Of all the bits of nostalgia that have been running through my head for consideration as my first “Don Remembers” article, one stood out immediately among all others:

Colorforms.

These little, mono-colored pieces of pliable plastic were like a gateway to endless hours of creativity when I was a kid.  Created in the mid-fifties, Colorforms are pre-cut vinyl shapes that would stick to a flat sheet of cardboard that was coated with a slick sheen.  Each shape would usually have some sort of design, like a person or a car, and could stick to the illustrated background through static cling.  Children could create any scene they wanted by placing the Colorforms on the background, peel them off, and reuse them later by setting up a completely new scene.  Originally, they started out simple, but over the years they began to include licensed characters from different television, movie and comic properties.  By the time the 80s rolled in, almost everything from the band KISS to Marvel Superheroes to Jem had truly outrageous Colorforms.

This is where my childhood comes in.  I remember my first set – Battlestar Galactica. I was a huge fan of the Olmos-less original series.  I would spend hours setting up different battle scenes.  Sometimes Starbuck would get ambushed by Cylons.  Sometimes Boxey and his daggit Moffit would have their own solo adventure.  The best part is that while some of the Colorforms depicted single figures, others would be body parts that you could piece together to make poseable characters.  See kids?  This is what we did before home video game consoles were in every household.  Well, this and Atari.

Eventually I would get other sets like Star Wars or Mork and Mindy, and that’s where the fun would really begin.  Wanna know what would happen if Mork from Ork had to take on Vader while Han Solo and Starbuck were caught in a crossfire between Cylons and Imperial Stormtroopers?

Simple – K.I.T.T. would show up with Pac-Man and rescue everybody.  Duh.

The Don once crossed Batman with a Gremlin.  He doesn’t like to talk about it.

Starting next week and running through summer, I will be bringing you a brand new series called “The Don Remembers…”  A nostalgic series, I will be focusing on toys, movies, television, cereals, and other pop culture fixtures that have been a part of our lives for the past thirty years, adding my own anecdotes and observations to give each entry that unique flavor that you love to read from me every week.  I think it will a fun way to spend the summer, and hopefully you’ll all come indoors every so often to partake in said having of the fun.

In anticipation of this weekly summer feature, this week’s “Office” will be a sneak preview of sorts, to give you a taste of what’s to come.  And since the magic number here is thirty, what better way to kick it off then by delivering you a one-two punch to the reader-plexus with two franchises that just turned thirty this past weekend – The Empire Strikes Back and Pac-Man!

The Empire Strikes Back

Arguably the best film in the entire Star Wars saga (no matter whether you count all six installments or just the original Holy Trilogy), Empire is a prime example of how Lucas should have handled all of his films after the first one became such a surprising success – hire a better director to helm your film while you hire better writers to polish your script.  Because that’s what he did with Empire, and somehow managed to hit it pretty close to the mark to get us all riled up like that (in a good way).  What came out of that masterful stroke of good decision-making was a darker, yet fun and thrilling film that gave its predecessor a run for its money, while at the same time causing everyone to wet themselves in excitement as their jaws dropped into their collective laps.

I know that’s how my five-year-old self felt.  I remember my parents taking me to see this when it first came out.  Already a huge fan by the time I hit five, I remember the excitement as we waited in line for the next showing at our local theater.  I could hear the thrum and drum of the film as it played on to the movie-goers already held by its thrall.  My anxious anticipation building to almost unbearable levels, I tore away for a second and peeked in at what was being played on the screen.  I was greeted instantly with the sight of Luke’s X-Wing as it zoomed across the stars.  But not even that image could prepare me for what awaited my young senses when it was our turn to take our seats.

Interestingly enough, everything that makes this movie great is exactly what made this one my least favorite when I was a kid.  I remember bawling my eyes out when Han got taken away in carbonite, and I simply couldn’t wait another three years to find out of Luke and his friends could save him.  In the meantime, my actions figures made very sure that he was rescued and back on smuggler detail immediately.

It took awhile, but as my movie-going mind matured my tastes matured, and The Empire Strikes Back eventually became my favorite movie of all time, and it remains so to this day.

Pac-Man

There isn’t a soul on the face of civilized earth that doesn’t recognize this tiny, round, phasmophobe with a severe pill addiction.  Originally called “Puck Man”, this classic arcade game came out during the birth of the video game age, at a time when the big draws all involved spaceships shooting at hostile invaders of one sort or another.  Though it wasn’t initially a big hit in its country of inception (Japan), it became almost an instant success the minute it hit American shores.  After that, everyone had “Pac-Man Fever”.

