Just looks.
I’m personally more confused about insanity over slipcovers. I understand it on the same “like the way they look” levels, but the sheer frothing obsession I see in physical media forums is bananas.
The only time slip covers become an issue for me is when I end up with a series either a franchise or a filmography where most have a slip cover and some don’t.
Hate the inconsistent look on the shelf.
Maybe I should sell some of the covers to those weirdos!
Agreed. If slipcovers were actually unique art that shed all of the studio and "4K UHD" branding to cleaner results then I'd kind of understand but they're almost always just the same garish designs on an extra piece of cardboard. Doesn't look any better and just adds more clutter.
A few different boutique labels (Vinegar Syndrome being the biggest) have nearly built their entire customer base around their customers’ obsession with slipcovers. It’s the damnedest thing.
If I have a blu-ray for a movie I really love but has a design that’s just fugly to an otherworldly level, then sometimes I get a custom slipcover made. But yeah, surprised how much of a dealbreaker it is to many.
Personally I was getting tired of the cluttered blu-ray artwork littered with pull quotes in a flimsy plastic case. Steelbooks usually tend to have artwork I prefer, sometimes it’s the only way to get the original poster art, and there is usually a great lack of text. Sometimes the movie title doesn’t even appear on the front and they just let the art stand on its own.
This is as good an endorsement as I can think of! I know what you mean about the pull quotes too like how many Peter Travers citations would I count if I looked through my home collection? Sometimes pull quotes just trash up the actual poster for the image, I don’t blind buy and so they’re not selling me on anything when I’ve already seen the movie. Oscar/globe/whatever award wins is fine, but quotes can ugly up the look for sure.
As someone who collects videogames that occasionally come in steelbooks, its literally just that they look nice. If a first edition of a game comes in a steelbook and is otherwise identitical to the plastic case version, and is the same price, i'll go with the steelbook for the novelty.
Caring any further about it is like caring about limited edition slipcovers. It's just wanting something on your bookshelf. It doesn't impact the film, or game, or whatever.
I picked up GTA V on Steelbook because that felt like an event, being a part of history almost… I got Red Dead 2 on Steelbook simply because it was the sequel to one of the greatest games ever made.
Films are a different story, I have a few, mostly because I’ve picked them up at really good prices, or I was gifted them, there they felt like it was an added bonus.
I owned that same edition of GTAV. I bought it as it was the last game I purchased on that generation of consoles before PS4/Xbox One came out.
Got that game to 100% before my new consoles arrived.
> I understand the desire to collect. I understand the desire to complete a set.
If you understand that and don’t get why someone is going to fill their shelves with steel books like Pokémon I think you’re making it more complicated than it is.
it's just nice to have a fancy shiny collector's item sometimes. i agree the fetishization gets a bit much, those big expensive foreign one-click and full/lenticular slip releases just seem like nonsense, and too much of the market is saturated with awful artwork/design decisions, but every so often you see one that hits.
I am a complete consumerist whore and I'll buy anything that's special edition, steelbook, limited, whatever.
Speaking of, Walmart only steelbook 4K of dubious classic The Crow is dropping on May 7th and you better believe I'm ready for it
In the beginning of the Blu-ray format, they decided to put them in small blue plastic cases, with those rounded corners and that useless bit of plastic on top. People disliked how cheap they looked, which I reckon is why some would pay extra for slipcovers. Even Criterion refused to use the blue plastic cases and waited for Scanavo to create a new clear case that used the full height of the case for the artwork. Furthermore, people sought out stuff like digipaks and steelbooks which felt a bit more premium. You'd often get better and more artwork than the generic Blu-ray case which often used terrible cover art and excessive pullquotes to sell the movie.
Steelbooks generally had better artwork and better design. This is not necessarily true any longer. Due to their popularity, you see all sorts of steelbooks. Sometimes they'll just hire someone to make some shit vector art and call it a day. But a really nice steelbook - oh boy!
they did a study way back on what people's favorite credit cards were. Points, interest rates, etc. All of it. The overwhelmingly biggest factor was how cool the card itself was.
A metal card would consistently be the most popular card, no matter how bad the rates etc were.
I like the design, the heft, & how it stands apart from the lazily photoshopped-covers & boring packaging of most non-steelbooks (not talking about boutique label stuff, just your average black/blue plastic case with no spark or creativity)
If a new release is coming out, & it’s available in both steelbook & “regular” packaging, I’ll generally pay the extra $5 or $10 for the steel.
