Disney Doorables - Squish'Alots Poppin Pinball

 I wasn't expecting to have another Doorables post this month but I ran into these Squish'Alots Pinball sets and here we are!

 

 I'm not so big on the Squish Doorables, I prefer the regular, non-squishy ones. But here, they aren't the main focus. As with most Doorables, these are blind boxed but I keep the cheat code website bookmarked on my phone for cases just like this!

 

Each box has one of 8 mini-pinball machines and I grabbed the Nightmare Before Christmas one.

 

 

The set comes with one regular size Squish that goes on top of the scoreboard. 

The machine stands about 4.5" tall so it's not a good fit as a prop for your 6" or 3.75" figures...unless you want to have your 3.75" figures pretend this is a Hercules machine. All of the "cabinet art" is stickers that come with it. I love that they included the coin box detail on the sticker. It just helps sell it more for me.

 

It comes with four balls. Three of them have itty-bitty squishy characters and the fourth has a couple additional stickers to decorate your machine.

 

 And yes, it actually works! To release a ball, you press the back button and then you can use the flippers to hit it into the hole in the center. The ball then rolls out a chute right to you.

 

 The score 10,291,993 is an Easter Egg for when the movie was originally released: 10/29/1993. The other sets aren't really any I'm interested in, maybe Alice in Wonderland, but I'd definitely pick up a Wreck-It-Ralph or Tron one if they made them. It may not get much play, but it's a really fun display piece!

 

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Bicycle - Nightmare Before Christmas Playing Cards

 Unintentionally saved the best deck for last. I found this one on the 5th and had the other playing card posts done already.

This is what I'd call a premium deck straight out of the wrapper! The tuckbox is a matte black with silver and purple foil that makes the front really pop.

Even the inside of the box has graphics! Just getting this far in opening it, I was already impressed.

Scary Christmas Things Building Block Set

 Well, Temu got me again with another not-LEGO building set. This one is inspired by Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

This one was not nearly as frustrating as the sets I posted back in October (here and here). Firstly, this was not a mini/micro set so the pieces were much easier to work with. Secondly, the set came in a zip bag with a card that has a code on their website or a QR to scan to get the instructions. If you ordered this set and you have no internet access...good luck! The card also states "The numbered bags have no bearing on order of build. Please just follow the instructions to build your set."

Having the instructions on my iPad not only made it easy to zoom in to get a better look when needed but it meant I didn't have a huge folded sheet that I'd have to open up.

Some of the doodad pieces are a little weird but I guess you have to put something in there to make it a little more visually interesting. I'm not sure, but I think those pink bricks on the right might be Dr. Finklestein's tower and Jack's house like they're supposed to be way off in the distance? I really like how they managed to make the curly piece of the hill and have the "moon" attach to it.

The back side has Zero flying through the sky! Right below him is his gravestone with a little bone on it. Obviously the scale isn't quite right but if I can dig my Jack figure out of the display case he's in, this will be his new home. I still have to get a Sally minifig.

The set is 167 pieces and I got it for $15 which I think works out to a little less than what you'd pay for a real LEGO set of the same size. If you want to pick this up, you can get it at this non-affiliate link.

Haul-iday Highlights 2022

 Back from the holiday break with the annual showing off of holiday loot!

 

We'll kick it off with the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special Funko Pops.

First up we have Groot and Peter Quill. Groot is looking better here than he did in the actual Special itself, I am not a fan of that costume. Quill's got a Santa hat (which you can't see much of here) and a wrapped gift. I'm glad they did these so I can bring them out every year to give a Guardians tweak to the holiday decorations.

Drax has his "little man" lawn ornament and I just love it! Also loving Mantis' festive headband. What I'm not loving? The fact that you can only get Holiday Rocket in an Amazon exclusive 5-pack. Booooo!

Nightmare Before Christmas - Making Christmas Funko Card Game

 If you've even glanced at the board game section of your local big box store, chances are you've seen at least one game put out by Funko. They do games now, because of course they do! From Funkoverse strategy board games to Disney attractions and other movie franchises, they are just cranking them out.

Since it's the holiday season (and I love the movie!), we're having some fun with Making Christmas, the third Funko game based on The Nightmare Before Christmas.

 

This was actually released a couple months ago and me being me, I pre-ordered it as soon as I saw it. This is a family card game for ages 6+ so it's fairly simple to play.