Merchandise for the pizza-inspired character went into overdrive – candy, board games, cereal, plushies, t-shirts.  TV shows at the time were known to air episodes that at least mentioned the game, and in some instances would have an episode’s plot center around someone playing it incessantly.  Pac-Man’s American distributor Midway got so cocky after the game’s success that they quickly cranked out several spin-offs over the next couple of years, much to the irritation of the game’s creator – Namco.  Despite the faux pas that forced Namco and Midway to eventually part ways, Pac-Man continued to grow in popularity, eventually becoming the world-recognized pop culture phenomenon it is today.

Where I grew up, pizza places seemed to be the venues that would generally have a video game console or two before arcades became widespread, making them almost like Disneyland to my young mind.  When our local Pizza Hut got its first Pac-Man machine, I remember staring at it in wonder.  Steering a little yellow guy through mazes while trying to avoid ghosts was something that was very relevant to my interests.  Already a video game addict by the time I was five, it didn’t take much to bug my parents for quarters.  And Pac-Man was no exception.

Didn’t take long for me to realize that I was terrible at the game.  Certainly didn’t stop me from cleaning out my parents’ pockets for small, silver Washingtons.  And I would continue to waste my parents’ change on that maze navigator for quite some time… at least, until another pill-popper with a bow came along and proved to be a better and more fun game to play.  And don’t even get me started on apes throwing barrels.

So that was your first taste of what’s to come for the summer.  Starting next week, be prepared to take that proverbial trip down memory lane.  Watch out for traffic.

The Don isn’t a system, he’s a man.  Though, that’s stretching it a bit.

As I mentioned to you all last week, I have turned another year older.  Though my physical age may continue to run ahead of me, my essence remains ensconced within a youthful visage, and my interests continue to dwell within a timeless epoch.

Simply put – I’m getting older, but I still love things from my youth.

Case in point, as much as I love modern day video gaming (and I do love me some modern day video gaming), I’m still very much a fan of the old school – Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Mr. Do…  Those are games that, no matter what the new hotness is that I am currently playing on my PS3, I can go back to and play anytime and still get just as much enjoyment out of them now as I did when I first put a quarter in the coin slot back when arcades were still all the rage (I miss arcades).  The classics never get old to me.  And when emulators first became available many moons ago, I went giddy with glee at the thought of being able to play my favorite arcade classics on my PC at home.

Now, here we are in the Year of Our Monolith, and one of the things that has always been a minor obstacle in my enjoyment of classic arcadia has been the inability to play them wherever I go.  Arcades have all but dried up, and the ones that still exist only fill a certain quota – some fighting games, some shooter games, some racing games, a DDR game or two, and some silly, little ticket-spewers.  I have a laptop, and that’s portable… but only to an extent.  Sure, I can play them in my hotel room or at a friend’s house if I bring lappy with me, but I couldn’t just fire up the ol’ MAME while waiting to be seated at an Olive Garden.

Until now.

One of the coolest gifts I got for my birthday was a handy-dandy little portable device called the GP2X WIZ.  This sucker is like a portable slice of love, as it can play any emulator from Atari to Commodore 64 all the way up to PS1.  In short – this thing rocks!

And that isn’t even half of it.  It does tons more!  Not only can it play all those different emulators, but it can also function as an e-book reader, a music player, a picture viewer, a movie viewer, a planner, and a digital recording device.  With all that I’m rather surpised that it doesn’t also grant wishes.  Trust me, it doesn’t.  I tried rubbing it, but to no avail.

Now, it’s a wee bit pricey, but it’s really worth it if you want to save up for it.  It includes a gig of drive space, but you can also throw games and emulators on any size SD card and toss that in there as well.  This thing is truly a remarkable device.  I’ve already slapped three different emulators on a two gig card and have been spending a lot of time playing all my favorite classics writing articles for you fine folk.

That said, I should probably get back to playing Pac-Man writing more writings for the readers of said writings.  In the meantime, I leave you with the other, cool, geeky item I got for my latest trip around Sol:

I certainly won’t freeze before I reach the first marker.

The Don thought they smelled bad on every side.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and is having a wonderful New Year so far.  Let’s not forget that 2010 marks “The Year We Make Contact”.  Not sure what we’ll be contacting, but let’s hope it doesn’t involve turning Jupiter into a sun.

Now that the holidays are over it’s back to the old grind, which means I have returned to deliver my first “Office” of the new year!  Oddly enough, it’s a run-down of some of the cooler, geekier things I got for Christmas.

So as to avoid the funny stares, let’s just get started, shall we?

