Bored in the Castle

Holy crap, Ghost Castle looks amazing. Why isn't this a household staple? WHY?

To be honest, a lot of board games are boring. It's in the name, but Ghost Castle looks so cool! You've got skulls falling through things, and is that treasure?

I mean, if Monopoly happened in a haunted castle, it'd be so much more fun.

I really like the ghost puppets in this commercial, too. Though I'm pretty amazed these kids gathered in a spooky mansion to play a board game together and not in the family room where Mom could make them pizza rolls.

What should I be?

The opening music to Garfield's Halloween Adventure is burned into my memory they way a channel logo is on your TV. At any random moment, there it is... that flute followed by the screams of Blinky the Clown. I don't know how many times I've seen this special, but it doesn't matter. I'll watch it even more times. It's wonderful. This is another of my annual Halloween posts. It's tradition! The perfect Halloween night as experienced by our favorite lasagna addicted cat. It's all there. Deciding on a costume, carving a pumpkin, trick or treating, and even something scary! Perfection.

Royal Guard with Bogling (Halloween Edition) [Star Wars/The Black Series]

What's Halloween without a ghost or two haunting the holiday? To answer that, we've got one of this years holiday Star Wars items. A Target exclusive Halloween Edition Royal Guard member who was apparently a victim of the second Death Star explosion. As always, I manage to get a few holiday edition Star Wars toys each year. The Mrs usually gets me the Halloween Droid Factory toy in addition to whatever Halloween and Christmas items they have at stores. A few weeks ago, we picked this guy up at our local Target while excitedly checking out all the new spooky season merchandise. I don't think there's ever been a holiday edition Star Wars toy I haven't liked, but this one is particularly cool. The Royal Guard are usually seen standing by Emperor Palpatine in their striking red robes, keeping vigilant watch over the Supreme Leader of the Galactic Empire. This one must being watching over his throne in the wreckage as he's clearly passed on. Cast in white glow in the dark plastic *yay* and draped with a white glow in the dark *omg* cloth cloak is our ghostly guard.

I hadn't noticed before that the guards are wearing armor under those robes... but it makes sense that they would. From what I understand, this mold was originally released in 2017. I wouldn't be able to tell though as he's got all the articulation that I've come to expect from current 6" figures. As for accessories, our ghostly guard has a tiny little pistol and a staff. These are the ones Royal Guards commonly carry, so it makes sense that even in the after life he's got his gear. Did I mention they glow in the dark too? They do and it's wonderful *I'm going to explode*. The pistol stores inside a holster, but mine tended to fall out easily. So be careful not to loose yours. *mines safe* Completing the look is a skull face variation of the Royal Guard visor. Our ghastly guard is all set to haunt the wreckage of the Death Star. Hopefully whatever scavenger who decided to loot and pillage the remnants brought an extra pair of space pants.

Like most Black Series holiday editions there's a partner figure in the form of a little Bogling who has been turned into a goblin! The adorable little scamp is painted in green with red eyes. It may be hard to tell in my *obviously not professional* pics, but he's got a little pair of slightly different colored shorts. Of course with the name, I couldn't help but to think about Boglins... but that's a different little creature all together. Boglings are normally adorable little critters and this one's definitely a goblin up to all sorts of mischief in a galaxy far, far away. This is a great little set and I'm not sure if your Target has any left, but I'd advise you to get one if they do. Not only is it a great Halloween toy, but it's a fun version of a really well made Star Wars toy. The force is definitely with this ghost.

The Skeleton Dance (1929)

There's nothing more Halloween than this old Disney cartoon about a bunch of skeletons dancing around a graveyard at night. All the classic spooky shit is on full display. Black cats, big spiders, a howling dog, an owl, and of course the skeletons. The ghouls dance around, playing each other as instruments (don't be weird), and having a grave old time. You saw what you saw. All hell breaks loose and the grim reaper gets served before sun rise. Which of course means it's time for the skeletons to rush back to their graves.

originally posted 10/20/20

Scared Pinkless

The Pink Panther and his gang are alongside the classic cartoons that I grew up with and still love watching to this day. Timeless and endlessly entertaining, there's always one for the occasion and today is a good time to look at Pink Plasma. In Pink Plasma the panther finding himself in a spooky castle full of monsters and other classic haunted house tropes. This one feels like a Halloween greeting card to me. No jokes this time, let's just watch a great cartoon.

