Box of Awesome Review ~ Box 4

It doesn't feel like Box of Awesome has been delivering goodies for this long but now we're onto box 4. As you can see there's a plethora of stickers and cards as well as some interesting looking fresh meat for us greedy consumers.
There is a recurring image of Skylanders Giants in the form of a sticker pack with four stickers and one holographic. More information on the Skylander Giants series is available from their website. Alongside these are newcomers Star Wars Force Attax, another collectable trading card game from Topps Cards, again 4 normal ones and a holographic card.

New to Box of Awesome are Soccer Suckers,  brand new collectable range with 40 football players to collect. They are supplied in a football patterned plastic ball (about the size of a table tennis ball), with plastic banner sealing it. Sealing is such a poor word for something that I had to attack with scissors to open, be fully prepared to help anyone trying to open one, or just sit back and get a great laugh watching the struggle. Inside is a curiously detailed rubber mini figure with a suction sticker, these are great for any flat surface, or just foreheads.
Great for football fans or collectors in general, at the moment they are only available for 5 English teams, but the site says more teams are on their way. Arsenal, Chelsea Football Club, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, and Tottenham Hotspur. Also I found it a bit strange that the Americanism 'Soccer' was used, when the sport is obviously football and British football teams to boot!

The book in this BOA is by Tommy Donbavand, author of the Scream Street series. Described as a comedy horror, Fangs was released in September this year and is the first in a proposed 6 book. With vampire's werewolves and wizards, the fantasy aspect of this book is appealing and clearly aimed at the 7-11 year old market. The title 'Golden Bum' speaks volumes for the level of humour, this is aimed more at fans of the The Three Stooges or Dick and Dom, rather than Patrick Moore. Any owner of a young boy, will be well advised to collect up this series.

Also contained was a blind bag of a pre-release Halo Mega Bloks figures, mine was a common figurine in Covenant Grunt form (Shark fin on his back and funky triangle purple gun). They come in individual pieces and are a little like Lego  figures, even standing on little lego style bases. The range is detailed on the website along with all the vehicles and accessories. I have to admit getting highly collectable items that aren't even in the shops yet is definitely a bonus.

Everyone loves a treat and in this BOA, there was a strawberry snack bar. Made by Fruit Bowl and called a School Bar it claims to be one of your '5 a day', made with real fruit, no added sugar and only natural flavours and colourings. I can't say I was visually impressed, the big 40p sticker seemed awfully expensive. The bar made it worse by looking a lot like a dogs chew treat. A chew treat it was, definitely not for young teeth or denture wearers. The flavour was lacking for my taste not strong at all. The idea of trying to bite through this stick, for a young child during a break time, seems more than a little hopeful.



A leaflet for Paradise Wildlife Park is also included, and will grant access for one child when accompanied by a paying adult. A particularly nice touch as it was the location for a special hand out of boxes by BOA's partner Box of OMG. The disadvantage to this great offer is the location, just out side of London isn't local to everyone!

Another new addition is from the Discover Science Activity kit and mini brochure, coming in a range of scientific experiments, I received a trial pack. The CSI trial pack showed how to take fingerprints and recognize basic patterns in the whorls. It came with a mini magnifying glass and cards for taking prints on and claims to teach basic forensic science. This is a great little pack, and a fabulous link to the spy book included. Educational yet also interesting is a tough combination to break, but science kits like these will certainly boost games of cops and robbers to new heights!

Perhaps the most bizarre thing I have ever seen featuring as a collectable is Trash Pack stickers. Clearly marked with a 'sample' sticker on the back of the pack the company hails from Australia and arrived in the UK in August. With the scenes detailing rotting rubbish and gross, overflowing bins, I really don't understand the reasoning behind this collection. Unless its a strange recycling campaign, I'm stymied to the appeal that these can possibly hold. When you consider the collection also includes collectable bins, I come to the conclusion that I'm too old to follow the simple logic that stickers with fly infested food are avant garde and hip.



Last of all is the obligatory BOA paperwork and stickers. There is also a flyer was for Swapit, the safe ebay style bidding site designed specifically for children and contains a bonus 100 points when you sign up. Unfortunately it is the same code that was included in the last box, so subscribers to BOA miss out on the 100 points.
Considering I first heard of BOA from advertising on Swapit, I'm quite happy that they've continued the partnership. Though I wish they'd put new codes on the flyers

Follow Box of Awesome on Facebook
Follow them on Twitter
Or follow them on their blog
Star Wars trading cards
Skylanders Giants sticker collections
Soccer Suckers collectable toys
Fangs Vampire Spy, Operation Golden Bum
Science X Kits
Trash Pack Sticker collections
Swapit online trading site