I actually made out pretty darn well this Christmas, but here are the highlights of my spoils that fit in more with the spirit of Spwug (make with the clicky to make biggy):

About a week before Christmas even arrived, I managed to order the latest re-offering from mattycollector.com – Skeletor.  Made from new molds and fully articulated, Mattel has been offering He-Man action figures based on the classic designs for over a year.  I wasn’t able to get these two when they were first offered in 2008, but I managed to snag them both over the past two months when they were re-offered.  The sculpts are incredible and each figure is based on a combination of the original cartoon design and the original figure design.  They’re a little pricey (about twenty bucks), so they’re only for the serious collector.  They usually offer one or two figures a month, but they sell out quickly.  This month they are offering a figure of a character that never saw plastic – Princess Adora.  You can bet I’ll be snatching up that one.

Another awesome offering from Mattel, these guys are based on the movie versions – not the cartoon counterparts.  I’ve been ordering them for the past couple of months.  The latest figure – Winston – came the same day as my Skeletor.  I almost have the entire team; only Venkman remains.  Bill Murray was the last of the original cast to sign off on his likeness, which is why his is the last of the four to be produced.  He should be available in February.  I can’t wait.  Now I just need to find my Real Ghostbusters figures and have a crazy crossover…

This game is so much fun to play, and I haven’t even started a new game on it yet.  Let me explain: when you first load up the game, it puts you in a practice area where you can just mess around.  For those not in the know, mess around means you can create almost any object by writing the word on the stylus screen based on a word database consisting of tens of thousands of words.  The object of the game is to create objects to solve puzzles.  I haven’t gotten to that part of the game yet, as I am too busy in the practice area creating God and then pitting Him against other people and creatures to see who would win.  So far, God wins every time… except against vampires.   They always manage to turn him.  Weird.  Still, I’m having so much fun with this game that I’m hoping to actually play it soon.

This.  For those of you that have read my Christmas articles, there is one particular memory that makes it Christmas for me over anything else – Mario.  Ever since I got that NES all those years ago, it seemed like every Christmas brought another adventure for the plumber boys to embark on.  No matter what console it was for, it just seemed like Super Mario Bros. and Christmas went hand in hand.  But for the past several years, things have been different.  Nintendo has been sparse with their Mario titles (sparse with any good titles, for that matter).  So, the past few holidays were surprisingly quiet on the coin block front.  Then this wonderful game revealed itself when I ripped off the wrapping.  Holy crap, it’s like I’m a kid again.  This game manages to hold up pretty darn well against what has come before.  With a mixture of SMB 3, World, and the most recent release for the DS, this game is extremely fun and challenging.  Add to it the ability to play up to four players simultaneously, and you have a game that will frustrate you as much as make you squee.

This came as a surprise to me.  I didn’t even know this book existed, and I’m a huge zombie fan.  Christmas carols with the lyrics altered to be about zombies.  It’s so campy, but at the same time it is beyond awesome.  Christmas 2010 – be ready, as I’ll be singing these all over the place.

Along with the Matty Collector figures above, this has to be the coolest geek collectible of 2009 – a Back to the Future Delorean that lights up and makes ten different sound effects from the movie.  I had ordered this through my comic shop, but my wife was nice enough to buy it out from under my nose so as to make it a prezzie for me.  This thing is sweet.  Almost everything that you can think of that should light up on the car in the movie lights up here – headlights, tail lights, dashboard, time circuits, flux capacitor, and – of course – the flux bands on the outside of the car.  This thing is incredible.  Sadly, there aren’t any action figures to go with it (at least not yet).  So, in order to make sure the car had a driver, I had to improvise:

That there would be Matt Tracker from M.A.S.K.  Not the original figure, mind you, but the limited edition figure that was made as part of the most recent (non-movie) G.I. Joe line.  I figured that since his last car had gull-wing doors he was worthy enough to take a spin through time.

Hopefully the rest of you out there had a holiday that visited just as much geekdom at you as I did.  Here’s to a new year and a fresh supply of Spwug for 2010.

I leave you with some disturbing developments that occurred in our LEGO Advent Calendar just after Christmas.  Let’s just say the negotiations apparently turned hostile:

Manny Bothans died to bring The Don this information.  Poor guy.

As you’re reading this, it should be Christmas Eve.

Hang on…

Sorry.  I had to take a moment to laugh at the idea of anyone being around to read this on Christmas Eve.  But still, as part of the season of giving I feel it would be unfair of me if I didn’t offer up something to stick in your Spwugnerian stockings.  I’ve noticed that my last couple of holiday offerings were in the form of lists, and since old Kringle himself is a fan of checking such things twice I figured it would keep in the spirit of the season to do another as the last of my Christmas-themed articles for the year.

