The Adventures of Baby Rick Grimes Guest Starring Playmobil Daryl :: Countdown to Halloween 2016

They've got them cornered.
They've got them outnumbered.
They've got them trapped.

They're in trouble.*

*stolen from Frank Miller/Batman: Year One.

The Toddling Dead Season 3 :: Behind Bars

This prison will be the perfect place to re-start civilization. What could be safer than an old abandoned prison?

'What' indeed, Baby Rick Grimes. 'What' indeed

Countdown to Halloween Twenty Sixteen :: Making Camp

"This seems like a safe place to make camp."

The Countdown to Halloween 2016 continues, as does Baby Rick Grimes' trek through walker infested woods!

Is nowhere safe?!?!

No Shelter :: Countdown to Halloween 2016

The Adventures of Baby Rick Grimes continues. Keep riding, baby Rick Grimes. There's no shelter for you here.

Be sure to check out all The Adventures of Rick Grimes as we Countdown to Halloween 2016!

Countdown to Halloween 2016 :: The Adventures of Baby Rick Grimes

It's that time of year again - time for another Countdown to Halloween!

A couple months ago I found this 1978 Tomy wind-up toddler at the flea market and it immediately made me think of a baby Rick Grimes of The Walking Dead. So I decided to make this year's Countdown to Halloween theme: 'The Adventures of Baby Rick Grimes!'

I can't promise a post every day this October, my current schedule just won't allow it, but I think I can at least stick with the Baby Rick Grimes theme and promise you he'll be a part of every 2016 Countdown to Halloween post.

For a full list of participating blogs, check out CountdownToHalloween.blogspot.com - all participants at press time are listed below:

Action Figure Barbecue's Hokey Halloween Horror
AEIOU and Sometimes Why
AllHallowSteve's Halloween Addict Twitter Feed
The Altered Paper
An Adventure a Day
And Everything Else Too
Apetoes
Armagideon Time
Art by GB Giuseppe Balestra
The Art of C.S.R.   // C.S.R. (Facebook)
B-Movie Star
Bat N' Kat
Bats In The Hollow
Blood and Black Rum Podcast
Byron Fenris' Terrortorium
Camera Viscera
Caramel Apple Day
Catalogue of Curiosities
The Catty Mermaid
Cavalcade of Awesome
Celluloid Terror blog
Celluloid Terror - Youtube channel
Chuck Norris Ate My Baby
Cinema Crazed
The Cinema 4 Cel Bloc
The Cinema 4 Pylon
Cinematic Catharsis
A Cinematic History of Horror for Halloween on Roku
Classic Horrors Club
CollectingCandy.com
Cult of the Great Pumpkin
Culturally Significant!
DI Treasures
The Dark Art of Chad Savage
Dave Lowe Design
Destroy//Exist
Distinctly Jamaican Sounds
DOCTERROR.COM
Euclid Boo
Forgotten Films
Frog on the Pumpkin
Garage Sale Finds
The Ghoulie Guide
The Goods
Gravedigger's Local 16
Great Pumpkin, Where Are You?
The Grim Gallery
Hallow-Holics Anonymous // Hallow-Holics Anonymous (wordpress)
Halloween Hits
Halloween Holler
Halloween Mix 2016
HalloweenOverkill
Halloween Short Films
Halloween Special
Hallucination Horrors
The Haunted Drive-In
Haunted Eve's Halloween Blog
Haunted Eve's Halloween Yard Haunt
Highbury Cemetery
Histories of Things to Come
Horror Screams and Music Dreams
The Horrors of Halloween
The Horrors of it All
Horrors Online
I-Mocker's Two Months of Halloween Celebration
Incipient Wings
Into the Cauldron
It Came From The Man Cave!
Jim Fanning's Tulgey Wood
John Rozum
Journeys in Classic Film
Kostume Girl's Closet
Lady M's Haunted Parlor
Leaves and Cobwebs
Lost Coast Portal to Creativity
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Maple Grove Cemetery
Mark Harvey's World
Mark's Super Blog
Me and You and a Blog Named Boo
Me and You Too
Michael May's Adventure Blog
Misfit Island Drive-In
Misfit Robot Daydream
MONSTERJONES
MonsterMartha.com
The Moon is a Dead World
Moongem Comics
Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else
Musty TV
My Two Yen Worth
Negative Pleasure
The New Adventures of Desdinova the Super Villain of the Ozarks
NUELOW Games
One Dark Halloween Night
OTIS: Odd Things I've Seen
Professor Ravensdeath
Professor Ravensdeath's Monster Rally
Pumpkinrot
Punch & Judy Productions
Radiator Heaven
The Rain Causes Pain in My Brain
Rare Halloween Cartoons, Movies and Videos
Reading Authors
Redecorating Middle-earth in Early Lovecraft
Secret Mountain Laboratory
Seduction of the Innocent!
Shades of Gray
She Walks Softly
ShellHawk's Nest
Sideshow Cinema
Six Foot Plus
The Skeleton Key
Slash The Zombie
Something Got Me Started
Something WicKED This Way Comes
Spock's Record Round-Up
Spooky Little Halloween 
Spooky Moon
The Spooky Vegan
Strange Kids Club
Swing with Shad
Terror Titans
13 - The Dwrayger Dungeon
Toyriffic
Toys of My Past
True Love Comics Tales
Vraie Fiction
WeirdCrest
Western Comics Adventures
Whatever Happened to the Transylvania Twist?
Who Killed Orrin Grey?
The Windesphere Witch
Wonderful Wonderblog
The Year of Halloween

