Not quite October, not even close really… but close enough that the signal starts to feel familiar if you’ve been paying attention.
I’ve always liked this stretch of the year for that exact reason. It’s not Halloween yet, but it’s also not not Halloween.
Halfway to Halloween is just a little week of leaning into it. Nothing too heavy. Nothing over the top. Just a few posts that let the season peek through the cracks a little early while everything else is still spring.
Here we are again. The Halloween season is slowly coming to a close and that means once again I'm talking about The Halloween that Almost Wasn't/The Night Dracula Saved the World. It's my favorite Halloween special... I've said that each time. I said it because I meant it. When I was a kid, Halloween was this weird patchwork holiday. Spooky, creepy, scary... but also ratchet as hell sometimes. The Disney Channel, for example, a big company with lots of money and slick polish would fill October with tons of old specials like this.
It's got the production value of a school play, almost amateurish things happen on screen like when the Wolfman is standing in view before he's supposed to go through a door. The Mummy just falls on his ass a few times. But... it's funny as hell. Like, legitimately funny. There's a fun script and the actors are obviously having a great time. It's a good thing the special is easily watchable, because none would believe that this thing exists. Despite all that, it's so very Halloween at it's core. Pure Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem. Happy Halloween everybody.
I live in Georgia, which means I've never had an Arctic Circle restaurant near me. I've never been to Utah or any of the other states in which Arctic Circle has locations in. Which means I've never had a Square Pumpkin meal. One of the greatest disappointments of my life. Have you seen it? You get the Square Pumpkin box, with haunted house game on the back. I will not mince words, that is fucking bad ass.
Of course you also get food, but dude, square pumpkin with haunted house game. A Google search shown me years of amazing Halloween kids meals from Arctic Circle. I can't believe just how much I've missed out. I didn't I even know about this place until I found this commercial. I'll be honest, I kinda forgot Utah existed too. Working the graveyard shift for 10 years has have altered my world view a bit. I'm not kidding, the first time I see the sunrise in spring scares the shit out of me every year.
I'm pretty sure if Arctic Circle was available to me the Square Pumpkin meal would be a hotly anticipated item each year. It's pretty badass. McDonald's can't decide if they want to do Halloween pails regularly or not. Starbucks kinda shit the bed with the Halloween drinks after 2018. It'd be nice to have something like a Square Pumpkin to look forward to each year. I crave annual fast food spooky shit. I don't even want the food, just the haunted house game.
originally posted 9/23/20
Thank you Zone Base readers for coming back for another week of robots, monsters, and misadventure! The weather is getting chilly and there's another 3 weeks of Halloween to chill our bones even more! I had a mostly relaxing weekend. The Mrs and I did some shopping, I reworked some of our lights outside and added more making our Halloween decorations really pop, and spent some quality time building robot models. The Mrs made us a wonderful Halloween taco dinner Sunday complete with a spooky cake!
As for toys, I got some good ones. Target didn't have the Age of the Primes 4 pack despite it being released last week. In turn, I ordered one in the parking lot. Long time readers know how much I love their Transformers multipacks and this one looks great! Target did have a Burning Godzilla Egg Monsters toy that I didn't have. I was glad to pick that one up. A trip to Walmart resulted in the larger Megatron Cyberworld figure that I've been looking forward to. It's a clever remold of a Hound figure from The Last Knight that becomes a early 90's throwback toy. It's hard to believe I've already got all the Cyberworld toys and I hope more are on the way!
Well, I've got chores to do and pictures to take for upcoming posts here on the site. I also want to take a nap, which will probably come first... my eyes are getting heavy as I write this! Thank you all for reading Zone Base. Don't forget to share with your friends and Mutual High Fives everyone!