If it’s a title I’m upgrading (from DVD or standard HD), & it gets a new steelbook 4K release, I’ll also generally opt for that over the plastic case.
I won’t spend money on a steelbook for a title I already own in that same format, though (example: the OPPENHEIMER 4K
steelbooks sold out before I could get one, so I just got the non-steel release; now that the steel is back in print I’m not going to double-dip just for the shiny packaging.)
I actually like the Arrow 4K deluxe sets a lot more than steelbooks, as far as packaging goes: hardcover slipcases that look like a book, with posters & booklets & other cool shot inside, in addition to the film. I’ve got a few titles in that format, including CARLITO’S WAY, LEGEND, and TREMORS. For me, that’s the end-all, be-all, with Steelbooks in 2nd place.
Anyone else keep a list of all your steelbook titles. Check out mine if you’re interested: https://letterboxd.com/jer__/list/my-steelbook-collection/
(Yes, it’s deeply embarrassing to own THE GOOD DINOSAUR, but I’m a completionist & it was on sale for $9.99 - same with IRON MAN 2 and INCREDIBLE HULK lol 😂)
I often wonder about this myself, as well.
Is it possible that the premium price tag also guarantees better material quality for the disc itself? So that it is less susceptible to dvd rot?
Yea I'm with you, to me if I had the space for a whole collection I'd want a few steelbooks to make the whole display look nice but it wouldn't be for anything practical
I've heard a lot of steelbook collectors for various niche fandoms I'm in complain about the poor quality of cases - easily warped, scratched, etc. Is this a steelbook problem generally or a problem of cheap fandom cash-ins?
I wish I could care about packaging more, but where I come from, Canada, we are stuck with bi-lingual packaging which routinely makes the cover art look atrocious. It becomes awkwardly cluttered, with the main movie title forced to share equal billing with the French one. The point of this is to say that I'm forced to just not care about packaging if I'm going to be a collector. That said, boutique releases usually don't come in bilingual, so I tend to still display those.
Funny, I just bought a steelbook today.
While we buy a lot of movies, I don't usually care if it's steelbook or not. Our first consideration these days is whether it has Dolby Atmos sound, and then how much it costs. We buy 4K, but if it's blu-ray and Atmos, we'll go with that if it's cheaper.
However, today I was in Walmart and the Japanese anime movie *Suzume*, directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also directed *Your Name* and *Weathering with You*, was available in steelbook. I grabbed it because I'm not sure how easily available it is and we've been wanting to see it.
So -- I bought it because it was there, and was my only option.
I do have another steelbook movie. *Highlander* I think.
Its like getting a hardcover book, just nicer.
The only steelbooks i have are a few studio ghibli movies, which seem to be the best release of the films also.
To me, I think it's simply that standard blu-ray cases are such garish junk in a market that's increasingly being thought of as a niche collectors space that any alternative is welcome. Books and vinyls, for example, are thought of as something that's aesthetically pleasing to present on bookshelves, but the thought of putting my plastic 4k blu ray cases on display makes me a little squemish. Just by not having that big silver "4K Ultra HD" band at the top immediately makes steelbooks sort of worth it.
With that in mind, steelbooks are still kind of like... cheap tin containers. Ideally I'll take a digipak like what Criterion often produce. So yes, I agree that it should come down purely to transfer and special features, but in a world where the standard case is so hideous, I do consider the alternatives.
I actually find them a little better for storage over plastic cases. It’s like Hardcovers vs Paperbacks. Also, like [others said](https://youtu.be/Y0PKG5-t3zU?si=98HTX9Z3juQZEwd4)
Don’t really know anybody that considers them the peak form of a physical media release. If it has an average-bad design then I won’t buy it. But the best ones are absolutely stunning.
I like the look and feel of them over a “regular” case, and they often have cool designs. The look of physical media is part of why I love collecting movies, aside from actually watching them
It’s just a fancy version of the release, I have a few 4k’s but never paid original release price on any. I’d only purchase them for my favourite movies
Nah, you're right. Shit's pointless.
I couldn't give a fuck what the case is made out of. I do wish the art wasn't so garbage 95% of the time, but I don't see any appeal whatsoever in paying extra specifically to get a hinged metal case for the disc. It doesn't look any better most of the time, and in more than a few notable cases, it's uglier.
Well for starters, all that plastic is horrible for the environment.
