Dino Drac’s Countdown to Xmas!
Welcome to Dino Drac’s Countdown to Christmas! This feature will be updated daily (or close to daily) through December 25th, with some kind of holiday-related thingamajig. You never know what might turn up!
This one’s really for the old schoolers who prefer blogs to algorithmic timelines full of ads for dicey hair products. I won’t be plugging it often off-site. If this is up your alley, remember to check back often! (And visit After Dark and the Xmas Jukebox, too!)
11/19: Ewok Adventure Magazine Ad! (1984)
Star Wars is very much a “holiday season” thing for me, for a variety of reasons seeded through the decades.
Some of my favorite childhood Christmas presents came from Kenner’s action figure collection. Then there’s The Empire Strikes Back and its snowy first half, which never feels inappropriate under the glow of string lights. And of course, there’s the fact that every chapter in the sequel trilogy was released in December.
Somewhere on that list is The Ewok Adventure, the made-for-television movie that premiered on ABC on November 25th, 1984. That was three days after Thanksgiving, and though I was just five years old, I absolutely remember watching it that night. (On our modest living room television, which I’d previously half-ruined because nobody told me that you shouldn’t put refrigerator magnets on a TV set.)
To me, The Ewok Adventure felt as big as any of the “real” Star Wars movies. I loved seeing how the Ewoks lived, I loved Burl Ives’s documentary-style narration, and I loved watching everyone fight a kaiju demon pirate. Through adult eyes, I can also admit that it’s very slow, often cheesy, and perhaps best served on a rainy afternoon when you’re trapped on the couch with an incapacitating flu.
Whenever I’m reminded of that film, I picture myself as a kid in the old living room, paging through the Sears Wish Book during the commercial breaks, plowing through a sleeve of Saltines. The tree wasn’t up yet, but it soon would be, and the holiday vibes were most definitely in the air.
11/18: Cranberry-Mayo Candles?! (1960)
I’m obsessed with this Hellman’s magazine ad from 1960, which taught the world how to make cranberry-mayo gelatin molds that doubled as functional candles. Back then, the world marched to a different beat.
The recipe (if we can call something that includes trimmed birthday candles a recipe) seems each enough, but I know what my limits are, and excavating a can-shaped Jell-O mold in one piece is most certainly beyond them. Instead, I’ll just sit, stare and wonder.
As far as actually eating this goes, I’d be torn between my boundless love for cranberries and my borderline-phobia of mayonnaise.
(Admittedly, my thing with mayo never made much sense, because it only has a few ingredients and I have no problem with any of them. Honestly, I think I’ve just seen residual mayo trapped in the corners of too many lips over the years. The experiences scarred me.)
11/18: Grinch Cereal!
This is new-for-2025, and I’m happy for the Grinch, man. Anything that keeps his name circulating during the holidays is okay by me. Do they even show his special on television anymore, or is it another one that got paywalled on some streaming network?
General Mills sent me a sample box a few weeks ago, and if you think that’s the only reason I’m covering it, I’ll have you know that my price for selling out is way higher than cereal. I would’ve bought it anyway.
It feels like a strange sequel to that Great Pumpkin Cereal we got a few years back, which was also green and vanilla-flavored. The new twist is the addition of heart-shaped marshmallows – a wink to the climactic scene where the Grinch enters cardiac arrest (complimentary) while trying to lift 3600 pounds’ worth of Flung-Floopers and Tar-Tinkers. Read More…
Dino Drac’s November Funpack is here!
Okay TURKEYS (complimentary), I’m ready to show ya Dino Drac’s November Funpack!
The November box is one of the most popular Funpacks every year, in part thanks to a longstanding tradition that I’m happy to report is continuing in 2025!
But, there’s a catch. This one is mostly for existing subscribers only. Subscriptions are maxed out, and I have VERY few spares left to offer on an individual basis. They’re $25 each, shipped. If you’re not a subscriber but still want this box, send me an email (dinosaurdracula @ gmail) and if I have any left, I’ll let you know! (UPDATE: Sold out!)
Now, let’s dive in and see what you’re getting! Read More…
Purple Stuff: Eight Dastardly Devils!
With moments to spare, The Purple Stuff Podcast’s big Halloween show is here! Guys, you better brace yourselves, because we’re taking you straight to HADES.
For our full-length October show, we’re tacking EIGHT DASTARDLY DEVILS from all walks of pop culture! Movies, cartoons, weird decorations, video games and more!
If you think you can guess our picks, think again, because somehow, a show with this topic includes references to Care Bears and My Little Pony. It’s a jumbo-sized 90-minute celebration of evil, and brothers, it’s hotter than Hell.
Click here to listen to this month’s show!
…which you can also find on Spotify, Apple, and wherever else you listen to podcasts!
As a reminder, The Purple Stuff Podcast is also on Patreon, where you can grab an exclusive bonus show every month. The library is growing all the time, and when you join, you get instant access to our back catalog of dozens and dozens of bonus episodes… including our most recent, where we reviewed the 1988 Unsolved Mysteries Halloween special! Read More…
The Mausoleum of Madness, Part II!
Welcome to Dinosaur Dracula’s MAUSOLEUM OF MADNESS, PART II! Every day through Halloween, check back for another vintage creepy collectible – everything from deep cut toys to ancient store displays to at least one totally insane costume. Probably ten cereal boxes, too.
I won’t be plugging this on social media much, so you’ll have to remember to visit on your own. Maybe stick an orange Post-It on the fridge. (Yes, it must be orange.)
PS, if you missed last year’s Mausoleum of Madness, it’s over here.
#69: Telco Sheet Ghost! (1980s)
Well, here’s the last Telco Motionette that will be featured in this year’s Mausoleum of Madness. A bittersweet moment!
The 24” Sheet Ghost is one I’d been after for a long while. One of the earliest Motionettes, he rarely pops up nowadays. While standing at the same two-foot height as most of the others, the size of the sheet makes him seem enormous. His advanced age is betrayed by the fact that he sounds like a dying HP printer when he moves.
Mr. Ghost was a fitting final grab before the season closed, as while there are other Motionettes that I desperately want, this was the only one I had a reasonable shot at finding. Pretty wild that I managed to snag all of my favorite Telco monsters in a single season, excluding a few that are basically that arena’s version of Legendary Pokemon.
This Telco thing has been a wild ride. It’s been a long time since I collected anything this hard. Actually, it’s been a long time since I really even identified as a collector of anything specific. Three months of constant searches, winding drives and wallet checks was its own kind of nostalgia!
#68: The Almighty Bonesy! (1991)
Some of you will look at this and just see an ordinary grim reaper, but, well… IYKYK.
Actually, this is Bonesy, part of the incredibly rare and very internet-famous line of Oozers action figures, from Irwin Toys in 1991.
These were released in Canada and never available in the States. They eventually found fame here, though, thanks to a YouTube upload of the old TV commercial, which was so preposterous and over-the-top, many people – including me – initially mistook it as a modern parody.
Oozers was a collection of monster figures that each came with a tube of slime, with which you could fill the figures, squeeze them, and then watch neon goo burst from their various orifices. In Bonesy’s case, red gel horrifically leaked right out of his eyes!
The figures almost never pop up, and Bonesy seems to be the rarest of them all. I’ve only ever seen him for sale one time, and I was quick to the draw, even if it meant paying more for a rubber reaper than anyone really should. Read More…