I've been a big fan of author Ben Farthings "I Found" horror story series and
am excited to check out his latest, The 31st Trick-or-Treater.
Last Halloween, thirty trick-or-treaters vanished into the night. This
October, they’re coming back—one by one, each day of the month. But every
child carries the same chilling warning: something is returning on the 31st.
Bob has never stopped searching for his daughter. Now, as the shadows of
Halloween grow longer, he must face the darkness that stole her—before it
takes everything again.
The 31st Trick-or-Treater is a Halloween
advent novel: thirty-one nights, thirty-one chapters, and one final
nightmare waiting on Halloween.
The book is written so that you read a chapter every day in October leading up
to Halloween. I love the idea of this and wanted to spread the word about it.
The e-book releases on September 24th and is currently available for
pre-order on Amazon (affiliate link). Ben may have physical books up at
his website next week. While you're waiting, pick up any of the "I Found" books for a quick
spooky read.
Two months until Halloween! That means the blog will be going into
hibernation mode for the next month so I can prepare a post for every day in
October.
Linked titles will take you to a trailer and let's get on with the show...
I LOVE this show! It's been filling the hole in my heart left by SyFy's 2017 Blood Drive. Season 2 ended on a bit of a cliffhanger setting up a Season 3. If this doesn't happen I will NOT be happy! I know this is already based on a video game, but can we get a new video game based on the show?
Gatchaman Progress
Episodes watched this month: 8 Currently up to: 59
I guess you could call me a casual, enthusiastic fan of FF comics. I keep up
with them because I like the character dynamics and the sci-fi elements. This
movie delivered for me on both fronts and definitely had a human aspect to it
that made it more than just another superhero movie. I love the art direction
and that we're just dropped into it with enough backstory to skip the usual
"origin story" tropes. My biggest complaint is that Ben got the short straw in
the character development department.
Rating: 8/10
Clown in a Cornfield (2025, Shudder & VOD)
Yes, it's a silly title but the movie itself has a little humor to it. This
has actually been a book since 2020. I frequently see Amazon recommend it to
me and just never got around to it. The movie doesn't do anything really new
for the slasher genre but it doesn't have to because it's a near perfect
specimen with some fun (sometimes funny) kills.
Today, I'm going to be talking about The RPG video game. Which RPG video
game, you ask? The RPG video game. I was going to do a whole "Who's on First"
thing but then considered the effort it would take to type it out and decided
it wasn't worth it.
The RPG is a first-person, comedic fantasy RPG-lite game that just released on August 7th. It takes more than a few pages
from Skyrim's playbook. You don't need to have played Skyrim to enjoy The RPG
but you might miss some of the jokes. If "taking an arrow to the knee" means anything to you, you'll be just fine.
I tend to prefer more "crunchy" RPGs like Baldur's Gate 3 where you build your
characters as they level and find the best items for them so I wasn't sure if an RPG-lite game was going to be up my alley. The simplicity of the game play, cartoony style, and the humor just make it very enjoyable for me.
It's got all the usual things that RPG lovers expect: breaking random things to look for loot, quests, killing
things, taking their stuff, leveling up and...picking mushrooms?
Any RPG worth its salt needs quests lay out the story and there no shortage of side quests. This is an open world game so you can explore the map however you want but there's plenty of wild beasties outside the village and you need to make sure you're not tackling something above your pay grade. Luckily, death only results in you respawning at the last bonfire you lit.
Like most RPGs, you get experience for completing quests and killing things. Leveling up is super easy. You get 3 points to spend on 12 skills such as: Tough Guy (take less damage), Coal Skin (resist fire damage), and Wolverine (health regen).
Everything you pick up from treasure to toilet paper to mushrooms adds to your Loot value. You can then find vendors that will turn your Loot into Gold which you can spend. In the main village there are three vending machines: weapon, armor, and various improvements for your mushroom gun. It's a gun that shoots mushrooms, it's not for shooting at mushrooms. But I'm not here to tell you how to play your game.
