Goodwill Finds: Strangers in Paradise and Well Zombie

UPDATED TO ADD: I just noticed that this post is officially my 400th! I noticed this very shortly after posting my 403rd post which I put on the site 2 days after my 3 year blogoversary! Lots of milestones I've completely missed! 

-Now back to the blog!- 

So... I think I'm actually starting to get caught up with the stuff I purchased in the year 2015! Finally! The year is half over and I think I'm finally here! Yay! Here's a little pile of junk I brought home. Nothing RIDICULOUSLY exciting, but a couple nice grabs. Let's check it out, shall we?

So here's a pic of the whole pile. Time to dig in.

I tore open the grab-bag first. Disappointingly, this was one of those rare occasions where I really should have looked closer, because once I got it home, I found there wasn't really a ton of stuff in this one to interest me.

A handful of interesting items, my favorite probably being the Imaginext crab in the bottom right corner here. We also have what looks to be some sort of Iron Man themed motorcycle, a Sportsmaster Happy Meal toy from the Batman: The Brave and the Bold line, and another Imaginext figure, this one some sort of medieval or caveman shaman or something.

There's this Robin from the Batman LEGO Happy Meal line, and a Toy Story alien (honestly Robin, this alien and that purple crab are probably the only real 'keeps' for me out of this bag... not really a win).

Some fun cassette finds... U2's "Rattle and Hum"is full of some great live performances, and KISS's "Creatures of the Night" I picked up for the cover art alone. I'm always on the lookout for Christmas cassettes with some personal meaning to them, and Chris Van Allsburg's "The Polar Express" read by William Hurt fits the bill NICELY.

A couple of nice Graphic Novel scores in a Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man digest "Spider-Man vs. Sandman and Venom" (maybe released around the time the 3rd Raimi film was out?) AAAND the first collected 'pocket book' of "Strangers in Paradise" by Terry Moore. I've never read SiP before, but I've heard people RAVE about how great it is, so I'm excited to give it a try.

You're going to start seeing a few more young-readers chapter books cropping up on the blog. I won't subject you to absolutely every purchase, but my reasons are twofold: I'm buying chapter books to read to my 6 and 4 year old sons. They REALLY like the Magic Treehouse books, and since I now know they'll sit and listen to a couple of chapters at a time (as long as there are a few illustrations peppered in from time to time) I've gone whole hog. The other reason is I like to track down books I loved as a kid myself. I was an avid reader and as soon as I learned I could read to myself for pleasure I never wanted to stop. Encyclopedia Brown books were a popular series with the kids I went to school with and I want to share these stories with my kids.

There was one final item this time around that I was pretty excited to bring home... and it's this guy right here. This is a Funko POP plush "Well Zombie" from The Walking Dead. Before their "Fabrikations" line Funko was putting out stuffed characters based on their POP designs. This fat fella is cleverly velcroed in the middle so he can be puled apart the same way he was on the TV show (probably one of 3 memorable moments for me from the "Herschel's farm period"). This guy was in a grab-bag with I-don't-even-know-what-else because this is from a while back and he was the only thing I was after.

That's it for tonight kids! I'll be back with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies soon enough! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Creepmas Day 12: A Few Leftovers

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 for today's post I'm pretty much just going to throw in everything I either forgot to include in earlier posts or I didn't really have room for in earlier posts. 

First up is this Hotwheels "Street Creeper" which they put out as as a part of their 2013 Holiday Hotwheels selection. I don't usually pick these up (though I've bought myself 2 of the 2014 selection so far...) but last year I just HAD to pick this one up because it so perfectly embodies the spirit of Creepmas! It's a horror themed Hotwheels dragster done up in Christmas colors! What's not to love?

Next up, Darth Vader might not be considered a "horror" villain... but a super-powered murderer he most certainly IS. So dressing him up as Santa Claus most definitely fits the bill as something Creepmas-y. I would NOT want to see this guy sliding down the chimney in the middle of the night. This is a Funko bobblehead from 2009 that my wife picked up for me.

