I don’t have a gambling bone in my body, but I’m easy prey for a good mystery box, despite a 50/50 winning record with them. But when Zobie Productions announced its first ever Metal mystery box, I knew I’d get one. Zobie specializes in signed memorabilia, holding private signings with celebrities of all kinds, and I’ve used them before with great success, so I was confident that the ‘Zobie Goes Metal’ box would be awesome.
Zobie had announced the box would contain a signed photo by the singer of a popular metal band, a guitar pick straight from metal shredder’s collection, and art print of a metal legend, a patch and a t-shirt. All that for $40 USD? Alright, I’ll take a chance. For that price I didn’t expect a signed Iron Maiden photo, so I felt reasonably confident that the contents would meet my expectations.
What’s in the box?
The T-shirt
First up was the t-shirt. It’s a great looking Gilden black t-shirt, sporting a design inspired by Pantera’s late ‘Dimebag’ Darrell. It features the headstock of his famous signature guitar, with a rattlesnake coiled around it. Not a bad start! And in case you wonder, it is the right size, as we were asked about it when ordering.
The patch and the pick
Next up is a small plastic bag containing the patch and the guitar pick. The patch shows a stylized rendering of Limp Bizkit’s Wes Borland, while the pick comes from the gig bag of Randy Weitzel from In This Moment. Not really a fan of either, but the pick is cool. The badge is meh, both visually and with its inspiration. Feels like we’re 20 years too late for Limp Bizkit, but they were very popular at one point.
The art print
The art print was created by artist Andrew Sanchez of The Art of Madness, and features a drawing of Rob Zombie that seems straight out of his movies! It looks great, and is another interesting addition to the Zobie Goes Metal box.
The autographed photo
As an autograph collector, the autographed photo was the pièce de résistance for sure. The metallic print features In This Moment singer Maria Brink, and it looks stunning! I struggled to take a photo as its surface is like a mirror. She wouldn’t have been my first choice, but she’s super talented, and it’s an excellent choice to kick off this new mystery box. There two possible photos that were randomly inserted, and I got the one I think looks best, so I’m happy with that. I hope they’ll use more live shots in the future, as I prefer those over promo photos (or the dreadful montages so prevalent in mystery boxes), but it’s a great choice nonetheless. The photo comes with a JSA sticker and certificate for authentication (JSA is one of the few certificate of authentication you can trust, in an industry full of forgeries) which is a nice touch.
Conclusion?
For $40, this box is an absolute steal. Once the world goes back to whatever normal will be, I might sell a few items, but for now, I’m fully satisfied with what I received, and I’m looking forward to box #2, that will go on sale May 1st. The first box sold out in about 20 minutes, as it’s produced in very limited quantity, and box #2 will probably be gone even quicker. There are a ton of pop culture and horror mystery boxes out there, but to my knowledge this is the first one dedicated to music and I hope it starts a trend. Although my wallet might have a different opinion.
You can check out Zobie’s amazing inventory of signed memorabilia at www.shopzobie.com.
He's also a regular contributor at the excellent news site Montreal Rampage
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