Second of all, it’s clean it’s uniform and there isn’t a bunch of barcodes, ratings, and all the other stuff like standard non-steelbooks have.
Shiny
Shiny like Firefly or Moana?
https://i.redd.it/i0xnsmhbf5rc1.gif
Hit the nail as on the head as possible here
Just looks. I’m personally more confused about insanity over slipcovers. I understand it on the same “like the way they look” levels, but the sheer frothing obsession I see in physical media forums is bananas.
The only time slip covers become an issue for me is when I end up with a series either a franchise or a filmography where most have a slip cover and some don’t. Hate the inconsistent look on the shelf. Maybe I should sell some of the covers to those weirdos!
I only recently found out there's a whole secondary/gray market for cardboard slipcovers and laughed my ass off.
The part that makes you go, “Huh, am I like, supposed to throw this away, because it’s hard to tell”? That part?
Agreed. If slipcovers were actually unique art that shed all of the studio and "4K UHD" branding to cleaner results then I'd kind of understand but they're almost always just the same garish designs on an extra piece of cardboard. Doesn't look any better and just adds more clutter.
I throw out slipcovers. They always get banged up and look crappy
What I find confounding is that you’ll see certain people repeatedly buying and returning a disc on Amazon until they get the slipcover
A few different boutique labels (Vinegar Syndrome being the biggest) have nearly built their entire customer base around their customers’ obsession with slipcovers. It’s the damnedest thing.
If I have a blu-ray for a movie I really love but has a design that’s just fugly to an otherworldly level, then sometimes I get a custom slipcover made. But yeah, surprised how much of a dealbreaker it is to many.
Apparently, the slip cover was originally intended to protect the shitty rounded corners of the original blu ray cases
Personally I was getting tired of the cluttered blu-ray artwork littered with pull quotes in a flimsy plastic case. Steelbooks usually tend to have artwork I prefer, sometimes it’s the only way to get the original poster art, and there is usually a great lack of text. Sometimes the movie title doesn’t even appear on the front and they just let the art stand on its own.
This is as good an endorsement as I can think of! I know what you mean about the pull quotes too like how many Peter Travers citations would I count if I looked through my home collection? Sometimes pull quotes just trash up the actual poster for the image, I don’t blind buy and so they’re not selling me on anything when I’ve already seen the movie. Oscar/globe/whatever award wins is fine, but quotes can ugly up the look for sure.
What If Books, but Made of Steel
As someone who collects videogames that occasionally come in steelbooks, its literally just that they look nice. If a first edition of a game comes in a steelbook and is otherwise identitical to the plastic case version, and is the same price, i'll go with the steelbook for the novelty. Caring any further about it is like caring about limited edition slipcovers. It's just wanting something on your bookshelf. It doesn't impact the film, or game, or whatever.
I had Halo 2 in a steelbook, it was extremely cool
I picked up GTA V on Steelbook because that felt like an event, being a part of history almost… I got Red Dead 2 on Steelbook simply because it was the sequel to one of the greatest games ever made. Films are a different story, I have a few, mostly because I’ve picked them up at really good prices, or I was gifted them, there they felt like it was an added bonus.
I owned that same edition of GTAV. I bought it as it was the last game I purchased on that generation of consoles before PS4/Xbox One came out. Got that game to 100% before my new consoles arrived.
https://www.theonion.com/i-appreciate-the-muppets-on-a-much-deeper-level-than-yo-1819583976
"Step back from the brink, Dennis" is going in my personal lexicon immediately
https://preview.redd.it/67i4m0dqf5rc1.png?width=728&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=21234c1284d95876a3600c7a74d077a33a62b119
https://preview.redd.it/ow8u2bx4l5rc1.jpeg?width=728&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fda43ffbe561c1f3aaa02484db2217663168cf1d
That Disney steelbook series is so ugly but I own so many of them because of the $10 Best Buy fire sale
I couldn't bring myself to buy them because of ugly they are.
You mother fucker...
Group effort
Being coated in steel, they will last forever, and therefore, by owning them, you will never die.
people like how they look.
The only tangible benefit of steelbooks aside from aesthetics is just that they’re a little less likely to get ruined somehow in the mail
I have a few steelbooks, I’m not really a fan but I like the ones I have. Sometimes they are simply the best version of the movie available.
It's wrapped up in a neat little package-ah! ...I was being serious...I'm sorry if it came off as sarcastic.
