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.