It’s unusual to receive a geek subscription box that puts me totally out of my depth, but the latest Nerd Block has done just that.
The theme for Nerd Block for May 2015 was Animay, with the promise of Anime related items. It’s a brave theme to make a whole box out of. Not being something I’ve ever had time to get into, I found myself at something of a loss with this one.
The standard Nerd Block price, including shipping to the UK, was $32.49 USD, which is about £22 GBP. As usual, this box arrived quickly and well packaged, taking just over a week to reach me in the UK.
Nerd Block does always contain a carefully selected set of items and I think that the Animay block was no exception.
Box Review
Gundam T-Shirt
This is a really cool design. Although I know nothing about the TV show, the information card said that everyone loves Giant Robots. In this case, they were right.
I value this style of T-Shirt at a standard price of $10 USD.
Perfect Cell POP!
This is from Dragonball Z, which is again a show I know little about. The POP! looks cool though!
You can buy the Perfect Cell POP! for around $10 USD on Amazon.com.
Totoro Badges
Or buttons as they’d be called in the US. Some nice simple designs here.
You can get 12 Totoro buttons for $12 on Amazon.com, so I’d value 4 buttons at $4 USD total.
Cowboy Bebop Bandana
I can’t imagine ever wearing a bandana, but fans of the show will like this. I can’t find this exact bandana online, but I’ll put a value of $5 USD on it.
Attack On Titan Bag
This style of bag always comes in handy. The design works, even knowing nothing about the show.
Although I can’t find this one online, even unbranded drawstring bags of this type are surprisingly expensive. I think that a fair value is $10 USD.
Evangelion Manga Book – Volume #1
I’ve never owned a Manga book before, but I’ll give this a go. I always like receiving real books in geek boxes.
This book sells for $8 USD on Amazon.com.
More from this box: all our Nerd Block reviews.
Box Review
I’m really thankful for the information card which came with these items.
Ultimately, this really isn’t a box for me and I think that Nerd Block missed the mark here. I’ve also seen similar comments on other reviews and videos, with these items going over the head of many.
To give Nerd Block their due, the items are all well selection and have clear value to them. I’ll wear the T-Shirt and use the bag. I’ll also give the Manga a go. The only item that will be quickly given away will be the Bandana.
I was surprised with this one that there weren’t really any exclusive items (the T-Shirts are always exclusives, but the rest are standard). However, I guess with this being more niche than usual, the expectation was that most subscribers wouldn’t have seen the items before.
The total value of this box is $47 USD. That’s well above the $32.49 paid (and you’d have even better value if you weren’t paying the UK shipping costs).
Overall, brave for Nerd Block to have given this theme a go. However, if I did see a theme like this advertised for another box, I would do my best to avoid it.
Nerd Block has since stopped running, so the subscription link that originally sat here has been retired. You can still browse every Nerd Block review on this site.
