Tag: Nerd Block

The Limited Edition International Tabletop Gaming Day Box from Nerd Block and Geek & Sundry was my first of NB’s special blocks. Unfortunately it will likely be my last.

The t-shirt is nice, prominently featuring the International Tabletop Day logo. Sadly, it’s mostly downhill from here.

The majority of the space in the box was taken up by the Magic The Gathering Legacy Collection Figure. Look, I understand how these boxes work, and I’m not surprised to be getting overstock. But for double the price of a “normal” block I expect better than so much space and around 1/3 of the advertised “value” ($25 retail price of the promised $75+ value) of the items being a two year old figure selling for less than $10 in local game store bargain bins. Figure itself looks fine, but is nothing special.

Dungeons and Dragons Shadows of the Vampire comic #1 is a reasonable inclusion, although the exclusive cover featuring the cast of one of Geek & Sundry’s shows does nothing for me (and this will be a recurring theme).

Wil Wheaton’s D6 is a somewhat amusing novelty die featuring one dot on five sides and a logo on the sixth. The No Survivors Notepad is a meh item in my mind with a logo/branding for one of Geek & Sundry’s shows.

I like the Geek & Sundry Player Tokens and Velvet Pouch in general. The tokens are a nice size and have good weight. The five classes represented are decent choices and the related logos/designs are good. However this is one of many spots where the sponsor’s branding is an issue for me. Geek & Sundry is very prominent on the bag, as well as on the back of all the tokens. That’s a lot for me already, then on the face of the tokens Geek & Sundry is prominently featured across the top. Honestly I would be fine with all of this if all of the other items were on theme instead of featuring the sponsor, but that’s not the case.

The playing cards are a logical inclusion, if a little plain. My issue is again the branding. International Tabletop Day is on one side of the outer box, but it’s Geek & Sundry plastered on the back of every card. A pair of pencils doesn’t impress me, with or without the Felicia Day quote. The last item is a Geek & Sundry bumper sticker. Sigh.

Conclusion

I have to say I’m disappointed with this special edition block, and won’t be getting any more. My monthly Nerd/Arcade/Sci-Fi Block items aren’t plastered with the Nerd Block logo, and for TWICE the price of a normal block I expected much more emphasis on the Tabletop Day theme and much less on the sponsor. “International Tabletop Day” or its logo was on 2 of the 9 items (3 if you want to be generous and count being on the outer box only of the deck of cards). Geek & Sundry logos were on 7 of 9 items, ridiculously so on 3 of them.

I’m sorry if it seems like I’m harping, but again for the additional cost I feel like if anything was repeatedly featured on the included items it should have been the advertised theme. Instead I feel like I payed for a Geek & Sundry advertising kit. If this was advertised as a “Geek & Sundry” block rather than an “International Tabletop Day” block BY Geek & Sundry and Nerd Block I never would have bought it in the first place.

This month’s Nerd Block theme is “tis’ the Season” and most of the items are Christmas or New Year’s related.

The Product of the Month was the one stretch on the theme,  as the card puts the ridiculous spin on the Sherlock Vinyl Figure that it’s “on the case for all your Holiday-related mysteries.” It’s a great item from a great property though so no complaints here.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Moose Acrylic Shot Glass is a wonderfully absurd, relevant inclusion from a property I certainly wasn’t expecting to see represented. Firefly was one of the series teased ahead of time, and the exclusive chrome variant Serenity Ornament is my favorite item this month.

The teased Stars Wars inclusion turned out to be a Force Awakens Mini-Calendar, a practical and awesome little item from the impending blockbuster. I’ll admit I don’t know the reference or significance of the included print (and it’s not listed on the card), but it’s striking if a bit creepy.

Finally we have the monthly t-shirt, a mash-up called Back to the Nightmare that amusingly combines the two expected movies.

Conclusion

Nerd Block turns in a great batch in the last month of my subscription, with a nice variety of stuff I like quite a bit. It’s not enough overall to make me want to renew, as the Arcade Block offering is much more consistently to my tastes, but Nerd Block Classic is still a solid offering that I’m sure a lot of people will find satisfies their mystery box craving.

This month’s Nerd Block items were identified as “Tricks” and “Treats,” with three of each.

The “Treats” consisted of a Bob’s Burgers Mad Libs, an exclusive Moe the Bartender coaster, and a Jem and the Holograms comic (Annual #1) with an exclusive Nerd Block cover. I live in a bubble so have never heard of Bob’s Burgers, but Mad Libs are always amusing. The Jem comic features a series of short stories with the cast interjected into various other famous properties, and was cute for what it was. The Moe coaster seems sturdy enough to actually use for its intended purpose (ie its not cardboard or paper) and I sure I know a Simpsons fan or a hundred who’ll love it.

The “Tricks” featured monsters of all kinds. The exclusive Ripley and Big Chap Xenomorph Vinyl 2-pack seems of good quality and looks good (through the box, which I won’t be opening). Zombie Hunter Dog Tags are another decent inclusion and the type of collectible I expect from these kinds of boxes.  

Finally we have the monthly t-shirt, a Peltzer’s Pets design featuring Gizmo that changes to a Gremlin via glow in the dark. Cool idea.

Conclusion

I have to admit Nerd Block’s been an odd experience for me. The variety of both properties and products is great, and the items all seem of good quality. But they just aren’t appealing to my particular tastes, and I will likely be giving everything here away. NB’s Arcade Block offering is FAR more suited to me. I’m not disappointed with having tried Nerd Block classic, but personally I can’t see anyway I’d renew my subscription after my next and last block.

The announced theme for September’s Nerd Block was sci-fi, featuring Star Wars, Star Trek, etc, so I decided this would be a good time to try it out. Let’s see what I ended up with:

The promised Star Wars item from the upcoming movie was a BB-8 plush. Decent enough, and now I know the name of the droid I’ve seen plastered everywhere. For Star Trek a Springz U.S.S. Enterprise dashboard toy was included. Cute little novelty. There was a Funko mini mystery box for Supernatural. I have no familiarity, but the figure looks nice for what it is (the zombie eyes are a bit creepy here though).

The remaining two items dive into the mash-up realm. Jurassic Galaxy was apparently an online joke that a poster artist turned into a work of art. A small sized print of the original limited run poster was included here. It’s a great little piece of imagination run wild and combines Star Wars, Terminator, Guardians of the Galaxy and of course Jurassic Park. This month’s t-shirt is a different kind of mash-up, combining different elements of Cylons and Battlestar Galactica over the years.

Conclusion

Nerd Block certainly delivered what it promised this month, and everything in it was on theme and of decent quality. I have to admit though for my personal tastes their Arcade Block offering is vastly superior so far. I have two more Nerd Blocks coming with my subscription, so we’ll see if that remains true.