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shifty_gardenerLauren and I went through and sampled all of the black tea I got on Saturday. We were still hungover-feeling late Sunday. Never again.
Loot Crate
I got 1. An Adventure Time Ice King mini figure thing, 2. a cup with color-changing one ring inscription around it, 3. a Two Towers art print and 3. a shirt not appearing in this picture. I think it's somewhere in my laundry hamper. It didn't have the most attractive design, but it was super soft so what even ever. It makes me p excited about whatever future crates I get with shirts in them - I'm not subscribing to next month, but whenever the featured fandoms are ones I approve of lbr I will just buy more of all of the things. Next month Alien is one of the featured fandoms, but while I loved the last movie, I realize I'll probably get some thing with the picture of a bloody creature on it rather than some symbol of main girl/good robot's epic love. Alas.
I signed up for Loot Crate mostly because one of the themes for this month was Lord of the Rings, which imo they delivered on p well. The glass is a very satisfying shape/size to hold, and it has quite a heft to it.
The only cons are that it's not dishwasher safe and that the text only turns red when you put cold water in it ;_____; a. that is not logic that follows the canon of the one ring and b. I don't like drinking cold drinks. I actually microwave cold water before I drink it /o\ it makes a good bathroom cup, at least?
The Treebeard & co at Isengard print is great! A bit dark, but I love the green color filter and the way it captures the gravity of the scene and is pretty and mildly subtle. 8.5/10!
I managed to pass the adventure time figure thing to Jersey as a birthday present! The fact that I know it will legit make him ecstatic makes me feel less mercenary about it (hopefully exchanging birthday gifts doesn't become a Thing, because that would make me feel mildly guilty).
Conclusions: I really liked this box! I will definitely be curating which I buy based on the fandoms available each month, but it did make me pretty happy. It also makes me v excited about all of the other lootcrate apparel if the quality of the shirt is this nice. Although who knows about the women's clothing.
My Guilty Pleasures Book Crate
This box was, uh, interesting. The theme was mermaids, and I signed up for a surprise me genre (the choices being YA, contemp/erotic, historical and coming of age) and they gave me historical romance. I received: 1. bath salts 2. an ariel coin purse 3. a mermaid necklace 4. a book about a courtesan in 1500s milan 5. a text art print from Peter Pan and 6. mysterious small card things.
I call the "small card things" mysterious because I read a review that implied the historical romance box came with free downloadable ebooks. so I spent a while trying to remember the name for the square barcode thing on the back, downloading a qc scanner app and then being stymied when it just sent me to some publisher's website. It occurs to me now that maybe the cards are just promos?? I need to try to track down that review that gave me Ideas.
as for the actual useable contents, let us start with the cons, namely items 2 and 3. They seemed kind of childish in design?? it was weird to get a child's coin purse + preteen-type necklace with a romance novel subscriptions service, idk. The art print should have been a miss, because usually I'm not into text stuff, but I do think it's quite pretty. so maybe I'll keep it. Unless you'd like it, Unagi?
The book itself is, uh. Well. The summary in the back reveals that it's about a courtesan in ye olde Italy who has children and gets seduced by some hunk. 'Forbidden' romance isn't really my thing, and the entire setting of Italy REALLY isn't my thing, because idk if it's just literary tropes or if it's rooted in some actual cultural fact, but Italy stuff usually involves a whole slew of tropes and tones I don't like in my fiction: sensuality, forbidden stuff, infidelity, rakes, overindulgence, mistaken identities (in a stressful way, not a fun one), Christianity...yeah not really my cup of tea.
But the fun is just beginning! Upon opening the book, one is confronted with a quote, both in italian and in translation. Said quote is about the health issues, horrors and general psychological terribleness of living life as a prostitute, credited to a sex worker from the late 1500s. Wat. Paging on to the first scene, we find our heroine admiring a new dress, wrought with sumptuous fabric, talking to some guy who is probably her gay bff (or just supes platonic bff). Her bff is cutting a lime in some shape, which he then tosses to her. She's all, thx bro, I almost forgot! brb, and then goes to her room to insert it as a diapragm because she has a new client that night. Waaat.
I am confused. This book is cheerfully colored enough that I doubt it's going to be dreary, but also I'm confused re: the historical accuracy and pessimistic realism. I would definitely be delighted to find something that seems researched like this in a library, but I was expecting more mindless fluff and upliftingness from a romance novel subscription. o_______O
That said, I'm suuuuuuuuuuper excited to use my bath salts and read this book while doing so. Or maybe skim it, because it looks like it's 400+ pages.
Conclusions: I am very picky about books and I would give a 6/10 to the accessories, so idk about this box. Maybe I should change my genre to YA, which is usually satisfying for me? I'll report back after I've had that bath and book sesh.
Loot Crate
I got 1. An Adventure Time Ice King mini figure thing, 2. a cup with color-changing one ring inscription around it, 3. a Two Towers art print and 3. a shirt not appearing in this picture. I think it's somewhere in my laundry hamper. It didn't have the most attractive design, but it was super soft so what even ever. It makes me p excited about whatever future crates I get with shirts in them - I'm not subscribing to next month, but whenever the featured fandoms are ones I approve of lbr I will just buy more of all of the things. Next month Alien is one of the featured fandoms, but while I loved the last movie, I realize I'll probably get some thing with the picture of a bloody creature on it rather than some symbol of main girl/good robot's epic love. Alas.