Among the game components are four pieces you assemble to make the toy workbench play area. The back of it features the artwork from the box.

Gather toys from Halloweentown for Jack Skellington to deliver on Christmas. But the presents are in pieces! Look for clever combos on the workbench that will help you put the toys together. On your turn, swap two toy parts and use assembled toys to complete goal cards. Then refill the workbench, goal cards, and the toy-building continues to the next player! Hurry to put the toy parts together and be the player that completes the most goals to win!

The goal cards are on the left and you score them by swapping two cards, either two on the board already or with one from your hand, to make a complete toy. Some goals, like the top one, only require you to make a horizontal or vertical match. Do that, and you get to make a second swap to try and complete another goal. When the last goal is completed, the player with the most goals wins.

Like I said, it's not a very deep game but seems like it'd be perfect for younger monsters or just some quick holiday fun. The artwork is perfectly spot on and the goal cards feature different residents of Halloweentown. 

 

The Funko board games are pretty easy to find but the card games have been hit or miss for me. If you don't want to hunt for this one, you can have Santa Jack drop it down your chimney via Amazon (affiliate link).

Rhode Island Comic Con 2018

I went to Rhode Island Comic Con this past weekend for the first time and had a blast.

If you're a regular reader, you might recall me having gone to several Boston Comic Cons in the past. The last time I went was before they moved it to the new location so I don't know how it now stacks up now compared to RICC. But I will say RI seems to work much better than where Boston used to be.

The main drive behind checking out RICC this year was that celebs from Mrs Dex's favorite show, Smallville, were making an appearance. Not that I wouldn't want to go otherwise. Who doesn't love a good comic convention? We got to the con about an hour after doors opened and although there was still a line, it went very quickly and we basically walked through the queue area and right in.

After getting in we checked out some cosplay and herded ourselves to the autograph area to check them off our list to make sure we didn't miss them. The auto area was pretty well laid out but there were some congested areas. We walked around to see all the celebs. You can see the guest list here. The "headlining" guests were in a different building altogether and I didn't even try to sneak a peek at them fearing the crowds.

We got autos from Tom Welling (Clark) and Michael Rosenbaum (Lex). Laura Vandervoort (Supergirl) was there also. Tom was a lot taller than I expected and when I mentioned that he said thank you. He followed that up with something else which all of us were laughing about when the photo was taken. We didn't do a selfie with Michael (although he was super fun) because it's all about the money. I can understand having to pay for a selfie if you don't get an autograph but having to pay extra just for a photo taken on your phone is crazy to me.

I don't want to rant too much on the whole pricing thing but I'm interested to see where celeb con appearances go in the future. Between autographs, selfies, and pro photos I can't see the prices some people are asking lasting.

After the Smallville peeps, I wanted to meet John DiMaggio (Bender/Futurama, Jake/Adventure Time) but his line was capped because he had a photo op going on. We got lunch and went back to wait in line for him. It was still going to be about 30-45 minutes before he came back but I was second in line when he did.

Well, make that third in line. There was a group at the front of the line with service dogs. John not only took photos with the people but also the dogs!

He was also genuinely nice and took time to chat with everyone. We then had a little bit of time to explore until we had to get in line for the Smallville panel.

The person that made these was never at their table which is too bad because I would have loved to chat with them about the Labyrinth stuff they did.

We got in line for the panel about an hour before it started. A lot more people that I expected ending up showing up so it was a good thing we got there early! After the panel, we headed to the photo op area for our scheduled time.

The people before us had to take a couple photos because the flash was reflecting off their glasses, so Michael is playing with my wife's glasses lifting them up and down during the photo. Usually these pro photos are a blink and you miss it thing and while we were only with them for a minute or two I didn't feel like we were rushed through like other times I've done these.

With the last of our scheduled things done by 5:30 we finally had time to walk the vendor floor. Of course there was a ton of cool stuff and lots of artists but I only bought one thing.

A Creature from the Black Lagoon Buddha! The photo isn't fuzzy, this "statue" was 3D printed. It looks a little better in person. The guy selling these had a ton of different ones. Pretty much whatever your fandom is, he's got something. This was also the smallest one but it was the best shade of green so I went with it. Definitely check out MuckyChris to see his 3D printed stuff, inlcuding a couple of light switch plates that are pretty neat.

