If there's one great equalizer during
holidays it's gotta be small adventures. These final four months of
the year are packed with very specific events be it haunted houses,
tree farms, or just those simple outings to scope out new stuff at
the store. That last one is probably the most universal as even those
of us who resist the temptation to buy still enjoy checking out all
the latest junk that adds some character to otherwise dull stores.
The other night I had the lucky opportunity to take on an event and
throw in a little consumerism. Thanks be to the Great Pumpkin for
giving us credit cards to cover such spontaneous outings. The primary
goal was that my sister and I would go on a Bat-Walk but as you'll
find, there were plenty of interesting items awaiting us. Sit right
back and you'll hear a tale.
Our first destination was Walgreens,
which only had a third or so of their Halloween display set-up. Even
with such shortcomings they had everything I was hunting for. It's
rare for me to spend money on Funko products lately. There's no
single thing making them less desirable. Simply a lack of funds,
space, and the frustration often associated with store exclusives.
This is why I'd instantly forgotten about news of an Invisible Man
Pop exclusive. The film easily ranks among the top three classic
universal monster films but my track record for finding Walgreens
pops is spotty at best. This week I stumbled onto a few Youtube
videos showcasing a new Jason Voorhees Pop molded after his look from
Part 2. Poor track-record or not, these had two had to be mine. In
some strange bit of luck they were both ready and waiting at the
front of the store, only one of each. Days later it seems unreal.
I've never had this easy a time with a store exclusive.
These two are great Pops as well. The
sculpt for Jason is killer with him reaching for a victim while
preparing to strike with his pickaxe. There's even a small tuft of
his stringy red-hair around the eyehole of the sack. The Invisible
Man is even better with excellent touches to his bandaged head along
with some sweat paint details on his robe. You'd better believe these
guys are getting prominently displayed over the next few weeks.
Toys weren't the only point of
interest as Walgreens had three major candies in stock. First up
let's talk about Haribo a'Witches' Brew gummies. Contained within
each bag are three Halloween themed treats featuring mystery flavors.
The pumpkins are... they're good, it's just they have a pretty
generic gummy flavor. The witches are sour in a rather unremarkable
way, just very lightly sour. Like an introduction to sour candy. The
bats however are total winners with a very pronounced flavor that
also seems slightly sour but still firmly in the sweat arena. If
Haribo is looking to bring any of these back in the future it better
be these bats.
Update: 9/17
Days after writing this post I
returned to these gummies and finally realized the “switch” part.
The flavors aren't specific to each shape, meaning the one really
excellent flavor could be any of the pieces. Who would have thought
candy reviews would require so much study.
Next up are Russell Stover's pumpkins.
While this company seems to put their best effort into Easter
varieties there are still a few fall and winter entries worthy of
attention. Take pumpkin spice caramel for instance. Rather than just
straight-up pumpkin spice or mixing that with the more common
marshmallow they gave us something much more interesting here and
it's one I found damn tasty. The flavor comes at you in waves first
with some of the spice, than a little of that caramel and back to a
sort of pumpkin pie vibe. Individually some of these tastes can seem
a bit off but the final culmination is a thing of beauty.
Russell Stover's offers up another
unique entry with candy corn marshmallow. I was very surprised to
find this is a white-fudge variety rather than the regular chocolate.
The two-tone candy corn insides live up to their namesake without
being overbearing. Points to the company for making something with a
fairly limited audience. I know tons of people who hate candy corn
and white-fudge so finding something that mixes both is a ballsy
choice that should be applauded. That being said, if you're not into
these flavors you should stick with the pumpkin-spice caramel.
Target was also far from done in
regards to setting out their seasonal goodies but even there I
managed to walk away with one of the biggest items of the year with
the Monster Crunch: The Breakfast Battle Card Game. For as
many missteps as General Mills makes in regards to the monster
cereals, somebody managed to sneak one decent idea out this year. Of
course it couldn't be a simple pleasure as the game is currently
exclusive to Target and the manufacturer messed up by sending out
jigsaw puzzles in cases marked for this game. There are still reports
of stores with messed up stock but central Michigan seems to have the
issue ironed out.
I've played the game a couple times so
far and I like it. What we have is a fairly straightforward card game
where you aim to eat the most cereal, which means you're trying to
play all your cards before the other players. There's just enough
extra strategy brought in by character powers, and the ability to
combine cards by using milk. Production is neat as well with each
character having their own properly colored bowl of cereal and each
deck showcasing box art. The cards however are very thin so I'd
advise buying some sleeves. Look for a proper review of this in the
coming weeks.
After looking through the still sparse
Halloween section I came across a display of new Pumpkin Masters
books near the front. These have been a household staple for decades
and I've got a massive library of patterns which come in handy when
you carve upwards of a dozen Jack-o-Lanterns each year. There are
several good books in the new selection including a nifty Day of the
Dead edition. For now this new Jack Attack volume is enough to get me
primed for carving into some gourds.
The final stop of our shopping portion
was a Meijer that provided nothing to note in seasonal regards but it
did offer a good scary story, one that may be a tad too gross and
lowbrow for such a pleasant audience. Let's just say there was
something in the bathroom that sounded like a Piranha movie.
The Bat Walk is a free event on the
campus of Michigan State University as hosted by a preservation
society. The starting point was by the old clock tower where we found
a much larger turn out than even the organizers had planed for. This
lead to a bit of a problem however as wild animals aren't exactly
fond of crowds. As you might imagine actual bat sightings we're at a
minimum for the opening stretch. For a while I was biting my tongue
so as not slip into Jeff Goldblum mode and ask “are there going to
be any bats... on your bat tour?”
Eventually we caught glimpses of a few
flying terrors and listened as the group worked through multiple
opening night difficulties and technical issues. I don't think they
did a bad job, and strolling through the more wooded areas of campus
at dusk lent to some nice scenery. Oddly my sister tired of this
sooner than I and we cut out before the walk finished. It's all for
the best as we can download the same bat-sonar app they used on the
tour and go to our local park where I know some good spots for
critter viewing.
All around it was a solid adventure. I
got my grubby mitts on plenty of nice items, encountered horror in a
public bathroom, and futzed around a college at night. That's a
pretty solid seasonal outing considering we're only nearing the
halfway point of September.
What about you folks? Any good
adventures so far this season? Any pickups you're particularly proud
of? Any odd activities on your calendar? There's a real joy in
sharing our experiences during these special months so I'm always
eager to hear what oddities people have stumbled across. Show me what
ya got and I should be back with another post by Tuesday or
Wednesday.
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