Dec 30, 2013

December 2013 Loot Crate: Console Wars

The December Loot Crate keeps up with the biggest news in video games at the end of the year with the theme Console Wars. Let's see what cool swag was in the box!

Disclaimer: Loot Crate has supplied these items in exchange for a review.

I'm always excited when I come home and find the latest Loot Crate on my doorstep. This month, however, I was a little disappointed. Not in Loot Crate but in my mail carrier.


They left the Crate on the wet porch, where water was dripping down on it from the snow melting off the roof. They didn't even put it in a plastic bag. Why the obvious idea of putting it between the front doors where it would stay dry didn't occur to them, I can't imagine. Lucky for me, Loot Crate are made from sterner stuff and everything inside was still dry.

Dec 17, 2013

LEGO Battle of Hoth Game

I've been wanting to share this one for awhile but with Halloween and Creepmas, it got put on the back burner. I actually got this back at the end of September for my birthday. We're also in the middle of getting an expected 5" of snow, so it seems as good a time as any!


The game came out last year and I remember seeing the box art among the new LEGO sets at the end of 2011. It was going to be the first Star Wars LEGO board game and based on one of the best scenes in the Trilogy, so it was something I was looking forward to getting.

So why didn't I get it until September 2013? The answer: Hasbro. You see, Hasbro has exclusive rights to produce Star Wars board games in the US. When the game didn't hit shelves in 2012, I sort of forgot about it until I decided to find out what happened to it.

We now join your ice planet invasion, already in progress...

LEGO Battle of Hoth Game 1

It shouldn't be a shock when I tell you that you have to assemble most of the game and pieces. The object is to land one of your pieces on the opposing base location or wipe them out...all of them. Since the board is LEGO, it allows you to set it up in a number of different ways provided in the instructions. Each player starts with four units on the board. There's optional rules to bring in reinforcements too.

LEGO Battle of Hoth Board
Game in progress  
 
You have two actions per turn which consist of Move or Attack. Pieces can move only one space per action. While each of the blue or grey squares is a space, you must follow the paths.  Different units have different attack ranges and some units can only attack on the diagonals. Attacking does not have to follow the pathways and can even be done over gaps.

LEGO Battle of Hoth Game 2

Attacks are resolved using a special LEGO die. 4 out of 6 sides have a red square that scores a hit which removes a troop from a unit. Vehicles can still function for one more hit after their troops are removed. If you roll the special symbols (above) it's called a Force hit. If you roll this while attacking with Luke or Vader, you summon the Force to destroy an entire unit in one shot! Oh, the plastic humanity!

And that's pretty much it. The optional reinforcement rules allow you to spend both your actions to call in a new unit, some of which have familiar faces. The other heroic microfigs can reroll the attack die if they score a Force hit to try and do more damage.

The microfigures and units are the real stars of the game so let's get to know them.

LEGO Battle of Hoth Rebel Forces

Here are the Rebel forces!
Left to right we have: Luke leading a couple of troops, Han, a squad of 4 Rebels, a 2-man Snowspeeder, Chewie, a 2-man turret and a tauntaun.

LEGO Battle of Hoth Imperial Forces

And in this corner, the Empire!
Again left to right: Vader leading snowtroopers, General Veers, an AT-AT, Boba Fett (what? he wasn't even at Hoth?!), a 2-man blaster cannon, an AT-ST, and a squad of 4 snowtroopers.

LEGO Battle of Hoth At-AT

And here's a close up of the AT-AT. It amazes me how the LEGO folks figure out ways to make iconic things so tiny and still be recognizable. If you look, you can see they used what would normally be binoculars to make the AT-AT's feet.

And just so you can see why these are called microfigures, here they are next to a regular size LEGO minifigure. They are too cute!

LEGO Battle of Hoth Figures

This is a game designed with kids in mind, so it doesn't have very deep strategy, although it does have a little more than I would have thought at first glance. With some lucky die rolls, you might be able to storm in and take the enemy base but you can also position your units to get overlapping fields of fire and wait for the bigger units to get in your cross-hairs. And really, it's just fun moving the pieces around and making all the sound effects!

Dec 13, 2013

Merry Creepmas!

Wow, the last day of Creepmas falling on Friday the 13th!
It's a Creepmas miracle!

Did you know there's a site called ZombieChristmas.org?
Neither did I until today!

It seems like they're aiming to be a news feed for all things zombie Christmas related. You can download a nice printable zombie nativity scene and zombie snowflake patterns.

Thank you for celebrating Creepmas with us this year.
As a final gift, here's a custom LEGO Santa Jack I put together.
Most of the parts are from the holiday magnet set currently available in LEGO stores. I just swapped out the head and hands. Pretty simple!

LEGO Santa Jack Skellington Custom

That's all for now, little creeps, until next year...

Dec 12, 2013

Creepmas Cheer

Here's a few collect cartoons to lift your Creepmas spirit...






Dec 11, 2013

Bah Humbug!

I actually had this up at my work desk a couple years ago. I also had the Funko Pop Vinyl Miser Brothers and a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree next to it.

Pumpkin Humbug

I think it's perfectly fitting for the Creepmas season and it's pretty inexpensive.

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 10, 2013

Santa Jack Pook-A-Looz

Here's another Disney Park exclusive Jack Skellington.
This guy is from a line called Pook-A-Looz that ran for a couple years.
There's quite a few Disney characters that got the Pook-A-Looz treatment, including a "regular" Jack and Sally.

