Monthly Archives: May 2020

May 12, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2018 Unboxing

By Jasomania

Does it make a lot of sense to do an unboxing for something that came out a year and a half ago?  Not really.  But here we are.

This is my fifth year being a Marvel Unlimited Plus member and the theme for 2018 was Venom, based on the fact that the movie was coming out a few months after the release of the new Unlimited Plus kit.  I’ll be honest I’m not a huge Vemon fan.  When a villian becomes popular enough to become the “star” or the “anti-hero” it has rarely worked out.  They wind up just being the hero “but edgy” while not actually being edgy at all.  But that isn’t why we are here.

First off here is a run down of everything included in the kit:

  • Blank Panther Vol. 7 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Jamal Campbell
  • Venom Vol. 4 Issue 1: Marvel Unlimited Subscription Variant by Paul Renaud
  • Fantastic 4 Patch
  • The Thing Enamel Pin
  • Marvel Legends Venomized Punisher Action Figure

The box was venom themed and looked pretty good.  It had a cool venom logo in the inside and on the flap.  I added a bonus picture of Celine helping me take pictures.

 

First up is the yearly letter.  It’s very much the least important item in the box but I actually do appreciate it.  Its on nice paper stock and has a vemon theme.  I hope they continue to include this in the future boxes.

 

The comics are look great, the art is fantastic and event though its two different artists they have a similar theme.  I like that the art also takes up the whole front cover and has the Marvel Unlimited logo at the bottom as well.  In my case I enjoy the comics and have kept all of the ones I’ve received in these Unlimited Plus packages.  However if you are looking at upgrading to the Plus subscription to make money off the comics sadly they don’t go for much at all.  It’s been a year and a half since this box was released at the resell price for these comics is still at $5 which is the cover price for the comics.  10 dollars for the two is still something but for a variant that I’d imagine is actually kind of rare i’d have thought it would go for more

Next is the Venomized Punisher Marvel Legends figure.  Overall it’s a nice looking figure.  It doesn’t look like they just put spare parts together like they did last year for the Tony Stark figure and used a new mold.  Like I said before, I’m not a huge Venom fan so I actually winded up selling mine on ebay.  Unlike the variant comics the Marvel Legends figures still catch a decent price and this figure is still going for 60 to 100 dollars on ebay.

Next is The Thing Enamel Pin and Fantastic Four Patch.  There isn’t a whole lot to say about these.  The quality of the patch is fairly good but the quality of the pin is only ok.  I do like that they have been including the patches in with the kits but wish the pins were better quality.  It is a little odd that they went with Fantastic Four for these since the box, Marvel Legends figure, and comics were all venom themed.

What else do you get in a Marvel Unlimited Plus subscription?  There are invites to members only events at SDCC, NYCC, and C2E2.  They actually seem like cool events that if you go to them you get additional free variant covers of comics and some insider information at the panel.  However, I don’t live anywhere near these events and will likely never go to them so it’s not much a benefit.  You also get 15% off digital comics from comixology / Marvel Comics Digital store.  This isn’t a terrible benefit but I generally forget about it and don’t use it.  In order to get it you have to buy your comics through Marvels separate digital store so it’s unlikely you’ll get to stack your 15% off with other comixology deals.  If you are buying full price comics from marvel digitally this could be a good deal though.  Lastly you can get 10% off all things from marvelshop.com.  I’ve never used this benefit before and forget that it is a benefit entirely, but hey, 10% isn’t much but it’s something.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with the package.  Basically it’s a 30 dollar premium to get Marvel Unlimited Plus over a yearly Marvel Unlimited subscription and I’ve still found it worth it to pay for it.  Selling the Marvel Legends figure actually brought the price of the entire subscription down quite a bit but it’s not something I factored in to my decision to continue to get a plus subscription

 

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May 8, 2020

All-New, Possibly Different? Comic Books and Cats

By Jasomania

Hey there True Believers,

It’s been a while.  It’s funny, in my mind I hadn’t posted in a few months and then I actually look and whoops it’s been 3 years.  A lot has changed and some hasn’t changed.  I’ll get into it more in a future post but basically I got really burned out on comics after the Secrete Wars / Convergence event back in 2015 and never really recovered from it.  I went from a weekly reader of new comics to going well past a year of reading any new comics.  I’ve tried to read some here and there but mostly have struggled to get back into comics.  I hope to still blog about comics here and pick up some series but honestly I’m not going to force it.  So there may be a slew of non comic related posts on here instead.

Outside of comics there is news I have to post and it is entirely cat related.  Our clan of two has become and clan of 3 and we added a new cat to the family last summer.  We were not planning on having more cats than people in the house but fate had different plans.  We found Celine at my wife’s work and decided to give her a home.  I wouldn’t say she’s “getting along” with the other cats but they have decided on a understanding of each other and mostly continue to keep to themselves.

