Geek Crate’s holiday box misses its mark and disappoints

Cape Town startup Geek Crate‘s previous box was a stellar offering with its inclusion of Fallout bottlecaps, a Star Wars t-shirt, comic book, and other goodies. After reviewing it, I wondered if the founders would be able to keep up the pace and continue offering boxes of the same quality. The answer is an unfortunate no.

The first item I saw was the Geek Crate booklet, which is included in every crate. This time, it’s been reduced even further and was noticeably missing any of the previous edition’s comics and flair. According to the inside blurb, Geek Crate has been struggling to find sponsors for the book — which isn’t included in the price of the box — and has thus been forced to cut back. It now just features the aforementioned blurb and information on the included products.

Read more: Memeburn unboxes Geek Crate’s very first crate

The second item included was a Minions PEZ dispenser with two refills. There were apparently Iron Man and Ninja Turtles variants available in other boxes. I find these to always be nice novelty gifts. It was a nice touch, even though I’m not a fan of the apparently funny yellow creatures.

Geek Crate’s third item stuck out like a sore thumb. It’s a computer screen cleaning kit, and doesn’t seem to fit with products previously included in these boxes. I had some time to use the kit and it’s not of great quality. It’s the kind you can pick up at most discount stores.

The centrepiece of the crate is the Doctor Who mug supplied by Messi Merchandise. This item was supposed to be included in a previous box, but was left out due to logistics issues. It’s a pretty sturdy mug with a great Dr. Who design sure to please any fan of the show. I had to fight off a few co-workers who wanted the mug for themselves.

Read more: Memeburn takes a look at Geek Crate’s second offering

From here is where the box started going downhill. I could forgive the screen cleaning kit if the next few items had been great, but they weren’t.

The second bit of edible goodies consisted of three Jelly Belly Candy Canes. Unfortunately, these weren’t tasty or even a pleasure to eat. I struggled to finish just one.

Next up were a pair of yellow and pink syringe highlighters. While the idea has a funky ring to it, the construction appears to be of the lesser kind and again something that shouldn’t really exist in a box like this.

Read more: Memeburn dives into Geek Crate’s first themed box of goodies

Finally, the Geek Crate contained a box of sparklers. These would have been great for New Year’s Eve, but I have to question the inclusion of such a cheap product in the box.

The company shows potential and after customer backlash on their initial box managed to steadily improve their Geek Crate offerings. Unfortunately, this latest entry puts them right back at square one. It felt lazy and slapped together in a pinch.

Is the festive Geek Crate worth your hard-earned R300? No. No, it is not.