Jack Skellington Pookalooz


I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 9, 2013

Beanbag Jack Skellington

Over the years, I've managed to pick up a couple of Disney Park exclusive Jack Skellingtons.
Here he is in beanbag form with a Santa hat.
He's about 6" tall, not including the hat.

Jack Skellington Ball


I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 7, 2013

Elvira's Haunted Holidays

I'm resurrecting this post from 2 years ago so the newer readers can have a chance to enjoy it.

Hold on to your scarves and mittens, kids! We're setting the Wayback Machine to 1986!
For a short time back then, the deed to DC Comics House of Mystery passed to the one and only Elvira, Mistress of the Dark for 11 issues and one Christmas special.

In the opening story, she has her own Christmas Carol experience with her usual brand of humor. Following that are three holiday tales sure to warm the cockles of your little Creepmas heart. Whatever cockles are....


Click the cover to unwrap your gift.

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 6, 2013

Krampus, I've Been a Bad Boy

So I totally forgot that Krampusnacht is celebrated on the eve of St. Nicholas' Day, which is today. As such, today's post will be my penance to make it up to ol Krampus. Although, to be honest, I'd probably prefer getting a visit from him so I could see him in person.

Image from Krampus.com 
 
If you've come this far and you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should probably go read the Krampus links so the rest will make a little more sense. The short version is that in European countries, Santa has a counterpart who punishes the bad children.

I'm betting Santa made him up because he doesn't want to have to be the bad guy. I mean, how many times do you hear parents warn their misbehaving children that Santa is watching? What's the bigger threat, no presents or knowing a devil is watching and might take you away in the night? Ok, most kids will probably go with no presents...


Get your very own 35" high vintage style, jointed Krampus decoration from Monsterfink.
Click here to order.


Or if you like your nasties on the cuddly side, and you've got cash to spare, you can get this hand made, one of a kind Krampus from Croshame on Etsy.


A very fun promo video for the book The Krampus Night Before Christmas.

Dec 5, 2013

Halloween Garage - Creepmas Edition

It seems like someone at Hot Wheels is a fan of Creepmas! Big thanks to Shawn at Branded in the 80s for alerting me to this vehicle's existence. Because, let's face it, I do not actively hunt down winter holiday themed Hot Wheels.

Here is one of the Wal-Mart exclusive holiday Hot Wheels, Street Creeper. This is the second one to be added to the garage this year. The first one was even more spider-y in design.

Holiday Street Creeper

Nothing says Creepmas like a giant spider engine and snowflakes on a car. I also like the almost pearlescent white they use for the spider and wheels, gives it a real wintery feel. The 13 is probably because it's 2013 but I like to think it's there to add to the spook factor.

Here's a closeup of the roof detail winter Hot Wheels logo.

Holiday Street Creeper closeup

I really have to wonder how Wal-Mart gets a holiday exclusive like this and Target's Halloween pack wasn't even remotely close to this in Halloween-ness.

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 4, 2013

Holiday Misfits

When it comes to the holiday season, when you hear Misfits, you're probably thinking this


and not this


The Misfits online shop has put up some holiday items for your shopping pleasure!


You can get their album "Horror Xmas" on a variety of colored vinyl. The "Grinchy Green" album has the tracks: You're A Mean One, Mister Grinch and Island of Misfit Toys, with the latter being an all new original Misfits XMas themed tune.

The Blue version has the same A Side but the B Side is a cover of Blue Christmas! Each album gives the chance for you to receive one of the 100 limited edition variants. There's also a red vinyl set which includes all three songs.

There's also a t-shirt, sweatshirt and ornaments with the Grinchy Fiend on them if you need something to wear/show off your Creepmas pride.

We're still adding new blogs to the list at Creepmas.com so be sure to check it daily.

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 3, 2013

Funko Nightmare Before Christmas Mystery Minis

Funko is one of the few companies I have total faith in. Their stuff is always consistent in quality and style. I even like the things they do for properties I don't follow!

They just recently released Nightmare Before Christmas Mystery Minis. I don't remember if I knew these were coming out but seeing them in the store elicited a squee of excitement.


The figures are about 2" tall and come blind packed so you don't know which one you're getting. Some figures are more common and some are harder to find. I was hoping to score a Pumpkin King Jack or the female Creature and got...

 Funko Nightmare Before Christmas Mystery Mini

Sally! Isn't she adorable? She's holding a tiny rose and looking up with puppy dog eyes. I'm sure they're not actual puppy dog eyes. I don't think even Dr. Finklestein is that weird!

Funko Nightmare Before Christmas Mystery Mini Sally

I'll certainly be picking up a few more of these in the near future. They make great stocking stuffers because you don't know what's inside until you open it!

Be sure to check out all the sites listed at Creepmas.com to see what they're up to!

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS

Dec 2, 2013

Ornamental Offerings

Fellow Halloween enthusiast and crafty gal Creepy Glowbugg has put up some holiday ornaments that are sure to help get a-head with your decorating.


Here's a cute peppermint swirl skull. Or is it blood spattered?


Here's one that's a bit more winter and icy.
In addition to differently colored skull-flakes, she also has an assortment of other ornaments, magnets, and jewelry that you can use for Halloween or when you need
a little extra kooky-ookiness.


Hang him on Halloween and he can stick around til Christmas!


Hey, she said she wanted a ring for Christmas, right?

You can check out more of Glo's stuff in her Etsy shop. From now until 12/8, she is offering 20% off your entire order. To get the promo code, please visit this post on her blog.