REVIEW: Dark Horse's SERENITY Lunch Boxes

Upscale brown baggin' for the Browncoats...

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The Browncoats – the truly hardcore fans of Joss Whedon’s short-lived sci-fi western show, “Firefly,” and its major motion picture, Serenity - are a proud breed, eager to proclaim their passionate fandom. And since they have respectable numbers and disposable income, the magic of capitalism has provided them with no small amount of merchandise to allow them this proclamation. In the few short years since the release of Serenity, we’ve seen action figures, and statues, and Christmas ornaments, for proud display around the home or office. We’ve seen T-shirts and other assorted clothing items, to announce the wearer’s allegiance anywhere they go. There has been released a role-playing game, and other assorted books on the subject, for the Browncoat’s bookshelf. Which is all very well – but not one of these items has been suitable for carrying one’s lunch.

But now, at last, this hole in the world has been filled, by Dark Horse Deluxe’s release of a pair of Serenity-themed lunch boxes.

One of this pair of food transport containers is a simple, direct, movie-themed lunch box. Its opening side has the film’s logo, on a field of stars in a brown border; the opposite side shows the Serenity starship itself, flying over red-golden clouds. The ship itself is raised off of the metal of the box, in relief. This, of course, creates a 3-D effect, which is slight, but attractive nonetheless.

Perhaps the nicest touch, though, is the thinner sides of the box, which feature a repeating motif of Serenity-universe paper money, in denominations of 100 and 500 units of whatever ‘verse money is called. They are intricate little pieces, with paired imperial dragons facing in on a stylized star-system. These are great-looking, infrequently-seen works of art, that capture the old-yet-futuristic feel of Serenity extremely well, and they are most welcome here.

The other new Serenity lunch box is somewhat more obscure. Bereft of logos of the film, it is instead wholly dedicated to Fruity Oaty Bars – a foodstuff advertised in the movie, setting the character of River Tam into a frenzy with its subliminal messaging. The lunch box recreates the feel of the in-world advertisement, with its incredibly loud colors, Chinese characters, and cute but vaguely spooky cartoon girls. (All of this seems a bit of a parody of hyper-kinetic Japanese advertising.)

With its lack of overt movie images or titles, one can imagine just such a thing somewhere aboard the Serenity. So that’s neat. In our own world, it can be used to flush out the truly devoted fans of the movie – they’re the only ones who’ll recognize it. Please be advised, though: Lengthy staring at this lunchbox on the part of your humble reviewer has failed entirely to produce a frenzy of any kind.

In terms of pure utility, these are perfectly decent lunch boxes. Will they hold your lunch? Yes they will. Are they durable? They seem to be –they’re metal. Do they close firmly? Basically – the latch is a simple, one-hinge thing, as opposed to the more secure multi-hinge latch you see on some lunch boxes. So perhaps the true lunch box connoisseur will be disappointed by this. The rest of us will get along fine, most likely.

Each of these lunch boxes retails for $15, give or take. They are available wherever fine nerd-themed meal containers are sold.

To the Serenity fan who needs something to carry his lunch to other places in, these lunch boxes should recommend themselves. And there’s nothing secretly wrong with them to dilute that recommendation. With its freakishly bizarre design and entirely in-universe nature, the Fruity Oaty Bar lunchbox is kinda the niftier of the two. Though there’s something to be said for the directness and simplicity of the other lunch box.

Review and Photos by Matthew Kessen

Review Samples Courtesy of Dark Horse

Serenity Lunch Box Photo Gallery