2019-06-07_11-34-50_602

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May 8, 2020

Marvel Unlimited Plus 2017 Unboxing

By Jasomania

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! That’s right it’s Marvel Unlimited Plus time!  I started subscribing to Marvel Unlimited as a birthday gift and it just so happens that the new Unlimited Plus box comes out within days of my birthday so when I do get a the new box it really is brand spanking new.  For this unboxing I want to do two things, first I want to have a classic unboxing of this years box but afterwards I want to reflect on the last two years boxes and discuss what their value is today.  But first comes first, lets get to the unboxing!

Here is a closer look on the outside of the box art which has a gold theme this year.

So let’s open it up!  Inside there is a little space for the comics and letter and underneath the flap is where the Marvel Legends figure, pins and patch are

First up is the boring part, the letter!  It describes whats in the box and has a little state of the union address about the past year and how things are going.

Next up is the comics!  As with the last two years we get three exclusive variant cover issues.  Last year the comics were by the same artist but they did not interconnect which was kind of disappointing since they did in the 2015 box.  This year the cover to interconnect once again and they create an epic fight scene against Thanos.  Looks like Marvel is once again following tradition of ignoring the characters they don’t have the movie rights to as there are no X-Men or Fantastic Four on any of these covers.

In this years box we get the following comics:

  • Edge of the Venomverse Issue 1
  • Spider-Men II Issue 1
  • Guardians of the Galaxy The Telltale Series Issue 1

Next up we have the pins and patches.  The patch is pretty cool, it is a Skottie Young version of Thanos.  The pins are a little disappointing, they are the heads of Captain America and Spider-man.  They are decent quality enamel pins but feel a little lazy and not near as cool as the Eye of Agamotto pin from last year.

Lastly we have the Exclusive Marvel Legends Tony Stark figure.  It looks fantastic.  The tie is actually separate piece of plastic from the suit and overall its a very well made figure.  It’s hard to believe they haven’t made a just Tony Stark figure before this so it is cool that this is really an exclusive and not just a different paint job of a figure that was already out like last year’s Captain Marvel figure.

A slight note on the Tony Stark figure.  While this is a new figure, it is clearly made from parts of figures they have previously release.  The body is from the Marvel Legends Chameleon Figure with the head from the Marvel Legends Civil War 3 Pack.  It’s not a huge deal but is a little disappointing that is isn’t a truly original figure.  The 2015 R.E.S.C.U.E. figure was 100% original and a completely new mold and character that had never been released.  It would be nice to get something on that level in these boxes.

 

Final Thoughts?

Overall I liked this box a lot.  Between the three years I’ve been a Marvel Unlimited Plus member I would rank this box second, better than 2016 but not as good as 2015.

Marvel Unlimited / Marvel Unlimited Plus, is it Worth it?

How many comics do I have to read before I start saving money by using Marvel Unlimited?  Pretty simple, if you are just getting the Marvel Unlimited Subscription ($60 per year) you have to read at least 15 new release comics to get your money’s worth out of it.  If you are getting Marvel Unlimited Plus you have to read 25 new release comics to get your money’s worth out of it.  There are approximately 20 new release comics added to the Marvel Unlimited app every week, which is 1,040 new comics per year.  If you read just 2.5% of the new released comics within a year you will have paid for your Unlimited Plus (1.4% for just Marvel Unlimited) subscription for the year.  That is just new release comics.  Marvel also adds back issues to the app weekly as well.  In general the total number of comics added per week is generally 50, which is 2,600 new comics a year.  If you don’t want to commit to a full year you can try it on a monthly basis for $10 dollars a month and see if you like it before you buy a whole year of service.  Generally around San Diego and New York Comic Con you can get a month of service for pennies or free.

What are the Differences Between Subscriptions

The chart below will show you the differences between the Marvel Unlimited and Marvel Unlimited Plus subsciption

Basically Marvel Unlimited Plus gets you the yearly box along with 15% off digital comics, 10% off merchandise from marvel.com and access to events.  The events are members only panels at San Diego, Chicago, and New York Comic-Con.  If you are lucky enough to go to these Comic-Cons the events are suppose to be really cool.  They show you some art and talk about upcoming comics and will generally give out exclusive variant comics to every one who attends.  If you don’t live in New York, Chicago, or New York you are kind of out of luck.  I was able to go to a free screening of Dr. Strange for myself and a friend in the city I live in last year courtesy of Marvel Unlimited.  I’ve only received one of these invitations but it was really cool and an extra bonus from my subscription.

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