Loot Crate March 2018: Playback (Review, Spoilers)

Playback arrived with a kind of mixtape of nerd nostalgia, celebrating a famous time traveling doctor (no, not that one), a ring-running rodent, a dice-devouring dragon, a keychain that makes you say ‘d’oh,” and the best Loot Pin to date, including goodies from Back to the Future, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dungeons & Dragons, The Simpsons, and Galaga.

Probably for the first time, my favorite item in a Loot Crate was the Loot Pin. As a former coin op arcade junkie, I loved this month’s Galaga pin, and I will enjoy wearing it. Sculpted in a style that suggests 8-bit imagery, and definitely looks like nothing other than the Galaga fighter, the only way this pin could possibly be better is if it was a pin set, with two of them. Players of that famous coin op will know what I mean. Thanks, Loot Crate!

My second favorite item in Playback was the exclusive Dungeons and Dragons die holder, as we like tabletop gaming decor. Modeled after a red dragon in a style that suggests the famous Grenadier miniatures line (back when they were lead, and we called miniatures “lead men”), this plastic figurine attracts attention disproportionate to its small size. I would only love it more if it was lead.

Playback’s tee was a delightful Back to the Future T-shirt featuring schematics of the Delorean time machine. The gray shirt is snug and seems of a heavier, warmer cut than other months, and the line art and lettering is finely rendered. While I liked other fantasy and sf movies better in the eighties, there are few other movies from my childhood that have penetrated pop culture to the degree of Back to the Future, and I have to admit that such immediately recognizable iconography will make for a great conversation starter, and from that innocuous point of conversational ambush I can segue to my favorite movies from the eighties. So for me, really, this isn’t a Back to the Future shirt so much as a camouflaged Princess Bride shirt.

Playback also included an exclusive Sonic the Hedgehog collectible featuring Sonic dashing towards rings. Another piece of gaming themed home decor is always good for this house, as Sonic is a perennial favorite here.

The Simpsons 25th anniversary keychain features one of sixteen Simpsons icons. We received Squishie. While I was a little underwhelmed by the keychain, I’m not the target for this, as I’ve watched less than fifty episodes of The Simpsons, not counting the movies. I would have really liked a Slurm! though.

Overall, Playback was an excellent collection marked by great visuals both for personal adornment and home decor. While I was most excited by the Galaga Pin, this month’s other inclusions were also outstanding, with a really dynamic tee-shirt and two pieces of eye-catching home decor.

While Playback is unavailable, until May 19th, 2018, you can order Role Models, which includes goodies from Arrested Development, Archer, Deadpool 2, and The Punisher.

Loot Crate sent the review copy.