Okay, so I know I'm waaaaaaaaaay late to the party, but I have a good excuse! -When the June box came I had not started this blog. At the time the thought of starting one had crossed my mind, but I had not actually moved forward to do so. I had started this blog in July, when the second box had just arrived (end of June) and my initial plan was to review both the April & June boxes together, However, my June box was sent right before vacation and so I had no time to put up my review/unboxing. I just received my August box though, so before I get my October box, let me get on with this!
My experience with Collector Corps from Funko started off rocky. I signed up for the box at the beginning of March and as the company stated, the first wave of boxes would be shipped out in April 2015. My assumption was that the boxes would be shipped within the first week of April, seeing as how the pre-order for these boxes had been around since January 2015. However, the company never actually stated when the boxes would be sent out and you know what they say about assuming........ So, the first two weeks of April roll around and no one has received word about when the boxes will be shipped. There was a mix of complaints from people and others being more positive and patient. I had made a comment on the Collector Corps Facebook page about the lack of communication and was met with other subscribers telling me to not be negative and others agreeing with me. -My view was that if you had all this time to pre-order and you had collected this money, then why are we not receiving any word about the shipments? I honestly did expect it to ship out the first week, but even if my assumption was wrong, as a company, I would at least think you would be communicating with your customers.
Well, about another week passed and finally a representative on the Facebook page tells us that they're about to ship Wave 1; if you ordered by the cut off date in April you were Wave 1 and your box would ship out 1st. However, they were leaving the ordering open and people could still order the box, which the new orders would be Wave 2.
Now comes the drama..........
So, Wave 1 ships and I do not get any update that my box has shipped. So, I wait until Wave 2 apparently ships. Again, my box has not yet shipped. This made no sense to me, as I had ordered my box before the cutoff for Wave 1. On April 22, 2015 it was said that my box finally shipped. I waited and waited and 3 weeks later I still had no box. Not only did I not have a box, but my tracking information never updated and just consistently told me it was sitting at the warehouse waiting to arrive at UPS. It took multiple messages to the Facebook page and to their support (about 2 and half weeks total) and a replacement box was finally shipped to me on May-15, 2015. This is almost a month after my first box was suppose to have shipped. About a week later I also got another update that a box on May-21 shipped to me as well, but I did not order a 2nd box, nor did I receive a second box. Whatever happened to that box is beyond me.
I'm not the only one who had issues. Several people complained about delays and not getting a box. Some people were charged multiple times and never got one box. Others were getting one or two extra boxes, while people like myself were sitting here with no box. It was a very frustrating experience to deal with. However, when I saw the contents, my mind couldn't help but cut them some slack.
[April Collector Corps Box]
The box cost $25 for ever subscriber + $6.95 for US shipping. (Shipping is more for other countries.) Depending on the state you lived in, you may have to pay tax too. I live in California and I have to pay my state sales tax as well. So, the total cost for me monthly is $34. My initial thought and it still happens to be how I feel- $34 every other month for a box of exclusives is not bad. Of course, they have to deliver on that box. For the pre-order you had the option of paying for a whole year up front and that would entitle you to an exclusive statue of Captain America upon your 1 year anniversary, but I couldn't reason spending over $200 on something I was unsure of if I would like or not. So, I choose the monthly option, which is paying for the box on the 1st of every other month and I did not get the annual figure.
I was very excited to see that the box was very detailed. The outside featured Captain America's face and was very sturdy. What was not so secure was the inside of the box. There was no padding, no protection. The box was clearly bigger than the items inside, so there was plenty of room for the items to shift and break or get ruined. I can say that I was fortunate that nothing in my box was damaged. I did see several complaints from others that their comics were ruined and/or their figure was ruined. The comic was not bagged or boarded either.
[inside of the April Collectors Corp Box]
Even the inside of the box was detailed with comic art! I was very impressed! Not many subscription companies go that far and I don't care what genre the box is in.
[Funko Collector Corps Exclusive Hulkbuster Pop]
So, I believe the main thing most people wanted was the Hulkbuster Pop! and it was an exclusive to Collector Corps. I must say it is very impressive and weighs more than a regular Pop! figure does. I have yet to take mine out of the box, but it looks awesome!
[Funko Collector Corps Exclusive Dorbz Figure]
Another exclusive figure in the April box was this Dorbz vinyl figure, which you could only get if subscribed to Collectors Corps.
[Funko Dorbz Series 1]
The back of the Dorbz box did show all of the characters that would be available to collect outside of Collectors Corps. I easily found these at Hot Topic.
[Ultron Dorbz Vinyl Figure - Exclusive to Collector Corps]
As the box for April was themed around the "Age of Ultron" movie, Ultron himself was the exclusive Dorbz for the Collector Corps box. I was very impressed with how adorable he is, especially since he's kind of an asshole in the movie.
[Collector Corps exclusive patch & pin]
The box also came with an exclusive patch and pin. This is a regular item that will be in every box. The company actually claims an exclusive comic variant cover of one comic, an exclusive pin, an exclusive patch, an exclusive vinyl, and exclusive shirt come in every box. - April's patch featured Ultron and the pin featured a classic Captain America.
[Collector Corps exclusive comic variant]
The exclusive variant cover for the April box featured Falcon or the new Captain America and belongs to the Avengers series. I will be honest and admit that I'm not a huge comic reader. I regularly get the My Little Pony titles and other Cartoon Network related comics, but as far as Marvel goes, I am not big into their comics. I'm a huge movie and TV show fan of Marvel though. I have the comic around, but have not read it and do not plan on collecting more of this series. I do like the cover though.
[Collector Corps exclusive tee]
The shirt was given away. I had a good feeling I would not be into the shirts from this subscription box and I was right. For April, the shirts featured a poster style print and you could get one of four different characters beside Ultron - Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, or Thor. My shirt was Thor, but again, I did not keep it.
So, after all the work I had to put in, eventually I did get my box and I did love it! I liked it enough to give it a second chance for June. I also felt that the company is brand new and I tried to cut it some slack. I basically just tried to stay positive until round 2 and hoped for the best! I had been apart of subscription service launches before and it was rough. Not as bad as this one, but I guess every new service has kinks to work out.