The weapon and armor machines only ever, in my experience, have one item in them. When you buy the item, it gets replaced with a better, more expensive item. This combined with the "everything becomes Loot" mechanic eliminates any sort of inventory management. When I play other RPGs I find myself having to run back to town frequently to unload items for cash so I can go get more items. Not here!
In addition to Loot, you can also find special powers like Double Jump and the secret of learning some Dragon language that gives you different magic shouts that can freeze mobs in place or slow time.
In the end, the lite aspect of the game and how it really streamlines the RPG experience makes it a lot of fun and easy to jump into for a quick session. The humor is more subversive than laugh out loud funny but as a veteran of decades of RPG playing, I definitely enjoy the game's take on things.
Initially, based on the similarities in title and cover art, I thought that this was going to be a parody of the Carl books but it is its own thing.
Welcome
to the office dungeon. Promotions? Power-ups. HR? Bloodthirsty
monsters. Failure? A one-way ticket to the paper shredder.
Doug
Kinney hated his life before the dungeon cracked open under his
cubicle. Now? He’s dodging killer copiers, fighting HR golems, and
grinding XP in an office hell where survival comes with a stapler —
glowing, oversized, and very, very stabby. With his
foul-mouthed cyber-raccoon sidekick and a survival instinct fueled by
coffee, spite, and pure middle-manager rage, Doug’s ready to smash his
way up the corporate ladder — one bloody memo at a time.
If you crave LitRPG chaos, ultraviolent humor, and the unholy lovechild of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Office Space, this is your next addiction. Strap in. It’s gonna be a brutal ride.
The description "the unholy lovechild of Dungeon Crawler Carl and Office Space" was enough to hook me on this one. Like a resume, you're going to be expected to deliver on how you're promoting yourself, especially if you have a foul-mouthed cyber-raccoon. Doug didn't quite do that for me.
It definitely lives up to the hum-drum office environment more than the humor during the first half. Maybe a little too well as it felt like the endless eternity of waiting for the clock to go from 4:59:59 to 5:00 on a Friday. But I did enjoy the futuristic corporate setting and the weirdness going on there, even before things get really weird and the "corporate restructuring" begins!
The second half, thankfully, brought some coffee and donuts to perk things up. After Doug teams up with someone and the sentient office supplies start attacking, the story gets into its groove. Unfortunately, like an office party with alcohol, once it starts getting fun, it's just about over.
For me, the shortness of the book (80 pages) brings quitting time just when I'm starting to enjoy it but it also makes me want to see what the next installment can bring. I'm not saying you got the job, but we'll put you on a probationary period.
On one hand, just 91 days til Halloween! On the other hand, days of heat advisories don't have me looking forward to August.
Series
Dexter: Original Sin (Paramount+)
Like most prequels, my initial thought was "Do we really need this?" The
surprise answer is yes! I enjoyed this a lot more than the New Blood season.
Whoever did the casting here needs an award. Not only was everyone great but
those playing characters from the original series absolutely nailed their
future selves. Thrilled to find out there will be another season.
Gatchaman Progress
Episodes watched this month: 6 Currently up to: 52
Movies
Summer movie watching usually means one thing: sharks!
The Last Breath (2024, Shudder/Hulu)
The premise of a group of college kids diving a WWII wreck sounded
interesting, you need some reason to get the victims in the shark's
environment. From there, it's mostly an average "slasher" where they get
picked off one by one. It's "real life" so there's nothing crazy with the
shark but towards the end it does something I thought was silly which felt
more B-movie than they wanted this to be. This was Julian Sands final film
role and he was the one standout thing in the movie.
With all the hullabaloo (look, you don't get to use that word in every day conversation so if I have a chance, I'm using it!) around my recent mini-vacation, I completely missed my blog-iversary.
As usual, I'm taking a look at the all time top 10 popular posts.
Just for fun, here's the breakdown of where visitors are visiting from.
It's weird to see Netherlands and Austria on there (no offense if you're reading this!) and they could just as likely be bots. Whether they're actual human people or not, hope they're entertained.
Whoever (or whatever) you are reading this, thanks for dropping in!
