Remembering Nerd Block and stuff I kept

 By Mark Rodriguez

Back in 2014, Paige and I got into Loot Crate, possibly the most popular and biggest mystery subscription box to this day. I discovered their competitor, Nerd Block and decided to be 'the contrarian' and give them a try while everyone else was all over Loot Crate. Nerd Block would eventually get other boxes like Horror Block and Gamer Block which would eventually be renamed to Arcade Block. 

Here's a quick rundown of some of the boxes I got back then and their items. I still own some of the items, mostly the mugs and the shirts. Let's check them out. 

Nerd Block June 2014

My first ever block and overall mystery box. After seeing Paige gets her Loot Crates month after month I was excited to finally get something for myself. I took a gamble considering I wasn't that impressed by previous boxes shown in Youtube videos, but I was happy with my purchase.

I got two cool shirts, one was related to Ghostbusters and the other was a mash up between The Iron Giant and the X-Men.

The other items I got were a Donkey Kong Mario Kart Racer, a Doctor Who mystery box (I got the 6th Doctor), A Nerd Block Pin Art, and a Minecraft Creeper sticker. I especially like the sticker because it was drawn in a way that made it look '3D' as if the Creeper was really going to bust out.

In this case my favorite things were the shirts. One thing I noticed was Nerd Block was set in Canada and so the box was international packaging. You had to be careful not to read the shipping labels because it would spoil what's in the box before you could even open it.

Nerd Block July 2021

It seems the two shirts happen once in a while since most boxes only get one. This time the shirt was based on the Ninja Turtles, so you know that was a winner for me.

The other items were a Nerf Zombie Strike Ricochet Gun, a Star Wars AT Walker Plush, and a Star Wars Insider magazine. We also got a video documentary 'Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Last Hope that has Stan Lee and Josh Whedon in it. It's about the history of the San Diego Comic Con. 

The shirt was once again, the best thing. The gun made for a good prop and the AT Walker plushie was cool.

Nerd Block August 2014

This time the shirt was related to Pokemon, a Pokeball to be more exact. 

The other items were a Harley Quinn Glow-In-The-Dark Funko Pop, 2 Garbage Pail Kids mini-figures, a Catbug keychain, and 2 Doctor Who comic books with Nerd Block exclusive covers.

In this case, the shirt wins again. I'm pretty sure Paige got to keep the Harley Quinn Funko Pop since she's a big fan of the character.

Nerd Block September 2014

This was when Nerd Block started to go with themes rather than just random stuff. They also announced the Arcade Block. Also they started sending out emails after emails with hints or spoilers of items in upcoming boxes. I guess they were trying extra hard to get new subscribers. This box also came with the most awkward item ever.

This time the shirt was based on Guardians of the Galaxy, which was awesome since the movie just came out around that time.

The other things were a Megablocks Marvel Mystery Figure (I got Whiplash as he appeared in Iron Man 2, a Scribblenauts Unmasked DC Figure (I got the Flash), a stress brain (a stress ball that looks like a brain) and a Funko TMNT Papercraft Playset.

The most awkward item was the um... Giant Microbes STD Plushie. So... Nerd Block was divided between regular Nerd Block and Nerd Block Jr and I guess they wanted to add in these plushies to raise awareness. While the Nerd Block Jr got microbes related to the common cold and whatnot, the regular Nerd Block got STD plushies. 

The shirt wins again, though I liked the Whiplash figure and we eventually got to work on the TMNT Papercraft characters. It's pretty cool since you can create all 4 Turtles, Splinter, Shredder, a Foot Soldier and the Turtle Van. The plushie gets a point just for the sheer randomness and awkwardness of it.

Nerd Block October 2014

So this month's theme is about Kevin Smith's picks. The shirt is Jay and Silent Bob dressed as Batman and Robin.

The other items were a Deadpool PX Preview Exclusive Funko Pop, Agent Caulson's Captain America vintage playing cards (some covered in fake blood since Coulson was killed by Loki), a notepad that looks like Arkham Asylum patient notes, Marvel and DC pins (Spider-Man, Batman, Wolverine and Superman), a Legend of Zelda mascot dangler and some Jay and Silent Bob parody stickers.

This time the shirt wasn't my favorite since I never seen the Jay and Silent Bob movies. I liked the Deadpool Funko Pop and the other stuff. My favorite thing were the Captain America cards that looked movie accurate. I kinda wish the Arkham notepad actually had notes on the Batman villains and wasn't just a notepad. 

Nerd Block December 2014

I guess I forgot to cover November, but this is the last one I'll be covering. The theme this time was Val Kilmer's picks. I'm confused on the these themes. Did the Nerd Block people go out and ask Kevin Smith and Val Kilmer to add items into a sub box they probably never heard of?

We got two shirts this time again. The first one is kind of a Lovecraftian design with some dude summoning up monster and demons and things, and it just looks awesome. The second shirt was a Butter Beer shirt, a Harry Potter reference, so Paige was quick to snag it up for herself. It could have come in black or maroon, Paige got the maroon one. 

The other items were a Gizmo plushie from Gremlins, a Tetris Sticky Note Pad, a D&D Kre-O Figure, a picture from the movie Willow autographed by Val Kilmer. You could have gotten the Kilmer autograph or the Warwick David autograph. 

So I would get more Nerd Blocks here and there, but would then switch to Arcade Block, which would eventually be renamed to Gamer Block. For a while, Nerd Block was really big and they also owned Shirt Punch. Each box usually came with a coupon to get 10% off a Shirt Punch purchase. Finally they opened a store where you could buy their items and shirts in Toronto. 

Suddenly around 2017 or so, Nerd Block and Shirt Punch just vanished. Even the store was suddenly closed without warning and the employees didn't even know until they showed up to work that day. They apparently announced a relaunch in 2018 but it never happened. Another company bought Shirt Punch which is still successful to this day, so keep in mind that if you see their site, it is not owned by the Nerd Block people and no one has had any problems with them. The new Shirt Punch is A-OK.

It's a mystery what happened to the guys behind Nerd Block, but at least for a few years they did give me some cool stuff and I still own most of the shirts to this day.