Doctor Strange Playing Cards by Fantasma

 Prepare your mind, dear reader, as we venture into the world of magic with Fantasma's Doctor Strange playing cards. But this is no mere deck of cards. Oh no! This deck will allow you to conjure your own feats of magic!

 

It's also not just a deck of cards.

 

 In addition to the deck, you also get a "Book of Secrets", a couple trick assisting cards, and a metal "card guard" to protect your deck. Here's a better pic of the guard (It's black and I'm terrible at lighting). The guard has a trick assist feature where is you know the suit of a chosen card, you can press a finger into the suit icon to "blister" the icon into your finger for a surprise reveal.

 

What makes this deck extra magical is that it's a tapered, or stripper, deck. This makes it super easy to find a card someone takes from it. It's clumsy to explain but here's a good video showing it in action. Even I was able to work it with minimal practice.

 

 In the top row, we have the card back and the Ace of Spades featuring Doc's Eye of Agamotto amulet. The bottom row has a 5 of Hearts with the same image on both sides, a regular Joker with Doc's long time nemesis Baron Mordo, and a trick Joker with the Queen of Diamonds printed on it.

 

 Even the deck box has a couple of trick assists built into it! If you force someone to choose the 7 of Diamonds, you can reveal it by showing them the "barcode".  The number under the barcode ends in 1089 and there's instructions for a little math magic to force someone to come up with that number.

 

 

On top of being a trick deck, this is one of the best Doctor Strange decks I've come across. Every single card has a different image on it. Going through the deck, you'll spot cameos of Clea, Wong, the Hulk, and even the Grim Reaper. How's that for a deep cut? The Queens in the deck all feature the Scarlet Witch. As someone that vibes more with the magic side of Marvel, it's a nice touch.

 Fantasma also makes a Spider-Man and Black Panther deck like this. Even if you're not into card magic, these decks are a great collectible for fans of the character. 

 

Here you'll find out why they call him the Amazing Spider-Man!

Monthly Media Recap - February 2025

 

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (2025, Disney+)

I like it! A lot! I like the animation style, the action, the character choices, the new twists, and that theme song slaps! Do the kids say slaps still? The one thing I didn't like about it initially, is how Peter got his powers. It seemed stupid. But they actually explained in a way that made sense by the end of the season.

 

SNL50 (2025, Peacock)

Beyond Saturday Night, the 4 part docu-series, was very good. I don't know that we needed a whole episode on the Cowbell sketch but the look inside what goes into making the show every week is mind boggling.

Ladies & Gentlemen, 50 Years of SNL Music is also great. Some good behind the scenes stories and whoever edited that opening montage deserves an award!

Movies

I don't know why but for some reason I got it into my head to watch all the Ghoulies movies when looking for stuff to watch. That'll teach me to listen to my brain! 

 

 

*Ghoulies (1985, Tubi)

Technically a re-watch but I haven't seen it since it came out. Prior to watching it, I remembered three things: the Ghoulies (duh), green eyes, and that I saw it with a boy/girl mixed group of high school friends. This was originally going to be directed by Charles Band with Stan Winston doing the creatures and I can only dream what that movie would have been like. Even grading this on an 80s horror curve, it's only kind of okay. It oddly feels like something that could have been made in the 50s.

Rating: 4/10

Adventure Time Playpak Series 3 Trading Cards

C'mon, grab you friends, we'll go to very distant lands to take a look at the Adventure Time Playpak Series 3 trading cards from Cryptozoic.

 

 I've actually had these for maybe two months and haven't ripped the entire box yet. I'm most of the way there but I like saving a few for when I need a quick pick me up during the day. The packs and box art feature Fionna and Cake the Cat, the gender swapped universe versions of Finn and Jake the Dog.

 

 I haven't see these in any stores and am glad I was able to grab a box directly from Cryptozoic's site. There are 24 packs per box with 5 cards in each pack. In theory, that's enough packs to get two full 45 card sets with some extras left over. I have 7 packs left to open to get the one card I need to complete a single set. 

 

Let's see what sort of fun cards in the packs.

 

Polly Pocket Collector The Addams Family Compact

 Since I didn't get around to doing a Holiday Haul post, there will likely be scattered posts here and there about some of the gifts I got. Here's one of my favorites that Mrs Dex got me: The Addams Family Polly Pocket Compact.

 

 

Obviously, this was put out to capitalize on the Netflix Wednesday series but I'm glad they didn't brand it that way and used Addams Family instead. I love the show and feel it does a great job of being Addams-y, but this gives me more of a classic Addams vibe.

 

 

 

The sides of the box have some very Addams artwork.

 

 Unfortunately, the way they pack this in the box, it would be next to impossible (or require an exacto, steady hands, and patience) to extract it without ruining the packaging. I just can't bring myself to "open" it and destroy the background! That also makes it ridiculously difficult to photograph well due to all the plastic.

 

The main members of the family are all here. Staying true to their cartoon roots, Pugsley is blonde. As you'd expect from Polly Pocket, there's all kinds of little play features. Behind Gomez is a giant Venus Flytrap that opens and next to Pugsley is a coffin that you can stuff a figure into. 

 

There are a few spots within the playset with little holes so you can stand a figure at those locations. This feature is probably something common with Polly Pocket sets but I've never owned one and am too lazy to look it up.

 

 Here's Wednesday and even a tiny Thing that can clasp on to someone's arm. The top level has a crystal ball, a suit of armor that opens to fit a figure, and a piano. The lower level has a bookcase with all sorts of fun stuff and it opens to reveal a "passage" to the garden. One of the things I love about the background are the little portraits of Uncle Fester, Lurch and, Cousin Itt.

