December's LootCrate is about Anniversaries

The theme for December's LootCrate is Anniversary. 2014 marks a lot of anniversaries in the nerd-o-sphere. Both Marvel and DC turned 75 this year, while both the Ghostbusters franchise and Tetris turned 30 and The Simpsons turned 25. Each beloved nerd entity is nicely represented and I thought the variety of types of products was a nice touch.
The crowning glory of this month's crate was the exclusive Funko Pop figure of the classic tv Joker dressed as Batman. It makes more sense when you see it.

He's adorable, with his little crazy eyes.
Along with the Joker, DC's side is represented by an exclusive Batman comic.

Marvel's side is slightly underrepresented. Enclosed this month were dancing baby Groot socks and a Captain America air freshener (it smells like vanilla, not freedom, sad). I realize I say this as a Marvel fangirl, but I'm a little disappointed by the inequality here. However, check out the Groot socks, so cute!

D'awwwww!
The Simpsons got a nod with a paper wallet. Made out of super tough Tyvek paper, it features a ton of classic characters. We had fun playing name that character.

Also included were a Ghostbusters hotel-style do not disturb sign, a set of Tetris stickers in bright neon colors. I can't wait to adorn something with them, I just haven't decided and I don't want to waste them.
Overall, another valiant effort LootCrate. I love the Joker figure even though Batman isn't really my jam. I think it was a smart decision to broaden the themes for the crates. They really do have something for everyone and this crate contained more useful goods than in the past.
Full disclosure: I paid for my LootCrate subscription.
More info on subscriptions and pricing at LootCrate

Star War Episode VII Teaser trailer thoughts/flails

You guys. The three little words that set the heart alight...*new Star Wars* If you haven't feasted your eyes on 88 seconds of nerd crack you can find it here. Ok now lets talk about it. The trailer opens with John Boyega's character out in the desert, is it Tatooine? Is he really a stormtrooper? If so, where's his helmet?

Personally I think that Boyega's stormtrooper establishes a new order of trooper, a not so subtle reminder that Imperial stormtroopers are not the Jango clones that we grew so fond of during the Clone Wars era. The new Stormtroopers look sleek and deadly. I'm really hoping to see them come into their own as the galaxy's best military force. They look like they're about to execute a dangerous drop. I'd like to see them more like Halo's ODSTs than the three stooges. Next the soccer ball droid. I love it, a fitting side kick for a new generation of Jedi. Next Daisy Ridley's character rides away in the same desert setting on a beat up speeder bike. I like her look, it's kind of farm-kid bad ass a little bit reminiscent of Abrams' reboot Kirk.

Coincidence? I think not.

X-wings skim over a lake. Could this be Naboo? How much is this movie going to tie into the prequel trilogy: many young fans' most personal link to the Star Wars universe. X-wings to me speak so strongly of a post Original Trilogy era which I identify with the now "legends" EU. Speaking of which I'd love for the young pilot to be an Antilles. Just saying.
A lonely figure in a dark wood powers up a rudimentary red Sith lightsaber. It starts up in fits and spurts like somethings not quite right. It is not the smooth power up we're used to seeing but the hand guard part looks super cool and when you think about it, wouldn't that be more useful when locked in a battle of life and death? Maybe somebody wants to be the first Force user in two generations not be missing a hand?
And then the Millennium Falcon happened and the Williams' theme music swelled and it really felt like a Star Wars movie. The Falcon looks awesome. The effects are top notch and it looks as Kessell Run ready as ever.
All in all, it all looks cool. There's a lot left to the imagination which I think is a great way to go with the movie still a year away. I'm not looking to be spoiled for the whole plot this far out and this teaser is a refreshing change.

October Loot Crate is Fear-ful!

Hey everybody, its Loot Crate time again. For those of you who aren't familiar with Loot Crates, they are a subscription service providing a monthly box of geeky, nerdy goodness all matching a particular theme. There are always exclusive items, including figures and t-shirts. Its like a little box of ComicCon. 

