Hellowe'en

Honestly, what's the Halloween season without Friday the 13th? Not only was the original movie an attempt to cash in on the success of the original Halloween... the movies are airing non-stop during the spooky season. The cheap dollar hockey mask is as much of a Halloween tradition as plastic fangs and pumpkin spice everything. It's only fitting that an episode of the Friday the 13th TV series had a Halloween episode. While not related to the film series other than in name (and recurring actors, producers, and studios), the show is pretty fun in it's own right.

An OldOne on this Friday the 13th

Horror of the deep, 52TOYS BeastBox Series OLDONE BB-44！Slumbering deep under the ocean, no one will believe a box as ancient as the OLDONE exists. Once awaken, his CPU programming will unleash tentacles upon unsuspecting ships and drag them all to a watery grave...

No better time than Friday the 13th to take a look at OldOne. OldOne is a BeastBox figure by 52Toys. Really cool designer toys that turn from beast mode to box mode (there is some some modes as well). It's really satisfying to see something like a robotic dinosaur convert into a pleasant little box as well as a return to the old school transforming robot toy shapes.

OldOne is a really well done robotic Kraken with a Lovecraft name. Nothing like a legendary sea monster that could possibly be from beyond our scope of reality. The robotic design add some really cool looks as well. Despite the 'beast' in the name, don't think Beast Wars. Think Zoids. They're very similar to Zoids in visual presentation and frankly they just look fucking awesome. A squid is probably the last thing you'd think of when the idea of transforming into a box... and OldOne is a little tricky getting there. All those tentacles fold up exactly right and mostly fit into his head while doing so. Thankfully, they're heartily articulated. They can bend all over the place in a million different ways. It's super satisfying to do so. I've said satisfying twice, because that's the best word for it.

I had been eyeing these Beastbox toys by 52Toys for awhile now and have no reason or excuse for why I haven't bought one before. I thought they were neat but just didn't get any. My wife bought me Oldone after discovering them on Amazon and asked me about them. I was instantly hooked and used some Amazon gift cards to buy a few... and I'll be getting more in the future. These are great. Apparently, there's a bonus brain module for OldOne that sometimes comes with the toy. I'm not sure what the occasion for getting one is, mine didn't include it. It looks like one can be acquired separately. I'm really happy with Beastbox and can foresee a lot more of them in my future.

Scorponok the 13th

 

It's Friday the 13th and a pretty good time to enjoy some of the more spooky side of things. I could point out how various talent from Transformers and Friday the 13th have worked on both franchises again, but I thought it'd be a good day to look at a more forgotten member of the scary robot crew. Dark Scorponok! Now, Scorponok is hardly forgotten and generally a featured character, but in the case of Dark Scorponok he was literally just a repaint used to fill out some gaps in Cybertron when the line was just releasing.  With a Black Zarak inspired deco (I'm regretting skipping that Legacy one now, dangit) Dark Scorponok was a pretty good looking update to the Energon Scorponok toy mold. I strongly recall many of us in the Transformers fandom speculating that he was going to be a BotCon exclusive based on early leaks.

This was when Fun Publications first took over and nobody knew what to expect yet. He wasn't a BotCon exclusive, but a normal retail release! However, his characterization was solely in Fun Publications fiction. During Cybertron, the fan club magazine's comic was a side story to the Cybertron cartoon with a variety of exclusives and non-show toys led by Vector Prime addressing the problem on Cybertron. I quite liked the comic and had fun seeing all these toys get some form of life. Dark Scorponok was among the bad guys. As he died in Energon, Scorponok was resurrected as Dark Scorponok on this wasteland of Cybertron that's being destroyed by Unicron's evil.

Dark Scorponok is a almost mindless monster who's main focus is devouring the sparks of other Transformers. He's a pretty big threat whom is eventually dealt with by the Autobots. As a toy, Dark Scorponok is mainly a repaint of the Energon toy with a remolded tail piece. Now instead of a lever to control his 'Hyper Mode' guns, there is a slot to insert a Planet Key matching Cybertron's toy line gimmick.

Replay: Friday The 13th

It's Friday the 13th! The second one of 2020, which considering how this year has went since the last one...

I've been a life long horror fan, but that doesn't mean I like all horror. I have the stuff I prefer and the stuff I could care less about. In college I discovered The Ring a few years before the US remake came out. This lead into me learning more about J-Horror and discovering Japanese ghost videos. 

I like to watch various paranormal TV and regularly watch ghost videos as is. These Japanese ones normally come from paranormal TV shows playing spooky clips. They'll display the message 'Replay' before repeating the clip giving you a chance to spot the scary ghost. It's pretty fun to watch these and try to spot the scary stuff. Like all ghost videos, I don't believe everything I'm seeing, but I'm entertained.

