Geek Fuel Gives Its July Box the Sci-Fi Treatment

Geek Fuel didn’t start the summer off on a high note. July’s box, on the other hand, makes up for most of June’s faults. June, regardless of what it said on Geek Fuel’s website, lacked any kind of focus. It seemed the folks at Geek Fuel wanted to do an retro box, but only found Pokemon swag to put in the box. July’s theme, if there is one, is all about science-fiction.

First, the small stuff. How many times growing up did you hear, “Good things come in small packages?” If you’re not Donald Trump you probably heard it just as many times as I did.

There are two somewhat unique items in Geek Fuel’s July box. The first item is an air freshener. The air freshener is a tie in for the mobile game Badland Game of the Year edition. The freshener is in the shape of the game’s character, Clony. Players guide Clony through a side scrolling adventure avoiding traps and other hazards. I did not open the freshener so I can’t say what the fragrance will fill your car or room. Hopefully it smells like awesomeness.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I had never heard of Badland before receiving July’s box. I downloaded the game to give it a spin. The art and the music are great. Using my finger to guide Clony became a little frustrating, but I soon got the hang of the game. It’s a very addictive game. Overall, it feels like it’ll be a fun little time killer on par with Boom Beach or Angry Birds.

The original Plants vs Zombies was a huge success. So successful it spawned a sequel. I have played neither of these games. I can’t tell you anything about either game. I can tell you that the wall graphic included in the box is pretty cool. I can tell you each box will get a random wall graphic. I got some angry corn in my box. The art and coloring is great. It gives the angry corn the cartoony feel of Plants vs. Zombies is known for in the gaming industry. Plus, you can stick it on any wall and move again and again.

The last of the small items is a pin. Most monthly subscription boxes come with some sort of pint. Loot Crate has a pin, Marvel Collector Corps has a pin, and so does Nerd Block. Geek Fuel doesn’t usually have a pin unless it’s one of the items in the box.

The pin in July’s box is a cartoony almost computer game version of the Ghostbusters symbol. Only it’s not the Ghostbusters. The company that created the pin didn’t have the rights to Ghostbusters. So, it made a Boo-Busters pin. Boo-Busters is cute, but cute doesn’t cut it  in a box with another licensed Ghostbuster product.

The second very unique item is a shower curtain. A shower curtain? I can’t recall any mystery subscription box, unless it was a home goods box, including a shower curtain. What makes this shower curtain so awesome? It’s the outside of the Tardis! Some guys or girls better halves may not allow them to hang a Dr. Who shower curtain in their bathroom. To this I say, “Find a Dr. Who fan to marry or live with.”

Although not as different as a shower curtain, a deck of cards is still pretty rare to find in a monthly mystery box. It’s rare,  but there have been mystery boxes to included a deck of cards, However, none of these cards were Alien. It’s been almost forty years since Ridley Scott’s epic sci-fi horror was released. The movie influenced a lot of movie makers since then and is still going strong.

I almost didn’t want to open the deck. Almost. I had to see what the cards looked like. Each numerical card and ace has an H.R.R. Giger inspired emblem for its particular suit. The symbol on the aces is larger than the numerical cards. The “Royal” cards each sport an alien in different stages of growth. The two joker cards each have an alien egg on its face. One egg is closed. The other egg has already hatched. Although the detail on the smaller suit symbols is lost the overall artwork is good. The Alien cards should make any fan of the movie very happy.

Finally, there’s the t-shirt. I didn’t like the t-shirt included in last month’s box and I can’t say this month’s box is much of an improvement. The t-shirt has a cartoon version of Slimer, from the Ghostbusters movie, being sucked into a ghost trap. The artwork is more from the cartoon than any of the movies. That’s not a bad thing if you’re a fan of the cartoon. Alas, I’m not a fan of the cartoon or the art on the shirt. It’s also a black shirt. I still can’t figure out why most of the shirts in the monthly boxes have to be on a black shirt. Is there a rule somewhere I don’t know about?

The Ghostbusters shirt doesn’t just come in Geek Fuel’s box. It also comes in its own box. The box is one of the ghost traps. I give additional points for the shirt being packaged in a replica of the ghost trap. Most shirts are just rolled into the box. I like the creativity and imagination put into the packaging. I just wish the creativity and imagination translated to the shirt too.

Overall, July’s Geek Fuel box was a vast improvement over last month. The items covered a number of properties and a number of years. Nothing seemed to be put in the box at random. If you are basing your purchase on price versus value of item than this box totally hits the mark. Any sci-fi fan should be happy with this month’s box.