Playmobil Christmas Advent Calendar! Day 7

Jeepers! Are we seven days into December already?! ARGH! It's going by too fast! Have you gotten all of your shopping done? I have! I kicked ass this past weekend and knocked it all out in one day. But that's not why I've asked you all here. ;)

So far, I'm having a great time counting down the days with the Playmobil Christmas Advent Calendar, especially now that we seem to have gotten away from the really odd objects and are now at least getting some cute animals. I'm a sucker for cute animals.

So, enough yappin', let's see what's behind door number seven!

And it's a... oh... oh, okay. That's cool. It's another deer. Umm... cool...

Good grief! How many deer are in this set? I mean, that's nice and all. I'm all for cute little families of deer, but gee whiz.

Oh crap. Are there actually going to be eight friggin reindeer in this set? Do we have another week of friggin Rangifer Tarandus? It would be cool, I guess if we got eight reindeer with a kick ass sleigh and some reins with bells on them and a giant bag full of presents and whatnot so we could make a scene of Santa flying through the crisp December air delivering toys to kids all over the world, but as it looks right now, this just looks like Santa hanging out at the edge of the woods behind somebody's house. That's kind of freaky, right?

Anyway, it's Christmas, so I shouldn't be complaining.

So, it's nice to have a lovely little deer family, and that's what Christmas is all about, deer and families. And egg nog. And presents. Oh, and all-Christmas music radio stations. The point is that we should be feeling the Christmas spirit no matter what you get (but if we get another friggin deer tomorrow, I'm going go friggin ape-poop on this mess).

Merry Christmas!

Greatest Stocking Stuffers EVER! Silly Putty Edition!

Ah, Silly putty. That rubbery, stretchy, bouncy, flesh-colored stuff that no kid could live without! I was fortunate enough to find Silly Putty in my stocking for a couple of years back in the day, because although it wasn't exactly a playtime staple like Play-Doh or Army Men, it was legendary in it's own right and was always sure to please.

I never fully understood why in came in a red, plastic egg. Were the toy-makers trying to imply that Silly Putty was a substance only found within the eggs of some rare bird? I have no idea.

It was nice to see that this stuff is still going strong in this day and age, and as soon as I popped that egg open, I was treated to that classically distinct smell of Silly Putty. I had forgotten that it had such an original odor, and as soon as I caught a whiff, my brain shot back to 2nd grade, when my teacher officially banned Silly Putty from our classroom because this kid named Corey got it stuck in this girl named Laura's hair and she had to cut it out with scissors.

I also had forgotten how stretchy this stuff was! I remember this one time in third grade when me and my best friend, Baron (yes, that was his name), had a piece of Silly Putty and each took an end and slowly walked backwards away from each other to see how far we could stretch it. I have no idea how far we actually got, but it was enough to impress the gaggle of onlookers and in our minds was probably something like a gazillion miles.

But the real fun with Silly Putty was the classic "comic page transfer" ability that found me spending hours pressing the putty into comic books to make a reverse image of your favorite comic book characters that you could then stretch and distort to a barrage of much giggling.

However, toda's lesson is that this process doesn't work very well on 25 year old comics...

Oh well! Here's to Silly Putty, that phenomenal toy that never ceased to amaze kids of all ages, and apparently came from the egg of a rare bird.

Vintage Star Wars Comic Book Ad!

Seriously, do you all have any idea how long I used to stare at this ad back when I was a kid? Total... nostalgia... bomb!

Playmobil Christmas Advent Calendar! Day 6

Things are getting freaky in Playmobil Santa land, especially now that there is a baby deer (which is a called a "fawn", thanks Jon K!) eating a giant pile of baloney. But I don't care how weird it gets, I'm not stopping this countdown until Christmas day! That's right, kids, it's time to open door number six!

And what freaky oddity from Germany did we get this time? Hey! Sweet! It's a big daddy deer! That is so friggin awesome! I honestly think that this advent calendar is turning around for the better.

I think we should name him... umm... Death Antlers!

So now the baby deer has someone to help him eat all of that baloney and to protect him from the ghost cabbage. But most importantly, Santa now has something to ride all over the world as he delivers toy to kids whose parents can afford it! And that's what Christmas is all about!

H'ya! Death Antlers! H'ya!

Tune in tomorrow for more Playmobil Christmas Advent Calendar fun!

Action Figures Holding Mini Figures!