Unlike my younger days, I'm no longer getting bootlegged copies of these videos on VHS/VCD. Between Youtube and a few other choice places (dude, Facebook video is awesome) I can watch them whenever, wherever. Since I regularly post paranormal videos here anyway, I thought it was time for a new tag. So if you see 'Replay' in the post tags, follow that rabbit hole.

Transform Squadron 24- Robot Devil's Night

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The Spooky Season is upon us and Zone Base has its pumpkins on the porch! This month Rob talks Transformers Generations and random thoughts on figure sizes before talking about the days leading up to Halloween!

The Devil's Video, Blockbusters Video

If it's one this I particularly miss about the bygone days of video stores, it's the horror section at the local video store. Nothing could beat those Mom and Pop stores with their cardboard standees of Nightmare of Elm Street faded from the sun next to the wall of VHS horror. When Blockbuster came on the scene, they outdid everybody. Bigger stores with bigger selections. Even their horror selection spanned a few aisles.

Blockbuster even outdid Mom and Pop stores with the holidays. Instead of a generic decoration or two, they'd generally have some sort of promotion. For a while you could get Blockbuster branded tapes of classic horror at Halloween time. You've probably guessed by now that I loved it. I still remember fall of 1995 and their specific release of Halloween. Truly a magical time.

Later they added more movies to the Halloween display, which didn't always have the branding, but had the sweet sale price. Friday the 13th for a few bucks, heck yeah! I wish pictures of their Michael Myers display were easier to find. You could see him peeking at you through the windows into the parking lot. Damn creeper.

This Daggum Weekend Past

It's Monday already, dammit. I got off Saturday morning and went with the wife to Bed Bath & Body Works and Yankee Candle. Saturday was the launch day for Yankee Candle's Halloween collection and her usual tradition is to hit that and BB&W for a spooky shopping spree. BB&W put their stuff out a few weeks ago, but she held off as she likes to do them together.

We got to the shopping center early and went to BB&W first since Yankee Candle wasn't open and the line hadn't formed yet. I held a shopping bag as she filled it up with random pumpkin and ghost scented candles. Afterwards she got int the now forming line at Yankee Candle while I put two heavy bags that smelled like fall into the car. We stood there for about 3 minutes before the store opened as a Space Mountain sized line formed behind us.

Apparently there was a slight bit of candle drama as this years figurine theme was a haunted hospital and you know that whole pandemic. Of course the stuff was in production before the crap hit the fan, so it's not like it was intentional. You know, a Plague Doctor has been a very popular costume for a few years now. Wonder how well that's going to go over this year?

Also folks were complaining about stuff selling out online already, which we found out that ordering from the store comes from a different stock, so I guess now we know. Just remember, when somebody gives you trouble for collecting toys, they probably rioted over fancy candles and a football game.

We stopped by Walmart after to pick up a few things needed outside of the grocery order. Like a toaster. I was happy to see Masters of the WWE Universe figures and grabbed an Undertaker. Also picked up a Star Wars Mission Fleet Clone Trooper and Ghostbusters Hot Wheel. They had reissue Blaster, but I've got one on order, so I left them for others. Also have a Godbeast order on the way, really looking forward to it. This wave's theme is reverse Scarabite and I love how the Scarabite colors look in reverse. Can't wait for it to get here.

Come to think about it, I haven't assembled the last few Glyos drops yet. That move really threw me out of whack. Hopefully I can put some micro console time in this weekend. It's a holiday weekend, meaning this will be the longest week in history. I specifically want to play Bonk.

The wife did some in house Halloween decorating Saturday night while watching 'Over the Garden Wall', another tradition of hers. I picked up boxes. We have a lot of Halloween decorations. We'll finish that next weekend as some other household things we've been putting off since moving. Plans were to do that Sunday, but that became watching a mix of watching TV and Bill and Ted 3 while waiting for a pot roast to cook.

I usually don't talk about Monday on these weekend posts, but, there was a Friday the 13th marathon on all day. I'd enjoy that more if not for the migraine I woke up with. I was in and out of sleep all day periodically waking up at random parts in movies. You guys won't believe it, they only played part 5 once. Well, at least before I went to work anyway.

4K At Camp Blood

Running a marathon and camp, two beloved summer traditions that many take part in each year. While I've never ran a marathon, I used to go to a summer day camp when I was a kid and my brother went to a scout camp a few times. I don't know of many horrible things happening at marathons, summer camps though are often plagued by so many nightmares you often wonder why they're so popular.

Snake bites, poisoned wells, ghosts, and murder is just some of the urban legends surrounding the popular summer getaways. There's a million movies about masked murders at summer camps, but none more popular than Friday the 13th. Jason Vorhees, his mother, and even Roy have killed so many people... why do people even go to that camp anymore?

