Win a set of Dinosaur Dracula trading cards!
Who wants to win a set of Dinosaur Dracula trading cards?
Yes, Dinosaur Dracula trading cards!
After teasing them for over a year, it’s finally time to give them away! Between now and Halloween, there will be at least fifteen winners of the full 30-card set!
The cards feature gorgeous art, sinister stories and plenty of references to Dino Drac characters and culture, and I… had absolutely nothing to do with them!
The set was the brainchild of my friend Steve, who very casually told me that he and his friends created a Dinosaur Dracula trading card set. Well, holy shit!
Before I tell you more about the cards, let’s give kudos to their creators!
Magic Steve – Conception & Story Writer
Wil Brendel – Artist & Inker
Jake Crunk – Colorist
These guys did this totally on the arm and created the whole set before I even knew about it. They asked for absolutely nothing in return, so the least I could do is ask everyone to follow these creative masterminds on Twitter! (Their names link to their accounts!) Read More…
Madd Matt’s Vampire Doll, from 1988!
Madd Matt is back, and he has a new doll!
Actually, the doll isn’t new. It’s from 1988. Many of you should recognize this animated vampire figure, which for a time seemed as common a Halloween decoration as fake webs and plastic spider rings.
Part of a larger line of battery-operated monsters, I’ve long thought of them as cheap imitations of the much nicer Telco figures. (I don’t mean “cheap” as an insult. On the collectors’ market, those Telco “Motionettes” can go for several hundred dollars apiece, while this cruder Dracula frequently sells for a mere ten bucks. That’s how much I paid. Score!) Read More…
Deadsites: Kellogg’s Spooky Town, from 2000!
Welcome back to Deadsites, where I study defunct websites and revisit the internet’s barely recognizable past!
I wanted something Halloweeny for this edition, of course. How about Froot Loops?
From 2000, it’s Kellogg’s SPOOKY TOWN — a site-within-a-site that was only accessible during October. Though unmentioned, its likely purpose was to promote special Halloween editions of certain Kellogg’s cereals. (Both Froot Loops and Rice Krispies had them that year. Tony the Tiger, noted asshole, abstained.)
“Goofy holiday pages” remain components of kid-targeted marketing today, but 2014’s versions lack the same charm. If Spooky Town existed now, I imagine it would focus on getting kids to share images of Toucan Sam across social media. Maybe it’d have a side page where you could print coupons for shitty e-readers.
Back in 2000, it was rarer for kids to connect with other kids online. If they did, it was either on a heavily-moderated half-forum where every message had to be preapproved, or on a site that they probably shouldn’t have been on. For children, using the internet was mostly “alone time” — and not just in the physical sense.
That partly explains why I love Spooky Town so much. Unburdened by thoughts of viral reach, it’s much more sincere. Just a happy little Halloween page where kids could play games and get tips on their costumes. If their parents were in the room, they’d learn how to make cats out of Cocoa Krispies. Read More…
A stranger’s Halloween party, from 1994.
Remember last month, when I went into tremendously long detail about some total stranger’s ancient Halloween photo?
Let’s do that again!
This photo was another eBay find. I don’t know who that house belongs to, nor even what part of the country it’s from. I suppose some of you are wondering why I’d spend five bucks on a picture of a stranger’s Halloween decorations. By the end of this post, I think you’ll get it.
Taken on October 31st, 1994, this photo is the perfect encapsulation of the Halloween spirit, or at least, the Halloween spirit as I know it. A crude “yard haunt” hidden somewhere in suburbia! Is there anything more on-point?
When I drive around the neighborhood to look at everyone’s decorations, it’s setups like this that speak to me most. The ones that seem like true labors of love, no matter how cheesy. Anyone can go to Home Depot and buy a few gaudy lawn inflatables, you know? A setup like this takes more soul. I could’ve been friends with these people. I wish I had been.
It’s an ugly mess, but sometimes, ugly messes work best. Many of the decorations were homemade, marking the house’s occupants as true “Halloween people.” If the Grinch snuck down and stole everyone’s Halloween decorations, this family would still celebrate just as hard. It isn’t just “on them” — it’s in them. Read More…