Mrs Dex and I took a two day mini-cation to New Hampshire last week to
go on a moose excursion. We stayed in Lincoln and visited a few other
interesting places there. It's a small town (pop. 1,631 as of 2020 census!)
that gets a lot of skiers going to Loon Mountain. Obviously, July is not ski
season.
The excursion was a lot of fun. It took a few hours of driving around before
seeing a moose but the guides on the tour bus kept us entertained and we even
got to see a Bullwinkle cartoon. We only got to see one but it was definitely
worth it!
Linked titles will take you to a trailer if you're interested.
Streaming
The Residence (Netflix)
At first glance, I didn't think a murder mystery in the White House was going
to be up my alley but I'm glad I gave it a chance. It's funny, has some
wonderful characters, twists and turns, and fantastic writing. When it ended,
I couldn't help but wonder how people managed to weave it all together.
The Continental: From the World of John Wick (Peacock)
I wasn't sure how interested I'd be in a World of John Wick prequel
series but setting it in 70s NYC gave it not so grimy grind-house feel. It's
not as bombastic or graceful as its parent but still has plenty of action.
There are a couple of lulls in the story and while I was never bored with it,
it probably could have benefited from tightening up the B stories. And speaking of John Wick...
I only just found out about Plastic Vomit Customs after seeing this post on Instagram from GI Jigsaw. And them I immediately went to PVC's Instagram and order one of these bad boys because it's just something I need in my life.
Way back when there were only 20 Star Wars figures, Hammerhead joined the line up. Like a lot of Gen X, I was the perfect age when Star Wars hit theaters and was instantly obsessed. While I had to have every figure (it was much easier then!), my play adventures didn't stop with the main heroes. I was really into the droids and aliens.
In 1978, we had one sequel novel and about a year of Marvel comics to carry on the story. The galaxy was wide open for making up your own stories, especially if you were a seven year old kid. Hammerhead usually teamed up with the other cantina aliens to form a bounty hunter gang. When you've only got Darth Vader, a "Death Squad" Commander, and a couple Stormtroopers for baddies, you gotta shake things up once in awhile.
Out of the initial 20, my favorites were Hammerhead (still my all-time favorite Kenner figure), R5-D4, Power Droid, Death Star Droid, and Snaggletooth. See? There's a pattern! I distinctly remember taking Hammerhead and R5 with me whenever I could. I don't know what it is about Hammerhead that made me glom on to him so much. Maybe it's the weird head, maybe it's the soothing aqua bodysuit.
And that's what brings us to this Root Beer candy looking fella here: Plastic Vomit Customs Stained Glass Hammerhead. He was 3D printed using transparent resin and is gorgeous! He looks so much better in person, but maybe I'm biased.
Plastic Vomit Customs has a lot of other amazing vintage style 3.75" figures, and not just Star Wars inspired! My next purchse is probably going to be a Sleestak figure!
You can check them out on Instagram. There are links there to their Facebook and eBay pages as well. (Pro tip: stuff is cheaper on IG and FB.) Some of the IG posts are for limited run figures and some can be ordered on demand from their post.
Before we get into this, proceed with caution. If you continue reading, I take no responsibility for this game taking over and/or ruining your social life. Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you about my latest obsession...
Cauldron is an upgrade-heavy, minigame-centric, turn-based RPG. Play
minigames to strengthen your party, then win battles to uncover more
map, more heroes, more minigames, more everything! If your favorite
plant is an upgrade tree, then this game is for you!
Cauldron just released on May 21, 2025. It's got a fun, cutesy retro art style that will no doubt be nostalgic for gamers of a certain age. In the game, you play Nyx, a young witch who, along with her ghost friend Blinkie, set off on a journey to free the land from Darkness. Not just as in the forces of evil, but literal Darkness.
This is your view when you start the game. The majority of the map is in Darkness. The only way to unlock more of the map, and advance your adventure, is to battle the monsters in the Darkness.
The three orange (!) you see are mini-games you can play to gather resources which you use the level up your heroes. They can also be used to bribe monsters instead of fighting them but it takes a whole lot of resources to satisfy them. These minigames are where the insane addictiveness of this game comes in.
