X-Entertainment's Christmas Season & Advent Calendar, 2008.

09/08/2006: I gots mad skullz, yo.

The toy skull has come a long way since its humble days as a mere plastic ornament, bopping gently in the wind thanks to a rubber band attached to the scalp. Do skulls have scalps? The two shown above best represent just how far toy skulls have come. They’re skulls with action features, and if you’re not already familiar with these action features, there is no possible way that you’d ever be able to guess what they are. Don’t even try. Don’t think you’re any better than your brother.

Skull #1, which also comes in white but looks much more interesting in this marbleized brown rendition, has the ability to summon large rubber bubbles that exit its eye sockets, filled with watery blood and various bugs. Afreakinmazing. The gruesome innards remind me a lot of last year’s Yucky Balls — in fact, what we’ve got here is pretty much last year’s Yucky Ball stuffed inside a hollow rubber skull. It’s beautiful. The harder you squeeze and shake, the bigger the bubble and the more the flies. I’m desensitized to the effect, but in a world where gross-out toys rarely succeed in their missions, I think Skull #1 genuinely pulls off being fucking disgusting.

Skull #2 brings the party to the graveyard. It would’ve survived just fine on the merits of its insanely spongy consistency (it’s more fun to mangle than a wad of Play-Doh), but the creepy company behind these terrible toys saw fit to hide eerie electrogizmos inside each skull, which explode with macabre multicolored lights whenever someone’s hand beats on it.

I bet those electrogizmos are a lot like that novelty ice cube Ralph the Waiter dumped into my stupid novelty margarita at that stupid novelty restaurant in Disney World.

As the rubber skull material is loosely packed, the lights beam right through the paint and turn this into the only disembodied, picked-clean skull in the whole world that can inspire a person to feel the music, yeah feel the music yeah, feel the music yeah.

They’re a bit too pricey at two bucks each to stock up on and give out to trick-or-treaters, but I’m tempted, because I love to shove bubbles full of blood and flies into the faces of all the young women who’d dare attempt to charm their way into my bowl of fun-sized Snickers by dressing like princesses or Dora or Princess Dora.

Yeah i have one of those squeazy oh so rubbery-smelling skulls only it oozes maggots.

Oh my GOD, they’re so awesome. Are they available at fine retailers everywhere?

You should start it. Just dress up as a scary person and go around knocking on doors demanding candy from strangers on Oct. 31.

And skulls do not, in fact, have scalps, since the scalp is the skin that covers your skull.

Much better than the crappy ones with fake hair attached to a rubberband. I was at Target today and they had just started to put up their Halloween decor and weed out their back-to-school crap. So far they have the candy/food/drink section finished…all new Jones sodas, in bottles and in the small cans…a full line of Fear Factor candy…and alcoholic mixes with clever Halloween-themed names. I love this time of year.

I could probably give those out to Trick or Treaters. I’m looking at my third Halloween in Idaho, and I sure hope it’s better than the last two.

I had no Trick or Treaters at ALL the first year because the town is predominantly Mormon, and it fell on a Sunday that year. I had to eat that entire bucket of candy myself.

Last year I got home at about 7:30, and Trick or Treating was basically done. I only got a few; the doorbell only rang three or four times. One was a couple of “kids” that were way too old to be asking for free candy. I’d have told them to get jobs and buy their own candy, but they were bigger than me and I thought they’d beat me up. Another time was a kid all by himself in a really terrible costume. He looked like no one cared enough to help him out with a good costume, and no one was nice enough to escort him and keep him from being kidnapped. I gave him almost an entire bucket of candy because I felt bad for him.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Fall is in the air in Idaho- the temperatures are starting to drop overnight, and I love it. Fall is totally the best season. Also, our local grocery store is starting to put out the Halloween stuff. I rent so I can’t decorate the lawn, but I saw some giant “snow globes” like I started seeing at Christmas last year. I guess you’d have to call them giant leaf globes since they have fake leaves blowing around inside around witches and ghosts and stuff.

