Geek Subscription Boxes: List, Recommendations, and Thoughts

Everyone is very different, so what I consider a great subscription box could be way off for someone else. However, my husband's students asked him recently about Loot Crate, and he had plenty to say about why that would be a waste of the kids' money, but he couldn't remember which ones were the best. We get so many that it often becomes hard to track what comes from who and what's worth the expense. He asked me to make him a list for his students, but I was already thinking of doing that anyway. Recently, BuzzFeed had its own list and I was excited to see some of the great ones on there that don't get as much hype as the others. Instead of a best kind of list, I decided to do a pros and cons  overview - BASED ENTIRELY ON OUR EXPERIENCES AND PREFERENCES. I collect Funko POP figures and I love Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. My husband and I are gamers and he has read comics since he knew how to read. We don't really play Nintendo and we don't have kids. These are the kinds of things that do make a difference, because what we prefer may not be the same as someone who doesn't like the same things.

I'm going alphabetically and I'm also including a few that are geeky in their own right, although not technically fandom-based. I also included a link to a review for each so you can see the items included in the box.

Custom Fan Box Review: March 2015

I don't get people. I am putting that out there right now. When I first saw Custom Fan Box pop up on Facebook, I thought, "why not?" What can it hurt to order another geek box? They take PayPal, so I could always get my money back if they weren't legit. I really liked the setup from the beginning, because you choose your shirt, then select shows, anime, games, comics, and movies you really like. You will only be sent items from those fandoms, which is awesome. This is basically the geeky version of Wantable!

Now, I am all for startups. I think it's great that more and more people are going out on their own to do something they love. The job market sucks and you essentially spend your life in servitude to someone who makes you unhappy, so I am one to support a startup, especially when they have something to offer. But it didn't take long before Custom Fan Box's Facebook page was littered with complaints. They clearly identified on their site that March was their first month and that all orders would ship by March 31. So it seems like it would be clear that complaining on March 8 makes no sense, right? Apparently not. 

Anyway, I was extremely happy with my first two shipments of Custom Fan Box. My husband and I decided to each get our own, although we mostly had a ton of crossover. We are definitely ordering again for April (both of us) and this time, we only have one crossover, which is Game of Thrones. Otherwise, each of us picked only a small selection of items because we want to see what comes (of course, this also means our Supernatural, Firefly, Doctor Who, and other fandoms are statistically less likely to appear, but I think it's a fun experiment). 

This month, there was only one item that we both didn't like, so I think that says a lot about Custom Fan Box, as well as about how much my husband and I think alike!

So essentially the March box included the same items for every customer, but they varied for your interests. Everyone got a shirt (which you picked out in advance so there were no surprises there), a Funko POP, a mug, a patch/iron-on, two pins, and either a lip balm or tin of mints. They asked if you preferred bacon or cupcakes, so you got mints or lip balm in the flavor of your choice. For April, they asked for shoe size so I am guessing socks?