TMNTbox July Modern and Classic Boxes

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flatery, if that's the case, then the first person to come up with the idea of a monthly subscription gift box service should be extremely flatered. Because they have become incredibly popular with new ones popping up all the time. And now there is a new one devoted to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans and TMNT merchandise: TMNTbox.com. And not only are they offering up monthly gift boxes of Ninja Turtle merchandise, they even offer seperate boxes each month for items based on the classic Turtles, the modern Nickelodeon version or a combo box that is a mix of both. I was a bit slow and missed out on the boxes for June. But my subscriptions for the classics and modern boxes arrived this week. So it's time to see what's in the box or boxes in this case.

Packaging - 4/10

Okay, I'll admit that the packaging is not neccessarily all that important for subscription gift boxes like these. But much like the wrapping on a birthday or Christmas gift, a little extra effort in the the presentation can go a long way to make even an underwhelming gift seem special. I've been a subscriber to Loot Crate for almost two years and even on months when I have little to no interest in the monthly theme or the contents of the box, I still look forward to seeing what they do with the box and thumbing through the little magazine that they include. It's also quite handy when a subscription box contains something particularly cool and you want to know where it came from (or how to get more/another). Unfortunately there is none of that kind of extra effort here. There's not even an indication of what is suppose to be in the boxes. So if something were missing from one of the boxes you wouldn't even know it.

Classic Box - 9/10

The classic box came with six items this month:

a felt Turtle mask (Raphael)
a TMNT lollipop ring
a pair of ankle socks
a lanyard with a pizza shaped keyring
a T-shirt
and a projector flashlight personalized with my name

The mask lacks any markings so I think that it may be custom made. I don't have a lot of use for the lanyard. But it could be nice for conventions. The ankle socks could be nice, if they weren't about nine sizes too small for me to wear. I believe that the highlight of the box was meant to be the projector flashlight. It is a simple LED flashlight with a color TMNT logo and manhole cover on the lens. It isn't very powerful, but if you find yourself in a dark room and needing to flash the TMNT logo on a nearby wall, you're covered. It does have my name engraved on it. But that hardly seems necessary. Finally there is the shirt from WeLoveFine.com. While the pink color for the text wouldn't have been my first choice, the design is pretty cool and the shirt itself is surprisingly high quality. Given that T-shirts from welovefine.com sell for $25, the shirt covers the cost of the box on its own.

Modern Box - 3/10

The Modern box includes seven items:

a wallet
a two pack of glider planes
a pair of ankle socks
a TMNT lollipop ring
a glow wand
an ID holder
and the same personalized projector flashlight

The glow wand is a chemical glow stick with a plastic disk to stick on the top. It seems like the type of thing that a child would carry around on Halloween. But I don't see myself having much use for it. The wallet is made of a thin vinyl material which may not be terribly durable. It also seems oddly oversized. The ID holder is made of more durable material. But including what is essentially a second wallet makes the first one seem all the more pointless. The socks are cute, but once again, far too small for me to ever wear. The projector flashlight is the same as the one included with the Classics box. Finally there are the glider planes. They look like they could be fun toys, or at least the ones I used to play with in grade school were. But together with the glow stick it makes me wonder if the box is meant for adults or small children.

Value - Modern Box 4/10, Classic Box 9/10

As with many of the gift box subscription services, TMNTbox has a tiered pricing system. If you are paying monthly, each box is $19.95 plus shipping. If you sign up for 3 months, the price drops $2 per month. If you sign up for six months or a year the price drops another $1 or $2 per month. At the $16.95 I paid per box, the classic box is well worth it just for the shirt. The modern box is far less impressive. It has enough variety that there should be at least one item of interest for most people. But it lacks a centerpiece item like the Classic box's shirt. And I doubt that very many fans are going to be interested in more than one or two of the included items.

I will say, while the projector flashlight turned out to be underwhelming, I do think that they had the right idea. The highlight of any of the past subscription gift boxes I have received has been when they have included at least one or two items that are unique or that I probably wouldn't have come across on my own. But simply etching a name in the side of a cheap trinket isn't the way to do that. But it does at least show that the people who are selecting the items for these boxes are trying to find unique items that could make subscribing for future boxes worth the price.

Happy Hunting:

TMNTBox is a monthly subscrpition box service. Once they have shipped the boxes for any given month, they're done. But if you are interested in signing up for future boxes, head over to TMNTbox.com and sign up.

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