I never posted around the end of the Megaparty, but I wanted to take a moment to say that it was awesome and I loved every bit of it. Thank you Matt.

Since I’ve also skipped posting in a million consecutive blog entries, I’d like to say that I like Doritos on tuna sandwiches, I had the Swedish creatures before they popped up here (yes!), Target is awesome but they’re moving all their stuff in the local one so I only got to see the Halloween section for like a second, I’ve been gradually picking up assorted H-Weeny things for weeks, I love that ghost-pop guy, and tackle was always my favorite part of fishing, too. I think that covers it all.

I ran to our Target Halloween section (in a totally different spot, grrr) to check out the Jones, but I really didn’t have the cash on me to buy all the varieties. I kind of wish they were in a pack like the Thanksgiving ones were, because I don’t know how much of any variety I can drink. I’m thinking about picking them up though and having a tasting party with a few of my friends (not coworkers). I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to it, though. It’s not like any of the flavors really sound that terrible, so it’s not like I’d be inflicting instant death on anyone. We’ll see. (I guess it’s like I want to be Matt when I grow up.)

Get those at Target? Two bucks may be pricey for trick or treat prizes, but it’s worth every penny when buying for yourself.

Those are both amazing! I definitely want to get the Yucky Ball one.
Tonight the moon was big and orange and I saw a black cat sneaking down the street. It really started to feel like Halloween.

I’m digging them both. I so can’t wait to decorate for Halloween…and I need to start planning a costume.

By the way, random, but this artist is pretty kick ass, and her website will be appreciated given X-E’s affinity for Shark Week.

Impressive skulls, but another toy Skull that had action figures were the old Mighty Max toys where the playsets were shaped like skulls.

Those were cool playsets Norbert, but only one was a skull. One was a snake, one was a cyclops, a dinosaur, a spider, a shark, etc. etc. I never owned them, but my cousin did, so I got some time on them. He was a MM freak, he had all that shit. Definately a memorable line, but kinda obscure now.

Matt was right, i could not guess what those two skulls did, i tried, and i never would have come up with the truth in a million years. Those are so cool! As for the “halloween at target” discussion, my target is being pretty lame and pretty much only has halloween socks out…i do love socks though.

squee commented on the full moon and i was going to say something like, OH MY GOD it was big and round and orange here too! what a coincidence! and then i realized i am an idiot. oh well.

Im jumping on the bandwagon, click my name for my myspace, add me if you feel like increasing your number of friends!

I went to check out our Target today and they’ve slightly rearranged their aisles for Halloween stuff…or I haven’t been in there in awhile. But to the point, while they had no decorations out yet…I think they are waiting a bit longer and then getting rid of the back to school stuff for the decos…they did have the candy out. And man did they have it out! If memory serves, they had at least four rows of JUST CANDY plus most of the back wall was a loooong row of candy…it was amazing. We stood at the “Cross Roads of Candy” where the aisles met and all you could smell was sugar and chocolate. It was a time to stop and soak it all in; I have never seen that much sugary goodness all together. I had to leave and brush my teeth, and I didn’t even eat any thing!

I too can’t wait for oct. Yesterday while at walgreens I was overwhelmed with their halloween goodies. But my fiancee put her foot down and said I couldn’t get anything. But in her defense we did spend about $100 buying halloween stuff this weekend at big-lots and michaels. But in my defense I said we hadn’t spent any money at walgreens for halloween stuff.

So last night I had some weird dream involving going to Target and buying Halloween Jones Soda.

I don’t get it, why flies? It doesn’t seem like a bloody skull would be an ideal place to… fly. Now, pale slimey maggots, that would be totally disgusting!

You can get all of the above mentioned Skullz and the blood worms at Party City and various other party retailers. I should know, i work for Amscan, the company that makes this crap.
And yes they should be available in the UK.

I live in a lightly populated area where all the kids have basically grown up, (even when we were all young the maximum number of trick-or-treaters would be about fifteen… and we’d go in groups of five, so that’s basically three…) so if I see these skulls I will buy a bunch of them, give one to each of our five or six trick-or-treaters and keep the rest for myself. Ah-hahaha.

