Unite! LootCrate pays homage to the team. (spoilers)

May's Loot Crate was all about teams. This month's crate focused on pop culture's favorite squads from the Avengers to the Power Rangers to the Justice league. Although heavy preferential treatment goes to Marvel on this one, just saying.
The big prize this month is a t-shirt featuring the green/white power ranger. In addition to being super soft and comfy, the design is just plain cool. Out of all the crate shirts I've gotten, this one is probably my favorite. Besides Tommy was always my favorite Power Ranger. He had that long hair and the bad-boy attitude. *Sigh*

With the Avengers: Age of Ultron out this month, May's crate also included a trio of Marvel/Avengers items. First up was a Marvel ice cube tray which makes ice cubes in the shape of Captain America's shield, Iron Man's face, Hulk's fist, and Thing's face. It is also made out of silicone which makes it an ideal mold for soaps, chocolate's or anything else crafty geeks could come up with.
Also included in the Marvel loot was a pair of shoelaces (I got the stealth ones: grey and black) and an Avengers decal in all white. The decal was super cool and nice quality.

Among other crate perks there was an exclusive variant cover of Bravest Warriors #1. Normally this wouldn't be a comic that I would pick up, but the art style is adorable and its definitely worth a read.  There was also a Loot Crate edition Mad Magazine which was meh. I never really read Mad as a kid so there's no nostalgia there, just shitty 7th grade jokes. The Rick and Morty puzzle was fun, because really when was the last time you did a puzzle? Yeah, me too. Last was a set of Team Fortress 2 pins which I totally adore because there's a Balloonicorn pin and a sandvich pin. DC got short shrift this month as the only reference to the Justice League was in one of the unite pin options. The pin either featured Batman shaking hands with Superman or Iron Man shaking hands with Captain America. (I got the Marvel one)

Overall top marks for May's crate mostly because the t-shirt and the Marvel stuff. I'm really a fan of the things that are more practical like the ice cube tray and the shoelaces and my problem with some previous crates was the profusion of stuff that was just for fun (like the Monopoly-esque Firefly universe money) but was destined to be taking up space on my desk.
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Avengers: Age of Ultron or How AI is a Really Bad Idea and Will Probably Kill Us All *Spoilers*

So I finally got a chance to see Avengers: Age of Ultron today and I really enjoyed it. This is the second marvel film I've seen where I didn't have a concrete set of expectations as to what I was going to see. The first being Guardians of the Galaxy, where I had never read any of the comics, wasn't familiar with the characters and was really just expecting to have a good time. Age of Ultron is similar in that I hadn't had a chance to catch up on the Ultron arc so I just had the basis of the rest of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This film is darker than the other MCU films but still retains the Joss Whedon trademark one-liners that had the audience laughing out loud. There's a lot going on with film. It does a lot of heavy lifting tying the previous installments to the upcoming films and the Infinity Gauntlet and Civil War storylines, introducing new characters Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision, and  still managing to be entertaining. The fight scenes are meticulously crafted and had the audience in my showing gasping aloud. Overall fan service abounds. Heavy spoilers from here on, so be warned.

Okay, now the elephant in the room. I don't really have a problem with the representation of Natasha in this film. I will give you that the romance sub-plot between her and Bruce was unnecessary. We already know that she has above-average skills of persuasion, and if there was an Avenger who could calm the Hulk it would probably be Nat anyway. That said, I don't think it detracted from her character in any way. I feel like her conversation with Bruce about her forced sterilization is more a moment in which they both mourn the loss of the ability to choose the path of their own lives than it is her admission of feeling like less of a woman because she is unable to have children. The whole section of the film at the farm is about each team member dealing with the nightmares the Scarlet Witch gave them and the full weight of what it means to be an Avenger. Each of them mourns the loss of normalcy and a sense of control, and I think Natasha's struggle isn't so different.

This movie also cements the wedge between Tony and Cap that preps for the Civil War arc. Steve is out of his element throughout the movie continuing where we left him after Winter Soldier. He continually struggles to adapt who is he as a hero and as a man to the realities of today's world and the enemies it faces. Steve is the past and Tony is the future, but Steve is learning quickly while Tony becomes increasingly paranoid. Tony Stark seems to long have been the fan favorite in these movies but his creation of Ultron makes him more a villain than he's been since the beginning of Iron Man. Ultron is a great villain and a great foil for both Tony and Vision. Spader was brilliantly cast in the part and is as menacing as he is snarky. He embodies a lot of modern fears about technology and anxieties about artificial intelligence. I love that he takes one brief look at the internet and decides that mankind has to go. Ultron's mining of Vibranium to make the giant floating island seems a little silly but I'm assuming that the Vibranium and the weird weapons dealer guy (played by a non-CG'd Andy Serkis) will feature more heavily in the upcoming Black Panther film. Like I said, there's a lot going on.

I liked the new additions to the MCU cast. In early stills Quicksilver came off super cheesy, but in the finished product he is likable and remarkably powerful. I feel like he was gone too soon. I can't wait to see where Scarlet Witch goes from here. She comes into her own late in the movie and as a new team comes together, she looks to be the most powerful apart from Vision. Oh man, Vision. So cool. Paul Bettany looks amazing as the synthetic human AI and has some of the best lines in the movie. I'm so excited to see what happens to him in upcoming installments although I can't help but wonder how the Infinity Stone makes its way out of his forehead into the Infinity Gauntlet. Overall, the new Avengers team assembling at the end of the movie looks promising as hell. The Iron Patriot, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Captain America and Black Widow. It's a big step forward in terms of representation both of women and people of color in the MCU.

Overall, Avengers: Age of Ultron is a great movie. It's entertaining, well-written and well paced. Is it perfect? No. But it lives up to the first film and creates a valuable bridge between the last phase of films and the next.

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.
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