This time, I offer up my top five favorite Christmas songs:

5. “It’s Christmas All Over the World” – Sheena Easton

I’m a child of the 80s.  Most people know that.  Growing up, I had a HUGE crush on Sheena Easton – her voice, her Scottish accent, and her… hotness.  I will admit that I have a couple of her songs on my iPod.  So, when she did this little ditty for the film Santa Claus: The Movie, I knew I had to have it.  I really love this song.  It’s the epitome of 80s Christmas music – it’s an 80s ballad and a Christmas song all in one.

4. “Christmas Time is Here” – Vince Guaraldi

Christmas just isn’t Christmas without this timeless, holiday classic.  “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is one of my favorite Christmas specials, and both the vocal and instrumental version of this song immediately get me into the Christmas spirit.

3. “Christmas at Ground Zero” – “Weird Al” Yankovic

“Weird Al” is still one of my favorite artists to this day, and this song is still one of his best originals.  Combining yuletide festivities with nuclear Armageddon, this song manages to make me laugh every time I hear it.  This song has to be on my playlist; it just isn’t Christmas without it.

2. “Winter Wonderland” – The Eurythmics

Yeah, I know… I’m a sucker for 80s music, and that more than includes 80s Christmas music.  This is probably my favorite version of this holiday tune.  It’s just infused with so much energy.  Annie Lennox is clearly having a lot of fun, and it’s infectious.

1. “O, Holy Night” – Johnny Mathis

For me, Johnny Mathis is Christmas.  His Christmas music was a staple of our household growing up.  Every Christmas morning, my brother, sister, and I were awakened to the sounds of Johnny crooning his magical holiday tunes.  To this day, every time I hear one of his songs I feel like a kid again.  Because of how much I enjoy his entire collection, I had a hard time picking just one song to represent my number one.  In the end, I chose “O, Holy Night” simply because I think it is one of the best renditions of the song out there.  Johnny’s crescendo in the final notes of the song is just so powerful and touching, it gives me shivers.

And there you have it, folks – my last Christmas article for 2009.  I hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday.  For those that don’t celebrate, have a happy Friday.  Woot to the weekend!

I leave you with one last prezzie.  Remember the LEGO Advent Calendar?  Here it is in full glory, all its secret nooks and crannies revealed (make with the clicky to see it larger):

The Don we now our gay apparel, fa-la-la fa-la-la la la la…

I’m sure most of you out there had your own, personal Jesus Red Ryder BB Gun – that one item or items that you had to have for Christmas.  Maybe it was a racing set, or a certain action figure.  Maybe it was a Cabbage Patch Kid, or a Tamagotchi.  Or, maybe you just got dirt, and you were happy to receive that dirt.  Whatever your personal windmill was each Christmas, nothing ever matched the feelings that swept over you when you finally got to that one present that looked like it might be the right size and shape of what you had been yearning for all year.  You look it over carefully, curiously… wondering if pinning all your seasonal hopes and dreams on this wrapped box of secrets would be worth the risk of possible disappointment.

You slowly undo the first tab of tape, cautiously tearing at the paper…

… and catch your first glimpse of the box underneath…

Your eyes open wide in feverish glee as you suddenly tear faster faster faster…

You got it!  You got…

…socks.

Then your dad laughs and hands you the package that really has the item you’ve been wanting since you saw that commercial cartoon back in January.  It doesn’t matter that your dad is a malicious deceiver of men.  You got what you asked Santa for.  It’s yours!

Five minutes later, you see something on TV that you just have to get next Christmas, your current acquisition just a fuzzy memory…

I know I had quite a few must-haves on my list growing up.  In fact, even at the age of thayunasflakhfy-fqtlkdur, I still end up every year with that one item that I just need for Christmas.  So, as a tribute to the endless quest that many of us embark on annually, I present you with my top five Holy Grails from my childhood:

5. “M.A.S.K” Toys

I remember the first time I saw the “M.A.S.K.” cartoon when I was a kid.  It came on around 6:30 AM (in 1985 time) on one of our local stations and I would watch it every morning before school.  For someone who was already into vehicles that transformed into something else, this show was cool!  The premise was that a special task force called M.A.S.K. (Mobile Armored Strike Kommand) led by Matt Tracker was created to defend the world against an evil terrorist organization called V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network Of Mayhem), which was led by Miles Mayhem.  Both good guys and bad had vehicles that transformed into other vehicles, and all the operatives wore masks that had special abilities.  Of course, like all cartoons of this nature that we grew up with, the cartoon was really just a half hour long commercial that sold us toys.