I also have no idea what kids are dressing up like nowadays. Is Dora really such a big deal? She’s a pretty stupid costume, it’s just pastel clothing and a backpack, right? Nobody’s mom makes elaborate costumes anymore? I’m truly disappointed.

It’s time to prepare for my third Halloween in the Poconos. I haven’t had ONE trick-or-treater since moving to Pennsylvania. It sucks, it’s like Halloween doesn’t exist up here.

Wow, Matt you have Bob Newhart posting on your site. I’m sure its the actual Bob Newhart too!

I miss Halloween. My commute sucks (much like Matt’s, though I hit the 2-and-a-half-hours mark last night when we got stuck behind a disabled train), so by the time I get home everyone is done trick-or-treating. Which is kinda depressing. When I was a youngin’, we didn’t finish up until 10 o’clock most years. And … I always had the day after Halloween off because I went to Catholic school. One of the few upsides of a faith-based education.

Anyway, I gots to get me to Target and stock up on the Jones and the drink mixes. Because I need an excuse to drink heavily. WOOOHOOO!

When I was a little kid, my mom became obsessed with winning a costume contest at the local mall. She would make these super eleborate costumes. One year she made me a snowman costume, but I’m pretty sure no one knew what the hell I was. She also made a mickey mouse costume that was revamped as a Minnie Mouse coustume for a female cousin the next year. She didn’t win for two consecutive years, then she gave up.

I went as a ghost for the rest of my childhood. That depressed me at the time, but now that I think about it, it’s a lot better than Mickey Mouse and Snowmen.

Deuce– a snowman? Very interesting. My costumes were always the basic Halloween icons… witches, vampires, brides of frankenstein, whatever, but they were always beautifully done. Oh, except the first one. I was three and I was a clown. Horrible.

Is Dora really such a big deal?
You have no idea. I went on a field trip last year to the Dora Live show. Thousands of pre-schoolers who knew all the correct responses to all her questions and such. I prefer Wonderpets.

Seriously, Matt, where did you get that light up skull?
Is it me or does anyone else feel as though the countdown has already started? I mean, we are getting nearly daily updates full of Halloween fun. (minus the countowns graphics) I’m still anxiously waiting for “Ghost with the Most” to make a return.

I just saw those bubbly skull heads in Party City last week….they truly are disgusting…one of them had roaches in it. Good times. I did see an awesome full head mask of a red dragon that i was so tempted to buy…I work at a haunted house attraction for the whole month of October and it would fit in nicely.

Matt, come out to Long Island and visit House of the Living Dead at Sports Plus in Lake Grove! We’ve even got a 3-D haunted house you walk thru with 3D glasses on!!! Contact me if u want more info! We run every weekend thurs thru sunday!

Anything can be made better by oozing blood and flies; take, for example, Mom’s meatloaf or your little sister’s retainer!

Those skulls are freakin’ awesome, especially the bloody-bubble one. Starting in a couple weeks, I’m starting a Halloween contest in our daily morning meetings. I will ask a trivia question each day and whoever gets it correct first, gets some All Hallow’s booty (of the prize variety, not the sexual or ass variety though I guess I could give away my sexy self as a prize). The clincher: it’s a meeting with a bunch of medical professionals. There’s nothing quite like making a bunch of doctors, nurses and others of that ilk guessing about slasher theme music and then rewarding them with bloody-bubble skulls and Pez dispensers.

Very very cool! Thanks to this place, I now want to spend spend spend, with the money I don’t have.

I am SO glad my daughter isnt into Dora. I tried watching it with her a few times and she was not interested at all. Whew. she LOVES Care Bears, Hello Kitty and Sesame Street (not too fond of that last one though)…

I won a Halloween costume contest once, I was a witch I think… homemade costume. My mom was an awesome seamstress and could make just about anything. I had this killer bat costume that had wings attached to the arms so when I spread my arms wide open I had these cool wings… no one knew what I was though. They all thouoght I was a cat or something.

