#GeekFuel Review: January 2016

January's Geek Fuel is both a beautiful and frustrating experience.

Review by Matt Cummings

After a somewhat disappointing November and a definite dud from December, we spent a couple of weeks wondering if our love for generic geek boxes was at an end. Having already given Loot Crate the big "See ya - wouldn't wanna be ya!" it was GeekFuel's turn to change our minds. Unfortunately, that didn't happen this month, although some of the items are truly great. But as you'll soon see, those experiences will tempered by exercises in pure frustration.

Before diving in, let's review the details:

The cost for a Month to Month is $17.90, $16.90/month for a 3-month subscription, $15.90/month for a 6-month tour and just $13.90/month for a one-year subscription.

Shipping $6.00 to the US, Canada, and at least a few other countries.

We use QUALITY and TIMING to base our reviews, so let's see how this box stands up. As always, we'll end our review with some additional thoughts after the unboxing:

Winners
For sure, we have to include the Flash mug and time travel t-shirt. It's perhaps the best shirt we've gotten in awhile, with every geek's favorite time swag on display.

Losers
Everything else. From the WTF Mario Mints to the 'special value' cards that require you to set up accounts before checking them, these really feel like fillers. Even the Jakku poster and pin aren't explained. Why is this attractive pin even in here, and will there be some sort of event at San Diego Comic-Con as this poster suggests? This is our problem with generic geek boxes.

Beautifully Awful
While not a total disaster, January's Geek Fuel is an uneven hodge-podge, with clear winners (the AWESOME shirt and mug) and so many losers (the quaint but self-promoting Jakku poster, and...well...everything else). It's another scatter-brained box with little connection to any genre or topic. It's not the kind of fail that made my December geek heart hurt, but it does raise whether generic geek boxes are for me. I like the stability of a brand name encompassing the entire box (Star Wars, Marvel, DC) rather than what Geek Fuel has become. That sort of crap shoot might work for the general geek, but for me it's time tobegin worrying. With Marvel Collector Corps and Smuggler's Bounty getting it so right each month, there's zero worry of either sacrificing quality for so much quantity.

Depending on your interests, January's Geek Fuel is either a beauty or an old hag sitting near a decrepit fireplace in some fantasy novel. But when my dollars are at stake, the hag wears off pretty fast. What won't rub or wash off is that Geek Fuel might be getting Loot Crate's illness in terms of quality and timing. When peering through those lenses, it's another head scratcher.

Want to read our other sub box reviews? We've got them all listed below: MARVEL COLLECTOR CORPS
May
June
August October December

LOOT CRATE REVIEWS
March
April
May
June
July
August
December

GEEK FUEL REVIEWS
September
October
November
December
January

Discuss this review with fellow SJF fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms, and follow author Matt Cummings at @mfc90125.