A basic Tie will set you back about $15, making the notebook, cartridge figure and glasses free.

So which is better? Well this is the second set of glasses I have had from Loot Crate that I wont be using but the figure and notebook are cool. I quite liked everything on the Nerd Block this month, I could easily use everything in it this time around. I would say they are about tied, possibly with Nerd Block ahead.

You definitely get more stuff in a Nerd Block but Loot Crate has more exclusives. But Nerd Block always has a shirt so if you are wanting to expand your geeky attire that is a good way to go.

Get yours:
Nerd block - February theme is "Exclusives"

Loot Crate - February theme is "Play"

Week 2 - Suppression Force Inbound

While I may not have started the year off with a pile of models I have completed my first goal for 2015. I have completed the rest of my Morat forces for Infinity, I only have one who needs basing and only because he needs a bigger base size. Pictures below.

These are some of the nicer models I have done since my Blindwater, way back when I started this blog. Still a little rough around the edges, but an improvement. I have another commission to complete so instead of working on my Nomads next (since it is Infinity month) I will work on those. I have also finished another 9 elves for KOW this week, this gives me a week of buffer on my yearly total, which I am going to need in the coming weeks!

So for the rest of the month I am going to try to wrap up more elves and try to finish the commission. I have another 15 or so elves ready for paint and will queue up the rest for trimming and assembly over the coming weeks.

I also received another Arcade block this week. This one contained: A Portal scarf, Super Smash Bros shirt, Sonic magnets, Halo lanyard, Zelda figure and a cellphone joystick.

Being brutally honest here, this block sucked. For the first block without any Mario products (Yay!) the shirt is boring (clever, but boring) the Halo item is a lanyard (a lanyard... really, of all the possible merchandise, a lanyard?) and the portal item is a scarf (I mean, yeah it is winter up in Canada but I imagine the dude portion of subscribers aren't gonna wear scarves often...) so yeah... The scarf is nice, but I'm more likely to display it than wear it. I have no use for the phone joystick thing either. I do quite like the Zelda figure, I got lucky as it is the only one of the set that interested me... This prompted me to change my subscription to the classic block. Time will tell how that goes...

Day 11
20/11 Painted/Days passed
Goals:
Finish painting Infinity Morats - 11/11
Build and paint remaining KOW Elves - 9/83
Build and paint all Deadzone Enforcers - TBC
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew - TBC
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs. - 0/4

Week 49 - Entering the Final Rush

Sorry for no post last week, a sudden death in the family caught us all off guard. You will be sorely missed Gordon.

I happened to have a day to myself yesterday so spent it as productively as I could, painting Robots, Elves and building Mars Attacks terrain while watching cartoons. A good day indeed. The fruits of my labour are shown below.

That is my last 9 robots and another 39 elves all painted up and ready for basing. Which leaves me just 4 Dreadball MVPs to paint to finish both my goal of completing Dreadball and painting 365 models this year. I have also undercoated my first 5 Martians and am about ready to start on them.

I received another Arcade block this week, the contents are: A Mario dissected T-shirt, Assassins Creed Pop! vinyl, Minecraft hanger (Zombie Pigman,) Star stressball, TF2 wrapping paper and a DOTA 2 bandana.

The shirt is cool (hopefully this one gets the wife's approval!) as is the Pop! figure. I had been planning on grabbing some Minecraft merchandise at some point (surprised it took this long to get one) and I had been wanting a stress ball. The TF2 wrapping paper is cool but I don't know anybody who would appreciate it, may have to get my presents wrapped in it I guess...

Day 341
361/341 Painted/Days passed
361/Too many! Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

Week 44 - If the Price is Right

A short post this week. I finished up the commission work today. It was a bit of a challenge to remember my old colour scheme (even with the unit examples provided) especially since most of the colours I used had either dried up or been used up. I think I got them close, hopefully the client is happy. I also kind of hope that he doesn't need any more done, trying to mix specific colours (most are now out of production too, darn GW) was not worth the effort in my opinion.

I also received my second Arcade Block this week. It contained a Half-life T-shirt, Mario plushie, Bowser cart racer, Portal key cover, Ken Street Fighter block set and a pair of Zelda magnetic whiteboards. Pretty happy with the contents, the Wife hates the T-shirt though so it is up on Trademe.

If you are interested in the shirt my Trademe is here. I've also got some terrain and Warmachine stuff up right now if you want to check it out.

Day 306
282/306 Painted/Days passed
282/414 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.

Week 40 - Elven Progress Report #6

I have spent the last two weeks working hard on my Elves, trying to get them done as efficiently as possible. The weather has been a limiting factor in getting spray painting done but I am now down to just 2 Drakons to spray paint. In that time I also managed to paint 60 more elves, leaving me with just the cavalry and bolt throwers to get done. Pictures are below.

No group shot this time as I am part way through the multi-basing process. Unfortunately my original plan of making the bases and removing the circular tabs from the elves feet fell through. It takes far to much time and effort to remove so many, so I am attempting to use builders putty to fill in the spaces. This is also proving challenging. Even painting them will be difficult, I may have to do them in stages. This is why it was so important to have a month or so to get them done!

I've also made a start on my Scourge for DZC. My initial test model has been re-done as I am a little tired of having so many models in dark colour schemes. I am trying for something lighter for a change. They are just a distraction while I wait for spray paint to dry on my elf cavalry though, so will take a while to finish. Basing the infantry will be a challenge, I not used to the much smaller scale when basing. I also picked up some Dust stuff recently, I will add them in to the Wall soon, but that is another 40 models between Allies and Axis. And my Infinity starter arrived this week too...

I caved and picked up the Galaxy Lootcrate. My Nerdblock arrived the following day so I can do a comparison of the two. First up is Lootcrate:

This month came with: A Firefly Mal figure and money, Tribble, Retro Alien figure, Star wars magnet and poster, 3 digital Halo comics, pop rocks and a lootcrate badge. I was quite lucky with the alien figure, the other 4 figure options weren't that great. The tribble is pretty cool and I enjoyed the Halo comics. Next up, the Arcade block:

The arcade block contained: A Legend of Zelda shirt, Tomb Raider Statuette, Pacman pen, Luigi keychain, Gears of war dog tags and a Tetris ice tray. The shirt print is good, I really like the ice tray and the statue is high quality.

So for the comparison, the Lootcrate cost me $51.80 and the Arcade block cost $39.75. I felt that the Galaxy theme of the Lootcrate was good, but expected Star Wars to be represented by more than just a poster and magnet... That being said, the tribble is neat, as is the Mal figure. The wife has already claimed the firefly money too. I would be much less happy with this box if the Alien figure was one of the other options.

The Arcade block was good, even if I just kept the shirt and the tetris tray I got my moneys worth out of it. The biggest issue with Lootcrate in general is having to go through Youshop to get it and the fluctuation in shipping as a result. I think Arcade block wins this time, so I am glad that I am going that way in the future!

Day 278
264/278 Painted/Days passed
264/334 Painted/Bought
Goals:
Build a permanent gaming table.
Build a Kings of War army for playing with.
Complete my entry for the terrain competition.
Build and paint a set of Deadzone battle groups.
Build and paint a full Malifaux crew.
Finish all of the Dreadball teams and MVPs.
Finish painting an Infinity group.
Make some headway on my Warpath fluff.