Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 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...

By Mark Rodriguez I usually don't make articles like this, but this was rather surprising to me and I had to find out more about it. As you know Funko are the guys behind those beloved Funko Pops, as well as the Marvel Collectors Corps bi-monthly subscription box. As you know, Loot Crate is one of the most popular sub boxes and while they do include a Funko Pop some times, it's not guaranteed in every box. In fact, my first ever Funko Pop was the TMNT Pop that came in Paige's first ever Loot Crate. So why would Funko be suing someone that has been working alongside them for years? My very first Funko Pop was TMNT's Donatello! From what I understand, Funko isn't happy that Loot Crate is using their brand name and logo to sell their products, regardless of if the box of the month includes a Pop or not. Rather than explain themselves to Funko in case it was a misunderstanding, Loot Crate has not been responding to Funko at all. The Pop company has had enough of...

By Mark Rodriguez Ah, Funko Pops.... definitely the Beanie Babies of the current generation. There are Pops of almost every pop culture character or series out there, and if they're not, there eventually will be. Dragonball Z, Overwatch, WWE, Five Nights at Freddy's, My Hero Academia, Rick and Morty, almost anything you can think of, as well as tons of Batman, Deadpool, and Harley Quinn variants. I mean, they're about to release Pops based on Married with Children for Al Bundy's sake. Unlike Beanie Babies though, I kinda can't see an end in sight for Funko Pops. People are probably eager to pre-order the Pops that will be based on the next Avengers movie. My collection at the time.... and this is before I got the Infinity War figures, Marvel VS Capcom and Toys R Us exclusive Ryu and Ken Street Fighter figures. Back in 2016 I made an article on the characters I felt deserved a Funko Pop. At the time these Pops didn't exist and nowadays, some do while some still d...