Countdown to Halloween Day 18: Reptar, Halloween Happy Meal, and SCARY STORIES

Welcome back ladies and gents! Today I'm featuring another load of seasonal goodies I brought home from Goodwill! Let's not waste time jawing about it, let's dive right in! 

Here is the usual picture featuring the whole lot of goodies. Let us explore posthaste!

A couple more horror anthologies, one I'll be featuring in this very countdown, the other I will be saving for next year's Halloween Read Pile. I'm not going to waste too much time talking about either books because I'll be beating them to death in the future. I will say though that this was the last of the Scary Stories books I still needed to find in order to complete the trio, so that had me pretty excited!

A couple of street lamps for my Halloween Village! The fact that the globes are Jack O' Lanterns makes me so incredibly jealous of my Halloween Village inhabitants. I wish my town would commision special pumpkin themed light fixtures for October.

I think it's hilarious that there is a blog dedicated to books with covers featuring Women Running From Houses (which sadly appears to have been inactive since 2013... but still you guys) but even that has never really been enough to compel me to buy any of these MANY MANY books that I usually see at Goodwill. Until now. I'm still not 100% sure what possessed me to buy these ones, but...

I think the ridiculous title, "Witch of Goblin's Acre" had something to do with it... and the fact that the book  just so happens to take place in MAINE (!) sealed the deal. And let's just say if anyone ever says the words "Faceless Leper Ghost" to me, it doesn't matter what's going on... I'M IN. This is powerful information people. Use it responsibly. 

I freaked out when I saw the hands on this thing, because at first I thought I had discovered a stray Boglin at Goodwill. It's not crazy to think I could honestly. I've found a near-complete Castle Grayskull, and now not one but two Madballs at Goodwill, along with countless other awesome 80's toys. But alsas-alack it was not meant to be. This was not in fact a Boglin, and my disappointment at this realization almost made me put this guy back... but I calmed down, recollected myself, and reevaluated the situation before deciding anything too rash. At this point you must realize I brought the guy home. He's pretty great. I don't remember when I remember seeing these things come out, but I believe it was a while back. Not like decades perhaps, but long enough to appreciate more what I probably thought was damn annoying back when it originated. Pretty sure this guy jiggles and laughs maniacally while playing ear-piercingly intolerable theremin music.  But I haven't put batteries in him yet to test and see, so I can't tell you.

Next up we have a couple of novelizations of the 2nd and 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I picked these up specifically for my older son who is very interested in that movie series right now. We get a lot of movie novelizations of films the kids like to get them interested in reading. 

This mask wanted to come home with me so... I let it. Not much else to say there. I like harlequin and comedia del' arte themed masks and when I find ones in nice condition I usually pick them up.

Derek Benz and J.S. Lewis wrote a trilogy of books called the Grey Griffins books, and "Rise of the Black Wolf," is the second in the series. I've read the first one, really enjoyed it, and now have the entire trilogy to dig into (I already have book 3). "Unexpected: 11 Mysterious Stories" edited by Laura E. Williams loos like a good contender for next year's Halloween Read Pile as well! 

These treat boxes smelled like mildew as soon as I took them out of the plastic. Ugh. My wife tends to make a lot of baked goodies for friends between October and December, so I thought these would be a good fit... Too bad really. I may try to salvage them somehow. They aren't food-ready but that doesn't mean I can't clip the artwork and use it for something else.

I brought home the soundtrack from the 1998 Godzilla film as well. My friend Brian of Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture fame recently recommended a track from this album (Greenday's "Brain Stew" specifically) to me while we were doing the Eclectic Mayhem Podcast together, so when I spotted it for sale at Goodwill, I snapped it up! 

And finally, the two items I think I was most jazzed to find. The one on the left there is a McDonald's Halloween Pail from 1986 (UPDATE: While the bucket is stamped "1986" this bucket is actually from the 1993 series. Thanks to reader "Retro Robot Review" for the correction!). It's actually the witch bucket, but I like the cat peeking out from her hair so much more that that's the side I photographed. The bucket on the right I THINK is a trick-or-treat pail but honestly, the fact that it's an egg could indicate that it was an Easter bucket of some sort... but obviously someone at Goodwill agreed with me, because this orange monstrosity was in the Halloween section. These make LOVELY additions to my Halloween pail collection!