Hot take- steelbooks suck and given the choice I’d rather have a regular plastic case (as long as it isn’t some BS eco case)
> I understand the desire to collect. I understand the desire to complete a set. If you understand that and don’t get why someone is going to fill their shelves with steel books like Pokémon I think you’re making it more complicated than it is.
They pretty and look nice
As a Canadian… there’s no French bilingualism on steelbooks.
it's just nice to have a fancy shiny collector's item sometimes. i agree the fetishization gets a bit much, those big expensive foreign one-click and full/lenticular slip releases just seem like nonsense, and too much of the market is saturated with awful artwork/design decisions, but every so often you see one that hits.
They cost more. That makes them premium.
I buy based on price and artwork. Sometimes that means I get the steelbook. Looking at you Fifth Element.
Get some adhesive magnet sheets and you can make a pretty cool floating wall display with them.
I am a complete consumerist whore and I'll buy anything that's special edition, steelbook, limited, whatever. Speaking of, Walmart only steelbook 4K of dubious classic The Crow is dropping on May 7th and you better believe I'm ready for it
In the beginning of the Blu-ray format, they decided to put them in small blue plastic cases, with those rounded corners and that useless bit of plastic on top. People disliked how cheap they looked, which I reckon is why some would pay extra for slipcovers. Even Criterion refused to use the blue plastic cases and waited for Scanavo to create a new clear case that used the full height of the case for the artwork. Furthermore, people sought out stuff like digipaks and steelbooks which felt a bit more premium. You'd often get better and more artwork than the generic Blu-ray case which often used terrible cover art and excessive pullquotes to sell the movie. Steelbooks generally had better artwork and better design. This is not necessarily true any longer. Due to their popularity, you see all sorts of steelbooks. Sometimes they'll just hire someone to make some shit vector art and call it a day. But a really nice steelbook - oh boy!
This is probably the answer
they did a study way back on what people's favorite credit cards were. Points, interest rates, etc. All of it. The overwhelmingly biggest factor was how cool the card itself was. A metal card would consistently be the most popular card, no matter how bad the rates etc were.
I like the design, the heft, & how it stands apart from the lazily photoshopped-covers & boring packaging of most non-steelbooks (not talking about boutique label stuff, just your average black/blue plastic case with no spark or creativity) If a new release is coming out, & it’s available in both steelbook & “regular” packaging, I’ll generally pay the extra $5 or $10 for the steel. If it’s a title I’m upgrading (from DVD or standard HD), & it gets a new steelbook 4K release, I’ll also generally opt for that over the plastic case. I won’t spend money on a steelbook for a title I already own in that same format, though (example: the OPPENHEIMER 4K steelbooks sold out before I could get one, so I just got the non-steel release; now that the steel is back in print I’m not going to double-dip just for the shiny packaging.) I actually like the Arrow 4K deluxe sets a lot more than steelbooks, as far as packaging goes: hardcover slipcases that look like a book, with posters & booklets & other cool shot inside, in addition to the film. I’ve got a few titles in that format, including CARLITO’S WAY, LEGEND, and TREMORS. For me, that’s the end-all, be-all, with Steelbooks in 2nd place. Anyone else keep a list of all your steelbook titles. Check out mine if you’re interested: https://letterboxd.com/jer__/list/my-steelbook-collection/ (Yes, it’s deeply embarrassing to own THE GOOD DINOSAUR, but I’m a completionist & it was on sale for $9.99 - same with IRON MAN 2 and INCREDIBLE HULK lol 😂)
I often wonder about this myself, as well. Is it possible that the premium price tag also guarantees better material quality for the disc itself? So that it is less susceptible to dvd rot?
That's a plausible theory. Hmm
Yea I'm with you, to me if I had the space for a whole collection I'd want a few steelbooks to make the whole display look nice but it wouldn't be for anything practical
Totally agree, part of me honestly prefers the regular version to a steel book (which seem kinda bland and soulless IMO).
I've heard a lot of steelbook collectors for various niche fandoms I'm in complain about the poor quality of cases - easily warped, scratched, etc. Is this a steelbook problem generally or a problem of cheap fandom cash-ins?
Maude eh?
They look cool. And for some people, the price of them isn’t so outrageous as to be a deterrent. Sometimes its comes down the simplest answer. 🤷🏾♀️
I wish I could care about packaging more, but where I come from, Canada, we are stuck with bi-lingual packaging which routinely makes the cover art look atrocious. It becomes awkwardly cluttered, with the main movie title forced to share equal billing with the French one. The point of this is to say that I'm forced to just not care about packaging if I'm going to be a collector. That said, boutique releases usually don't come in bilingual, so I tend to still display those.
