Even though my November Loot Crate arrived a couple of days before Thanksgiving, the general hustle and bustle of the holiday kept me from sitting down and properly reviewing it until now. Coincidentally, November’s box was probably one of the first assortment of items I’ve received since initially subscribing with the service that I’ve been rather disappointed with. That had nothing to do with my tardiness, of course. That’s just my own fault.

November’s theme- “COMBAT”, had endless possibilities- but the overall selection of toys and trinkets fell a little short, in my opinion.

Let’s take a look at what I received:

Kicking things off in last month’s box were the monthly mini-magazine and collector’s pin. This month’s edition, which featured it’s usual subscriber-submitted photos and item breakdowns- also had a small write-up of famous video game rivalries (including my favorite from ‘Motal Kombat’- Sub Zero v. Scorpion), an interesting article by Lola Binkerd detailing the world’s fascination with stories where kids are pitted against each other in fights-to-the-death (think ‘Hunger Games’)– and an interview with WWE commentator, Kyle Edwards.

In the entirety of the ‘Hunger Games’ franchise, I’ve only ever seen the first movie- which I thought was good, but didn’t get me as hooked as some of my friends who have since religiously read all of the books and have watched the movies as they are released. For that reason, I’ll be hosting my own ‘Hunger Games’ among them- where the winner will take home this replica pin of Katniss’ tribute token.

May the odds be ever in their favor.

Loot Crate is always dependable when it comes to sending me things that I have an absolute ball wearing around my house, but may have some difficulty getting away with in public. Add these Shredder sunglasses/mask from ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ to that list. While I admittedly enjoyed sporting these while doing karate moves around my place to the amusement of my roommate and to the horror of my dog- I think I’ll be passing these along to my niece or brother- who will probably get more use out of them.

My best friend is going to kill me for admitting this, since he grew up on it and will always and forever hold a special place for it in his heart- but I’ve never liked ‘Street Fighter’. It always bored me, so I wasn’t particularly thrilled with this special edition comic book designed by Loot Crate for this month’s box. I’ll be passing it along to him, for sure- because I know he’ll love it!

Blizzard Entertainment, who owned a considerable amount of my income (and my soul) years ago when I played ‘World of Warcraft’ all the time- have adorable-ized some of their most famous and memorable villains in their ‘Cute But Deadly’ series. These stickers are precious (LOOK AT KERRIGAN!) and will also be given to my niece to decorate her notebooks with.

Probably my favorite item in November’s Loot Crate, this Vault Boy bobble head, made to commemorate ‘Fallout 4’ (side note: post-apocalyptic Boston is scarily fun) has found a home beside my PS4 in recent days. It’s a great quality item that stands about 6″ tall. I think this will be the toy I shamelessly keep for myself instead of giving away to any of my friends!

Finally, another ‘Cute But Deadly’ item was included in November’s Loot Crate. I received a pint-sized, detailed Zeratul figurine from ‘Starcraft’. Like many of the other toys in November’s crate- this one is going to my niece. She’s a little too young to know who these characters are or where they come from- but she’ll enjoy it nonetheless.

With the exception of the bobble head figurine- I wasn’t really impressed with November’s Loot Crate. With all the rivalries out there in video games, movies, comics and television- I felt like this assortment of items was very limited.

December’s crate, themed ‘GALAXY’ (just in time for the new ‘Star Wars’- oh yes!) will hopefully be an improvement.

‘Til next time!