Topic: LootCrate or Nerd Block?

[JonLeung]

Does anyone subscribe to either of these toy/collectible/fun stuff monthly gift box services?  Do you have a preference of one over the other?

[TerraEsperZ]

Unfortunately, I can't help you with this. I'm completely baffled that so many people spend money monthly for the concept. I'm almost the opposite of a hoarder, and while I do regularly buy stuff I like like books, blurays and Transformers figures, there's a general limit to the amount of physical stuff I'm comfortable with owning before feeling like I need to do a general purge of older and unappreciated stuff.

About the only such service whose concept I thought was nice is IndieBox, who make exclusive physical collector editions for indie games that are normally digital only. But even that wouldn't be enough for me to subscribe because I'm completely against the idea of spending money blindly and chances are that 90%+  of what I'd receive I wouldn't want.

[JonLeung]

I thought Nerd Block would be a maybe-okay deal at $192 a year (I believe prices I'm quoting here are Canadian), but then I noticed shipping is not included in the price they initially mention, and so including that, the actual total for a year's subscription is over $300.  Which would be worth it if the recipient I was intending to get this for wants everything they get, but in all likeliness, no.

I know there's some exclusive stuff in LootCrates and Nerd Blocks but the majority of things can be bought elsewhere, I'm sure.  And then there's the Mega Crates or whatever which would be sweet but you'd just have to be lucky.

It must be a good enough idea, as there are monthly surprise boxes now for more than just geek stuff.  I can certainly appreciate the monthly surprise element - who doesn't love the idea of Christmas every month?  Just think it's a little much at the moment now that I've actually looked into it.  Maybe it's another case of Canadians getting gypped due to shipping fees (even though I thought I heard that Nerd Block is Canadian) and the weak dollar right now.