Of all the winter and Christmas-themed GPK out there (about 10 as evidenced by these Topps Licensed GPK Holiday Greeting Cards) this is the only one I own. I do have one of the "Where are they now?" cards for Sandy Clod... but I'm not a big fan of those cards, and so I chose not to include it here. Instead you have Snotty Dotty/Frozen Flo #386 originally from the old 1987 run... here presented as a 3D card that was included in the 2011 Flashback series 2 set. For some reason m camera REFUSED to get a clear picture of this card, which may be due to its lenticular/3D nature. Who knows. 

My Darryl Dixon (of AMC's Walking Dead fame) ornament had not been added to the tree when I did my Christmas Zombies post a few days back. So I include him now. He's really just one of those Funko Pop! mini keychains that just came out this year, with a Santa's hat added for some festivity. But it works (don't mind the Dunkin Donuts Munchkins ornament, I don't believe it in any way takes away from the full manliness of Darryl, having it there).

This is my recently purchased (this past summer) shambling mound figure from the old Dungeons and Dragons line produced in 1982. He is wearing a Santa's hat and dragging a bloody sack behind him. I only have a vague idea of why I put this together. What I WANTED to do was find a Krampus toy. But apparently you can buy action figures of Will Shakespeare, a Cat Lady, or even Joss Whedon... but not Krampus. So instead of Krampus I decided to make my own Christmas Monster. If I'd really thought about it, I would have decked him out like a Christmas tree... but hindsight is unfortunately 20/20 in this case and nothing more. Suffice it to say however that this guy is definitely out looking for naughty nerds this season... so you better be good for goodness sake!

There was one more book I had planned to write about, Dean Marney's The Christmas Tree That Ate My Mother. But I couldn't really drum up a whole post about killer Christmas trees. Apparently this is the first book in a series of books detailing various holiday items that try to eat people. Skimming through the text this looks like a fun, quick read. I may try it out. 

Also new this year is this sugar-skull blown-glass ornament that we picked up at Target for my daughter. This thing is glittered-out to the max. It simply brings the right feeling of the macabre to the tree that we just love.

Today I'll leave you with a link to iHorror.com's 8 Holiday Horror Films You Need to Watch This Month (from 2013) aaaand just for the heck of it... a link to the search for "Creepmas" on Pinterest.

Happy 13 days of Creepmas! I'll be back tomorrow with the final entry in the countdown, which may or may not involve a Goodwill Goody! Until then, Happy Hunting!

Goodwill Mailbag: CRPechonick Strikes!!!

So last time I got on here, it was to thank Miss M for the incredible gift package she sent me... and this blog post is going to be along a similar vein. I recently received a package from CRPechonick (Charles Raymond Pechonick) of Geek Show Ink fame, and boy... was it a doozy! Back when I received a package from the Trash Man over at Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture, I commented on the fact that I needed to track down the last 3 rings in the set of 9 DCU chromatic Lanterns' rings so I could have a complete set. This prompted Mr. Pechonick to volunteer to help track them down for me.

Well that snowballed a bit from this:

Into this:

I forgot to get the rings in this picture with everything else.

Charles Pechonick obviously pays attention because he knows almost all my weaknesses. Let's take a look at all the great stuff he sent me, shall we? 

First up, there was a slew of random mini-figure goodness included. From left to right here we have representation from almost everything I like: A Shock figurine from the Nightmare Before Christmas, a Daredevil micro figure, a Brain Christmas figurine from Pinky and the Brain of Animaniancs fame, good ol' Donald Duck himself, Kim Possible (looking kick-ass), a Clone Trooper micro figure, and a Farmer Grover. Could not possibly be happier with this lot if I TRIED.

This stand-off between Funko Mini Merle Dixon and Funko Mini Tank Walker and Funko Mini Bicycle Girl was brought to me by CRPechonick!!! I don't think anything has ever made me happier than that cute little half-bodied zombie dragging it's cute little desiccated entrails across the top of my desk. Adorable!

Also included were these Peanuts books. I am looking forward to checking these out... as I do not traditionally read a whole lot of Peanuts stuff. These look old and awesome. 

Also included in the package were these two Vampire novels by David Wellington. Of the Monster Island fame (which I featured here on the blog as a part of my Halloween countdown) which I still haven't read yet. I can't wait to take a bite out of these!!! 