Well, that is it for tonight my friends! I'll be back soon enough with more Gorgon-Gazing Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!

Remember, I'm doing this countdown as a part of the official Countdown to Halloween, so be sure to pop over there and look and see who else is participating this year.

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!

Halloween Countdown Day 30: All Finished but the Screamin'

So I'll post some stuff tonight, and then I'll try to get pictures of our Halloween night on here before midnight tomorrow, and that's it! 31 (32 if you count October Eve, which I do) consecutive posts for m countdown! Somehow I seem to stick it out better for October than December, but then I'm also less busy in October. So here's some final stuff:

Meant to share these guys LAST year during my Countdown and I don't think I ever got around to it (can't find them on the blog at any rate) so here they are: a couple of Imperial Godzilla-esque toys! One of these, the purple-y blue one, is genuine vintage and belonged to my brother-in-law when he was a kid, although he has no date markings. The other I have no idea when it was manufactured, but it FEELS a lot newer, even though the date on it says 1986, I know they often don't change these dates when they reuse the molds. In fact, I don't know that these are even really genuinely meant to be Godzilla. I feel like they're more knock-off type "Fraud-zillas" that used to get sold cheaply on the bottom shelves of stores like Kay-Bee toys back when they were still around. I bought the green guy for .99 cents.

Found this interesting deck of "Gypsy Witch" fortune telling cards, which couldn't be less magical if they tried. They have almost nothing to do with anything resembling a Tarot card or any other system, but they're fun in and of themselves... sort of. Paid .99 cents for them. I'm always interested in seemingly random forms of fortune-telling. I don't believe in them exactly, I just find it interesting how people build systems of significance around random systems of numbers and patterns. 

Some new additions to the Halloween Cemetary/Village shelf this year. All .99 cents apiece. 

Doctor Freddy here is going to need a finger-blade transplant STAT! I plan on using a dremel to hollow out his fingers and then glue in some needles or something to make him the most dangerous toy I own. He was in a .99 cent grab-bag with a BUNCH of other figures, but most notably this lady: 

A Queen Alien "wrist-watch" whose tail wraps around your wrist for what I can only imagine is the most AWKWARD watch-wearing experience ever. (The digital display is in her chest, and not visible at this angle). She's gone off to a good home, this little Lady here. 

And finally, a set of cardboard coasters I picked up for a Dollar at Target. Not sure what I'll be using these for in years to come, but it sure as heck won't be as coasters. For now, they just sort of decorate the background of one of our Halloween shelves. Love the dapper skull in the top hat the most. I paid 1.00 for the set you see here. 

Awww... Fraud-zillas hugging! What a great way to put the last nail in the coffin-lid of October! I know there's one more post to come, but let's face it, I'm practically dying of some sort of super-flu and I will barely be coherent after a night of chasing my kids around Trick-or-treating... so this may be the last legible sentiment on the blog for some time. I will definitely be taking a little blog break come November, but not for long, because PEOPLE... the packages from friends have been coming in, and I have stuff it would be downright RUDE not to blog about! Stuff from folks like Eric Stettmeier of Toyriffic, Miss M of Diary of a Dorkette, and CRPechonick of Geek Show Ink! So you do have that to look forward to! 

Something's Coming By: Virginia Kroll

Smell of smoke from wood-burning stoves, 

ripe red apples, crushed black cloves, 

crunchy leaves of brown and gold,

pumpkins bigger than I can hold,

spookiest masks I've ever seen--

something's coming--

HALLOWEEN!

That's it for me tonight kids! I'll be back soon with more Gangrenous Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!

Day 1: Goodwill's Secondhand Cinema Halloween Edition!

So, it's the penultimate post of my Halloween countdown, and I am just exhausted. Mentally, spiritually, physically, literally, figuratively, financially, socially, emotionally, and any other -ly... exhausted. 

So things are going out with a bit more of a whimper than a bang. I'm featuring some horror DVDs that I've bought at Goodwill in the recent months. I paid 2.99 for each of them, and I am EXTREMELY satisfied with them. So sit back, pop some popcorn, and get ready to watch: a poorly written review by a barely coherent blogger about some second hand horror movies he bought at Goodwill. Good times. 

Read more after the jump... if you dare!