Hocus Pocus is a movie that was almost completely off my radar until very recently. It was released in 1993, when I was in high school, but I was only vaguely aware of it. I gather that it flopped at the box office but gained a massive cult following through continual airing on the Disney Channel and Freeform in the three decades since (neither of which channels I has access to until the last 5 years or so). I even worked at video rental stores for many years and we just didn't stock it. I was forced to watch it a few years ago for the first time. This was by friends who had a deep nostalgia for it from their childhood. Without that wistful slant, I honestly wasn't a huge fan. It was very over-the-top and silly with caricatures I found too childish (and I am very immature). But that said, I was glad to finally see this cult hit. I loved the colorful design of the Sanderson Sisters as well as the actors playing them. I've wanted to add them to my collection in some way, but none of the product so far felt quite right.
UNITING ALL WOMEN OF PLASTIC
Showing posts with label Witch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Witch. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Hocus Pocus - THE SANDERSON SISTERS!
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
The Simpsons - WITCH MARGE!
The Simpsons has created a lot of great traditions over its record-breaking run, but I think the best one would have to be the annual Halloween Treehouse of Horror episode. I'm proud to say I watched the first one as it was broadcast back in 1990 (The Raven and How to Cook Humans segments still seem permanently fused into my psyche). I certainly haven't watched all 34 Treehouse episodes (although they are all grouped together on Disney+ right now) but I always appreciate the merch that comes from them. This Witch Marge figure comes from the 8th episode segment Easy Bake Coven (1997) where Marge and her sisters are exposed as witches in puritan Springfield (Sprynge-Fielde) and inadvertently invent Trick-or-Treating. I just watched the segment right now and it's pretty clever. Other common Halloween Marge toys we commonly see of are Skeleton Marge and a Blue Cat Marge, but this green witch version is always my favorite. Let's check her out below!
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Haunt - WITCH!
Haunt is a 2019 slasher film featuring a haunted house run by sadistic killers. I haven't seen this film. Despite starring several young actors I am a fan of and having really imaginative character design, I just have no stomach for movies like this. However, when I saw these figures in a local toy shop earlier this year, I really appreciated the creepiness of almost plain-clothed characters wearing traditional Halloween masks. Neca's Ben Cooper Costume Kids and Super7's Halloween Kids were hitting the shelves at this time and celebrating the playful imaginative nostalgia of Halloween. These Haunt figures were embracing the same theme, but in an unmistakably threatening execution. I'm biased, but I personally think the Witch is the best character (and her hot poker is the scariest of the torture devices, too). This is my first purchase from Trick or Treat studios and I'm impressed by the quality and sculpt. I'm looking forward to their True Romance and Goosebumps figures now. Let's check out Witch below!
Friday, July 21, 2023
Movie Maniacs - WICKED WITCH of the WEST!
I really thought I was going to save this post for Halloween but I'm feeling antsy. The first time McFarlane Toys really captured my attention was with their Movie Maniacs line in the 90s. The company went from an overabundance of Spawn to a line of detailed cinematic figures (almost always with a gritty aesthetic). And these toys also expanded the prescience of toys at retail. Suddenly stores like Sam Goody, Tower Records, Suncoast Video, and FYE had significant toy sections. They had been carrying good-girl figures for a few years, but McFarlane seemed to prompt a significant expansion. I always lean toward the more playful properties in pop culture so my favorite figure was easily Edward Scissorhands. When McFarlane recently announced they were re-launching the Movie Maniacs I didn't know what to expect. But in their first batch of releases was this amazing Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.. This is an unarticulated PVC statue, but she is visually stunning and long overdue.
Friday, November 1, 2019
Showdown Bandit - MISS UNDERTAKER!
Autumn is my favorite season and Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but October is also a month that has become extremely busy for me professionally the past few years. I tried to get a series of Halloween-themed posts ready before the end of the month, but alas, it is now November. So bear with me as I extend my holiday celebrations a bit. Phat Mojo is a really fascinating toy company. Something about their products reminds me of the toy industry when I was a kid. I keep finding colorful, simply-articulated action figures on the shelves that I was in no way expecting. Showdown Bandit is a horror videogame from the makers of Bendy and the Ink Machine. It's features a defunct television studio where a Howdy Doody-type show was once filmed. The puppets are all now sentient in true Bendy/Five Nights at Freddy's fashion. This action figure line was a perfect surprise find in the lead-up to Halloween. Lorelei Undertaker looks like a weird witchy saloon girl, and I'm kind of obsessed. Let's check her out!
Friday, November 2, 2018
Disney Junior's VAMPIRINA!
