Thank you so much to @PrincessMa99ie on Twitter for this wonderful drawing of my cosmic-self I used all throughout October. I really love it, especially the goopy slimy smile.
In ways I can't explain, I feel like this Halloween has been less spooky than usual. At least that's how I've felt about it. I don't want to say my Halloween this year was a bad one, it was just a non-eventful one when compared to Halloweens of the past (especially 2019 which was the most triumphant Halloween of my life). It really has been a bit lackluster tho, which is a shame because it was such a strong start.
This month I saw screenings of the original Universal movies "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", which was amazing. Of course, I also went to New York Comic Con. I didn't get to go do any apple picking, or check out the pumpkin patch like I normally do, but I did drink a ton of seasonal drinks like pumpkin spice coffee. But I don't know, I guess the year the spirit really isn't in me.
I rediscovered this old picture of when I was a little boy celebrating my first Halloween with friends. My mom says she wasn't sure how to celebrate since she wasn't born in America and Halloween was never really part of her personal culture, so she took some advice from friends and bought me a simple Mickey Mouse costume by the famed Ben Cooper company. I loved it, honestly. I think all the kids I was hanging out with that day wore their own Ben Cooper costumes but I can't remember what they wore, it's been too long, I must have been in kindergarten or something.
It's a beautiful memory of my youth. This photo comes from my late grandfather's collection and when I found it I was in total shock because I didn't think any evidence of this costume existed. This year I don't have a costume, or anything to do for that matter, which stinks, but it's hardly the end of the world. I might even have to work on Halloween. There's always next year so hopefully I'll be better prepared for it.
Lastly, this is a fun thing. Someone made a pumpkin-themed picrew image maker. Enjoy!
(one of markets I frequent had this amazing display by the entrance)
October sure it flying by. The last few days have brought with it such nice cool Fall weather. Everyone is digging out their winter clothes and I have been wearing a hoodie nonstop. It's great.
This really is my favorite time of year. I love the atmosphere and aesthetics of Fall. It's all so cozy. It's a shame we have to work during this season. I would love to just go out and bask in it and really breathe it all in.
So the quest for more Halloween themed snacks continues. My roommate surprised me with this Krispy Skreme Spellbook filled with Halloween donuts! They're really beautifully made, but they always are. I think the cauldron donut is my favorite this year. It's a cookies n' creme donut, with green creme filling, sprinkles and a pretzel stick for stirring.
I finally managed to find some Mountain Dew Voo Dew this season. It really took me a while but my local 711 never lets me down. The mystery flavor this year is without question "Skittles". In previous years it was a bit more subtle, but this year it is an exact 1-1 flavor. It's really something honestly, just one sip and it triggered something in my brain and I knew what it was.
And Carvel is doing their HOCUS POCUS shakes for a second year in a row, but this time they have three different shakes based on that cult family film! I do wish they'd bring back the marshmallow slime shake from 2019, but these are pretty delicious too. Anyway, last year's shake was a cookies n' creme flavored one, so I got Mary's Divine Cookies n Creme shake this year to start it off. Like last year these shakes come in collectors cups, but also spoons! This collab between Carvel and HOCUS POCUS is of course a promotion for Freeforms's 31 Nights of Halloween where they show the film HOCUS POCUS a bunch of times.
So far there's been some fun stuff this year. I hope to find some more goodies before the season is over.
This years New York Comic-Con went pretty well, all things considered. I only had a pass for Sunday but everything felt as it should have. The crowd did feel smaller, and the checking in process did have a few more steps, but it was all a small price to pay for a fun day.
My favorite vendors weren't there this year, the ones who sell loose toys and figures out of tubs, so I decided to check out the cosplayers and bigger tables. I did swing by Artist Alley but sadly nothing really struck me like I hoped it would. Also, no homemade masks for sale; I thought for sure artists would be bringing their own homemade masks to sell at the con but maybe the time has passed for that sort of thing already.
The giant Super Saiyan Ape Vegeta was amazing! It stood like three stories tall and had glowing eyes! It was without question my favorite set-up at the whole show. Even non-DBZ fans were amazed by it!
There was a small booth for the film Mandy that also sold Kevin Smith stuff. I purchased a Chedder Goblin plush doll and they gave me a real box of Cheddar Goblin macaroni & cheese! Amazing! What a fun novelty to have. I loved the movie Mandy, and the Cheddar Goblin was a total highlight for me!
