#greasycreeps

[karltface]

Last one of the year!

A decent spread of bugs and frogs this time around, with a vinyl beetle I don't have, a lovely chafer-colored wiggle bug, and that wonderful jiggler ladybug with the plastic body again. The black frog is actually far softer than usual, and weirdly glossy. A nice oddity.

Little dudes are more interesting than they appear: Lovestruck Gumby is paired with a Pokey sporting a Superman spit-curl. The Munch Bunch folks have their usual crude charm.

The horror! The Bash Brain (nee Crack Head) knockoffs are in colors I rarely see, while Bloody 'Orrible Finger and the pocket skeletons are fun standbys.

Randos go for quality over quantity, with the stacking totems and mini game overshadowed by a sweet Ghoulsville patch and rubber suction-cup "Help!". I actually have a single enamel pin from Ghoulsville (Gillman), so I won't feel weird wearing it.

Arts are sparse as well, but these rubber skulls are always amazing. Cast from vintage rubber skeletons, they're squishy, crazy-eyed fun that looks equally good on a backpack or a Christmas tree. Smiley Troll actually glows in the dark, and will sit with the rest until I get around to giving them hair.

Merry Something to all!

[karltface]

This is gonna be fun.

I've been kind of breezing through these lately; with as long as I've been getting these, I kind of run out of stuff to say about the more common trinkets. This time, I'm spotlighting a few, because it's been too long, and they deserve better.

Case in point: these pop beads. I loved Madballs back in the day. Oculus Orbus was my homie. Even had the Bone Head action figure. But despite my fascination with quarter machines, these utterly escaped my notice until I got into these boxes. The sculpts are actually pretty good for this size, with nice deep details. Haven't had one break yet, either.

This isn't even all of them.

A veritable army of vegetal varietals! Munch Bunch was common at party supply stores, the often meager toy aisles of drugstores and grocery stores, and of course mixed bags at garage sales. Functioning as either pencil toppers or keychains (or necklaces, or whatever. Fastenings not included). Cheap manufacturing led to a lot of variants, often in accidentally accurate colors other than green, yellow, or tan. The ones on the ends here are uncomfortably close to a human skin tone.

Here's some fun: which one looks the most like the drugs just kicked in?

Peeps are mostly bog-standard, but I will note that the clowns seem to be going extinct. Which is a shame, as this specific mold has a delightfully creepy grumpy baby face. The armored warrior stares fearfully up at what I'm gonna go ahead and call a cordyceps fruiting body. He's going in a high place to disperse his spores. Kinnikuman knows this, and pleads to the indifferent sky. Brockenman, the German cyborg from WW2 (no, really) seems to be performing a truly epic "ehhhh...", as most specimens of this mold are.

Pocket Clip Skeleton's face looks like an unbaked bread sculpture.

Natural Wonders are all killer, no filler. My first vintage Lambeosaurus is looking good, alongside that epic monochrome Styracosaurus. One of the first boxes had this very jiggler turtle, which I subsequently gifted. Good to have him back. The bat is interesting: there's a tube running through the back half, or rather a hole that would accommodate one. A dismantled squeeze-bulb hopper, then. It'll mount nicely on any number of things now.

One lonely Art gets thrown in with the oddities: another rubber skull, in swank purple and red. That blow mold teddy bear is news to me, but the stacking idols are on their third column, which I guess shows you both how common they are, and how fun they are. I'm thinking about painting a set.

No, really. There are two full-length stacks on the shelf above this, including 2 in copper and one in black. Again, likely cases of the factory running low on the usual, throwing whatever was handy in there, and shoving it out the door. It shakes things up a bit, and it's not like Hasbro and Mattel were above such shenanigans.

The milk caps (and slammer!) are a relic of the 90s, and carry a lot of themes common to Imperial and other such knockoff artists, such as Poison, Yin Yangs, and surfing. The coyote is just odd.

Well, that's the Grease. 'til next time!

[karltface]

Guess what time it is.

Extra fortified! And rather hefty at that; this should be interesting.

Natural Wonders comes first, and needs multiple groupings. The growing rat is grey, so that'll sit well with the white one. Old Diplodocus is always fun, as are the cheesy 90s black critters. Frogs are charmingly vintage, but I must call attention to that lovely blue lizard. It's an incredibly floppy jiggler of some sort, but damned if I can place it.

And then there's bug friends. More 90s critters, a couple colorful beetles, and a gat-dang copepod! I'm leaving the flash on that one, though. Too fragile.

Here's a fun mix. Couple spaceships, a handful of milk caps with slammer, and far too many Madballs pop beads. I'm running out of ways to drape these on stuff. Nah, they're fun. My Krusher looks like a rainbow Hollywood Hogan.

Peeps! Speaking of Hogan, that's clearly him on the left there. I think it's Neptuneman, actually. But still. He and Asuraman are helping drunk Gumby stay up, while some manner of ogre walks his Bizarro Pokeys. A very impressive astronaut is done with their crap.