Vampirina is a Disney Jr cartoon about a young vampire, her vampire family, and all of her friends (human and monster alike) as they run the Scare Bed & Breakfast in Pennsylvania. I always love it when child and adult genres are mixed like this. When I was a kid most monster stuff was too mature for me, so when I see new properties like Vampirina I am hit with a mix of nostalgia and jealousy for all the cool options that kids today have. I've been eyeing the Vampirina toys since they first hit the shelves back in October of 2017. However, I never planned on buying any until I found the new Scream Girls box set featuring the titular character and her three awesome bandmates. Suddenly I had to have them all. Now I'm looking forward to scanning the Disney aisle for future characters. There is a gill-girl and ghost character in a picture below that I would love to see. Although they are unnamed extras from a music video, so that's pretty unlikely. Let's check out all the cool Halloweenie girls below!
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Imaginext Blind Bags - WICKED WITCH!
Woohoo! I will start out this post on a humble note... letting you know that I totally predicted this figure way back in August! I said "I foresee a witch and a Cleopatra-type in the next wave." And that was months before this figure was unveiled. I know Tuy-Guru is taken, but maybe I could be the new "toy-clairvoyant" or something. Fisher-Price's Imaginext series is one of my favorite toy lines out there. Their simplicity, playability, and consistent high quality make for a fun and easy collectible (not to mention their regular availability and low price points). Who cares if they're meant for three year-olds. My only complaint up till now has been the lack of females in the line. Luckily that gender gap is slowly beginning to close. Wave 4 of the blind-bags contain the 2nd and 3rd non-licensed females in the modern Imaginext line. While that hardly seems like a great achievement, I foresee a similar female presence in the blind bags moving forward. Let's keep our fingers crossed and check out the Witch below!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Princess of Power's MADAME RAZZ (and BROOM)!
Madame Razz was never a high point of the She-Ra cartoon for me. I've never been a fan of comedic slapstick characters (or overbearingly cute characters either). Orko, Snarf, Imp, Slimer, even Cringer.. they are all characters that annoyed the crap out of me. Madame Razz was no exception. But something interesting is happening in my adult life where I no longer take the cartoons so seriously (I realize I probably shouldn't have ever been taking them seriously), but now I view them as camp-fests; I try to do impressions of all the crazy voices; I laugh at the extreme cheesiness (especially the "dramatic" parts that I used to watch so solemnly). So, lately I've taken an amused liking to Madame Razz. But the arrival of this figure in my mailbox this week has made me love her. Holding this amazing figure in my hands, seeing her in comparison to the other Great Rebellion ladies, and especially reading her great bio made me elevate her to the next level in my mind. Let's check out "The Magical Witch of the Whispering Woods"!
Thursday, October 31, 2013
GamePro Presents: MISS SPELL!
Happy Halloween! I have been saving this figure for a long time. I ran out of time last year and didn't get to review her in time for Halloween. GamePro was a video game magazine published from 1989-2011. Like Wizard, ToyFare, and all the many great hobby magazines, it died in the face of the internet. Apparently (I'm not a gamer!) the magazine had an assortment of original characters that would act as video game reviewers. These characters were originally created as nicknames for the various editors, but eventually they took on their own personalities and eventually new reviewers would be writing under the pseudonyms. In 2002, JoyRide Studios released a very cool (but random) set of action figures based on these characters as well as some actual video game characters. This figure of Miss Spell is really well made. JoyRide was folded into its parent company in 2007, but before that they had produced great figures of Halo, James Bond & Battlestar Galactica among others. Let's check out Miss Spell!
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Vintage Goodness: Voltron's HAGGAR THE WITCH!
I can still remember my first reaction to Voltron like it was yesterday. I grew up in the boonies with three staticy television channels. One year we all spent the Summer with my Dad on an army base. There we had an apartment with air-conditioning and cable (both were luxuries I didn't know existed). I remember eating cereal on one of the first mornings there and my Mom turned on the TV in the middle of an episode of Voltron. I was instantly intrigued. Multi-Colored heroes who rode gigantic robot cats?! A princess who is friends with a bunch of alien-looking mice?! Blue-skinned bad guys in space?! and.. wait.. what? The lions are assembling?! This can't be. My 7-year-old mind was blown. I became obsessed and was showered with Voltron toys that Christmas. I won't even mention my reaction when I discovered Vehicle Voltron either. Haggar was the typical cackling evil sorceress I had come to expect from my villainy. Truly a classic 80s baddie. Let's check her out below!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Women of Halloween Part 3 - FUNKO POP! WITCHES
The POP! Vinyl Line From Funko Shows Us How Adorable Dark Side Can Be
Welcome to the third installment in my month-long Halloween celebration of the wickedest plastic women on the market. I have been dying to find an justification to collect more Funko POP figures. I have being buying their female super-heroes but they are released in a painfully slow trickle. I had been wanting to assemble a collection of classic movie villainesses for years, but scale and quality inconsistencies kept me from taking the plunge. Then one day earlier this year I made a fateful step into a Disney store where I saw their collection of Disney POPs. A few google searches later and I was hooked and a few months later I had a nice little collection going. I hope this line continues forever. There is so much potential for more fantastic characters and my fingers are crossed that we'll see them.
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