I don't know how many times I've brought up Vampire's Secret ice pops in casual conversation. Once minute the doctor is asking me how I've been feeling, and the next I'm telling him about these old popsickles with blood red syrup. They were a wonderful thing and were sold under a variety of names. That brings us to this cool Australian variation of the idea, Paul's Dracula Ice Cream. In this commercial from 1981, Paul's injects the spooky shit right into our veins (which Dracula will later empty). Dracula apparently has taken to sleeping in a ice cream cooler instead of his coffin... and the customers join him. That poor convenience store worker just isn't getting paid enough to deal with this!
Ah, local businesses at Halloween. They really want to just get the message out... but it's Halloween. Throw on a Dracula cape, turn on the fog machine, and play some spooky music. Now get your ass down here and buy something! I've got to give it to Raines Chevrolet, our spokesman really looks like he's having fun. Though I do wonder if a gold colored economy car really is the best choice for a Dracula themed commercial. I digress... that damn thing is cheap!
It's probably hard for some in today's world of rechargeable devices to imagine it. That there was a time that keeping batteries around the house was absolutely necessary. These days I just keep some around for the Roku remote, but everything else just takes a USB charger. If anything, it's just a struggle to find a charging box sometimes. But back in the day, just about everything needed them and not an old one that lost it's power in the junk drawer. Once again seasonal appropriate commercials were there to remind you of the things you needed anyway... but with a little flair.
Duracell batteries last a long time, just like Dracula! This Halloween, you damn well better have a flashlight (or glow stick) on hand to light your way while trick or treating. For whatever reason the neighborhoods side walks become death traps and the ability to operate a car competently just escapes most drivers. YOU NEED THAT LIGHT. Hopefully there's a Duracell in it to ensure that not only will you be able to safely trick or treat... but also the rest of the year when your mom keeps it on her nightstand in case the power goes out.
As someone who works the graveyard shift, I'm all too familiar with recording my shows and watching them later. Of course in today's streaming world that's given way to in demand video, but the sentiment remains. Whenever I watch a commercial these days, it's usually some for incontinence medication. Long gone are the hokey spots where Dracula would sell you a VCR, and that's a damn shame.
LCD games were a lot of fun back in the day. Sure, what we have now is much better... but there was just an appeal about these little units you either did or just didn't get. This Dracula one is definitely neat. The game itself looks pretty complex for one from 1982 as well. It's hard not to love Dracula and I can see somebody playing there's in between bursts of trick or treaters while the local TV horror marathon plays. There's probably a slice of pizza and a soda on the same table. Good times.
As Pumpkin Spiced Mayhem comes to an end, it's time for a viewing of my all time favorite Halloween special. The Halloween that Almost Wasn't/The Night Dracula Saved the World is about Dracula and his fellow monsters trying to prevent the Witch from quitting her duties to fly over the moon at Halloween. It's hilarious and full of noticeable little goofs that make it even better. Happy Halloween everybody, thankfully Dracula saved it... and/or the world. Maybe both.
I've never been to Kentucky Kingdom, but judging by this commercial from 1995, it's pretty great during Halloween. While I'm sure in more recent years they've probably updated the scares with more modern frights... there's just something special about those classic monsters running around and scaring folks.
I love Micro Machines, this probably isn't a surprise to regular site readers. However being Halloween, how does that factor into the Pumpkin Spiced Madness? Well, in this commercial for the Micro Lights toys (they have tiny headlights, it's adorable), John Moschitta Jr. talks really fast about these new toys in a spooky setting to advertise the gimmick. Fast talking Dracula may seem corny, but it's pretty amazing that he could do the Bela Lugosi impersonation the entire time.
TOMY is a company readers of the site should be well acquainted with. They merged with Takara in 2005 and the shared logo has been printed on Transformers packages ever since. Not to mention Zoids, Starriors, and other cool toys. TOMY makes A LOT of toys, big and small... which brings us to the Mighty Men and Monsters drawing set from 1978. It's a gadget where you arrange various plates and stencil in a monster or super hero. Pretty neat. The real draw here is the commercial itself. Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy are having a great time in a spooky castle drawing all sorts of cool pictures. Best brunch ever.
