Creature from the Black Lagoon Mini-Mask

 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.

 

As of this post, Fright Rags has all the mini-masks available except Michael Meyers who is currently sold out.

Halloween 2023 MA Lottery Ticket

 In last year's lottery post, I lamented that in the 10+ years that I'd been doing the Countdown, my state has never had licensed lottery tickets. Well, this year...we hit the jackpot with Universal Monsters!

Starting off with the eternal enemies: vampire vs werewolf. In case you were wondering, I am 100% Team Werewolf.

They did a great job with the graphics on these. While they're essential all the same under the surface, each one has icons unique to the monster.

I got lucky with the Bride! She's the only one I hit anything on out of this lot. 

Ten bucks, is ten bucks!

And I saved the best (my favorites) for last.

Do you have any fun Halloween themed lottery tickets in your state? 

I started an open Flickr album for people to post their state lottery tickets. If you have any, please feel free to add them to the album. Or if you send me pictures/scans I'd be happy to post them. 

 

Be sure to check out the complete list of Countdown bloggers by clicking below.

 

Mighty Maniax - Fishstik Figure

 Toward the end of 2020, Rocom Toys launched the Mighty Maniax Kickstarter which ended on Halloween night. These are a very cool line of 3" tall horror and video game inspired figures.

 

 In addition to the base figures shown here, there are also ones that might remind you of Friday the 13th's Jason or Texas Chainsaw's Leatherface. The great thing about these is that they're Glyos compatible which means you can swap parts not just between the Maniax line, but with any other Glyos figures too!

Each figure comes with three heads and a trading card. I, of course, jumped at the chance to get a new interpretation of the Creature from the Black Lagoon in their Fishstik figure.

He may look a little more shaggy than scaly and that's because the body sculpt for the monster style figures is the same. The head and the paint apps make all the difference. He may be only 3" tall but these figures are chunky and have 10 points of articulation.

Here it is with the wolf head.

And the ape head, or as I call it, swamp-ape.

Here's the front of the trading card that came with it. The card features an image of whichever figure you ordered. It's got a nice gold foil border and logo.

And there's more art on the back. I'm not sure if the backs of the cards form a larger image if you put them together but it wouldn't surprise me!

If you want to bring home some Mighty Maniax, you can pre-order them from BigBad Toystore.

Creature from the Black Lagoon - The Muscial

Did you know there was a Creature from the Black Lagoon Musical?!

I didn't either until recently, thanks to the YouTube channel Expedition Theme Park.

If you're a theme park fan, the channel is definitely worth checking out!

Last week, he put up a video about the history of Universal Studios Hollywood Creature Musical which, being a big Creature fan, blew my mind because I wasn't even aware of it. The fact that it only ran for 2 months in 2009 probably has something to do with that.

If you want to see the musical spoiler-free, skip this history lesson for now.

There was a big to do when the show opened. Julia Adams (Kay in the original movie) was there to help celebrate. Here's a short clip from the musical's press day of the Creature's arrival.

The show is only about 30 minutes if you want to check it out.

It's definitely...um...something to see.

Even if you don't make it through the whole thing, I recommend forwarding through to catch a swimming scene and the big finale, a couple of things they definitely deserve some credit for doing.

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.

Spooky Birthday Goodies

The next best thing to having your birthday in October is having it a couple days before the month starts. A few years ago (okay, it was 7. Yikes!) I posted about the awesome Halloween birthday cakes my wife gets for me. As we'd planned our Sleepy Hollow Experience ahead of time (read about that here) she had time to get this amazing cake done.

Not only does a birthday near October mean creepy cakes, it also means birthday/Halloween gifts! In addition to Nightmare Before Christmas party stuff, here's a few other things I got.

These dragon stamps are necessarily Halloween related but I mean...dragons! It's hard to capture in a picture but each design has foil elements to it that make it shine under light.

One of my dear friends who recently went to WDW got me this Halloween MagicBand that was only available during the Halloween party event. For those not up on the goings on at Disney Parks, these are basically your ticket/room key/credit card now. I would be happy just getting the box it came in, I love the art on it!

Here is each side of the band, it also glows in the dark!

