Finally the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase One box set has released. To those of you who (like me) had this pre-ordered since it was first announced last summer, you may be experiencing the following symptoms:
- Euphoria
- Jumping for joy
- Telling strangers to kneel
- Fourth thing that is super funny
For some people, this was a must buy. Personally, I never owned any of the movies despite having enjoyed most of them. I was expecting some sort of collection. Anyone who didn't see this coming doesn't really understand how making money works. But that's a different sort of topic.
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| Whoa! I would trade a baby for that! |
Looks bad ass right! Well, that's the point of promotional material. The die-hards and the collectors were sold before the idea was even pitched. This is a bit of digital magic to entice those that wouldn't typically consider buying something like this. Anyone can tell you to expect worse than this. Still, I was quite excited when I finally got my case.
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| Point that hand elsewhere, RDJ. |
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| Not pictured: me squealing in delight. |
Part of me wanted to keep it sealed. These are supposed to be pretty limited. That notion faded quickly. Give me my movies dammit! The case itself is pretty solid. But if you're expecting metal prepare to be disappointed. The clasps don't even lift. They're just hard plastic. It feels sturdy, but plastic will do what plastic does, which is wear and break. Once open, I kept the movies out of the case for this very reason. The S.H.I.E.L.D. emblem lights up blue if you press the button on the top of the case. Feels unnecessary. If I were, like, 10, and if this was pitched as a toy? I'm sure I'd lose my shit. Alas. The disillusionment of adulthood was too strong to over come. Either way, it wasn't the important part. The reason I bought the set lies within. So, let's crack the case open!
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| I wish it was a lot like this. |
I didn't expect much from the interior, but what I did expect was... well...
more.
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| The first thing I did was try to press the number pad. Don't judge |
My biggest disappointment is with the... uh... I don't even want to call it the Cosmic Cube. I wasn't expecting a perfect replica, but god damn. This is a plastic white box that pulsates blue if you punch it. Huh.
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| Suddenly less imposing |
The way the movies are stored is concerning. The cases are soft, and there was some slight damage caused just by shipping. If you aren't careful the discs are positioned perfectly to slide right into the interior, where they could damage. Speaking of the movies themselves... well. I adore the new covers. These are amazing. I sort of expected the packages to be bigger and more complete, but overall that's easy to set aside. There's a bonus disc full of content included as well. I'll get to that later. Now that the interior of the case was a huge let down, I turned myself to the upper half. Therein lies the goodies.
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| For my eyes only. Oh... |
These are supposed to be S.H.I.E.L.D. reports on the various members of the Avengers. Each file contains really neat things that tie into the various movies.
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| Pictures included to rub my face in what the tesseract is supposed to look like. |
This file contains information for both Widow and Hawkeye, the Tesseract, and Item 47. Most of the text is blacked out to give the feel of a still classified document. There are a couple cool pictures of the Tesseract, as well as my favorite thing in this file:
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| Uh. Amazing. |
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| Files not included. You aren't missing too much. |
This file was designed to look like the one seen in Captain America. Aside various enlistment papers and the photo seen to be included at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger, it has some vintage looking Captain America trading cards (slight foxing around the edges, of course), the doodle Cap made, as well as...
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| Oh...well..that's kind of really sad |
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| The blueprint shall remain as crisp and unfolded as possible. |
As Tony has been in the most movies thus far, his file is the most robust, and has some of the most awesome of things. Newspaper clippings, blueprints (even of the Mark 1 from Iron Man 1. Easily my favorite), and... oh cool. A ticket to Stark Expo. I sure hope when I go that Mickey Rourke keeps his Russian to himself. Anyway, this file is just full of cool shit.
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| I don't remember that napkin. |
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| My excuse for the poor layering: I'm not Tony Stark. |
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| The sketch of Yggdrasil looks like it was torn from a notebook. Cool. |
I really like this one. The file is named for the place, rather than the man. We've got some I.D.'s (including a New York State drivers license for Tho... uh... Dr. Donald J. Blake.
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| He better get that renewed next year. |
There's a hospital tag, belonging to XX, THOR, the drawing of Yggdrasil, as well as the infrared of Thor being cast out, and the page from the mythology book Dr. Selvig discovers.
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| I don't know what that Cryosync thing is supposed to be... |
This one is pretty neat too, despite the decidedly "meh" film. There are some articles, as well as an official looking (mostly blacked out) document. They even have the Stark blueprints for the vehicles with the sonic... blaster... things... on the roof. Although my favorite is the Pingo Doce juicebox sticker. Were I a wasteful man I'd buy a Hi-C juice box and stick this thing on.
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| Remember this thing? |
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| It's textured! |
Lastly was an envelope that told me to open immediately. I was pretty tempted to not even open it, but curiosity got the best of me. Within were only two things. A rather mysterious card, as well as what looks as if it's supposed to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. keycard. (with a password on the back.) The mostly blank card is the secret here. It lines up with a specific page somewhere within the files, which then directs you to a website. This website will only yield to you it's secrets once you put in... yep. The password from the other card. This leads you to a website with an exclusive look at Phase Two. (No, I won't share. The majority of it is about Iron Man 3. Wait a couple weeks. You'll be fine.)
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| Find the toe! |
These files are mostly amazing. Any depression I felt at the lackluster cube and case interior is pretty much placated. And the movies themselves are exactly what you'd expect. Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2 in my PS3 come up as "Iron Man 1/2 disc one"... which... makes me upset that disc two wasn't included for each film... But I'm sure I'm not missing out on much. That bonus disc of special features is pretty much a throwaway as well. It's mostly full of animatics, very few deleted scenes, and the kinda stuff you only watch once.
Final Verdict? Worth while! Especially if you have a blu-ray player (blu-ray only folks, sorry), and none of the films. The sale price was less than each of these films would cost (on blu-ray). If it is as limited as I was lead to believe the price may go up a fair bit. In which case, use this as a guide. I've broken down just about everything in the set. Now, at least you have the privilege to know what you're going to get with your money.
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| I wish it was numbered. |
If you're the gambling type, don't get this set. I'm sure once Phase Three is finished the collection that gets released will be mind-blowing.
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