Wow, m1928mouse, I’ve been hearing rumors that Sports Plus was closing…I guess those are just rumors then.

And as for Mighty Max…Yes I knew that only 1 of the playsets was an actual skull (I had it), and I had many of theo ther ones mentioned, such as the cobra, the cyclops, and the dinosaur. I’m pretty sure McDs had Mighty Max toys to go with the Polly Pocket ones (which MM was a boy-version of), and I had those too. I even have the “big” Skull Island playset where the main villain lived (it was no bigger than the size of the Optimus or Megatron in the Cybertron line)

When I went to Disneyland recently they sold those plastic bubble skulls at the Indianna Jones shop, and at the Pirates of the Carribbean shop. One had rats that came out of the eye, while another had worms…it’s deliciously ghoulish

Target also had Mountain Dew Pitch Black ICEEs! I couldn’t pass that up. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any actual cases of the soda yet. I love that stuff!

freudguy, what a great idea. I work in a boring office, I wish there was some Halloween trivia to spice things up.

In other news, it’s been so long since I’ve posted on here I forgot how to do the bold and italics that Matt so patiently explained once. I thought it was by putting or before and after the word? Help!

Hmm…well apparently it worked, there’s all sorts of bold and italics in that comment. It didn’t look like that in the preview! I just didn’t use the / so it’s all bolded and italicized. Anyway, thanks again for the help, Matt…it’s good to know you can take time out of your busy day to help people with the important task of blogging.

I must have these skulls; Iâ€™ll send my mother on a quest, a quest for the skulls of ravers who just keep on going even in death. That and people who apparently could pop their eye-balls out of their heads.

I too succumbed to the orange and black illness, and went to the local Target. The problem for me is that the local Tarjay is over in Yakima, a city a half an hour’s drive through absolutely NOTHING away, so I have to plan my trips out in advance, ninja style.

Tragically, there was SQUAT out for actual Halloweenie decorations. But the edibles were out, so I grabbed some pop. I found the true prize in the toy aisle, though. For those of us of the girlie persuasion, I found my two newest favoritist things.

Halloween My Little Ponies. Two of them, and I HAD to bring both home! They NEEDED to stand on my entertainment center alongside the Headleess Horseman!!

Awesome. If this is only the precursor to the actual countdown, this may be the best Halloween ever.

Those skulls are awesome. I don’t have one of those, but I did just buy an awesome skull to put candy in on my desk, it’s like a big bobble head with bugging eyes, but not a bobble head, a candy holder, it’s weird, but you get the picture.

Mighty Max, I know Mighty Max. And seeing as how I have a story for almost any occasion: when I was a kid one of my friend’s mom left a giant layaway box in the kitchen, taped up and with specific DO NOT TOUCH instructions right before Christmas. We new it was his toys for Christmas, so I talked him into opening it up; and there it was that huge volcano Mighty Max playset. We sealed it back up in the box with duct tape and got away with peeking. Only I’m pretty sure he said that it ruined the fun for him knowing what he was going to get and having to wait for a few weeks. Plus the whole guilt thing. Anyway, that volcano set was great.

I’ll stick with my skull chalace. It’s only for special occasions, but my pumpkin cup is for year round use and is showing its age badly.

I’m using a Mickey Mouse glass at this very moment. I’ll raise a toast to my homie Sora. At least he didn’t go all Crowley with the Bentley. Here’s to wrecking the everyday-use Saturn and very old news!

I went to target last night, and they were getting there halloween section set up. I asked where the Jones Soda might be, and was laughed at. Not being paranoid, truly they laughed. I’m over it and all, but jeez, laugh if I buy hemeroid cream or something, not soda.

I’ve posted the link to what my eight year old was last Halloween. She’s never been one for “normal” costumage. She was Leela from Futurama the year before that. It was oh so much fun having to wait 4 weeks for the purple to come completely out of her hair.

