18 users responded in this post

Subscribe to this post comment rss or trackback url
mygif

Speaking as an old man who was there at the time, the “kid at Christmas” mentality described here is about half the reason that Magic the Gathering became popular in the first place.

ReplyReply
mygif
Brooks Sligh said on July 15th, 2014 at 2:38 pm

Those services horrify and repulse me because I already have a vision of my ghost as “Jacob Marley but Chained to Special Edition Video Games & DVDs.”

ReplyReply
mygif
Charlton said on July 15th, 2014 at 3:44 pm

The reaction that Flapjacks describes is one of the things that keeps me coming back to Kickstarter: the things I pledge for are things I legitimately really want, but the time lag between “Thanks to you, $Project has been funded!” and the arrival of the backer rewards is long enough that when the backer rewards arrive, they are a marvelous surprise. It’s like giving myself Christmas presents, only my attention span is short enough that I actually manage to surprise myself.

But then, I count myself as neither a nerd nor a geek, and the idea of “nerd culture” strikes me as a blatant marketing ploy.

ReplyReply
mygif
joe.distort said on July 15th, 2014 at 5:19 pm

this may be the first time MGK and I have totally agreed on something

my wife wants to sign up for this thing because some of her friends have, and these t shirts are all awful and the other stuff has been things i wouldnt buy at the comic shop anyway.

plus, if you get one of the few cool shirts, well, uh, congratulations, 5 of your friends all have the same pop culture mashup shirt now

ReplyReply
mygif

This may be the first time I’ve actually bought into the “Flapjacks and MGK are the same person” theory. Of course, in that case MGK ought to let Flapjacks nerd out so he doesn’t do something more radical.

ReplyReply
mygif

I subscribed to both last month, plus Nerd Block jr. For the 5 and 4 year old rug rats. They were singularly uninterested in their box (Mega Blocks Smurfs and off brand Spidey Legos), so that got cancelled the next day, but they lo-o-o-o-oved daddy’s boxes. Damnedest thing. The Transformers Hexbug alone was worth it to me, but my five year old has a whole Hexbug city, so he claimed that. I got a Doctor Who figure, the kids got Minecraft stickers, a Mario Kart Hot Wheels type car…and three shirts. True story, no lie…I do not own a t-shirt. I never, ever, ever felt comfortable in anything other than a button shirt. Can’t even wear polos. Now I have three. Yay. My wife now has more gym clothes (I wear a track suit thing myself), and I’m just gonna drop down to the smallest size for the kids. They thought the shirts were cool. Anyway, it was fun, the kids liked it, I got some conversation stuff to display in my school library. I’m giving both another month at least.

ReplyReply
mygif

I don’t know anything about Nerd Block, but I have been subscribed to Lootcrate since last October.

I really enjoy it. It’s not very expensive at all, about the price of a single movie ticket per month, and always a highlight for me to find the box in my mailbox. My wife and I both enjoy opening the box together and seeing what we find.

I love blind box toys and vinyl figures, which are often included, and the monthly themes keep things interesting.

I’ve gotten 6 t-shirts in that time, all of which I have liked quite a bit and wear regularly, and only one of which was black (it was the Titanfall shirt).

Sure, some of the crates are less appealing than others. I’m not into anime anymore, so I was pretty uninterested in the “Attack on Titan” stuff a couple months back. That said, I love transformers, so this last month’s crate was the best yet.

The curators tend to play it safe, which is fine with me, going for popular options like Batman, Iron Man, Zelda, Minecraft, Star Wars & Star Trek. They play to mass appeal and this results in something for everyone in every crate.

For me personally, the appeal of lootcrate is partly the “Christmas Morning” surprise factor, but also it exposes me to products & properties I have no idea exist and would likely not discover on my own. I would have never heard of “Bravest Warriors” without Lootcrate. I doubt I would know just how much my wife adores Hexbugs, either.

ReplyReply
mygif

They massively raised the sales of Rocket Raccoon #1, at least.

ReplyReply
mygif

You do have a point with the surprise aspect. A lot of times, it’s tough for friends or family to pick a gift for a fan type who buys all their own nerdy goods.

That said, send me your money! I’m pretty sure I could put together a worthwhile crate out of stuff I have lying around…

ReplyReply
mygif

There’s an aspect of the broad-brush cultural identification that I just find personally distasteful. It assumes that “I like geeky things, so I must like ALL the geeky things”. It’s a weird way of abdicating your personal preferences to a cultural consensus of what your preferences should be. The Nerdbox website just re-inforces that concept.

Also, I find the gendered boy/girl versions repugnant.

Nevermind the fact that by definition the contents of the box are worth less than the subscription, otherwise the company couldn’t exist.

ReplyReply
mygif

Your last point there is not very accurate.

Certainly, Lootcrate has to turn a profit, but I feel I’ve gotten my money’s worth each month. A cursory look at the retail prices of the goods included would agree.

Last month’s crate included:

“Marty McPrime” T-Shirt: $26.90
http://www.redbubble.com/people/obvian/works/9209255-marty-mcprime?p=t-shirt

The Loyal Subjects Transformers Vinyl blind box toy: $11.99
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00CGTKLXO

Hexbug Nano Transformers: $13.99
http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00KVWCI8Y

And a few other goodies along the lines of Con Swag. Decals, temp tattoos, candy, an MLG wristband.

That’s over $50 retail value, and I got it for $19 including shipping.

ReplyReply
mygif
Cookie McCool said on July 19th, 2014 at 1:50 am

Wouldn’t it be productively nerdier to start a nerd-swap with a group of like-minded nerds?

ReplyReply
mygif
@JayDzed said on July 20th, 2014 at 10:16 pm

Flapjacks is really just your Inner Child, isn’t he, MGK?

ReplyReply
mygif

My hate of blindbox know no limit.

ReplyReply
mygif

“Wouldn’t it be productively nerdier to start a nerd-swap with a group of like-minded nerds?”

The true spirit of nerd culture, much like the true spirit of Christmas, is buying lots of dumb crap.

(Seriously, a “Marty McPrime” t-shirt? Lootcrate would have to pay me to wear that shit.)

ReplyReply
mygif
Fred Davis said on July 22nd, 2014 at 9:38 am

Just a reminder that the high one gets from random gambling with infrequent positive rewards is addictive – basically the entire business model of these things is dependent on them exploiting hoarders with addictive personalities.

ReplyReply
mygif

What a coincidence, that’s also Kickstarter’s business model.

ReplyReply
mygif

I know what I’m getting my family for Christmas!

ReplyReply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Please Note: Comment moderation may be active so there is no need to resubmit your comments