I can't believe it's almost here, Halloween 2015! I started a little early this year in September, but there's still plenty to go over! Be sure to check out The Count Down To Halloween and count along with me!
This year I would like to share with you the Allen Family Halloween Movie Night Marathon, a fun tradition that I stole from my good friend Mike. It's simply 31 straight nights of Halloween movies. Some movies I will review and/or discuss briefly in addition to my usual posts about Halloween junk food, toys, costumes, and decorations. Some of these movies might not be considered to be Halloween worthy, and some aren't even feature length movies. I don't care, I watch them anyway. Feel free to follow along with me and watch these great films on Netflix (titles in red are available to stream on Netflix), Hulu (titles in green are available to stream on Hulu, YouTube, or rent them from your local library (If you're going to rent them from the library reserve copies now! I once tried to reserve Halloween movies in October and wasn't able to watch them until after Thanksgiving!). Here's the list:
1.Matinee
2.Frankenstein (1931)
3.The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
4.The Wolf Man (1941)
5.The Goonies
6.The Burbs
7.Gods and Monsters (1998)
8.Mars Attacks
9.Pee-wee’s Big Adventure
10.Psycho (1960)
11.Hitchcock
12.Over The Garden Wall
13.The Trouble With Harry
14.Bernie
15.Coraline
16.Goosebumps (2015)
17.Will Vinton's Claymation Comedy of Horrors, and The Adventures of Mark Twain
18.Halloween of Horror (canonical Halloween episode of The Simpsons)
19.Frankenweenie (1984) and Vincent (1982)
20.Beetlejuice
21. Robot Monster
22.Ed Wood
23.The Night of The Living Dead (1968) (Also available to watchHERE)
24.Hocus Pocus
25.The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror I-XXVI
26.Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II
27.The X-Files, Season 5
28.Trick or Treat, Donald Duck and the Gorilla, Lonesome Ghosts, Duck Pimples, Donald’s Lucky Day, Pluto’s Judgement Day, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (Disney animated short films)
Did I miss a critical Halloween movie/cartoon/show? What would your list look like? Don't forget to follow all the fun Halloweeny goings on on Instagram @spacemason, #Halloweenathon2015.
I discovered this weirdo show about a year ago and I stinking love it. I didn't see this as a kid, seeing as it was a British cartoon. I have a soft spot for claymation and British humor, so obviously I love this. How can you not love this weird nonsense? Check it out while you eat your monster cereal this morning!
I'm running out of 2015 sets to review, since less 3-packs were released this year. So let's take a look at 2 sets from 2014. First, the vampire family.
Blue is an interesting skin tone for a vampire and I like it. He even seems to have a little goatee.
The vampiress doesn't have the same blue complexion, but an almost wolflike fur texture. Interesting take on vampirism.
Lastly we have the loyal lycan lad. He's a good looking wolf man.
The weirdo from the oddball set wants to be a zombie, but I still don't buy it. Now thegentleman on the left and the lady on the right, they're killing it!
And here's their goofy zombie son. I think he's trying too hard with that weird pose. Not bad though, lots of blood splotches on his clothes and blood stains on the stone slab he stands upon.
The zombies and mummies look great in the graveyard of Tombstone Corners. Now all they need are some victims to hunt down for bbrraaaaaaaaains!
Since I have an N64 cartridge of this one I owe it to myself to attempt to conquer this game. I never could quite get past the more difficult levels in this one. Overall an amazing game, every bit as good as it's predecessor, Doom.
9. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
I started playing this one again a few months ago. I have only completed the game once, so it's about time for another go. It's not the strongest in the Resident Evil series, but it's not completely terrible. Resident Evil 2 is the best game in the franchise, so I save it for October.
8. Minecraft
This may come as a surprise to non-fans of Minecraft, but the game can be quite scary. I haven't played for so long, but I'm still very much addicted to Minecraft. I have been putting off building my mansion within the Nether (originally called "Hell"). I wish I could live in Minecraft. I love Minecraft. I hear there are rabbit mobs now.
7. Ghosts N' Goblins
I will beat this game one day! I love/hate this game almost as much as Battle Toads. Despite its difficulty this game is really addicting and it's an arcade classic. Gotta love that terrible butchering of the English language, "This story is happy end!"
6. Maniac Mansion
I actually haven't really played this one before. The game is very similar to Hugo's House of Horrors for the PC, and is a prequel to Day Of The Tentacle!
5. Splatter House
I sold my SEGA Genesis, so I will probably never play this one myself. That's what "let's plays" are for though.