Go check them out and enjoy some spooky fun! And tune in here on occasion throughout October to find out what shenanigans baby Rick Grimes gets himself up to during The Adventures of Rick Grimes as we Countdown to Halloween 2016! Oh Baby Rick, he's such a scamp!

Zoinks! LEGO / KRE-O Zombies! :: Countdown to Halloween 2014

When the Kre-o Cityville blind bags were clearanced at Target a few months back I picked up a handful, knowing the accessories were compatible with LEGO. Bonus: their heads are too!

So I slapped a few onto LEGO minifigure bodies and voila! A trio of zombies yearning to eat your braaaaiiinnnssss!

Double Bonus: the two heads on the right glow in the dark!

Imaginext Blind Bagged Series 3 WITH CODES!

Toyriffic reader Aleksandur contacted me last week to let me know he found the Imaginext Series 3 Blind Bagged figures at a Target in Pasadena California, had bought the whole wave, and had cracked the code (so you don't have to!)

On the back left top of the packages, there is a number embossed in the packaging. Catch the light just right and you can read it to see what you will get without having to resort to the oh-so-embarrassing 'squeeze method'!

   34 - Gill-Man/Creature from the Black Lagoon
   35 - Zombie
   36 - Guy with fur hat and swords(Cossack?)
   37 - Skateboarder
   38 - Punk Rock Guitarist
   39 - Vampire/Dracula
   40 - Hazmat Suit Guy/Walter White
   41 - Bomb Squad Guy

 Aleksandur also sent along these pics!

Before I was able to make this post, I found the wave at Target while out shopping with my sister and nephew. Thanks to Aleksandur's codes, my nephew and I were able to find just what we wanted. Thanks to my sister, I didn't even need to pay for them! Sometimes having an older sister has it's advantages.

Below are the ones I grabbed:

Bomb Technician ala 'Hurt Locker.' What a crazy figure! Imaginext pretty much steers clear of military themes, and while this guy could be working for the police department, his green costume is far more military looking than policeman blue. This guy comes with a robot for dis-arming bombs, and it even pops into a peg on his back, making him top heavy but a neat feature for carrying his robot around when not in use.

 My next 'must have' was this figure clearly inspired by the Creature from the Black Lagoon. His helmet even has modled 'bubbles' so it appears his dome is full of water! Brilliant!

 Without his helmet he is a pretty fair representation of The Creature, without crossing any copyright lines.

"Eeeeevvvviiillllllll!"

