Ever notice how some knock-off toys are way cooler than their inspirations? Take Madballs, for example. There ain’t a single official Madball that I wouldn’t marry on a Hawaiian beach, but the bootlegs are so much better, what with their cruder charms and misapplied eye paint. Maybe I just like broken things.

…and here’s more proof!

Get a load of Mini Pocket Beast, a small, strangely-titled line of Mighty Max ripoffs, likely from the mid ‘90s.

Mighty Max is an incredible toy line filled with many macabre wonders, but I don’t see how any objective person could put it ahead of Mini Pocket Beast. These toys may lack a certain degree of craftsmanship, but they’re just so creatively bizarre. Read More…

It’s common enough to see spoofs of old school monsters like Dracula and the Wolf Man, but what about the newer creeps? Actually, modern horror icons see homages more often than you might think!

Below: Five times a modern monster was spoofed in a cartoon.

Eddy Cougar!
Based on: Freddy Krueger
Seen in: Tiny Toon Adventures

Freddy Krueger + an anthropomorphized cougar = Eddy Cougar, a one-and-done character from Tiny Toon Adventures. During a first season episode, Buster and Plucky are at the tail end of a sleepover, but Plucky refuses to say goodnight until he’s watched all of the 42,000 horror videos they’d rented.

Eddy Cougar starred in one of them, and if you could imagine a crossover between A Nightmare on Elm Street and Bambi, this was it. The plug is mercifully pulled before we see Eddy eviscerate a cartoon doe, but it isn’t long before he returns… in Plucky’s dreams, of course, much like the real Freddy Krueger would.

Eddy was a pretty on-the-nose reference, with a voice that even seemed to mimic Robert Englund’s. Interestingly, in what was probably a side tribute but could also be read as a faux pas, Eddy’s introductory shot was punctuated by the “ki ki ki ma ma ma” sound from Friday the 13th! Read More…

Now more than ever, junk food is the lifeblood of the Halloween season. It’s how people like me stay motivated for two months straight.

I don’t mean the act of eating junk food, mind you. That’s cool and all, but I’m talking about hunting it. Every year brings a new batch of Halloween foods, and every year, people like me make tracking ’em down the official “game” of the season. Basically, it’s Halloween GO.

The boo-tiful byproducts are the many associated adventures. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve driven to towns or cities I’d never visited prior, all because someone on social media told me about something dyed orange or shaped like a bat. The food gives me focus, but what I really love is the excuse to turn each day into a scavenger hunt. It’s the journey, baby.

…so when I show you these Halloween Frosted Flakes, I get that you might be thinking, “no big deal.” Maybe it’s not so big to you, but after driving to six department stores and finally finding one single box at what could only be termed The Most Last Resorty of Last Resort Walmarts, this was huge for me.

I mean, I didn’t start singing Mad About You to Tony the Tiger right there in stupid Walmart for non sequitur purposes.

This is one of three similarly-styled kiddie cereals out from Kellogg’s this year, but since the Apple Jacks and Froot Loops are merely returning players, I’m gonna focus on the Frosted Flakes. The hot new Halloween Frosted Flakes.

It’s a decisive win from the start. Notice how Tony is oblivious to the fact that he’s trapped in a parallel dimension, one where night is forever and all of the street signs just say things about marshmallows. Rolling with the punches is grrrreat. Read More…