In all honesty, I've been getting crates ever since my last review but I keep missing the window in getting a review posted. But I made it and today we're talking about October's crate, Fear. This spooky themed box featured an exclusive t-shirt and it was awesome.

It's a skull, made out of cats. Take it in. 

How to Survive a Sharknado survival handbook. Its a worst-case scenario style guide for SyFy channel movie disasters. A must-have should you encounter a ghost shark or a Mongolian Death Worm. (Spoiler alert - a shot-gun is almost always a good idea)

Probably the geekiest item in the box, a Sledgesaw-Hammer pen from Dead-Rising 3. It came packaged in a teeny-tiny footlocker box. Not my jam game-wise, but my action figures will delight in wielding it.

The Walking Dead comic #132, I would've been disappointed in a horror-themed crate with no Walking Dead.

Overall, outstanding crate. Not my favorite thus far because last month's crate, Galaxy, was so very flail-worthy and horror is not my genre but still excellent. Loot Crate's new broader crates offer something for everybody. I'm happy with every crate even if the theme is not my jam. 

For more info on Loot Crate visit them here. 

Full disclosure, I have a subscription that I pay for.

Star Wars' New Era

Star Wars has been in the news a lot in the past week and it only felt right to me to talk about the new era in the Star Wars universe. Just like many fans, my world was rocked by the announcement that the old Expanded Universe (EU). I was sad that Jaina and Jacen Solo, Mara Jade, and the Republic Commandos would no longer be canon. With the announcement of Episode VII, I cherished the hope of seeing my favorites on the big screen. But Disney has big plans for the new Star Wars. 

Phase one begins with the animated series Star Wars: Rebels on DisneyXD accompanied by the first new EU novel A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. Having finished A New Dawn and seen a few episodes of Rebels I have to say I'm pretty excited. We haven't seen much about what happens in between Episodes III and IV and there's a lot of tantalizing nuggets in both stories. The strategy seems to be to show the universe from the bottom up. Both Gorse, the planet where A New Dawn takes place, and Lothal, the setting of Rebels, are on the outer rim, far away from the planets fans are familiar with. The people who live there are the little people who stand to sacrifice the most to the empire while reaping the least benefit from its rule. Even this early in the new era, its easy to see the roots of what would become the Rebel Alliance of the Original Trilogy (OT). What I especially like about Rebels is that they've made an effort to tie it into the OT. They've brought in characters that we know and love, sampled music from the original John Williams score and created backdrops taken directly from Ralph McQuarrie's concept art for the OT. 

The characters are both new and familiar at the same time. Kanan the one time Jedi padawan, is a Han Solo type swashbuckler, the lovable jerk. Hera is the brains of the operation, as adept as she is beautiful, reminiscent of Princess Leia. I have high hopes for Hera, I think there are a lot of places they could go with her character. I'm a little disappointed that Hera kind of got short shrift in A New Dawn as far as backstory and dimension go. She is mostly presented from Kanan's point of view as an object of desire and there is kind of a "will they or won't they" relationship between the two so far. Zeb is the muscle, who delights in cracking Stormtroopers' heads together and reminds me strongly of Jayne from Firefly fame. Sabine is a breath of fresh air. A teenage girl with a lot of artistic talent and a special appreciation for explosions, Sabine is sure to be a fan-favorite with little girls, a worthy successor to Ahsoka Tano. My not so secret hope for Sabine is that she will be an avenue to have more Mandalorians in the new canon. Lastly, there's Ezra, who is a force-sensitive street rat, adopted by the rest of the crew and poised to become Kanan's apprentice. The gang is frequently harassed by platoons of stormtroopers just as inept as they ever were and commanded by Agent Kallus and grasping imperial trying to wring the last assets out of the local people. Kallus reports to the shadowy Sith Inquisitor, whose purpose is to eradicate the last of the surviving Jedi. 

