This month’s Magical themed Loot Crate apparates with mystical champions from the following franchises: Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Elder Scrolls, Game of Thrones, and a multidimensional Kurt Russell, whose likeness appears, through the comic book wizardry of BOOM! Studios’ Greg Pak and Daniel Bayliss, as both Jack Burton of Big Trouble in Little China and Snake Plissken of Escape from New York.
With Loot Crate, the magic begins with the crate itself, which this month unfolds into a Box of Holding with interior art of potions, philters, phials, balms…and brains.
This month’s shelf candy is an exclusive Doctor Strange Q-Fig made by Quantum Mechanix; it’s an admirable piece that looks splendid whether in or out of the box, which is decorated with figure photography as well as stills of Benedict Cumberbatch. The figure art makes excellent use of primary colors that make the mystic shield and cloak of levitation really pop.
Probably the most exciting thing this month for me is this exclusive Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Obliviator T-shirt made by Bioworld. The soft and supple denim-blue cotton/poly blend is the perfect background for the bold black and white lettering that shouts “Become an Obliviator! Recruiting Now Every Half Moon of the Month,” with the M.A.C.U.S.A. eagle’s wings raising to bring back into the fold eighteen stars that have been scattered from the flag that is the dark bird’s body. The designers of this shirt are historically accurate, as in 1926, when Fantastic Beasts was set, there were 48 stars on the U.S. Flag, and this shirt has 48 stars on it, although some of them are partially obscured by the lettering between the eagle’s wings. There’s one behind the T in The for instance.
Next is this exclusive Game of Thrones “Melisandre” journal made by Caden Concepts with a silhouette of The Red Woman, and with lettering that reads “The Night is Dark…” on one side, and “and Full of Terrors.” on the other side. It’s a sweet journal with a frontispiece page on Melisandre, and thereafter, the heading of each lined page has fields for marking each memo with a number, day of the week, date, and the weather. The Red Woman theme is assisted by a red bookmark ribbon and a red elastic band to keep the pages from getting ruffled in your purse or backpack.
While you’re just getting Big Trouble in Little China / Escape from New York #1 now in November, this exclusive variant from BOOM! Studios gave the publisher the top selling comic book in October due to over half a million copies being distributed to Loot Crate subscribers. While I haven’t read or even taken this comic out of the poly bag yet, everything that comes from writer Greg Pak is awesome, and I recommend it to anyone with confidence. He’s also joined by an excellent creative team, artist Daniel Bayliss of Translucid and colorist Triona Farrell.
This exclusive Elder Scrolls pin made by Loot Crate unlocks a special Elder Scrolls game upgrade, and is also the first of the Loot Crate cloisonne pins to incorporate negative space heavily into its design. It’s a fine lacy sculpt of three dragons devouring each other’s tails that gives the impression of being faux filigree. I’m not the biggest Elder Scrolls fan, but this is my second-favorite Loot Pin so far based solely on the subtlety of its design. (My top pin is still the d20 pin from the Quest crate, though if I’m being honest, thousands of hours of tabletop RPG memories have created a sentimental bias.)
While there’s usually something worth reading in every issue, this month’s Loot Crate Magazine is a high point for the periodical. Not only does it seem a little thicker, it also had several articles that held my interest. The highlights include an article on Doctor Strange’s arsenal of artifacts; three pages devoted to the religions of Game of Thrones; an interview with the illusionist Joseph Reohm; and, Loot Crate’s holiday gift guide. If you missed this month’s Magical crate, the November Loot Crate Magazine can be read at this link, once it is added to the archives.
I’m a big fan of the Loot Crate experience, and while part of this is getting awesome stuff on a monthly basis, the other part of it is the guided nature of it. Loot Crate provides a curated merchandising experience that coordinates an effect that is larger than the sum of the diverse franchises included. This monthly effect is Loot Crate’s main product, and the properties enclosed this month harmonized to make Magical, for me, the most exciting package since the Versus crate.
The magic shop has closed orders for the Magical Loot Crate, but you can join the rush to get the Revolution-themed crate this December, which will contain goodies from Assassin’s Creed, Mr. Robot, and Firefly.
Loot Crate sent the review copy.