Probably the craziest figure in the history of Imaginext is this guy in Hazmat suit who is undeniably inspired by...

MethMaster Walter White from 'Breaking Bad.' An incredibly inappropriate character for a line aimed at kids aged 3 to 8, which means it's exactly the kind of thing I had to own!

And speaking of things inappropriate for pre-schoolers...

There was some speculation as to why a zombie would wear a one-eye-hole sack over his head and carry a weed-whacker. Then someone over at AFI pointed out that in the Friday the 13th film series, Jason Vorhees not only wore a single-eye-hole sack over his head before his Stanley Cup fandom began, but he also used a weed-whacker at one point to kill some hapless victim who shouldn't have 'gone in there' in the first place.

Without the sack...well, it's a zombie. Which is incredibly cool. But the Friday the 13th inspirations push him right over the top!

This stuff is insane! I hope the Imaginext designers continue to push the limits as the blind bagged series continues!

Lego Haunted Cemetery :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Another Halloween themed Lego diorama! This one is less busy and more direct than my sincere pumpkin patch.

I might add some more monster elements, I considered a werewolf chasing someone across the cemetery, or maybe a vampire/coffin combo in the mausoleum, but for now I am happy with the ghost haunting the mausoleum and the zombie rising from the dead! I suppose part of the charm of this diorama is that I can alter it in a few different ways with relative ease. It's the diorama that keeps on giving!

The zombie came from last year's Halloween polybagged set that included a coffin car, with the hairpiece from the Highlander blind bagged minifigure.

The ghost is also from a Halloween polybagged set that came out last year and included a grandfather clock.

The rest of this stuff comes from our mishmash of Lego pieces collected from years of gathering them together from all sorts of sources.

In addition to, and probably moreso than the challenge of building stuff around here is the challenge of keeping it all in one piece, thanks to my intern!

Whoooooooooooo!

My intern, I said!

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Catwoman in a Zombie Cage Cosplay :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Despite all my rage I am still just Catwoman in a zombie cage!

Not exactly a Zombie Catwoman...yet! But with only one week until Halloween, one can't be too cautious.

Via Maikaleigh on deviantArt

SLUG Zombie Invasion :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

It's a shame the S.L.U.G. Zombie toyline didn't survive to complete the intended full series of 100 figures - some of the final figures would have been the absolute best! I suppose I am as much to blame as anyone, I didn't get into them until their prices were drastically slashed at Target earlier this year, at which time I nabbed a ton of them because they were so darn cheap.

I got them all together for a Countdown to Halloween 2013 shoot - the ubiquitous 'circle the wagons' scene! Who will survive to re-up their contract next season...?

Probably no one. You see, I unfortunately chose a rather...difficult...Director to work with:

"CUT! CUT cut cut cutcutcut CUUUUT!
 You call that acting?!?! I've seen better acting in a Spiegel catalogue!"

"Didn't any of you idiots read the SCRIPT?! THIS zombie goes HERE and THAT zombie goes THERE! It's all written down in black and white RIGHT THERE IN THE SCRIPT, PEOPLE!
Geezaloo Christmastrees, whatta bunch of idiots. Now I know how Cecil B. must have felt."

"Okay, that's better. Now look alive...HAW HAW just kidding; you're Zombies, stupid!
Aaaaaaaaand ACTION!"

Ferocious Frankie :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Ferocious Frankie was one of the best SLUG Zombie figures released. Biting the hand that feeds him, and proving that the zombie epidemic doesn't only affect humans!

Poisunday Ivy :: Zombie Poison Ivy (and Riddler) Cosplay :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Via adravis on deviantArt.com

Catwoman Purrrsday :: Zombie Catwoman Cosplay :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

 

Via NurseJoy at deviantArt.com

Harley Qwednseday :: Zombie Harley Quinn Cosplay :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Via pixi996 at deviantArt.com

Poisunday Ivy :: Zombie Poison Ivy Cosplay :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Via z0mbree on deviantArt

Upcoming SLUG Zombies

"Welcome to the jungle...we've got fun and BRAAAIIINNNSSSSS!!!!"