4. Castlevania
This game was dang hard when I was a kid and it's still difficult today. I hope to finally conquer this classic before Halloween 2015.
3. Monster Party
This game is so Japanese, I just love it! The plot is ridiculous and the enemies are strange to say the least. It's like a campy horror movie, the cheesiness is part of the charm.
2. Mother 4
The release date for this fan made game has been pushed back several times and now there is no set date. Hopefully it will be released some time next year so I can play it for Halloween 2016. I am very excited to play this! It has been a long time since I have actually anticipated the release of a new game. Be sure to check it out, as this will be a FREE download! Mother4game.com
I have been wanting to play this game for a good long while. It's a weird, trippy indie game made using the RPG Maker 2003. If you like RPGs and surreal dream states then this game is for you.
If I can find the free time and proper equipment I will start streaming games on Twitch.
As you may have heard, an all new Muppets TV show is premiering tonight on ABC. Ever since the new Muppets Movie came out I wondered if we would see a revival of The Muppet Show. It looks like a mocumentary style Muppets show is what we're getting and I'll take what I can get. Though the whole Kermit breaking up with Miss Piggy thing was really lame, but whatever. The only problem is we abandoned actual TV for Netflix a long time ago.
Is anyone going to watch The Muppets tonight? What do you think?
I remember hearing about Santa Muerte last year. She's a controversial saint that is very popular in Mexico. I spotted one in a Mexican market near where I work. It was a bit pricey at $12.99, so I passed on picking one up. Maybe one day when I'm rolling in pesos I'll pick one up to use for Halloween, De Los Muertos, and All Saints Day.
So what's the big controversy? Watch this news report to find out. WARNING: SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND THE FOLLOWING VIDEOS TO BE DISTURBING!
What do you think? Is Santa Muerte an evil demon, a tool of Satan, a false idol, a holy saint, or just a really cool Halloween decoration? Tell me what you think in the comments below!
I'm not sure why, but Halloween is HUGE in Utah! Like "quit your job and turn your home into a haunted house for Halloween" huge! So it comes as no surprise to me that the best haunted house in the nation is Utah's Nightmare on 13th, located on 13th South in Salt Lake City. It has been been so long since I went to a haunted house that I'm not even sure if I have been to The Nightmare on 13th. I'm pretty sure I went there with friends and family a few times when I was a teenager. It's always like stepping into a crazy nightmare, because as you walk from room to room things change so drastically, it's weird. My only fear is that some for reals maniac with a chainsaw will sneak in there and start cutting people to shreds, but everyone will think it's all part of the act! I've seen that happen 1,000 times on TV and in movies. One thing I really like about Nightmare on 13th is the exterior! They really went all out and made it look like a haunted house.
I just had to stop and check out the new animatronic dragon outside. (I have a video of it that I will upload later.)
The dragon seems to be a re-paint of 2013's dragon.
You can see the animatronic dragon above the entrance there. She's more of a teal this year.
Very interesting lave ghost mural, definitely not your average theme.
I found this interesting steampunk style mural! I wonder what they're going to do with that theme, I have never heard of a haunted house including steam punk horror, but I like it! There really should be more steam punk horror films.
Do you have a local favorite haunted house that you like to visit every year? Do you create your own in your garage? Do haunted houses freak you out or do you love them?
Ready or not, here it comes, Ghostbusters 3! Are you excited, nervous, angry? Only time will tell what I think about the movie, but until then I will discuss it to death!
I'm totally with The Black Nerd on this! Why couldn't the all female Ghostbusters team exist inside the current Ghostbusters universe? They could easily be a Ghostbusters franchise in another area! There could be an awesome training video featuring the original Ghostbusters team, similar to the commercial in the first movie (perfect cameo!). The possibilities are endless!
Anyways, what do all of you think of GBIII? Tell me in the comments below!
Outter Space Men are back and they're badder than ever! Sadly, I will probably never be able to afford an Outter Spaceman, original or new, but I can appreciate the awesome toy designs.
This is the woman from Alpha Centauri and evil twin of Metamorpho. She can take on any form, except that of her twin brother.
The sculpt has 3 awesome head sculpts, the skull, black widow spider, and demon face.
Last year we took a look at myLEGO Fright Knights collection. The problem was I was missing The Bat Lord himself! Not to worry, I paid a quick visit to BrickLink.com and found Basil for cheap, helmet, cape, n' all! Check 'im out!
The helmet is great!
Love the cap, stylin'.
Every facial feature just screams "Bat Lord!" If you want to make a Vincent Price minifigure this is the perfect head. In fact, that's not a bad idea, I just might do that!
