Your Toy Box Unboxing May 2015

We interrupt the usual rantings about Super Sentai, snack food, and poorly planed comic events to bring you an unboxing! Faithful readers might remember my first experiment with subscription boxes back in March when I gave Box of Dread a shot. Results were mixed to say the least and the subscription was quickly canceled. In the time since, I've flirted with the idea of trying a few others before finally picking Your Toy Box as the next lucky specimen. Let's see how they do.

First some background on the subject. Your Toy Box is run by a cat named Trevor who is apparently a professional collector who turned his passion into a subscription service. For $25 (that includes shipping) you get a box with 7 or more items (both vintage and new) relating to categories you pick out when you sign up. Yep; there's a list of 100 interests for you to select from. The first two options are boy or girl which is good if you're getting this for a kid or have no interest in another genders toys. It's not limited to just toys either as there are spots for novels, manga, and even Hallmark ornaments. With all these options, absolutely no one gets the same box every month.

For future reference here's the categories I went with. I'm a boy, Marvel, Alien, Predator, Horror, Godzilla, Ultraman, Sega, Capcom, Lord of the Rings, comic books, and Game Boy Advance.

Before we start the unboxing I must note that their website is kinda crummy. It's functional sure but I've seen people note that the site almost makes the service look like a scam. Thankfully that is not the case at all as you're about to see.

Let's kick things off with the more oddball items. For instance the Dracula figure which is from a late nineties Burger King promotion. He's missing the cape and coffin but he's still got it going on. Kind of a lightweight way to start the horror section though I suppose it's fitting to begin with such an icon.

I have no clue what the origin of the wind up Nightcrawler is but you'll hear no complaining. This thing is pure madness! Just look at him. He's terrifying! Whenever the need arises, I have a mini mobile Alan Cummings to sick on my enemies and that is a real treasure.

Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 for the GBA was very unexpected. I'd been wondering if having Sega and Capcom on my list would increase the odds of getting their GBA titles (and for all I know it might) but I was prepared for something out of left field and here it is. Now I've actually heard that this is an outstanding game though lord knows if time has been kind to it. Since It's been tough to get face time with my PS4 this past week, a little portable fun could be just the thing I need.

If you don't recognize the dude in spandex, I don't blame ya. Guardian is (was? Not sure) the leader of Marvel's Canadian super team, Alpha Flight. I know next to nothing about the guy so you must excuse the lack of commentary. His coloration is different than what I'm used to seeing so maybe this is a special one or from a select era. Let's look at it this way though. This is about as weak as this box gets which if anything is a sign of quality. Oh; you may also notice a little metal horse head thingy next to the game. No clue where that came from. Figure it must have fallen into the box before shipment.

Alright! Comic book time. Only ever experienced Rom through a guest appearance in an issue of Micronauts and I skipped out on the entirety of Avengers vs. X-men so both of these are uncharted territory for me. They're both in really good shape and their bagged with backers which is very cool. I'll give these a go after I get through the small pile of Man-Thing guest shots I picked up the other day. There's also a King Theoden bookmark for me to save my spot. How thoughtful is that?

Now for the cream of the crop. Maybe I should have included Nightcrawler in this batch (lil guy's really growing on me). It's Godzilla! I've already got a decent sized millennium era figure and this lil guy looks Heisei all the way. He's solid too! Kinda rubbery with good heft. I assumed that I'd get some support monster like Mothra or Gigan so getting the big guy himself is such a treat.

Finally have my very own Ultraman figure. This one was brand new and had to be put together. It think it's Ultraman Max which I've yet to watch but that doesn't stop me from doing a happy Ultra dance. Figuring out the exact way to put on his little standy boot took longer than I'd like to admit.

Finally; we have Aragorn from the Toy Biz lord of the rings figures. I'll admit that I mainly added LOTR to the list for the chance of getting some monsters to stand alongside the boxed ring wraith on my shelf but this guy surprised me. He's hefty and not too bad looking (kinda hard to see in his baggy, sorry). He'll make a fine addition to the collected weirdos overlooking my bedroom.

So once again I must ask the question of whether or not I'd go in for this box again. yes, yes I would. Unlike a lot of subscription boxes on the market there's no question that you're getting you're moneys worth. I've got ten (11 if you count the horse head) good items laid out before me. If I don't like one, I can always give, donate, or even sell it off because it's something legit, not a sticker or coupon. There's a good mix of items that serve as giggle inducing novelties and ones you're happy to keep forever. Plus; there's always the opportunity for me to trim or expand the interest list. I'm still debating whether or not to add McFarlane since their movie maniacs line is so great. I highly recommend this box and will be giving it at least a few more months so long as I can afford it. There's still a few other boxes I'd like to try but there gonna have to work extra hard to top Your Toy Box.

Edit: Just remembered that I should probably provide the address in case any of you are interested in giving this a shot. It's just good form. You can sign up at: https://yourtoybox.cratejoy.com/

That's all for now folks. I'll be back either later tonight or sometime tomorrow for some more recaps. Look forward to a few more updates than usual for the rest of the month since I've got some stuff I wanna get wrapped up. TTFN.