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!

Creepmas Day 13: My Creepmas Crèche!!!

So this year I'm celebrating Creepmas! 

From the 13 Days of Creepmas website: 

"A reaction to the continuing incursion of Christmas into Autumn and Halloween, CREEPMAS is a good-natured chance for Halloween lovers to exact revenge by bringing some spooky good cheer into the holidays or, more appropriately, the Hallowdays..." Read more about the inspirations behind this 13 day celebration HERE. 

So this is it! Day 13! The big finale! I figured this one had to be special, as I will probably NOT be celebrating Creepmas again next year unless some sort of BRILLIANCE strikes and I have an awesome idea for another Creepmas celebration on the site. So... it's time for a blow-out. Back in mid-November, I posted to let anyone know who cared that I would be taking November off from blogging. In that post, I put up a picture of a crèche/nativity scene that I had done with pop-culture characters a couple years prior. 

So THIS year I figured I would do yet another crèche... but make it a Creepy Creepmas Crèche!!! So take a gander at my finished project: 

It decidedly does NOT have the same sense of grandeur that my first nativity scene had. There is not, for instance, a giant orange T-Rex trying to eat the angel. But it matters not dear readers, for I posit that in this case, it is not the largesse that makes the crèche... but the sense of story. The internal logic. The character selection. The fact that I tried to keep all of the figures relatively horror-based or at least death-based. So as you soak in your initial view of the scene, let us prepare to take a closer look... shall we?

First, we have Anubis (the taller) as my shepherd. This was a really hard role to cast as I had absolutely NO horror toys that made sense as a "shepherd". I wracked my brain. I would have killed and devoured someone's liver for a Hannibal Lecter action figure at that moment! One of the Funko minis would have been perfect (Silence of the Lambs??? Eh? EH?) but alas, I could not think of a shepherd that fit the bill. But then I thought of the role Anubis plays in the Egyptian after-life... guarding souls on their passage to their judgement much like a... a... SHEPHERD. So I went with it (-shrugs-). In this shepherd's flock, in place of sheep, or a donkey, or a cow or any sort of normal animals, I went with: Tiny Anubis. I dunno why. I just wanted another animal in there. A Hellhound from Ghostbusters and Cerebus. Because dogs. Bast... because cat? This isn't making as much sense as I write it now. The skeletal T-Rex I felt was inspired at the time... but now I just miss my massive orange T-Rex all the more. Mothra. Is... an animal I guess? And that runaway crawling zombie just made me laugh. Shepherd! Round up that flock! Ha!

Ahem. Moving on.

Next up we have the Three Wise Guys... eh? Zombie stooges are perfect for being wiseguys... and there's three of them, and they are zombies. So PERFECT. I'm also pretending that the hammer, the wrench, and Curly's missing eyeballs are the gifts for the newborn king. And Kodos? I tried to tell him I wasn't going with a "three kings" theme, but he just wouldn't listen. And just wouldn't leave. So there he is. A third wheel in a group of four. Not so wise.

Now we're up to the angels. Attending this very important birth are not one-- not two-- but THREE angels! I couldn't NOT include the skeleton with wings. It perched there so perfectly, and just WORKED. The Weeping Angel? C'mon! And Death from the Sandman just balanced it out so I had to have three. I think it works. Can you definitively say exactly how many angels should be in attendance? Especially at THIS birth? I don't think you can. 

Finally we have the royal family themselves. We have the proud Papa Jack Skellington, the glowing mum The Bride of Frankenstein's Monster, and the bouncing baby boy himself, Sam from Trick R' Treat! I don't think there could ever be a BETTER group of ghouls to represent the taking over of Christmas by the creepiness of Halloween... There's just no way to do better than The Pumpkin King, The Bride, and the guardian of Halloween himself. Plus I think the goofy jack-o'-lanterns lend a certain kind of ambiance.

I love Sam so much I even have a spare that I turned into a Christmas ornament! I love seeing this little fella staring down at me from the tree! And if there are any doubts that Sam can't be a great part of your Christmas festivities, just check out this video from Fearnet! 

So that's it kids! Happy 13 days of Creepmas! I'll be back tomorrow with the start of my 12 days of Christmas countdown, which ends on Christmas day itself! I won't spoil the surprise today by sharing what it is I'll be talking about for my Christmas Countdown, but I do want to thank you all for celebrating Creepmas with me this year! I'll be back tomorrow! Until then, Happy Hunting!