After several months of delays, Star Trek: Mission Crate subscribers have finally received their first full shipment from Loot Crate, a Star Trek: The Next Generation “Wolf 359” themed crate. From this point forward, Star Trek Mission Crate should ship every other month, though considering payment for the second crate has already been taken, it may come sooner.

Loot Crate is a subscription box of collectibles and apparel that has been around for a number of years, and has subscription boxes under multiple licenses. However, their Star Trek crate has just gotten off the ground, and we we’re excited to bring your details about the first release and its contents.

Many of the products are supplied by longtime Star Trek licensee QMx, who have produced a number of popular and well-regarded items. Many of the contents of the Mission Crates may be made available for general sale at a later time, but Mission Crate is definitely the most cost-effective way to secure these items.

The first thing I want to highlight is the presentation of the box itself. When I picked up this package from the front desk of my building, I was shocked and excited to be handed a package shaped like the shuttlecraft Galileo from the classic Trek series.

The detail on the box is really nice and is not just limited to the exterior; the inside of the box has been printed to make it look like the inside of the Galileo. (The only question, though, is why was this “Wolf 359” set styled to an Original Series theme, rather than a Next Generation design?)

A spectacular amount of effort has gone into the shipping box, and fellow TrekCore contributor Jim Moorehouse has found a great new purpose for his box, taking off the top and turning into a Star Trek themed cat house. I think I’ll be doing the same for my cat – why should I be the only one who dreams of traveling the galaxy?

The other neat part of the presentation is a piece of card printed like a TNG-era PADD containing a list of contents for the box. Clearly, Loot Crate have put a lot of thought and effort into the presentation of their product, and I applaud them for that.

But does the inside of the box match up to the coolness of the outside?

The Wolf 359 Mission Crate contains six items, most themed to The Next Generation, specifically “The Best of Both Worlds.” Generally, for the price of $39.99, I am pretty satisfied with the contents and have found a place for all of them.

Specifically in the box we received:

Locutus of Borg Mini-Master – This is the major item of the box, a detailed figure of Captain Jean-Luc Picard as Locutus of Borg from “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II.” The figure is bigger than I expected, standing a little over 6 inches tall, and is rendered in a soft plastic. (We first saw this on display at ToyFair 2018 last month.)

The likeness to Patrick Stewart and the level of detail on the Borg costume is excellent, but the figure is surprisingly light and lacking in the heft that you would expect. However, the presentation of the figure does allow for effective rendering of the pipes and tubes of the Borg armor without the danger that you will accidentally drop and break one.

Of all the items in the box, this was the one I was most pleased with, and I’m looking forward to seeing what other figures we get in additional boxes.

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D Mini-Master – On the other hand, the Enterprise-D model provided with the box, which we also saw at ToyFair 2018, is a disappointment. QMX has a long history of well-designed and created starship replicas, but this falls short of previous efforts. Partially, this comes from the lower price point of the Mission Crate box, but if you were curious which you would rather display between this or the Eaglemoss version, I would recommend the Eaglemoss.

This rendering of the Enterprise-D measures a little over four inches in length and is made of the same light plastic as the Locutus figure. It attaches to the display base by way of a magnet, so like the Eaglemoss ships it also avoids having a connector built into the ship model itself.

On the positive side, though, for the small size of the ship it has an impressive amount of detail.

Borg Assimilation Tee – A fun t-shirt that I probably wouldn’t have bought by itself but that I am still pleased to have, the shirt shows a view of the Enterprise-D from above, overlaid above a stylistic pattern of Borg circuitry. This is the perfect shirt for a lazy day watching Next Generation reruns.

“Resistance is Futile” Decal – The decal has similar design elements to the shirt and will look good with the other Star Trek stickers I own on my books of convention photo ops. A nice little item.

Star Trek: Discovery Starfleet Division Badge – One of two items not directly associated with “The Best of Both Worlds,” subscribers also received QMx’s version of the badge from the latest Discovery show, which have been on general sale since summer of last year. These badges are very well made and attach to your Starfleet uniform by way of a strong magnet.

When signing up for the Mission Crate, you are asked to pick your Starfleet division – Command, Science, or Operations – and receive the corresponding badge to your selection. The only thing missing from these badges are the little rank insignia pips on the versions used in the show. Hopefully, QMx will one day offer a version with those as well.

Star Trek: Online Code – The final item in the box was a code to unlock free virtual items on the Star Trek MMORPG. Since I don’t play the game I’m not able to assess for you whether it’s worth it, but if there are any STO players reading this please feel free to let us know in the comments what you thought about this item.

Overall, for the price, I was happy with the contents and will keep my subscription. I like the way this Mission Crate was themed to one of the franchise’s greatest episodes, and I am looking forward to seeing which episodes or parts of the franchise they draw inspiration from next.

If I have one complaint, it is on the customer service side. The Wolf 359 crate was initially supposed to be delivered before the holidays, but was delayed until January… and then a second time until the end of February. Though Loot Crate sent out a “special” crate before Christmas as a consolation containing some of the previous Star Trek items contained in their past Loot Crate releases, the delays were extremely frustrating for customers (given the company has so much experience with the subscription box model).

I can only hope that the delays that beset the first box will not be repeated with the second, announced to be Deep Space Nine themed and centered around “The Way of the Warrior, ” with an expected Mini-Master figure based on Lieutenant Commander Worf.

Sign-ups for the “Way of the Warrior” Mission Crate will end on March 15, at which point sign-ups will open for the third unannounced crate. You can get more information and sign-up for the Star Trek Mission Crate at Loot Crate’s official site.