Halloween Countdown Day 1: Goodwill Finds!

October first is finally here!!! And with it, the Countdown to Halloween!!! So welcome dear readers, to the time of year I adore the most. Below I have a handful of Halloween goodies I brought home from Goodwill (along with some decidedly UN-Halloween-y things... but they're all at the end) recently! 

My wife does not often join me in Goodwill. She finds my obsession with other people's secondhand stuff less charming than most of my blog readers. But on the occasions when she does join me, she often finds some really fun stuff! On a recent trip with the entire family in attendance, my wife picked up this rustic little piece of Halloween heaven. This now hangs next to our front door out on the porch. 

During the same trip I found this groovy version of everyone's favorite murderoue pastime: CLUE!!! As one of my favorite 80's movies, and one of maybe two distinct boardgames dealing with murder in an old mansion, CLUE is one of my favorites. It's one I actually enjoy playing from time to time as well. 

Love this burnt orange background for the boardgame, and the illustrations for each of the rooms.

I was VERY disappointed to find that the lead pipe was replaced with a penny in this edition. But even MORE disappointed to find that the character cards did NOT look like the pictures on the box: 

Which honestly leads me to wonder if these are the cards that even go with this game. a quick google search reveals that they are indeed NOT the cards originally included in this game... but look how cute those little potential murderers all look up there, lined up in a row! I actually would have framed the set of cards had they been this charming. Oh well. I still love the box. 

This grisly fellow is meant to be a 12" reproduction of the Frankenstein's monster from the 2004 Van Helsing film... which I did not like. But when I found this toy for .99 cents... I fell in love. He looks downright gruesome! I like his arm, the mechanism driven into his chest (it still lights up sporadically) and his huge metal boots. I even like his exposed brain (which I assume is missing whatever was used to cover it up originally). I will promptly scrub any prior knowledge from my mind of the film, and display this guy with a bunch of my other monster toys. 

Next up is this trio of Halloween-themed books. First up we have Beverly Cleary's Ramona and her Father which I may have referenced in the past as a series of books I've been trying to track down for my wife. Halloween actually plays a prominent role in this book, for a few chapters at least, as you can see on the cover. Then we have Halloween Fun: 101 Ways to Have a Safe and Fun Halloween which is not as snooze-inducing as it sounds. It's a pretty fun little craft book for someone with two little boys. There are lots of fun ideas for creepy little crafts and games to play to ring in the Halloween Season. Finally we have Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm and the Wicked Witch which is something I picked out for a friend, as I am not the hugest Flintsones fan myself. 

Here we start drifting further out from the Halloween theme. But I still can't wait to talk about my newest obsession: Collecting audio cassettes! I'm mainly focusing on movie soundtracks right now, but I'm also snapping up some other stuff too. I definitely blame the Awesome Mix from Guardians of the Galaxy for getting me back into cassettes. I've never really understood the impetus for collecting VHS tapes or even vinyl records for that matter... but suddenly I have these tangible objects that bring me back to some of my happiest memories in high school.

Of course High School included arguably some of the happiest and unhappiest days of my life, but most of the happiest days involved music and boy howdy I loved making mix-tapes back then. As someone who lived in a gutted out liquor store as a teenager, and slept on a dilapidated loveseat in a closet with a floor that flooded and froze over every winter (I laugh at you Harry Potter)... the pure gold that was a blank cassette tape that I could then fill up with songs and was magical.

I would make mix tapes for my closest friends as they were pretty much the only gifts I could afford to give back then. My Aunt who spoiled me with action figures as a kid began spoiling me with cassette tapes and a decent tape-to-tape recorder. I also had friends who had CD-to-tape recording capabilities, so I would scab their music all the time. ANYWAY. I'm collecting audio cassettes now.

I discovered the book Castle Perilous easily fifteen or more years ago. It is one of my all time favorite comfort-food books. It takes place in an interdimensional castle that plucks people and creatures and other... things from all over the multiverse. Sometimes folks wander the halls and end up on jungle planets or being chased by angry french swordsmen. It's facets are endless, and the Guests are outrageous. After I discovered the first book in the series and fell in love, I discovered more in the series. Up until a few years ago I had despaired at ever finding these two particular books right here: the 2nd and 4th books in the series. Castle for Rent and Castle War! I highly recommend the series to anyone who likes books like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere where absurdities rule and literally anything can happen.

A bevy of young-reader Choose Your Own Adventure books! These are all semi-Halloween appropriate, including Pirates, lake monsters, and genies.