They are a lot of fun on their own, maybe too much! The resources you gather in each can be used to unlock and upgrade multiple things within each game. Upgrades add new elements to the mini-game that allow you to more easily gather resources...to spend on upgrades. It's this game play loop that will have you shredding hours in one mini-game, forgetting there's a whole world out there to save.
And that's the dangerous part of this game...the upgrades.
Each mini-game has its own upgrade tree and they are HUGE. Luckily, it's not that difficult to unlock things as you play. "Maybe just one more round so I can unlock that next thing and then I'll stop." is something you'll say a lot while playing!
You could even just be content playing the mini-games and amassing upgrades, but there's Darkness out there that needs to be banished.
The combat is turn-based and you can choose to plan every single action your party takes or leave it up to the auto-battler. I have a tendency to use the auto-battler and set the turn speed to max.
Some of the fights have waves of enemies and I just don't have it in me
to make a choice every turn for each of the party members. There are
behavior options for the auto-battler so you can kind of program how it
fights for you. Each member of your party has their specialty, and their own upgrade tree.
Oh boy, more upgrades!
I don't want to get into any spoilers but I'll just say the game seems pretty basic at the start and as you unlock more of the map, you'll find it has more to offer (including more mini-games!). As fun as the mini-games are, a lot of the joy for me has been unlocking a new feature that I had no idea was in the game.
Cauldron is a great time! I'm really enjoying how it combines the mini-games with an RPG story and combat. It's even easy to pick up if you just want to chill for a few minutes grinding a mini-game. Putting it back down is another story!
There's more than a few YouTubers that covered this game and that's what lead me to check it out. Olexa did an initial video on it and then followed that up with a couple more just on the mini-games!
Seen anything good and/or unusual lately? Let me know in the comments, I'm always on the lookout for things to watch.
Linked titles will take you to a trailer
Series
Cobra Kai (S6, Netflix)
It probably could have been a season shorter to cut down on some of the soap
opera theatrics. I'm not even a big Karate Kid fan but I think they did a good
job of making Lawrence into someone you end up rooting for.
Deli Boys (Hulu)
I only found out about this show because the stars were on After Midnight, but
I'm so glad I did! It's funny, the actors are great, and it's got some twists
and turns as two bumbling brothers try to run their recently deceased father's
drug operations.
Andor (S2, Disney+)
Not only do the themes this season hit hard in the current political climate,
but it's an all around example of great TV. I don't think I've seen any
episode of television like ep 8 where I was not only on the edge of my seat
but a little sick to my stomach with dread seeing all the pins being setup and
waiting for them to fall. If it doesn't win an award for costuming, I think
there's going to be another kind of rebellion.
Worlds, and galaxies, collide in this crossover event featuring two of the biggest (at least in my book) Hanna-Barbera names in action.
Just about a year ago, I posted about Dynamite bringing Space Ghost back and earlier this year, they also kicked off a Jonny Quest series. This crossover event takes places after JQ #5 which has Team Quest venturing briefly into the future from their 1965 home time.
This isn't the first time they've crossed paths in comics but it is the first time in this Dynamite continuity. Back in 2016, DC had the ambitious 12 issue Future Quest that also included the Herculoids, Birdman, Mightor and other heroes.
In this story, an alien craft has crash landed and the military turns to Dr. Quest for assistance. Of course, they've stripped it for parts but there's one piece of tech they can't figure out on their own. Dr. Quest just happens to have something that will charge it up but is hesitant to help before fully understanding it. Plus, the General running the place is kind of a jerk. My money's on him being an alien in disguise.
Boys being boys, Jonny, Hadji, and Bandit can't help but get into trouble and juice the alien tech while everyone is asleep. Only they're shocked to find themselves teleported and face to face with Space Ghost! In their place, the equally bewildered trio of Jan, Jace, and Blip arrive.
The art in the book is great. It may not look like the cartoon, but it definitely captures the feel of 60s science-action. You don't need to have read the Jonny Quest series to understand what's going on. There's enough exposition to get you caught up. With this being the first issue, it feels like they're just lighting the fuse on something that's sure to blow-up into something bigger as it goes.