Little Dracula, or Little D as he's affectionately called (nobody laugh) was a short lived cartoon based off a children's book series. For whatever reason, the cartoon didn't take off (probably because the main character was called Little D). Fortunatley it did have a Halloween episode! Which is super appropriate considering the theme of the show (unlike his nickname). Little D (snicker) goes trick or treating with his pal Werebunny with the rest of the family in tow. Since it's Halloween they all dress as regular humans (sigh) and get into adventures. It's stated that Dracula's clothes came from his victims and it can be assumed so did the rest of the gangs did as well. Including the children... that got dark real quick. Dang.
There's nothing more scary than the housing market. The subject is so cursed that the beginning of Dracula revolves around him buying a new home. Bridge City Realty realizes just how scary it can be, that's why for Halloween, they hired Dracula to be their spokesperson! Did it make the process any less terrifying? No, but hey kids...look...Dracula!
Troll dolls were all the rage in the early 90's. I myself had quite a few and honestly still kinda dig them. The Norfin brand of Trolls even got a few direct to video cartoons! Castle of Doom, their Halloween special is something interesting. Some good natured trolls find themselves in a haunted castle pursued by Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Wolfman as trolls. There's a mad scientist too! Look, if I were to tell you there was a Halloween Troll OVA, would you believe me? Good thing I found an upload of the VHS. Ironically, troll dolls are also known as Dam dolls thanks to being created by a dude named Thomas Dam.
Kid Dracula/Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun is a very fun little game where you take control of a young Kid Dracula (as the name implies) and take on Galamoth the demon. Kid Dracula uses his Dracula's (his father) cape as a weapon on his adventure. Kid Dracula is the self proclaimed Demon King, or was until Galamoth challenged him for the title. After defeating Galamoth, his title is restored and all the monsters in Transylvania want to be his friend. Despite all the monsters and demons, the game is obviously pretty cute.
It's intended to be a parody of the Castlevania series, though depending on who you ask, is part of the series. Kid Dracula being a young Alucard prior to growing up and becoming a more serious character. I prefer to take it on it's own though. It's hard not to enjoy the cute monsters and the fun platforming action. The game is available on most platforms now, but was originally a Famicom/NES game. Later the Gameboy version was released which is supposed to be both a remake and a follow up at the same time. I'm not sure how that works, but I am much better at the Gameboy version for some reason.
We're winding down the spooky season and it's time to dust off my absolute favorite Halloween special. The Halloween That Almost Wasn't/The Night Dracula Saved The World. It has two names depending on how it's distributed, but the same all time great. There's just something special about a bunch of TV actors getting together and putting on a silly production with an obvious shoe string production for the holiday. Well, I say shoe string... they're was obviously a lot of *ahem* substances in use. That couldn't have been cheap. The Mummy has a pretty hard time staying upright after awhile. It's a great special though. Halloween in it's purest form.
"Halloween is my national holiday!" Dracula proudly exclaims in 'The Halloween that Almost Wasn't/The Night Dracula Saved the World'. Truer words have never been spoken and there's no better time to look at Dracula's Transformers debut as Draculus. The Universal Monsters are something I truly love as readers know and as an older post would tell you, something Hasbro tried to work into Transformers in the past. Draculus is ultimately the culmination of that idea finally seeing light as he is an Official Universal Monsters crossover with Transformers. Neat, huh?
What happens when you have an entire town of bears? Probably nothing other than an amusing 'hey, there's an entire town of bears' being said on occasion. However, this town of bears lives in fear. Because, as you see, Monster Mountain overlooks the town of bears. The totally metal Monster Mountain ran by Dracula himself for whatever reason overlooks a town full of bears. So naturally they decide to invade. Thankfully Ted E. Bear figures out how to stop them. I assure you that I didn't just make that up, it's the plot of The Great Bear Scare... and... uh... wow.