They also apparently put out a Choose Your Own Adventure series involving the Star Wars books. How that works I'm not entirely sure. Maybe Darth Vader doesn't die in one of the endings? Maybe he tells Luke "Psyche! I ain't the baby daddy!" I don't know. But I aim to find out.

In a genuinely tragic turn, I found this Mr. Ed the Talking Horse Little Golden book that had the cover completely demolished. I still picked it up. Because MR. ED HAS A LITTLE GOLDEN BOOK!!! 

I used to watch the S#!T out of Mr. Ed on Nick at Nite back in the day. Crazy. And now I own the book. 

And finally, in what could be described the CREEPIEST of the Halloween-iest items in this post... is a disturbing time capsule detailing the life of people who lived before smart-phones. Look at all of the abominable mechanical devices they needed to listen to music, watch shows, take pictures, and write stuff!!! Eegads that's horrific (just let me have this okay?)!!!

So that's it for tonight kiddies! I'll be back tomorrow with more Ghastly Goodwill Goodies!!! Until then, Happy Haunting! 

October Eve Has Come Again!

Well Boils and Ghouls, October Eve is upon us once more. Tomorrow, whatever parts of the internet are not already blazing up with odes to Halloween will join the fray and start counting down to that Hallowed Eve of Halloween.

This blog has been redressed for the occasion, and will be counting down. If you look over in the sidebar on the right you will notice my official badge as a Crypt Keeper for this year's count-down. This year we got Creatures from the Black Lagoons!!! So cool. 

I've posted some pictures of my local Goodwill, also flaunting it's Halloween spirit. All in all... I'm excited!

I'll be making at least one post a day this October, featuring at least one Halloween-y item from Goodwill. On hop if that I'll still be doing the occasional regular posts as well, featuring other stuff I've bought second-hand. I may also interject a post here or there about some spooky topic or another. We'll see just what my energy level permits. 

So it's October Eve. The wind is picking up... The leaves started changing just over the last few weeks... And there's something in the air that flies on raggedy black wings and smiles with a glowing orange grin.

Here we go folks. You're either all-in or you're OUT. 

That's all I've got for tonight kiddies! I'll be back tomorrow with some Gruesome Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Haunting!!!

A Package from Laura Huey!

So I turn around for just a moment and 9 days has gone by since I posted to the blog! Argh! Can't even use the excuse that I'm gearing up for the Halloween countdown... because I'm totally winging it this year. But I wanted to take a moment a thank my good friend Laura Huey from the BooBobby blog (no she's not dead, she's just not as into blogging these days as she once was) for this excellent little package I got in the mail a while back: 

Laura is incredibly giving and knows exactly how to put a smile on my face. 

First and foremost there was this beautiful piece of artwork included in the package! I think this is probably my favorite item in the package. Check out that mustache! 

Next up is this McNugget chick. She looks entirely TOO happy to be joining my shelf of McDonaldland toys!!! 

Then we have this pull-back toy that is what appears to be something like french toast sticks. He's not officially affiliated with any fast food chain but he gets to join the gang on the shelf either way.

UPDATE: Actually, having done some deeper research, it turns out this is a Lickety Splits toy (of which I already own one other) which most of the internet seems to agree was put out by Burger King. The markings on it are from 1989, Graphics Int'l INC.

And finally pogs! Nothing better that a bit of 90's ephemera with yet more McDonaldland characters on them (I sense Laura had a subtle theme going on here)!!!

So there you have it! Laura and her family have been great online friends of mine for a good long while now. I am always thankful for any contact with her, toys or no toys involved! She's currently over on instagram so be sure to check out her feed!

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

Yardsale Bin Pt. 5: The Very Bottom of the Bin

So this is where it ends. 5 posts I managed to wring out of this one Sterilite tote I picked up from a yard sale last September. You can still check out parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 if you haven't already done so. 

Here is the very last time you will have to look at this thing. Let's take a look as I scrape the bottom, shall we? 

First up, there's this intrepid trio. I had no idea what to make of them at first. Too small to be G.I. Joes... these are more the 3 inch scale rather than 3.75... I guess... eyeballing them? 

Well, turns out these are The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest action figures from 1998! Heeeeeere's Johnny! "X-Treme Action" Johnny, to be exact (which sounds dirtier than it's supposed to... I think). 

Here's "Drop Zone" Race. He still has his gun in his holster!!! So badass. 