I would say it's a summer tradition to have a Friday the 13th marathon on TV. But to be fair, they'll do one at any point all year. Summer and Halloween time are usual picks. I remember in 2016 SyFy had one every weekend for the entire summer (with some Elm Street sprinkled in for good measure). But whenever there's a Friday the 13th throughout the year, some channel will have some sort of marathon on. Don't worry about the schedule, it'll only be part 5.

Enter the former cable station, TNN. I'm assuming this marathon ran after the channel switched from 'The Nashville Network' and during it's phase as 'The National Network' before transforming into 'Spike TV' (now The Paramount Network... I remember the damnedest things). Honestly it would have been a good choice during it's life as a country music channel. Carrie Underwood's got a bigger body count than Jason at this point.

I truly miss ads like this. Back in the day, channels would often have custom ads for their various programing. Either montages made from movie footage with some random song added for comedic effect or super serious narration. That or the original production as seen here. The original productions is often where odd urban legends like the bloody pumpkin in Halloween. There's not one in the movie, but there's a million blood covered pumpkins in odd home made advertisements. Jason with a chainsaw, same. Here Jason is chasing those foolish enough to have a marathon at Camp Crystal Lake to maim and murder. He's not getting revenge for his mother or his own death. Just can't take the 'runners high' talk one more minute.

Friday The 13th Kabuto Mushi DX Sets Now On Sale

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My main man The Godbeast has some really awesome sets available for a great Friday the 13th surprise! Super DX Monster 0 is a cool bunch of figures and parts for a combining Ghidorah homage! Super DX Ray Mushi takes Kabuto Mushi and adds tons of parts making one sweet Shogun Warrior homage!

Friday Night Frights- The Scooby-Doo Project

It's Friday Night and you know what that means? Another Friday Night Frights here on the base! Seeing as it's not just any other Friday... but like the 13th man... let's do something groovy. Back in 1999 The Blair Witch Project was everywhere, it was a huge hit which inspired The Scooby-Doo Project. A series of shorts shown in between episodes of the Halloween Night Scooby-Doo marathon. Scooby-Doo has been a pleasant surprise source of spooky shit so far in 2020 and really fells kinda appropriate today.

Ted From Friday The 13th Part 2 Went On To Live A Normal Life

It's Friday the 13th! If you're superstitious, this is a very unlucky day! If you're at summer camp, you're probably gonna get murdered. Though for the rest of the world, it's a little mini-Halloween that randomly pops up during the year! There's probably a horror marathon or two on TV tonight. A bunch of Jason Vorhees memes getting shared on Facebook. Just a little spooky fun inserted into your routine. Did I say a mini-Halloween? You're damn right I'm running with it.

Friday the 13th part 2 is probably one of the better entries in the series. As a direct sequel to the original movie, it continues the story and keeps the same general vibe. It takes what made the original good and adds to it. One of the more cool aspects of this part is... several counselors live. I know, I know, but here me out. Jason (whom is somehow alive now because I guess) is killing attendees of a counselor training camp being held across the lake from the now closed Camp Blood Crystal Lake.

The camp has quite a few attendees as during the time summer camps were big business. So, the head honcho takes the group out for a night of fun before the hard work begins. Well, he takes out those who want to go out that is. The rest stay at camp and that's where the bulk of the murder happens. Aside from said head honcho and main girl who return to face Jason, the rest just stay and don't get killed horribly. One survivor is camp prankster Ted... who you pretty much wanted to see die.

Now, what happened to the survivors after? Well, they got off pretty lucky. Not only did they survive, but they didn't have the ordeal whatsoever. They just found out what happened the next day. Horrible sure, but you don't go Laurie Strode crazy after finding out some people you just met died while you were at Applebee's. Wait... Laurie Strode... mini-Halloween?

What we have here is a Halmark Halloween commercial from the late 80's. I'd give an exact year, but they reused it for awhile. This version with an added spooky sounds tape bit added on is from 1989, which is like eight years after the movie took place. I chose the picture above of Ted to help you all out, but if you didn't notice at around :25 there he is rocking a 'this is my costume' shirt. Not only did Ted survive getting killed in a slasher movie, but he chose to wear one of those shirts on Halloween. Because, he's funny, get it?

Happy Friday the 13th part Christmas

Friday the 13th is great, it's like having a little mini Halloween throughout the year! But what if there's one in December? I guess Christmas themed horror movie marathon? When looking up various fast food Christmas commercials, I found this old Burger King spot with the restaurant giving out dolls of the King! While watching it, I thought the 'employee' sure looked familiar. Which isn't surprising as a lot of actors get their start in commercials. Some continually work in them for their entire careers. I'm sure it's a good paycheck in between spots on tv shows and such. But where do I remember that face...