Straight from the depths of the Amazon (and Fright Rags) comes a
fantastic Creature collectible that I couldn't pass up.
This is a Creature mini-mask packaged in a window-box reminiscent of the classic boxed costumes, to the point where the Fright Rags logo in the upper left is paying tribute to Ben Cooper. The box is 5.5" W x 6.75" H which makes it easy to display, which is exactly what you want to do with it!
I got this just as much for the box as the mini-mask itself. Heck, it could have been this box with some kind of flat insert for the mask and I still would have bought it.
The black, purple, and green are perfect choices to make the box a little extra spooky.
The back of the box is probably something they could have skimped out on but instead they came up with this great mail-away offer design. Currently, they don't have the Mummy. They do have Michael Meyers, but with him not owned by Universal, I'm guessing they couldn't include him.
The mask itself is about 5.5" tall and despite probably won't fit you unless you have a tiny head. It looks enough like the Creature that you know what it is without the box. And I think that's perfectly in line with the vintage costume vibe. It's made from solid, vacuform plastic so you could display it on its own on a shelf or hand on the wall.
Quick note: to keep this from becoming a post of videos, linked titles will
now bring you to YouTube to view a trailer. No one was really using the Amazon
affiliate links anyway.
For the first time in Monthly Media Recap history, I completed two franchises!
Was it worth it? Read on!
Series
Goosebumps (S2, Disney+)
Another good round of weaving multiple books into a single story line. I
haven't read a lot of the books so I have no idea how close they may be
sticking to the source material. The young main actors are good and like the first season, this is aimed more at kids their age than young readers of the books. The horror this season is body horror-centric and is really well done.
Daredevil Born Again (Disney+)
I'd say this is not only the best Marvel show but one of the best seasons of any show I've
seen in recent years. Some complained there wasn't enough Daredevil in the
show but that's not what it's about, especially this season. Kinda eerie how
much it reflects our country's current situation considering it was written a
few years ago.
Movies
*Dungeons & Dragons (2000, Prime)
My favorite movie review podcast,
Now Playing, is
doing a board game retrospective which includes the D&D movies. I hadn't
seen this since renting it in the early 2000s and I remember not liking it
much. That hasn't changed but after watching the sequels, I appreciate it a
little more. There is some fun to it but there's also video game cut scene
level CGI, Jeremy Irons overacting like you've never seen, and Marlon Wayans out Jar-Jar-ing Jar-Jar.
Last weekend, Mrs Dex and I went to our first Creation Entertainment
convention, which was also our first Supernatural convention.
Creation has been around since 1971 and they specialize in fandom
specific conventions. I've been to I don't know how many local comic
conventions and a handful of Star Wars Celebrations but this was definitely
the most intimate con I've attended. And I have to say, it was probably the best run con I've been to with regards to making sure people got their autographs and photo ops. Of course there were lines, but they did a great job calling up people by rows to get in the lines and keep them relatively short.
Supernatural fans are called family. Now, before you start getting in your
Fast & Furious jokes, let me tell you I now know why that is. Everyone we
interacted with from fans, to vendors, to the celebrities were all incredibly
nice. They were also welcoming and excited for us when we mentioned it was our
first Supernatural con.
Even though Boston is about 20 minutes away, we made this our "big vacation"
for the year; splurging on a hotel room, upgraded tickets packages, and a few
photo ops. It was definitely nice to only be a few floors up and not have to
travel into the city every day.
Being a smaller con, the majority of the events took place in the hotel
ballroom. This was nice because there wasn't much in the way of counter programming where
you had to choose one event over another.
Most of the events were panels of one or more actors talking to the fans and
doing Q&As. Our tickets included assigned seating which was great because
we were close to the stage and it also meant we were sitting next to the same
people all weekend so we got to know a few folks.
A couple years ago, an ad for Dungeon Crawler Carl (DCC from here on) popped up in my Facebook feed. It sounded like fun so I promptly add it to my "books to check out" list...and there it sat. Recently, the book has come up in a couple of podcasts so I figured now was the time to check it out.
The apocalypse will be televised!
You
know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck
with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that?