I still have some Halloween Jones sodas in my fridge from last year. It looked like all the flavors this year are completely different with very clever names. The glass bottle ones had some KICK-ASS packaging! I resisted buying them and now it is bothering me. I bought the Roseanne Halloween dvd AND the Chipmunk Halloween dvd instead…so I guess it’s o.k. Ironically, both dvds were in the Halloween candy aisle. Target knows their ‘target’ customers. That would be me. BTW…why doesn’t Roseanne do commentary on ALL the eps.? And why is the one that is there video commentary?! Geesh.

Like EtHM, I was really glad to see all of the Halloween/Horror DVDs in the Halloween section at Target. So homey.

big lots has some intense christmas stuff already. my favorite was santa on a harley:

That razzie icon really isn’t very razz-like

kb, I know what you mean. I realize it’s not like they’re working on commission, and that the world of retail is a soul deadening black hole, but would it kill them to be friendly? Just remotely?
Like I needed another reason to be dying to go to Disneyland, now they’ve got buggy skulls.

I am bored at work. I’m trying to rack my brain for something neat to say about the skulls since I want to post something worthy, but my brain is blank. Positively blank. Like Katella I am also on the Myspace bandwagon thang.. so like add me and stuff. I’m always in the mood to meet new weirdos.. I mean friends.

Speaking of skulls, is anyone else worried that Nicholas Cage is going to ruin the Ghost Rider movie.

Old E - seeing as how Nicholas Cage ruins every movie he’s in, I think we can safely assume that he’s already ruined it.

Fox I have that playset! Its Skull masterâ€™s Skull Mountain. I just played with it the other day, yeah, I play with my toys, wanna fight about it? Mighty Max is probably my third favorite toy line next to GI Joe a real American hero and Star Wars. Itâ€™s like a bunch of B horror movies in small playset form. I still canâ€™t understand why it only lasted for 3 or 4 years.

Hereâ€™s a link to a Mighty Max forum, itâ€™s run by a kid around my age and not many people post on it but why not give it a quick look?

yeah, word on the street around here is that target and wal-mart are both filling themselves to the brim with halloween goods.. im going now.

Jessica Marie
I am extremely happy to see that I am not alone in this opinion. I still can’t believe he almost landed the role of Superman, but was offered the Ghost Rider role instead.

i have a whole BOX of mighty max toys. ive got that giant castle i think youre talking about along with the shark and the spider and the dinosaur and various other “compacts”. i even still have the mcdonald’s one’s too. i’ll take pictures for later.

At the Chinese place downstairs from my work, the people have this Mighty Max…Its so cool looking. Its the head of a Gorilla when you close it up. Dunno why they have it, but its opened on display like some sorta weird ass knick knack, sitting next to a mini Buddha.

I got drunk at Thanksgiving once when i was 17, after my aunt thought it would be funny to get me tipsy, and i was playing with my cousins Polly Pockets and made horse noises with the mini horses it came with.

The bloody-spidery-bubble skull is ridiculously cool! Good stuff! Does feel as if the countdown has already started. I’m looking forward to another X-E Halloween.

I sell these skulls at my little china shop here in MA. Some have roaches in them, some have worms, some have eyeballs. It’s really funny when a kid squeezes them so hard that they break open. Then his hand is covered in blood and his mom freaks that his clothes will be stained forever.

Yea, there has been talk of Sports Plus closing, to make room for some super dooper shopping center n stuff…but not quite yet. Possibly for next year, in which case we will move the Living Dead to another venue. But for now, we still ROCK the entire 2nd floor of that place and scare the crap out of kids and adults alike.

Found the skulls with the bubbly eyeballs at Dollar Tree here in Texas.At a dollar, I bought a few for random treat or treaters.

i gotz mad skullz yo, lol, t anyone who read that and was like, wtf, thats not matt…it isnt.
Matt definitely got hustled at the waldbaums near safari golf and offered mad skulls or something.
Were they good bro? Nice white skull caps Or crack rocks! Next article title: Fiending for an 8-ball. lol

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