I'm gonna take a moment to wax poetic of why I find this set so incredible.
Just skip this post if you don't care;
Over All Presentation;
- This is certainly an eye-catcher and hard to overlook when you walk into your media room and see it on the shelf.
Build;
- The case is made of wood. Very few of my premiums have that material used, (some UHD Premiums and Wicker Man (dvd) the only ones that spring to mind)
- Some have commented that the sleeves would have been better suited to wood. I disagree, as robust as Blu-rays are, I think eventually they would scratch were it so.
- The leather tabs on each season pane make it extremely easy to find and remove the particular season you are watching
- The plastic windows are removable for cleaning, an excellent idea!
- The slots each pane slides into are strong and evenly spaced
- The box closure is leather and riveted to the wood case for stability. A great idea. The Hand of the King pin is an excellent fastening device (note, the leather is brand new so I'm not concerned with the effort rq'd to insert the pin, it will loosen up).
- The artwork on each sleeve is gorgeous and SO MUCH better than had they used pics from the film in some sort of collage, imho. Yes you need to be careful with the disc retaining tabs but no more so than many packages I own and far better than using plastic tabs that could easily break with little chance of replacement.
- Once placed, it ain't goin' nowhere. unless you live in an earthquake prone area, no fears of this falling off a shelf.
- The protective cardboard box is quite attractive as well and I'll probably use it when I'm done watching the series to protect from dust (which I have an issue with, heh).
Contents;
- Well, ya get all the shows and a plethora of extras. Also a nice episode ToC book.
I'm not one who cares about superfluous 'naff (like postcards, groan, just why?) so actually happy it's not cluttered with stuff I'd probably throw in a drawer or lose anyway.
- For those so set up, I do wish they had made you a 4K edition. Fortunately(?) I don't have that concern. (also the price would have been much higher I imagine and the price already scares some folk for some reason (more on that below).
- Not much else to say really, it has what I wanted it to have.
So yeah, I am in awe with this set.
Now regarding price. Well, it's dropped already (on Amz at least) and when I consider what folks paid for each individual season, either in digi-pack or Steel, this is an absolute bargain, imho.
As for just getting the full set in the cardboard box, well sure, if say you already have the Steels and want a more convenient option for frequent viewing but since I don't, this CE puts the boxed set to shame and that box is not cheap either.
Also, comparing the price of this beauty to some of my Premium Editions (BF, FAC, HDZ etc) a helluva a bigger bang for the buck I'd say!
There we are. A great set in a great presentation for a reasonable price.
My new fave Premium!
edit: now if I put thought to an alternative design that would have been gorgeous as well; how about a weathered-metal statue of the Throne (with possibly a removable Sean Bean fig), with all the discs housed in the base?