Loot Crate January 2017 unboxing and review: Origins

Loot Crate takes it old school for the first shipment of the new year.

Listen up kids: there’s nothing wrong with the classics, and it’s always good to know your history. Even pop culture history, which is something Loot Crate is giving us with its Origins box.

We’re talking about iconic characters like Superman, Captain America and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and items that speak to how they used to be instead of how they all appear today (maybe a good thing, since Cap is all “Hail Hydra!” these days). You might even learn something from this particular Crate.

Time to crack it open and see how the past and present intersect.

Loot Crate January 2017 Unboxing: Origins

This month’s box might be one of the more functional ones so far. Follow the directions inside and it transforms into a comic book holder, perfect for keeping a few of your favorite trades close at hand. Golden Age Superman will be watching over them, so you know they’re safe.

Exclusive Original “Jumpman” T-Shirt

Loot Crate January 2017 t-shirt; image courtesy of Nick Tylwalk (personal collection) /

Thanks to Future and Drake, Jumpman might mean something else to you, but it was the original name for Mario back when he first starred in Donkey Kong. And since we assume he was given that name by Shigeru Miyamoto himself, who are we to argue? Whatever you call him, this shirt shows off the adventurous plumber in amazing pixelated style and is sure to delight gamers of all ages.

Exclusive Captain America Golden Age Shield

Items from the Jnauary 2017 Loot Crate; image courtesy of Nick Tylwalk (personal collection) /

Produced by eFX Collectibles, this is a 1:6 scale replica of Cap’s original shield. Yeah, it wasn’t suitable for throwing and ricocheting back to him, but that wasn’t a trick Steve Rogers learned until a little bit later anyway. It comes with a display stand and even has scaled down straps on the back, so if you’ve got a really tiny Captain America running around your house or something, he could actually use this.

Exclusive Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tiki Muglet

As the name suggests, this is both a tiny mug and a stacking collectible. You could any of the Turtles or the rarer Shredder muglet, and their designs are inspired by the original Mirage comics while adding the colors fans associate with the four brothers today. Not much liquid fits in this (our box was Raphael), and we can’t suggest shots to all of our readers since not everyone is over 21, so … You can also hit up vault.lootcrate.com to buy more if you want to complete the set.

Exclusive Action Comics #1 Reprint

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the first ever appearance of Superman, done up again for modern times, meaning it has much brighter colors than you would have found by plunking down a dime in 1938. However it is printed on the original newsprint stock and has the original ads, which most reprints have not. Possibly one comic you want to keep sealed in its bag.

This Month’s Pin

The throwback ride continues with a pin featuring the TMNT logo from the 80s. However, what it unlocks is entirely now: the first five digital issues of the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series from IDW. If you have a comiXology or Amazon account, just enter the promo code and you’re ready to go.

Value Proposition

As with most months, no problems here. Figure the t-shirt and comic book get you to at least $20, and the replica shield is an excellent value — eFX sells 1:6 replicas of Cap’s other shields for $39.

We’re fond of discussing how some Loot Crate themes might be more universal than others, and this seems like one of the broader ones. It’s hard to imagine that anyone who would buy into a subscription service like this wouldn’t like some combination of Superman, Captain America, Mario and the Turtles. A fun box to start off 2017.

Disclosure: FanSided was provided with a free January 2017 Loot Crate box for the purposes of this review.

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