 

 The lid of the compact has a cool lenticular portrait of the family...

 

 that turns them to skeletons when you move it!

 

If you want to see much better photos (or pick one up), head over to Mattel's website.

Monthly Media Recap - January 2025

Whew, what a year that was! What? 

What do you mean it's only February? 

I swear New Years was like...a year ago.

Series

A Man on the Inside (Netflix)

If you pitched me a show about an elderly man getting hired by a PI to go undercover in a retirement community I would probably say it's not for me. Boy, was I wrong! Ted Danson just seems to get better with age and really, the entire cast here is great. It has its comedic moments and a lot of emotional beats too.

 

Cobra Kai (Netflix, Season 6.5 or whatever they're calling the latest episodes)

I've never watched a minute of a real telenovela but I bet this show could give them a run for their drama money. It was all worth it for the over the top, over extended brawl in the final episode. Thank goodness these kids have karate in their life to help keep them focused.

Movies

 

There's Something in the Barn (2023, Netflix)

This is the holiday horror comedy I was looking for last month! It's sort of like Gremlins but with murderous elves and more blood. I've been a fan of Martin Starr and it was good to see him in a starring role for a change.

Rating: 8/10

The Fall Guy (2024, Amazon Prime)

Do you like KISS's "I Was Made for Lovin You"? Then have I got your movie! I never watched the TV series but the movie was a good time. Plenty of action/stunts and even a couple of audio Easter eggs. The plot feels like it's trying a little too hard on twists but I guess you have to do something to string the set pieces together. I wonder if it was weird for the cast and crew to be working on a movie about working on a movie.

Rating: 7/10

Sincromillian & Glysentry STELLAR Glyos Figures

 About a month ago, Onell Design released wave 104 of their Glyos figures. Many of the figures in that wave are an homage to the 1979 Disney sci-fi classic The Black Hole (I said what I said). I will always, and forever, hold this movie close to my heart. For the love of Mickey, with all the remakes Disney cranks out, I feel like this would be a great one to tackle. I had to restrain myself from getting all the movie-inspired figures to save both my wallet and space.

 

The figures I didn't get were this V.I.N.CENT inspired drone and one of the Sentry security robot. I picked the STAR version over the Sentry because there wasn't a figure of it when I was a kid. Even with the Kenner Star Wars line, the aliens and robots were my favorite figures. Maybe it's because they weren't main characters and you could make up whatever story about them you wanted. With The Black Hole, I only had the robot figures, didn't really care for the humans.

Being Glyos figures, everything comes apart and all the pieces are compatible allowing you to do pretty much what you want with them.

 

They did a nice job recreating the Black Hole's dual blasters by simply using separate pieces to connect to the top and bottom of the hand..

 

This figure is about 2.5" tall and comes with a couple of extra heads and assorted pieces to make your own bounty hunting Murderbot.

 

 

Speaking of Murderbots, if you're doing a Black Hole tribute, you gotta have Maximilian! This 3.5" tall chonky boi has got all sorts of implements for entertaining at your next party in your spaceship that's precariously hanging out at a black hole.

You can keep your Johnny 5, your Robbie the Robot, your Terminator, for me Maximilian is right up there with Artoo and Threepio in the pantheon of movie robots!

These guys, and the Sentry, are still available at the Onell Store. If you're a Black Hole fan, I'd also recommend checking out the Onell Blog to see their Golden Book version of The Dark Vortex.

Skelton's Keys to the Classics

 I was going to do a Holiday Haul post but things are still scattered all around which means I'd have to actually make an effort to sort stuff and figure out where it's going to go. Too much for me right now, so instead, here's one of the cool gift(s) that Mrs Dex got me: Skelton's Keys to the Classics.

 

There's a secret library inside the old Skelton farm. Hidden within the collection of classics are keys to fantastic places, enchanted kingdoms and lost worlds. Find the library, and unlock adventure . . . if you dare. 

At first glance, these appear to be small books.

But when you open them...

Monthly Media Recap - December 2024

Happy New Year!

I feel like I was a little "short" on movies this month. I usually try to cram in a few more holiday horrors but honestly, there's so many terrible ones out there I had a hard time bringing myself to try more than what I did. I've been playing a lot of Star Wars Outlaws (love it!) and watching a few series. I also found myself just not feeling like watching movies when I was looking for something to watch.

Series

The Creep Tapes (Shudder)

Did we need a prequel anthology series to 2014's wonderfully weird found footage, serial killer movie Creep? Not really but I'm glad we got it! Each of the short episodes give Mark Duplass another chance to show his talent as this socially awkward murderer. You don't need to see the movies prior to the series, but if you're a horror fan and haven't seen Creep, you're missing out.  

 

 

Hysteria (Peacock)

I don't usually do trailers for series but I really liked this and wanted to make sure more people are aware of it. As someone that enjoys heavy metal and was around during the 80s Satanic Panic, this was a must see. I was expecting it to be more poking fun at things but it surprised me by being low-key horror with an intriguing mystery. It seems like they left it open for a sequel which I wouldn't mind so they could explain a somewhat major thing that was just left out there.

 

Game Changers (Max)

An 8 part series looking at the history of popular video games like Minecraft, Madden, and Call of Duty and the companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Atari, that made them. I'm not the biggest fan of these franchises but from a gamer history angle, they were still interesting. There's also an episode about Monopoly, Operation, and Scrabble.