There were a lot of really well done and beautiful cosplays this year, but these were some of my faovorites:
The only "event" style thing I attended was Chucky's ice cream truck, which was there to promote the new series on SyFy. They handed out free Chucky face masks to anyone standing on line. It was a very long wait but it was a nice way to pass the time. I took a bunch of pictures of the cosplayers, got some stickers and free ice cream from the truck, and had some fun conversations with other con-goers.
It was a really casual time. After the con, my friends and I took a trip to one of our favorite local diners and had our traditional post-NYCC meal. I don't have any real heavy thoughts about the con. I do wish we didn't have to get our passes scanned, download an app for our vaccination card, and walk through metal detectors, but that's just how things got to be right now. I still had fun and it was still a enjoyable event. Hopefully next year things will feel more full of life.
I have been stuffing my face with candy since late September and I couldn't be happier. Every day the leafs get a bit darker, the air a bit colder, and you can feel the remnants of Summer dying with every moment. It makes me feel alive.
There's all sorts of stuff to talk about; new Halloween candy, the new Carvel/Hocus Pocus promotion going on, the fact that I am going to NYCC this weekend, but that's all for another day I think.
Recently I took a trip to Lot-Less, where all toy lines go to die, and I picked up some Flush Force and Ready2Robot toys. Loads of fun.
I've gotten Flush Force before. I feel like they're inspired by the Ghoulies poster where the little fish Ghoulie is sticking out of the toilet. These are brightly colored little mutants who live in a toilet and exist to gross out humans and I love them. Funny enough, my favorite one from this pack was the angry little pink bar of soap; truly the outsider among his Flush Force brethren.
The Flush Force cartoon has a Robot Chicken feel to it.
These Ready2Robot guys are pretty interesting too. Smaller than the Flush Force mutants, they come in these slime capsules and are meant to be pilots for robots toys that I have never seen. Very anime inspired. Reminds me of the pilots in Evangelion or Outlaw Star. Each figure is wholly unique, and is normally some sort of monster or robot or robot, but my favorite is of course the weird little nerd apparantly named "Homework".
The slime in the capsules is super watery and oozy. I can't imagine there's too much play value to it, but it was definitely fun for a bit. I don't really get what the slime has to do with the toys tho. It looks like the capsules don't get loaded into the robots, and the toys don't shoot or ooze slime. I mean it's great they have it, and I'm sure kids can find something useful for the slime but I'm personally at a loss. Guess I'm not that creative.
The robots looks rad as hell though, and have that slight anime aesthetic I mentioned. And like Flush Force, there is a Ready2Robot cartoon on YouTube. It's done a cel-shaded, CGI animation style. Humorous enough. Definitely would have kept my attention if I were a kid.
In other news, in my attempt to watch messed up and spooky movies this season I've been watching old Full Moon/Charles Band films.
I hadn't seen From Beyond in decades. It's still great though and I loved every moment of it. Real fucked up shit in this movie that I just could not recall watching when I was a kid. I must have seen an edited version or something. There's something totally unnerving going on the entire time and the effects are just terrific and absolutely hold up. It was probably cutting edge at the time.
And I do know there's supposed to be a spiritual sequel to From Beyond with the movie The Resonator: Miskatonic U, and it looks pretty good.
This was my first time seeing Shadowzone though, and it was totally by accident. I watched it on autoplay right after I was done with Creepozoids. Shadowzone was shockingly compelling. Everyone involved was such a distinct character it was easy to keep up with all of their stories. It has the same sort of feel as From Beyond as well, like they were cut from the same cloth. That whole Lovecraft-cosmic horror twinkle to it. James Hong is just wonderful as Dr. Fleet as well, I thought he really brought a tangible realness to his part. The creature, "John Doe", was interesting as well. Definitely reminiscent to The Thing (like the poster implies).
Creepozoids was fun and schlocky but it was also distractingly inspired by Alien. I still loved it of course, and I loved that the backdrop of the story was probably a bigger story but we're just witnessing this one little nugget of the world where these characters exist in. So after a nuclear apocalypse, and a still active world war, a handful of deserters hide from toxic rain in an abandoned laboratory where there's some sort of mutant monster hiding. The intentions of the monster are never really made clear, or what it's purpose is, but it makes for a fun monster movie. But it is without question a microbudget Alien for sure.
Anyway, hope you all are enjoying your October so far. Until next time.