The local Star Wars costuming and droid builder groups were there and had quite the crossover happen when they got a visit from another franchise.

These guys are amazing to see in person. Yes, the eye moves and makes the sound! I'm presuming these are the same guys I see at other local cons because how many of them could there be?

Normally this would be the part of the post where I send you to Flickr for the rest of my pics but there were so many great costumes I have to show off a few more.

Left is one of my favorite group cosplays. There was quite a bit of crossplay (gender swapped characters) going on at the con which is great. The dude on the right was rockin his Wonder Woman outift like nobody's business. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch him while going up an escalator and didn't get  his sword in the shot.

How awesome is that Red Fraggle?

This Gravity Falls group wasn't even together. The girl dressed as Mabel saw the other guys and rushed to get her photo taken with them. The wizard on the right goes by Brandon the Shapeshifter on Instgram. If you like incredible costumes, go check him out. It's hard to tell from the photo but the spell book lights up too.

And that's a wrap!

Even though we probably spent close to half our time at the con in line for something, be it autograph, photo, panel, or food, I still feel like we had a good day and got to see a lot. I know there are areas we didn't get near but I'm good with that. I'd still like to check out the new place where the Boston con is held and would definitely like to go back to RICC again.

Here's all the pics from the day.

2018 Halloween Hot Wheels - LSB & Sandy Claws

We're crossing the finish line today with the final two Nightmare Before Christmas Hot Wheels. I can't believe it's only one more week til Halloween!

The seventh car in the series is that mischievous trio of Lock, Shock, and Barrel. They're up to no good in a Cockney Cab II.

Considering how small Hot Wheels are, they put a lot of detail into the side art. The graphics are the same on both side but what really makes this one for me are their masks on the hood.

If you run into Lock, Shock, and Barrel, their captive can't be far behind.

Sandy Claws rounds out the set in the Power Panel van.

He's not looking too happy but I guess if I were thrown in a sack by three little brats, I probably wouldn't be thrilled about it. The colors really pop on this one and it got a very Christmas-y vibe to it. I can't imagine red tinted glass would be great for driving.

The other stand out thing is the metallic red they used on the wheels which makes them look like they're made out of candy canes or at least peppermint candy. I don't know if it would be overkill, but I might have gone with red plastic instead of white for the headlights/wheel well part that runs down the side.

That's another year of Halloween Hot Wheels in the books.

Which ones were your favorite?

I think I have to go with Jack and Sally. Jack's car is just awesome and Sally have the best character color paint job.

In case you missed any, check em out below.

Jack & Sally

Oogie & Dr. Finklestein

Zero & The Mayor

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2018 Halloween Hot Wheels - Zero & The Mayor

The Nightmare continues with week 3!

After last week's villainous pair, these two are a relief.

Zero's cruising around in the Quick 'N Sik!

There's not a lot of "Zero-ness" to the car aside from his image on the sides. What I really like about it is that they made the wheels translucent like a ghost.

It's not often you can get a clear shot of a car's interior so I had to take one. You can see the steering wheel and even a gear shift between the seats.

The Mayor rolls in the Cool-One. So named because when it debuted in 2004, it was a modified ice cream truck.

Just like the Mayor of Halloweentown, this van has two faces.

That's all for this week. Come back next Wednesday for the final Halloween Hot Wheels post of the year. Who will the last two vehicles be?

Be sure to Trick or Treat at the participating Countdown blogs by clicking below!

2018 Halloween Hot Wheels - Oogie & Finklestein

Welcome back to Halloween Hot Wheels Wednesday! 

We've got a wicked pair for you today.

First up, Mr. Oogie Boogie man!

Oogie's ride of choice is a Super Van, first released in 1975. This same model was released in the 80s with an A-Team paint job.

The windows are tinted a nice shade of "bug guts" green. You can see he's rolled a 7 on this side and on the other is, of course, an 11.

Check out the tiny skulls in between the card suits. For some reason, the diamonds and spades have swapped colors.

The second of our dastardly duo is none other than the bad Doctor Finklestein. I wonder what he got his doctorate in?

He's cruisin' in the Midnight Otto which is relatively young by Hot Wheels standards having debuted in 2002.

This one is just alright for me. I like the model of the car but I don't think it does much to capture his personality.

Unlike Sally, I do think this one benefits from having the character image on the roof for a little something extra.

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