Goodwill Finds: Egyptian Netherworlds, Mad Scientists, and Bubble Bath!

Hey everybody! I'm back with another pile of junk I found at Goodwill! I don't remember exactly when I would have picked up this load of stuff but I do believe it was last fall sometime. I'm going to kick things off with a board game:

"Passing Through the Netherworld: The Meaning and Play of Senet, an Ancient Egyptian Funerary Game" while being a ridiculously long name for a board game... is at least very efficient and accurate in its description.

Back when I was in high school, I was OBSESSED with mythology. I loved to read all I could about Greek, Norse, and especially Egyptian mythology. I would spend my entire study hall some days, poring over books on mythology, or reading whole sections of the ACTUAL ENCYCLOPEDIA to glean what details I could about ancient cultures and religions. I would photocopy whole stacks of pages from said books and encyclopedias to bring home with me to pore over more in my room at night. These would become the fodder for short stories, poems, role-playing adventures, comic books that I would start to write and never finish, you name it. So finding a game based on the beliefs of "the cult of the dead" from ancient Egypt...?

Yes please.

I was delighted to find that everything the game was supposed to contain was still in the box. I was less delighted to discover that absolutely no one in my family is interested in playing some creepy old Egyptian death-cult board game with me. Sigh.

Found the second collected volume of Mike Bullock's "Lions, Tigers, and Bears" from Image comics. I've never read this series, but had heard good things, so am hoping I can find the first book in the series on the cheap at some point. 

I love Love LOVE the idea of stuffed animals transforming into powerful night-time guardians of children, protecting them from bogeymen and nightmares. This idea is such a great concept. I hope it is executed well. 

I always have my eye peeled for old Sesame Street books, and this trip to Goodwill did not disappoint. "Ernie's Little Lie" is a real Raymond Chandler-style pot-boiler of suspense and intrigue as the titular protagonist digs himself deeper and deeper into a seedy world of shadows and illusions where nothing is what it seems and identities are as blurred as melting wax. Also it has a great "don't tell lies" moral for the kids. 

Harry McNaught's illustrations are the main draw for me in "The Sesame Street ABC Book of Words" This is a big, bulky, and old Sesame Street book that brings me back to the good old days. 

I don't have a TON to say about "Scrooge's Silly Day" except for the fact that it came out the same year that Ducktales was in its final season. It is certainly an unofficial but certainly legitimate Ducktales book in "Mickey's Young Readers Library". 

I discovered another of these incredible "Twisted Journeys" books, which is a hybrid graphic novel AND choose-your-own-adventure. Couldn't pass it up. And it's "Horror In Space" number 18 in the series! There are at least 16 more f these that I don't own yet! (I found another Twisted Journeys book back in 2012). Then there is the "Which Way - Secret Door Book: The Inch High Kid" which is another knock-off CYOA.

A quartet of genuine-article CYOA's including "War With the Evil Power Master," "Prisoner of the Ant People," "Hyerspace," and "House of Danger." All awesome finds, but I am especially excited about the first two.

There were two grab-bags full of toys on this trip as well. Let's take a look at the first one shall we? (There's some stuff here that doesn't make the cut...)

This Mad Scientist is from the 2003 "Stretch Screamers" McDonald's Happy Meal premiums line. In addition to the Mummy and the fin-man I now have three of the eight in the set. There is another one that looks like a brain floating in a jar with a robot body... some sort of yellow-vomiting orange creature... Oh they are all so beautiful. Looking back up at the "screamer" at hand though, if you tug the Mad Scientist's arm, it makes his pink-jelly brain expand up into the clear dome of his skull. It's very impressive.

This Halloween edition of Marge Simpson from a Burger King Kids' Club meal is AWESOME. Speaking of ancient Egypt...

And here we have Groundskeeper Willie, "The Grim Sweeper" also a Burger King Kids' Club Halloween toy. He... really seems to be stroking that broom handle. Like really caressing it.

Love the show Batman: The Brave and the Bold, but never owned a single one of the full-sized action figures. This is an interesting translucent plastic variant. Not sure if it's meant to be "stealth" Batman or "ghost" Batman... or what... but he's pretty nifty, and he looks great on the shelf with my other Batman action figures.

One of my favorite finds from this trip has to be this "Collectors' Guide to Bubble Bath Containers" Flipping through this thing just brought a huge grin to my face. I was even able to find my He-Man bubble bath bottle inside!

Here we have an assortment of "My Little Pony" books. I picked them up because I have a home in mind for them already. I have a hard time leaving any 80's licensed property books behind, even if they aren't the kinds of things I used to collect as a kid.

Same with "Pound Puppies" books. I was never a HUGE Pound Puppies fan... so these books are most likely going off to another home.

"An American Tail" and "Muppet Babies" books from McDonald's however... THESE ARE AMAZING AND ALL MINE BABY!!!

And here we have the second grab-bag of the haul, which contains just four items. But I liked all four! 

First we have Sultan Spongebob from the "Lost In Time" series of Happy Meal toys, from back in 2004. This was a truly inspired series of Spongebob figures, featuring the character as he would have appeared in various times throughout history.

