According to their website https://1upbox.com/:
1Up Box is a monthly swag distributor that offers something remarkable, something creative, and something unique in which all geeks and gamers can fancy. We connect our subscribers to the best companies producing gear, snacks, toys, art, and just about anything that spells awesome. Each month we assemble a mystery collection of 5-8 items, all of which are kept secret until the boxes are delivered.
Our mission is to bring smiles to the curious, to the epic, and to all the magnificent geeks and gamers of our time by delivering value and creativity.
Cost:$12.92/mo + $6 S&H
Total Price: $18.92
Renews Automatically
Last month we got our 1Up Box and we were pretty impressed. The addition of the Ecto-1 collectible really hit a soft spot for us especially since we grew up on the Ghostbusters movies and cartoons. We were pretty excited to get the May box in order to see if they could keep up the quality.
Then we heard that the theme was going to be “Sidekick!”. Uh, oh. Focusing on the main hero’s sidekick didn’t seem like a good idea but all we could do was wait. I mean, how bad could it be when you focus your product on the secondary, less strong hero/villain? The second banana? The one who normally gets kidnapped so our main hero has to come in and rescue them? What could go wrong?
The box arrived and we were more than happy to start the unboxing.
Raising our hopes…
We opened the box and it was pretty exciting! The first things to greet you were a black, rolled up t-shirt and a plush doll of BMO from the ‘Adventure Time’ cartoon.
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- Well, well…if it isn’t a pretty green box.
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- Oh! This looks like it will be good!
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- The total contents of the box.
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- Back of the postcard.
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- Postcard telling you what is in the box.
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- Aww. This is adorable.
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- Notice the quarter for comparison.
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- Hey, heyyy! BMO has a back flap!
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- That’s one happy little plush.
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- Technically, I bent his/her legs backwards.
I don’t watch Adventure Time but I know a lot of people who do so getting BMO would be something pretty nifty. You’ll notice that in the above gallery I’ve included the postcard which tells you the theme as well as the contents of the box. When going through this parcel it was actually the very last thing in the box buried at the very bottom. I guess that’s ok since you get surprised digging through all the stuff and figure out what it is and – then BAM! – you get the explanation. It probably saved me from the slowly growing disappointment I could feel welling up in my stomach.
…and the rest.
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- I think this is Yoshi and BMO. Can’t tell.
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- I was at least hoping for Cowboy Bebop.
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- Yay. A sticker.
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- The dog tag.
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- Front of tag.
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- Back of tag. Where’s his head and legs?!
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- So, do you wear this if you’re the hero?
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- Or do you wear this as the sidekick??
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- Live Strong!
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- And the obligatory button.
I get the feeling that I was expecting too much. I didn’t really understand who was on the t-shirt that I got because it was kind of hard to see. I didn’t really get why I got a ‘Beep Boop’ drawstring backpack. How, exactly, did it relate to the theme? The dog tags, decal and bracelet seemed to be the types of things that you pick up after you trade in all your tickets at a place like Chuck E. Cheese, Dave & Busters or any other fine establishment where you play arcade games and win tickets.
Final Thoughts
Gahhhhhhhh! This is sort of a tough one for me to get through. My first 1Up Box experience was pretty good and I wanted that expectation and feeling to be carried over into the next one…which would then be carried over into the next, and then the next, etc. I kind of root for these companies draw me in and make me a loyal customer by appealing to that nerdy geek that lives inside me. And there, my friends, is the rub.
The subscription box business is popular because whenever you get a delivery it is like Christmas. You have no idea what’s inside (unless you visit this site or any number of other sites that performs unboxings) so you get giddy exploring the contents. Sometimes you get a gigantic win as the box seems to be tailored exactly to your tastes. Sometimes this subscription box Christmas experience turns out to be a 3-pack of underwear that your aunt buys you and you’re forced to open it in front of all your family members.
Ask me how I know what that feels like.
The cold, hard fact is that the 1Up Box costs $12 + $6 for shipping. $18 dollars really isn’t a lot in the grand scheme of things. Finding quality merchandise on a regular basis to ship to customers that retails for more than the price of the box is probably pretty difficult to do so, as a consumer, you should totally expect to get what you pay for. Face it – you’re not going to get an ‘Antiques Roadshow’ moment from any of these subscription boxes.
Is it worth it? I’m still not sure. I give each of these subscription boxes 3 months to sucker me in. I will say that this particular box, the May 2015 “Sidekick!”, didn’t appeal to me. Neither the content nor the theme. If the two were tied more closely together then I may have been more satisfied. Or, if they left out certain items and replaced them with something of equal worth, like the button, sticker and bracelet replaced by a weird candy of some sort, then I may have been more engaged. Unfortunately, the May 1Up Box left me kind of ‘meh’.