Heh.

It got a little bit harder to categorize stuff as I went along, so I sort of lumped some of this stuff together to photograph it. Please pretend that the Dr. Who novel has something to do with the Batman merchandise. Here's a novel starring the Tom Baker Dr. Who, a set of The Batman "shoe charms" and a set of four Batman button/pins. These will be opened and applied to the ceiling of my car. I'm sorry if that devaluates them or something... but it's what I do with buttons. The charms will go in my nipples. 

I'm just kidding! I don't have nipples. 

Who does have nipples? The Hulk. As in the Incredible Hulk. Included in the package was this five-part mini-series "Ghosts of the Future" which I have never read before. This was just before the whole Onslaught debacle took place, so you can sort of see that Thor is wearing possibly one of the worst costumes they EVER gave him. But I'm curious to see what this mini is all about, even despite that. 

A couple of neon Darth heads (I believe these may be some sort of Easter egg variant-things? Maybe? Doesn't matter. I love them. Day-glo Vader? Yes please) and a wind-up TOMY robot for m'collection of robots. I love this little guy. Easily one of my favorite items in the whole box. 

And let's not forget what got this whole ball rolling, okay? Here is my complete DCU Lanterns collection, with my set of rings included. They go in order by ROYGBIV as they should. AS ALL THINGS SHOULD. I have no idea why this collection obsesses me so... I don't even really follow the Green Lantern comics. I do love the idea of color-based powers, and an emotional spectrum that reflects that... I know the system they developed for the comics is sort of flawed... but it's a pretty great idea. And it made the whole idea of a "Green" themed superhero seem a little less arbitrary... ANYWAY. 

THANK YOU CRPechonick!!! I cannot thank you enough for this incredible pile of loot. You can definitely expect to see a package of thanks wending its way back atcha sometime in the future. You were incredibly generous with this bounty, and it humbles me to think that someone could just decide to give away a box full of goodies on a whim "just because". You're pretty awesome in my book. All you reading this be sure to head over to Geek Show Ink and check out the blog, and look at some of CRPechonick's impressive artwork over at his deviantart gallery as well! 

That's it for me today folks! I'll be back with some Geeky Goodwill Goodies before you know it! Until then, Happy Hunting!

My Final Word on Christmas: The Christmas Haul

Okay guys, so this is going to be a long one. It's the final Christmas Haul wrap-up, and I've got some ground to cover. I want to high-light the cream of the crop of the gifts I received this year. 

First up I'll start with some of the gifts I got from my wife. This new belt for one. It is kickin' and it juuuust fits me, and clamping shut around my girth instead of buckling like a traditional belt. It's made of seat-belt material and it is incredible. The 6 Marvel greats are all in attendance, including Thor, Wolverine, Iron  Man, Cap America, Hulk and Spider-Man. 

Next up is this beautiful "Crows of 2013" calendar. I am a big blackbird fan, and my wife surprised me with this collection of gorgeous shots of crows throughout the 12 months of the year. 

  

No Christmas is complete without the arbitrary DVDs found at Black Friday. These were all movies I told my wife she ought to pick up if she found them on the cheapie-cheap while she was out that infamous morning. 

This one was all her idea. Now I'm torn: Do I buy season 2 on DVD to have the whole collection? Or do I just skip it and wait for season 3 to come out? What would you do? 

This set of Toy Story Hotwheels cars will make a nice addition to my wall of pop-culture cars. I really like the ones where the packaging features the large, blown-up pictures of the characters. I need to see if I can find a Buzz Lightyear somewhere. 

Next up are the gifts I was given by my wife's cousin and her husband. They are the closest family we have on my wife's side, and we always do a Christmas-after-Christmas with them. This skeleton couple cuddling is and awesome addition to the cave. They also gave me a bobbling "dashboard zombie" too but I couldn't seem to find it in time to get a good photo. Odds are its in a box somewhere waiting for me to set it loose on an unsuspecting Geek Cave. 