This spinner toy is from a 2002 series of Burger King Kids' Club meal premiums, from the "Nintendo Superstars" series. Not really sure what it's for... but it's fun to push the button on top and watch Bowser chase the Princess around and around and around.

Here we have an Imperial Guard Star Wars LEGO keychain. I had no idea that these guys were popular enough to warrant their own keychains, honestly. But I'll take it!

And finally, a baby Po toy from the Kung Fu Panda 2 line of McDonald's Happy Meal toys. I'm a sucker for Kung Fu Panda, even if I didn't care for the 2nd movie nearly as much as the first. This toy is CRAZY cute though.

So there you have it folks! The entire haul! This was a bigger trip than I've been having as of late, and if you're still reading this thing, then kudos to you! You now have bragging rights.

I'll be back soon with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Halloween Countdown Day 25: A Package from "CRPechonick" of Geek Show Ink!

So a... WHILE back... I won an instagram (...or was it Twitter? I don't remember now.) contest. And it was actually being done by an online buddy of mine "CRPechonick" (or Charles... or Chuck) who runs the Geek Show Ink blog and site, and whom I'm received goodies from before. He's an incredibly talented artist, and the prize he was giving away in his contest was a sketch card of any character you chose. I... being a Halloween fanatic, knew EXACTLY who I wanted featured on my sketch card. 

In typical fashion, Chuck sent me a whole box of goodies instead of just my prize... because that is just his way. He's generous to a fault. So let's take a look at what he sent me shall we? I'll show you the sketch card at the end (eagle-eyed readers may THINK they see the sketch card... but you would NOT be entirely correct...) and THAT will be what makes this post a part of my Halloween countdown!

To at least start us off on a Halloween-y note, I'll show off a couple of the movies he sent me! First up, the Gamera Trilogy, which begins with "Guardian of the Universe" from 1995. I had confessed to Chuck at some point that I was interested in kaiju films and had not yet really... seen... any. So he offered to send me some because that's how he rolls. Godzilla's revenge from 1969 makes this the perfect 1-2 punch of famous giant scaly guys.

MIGHTY BEANZ! I actually ended up giving these to my two sons to play with because they love both Star Wars and Mighty Beanz.

One of my FAVORITE things about this package? All the frikkin' BATTLE BEASTS!!! I had the beaver guy in the front when I was a kid, and he was actually one of my favorites!!! So glad to have another one in my collection! The others are all completely BAD-ASS as well. These are some truly cool Battle Beasts. I mean the frog? The tarsier? And ANY Battle beast with wings was automatically coveted by all when I was a kid. I like his leg hoses. Makes me think of Apocalypse.

Love Batman: The Brave and the Bold so receiving two of those toys really made my day... and the Brainiac is from some version of the Legion of Superheroes, I know, but I confess I'm not sure which version. Just FYI: The bat-s**t crazy concept that the Batmobile could transform into a mecha really pleased me. THAT is what you see crouching there in the middle. THE BATMOBILE.

Next up Marvel! In a way, Agent Coulson is directly responsible for me winning this prize from Chuck and getting me all this cool loot. My absolute favorite pieces in this little lot are the Sentinel and Iceman. But I'm a marvel guy, so I love it all.

Star Wars stuff! Two bobbleheads (technically R2-D2 is a bobble-body but you get the point) and an Angry Birds Star wars X-Wing pilot!

Yoshi in his Kart and the G.I. Joe Combat Heroes Duke notwithstanding, this batch of stuff seems pretty Halloween-y right? We have a Gogo's Crazy Bones minifig that looks like a cobra, a little pitchfork-wielding voodoo doll guy, and a SLUGS Zombies Sawblade Sampson figure (obviously an homage to Ash of Evil Dead). That beautiful ZBot in the center? The one who looks like a Jack-o'-Lantern carbed by H.R. Geiger? His name is "Jawbreaker" and he's from the Burger King set of 5 (of which I now only need 2 more to complete the set!!!)

AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMEN... The moment you've all been waiting for! The sketch card that Chuck Pechonick sent me!!! Take a gander:

When I made my request of Chuck, I asked if he could do two characters on the same card. I wanted a nice picture of Sam from Trick R' Treat and Jack from the Nightmare Before Christmas interacting in some way. And this was his solution: To heck with it, he'd just do two cards!!! Look at this thing! I love the idea that Sam is visiting Halloweentown and Jack is welcoming him in! I've decided I want to start collecting art from anyone who's interested in doing a similar piece (Sam and Jack together) because before I started requesting this idea (I have approached a couple of other artists as well) I found a disturbing LACK of art featuring these two characters together online. Doesn't it just seem like sort of a no-brainer? Anyway, if I get enough of these collected by next Halloween, I'm going to feature them all October long. I'd love to see these two balancing on a log Calvin & Hobbes-style, or sitting in a diner Norman Rockwell-style. Sam sitting on Jack's shoulders to watch a parade... or menacing terrified children on Christmas Eve! 

So there you have it folks! An incredibly generous package from an incredibly generous guy! Thanks to Charles Pechonick and be sure to check him out on Instagram  and Twitter and check out his site over at Geekshowink.com to see his blog, his art, and other cool stuff!

I'll be back soon with more Graverobbing Goodwill Goodies, so until then, Happy Haunting!