Ichabod's Bogus Journey

Sleepy Hollow has problems. For one, the damn Headless Horseman is constantly terrorizing the town. The other? That whole milk crate thing. Where the hell do they keep getting those anyway? There's a serious problem with a Headless Horseman and these damn fool kids all have broken hips! The local school teacher, Ichabod Crane, is into the paranormal. So he forms a team with Rip Van Winkle and some dog to go confront that damn headless fool. He's a shitty teacher, so the whole milk crate thing doesn't even get a speech in homeroom. Things don't go how you'd expect them to as they face all sorts of monsters in a spooky showdown with a wicked witch. For the record I didn't make any of that up, that's what happens, and yes this is one weird cartoon. Also people keep hurting themselves climbing milk crates. Happy fall y'all.

originally posted 8/27/21

Corpse People

Every one likes a good scare during the spooky season. It's a good time to break out some horror games and have some creepy fun. Siren and it's sequels were a solid entry in the genre that maintains a fan following today. I wonder how many people have seen this commercial without knowing it was for a game? Did they just watched a cursed tape and were now living on borrowed time?

The Fever Dream Of Sleepy Hollow

Ichabod Crane is a weird guy. He likes to eat food and whoop dat ass. Unfortunately he's not thicker than a toothpick once stuck in a Snicker, so the only ass whom he whoops dat is of his students. Well, the ones who don't have any food for him anyway.

I'm sure you're well versed in the story of Sleepy Hollow, so you know exactly what happens to Ichabod. However, you may not have seen this bizarre animated version from 1972 that doesn't wait until the end to bring forth the scares.

originally posted 8/3/21

Yeongdeok

Summer is a Spooky Season.

But now it is time for The Spooky Season.

Conjured

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Local News

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Orange Beard the Pirate and Odie the Stupid

We love Garfield in my household. From regularly watching his channel on Pluto TV to the army of plushies in our bedroom. So of course his holiday specials are required viewing. Garfield's Halloween Adventure/Garfield in Disguise is one of my favorite Halloween specials that's so good it gets regular viewings all year long! It's Halloween and Garfield wants some candy. Along with Odie (where's Lyman?), he goes trick or treating and gets the scare of his life! It's the ideal Halloween night!

You're moving it

Countless Halloween ghost stories start off with a round of Ouija at a slumber party. In true scary story fashion, a ghost indeed will then cause havoc for the rest of the night only to be defeated by the following morning. Though there'll always be that one kids that the rest stopped talking too who later did something horrible. Was it the ghost? Or did that guy just suck?

Tonight at 10, SPOOKY

It's just not the Halloween season without a trip to a local haunted house on the evening news. Usually the anchor whose entire job seems to be trying out local restaurants in segments when not filling in for absent weather forecasters narrates a half hearted adventure. They'll be a mix of the home owners telling of all the spooky situations, a resident townies talking about the history of the haunting (with a partial reenactment), and ending with the part time anchor hearing something scary in the background before telling the camera 'back to you' with an artificial smile. The actual anchors will then take over laughing before instantly moving on to football.

The Haunting of Heinz House

Holy crap, this commercial is bad ass! I've never eaten Heinz Haunted House before as it wasn't available in my region, but I bet the spooky shapes made it taste better than any other canned pasta. The production of this commercial is amazing and a solid example of the old saying 'they don't make them like they used to'. That spooky mansion at the beginning is literally just the beginning as the entire experience of bats, monsters, and a Keith Moon lookalike butler makes for an amazing commercial. Too bad they don't make Haunted House any more, because the spooky season is the right time for a can!

Transform Squadron 56- Ghost Horror Laser

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Since August is ghost month, Rob takes a look at some of the spooky specters from Cybertron!

Pocong Public Safety

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Gates of Hell

Summer is a Spooky Season.

Phoebe Spengler w/ Bonesy [Fright Features/Frozen Empire]

Rounding out the Fright Features figures from Frozen Empire is Phoebe Spengler, arguably the main character of the new movies. Phoebe is a little older in Frozen Empire and her Fright Feature uses the larger body mold and a new head sculpt instead of reusing her Afterlife figure. She still has the same amount of articulation and Neutrona Wand/Proton pack we're all used to by now. Her ghostly partner to hunt, Bonesy, is a real standout. Bonesy is a Class III. Distinct Human Form, meaning he's a straight up traditional scary ghost. A skeletal ghoul with big bugged out eyes in a very pleasant blue color with the Ecto-Stretch Tech gimmick allowing him to be squished and squeezed all over the place.

He's probably my favorite ghost from this group of Fright Features toys. I really wish the other characters from the movie would get new Fright Features figures as I really do enjoy the line. It's got a solid modern take on the classic Real Ghostbusters figures and everything just hits the right notes. Hopefully the upcoming animated series will be cause for some down the line.

Replay: In the Tunnel

Summer is a Spooky Season.