I signed up for Loot Crate mostly because one of the themes for this month was Lord of the Rings, which imo they delivered on p well. The glass is a very satisfying shape/size to hold, and it has quite a heft to it.
The only cons are that it's not dishwasher safe and that the text only turns red when you put cold water in it ;_____; a. that is not logic that follows the canon of the one ring and b. I don't like drinking cold drinks. I actually microwave cold water before I drink it /o\ it makes a good bathroom cup, at least?
The Treebeard & co at Isengard print is great! A bit dark, but I love the green color filter and the way it captures the gravity of the scene and is pretty and mildly subtle. 8.5/10!
I managed to pass the adventure time figure thing to Jersey as a birthday present! The fact that I know it will legit make him ecstatic makes me feel less mercenary about it (hopefully exchanging birthday gifts doesn't become a Thing, because that would make me feel mildly guilty).
Conclusions: I really liked this box! I will definitely be curating which I buy based on the fandoms available each month, but it did make me pretty happy. It also makes me v excited about all of the other lootcrate apparel if the quality of the shirt is this nice. Although who knows about the women's clothing.
My Guilty Pleasures Book Crate
This box was, uh, interesting. The theme was mermaids, and I signed up for a surprise me genre (the choices being YA, contemp/erotic, historical and coming of age) and they gave me historical romance. I received: 1. bath salts 2. an ariel coin purse 3. a mermaid necklace 4. a book about a courtesan in 1500s milan 5. a text art print from Peter Pan and 6. mysterious small card things.
I call the "small card things" mysterious because I read a review that implied the historical romance box came with free downloadable ebooks. so I spent a while trying to remember the name for the square barcode thing on the back, downloading a qc scanner app and then being stymied when it just sent me to some publisher's website. It occurs to me now that maybe the cards are just promos?? I need to try to track down that review that gave me Ideas.
as for the actual useable contents, let us start with the cons, namely items 2 and 3. They seemed kind of childish in design?? it was weird to get a child's coin purse + preteen-type necklace with a romance novel subscriptions service, idk. The art print should have been a miss, because usually I'm not into text stuff, but I do think it's quite pretty. so maybe I'll keep it. Unless you'd like it, Unagi?
The book itself is, uh. Well. The summary in the back reveals that it's about a courtesan in ye olde Italy who has children and gets seduced by some hunk. 'Forbidden' romance isn't really my thing, and the entire setting of Italy REALLY isn't my thing, because idk if it's just literary tropes or if it's rooted in some actual cultural fact, but Italy stuff usually involves a whole slew of tropes and tones I don't like in my fiction: sensuality, forbidden stuff, infidelity, rakes, overindulgence, mistaken identities (in a stressful way, not a fun one), Christianity...yeah not really my cup of tea.
But the fun is just beginning! Upon opening the book, one is confronted with a quote, both in italian and in translation. Said quote is about the health issues, horrors and general psychological terribleness of living life as a prostitute, credited to a sex worker from the late 1500s. Wat. Paging on to the first scene, we find our heroine admiring a new dress, wrought with sumptuous fabric, talking to some guy who is probably her gay bff (or just supes platonic bff). Her bff is cutting a lime in some shape, which he then tosses to her. She's all, thx bro, I almost forgot! brb, and then goes to her room to insert it as a diapragm because she has a new client that night. Waaat.
I am confused. This book is cheerfully colored enough that I doubt it's going to be dreary, but also I'm confused re: the historical accuracy and pessimistic realism. I would definitely be delighted to find something that seems researched like this in a library, but I was expecting more mindless fluff and upliftingness from a romance novel subscription. o_______O
That said, I'm suuuuuuuuuuper excited to use my bath salts and read this book while doing so. Or maybe skim it, because it looks like it's 400+ pages.
Conclusions: I am very picky about books and I would give a 6/10 to the accessories, so idk about this box. Maybe I should change my genre to YA, which is usually satisfying for me? I'll report back after I've had that bath and book sesh.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 01:57 am (UTC)I'm very confused why you got an Ice King statue thing in a LOTR box? It's very...weird to me. In general it seems like Loot Crate has upped it's game so, that's neat.
I am good on the print (though it's cute) and agree about the accessories. Like...we're not kids? Like I get that your theme is mermaids but...that doesn't mean you have to have The Little Mermaid? Or if you do there is a LOT of adult style Littler Mermaid merch? Annnnd also the book you got seems to have nothing to do with mermaids? I feel like you'll have better luck with YA because there is more opportunity for the book to match the theme?
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 02:19 am (UTC)I sort of want to try the for her box but it's only one fandom and one item, so I'd be really annoyed if it were something I'm not going to use. :\
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 02:24 am (UTC)Have you ever ordered owl crate? It's a ya subscription thing, but the fact that it's $29 makes me less willing to try it. Also the fact that the previous boxes are available for the same price (or slightly less). I've heard fairyloot is another one like that, but what I've seen of the art they select I'm not impressed.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 02:54 am (UTC)You might like this one? http://www.musemonthly.com/
I was also looking at asking for https://quarterly.co/products/literary-box or https://www.bookofthemonth.com/
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 04:55 am (UTC)I think I'm going to try out uppercase - all of the book summaries in their past crates look right up my alley. The chocolate and book one sounds amaze though *____*
no subject
Date: 2017-08-31 05:00 am (UTC)I actually might recommend this to my YA obsessed coworker. FWIW Quarterly has a YA option too.