ZBOX – June 2016 Review

ZBOX is a monthly subscription box for geeky collectors of pop culture merchandise – subscribers receive between 4 – 7 items which may include toys & figurines, books & comics, mugs, accessories and other collectibles. There is a total promised value of $50+ and a guaranteed t-shirt in every box.

ZBOX
Cost: $22.99 USD per month plus $1.99 shipping
Ships To: Worldwide
Mailed Out: between the 1st – 10th of each month
Payment Method: Credit card

I like the box design, it looks really cool with the different characters covering it! There’s Daredevil, Captain America, Bobba Fett and…the Joker? I want to say Joker, but the hair’s throwing me off… O.o

Look at R2-D2 and the Stormtrooper! Normally I don’t pay much attention to the actual boxes (I’m more interested in their contents), but this one is a bit different since it prominently features popular characters instead of just the company’s logo. That’s a neat idea, advertising the geeky inspiration for possible items inside.

And check out that pyramid scene on the inside cover! That’s some really cool artwork.

First glance inside – the theme this month is MUTATE.

ZBOX comes with a thick magazine that shows off the items you’ve received, as well as random trivia, interviews and other fun articles.

Funko Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Leonardo Fabrikations Plush: value ranges from $9 (on Amazon) to $17.15 (on sale at Hot Topic) to $19.95 (at Barnes & Noble).

Subscribers received a randomly selected member of the Ninja Turtles – I received Leonardo.

A bit of a spiel in praise of the Fabrikation line. Gosh, that Funko Family Tree keeps expanding, what will they think of next!

I love that this is a line of toys for adults – Funko Pops are for all ages, it just so happens that a lot of grown-ups get obsessed and spend tons of money amassing way more Pops than they need or have room for (guilty cough). But this line of plush toys is designed specifically for ages 14+ and I feel a bit smug at how it’s basically ‘no kids allowed’, hehe.

Have a side-view of Leo. The graphics demonstrating the attributes of this plush are cute!

While I’m not a huge fan of TMNT, I haven’t received any Fabrikations before, so getting this is pretty interesting as I hadn’t previously seen plushies other than the Mopeez variety – and for the record, Leo is a lot bigger than my current Mopeez! Poor Chessur keeps overbalancing and falling on his head, so hopefully Leo lives up to the marketing and is more stable – he could take somebody’s eye out with those katanas if he fell over…  (I’ll put him next to Deadpool, at least he’ll regenerate)

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) – Hulk Figure: $10.99

The day before I received this box, I just happened to stumble across a few Disney Infinity figures by pure coincidence at Target and my eyeballs latched onto Sadness, who is my spirit animal. I was super tempted to buy her until I noticed references to video games and realized she was somehow meant to interact with a gaming device. What in the blazes?! I realized that this was WAY out of my league (so technology has advanced to the point where action figures can interface with Playstations or some such?) and sadly replaced her on the shelf. I am too old and lacking the tech-savvy to be worthy…

…and then I received my own Infinity figure anyway, ahaha! I will never be able to utilize its full functionality, but it’s a cool display item all on its own. 😀 Of course it’s great that gamers can make use of it on a whole other level, but I think this style of figure is quite attractive with good detailing and will do just fine on display!

At the bottom of the packaging, you can see the various characters available in this set. I wonder if there are other clueless adults out there who also collect these just because they look great on a shelf, not for actual gaming? (btw, here are a couple helpful articles if you wish to educate yourself on this Disney Infinity business)

X-Men: Season One (hardcover): $24.99

I don’t read comics (the visuals are too distracting, alas, the format just isn’t suited to my brain), but this is a lovely hardcover collection of tales from the X-Men’s first year at the Institute and it will look great on my bookshelf. 😉

X-Men: Apocalypse T-Shirt: $10 – $15?

Gildan manufactured the t-shirt, which I know will make some people happy. The quality of tees in subscription boxes can be a bit iffy, especially if they’re un-branded, but no issues here! It’s true to size, good quality and thank goodness I liked the box cover art as it’s replicated here, yay!

I saw the latest X-Men movie a few weeks ago, so I knew exactly what this design was referencing. But even for anyone who hasn’t watched Apocalypse, the levitating pyramid is still a cool visual. 🙂

Once I emptied the box, it revealed this quote at the bottom – I knew it had to be from X-Men, but I wrongly attributed it to Professor X until Google set me straight. My bad, that was actually Magneto!

Verdict: There was only the minimum of 4 items this month, but they were all quality items with no filler, and definitely met the $50 promised value. The curation was on point, including items in honor of the new X-Men and TMNT movies as well as a throwback to the Hulk, with all the featured characters unified by the Mutate theme. While I adore Funko Pops, I like that ZBOX chose figures that may not be as well-known to show subscribers what else is out there (this also reduces the risk of people getting a duplicate). Subscription boxes aren’t going to please everyone, that’s just the nature of the game, but this was a pretty decent box overall!

Find Out More: You can check out ZBOX on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

July’s theme is LEGENDS, featuring Zelda and Mario!

Purchased by Beeju Boxes. All opinions are my own and no compensation was received.