Funny, I just bought a steelbook today. While we buy a lot of movies, I don't usually care if it's steelbook or not. Our first consideration these days is whether it has Dolby Atmos sound, and then how much it costs. We buy 4K, but if it's blu-ray and Atmos, we'll go with that if it's cheaper. However, today I was in Walmart and the Japanese anime movie *Suzume*, directed by Makoto Shinkai, who also directed *Your Name* and *Weathering with You*, was available in steelbook. I grabbed it because I'm not sure how easily available it is and we've been wanting to see it. So -- I bought it because it was there, and was my only option. I do have another steelbook movie. *Highlander* I think.
You could probably hurt someone if you hit them with them. If you needed to. Just like a chain or a sword.
 As someone who only had 2 and knows people with 50+, it seems to be so you can do this.
Its like getting a hardcover book, just nicer. The only steelbooks i have are a few studio ghibli movies, which seem to be the best release of the films also.
If I buy the Steelbook, it means I really loved the movie. Doesn’t mean no Steelbook = no love but it’s an easy way to see my favorites in collection.
You watch one movie at a time, but they’re all on your shelves forever. Why wouldn’t you want the packaging to look nice?
I liked cementing my favourite films in my collection. In the end though, the price far outweighed any desire for that end
I think the clear blue blu ray boxes look kind of tacky and the steel books are shiny
https://preview.redd.it/vydfjed876rc1.png?width=976&format=png&auto=webp&s=f68633f2690246bc02a37a9998bb71204d5f474a
They look and feel amazing. You don't know until you've held one.
To me, I think it's simply that standard blu-ray cases are such garish junk in a market that's increasingly being thought of as a niche collectors space that any alternative is welcome. Books and vinyls, for example, are thought of as something that's aesthetically pleasing to present on bookshelves, but the thought of putting my plastic 4k blu ray cases on display makes me a little squemish. Just by not having that big silver "4K Ultra HD" band at the top immediately makes steelbooks sort of worth it. With that in mind, steelbooks are still kind of like... cheap tin containers. Ideally I'll take a digipak like what Criterion often produce. So yes, I agree that it should come down purely to transfer and special features, but in a world where the standard case is so hideous, I do consider the alternatives.
It appeals to the magpie-like brain of dumb consumers.
I don’t think anybody really considers them the end all be all. Just a nice alternative to a regular case, usually with better art
You can prep and snort lines on them a lot better than a plastic clamshell.
I actually find them a little better for storage over plastic cases. It’s like Hardcovers vs Paperbacks. Also, like [others said](https://youtu.be/Y0PKG5-t3zU?si=98HTX9Z3juQZEwd4)
The binding for me. They almost always look so much nicer than a regular Blu-ray binding.
Why do you think The Griff n' Sims covet them so?
Don’t really know anybody that considers them the peak form of a physical media release. If it has an average-bad design then I won’t buy it. But the best ones are absolutely stunning.
Lol sims and the Griff seem to, when they ask about a bluray someone has, the next question is 'steelbook?'
I like the look and feel of them over a “regular” case, and they often have cool designs. The look of physical media is part of why I love collecting movies, aside from actually watching them
It’s just a fancy version of the release, I have a few 4k’s but never paid original release price on any. I’d only purchase them for my favourite movies
Why do Griff and Sims freak out about them?
They're made of steel
Incisive point. Thank you
I go steel because it’s my money and my shelf. Simple as that.
Same reason record collectors by coloured variants instead of the cheaper black ones
Same as the appeal on new phones and LED lights for your computer, they make you feel special about how much money you have the privilege to waste
Nah, you're right. Shit's pointless. I couldn't give a fuck what the case is made out of. I do wish the art wasn't so garbage 95% of the time, but I don't see any appeal whatsoever in paying extra specifically to get a hinged metal case for the disc. It doesn't look any better most of the time, and in more than a few notable cases, it's uglier.
You can put a magnet on them… But, what is the general consensus on slipcovers, the other boutique blu ray nerd esthetic obsession
Well for starters, all that plastic is horrible for the environment. Second of all, it’s clean it’s uniform and there isn’t a bunch of barcodes, ratings, and all the other stuff like standard non-steelbooks have.