It might not be... but sure does look like her huh? I could be wrong and I don't mind admitting I am, but man that's pretty big similarity. I seriously wouldn't doubt a old slasher movie kid did a few commercials. Btw, you could totally get a Burger King doll during Christmas in 1977. Pretty rad.

Friday on the 13th is some spooky shit

Friday the 13th is like having a mini Halloween randomly during the year. Though when a F13th is during the Halloween season it's extra special! There's all that great spooky stuff on the shelves and those dollar hockey masks everywhere! So when you get some great scary edition snacks sure to make your next bowel movement extra colorful and sit down to watch that horror marathon. Make sure to find whatever channels playing Friday the 13th instead of Wishmaster because seriously FX ... not cool. The hell even.

There's universal rules. You don't spit in the wind, you don't put metal in the microwave, and it's always Friday the 13th part 5 on tv. The listing said part 7 is on now, but it's going to be part 5. It's always part 5. The entire marathon is just part 5. You know, the one with the fake Jason... Roy. Part 5. Now that's not a complete negative, Roy's mask had cool blue stripes and he kills a guy while he's on a porta potty. Part 5.

After Reggie visits his brother Demon, Demon realizes he must visit the euphemism. Like Euchariah, he's on fiya. After an Oscar worthy recreation of your mom after Thanksgiving dinner... I can't even... like his girlfriend and him start singing and... just watch. Yes, that's Juwanna Mann.

The movie is not all about dying whilst pooping, it's also about... so yeah dying on a toilet. Part 5. Oh yeah, it has this awesome song in it! Somebody dies while it plays. Kinda what happens in these movies. Whole lot of murder.

Transform Squadron the 13th

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This month Rob discusses Mad Lab minis, Cyberverse Deadlock, and shopping at his local stores for Halloween stuff before going into some of the times Transformers crossed paths with Friday the 13th. It’s ki ki ki ma ma ma and it’s the podcast of Zone Base!

Summer Holiday

I'm enjoying my holiday weekend, summer is a spooky season.

Your moment of Zen

I've had a long night, here's Cripin Glover dancing in Friday the 13th part 4.

Friday the 13th part 7: The New Blood trailer

It wasn't until I was an adult until I finally figured out why Tina's Mom sounded so much like Arcee.

Alice Cooper- Man Behind the Mask

Friday the 13th Part 6- Jason Lives! is one of my favorite of the F13 movies. If I were to call it right now, 1-7 is the series prime time. 1-4 being the best, 5-7 being the back end. The rest are enjoyable, but obviously not up to the prime standard. Still though, 6 is one of my favorites for it's awesome self awareness. They really tried to make it special and they sure did. It was thanks to repeat viewings of this on HBO as well as the constant marathon of prior installments on WGCL 46 (before it was a CBS affiliate and was AWESOME) and WATL 36 (when it was AWESOME) all summer (remember when I said summer was the lead in to Halloween) which inspired me to be Jason for Halloween the following year.

Of course, it was the late 80's, so you know what I wore.

The ever present dollar 'horror' mask that can be found at any store during the season in a variety of colors and sometimes mouth hole opening variations. Before higher end licensed masks of Jason Vorhees was available, THIS was what you had to work with. Honestly, I'd wager this still outsells the official ones. Of course sales data would be impossible to prove since a million of companies make them and you practically trip over them in any store you walk into from September to October. I still occasionally buy one and wear it to a random fall festival or Halloween occasion. That or those rad skull and pumpkin masks that are always hanging next to it. 

The 'horror' mask is at this point as much of a staple of Halloween as a pumpkin in my book.

Horror Savage World figures!

I was just admiring the Mortal Kombat Savage World figures at Target this past weekend and today pics of Funko's newest Savage World series hit the internet! Savage World is Funko's action figure line that pays homage to fantasy figures of the 80's and utilizes that certain beefy barbarian (a He-Man like physique you might say) look in the most amazing way. These classic horror characters really work well in the style and I can't begin to tell you how excited for them I became when I saw them. Let's just say my neighbors were mad. Horror is the perfect base for this type of figure as I've often noted the play sets for those old toys often looked like re-purposed Halloween decorations. Not to mention the art was straight off an 80's heavy metal album cover (which I've already explained my association with Halloween). Just like the horror ReAction figures, I'm finding myself thinking up all sorts of play sets and stuff to add to the fun. I could really see little rubber versions of kids in Silver Shamrock masks, Jason as a child, or other assorted monsters to partner with the characters like Blackstar had.

This is just so freaking cool.

Friday the 13th NES