Here's "Desert Stealth" Hadji. I thought this was just some sort of generic ninja action figure until I noticed the matching symbol on both Hadji and Race's shirts. I didn't get they were supposed to be the letter Q. 

Next up there was this motley trio. 

I actually had to get some help from a shout-out on Instagram to help me identify this armored fellow, as he didn't fit the profile of any action figure line I was aware of. Turns out though that he's General Hawk from the 90's G.I. Joe Star Brigade line. He's missing a helmet and a giant hot pink machine gun. So sad. 

This is a Tarzan action figure from the Tarzan: The Epic Adventures line. Apparently it was based on a Hercules-style live action adventure show? But from all appearances, the characters in the action figure line are all related to a storyline where Tarzan conquers mars...? Anyway, I researched the figure and found out this guy is severely stripped down, since he has a set of golden armor and a red cape that I think I donated instead to my Brimstone Love action figure from the fourth installment of this little Yardsale Bin exploratory series. 

This is a Conan action figure from yet another failed Hercules-style live-action TV series "Conan the Adventurer". That's not important though. You know what is important? The cod-piece. Look at that thing. The size and shape of it. Next? The pull string in Conan's back that makes his arm jerk sporadically up and down. Look at that arm. It all looks EXACTLY as you might imagine it when set in motion. I am never giving this toy up for ANYTHING. 

On the left and right of this pic we have a couple of cavemen from Playskool's late-eighties toy line "Definitely Dinosaurs". Apparently there was initially some doubt about whether they were dinosaurs or not... but Playskool laid those to rest when they named the line. The guy in the middle I'll talk about a little further down who I lumped in with the cavemen for size reasons. Sometimes themes are hard.

This fellow's name has been lost to history (or at least the history of Playskool as known by Wikipedia) and was originally packed in with the Psittacosaurus of the series. I am pretending that he is "Shipwreck Survivor Tyrion Lannister". 

This guy's name is Brin and he was originally packed in with the Triceratops. I'm not pretending he's anything. He's just Brin. 

This figure used to be another one on my "unknowns" list where I was putting out pleas to see who could help me figure out what line it was from. It looks pretty obviously cheap. Come to find out it is a bootleg wresting figure of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, a WWF wrestler from back in the day. I have to admit... since I'm not a wrestling fan, I was a bit disappointed that this wasn't from some sort of bootleg swords-and-sorcer line. He certainly looks the part. 

Next up are these Power Rangers action figures. I am absolutely in LOVE with the pig-thing guy. I I have featured him once on the site already because I brought one home from the Dreamcatcher Antique Mall in August of 2013. So you won't see him featured below. 

Here is a bendy ranger wearing a niqab. Why I don't know. I suppose it was explained in the movie? This looks a little bit like Jinx from G.I. Joe... but I suspect it's a dude. 

Here is a hybrid shark/huggy-bear monster. His action feature is in fact hugging. Again... No idea why. 

Raven lady? Bendy? Power Rangers movie? 

Plastic monsters lurked in the deepest depths of the bin! They're all pretty fun, but only two of them truly stole my heart:

The two I was most excited about were the Mothra toy from the 1994 Trendmasters line, and this cheap old two-headed dragon. For some reason the perspective of this picture makes him look HUGE. he isn't. See the picture above this one for a more accurate scale. 

This King Kong ornament and Aston Martin Goldfinger display case went on the a better home, with Brian over at Cool and Collected. Yep. These were just... in the bin. 

Next up was this trio of TMNT action figures. We have a General Traag sans left hand, Splinter sans clothes, and Muckman sans his trashcan and Eyeball Joe. We're going to skim right on over armless and naked and take a look at:

Muckman! Even without his accessories and sidekick, this figure looks pretty amazing. He was introduced at the very height of the TMNT action figures-as-Garbage Pail Kids phase of the line. He's even got a clothespin on his nose to answer the age old question of: How do you stop Muckman from smelling? 

There was this night (From empire toys) and his squire (unidentified brand) hiding at the bottom of that bin too!

And a plastic baggie full of kniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiights!!! Not sure what I'm going to do with these guys, but they are most likely not going to live here much longer. 

This horse belongs to Batman. Dark Rider Batman to be exact, from the Legends of Batman line. Instead of being Batman's horse, this guy now stands next to my Headless Horseman action figure and looks pretty awesome. 