Back in 2010 io9.com chose Cherie Priest's steampunk zombie thriller "Boneshaker" as their Book Club choice for June. This Christmas, 2012, I finally held a copy of this book in my hands. I'm reading it now, and it's been great so far. Full of zombies and zeppelins, the story is so character driven it never feels like the author is going: "Hey look! Steampunk! Gears and stuff!" or "Hey look! Zombie book! Grr! Argh!" It's been a genuinely good read. What's funny is how it almost reads like a post-apocalypse story in the Civil War era.  Can't wait to see how it ends. 

Another gift from my wife is a Blu ray player I still haven't taken out of the box. I'm slowly succumbing to the pressure to convert... and admittedly she only bought it for me because I dropped a few hints here and there that I wanted one... and it will play my DVDs so I don't know what my problem is. I'm just dragging my feet. But the only Blu ray movie I received for Christmas was... kind of ironically I feel... V/H/S. It is a great movie, and I actually look forward to it being my first Blu-ray experience. 

Of course one of the best gifts I received this Christmas was this 23 disc collection containing all ten seasons of the classic TMNT cartoon series, plus a butt-load of special features, obviously including THE KICK-ASS VAN THEY COME IN!!! I don't really need to over-talk this one, do I? Probably not. Moving on. 

From my Aunt, I received a passel of cool gifts as well. This Jack Skellington statue completes my Halloween Shelf in a way I have always wanted it to:

See? Perfect. 

If you have not read Rick Yancey's Monstrumologist series... stop what you are doing, and go out and buy the first three books, and lock yourself in your home until they are all read. This is the third one in the series, "The Isle of Blood". What's incredible about these books is how one moment you can be marveling over the gore and questioning the nature of monsters vs. the nature of humanity... and the next you are swept up in the human emotions and relationships that build the true foundation of this series. It details the cases investigated by a Jack-the-Ripper era (this is semi-significant) Massachusetts scientist who hunts monsters, and his young... ward? apprentice? assistant? live-in slave? surrogate son? It's one of the most important questions of the books. 

A few DVDs from my Aunt as well. After I saw Jaime over at ShezCrafti feature a DVD collection of Roseanne Halloween specials this past Halloween season, I decided I had to have one. But I now notice that mine has 8 episodes, where hers had 7 (not that I'm counting). I'm not sure how to reconcile this. Apparently mine has the episode "Satan, Darling". So mine is obviously better than hers. I got Child's Play because I didn't own it yet, and I wanted it... so now I have it. 

Heinberg's Young Avengers were at one time, one of my favorite new Marvel books. his return to his creation was a bit of a disappointment, though I did enjoy it for the most part. This was mostly Heinberg being tasked with undoing the Scarlet Witch's villainous House of M debacle. But there were some fun moments, and a character I liked who lost his powers during the decimation finally got them back. I just wish a couple of my other favorites had slipped under the wire at the same time. Overall I don't hate this book, but I'm glad I received it as a gift and didn't spend my own money on it. 

This amazingly cute little guy was swimming around in my Christmas stocking. He's real tuff. 

My daughter shopped her school penny sale for my gifts, and she did all right by me. First up is this Christmas Story night-light. For... a penny. Isn't it great? Look at the craftsmanship! 

She also gave me this incredible rubber monster. It is honestly another of my absolute favorite gifts this year. He's glorious. He's magnificent. LOOK AT HIM. 

Here he is with the other gift my daughter got me... an almost complete set of Scooby Gang action figures. I'm going to track down a Shaggy to round them out. They are obviously feeling the menace roiling off of the rubber beastie to their right (our left). 

And finally... the BEST gift I received this Christmas, is the new iPod 4 I got from my wife. I can now snap surreptitious photos at Goodwill when there are items I want to share without actually bringing them home. I. Can't. Wait. This iPod is my new eye-stealing life sucker too. There on the screen you may notice my new favorite game, "Knights of Pen and Paper" which has taken over most of my free time. 

Phew. That's it. It's over. That's what I got for Christmas. What do you think? I think I was spoiled out of my mind... and I think I am a very lucky man to have family and friends that care enough to get me such great loot and put it under the tree. 

Anyway... Christmas is now done. No more Christmas on this blog until next Christmas. Which is a while off yet. In the meantime, I'll be back soon with more Goodwill Goodies. Until then, Happy Hunting!