Yesterday, I posted a challenge on the /toy/ image boards on 4chan where people had to post pictures of an action figure holding a smaller action figure of themselves. This came up after I, on a whim, took a picture of my Indiana Jones figure holding an Indiana Jones Lego minifig...

After I posted the challenge, this is some of the awesomeness that ensued...

How epic is that business?! I love how some of the gang posed 3, 4 and 5 figures, all in descending size and all holding each other! Too much fun. If more show up, I'll post them. :)

Big Bang Heroes!

Yesterday, my blogging brother from another mother-country, Calvin, posted this awesome pic in his Canadian Cave of Coolness of the cast of the Big Bang Theory dressed as Superheroes and I instantly fell in love with it as soon as my eyeballs came to rest upon it. Sweet Jeezus, I love this show! I seriously want to go to the comic shop with these guys. I think Howard and I would probably get along the best, but we'd probably end up fighting over Penny, because Kelly Cuoco is one of those rare skinny blondes that breaks my No Skinny Blondes Rule.

Anyway, I loved this picture so much that I had to hunt down the source (wasn't much of a hunt, I just googled "Big Bang Theory Superheroes" and it was the first hit) and found this link to the entire photo shoot courtesy of TV Guide magazine.

You can see the entire awesomeness right HERE and again, mad props to Cal up there in Canadia!

Playmobil Christmas Advent Calendar! Day 5

So far, Santa has gotten totally gypped with this deal. It's all patches of grass and dead trees and ghost lettuce in magazine racks. LAME! So it's with less excitement and a little more trepidation that I get ready to open door number five. Ready, kids? Oh, and ignore the drawing of what appears to be a crying bear. I have no idea what that's about...

What did we get? OH MY GOD! It's a baby deer! That's so friggin cute! Yes! Finally something cool in this stupid calendar! And what did he come with? A pile... wait... a... a pile of... baloney? Is that what that is? Do deer like luncheon meats? I don't understand...

Well, who cares, Santa can have some baloney too, and the important thing is that he now has his very own baby deer (called a "deerling", I believe, or possibly a "deerlette"), because seriously, who the heck wouldn't want their very own baby deer and a pile of lunchmeat? I know I would.

Awe, this scene is now getting very cute. Surreal, but cute. Merry Christmas gang!

Well... I Officially Hate eBay...

As some of you may know, I finally, after all of thee years as a collector of things, made the leap and actually made a purchase on eBay! It's an exciting tale that you can read about HERE.

Since my purchase, my confidence was bolstered enough to give the whole bidding on something thing a try. I had found something I desperately wanted, it had no reserve and low shipping, so I decided to go for it. I watched this item for three friggin days! Nobody was bidding.

Then, yesterday, 15 minutes before the end of the auction I bid $1.04 on it! Woo-hoo! Well, no sooner did I do that, that some other jackass bid too! What a jerk! It was like he was waiting for me! Some fierce bidding went back and forth eventually going up to $5.50 at which point I was in the lead with 3 minutes to go. As a clever safety measure, I had another $1.00 ready to drop on the item at the last second, just to make sure I got it.

At exactly 3 seconds before the end of the auction, with me still in the lead, BAM! I dropped my safety dollar on the item. Only to see the screen refresh with those dreaded words "You have been outbid. You are not the winner of this auction." WHAT?! What the hell?! I've been sniped!

Anyway, long story short, I will never ever be doing that again. I always thought that bidding on things would be too harrowing for me and I was right. After the auction I was actually overcome with a wracking sadness. I felt betrayed and bamboozled somehow. I was so close, only to see it ripped away. So, lesson learned. No more eBay for me (except "Buy It Now" purchases, which I always seem to win).

For those of you who are interested I was bidding on a beauty of a vintage Mork from Ork action figure. God, I've wanted one of these since I first saw one almost 30 years ago.

That pic isn't the actual one I was bidding on, the one I lost was still on it's original card (which I was going to promptly open).

I honestly don't know how so many of you do it, bidding on stuff all the time, only to see it ripped from you like your very own heart was ripped from your chest cavity with a pitchfork. All I could do was think back to that day when I first saw a Mork action figure in a Meijers store, not quite having enough allowance money on me and swearing to come back later, only to do so and to see them all gone, and then I pictured myself now, the victor in an epic battle for a piece of plastic television memorabilia, basking in the warm glow of a 30 year void finally being filled, an inner child finally breathing outward in relief and joy.

But no, some other jerk-hole outbid me at the very last second. FARTS!

Nanoo nanoo, my friends. Nanoo nanoo.