There are a few questions in particular that I'm still wondering how producer Dave Filoni (of Clone Wars and Avatar fame) will answer. One is what becomes of Kanan and Ezra if Luke, Obi-Wan and Yoda are the only surviving Jedi just 20 odd years later. The other is whether there will be any ties between this series and the Clone Wars. Could Ahsoka be back? How about the clones that enter the 501st? Its early days yet, but the new era for Star Wars is full of promise. 

For more on A New Dawn, check out my Goodreads review here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1089174653?book_show_action=false

Transformers: Age of Extinction Review (Minor Spoilers)

First things first, Transformers: Age of Extinction is a long movie. At 165 minutes, it more a test of endurance than a film. Second, it is a Michael Bay movie and as such, things blow up, all the things blow up. The fourth entry in the franchise follows up on the events of the last, although it replaces any familiar faces. Mark Walberg plays Cade Yeager, a blue-collar Texan who builds robots in his garage and comes into possession of Optimus Prime when he buys an old beat-up semi-truck to scrap for parts. When the FBI shows up looking for Optimus, now considered an enemy of the state, all hell brakes loose and Yeager goes on the run with his new transformer buddy, his whiny teenage daughter (Nicola Peltz) and her boyfriend (Jack Reynor). Optimus summons the remaining Autobots who've all but given up on humanity after discovering that the US government, led by a deliciously psycho Kelsey Grammer, has teamed up with bounty hunter, Lockdown and is hunting and killing all Transformers, Decepticon and Autobot alike. Lockdown is aided in his pursuit by a squad of man-made bots led by Galvatron who turns out to be a reincarnation of the Decepticon leader Megatron. The creator of the neo-Decepticons, a stunningly Steve Jobs-like character played by Stanley Tucci joins in the fight after realizing the power of what he has unleashed. Optimus seeks help from an ancient set of Dinobots who are sadly underused but utterly awesome. Battles ensue and much of Hong Kong is either smashed or blown up. The screen is taken up by flying shrapnel and car parts more often than not. As I walked out of the theatre I felt unsure as to what actually happened. Thats not to say I didn't enjoy it, I did but I didn't love it. I found the daughter annoying and whiny and needlessly jailbait-ish (not unlike Megan Fox in the first movie). I was waiting for the moment when she came into her own and got badass, which sadly never came. I loved the Dinobots and waited long into the movie for their appearance.

June LootCrate Rolls Out

Guess what everybody! Its June Loot Crate time! Here there be spoilers, so if you haven't received yours yet or you haven't ordered one stop here. Okay I've warned you, so lets dive in!

The theme for this month's crate was Transform, and that meant a load of sweet Tranformers stuff. Definitely great preparation for the new Transformers movie, Age of Extinction which comes out next week, don't you think?

Looks promising! I spy a Transformers/Back to the Future mash up tee and a blind box figure!

So stoked to wear this Back to the Future/Tranformers mashup tee. Perfect, red is my favorite color.

It's Soundwave! My box ended up being Team Decepticon.

A Hexbug! I've seen these little guys before but never played with one. They're incredibly fun.

Also in the box, a sticker sheet of popular Major League Gaming team logos, a coupon for a MLG membership, a MLG sweatband, a Decepticon sticker, Warheads (these were such a huge part of my childhood), and the June Loot Crate pin. 

This is my second loot crate. I meant to do an unboxing last month but I got so excited that I ended up just tearing into it instead. I have to say that I'm really impressed with how well the system works and the value of each crate compared to the cost of the subscription. To be fair, there is a fair amount of plugging for partner companies and some of the crate merch is the sort of swag you might pick up at a con but I would definitely recommend Loot Crate to anybody who is a serious pop culture/video game geek. 

Loot crate subscriptions start at $19.37 for a one month subscription and they can be found here. If you like what you see its not too late to get June's crate. Keep an eye out for coupon codes, they can save you a bundle.

Full Disclosure: I paid a normal subscription price for my crate.