So I keep saying I'm not collecting SLUG Zombies. And I'm not, even though my figure count has grown to about two dozen over the past couple weeks. I have to admit, this line has a lot of nostalgic appeal and reminds me of my MUSCLE collecting days. Also, they are on clearance and plentiful at Target right now, and I can justify getting a few figures I don't particularly care about in order to get the ones I really think are keen. All for CHEAP!

Anyways, I just discovered that, like with MUSCLE back in the day, there's a poster of all the Zombies and Zombie Hunter figures (unlike MUSCLE, you can download on the 'net, because back then there was no internet) and it shows the first 100 SLUG Zombies (and Zombie Hunters), some of which have not yet been released.

If the line continues (let's face it, the massive Target purge isn't a good sign) there will be few more great pop culture homages and plain old awesome zombies and hunters I will want to add to my non-collection. These will be designated as Series 5 and Series 6 I presume (sine the Christmas wave was not numbered.)

One figure I am looking forward to is the Axel Rose homage above named 'Perry Perish' who should appear in Series 5 along with...

...this Dirty Harry homage 'Cold Blooded Kelly'

While Series 6 will see the release of 'Hot-Headed Harriet' who is clearly Ripley from the Alien franchise. Also...blowtorch!

But none of these compare to the piece de resistance...

Popeye, people...POPEYE! I mean 'Oliver Ouch'. Whatever. This one is a must have! ZOMBIE POPEYE!!!!!! He should appear in Series 5 and I for one can't wait!

You can see the whole poster here, or just click the following two pics to see what may or may not be coming soon. The unreleased undead begin at #67 and include some creative and surprising selections. Is 'Feel My Wrath McGrath' a maskless Casey Jones? And 'Charlie Pistols' is clearly Charles Bronson (and probably the closest a figure's name has yet come to it's actual homage.) There's Amelia Earhart, Harry Potter, The Dude and more!

I sure hope this line continues at least through the promised figures this poster teases us with. I need a zombie Popeye more than you can imagine!

And maybe 'Horrific Harmony' too, who just looks like nothing more than a shark attack victim, and that's just too morbid to pass up.

SLUG Zombies Velma Dinkley...I mean 'Double-Barrel Carol.'

I haven't been collecting Jakks Pacific's SLUG Zombie minifigures, but I have to admit that they are pretty neat looking. What appeals to me the most as a non/casual collector who generally just looks at them on the toy store shelves are the 'inspired by' figures. They've done everyone from Superman (or should I say 'Bizarro?') to Elvis to Abraham Lincoln to Moe Howard; and the 'normals' or 'Zombie Hunters' are often based on pop culture zombie hunters like Sheriff Rick and Shaun of the Dead, or simply mere pop culture icons like Chuck Norris and Crocodile Dundee (neither of whom fought zombies to my knowledge.)

While perusing the sets at stores and on various blogs, one figure caught my eye in particular: Double-Barrel Carol. She's just awesomely geeky cute, but I had no idea who she was 'supposed' to be so I passed, but always looked over the sets that contained her whenever I was in stores.

Target currently has all their SLUG Zombies sets on clearance, and I was lucky enough to find the Series 3 12 figure set that Carol is part of for $4.98 and could pass no longer, especially since I only recently discovered over at That Figures who Double-Barrel Carol's inspiration is:

Velma Dinkley! This piece of Scooby Doo fan art by Travis Pitts has made the internet rounds for a while now. Double-Barrel Carol is so close to this Velma (while being nothing like any other zombie hunter of pop culture fame) that she simply must have been inspired by this piece. Which makes her even more awesome than without a reference source, if that's at all possible!

While not an exact duplicate, the translation is close enough for me to imagine Velma fighting off the rest of my 12 pack Zombie horde, and that's worth every penny of the $4.98 I spent for these guys. Not to mention the fact that I just wrote the synopsis to what would be the greatest film of all time. Make it happen, Hollywood!

"Jinkies!"

Now to find an in scale Scooby Doo figurine!