As we draw nearer and nearer to the very last bits of plastic in the bottom of the bin, we finally strike some Transformers! I believe both of these are from the Beast Wars line... but I didn't research it deeply, to be honest. I am also 90% sure that they are both missing limbs or other vital body parts. Which is a shame, because the scarab-beetle guy on the right is pretty awesome. The one on the left? He's just insanely complicated and tangled and I have no patience for Transformers and I just don't care and ugh.

And this is it! These are the last four toys to have come from the seemingly BOTTOMLESS yard sale bin I picked up almost an exact year ago. I genuinely didn't mean to drag this thing out over almost an entire year (I picked it up shortly before September 19th of 2013). First we have not one but TWO Tim Murphy action figures from the Jurassic park lines. The first one is from the second series, and the second one is from the first. Weird... I know. What I find hilarious is that they merely swapped the head out for a more movie accurate (IMO) head for the second edition of the figure. I feature my two Tims here because it truly highlights the feeling of mediocrity and buyers remorse I started to feel as I discovered what I had paid 40 dollars for in total. I mean... there was some good stuff in there... but I wasn't feeling so great in the pit of my stomach when I pulled these Double-Mint twins out. And then we have the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves action figures... which... didn't really disappoint me the same way that the Tims did... but finding that Azeem had none of his cloak included in the bin was more than a little disheartening. Azeem, being Morgan Freeman, is my favorite character in that film. Gods how I love that man. And now I have a unitarded Azeem in kinky boots.

So that's the end of the Saga of the Yard Sale Bin. It ends with more of a whimper than a roar... I admit. I hope that's not less than you were expecting... Except... I have a secret to tell. It's true I bought this bin last September... and just as Halloween countdown season began I kind of petered out writing about it after the second installment. THEN in July of this year I finally picked up the strand and started finishing the final three posts. It was shortly after the third Yard Sale bin post went up that something AMAZING happened:

I bought another BIN.

No, not this one. But almost as cool.

I'll tell the whole story soon, but let me suffice it to say: I was approached by the same guy I bought the first bin from. APPROACHED. And by "shortly after" I mean "two days" because that post went up on the 13th and this second bin showed up literally in my front yard on the 15th. I CANNOT WAIT TO START BLOGGING ABOUT IT. But my friend Brian over at Pop Pop! It's Trash Culture reminded me I hadn't even finished blogging about THIS bin. And I was so much less excited about what I had to share about THIS bin than I am about THAT bin!!!

Almost this excited.

So look for posts about that soon. (If I can squeeze it in before October 1st, along with a TON of really cool packages folks have sent me recently, that I NEED to give shout-outs for!)

But for tonight? That's all I've got kids! Goodwill has their Halloween section up! I brought some goodies home that I will be (of course) saving for my countdown. I'll still be back with more Geeky Goodwill Goodies before that starts up! So until I return... Happy Hunting!

Goodwill Quick Stop: Some Geeky Books

A quick one tonight kids, to show off a pile of books found in months past at Goodwill! 

First up is this Choose Your Own Adventure book: Beyond the Great Wall. It looks like a nice mix between Around the World in 80 Days and possibly the animated Jackie Chan Adventures. Plus check out that Snidely Whiplash mustache on the guy closest to grabbing the balloon! 

I now own a copy of the Batman Forever novelization. It was the first of the Joel Schumacher films and the beginning of the end of my love of Superhero movies back in the 90's. But looking back on them now, I get a whole different level of entertainment value out of them. Its like I can appreciate them more because I already know going in that I don't even have to try and like them.  

I actually love the Dungeons and Dragons Endless Quest books MORE than your average CYOA books. My favorite has always been The Pillars of Pentagarn, but this one, Raid on Nightmare Castle, will also do nicely. 

This is my second time finding a Doctor Who novel secondhand! This one stars the very first William Hartnell Doctor! Not my favorite Doctor but always exciting to find a book starring the Doctor in any case. 

This book is just so chock-full of awesome I can't stand it! Every page is filled with little cartoons and factoids like you see there on the cover. One of the first ones was about James Barry, a doctor in the 1800's who died and THEN it was discovered that he was secretly a woman! Believe it... OR NOT.

I've been trying to track down Ramona books for my wife to read to our little boys for some time now. We can now add Ramona the Pest to her collection! 

And finally, What's a Fraggle? which answers the burning question that I know we all woke up with on our minds this morning. 

Cute as frick! 

So there you have it! Yet another pile of geeky books that I have tracked down secondhand at Goodwill! From almost literally all corners of the geekosphere.

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