You bet we're still going! There's always a healthy dose of spookitude in these, and this is quite a pile of buttons. They're the GeneriCo sort I've reviewed before, and always a fun giveaway if you know a lot of Halloween people. The keychain skeleton is younger than the pocket clip duder by about 10 years, but they have equal charm.

Munch Bunch strikes again! I'm starting to think this was a double box, due to issues on one end or the other. I always forget these things. Anyway, I like to sneak these onto pens wherever I go. That one still looks sinister in yellow.

Another oddball mix: the eye, which I took to be a standalone item, is in fact Oculus Orbus, or rather the knockoff counterpart thereof, like the green suction-cup faces here. So that's fun. Stacking totems are cool, the rings are always a hit, and the slime heads prove kids have always dug that stuff. A sticker and classic gag round out the good times.

It's been Greasy, folks.

[karltface]

You know what time it is.

Another few spins of the vending machine. Support your local vendor of oddities, people!

The wonderful world of nature starts us off right, with several bugs, including two giraffe weevils and a pair of beetles, one of which read to me as intensely patriotic- turns out it is, in Romania. Then there's a pair of those dino stampers, and a gator jiggler. Everything here is between 20 and 40 years old, and it's all charming.

From the land of the little people, it's another Ratman, probably plotting to steal at least one of the Power Belts. Here to compete for the rest are a trio of Kinnikuman bootlegs. Brocken looks dramatic. Pocket Goblin will serve as referee, and Rather Old Slime Head is on commentary duty. It's gonna be a slobberknocker.

Oddments: three vintage spaceships (well, two and a crane) are always fun, the 90s monster pins are nicely creepy, and the usual sticker is, well, a sticker. They stick well.

Oh, the Arts. Two of what I'm assuming are reject pulls: Fungazoid is clearly missing fingers, but I can't find a damn thing wrong with Rusty, so that's a win. Test shot? Both are amazingly cool anyway. That Jolly Roger is a repop of something or other, and glows in the dark. Mini Monster Men are Cousin Itt and a killer two-tone Monster. The skull is either a test shot, or Zac noodling around with scrap plastic. Either way, the teeth look amazing.

Well, that's another box of greasy awesomeness. Go getcha some.

[karltface]

It's time!

December Box is bringin' a spirit of some sort. Odds are it ain't the holiday kind, but we'll see what I can squeeze out of it.

For instance, the festive colors on those Kong Hong bugs. The red is more of a pink, but it's a fresh sculpt for me. The roaches are always fun, as is the gator jiggler. That styracosaurus deserves special mention for his striking color scheme.

Okay, I thought I had all the "Power Belts" sculpts, and BAM, they throw a spider at me. That's cool. Either skeleton is a robe away from playing the Ghost of Christmas Future in a small-town production.

The meat of this one, really, is The Faces. Breaking their previous record of two, I'm particularly enamored with what's either Smeagol or an early hominid on the right there. Tiki Heads pose an issue, as my twin pillars have already hit the top of the shelf. Time to start the next level! The Kin-knockoff-man figures are fun as always: Kinnikuman himself, and one-shot movie villain The Black King. I guess it's down to Gokey here. I guess he could be the donkey in a ridiculous nativity scene?

Pranks, folded in with Arts because they would've looked lonely by themselves: a Shoe Squeaker that has far better applications- a doorstop, a toilet seat, the back of a drawer- and another Finger. The hologram Troll sticker is so 90s it hurts, but in a good way. Another Monster is joined by a bicolored Cousin Itt, but the 3/4 rubber skeleton skull is honestly super cool in black resin. Incidentally, this is the box that officially filled The Rack.

About a third of the slots. Congratulations, Zac! 30 Internet Points for you!

[karltface]

Return of the Creep!

Convention season is over, and we now return you to your regularly scheduled wastes of time.

The machine has new stock now, and the Critters come out swinging with fresh (decades old) rubber dinos, black on one side and green on the other. I also landed an Ouranosaurus cameo on an incredibly cheap chain, which is a damn good way to tell the world you're way into dinosaurs, but also a damn good way to turn your neck green. The gator and frog are standard fare, but that (90s?) snek is news to me. According to the bottom, it's made in China China Chin. Oh, also a vintage Kong charm. Always cute.

Peeps are the usual crop of Kinkeshi and Munch Bunch. Not sure if I've ever seen the parsnip in green, at least.

Randos seem like repeats again, but there are at least two rubber ring/power belt sculpts I don't have, and that knockoff Dust Brain is in far better shape than mine. Sad Lad (no, really, they have names) still mystifies me, as he's clearly angry, not sad. Then again, I tend to blend the two myself, so maybe it's not too far off?

