“What’s in the box?” LFF gets sent a subscription mystery box

I’ve seen the whole mystery box subscription thing really take off over the last couple of years. If you’re not familiar with the concept, then you sign up with a company to subscribe to their service for between a month and a year and they send you a box of themed goodies every month. The longer you sign up for, the cheaper your boxes are; and they’re themed on whatever your interests are. There are ones for fans of video games, superheroes, or science-fiction – the one I used to get was horror themed.

A-box is a brand-new bespoke mystery box service, and is using connections within the film industry to source some really cool content. Being in collaboration with major studios means that the goodies they can lay their hands on genuine, licensed, and exclusive; and with a roster that currently includes 20^th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Paramount and Marvel, A-box have plenty of flashy buddies to source a lot of rad exclusive stuff from.

I got sent a sampler box, to give me an idea of the kind of pressies that will usually be in an A-box, but apparently the next one – for June – will be ‘Alien’ themed. The kind of things you can expect to find inside are: t-shirts, figures, books, comics, hats, pins, key chains, mouse mats, mugs, phone accessories, and even luggage tags, so let’s crack into mine and see what I’ve got…

Straight away: good work on the packaging! It looks like the Royal Mail have wreaked their special delivery skills on my A-box, and it has come through the experience intact. Sturdy and well sealed, no-one was getting in or damaging what was inside.

First up: a Batman vs. Superman notebook. Pretty cool, pretty cool – I always need a notebook for scribbling notes for my reviews into in the dark. Next… more Batman vs. Superman, and I’m not sure what it is! On closer inspection, it’s like a little slip pocket thing you can stick on the back of your phone for your Oyster card or whatever. That could be handy, I guess.

Ooh, hold the phone, this is cool. It’s a Groot figurine. Aw, look at his little face. Bless. You’ll look cool on my desk, bud. We’ve got some more Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 merch in here too: a set of pins of the gangs faces. Sweet.

There’s a very interesting smaller black Alien Covenant branded box in here that I’m going to set aside for the end and… oh no… a hecking minion. Eurgh, I hate these little sods but… ah, squeezing the life out of his stupid squashy stress-relieving face feels pretty good! And back to BvS with a little tin of POP a little bat symbol key ring or POP oh no it’s a USB stick. I like that, nice.

Right, lets see what this Alien Covenant thing is… ooh… OOH… it’s an Alien Covenant branded VR headset. Sick. That is comfy, and yep – fits my phone – well this is hecka flash, and certainly an upgrade from my current Google cardboard headset that you have to hold on with one hand. Rad. This is actually way cool. Dang.

So it was a mixed bag. Box. Obviously. But that’s the point. You never know what you’re going to get, and ripping into it to find out is super fun. And getting sent a monthly box of secret film merch is exciting too. Plus, it’s all official, from well-know and loved properties, and there’s truly something for everything. Even the things that I don’t dig I already know who to give to to make someone’s day. If you’re in for a box full of nice surprises, and a monthly rush of excitement, definitely check out A-box.

For more info, or to sign up if you’re keen, check out A-box’s official site; or follow them on their twitter, insta and FB to get a peek at what they’re up to and putting out next. The Alien one is available to order now – to ship on the 20^th of June – and contains over £150 worth of stuff!