Today is the first day of the NFL season and the office is all abuzz with fantasy football draft picks. Honestly, I don't get fantasy football. Sounds like it's a whole lot of nonsense for total nerds. I would much rather have a Mutant LeagueFootball (MLF)fantasy football league.
Check out these crazy teams to choose from (and parodies where appropriate)
Maniac Conference
Darkstar Dragons (San Francisco 49ers)
Killer Konvicts (Dallas Cowboys)
Misfit Demons (Miami Dolphins)
Psycho Slashers (Pittsburgh Steelers)
Screaming Evils (Philadelphia Eagles)
Slaycity Slayers (Seattle Seahawks)
Terminator Tollz
Turbo Techies
Toxic Conference
Deathskin Razors (Oakland Raiders)
Icebay Bashers (Green Bay Packers)
Midway Monsters (Chicago Bears)
Rad Rockers (New York Giants)
Road Warriors (Washington Redskins)
Sixty Whiners (the name is a parody of the 49ers but none of the player names are)
Vile Vulgars (Minnesota Vikings)
War Slammers
The Game also contained 3 all-star teams, one for each conference, and "Galaxy All-Stars" containing the best players in the league.
The Mutant League Football video games was seriously awesome and needs a remake bad!
Mutant League was one also one of my favorite cartoon shows as a kid, and man was it disturbing! Just check out the intro!
Nothing like melting flesh and decapitations for a kids cartoon!
If you have an hour to kill you can watch the "movie"
If you're more into tabletop games, then be sure to check out The Blood Bowl.
Who are your fantasy football picks? And how the heck does fantasy football work anyways? It sounds really lame. I bet the nerds that play fantasy football dress up like their favorite players and go to conventions! (No hate here people, I'm only joking and making a point. Peace! :D)
So recently I made a trip to the good old Family Dollar. You never know what weird crap you might find there and when I paid a visit the other day something magical happened. I found these:
As I did some research on these strange toys I found something I have really missed, super cheesy toy commercials! Predasaurs has loads of great classic style toy commercials, enjoy!
This commercial has several different language versions. This is the English version and it is amazing!
Here's a slightly different version with emphasis on the glow-in-the-dark feature.
A cancelled cartoon trailer? When lava and crystals containing different dinosaur DNA combine the Predasaurs were born! As they find random giant weapons scattered across prehistoric earth, they battle for supremacy! Watch as their teeth grow to Jurassic proportions!
Apparently Simba created a giant battle arena for the Predasaurs.
I love the 2-headed dragosaurs!
Mr. Ashens was not impressed with the crappier blind bag version of these
Add your own announcer! If I had video aditing skills I would totally cut my voice into this commercial! I do have a decent announcer voice.
This commercial features a catapult! Sweet!
Tune in next time and we'll take a closer look at Predasaurs: Aqua Attack.
One of the less "poo your pants awesome" sets from 2014 was the Gargoyles set. It kind of felt like a filler, but I just had to have it in order to complete the series.
Just in case 3 gargoyles wasn't enough the 2015 series including 2 sets with a random gargoyle.
Do evil, speak evil, be evil.
The 3 gargoyles really aren't bad. I like the details and the paint apps look fantastic since they're just one solid stone-gray color with slight detailing.
The electric chair zombie is pretty sweet! I can really see this guy chilling in front of a haunted house, just like an older timer might sit on his porch in a rocking chair. The lady on the right seems to have a mirror in her hand (or is it a comb?). Is she a vain ghost? Is she a newly converted vampire checking for a reflection? Or maybe she's Bloody Mary herself!
The 2nd 2015 gargoyle set includes this lovely mummy couple! Tombstone Corners really did a great job with these two!
But hold on, the gargoyles are identical!? Also, I just noticed this as I', writing this, they also have 4 breasts each...
With 2 identical gargoyle figurines, I think it's safe to say that these were meant to be "newly deads" sets, the gargoyles acting as the wedding officiant. The zombie/ghoul and ghost/vampire lady appear to be part of some kind of shotgun wedding from beyond the grave.
And if you feel like Tombstone Corners needs even more gargoyles, then be sure to pick up the 2014 Gate figure, sporting 2 cat-like gargoyle sentinels.
I bring you another Figurines 3 pack from the 2015 Tombstone Corners series.
Now, don't get me wrong, I think these are awesome figures, I just don't understand what they're supposed to be. I'll show you what I mean.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this guy was a "Scarecrow", which makes perfect sense. But, when I took a closer look all I can see is a dude with a wicked mustache. What the!? Are they trying to reuse an old mold and make it look like a scarecrow? Either way, still a nice figurine for 33 cents.