An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth,
and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic
intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl
and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the
end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like,
trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a
reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy.
Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This
ain’t your ordinary game show.
DCC falls into the LitRPG genre. This is my first dip into LitRPG which I find kind of funny because it sounds like the kind of thing I'd really be into. LitRPG is short for literary Role-Playing Game but you probably could have figured that out. LitRPG smashes up traditional fantasy/sci-fi books with video game RPG elements.
DCC is a seven book series and I am currently halfway through book 2, so if you know the series and I present inaccurate information, this is why.
In the tradition of Hitchhiker's Guide, aliens arrive on Earth but instead of a hyperspace bypass, these aliens are mining the planet. To enact their plan, they flatten the surface of the Earth. From cars to skyscrapers, it's all flattened, wiping out a good chunk of the population that were not outside. Those that are left alive are given the choice to compete in a galactic dungeon crawl reality show.
The book has plenty of humor and action. One of the main things that made this book so much fun for me is the dynamic between Carl and Donut. The only reason Carl is alive is because Donut got outside in the middle of the night and Carl had to hurriedly get dressed to chase her. Unfortunately for him, he was only in his heart-decorated boxers and grabbed a leather jacket and his ex's too-small Crocs. One of the running jokes is that Carl isn't able to find pants or shoes.
Another effect of the alien's arrival is that Donut can now talk! Carl is an every man and Donut is his ex's prize winning show cat so they aren't exactly best friends from the start but their relationship evolves as they rely on each other to get through the dungeon.
Speaking of dungeons, that's the other contributing factor to my enjoyment: the Diablo-esque escapades of killing monsters, getting loot and achievements, and leveling up. It's very much like reading a video game, which I guess is what LitRPG is usually. It also seems like there's some world building as the story goes on and Carl finds out more about the dungeon itself and those behind it.
And just like a video game, the book is addicting. If you're one of those gamers who just has to see what's in the next room or tries to get that gear upgraded before bed, I think you'll really like this series.
This year, we are the April Fool's...and the January, February, March...
Anyway, on to the stuff I watched last month. I won't be using any Amazon
affiliate links for the foreseeable future.
Series
Dexter: New Blood (Paramount+)
We got Paramount to check out the new Dexter prequel series because we loved
the original. Despite that, we never watched the sequel series and decided to
knock it out before the prequel. I heard a lot of not good things about this
season but really enjoyed it. I suspect people didn't like the way it ended
but I think it was well done.
Movies
Becky (2020, Paramount+)
Imagine Home Alone but Kevin is a teenage girl that could give Rambo a run for
his money and instead of the Wet Bandits, you've got a gang of neo-Nazis lead
by Kevin James. Did I mention the horror movie-level violence? The plot behind
why everything is happening could be better but I was having so much fun
watching Becky murdelize people, I didn't really care.
When it comes to blind packed LEGO minifigs, I typically limit my collecting to those that would fit in a Halloween scene because there are just so many fun figures. Since I picked up a handful of the Dungeons & Dragons minifigs, I felt like this guy needed to join them. Possibly opening a dangerous door of needing to collect D&D-ish minifigs.
Meet the Wolfpack Beastmaster from series 27, currently in stores. This guy's probably pretty good at hunting. You know who else is good at hunting? Me! I have been looking for this guy for months, scanning every single figure I could find. I actually found the box last week in a store but someone had opened it and taken the contents! The D&D Dragonborn Paladin wasn't even this hard to find. There's no doubt he's a cool figure but I think part of his popularity is that he comes with a wolf.
Here's a closer look at his outfit. You have to appreciate someone that knows how to brand their look. He's got he wolfpack logo on his shield and on his chest. The little details are great from the chain "holding" his cape on down to the little studs on his belt.
I'm not quite sure what's going on with his armor. Those aren't bracers he's wearing, it's the sleeves of what looks like a chain shirt with leather armor over it, or maybe it's hide? His face has all kinds of character to it. When he's got his hood on, you can barely see the muttonchops.
Speaking of his face, he's got two! I'm thinking the second one is him whistling a command to the wolf, or he just stepped on a LEGO brick barefoot.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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...
