Tag: Arcade Block

December 2015’s Arcade Block is here, as always in its awesome retro NES style box.

The product of the month is a Titans figure set from The Last of Us. I haven’t played it so this does nothing for me, but they look good and will make a nice gift. The Pirate Cats in Space mini-notebook is an amusing novelty.

Now we get into the stuff that wowed me personally. I’m a huge retro fan and the Space Invaders Tin Bank in the shape of an old style arcade cabinet is exactly the type of thing I love to see in these boxes. The Street Fighter V patch is another nice inclusion.

The real centerpiece this month though is Classic Console Casino Cards. This is a great deck with the Mario themed Arcade Block logo on the backs, four classic properties chosen for the suits with great art on the ace and face cards, and a fifth classic favorite used for the jokers.

The T-Shirt this month is a nice design for Just Cause 3.

Conclusion

Arcade Block continues to knock it out of the park month after month both in terms of quality and variety. This easily remains my favorite mystery box.

November’s 2015’s Arcade Block is here, as always in its awesome retro NES style box.

The advertised property for this month was Uncharted, and the product of the month is a titans figure of Drake himself. Pretty “big name” an inclusion, and it doesn’t slow down from there. Since we’re close to the end of the year we get another 2016 mini-calendar, this time featuring Halo 5.

One of the strangest items I’ve seen in one of these yet is The Master Cork: A Drink to the Past exclusive. It’s a novelty cork in the style of a sword from Legend of Zelda. Completely absurd, and I love it. Another exclusive is one of four possible Mansion Keys. Is a decent little trinket that really appeals to me as a collector of keychains and the like. I got the one with a knight’s helmet.

I’m not opening my mystery pack containing an Angry Birds K.Nex mini-figure, as I have a nephew who collects them and will flip over getting a sealed pack to open. The T-Shirt this month is a wonderful “Christmas sweater” style design featuring Yarn Yoshi.

Conclusion

Another month, another wonderful and varied batch of goodies from Arcade Block. This easily remains my favorite mystery box.

October 2015’s Arcade Block is here, as always in its awesome retro NES style box.

The advertised exclusive for this month was a physical version of Retro City Rampage, complete with SNES style box. A code for the downloadable version is also included. Fun old-school style game and a great inclusion. Another nod to the retro crowd is a fantastic baseball cap with the Atari logo and a breakout background.

The toys this month are a fun pair. Never played Fallout but it’s instantly identifiable an I like the mini-figure I pulled from the blind box. We also get a Titanfall K’Nex set, which is aweseme.

The T-Shirt this month is a striking Call of Duty Black Ops III design from ShirtPunch.

Conclusion

More great variety and value from Arcade Block. This is easily my favorite mystery box subscription of all I’ve seen/tried.

September 2015’s Arcade Block is here, as always in its awesome retro NES style box.

The advertised theme for this month was The Legend of Zelda, and it’s the one of the most thoroughly integrated theme I’ve seen yet for a mystery box. 4 of the 6 included items were Zelda related. The “Product of the Month” this time around is the monthly t-shirt, sporting a good looking Wind Waker design. Next is a Springz Chicken (nice pun) accessory, a silly little amusement that’s has an extra layer of meaning if you know the connection.

One of my favorites this month is a canvas print called The Hero’s Triumph. It’s a great piece of art that’s distinctly Zelda, but subtly so and non-gamers will appreciate it even without knowing the context. The last Zelda item is a nice keychain of Link’s shield.

The music item this month is a little different – a 7″ record(?!) featuring two tracks from Galak-Z. Not familiar with the game or its music, but this is a neat, unusual type of thing to include. Finally each box comes with a 5″ Boo or Goomba plush from the Super Mario games. Timeless characters make this a fantastic addition. I got Boo, which was my slight preference.

Conclusion

I love the variety of items even when keeping to a theme, and despite not being a huge Zelda fan those items were all appreciated. Throw in a classic plush and a unique collectible and the result is pretty much the best box I’ve gotten yet. Arcade Block continues to be my favorite and most recommended of the mystery box craze.

July’s 2015 Arcade Block has arrived, as always sporting its awesome retro NES style box. Let’s take a look inside.

In advance it was promised that this month’s block would have a Funko Pop, and the “Product of the Month” is said Funko Pop, one of four possible from Evolve. I’m not familiar with it, but Markov looks cool enough. The second item is a mystery pack of “Nommies” from Cut the Rope. Another game I don’t know, another product that’s cute for what it is. DJ Organic & Mega Ran’s Coin-Op Crush CD, featuring rap tracks using samples from classic video games is amusing, but not really my thing. Sonic Worlds Unite: Battles #1contains side stories from an upcoming Sonic/MegaMan comic crossover, and has an Arcade Block exclusive cover. The art is good and captures the look and feel of the video game characters well, but the three stories were short and silly and didn’t do anything to interest me in the crossover.

Classic Console Cartridge Coasters is where things get more interesting for me. They’re thin cardboard and I’m not sure they’d hold up as coasters, but the NES cartridge design and nods to four great NES games is phenomenal.

The other things that was revealed ahead of time is that this month’s block would contain an extra t-shirt. This worked out well for me, as the Caution t-shirt from The Last of Us does nothing for me, but the random shirt meant to give a taste of the Classic Nerd Block or Horror Block ended up being a fantastic Star Wars riff.

Conclusion

Most of this month’s Arcade Block were misses for me, but I still appreciate the quality and variety of items and properties being included. So even with only two things I really liked I’m still satisfied with AB. If nothing else this one’s given me some good gifts for friends with different tastes than mine.