Yeah, this guy. He's not a zombie, there are other zombies in the series and they don't look quite like this guy. Also, the zombies have a blank, expressionless look. This guy is clearly frowning and tilting his head back. And he looks like he's holding something, but what?
Hail to the hunchback chef! Seriously though, is this guy a chef as the white apron suggests? Maybe a lunchlady, or a "hunch"lady (get it!?). I'm thinking he's a Leatherface knockoff, despite his serious lack of chainsaw.
He does have a nice hunch.
So there you have it, the mystery figurines 3 pack. I don't know what else to call it. All the other 3 pack figures tend to be related to each other in some fashion, like the Frankenstein/Mad Scientists set I reviewed last week. These guys? They're all leftover no-name Halloweeny guys? I dunno.
As part of a trade Eric Stettmeier, of Toyriffic fame, sent me an amazing package full of sci-fi goodies that I am absolutely thrilled to own! Be sure to check out Toyriffic, it's awesome!
LEGO Lunar Rover 6463
The helmet is so shiny! Seriously though, this is an awesome set!
I recently picked up the polybag Space Utility Vehicle 30315. It's interesting to see the little differences. Honestly, I like the Lunar Rover a little better, and it's a '99 model. It just seems a bit flashier and the wheels are bigger, which makes sense with a rover.
I think as far as the space suits go the Land Rover wins out overall as well. The helmet of the Space Utility Driver is stationary and not as shiny. You can even see the back of his head through a hole in the helmet. That can't be good for space walks! The Lunar Rover Spaceman has a better face, I think, with the inclusion of the mic. They both have nice prints, and the SUD Spaceman does have a back print, which is a plus. Even though they have their differences they will still make a good team as they explore for extraterrestrial life amongst the stars.
Tim Mee Galaxy Lazer Team 2012 & 2013 Reissues
I've had my eye on these for a long time. These are just so awesome and I love the very obvious knockoffs!
Eric didn't just send me a handful, he sent me an entire set!
Let's take a closer look at these individually.
Space Baron
The Space Baron is one tough aristocrat, or "astro"crat. He may be a little stuck up and corrupted with all those space credits, but you gotta respect that baton! Of course, he does have legions of bodyguards with blasters at his disposal, so he doesn't have to do any of the dirty work.
Space Yeti
The Space Yeti is far more advanced than your standard earthly yeti. He's packing heat and even has the decency to throw on a pair of pants. You'll also notice the Space Yeti has developed extra-sensory antennae, used in telekinesis and telepathy.
RU-R2, Wild Space Automaton
Robots left over from some unknown race, the RU-R2 is capable of reproduction by simply building other RU-R2 units. Prone to follow and serve/annoy organic life forms, the RU-R2 is easily domesticated.
Space Turtles
Scientists actually don't know much about these mysterious Space Turtles other than they can "swim" through outer space for centuries before landing on a planet for air. It is believed they are capable of bending space and time in order to make this possible.
Blue Collar Space Workers
Mostly hired as astroid miners, these lovable guys are essential to a healthy intergalactic economy. Their left hands carry their lunch boxes and right hands are perfect for high-fives and holding drinks. Currently the space mining industry is dominated by men. The Space Board For Equal Rights, or SBER, is currently fighting to correct this injustice.
Space Firemen
It's a tough job, but someone needs to safely extinguish super novae. Some would argue that super novae are a natural part of the space environment and that extinguishing them is only worsening galactic climate change; but a Space Fireman doesn't think about that, he's just doing his job. Currently the Spaceship Space Firemen industry is dominated by men. The Space Board For Equal Rights, or SBER, is currently fighting to correct this injustice.
Space Rogue
Actually the rebellious nephew of the Space Baron! He hates authority, but loves to shot things, even endangered species. He's comfortable making out with any species in the known, and unknown, universe.
Spaceship Mechanics
Not just a pretty face, these lovely ladies are mechanically inclined and can fix anything! Currently the Spaceship Mechanic industry is dominated by women. The Space Board For Equal Rights, or SBER, is currently fighting to correct this injustice.
TMNT Space Yosaki Yojimbo
Last but not least, the space version of Yosaki Yojimbo! It's interesting to note that this wasn't a one time thing in order to create one new action figure, there was an actual comic book serious known as Space Usagi! It really makes you wonder, could there have been an unreleased 4th TMNT movie called Turtles in Space? It would have been the perfect way to introduce Space Yosaki into the TMNT movie universe. I really wish Yosagi had made it into TMNT III. Oh well.
Now a valuable member of the United Animals Federation
