These days, it’s tough to keep up with all the different subscription boxes.
Collectors Corps. Smuggler’s Bounty. Legion of Collectors. Loot Crate. I’m sure I’m missing a handful of them as well.
I personally subscribe to Collectors Corps due to growing up a Marvel fan and still following them on a casual basis. Each box, like many, includes an exclusive Pop not sold in stores and some kind of apparel like a shirt or hat. For the most part, I’ve been satisfied with the content and have no reason to complain.
As an example, I saw online that many were disappointed with the recent Spider-Man box that had an Spider-Man “action pose” Pop, as well as a Fabrikation and hat instead of a shirt. Me personally, I had no issue with the box and even though I’m not a Fabrikation guy at all, the Spider-Man one was awesome.
It was hard not to notice the backlash from the now-infamous Year One Box that came out a few months ago. I remember getting the e-mail about purchasing it for a mere $125 and immediately deciding to pass. It wasn’t so much a monetary issue, but rather the fact that I knew my expectations would be entirely too big. Unless there was a Pop made of 24 karat gold and brought me 3 wishes (or more simply, something Galactus-related), I was probably going to be disappointed.
As most know, the Year One Box’s highlights were the Golden Captain America Hikari and Hobgoblin Pop. The Hikari was nice looking, but many asked whether it would’ve been better to include a second Pop instead. Hobgoblin was one of the more requested Marvel Pops and while it looked great, it was essentially a repainted Green Goblin.
Needless to say, a lot of people who shelled out the cash for the Year One Box were disappointed and upset.
So what exactly should we expect when it comes to our subscription boxes?
There’s a story behind Larry David’s HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and how it got its name. Apparently, expectations were extremely high when news broke about the show and almost rightfully so, coming off the heels of “Seinfeld.” David though basically told everybody to “curb their enthusiasm”, which eventually became the show’s name and one of HBO’s greatest hits.
In my opinion, we all need to slightly pull back our expectations for subscription boxes. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t want great looking shirts or exclusive Pops or Dorbz. Or not be disappointed when the price tag doesn’t match the quality.
I do think that it might be wise for companies to send out surveys every now and then about what they’d like to see in future boxes.
Also, if a Year Two Box is offered, the price definitely needs to be lowered. Funko collecting or not, $125 isn’t exactly pocket change and it creates unreasonable expectations.
I noticed that the next Legion of Collectors box theme is Batman Villains. I may be a Marvel guy, but Batman was really the only DC Comics superhero that I got into. As one might imagine, the expectations for this box are high, considering the huge amount of villains Batman has faced. Heck, even I’m thinking about ordering a box and hoping that we see a Mr. Freeze Pop finally surface.
Or maybe we’ll end up with a Sweet Tooth Pop instead.
Please feel free to leave your thoughts on subscription boxes, whether you’re satisfied with them or not.
Matt Norris