I also got a new impling buddy similar to Little Eddy that I got last Christmas.This guy's name is Rooty and he's also one of a kind. If he tickles your fancy, check out Bri's Bits N Pieces on Facebook and Etsy where she posts new adoptions. She also does commission work if you've got something in mind after seeing her other creations.

Finally this mamajama...

A Creature from the Black Lagoon Motionette from 1992!

Not only does he just look cool standing there but he's got motion, sound, and light up eyes!

Although I think he's much better when he's silent. Who thought putting Godzilla in here was a good idea? I know he doesn't make much noise in the movies so I guess they had to put something in there?

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

2016 Haul-iday Report

Wow, remember when 2017 seemed like the far future? Damn, I'm getting old.

Anyway, hope everyone had a great holiday season with friends and family. This is the annual somewhat-braggy post showing off some of my holiday gifts.

First up, some Strange things...

Those calendars may look like they've come to bargain with Dormammu, but they actually have different art inside. Also, one of them came with the set of buttons on the left. I didn't even think to look for playing cards when the movie came out. I"ll probably feature them some day when I get the comic based cards. Another thing I didn't know about was the Walmart exclusive Funko Pop "spell casting" Strange figure. Pretty cool!

From other dimensions to other galaxies! The Falcon speaker was a total surprise, which is good. While wish lists help the holiday shoppers, they kind of take away the surprise for the giftee. The ESB Topps book is fantastic. I got the Star Wars one last year. It showcases all the original trading cards from ESB, front and back. The dust cover is made from a waxy paper, just like the card packs.

The magazines were also a nice surprise. I've seen them on stands but couldn't bring my self to spend the hefty cost for them. The People one comes with a pull out and assemble VR viewer to pop your phone into. If you already have a VR viewer, go to the app store and grab Life VR. It's got a brief video where you're an X-Wing pilot. It's not a game, you can only look around but it's a fun experience. The app also has you standing in the middle of a 360 degree view of the Rogue One Jedha set where they're filming the tank ambush. You can also watch them in non-VR so you can still have the 360 experience on your device.

I was so thrilled to get all three of these! I was very sad when I found out Gravity Falls was coming to an end. Ever since the show started I was hoping we'd get a replica of the journal and here it is! It's done like the 'actual' book. It looks like someone wrote and drew in it. There's also a section that Dipper has put in his own notes.

Flipping through the Labyrinth book is amazing. So many behind the scenes photos! There's quite a few smaller pages inserted throughout the book that make it look like someone put them in there featuring drawings or script pages.

I'm almost done with Dr. Strange already. It's on par with other similar DK books. It doesn't get too in depth on anything but it does cover a good amount of his history.

New cars! I have an Ecto-1 from a previous release but I'm going to keep this one carded. A few other random Halloween rides including a Rigor Motor I don't have. On the right is a Treasure Hunt from the new Fright Cars series. I have been looking for this one for a good month or so. Very happy to finally get one...but do I open it?

Finally, a couple of neato things Mrs Dex got for me at a holiday craft fair that are right up my alley. A Creature light switch and a sparkly Labyrinth ornament.

Did you get anything killer that made your holiday season?
Let me know!

Cleaner from the Black Lagoon

Before we get rolling, I want to thank the people that participated in the Tron Run/r giveaway.
All three of them.
The post got close to 200 views and only 3 people signed up.

The winner, Samuel, is from a far off land that is 11 hours ahead of me!
I hope he enjoys his time on the Grid.
Now back to your regularly scheduled post...

No, that's not a typo in the title!

My pal Morbius Kromwell sent me a link to this too cool Creature from the Black Lagoon soap. So of course I wasted no time hoping on over and ordering it!

He "stands" about 4" tall and is a great addition to my small Creature collection. And when I say small collection, I mean that the collection itself contains few items and most of those items are not large.

It's one of the few things I have that not a lot of people would have and I like collectibles like that. Although I do have to wonder just how long decorative soap will last sealed in plastic.

The seller has a shop on Etsy called Sick Soaps and if you're a pop culture fan, you should definitely swing by and check out her stuff!

There's Haunted Mansion soaps...

Star Wars soaps...

horror soaps...

and more including Doctor Who and some Halloween appropriate coffins, skulls, and ouija boards. They're all really cool and would make good gifts for those hard to shop for people.

Click the banner to check out Sick Soaps!