Arts are all killer, no filler. Zac's taken to salting the machine with failed paint tests and random one-offs, and that means I get not only my first SFW Creep-nik, but the Giant Life-like Worm advertised on that sticker up above. Both look like shoddy bootlegs of the final product, which is extra fun, not to mention the historical significance. The skull ornament thingy is apparently two kinds of rubber, and will join the ranks of Toni's adornments. Which reminds me, I should post her soon. It is that time of year, after all.

Well, the website's on the box. You wanna try your luck, get on it. Monster's Booty for the win!

[karltface]

Oh, it's a beast.

Twice the usual, since convention season has been busy and we missed a month again. Not to mention a surprise.

Beginning!

Critters appear to be the usual fare, but there's fresh deadstock in the machine now, so we get new frogs. Unlike the usual lounging-sideways ones, we get two standing and one reclining. There's even a black one in there, which is unusual. Gator Jiggler and Old Poodle are standard fare, but always a hit.

The invertebrates, likewise, are peppered with a lot more realistic colors this time around. Apart from the usual 90s vinyl ones, I landed a jiggler scorpion, rubber Jibbers, two more modular caterpillars, and a sweet matte black wiggle bug.

I have an army!

I'm fairly lost on the Kinnikuman keshi, as well as the Kitaro weirdos. That slithery creeper is still a favorite, though. A few Munch Bunch peeps illustrate the range of variation between batches, and Pocket Clip Skeleton is always fun. Oh, and a bootleg Bowser.

Randos, part 1! The bootleg Madballs are sporting new colors, the pins are always welcome, more Madballs pop beads will go toward my next string, and the Dynamite Pen is quite fun, if you don't mind some setup.

Part 2 is oddly homogenous, with all three ships in yellow, four stacking totems in red, and the milk caps almost entirely 8-ball themed. Good stuff anyway.

Arts are.... Interesting. Wankenstein here is sporting your choice of animal-print or plain black vests, which do nothing to hide his enormous dingleheimer; I just propped a sticker on there. Smiley Troll is, again, bald, but I do intend to fix that. The tongue is a spare from the recent return of King Fingor, a giant finger puppet I will never afford.

Fortunately, I don't need to.

Yep, there were two all-foam Fingors in the mix this month. And I got really damn lucky. I'm tremendously proud to have this freak on the shelf.

You can sort of see the construction here, with separate arms and tongue. It's just so much more ridiculous at this scale. The eyes and teeth are GITD resin, too. Production model has rubber skin over the foam, but that hardly makes this any less amazing. Oversized stuff has long been a staple of cheap comedy, and finger monsters are a great example.

Well, that was a rush. And a hell of a haul. Gonna have to restructure the Arts Shelves to cram that thing in. You all saw the logo, you know where to go. 'til next time!

[karltface]

You know what time it is.

This month's menagerie is a varied bunch: three 90s bugs in the usual assortment of colors, a few 90s black plastic critters (including that hilarious wiggly spider), a pair of tooly birds, and an interesting T-Rex: I've seen this mold in unpainted plastic, but not rubber, and the eyes are actually painted. Very nice.

Here's a surprise: milk caps! Pogs (and their various imitators) were quite the hot item for a few years in the 90s, and here's a pile of no-name knockoffs. Amongst the sizeable stack of 8-ball art (a common theme, alongside "poison" and skulls), I landed a couple promotional caps from NASA, two faux-holo sci-fi characters, and a couple plastic slammers. I never played, but these things are a lot of fun with some poster putty and a little imagination.

Peeps include two more heads, in bright banana yellow, two distinct quality levels of Gumby, Nega-Pokey, and a pair of vending machine keshi I can't for the life of me remember. I do know the chain dude has no corresponding MUSCLE release, and would therefore be far harder to research, and I feel lazy. They're both old favorites, though.

Miscellaneous goods are a couple more spaceships (still only one blue, sadly), another few inches for the Madballs String, and Invisible Ink. Nothing new, but nothing bad either.

Kicking it into high gear, Arts are extra nice. The Skull Pin (and Keychain) are from Zac's latest creation binge, and a fun extra thrown in with this month's boxes. We were only promised one, so I don't know if I just got lucky or what. Either way, these things are recycled plastic, and they glow in the dark! The pins have nice fancy closures, too. Very nice work.

The smilies are hybridized treasure trolls, without their hair. Apparently the final remains of a previous run. I might add some fur myself, I have plenty.

And finally, I ordered this specifically, but it was in the box too, so meet Hanging Skeleton! Y'know what, mine's name is Oscar.

Oscar is also recycled GITD, and is just a comically large version of the classic jointed skeleton keychain, right down to the slightly oversized ball chain. Glows like a champ, by the way (same goes for the pins), but my blacklight is loaned out at the moment, so no money shot for you.

Well, that's the February box. Mine, anyway, they're randomized. And a big bony boi. Greasy Creeps has you covered at the shop either way.

Peace!