There are a LOT of box subscription services. There are so many that (according to Wikipedia) critics of subscription boxes have attempted to study their impact on the environment. But, those people suck and don’t like seeing other people happy as far as we can tell. The Whiskey & Waffles team, on the other hand, are huge supporters of subscription boxes. And the latest they got a hold of is the Stan Lee Box.

Powered by Stan Lee’s Pow Entertainment, JC got to check out one of the coveted first boxes of the new subscription service. Coming in at $49.99 for a single box (or $44.99 per box for a year long bi-monthly subscription), the Stan Lee box is on the upper tier when it comes to box cost. It is actually about $5 more per box than Loot Crate DX if you go off the standard plan so this means expectations are pretty high.

The MCU has a lot of mysteries in it. Some have been revealed and become major plot points for the whole universe, like the ultimate fate of Tony Stark’s parents. Others have been hinted at and probably won’t get full explanations. Two of these minor mysteries have become questions for the fan community and revolve around the non-powered Avengers, the Black Widow and Hawkeye. 

The first is “What happened in Budapest?” Stemming from a seemingly throwaway line, this question has made the Avengers community speculate as to whether this was a battle the two took part in during their S.H.I.E.L.D. days or if it was something more personal.

The other question is how the two met. In The Avengers, Black Widow recalls, “I got on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call.” And that was it. Needless to say, it leaves a lot to the imagination as to what could make a top agent like Hawkeye defy orders from the top brass.

Going to Comic-Con in San Diego is a commitment. It’s not just the travel, the hotels, the Lyfts and Ubers, the food, and the drinks (…oh so many drinks), it’s much more. The floor of SDCC is the ultimate test of maintaining your composure and measuring your self-restraint.

And many, if not all of us, fail. New vinyl collectibles, classic non-sports trading cards, prints, sketches, autographed memorabilia, comics, nostalgia filled unpackaged toys, trades, meet & greets are just the start of the ways that your wallet can bottom out within just a few hours if you aren’t careful.

I, like many, try to go down with a plan on what I will be purchasing. As a Comic-Con veteran of nine SDCC’s (eight of them being consecutive), what I look for in advance is the list of the exclusives. This gives a good baseline for what will most likely be purchased.

This is the first of three (possibly four) recap videos from San Diego Comic-Con International 2016 from my trip this year. As it is my eighth year going as a part of The Flickcast, it has been an honor covering the convention in a variety of ways such as photo galleries, interviews, visual tours and unboxings. This year will be no different. Later this week, our Comic Con shopping haul video will release followed by our Field Trip video where we take you down to the Con floor and even some of the VIP parties.

Our first video kicks off with the Loot Crate Gallery of Heroes Convention Exclusive Crate. Founders of the monthly geek in a box phenomenon, Loot Crate has maintained the top spot in the subscription box community.

In just a few hours, almost 200,000 people will meet in San Diego, CA at the annual gathering of all things geek and pop culture. The Flickcast has gone every year since the site began in 2009 (with many of us having attended before that). To help jog our memories and get things started, WallE and I kicked things off at Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles last week and talked about some of our favorite convention moments.

With the first story happening to Joe back in 1989 and featuring Stan Lee to WallE’s Hall H line nightmare to my encounter with Raptor Jesus (Yes, that’s a thing, watch the video), this trip down memory lane got everyone ready to experience the “grand daddy of them all” again.