The First Spooky Sightings Of Halloween 2015

Complete with Creepy, Crappy Collages!

The end of August is always a magical time. Summer and its nasty humidity-filled heat are slowly dying down, and the Halloween season is right around the corner. I'm about to friggin' squee.

In fact, the glorious fall holiday has already begun to rear its head. I'm seeing beautifully tacky decorations and fun candy assortments pop up all over the place. It would be impossible to keep my excitement in check, so I might as well share it with the internet! Here are some of my first spooky sightings of Halloween 2015!

Castle Geek-Skull's Santa Hat Party - Christmas 2014

Ahoy there, jolly internet users! Let's celebrate the Christmas season with 25 pictures of iconic pop-culture characters wearing Santa hats! Hit it, Google Image Search!

Santa Doom from What The?! Vol. 1, #10

The Only Christmas Video Game I've Ever Played Is Elf Bowling

AHHHHHHHHHH!

Somehow, I've only recently learned that there are a metric ton of Christmas themed video games out there. I'm not even exaggerating. There's even a Christmas Shopping Simulator! Their ubiquitous nature is hardly surprising, but they still managed to fly under my radar aside from one: NStorm's Elf Bowling from 1998.

I'm certain that Elf Bowling is one of those games that just about everyone found themselves sitting in front of at some point or another. I even saw my grandfather playing it at once. I know for sure that I didn't spend too much time with it, but its cartoony graphics and silly voice-overs remain memorable many years later.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters Gone Geeky

Holiday cheer is the right of all sentient beings.

Well, here we go. The holiday season is upon us yet again. I'm more of a Halloween kind of guy, but there are at least a few elements of Christmas I can still appreciate. At the very top of the list are the festive yet disturbingly ugly sweaters adorned with tacky graphics, glitter, and bells. I'm not especially keen on wearing any, but I admire their alluring mixture of goofiness and gaudiness. It's all about the alliteration, baby.

Despite admiring these eyesores from afar, I find myself feeling more swayed than ever to actually join in on the fun. This year, the wonderful world of pop culture t-shirt stores have tapped into the realm of ugly Christmas sweaters in glorious fashion. Here are a few that have caught my eye thus far:

Guardians of the Galaxy "Holiday Mix Vol. 1"

Halloween Costumes of 2014 Showcase

As Halloween unfortunately draws to a close, it seems fitting to go out by highlighting some of this year's awesome costumes. The dedication it takes to pull this stuff off makes every single repost very much deserved, so please excuse me while I join in on the fun. Vicarious dress up frenzy, engage!

Adam and Barbara from Beetlejuice (source)

10 Transformers You Should Display For Halloween

Even if they don't realize it, Transformer collectors likely have all the makings of an exceptional Dinosaur Dracula-style Halloween mood table. The core concept behind the TF series already falls right in line with the holiday, and the evolution and experimentation of its toylines has delivered plenty of spooky/scary bots over the years. If I were to assemble a Halloween-friendly Transformers display of my own, it would absolutely have to include the following:

Generation 1 Punch/Counterpunch

Autobot double agent Punch is able to transform into Counterpunch: a completely different persona that the Decepticons foolishly accept among their ranks. It's like the ultimate Halloween costume contest.

Snowflake Cheez-Its: Christmas Infiltrates Halloween Yet Again

I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed.

Everyone's heard the horror stories of Christmas music blaring in Walgreens and CVS stores as early as August. I've always assumed these accounts might be exaggerated, but signs of the holly and jolly do tend to turn up a bit earlier than I'd like. This year, the first blow was dealt by none other than Cheez-It crackers. Out of nowhere, I noticed the normal stock had been replaced by packages drowning in snowflakes.

Come on, man. It's not even past Halloween yet!

5 Sugary Standbys Of Halloween

One of the byproducts of my love for Halloween is a tendency to hang around in the seasonal areas of my local retail chains and grocery stores. Even if I don't make a purchase, being surrounded by inflatable ghosts, skull shaped candle holders, and jack-o'-lantern pails is something of a comfort. I'm pretty sure I was just born this way.

Of course, even more ubiquitous than decorations, toys, and even costumes are reams and reams of candy assortments and other tooth rotting delights. Just about every snack food you can think of tends to get doctored up in bat-riddled orange and black packaging around this time of year, even those you probably wouldn't naturally associate with it. (I'm looking at you, Goldfish crackers.)

Despite the commonality of it all, there are at least a few that I absolutely adore seeing return to the shelves each October. I think I smell a list-post coming on! Here are 5 sugary standbys of Halloween:

Candy Corn!

Getting In The Halloween Mood

Behold: the makings of the dumbest still life painting ever.

It's hard to believe that October is already upon us, but I'm certainly not going to complain. The breakneck pace of time is usually grounds for disgust, but I almost find myself wanting to give it a (temporary) pass if it means the wait between each Halloween only feels momentary. Halloween is easily my favorite of the major holidays. It's hardly as stressful as the rest, and its embrace of all things macabre is great fun. As the weather finally begins to cool and storefronts fill with gloriously tacky skeleton and jack-o'-lantern decor, I find myself in a much better mood than most other times of the year.

Regardless, my personal celebration of Halloween is generally low-key. I usually get around to watching a horror movie or two, fall down the Monster Cereals rabbit hole, and vicariously revisit spooky old games, but that's about it. It may seem a paltry list of activities, but it's almost enough to get by on.

Star-Spangled Superhero FanArt Frenzy!

The United States' Independence Day has fallen upon us once again, and of course, I've been seeing Captain America this and Captain America that all day long. I like Cap just fine, but I haven't seen a single mention of any of the myriad of other superheroes that don the stars and stripes. It'd be great if there was a little more love going around for the rest. With that in mind, the latest edition of FanArt Frenzy was born:

Irene Flores of beanclam.tumblr.com brings us this incredibly striking image of America Chavez, the most recent character to don the "Miss America" name in Marvel Comics. Those unfamiliar with her should check out the 2013 Young Avengers series.

X-Entertainment Halloween Countdown 2011 Has Begun!

X-Entertainment's 2011 Halloween Countdown has officially begun! Along with the usual uncompromisingly entertaining blog posts, this year's edition will also include Youtube videos from "Madd Matt" like the previously posted Trash Bag Bunch review. If you love Halloween as much as us - X-E should be a regular visit on your daily internet journey. So, it goes without saying - head on over, bookmark, and enjoy!

X-Entertainment's 2011 Halloween Countdown! The NINTH Annual!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Ironhide Halloween Costume

Attention young Halloween lovers and Transformers oddity collectors: this Halloween season sees the release of a Transfomers: Dark of the Moon Ironhide costume for your enjoyment. As you can see, the style is the same as some of the other cheaper wide-release Transformers movie costumes, with a basic suit and mask combo that gets the point across without too much slavish attention to detail. If your kid just loves Ironhide and wants to be him for Halloween, or you find yourself in that later category of buying everything with a Transformers label slapped on - Amazon is carrying them in various children's sizes for $20. The product page can be found in the following link: Transformers Ironhide Child Costume S

Happy Halloween, and roll out?

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Polystone Statue Pre-Order

This lovely 10 inch Polystone Statue of Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas comes to us from Electric Tiki. It is set for release in the fourth quarter of 2011 - just in time for Christmas! Sideshow Collectibles is taking pre-orders now, so go ahead and visit their product page HERE to secure your Sally ahead of time!