And man, these toys were awesome.  The first vehicle I ever got was Condor – a green motorcycle that turned into a helicopter.  Included was the driver, Brad Turner, whose mask could project lifelike holograms (only for pretendsies).  My friends and I all collected them, and we spent many hours creating our own adventures.

By the second season of the show, the direction of the plot had changed and the characters were suddenly ripping off “Speed Racer”, as the good guys entered race after race against the bad guys for some item that would be deadly in the wrong hands.  The vehicles were still cool, but the line would die off quickly after the show started to suck.  This Holy Grail has the distinction of being one that I’ve reignited my efforts in finding recently.  I have managed to procure two vehicles so far, and am looking to rebuild my collection.

4. CD Boom Box

Sometime in the late 80s/early 90s, CD’s started to make their way into mainstream use for music lovers everywhere.  It was sometime around 1992 that I wanted to get in on this new medium.  I mean, cassette tapes were fine and all, but CDs allowed you to skip to the next song without having to fast forward through the current one!  No more wasting time cueing through tape just to get to a favorite song or to get past a bad one.  With the touch of a button, you could go right to the track you wanted.  Heck, you didn’t even have to listen to songs in the order that they were put on the album anymore!  The Compact Disc revolution gave us the freedom to choose!

It also re-introduced a feature that our parents were familiar with and that we would constantly gripe about – skipping.  Oh yeah, one bump and you just “time-traveled” a second or two into the future of the song you were listening to.  Or, you could revisit the same two second you just heard.  Top notch!

Despite the minor annoyances with the technology, I was extremely excited when I unwrapped that bad boy on Christmas Day, along with a couple of carefully chosen CD selections that would be my introduction to digitally-recorded music.  You know what I did then?

I made mix tapes for my Walkman from those CDs.

3. Star Wars Toys

Anyone who knows me knows I am a HUGE Star Wars fan, despite the prequels.  From the time my parents took me to see the first film (that’s Episode IV: A New Hope to you yung’uns) in theaters at the age of three, I lived and breathed everything Star Wars.  Bed sheets, actions figures, pajamas, cups – you name it, I probably had it.  Every Christmas from 1978 to 1984 saw some assortment of Star Wars merchandise under our tree.  I still have the very first action figure I ever got – a Stormtrooper.  His legs are a wee bit wobbly and he looks like he was dragged behind a bantha for several miles, but I still have him in a box somewhere.

Sadly, by summer of 1985 the toy line would be discontinued.  It had been two years since Jedi premiered in theaters, and a year since it was brought back into theaters for an encore showing.  With the final movie come and gone, interest in the franchise waned considerably.  And so, my ten year old self was left with a gaping hole of no toy series to love (that would quickly be filled not too long after by Transformers, M.A.S.K., Thundercats, Silverhawks, and The Real Ghostbusters toys, to name a few).

I still have the very last figure that was bought for me also – Lando Calrissian in his general uniform, complete with cloth cape.  No Lando… Han won’t have that shield down in time this time…

2. Nintendo Entertainment System

Some of you might remember that I wrote about this as part of my Christmas series last year.  For those that haven’t, you should really go back and read all three of them.  They’re quite good.

I won’t rehash too much since this is ground already covered, so instead I will give you the short version (in rhyme):

Atari 7800 is what I had,

Then I saw my friend’s system and it made me sad.

Nintendo made a console that blew mine away,

Five minutes with Mario and I wanted to stay.

I pleaded with my folks to get us a NES,

But we were too poor; man our life was a mess.

It would be many months before I could play,

So I was over at my friend’s house every day.

We’d play Mario and Popeye and Donkey Kong,

When’s Christmas get here? It’s taking too long!

Christmas finally came and within the first hour,

I was playing Nintendo; I was playing with Power!

1. Debbie

Okay, now we’re to the part where I get sentimental and mushy.  Too bad.  I have to say, without a doubt, the greatest Holy Grail I ever chased after and won was a girl.  And yes, it was around Christmas.

Debbie and I started out as friends in high school.  Her older sister was dating my best friend Chad.  Chad, his girlfriend and I were seniors, while Debbie was two years behind (Yes, that makes her two years younger than me.  Try and keep up.).  In an odd twist of fate (and some manipulation by Chad and Debbie’s sister), Debbie and I started dating.  I can go on record and say that she was, honestly, my first love.  I fell hard.  We were practically inseparable after that (to this day she is the reason I love when it rains).

Unfortunately, like in a Rankin and Bass holiday special, a nefarious scheme was hatched by some evil force to break us up.  And it worked.  I was devastated.  By this time I had graduated and was getting ready to go off to college.  I tried everything I could to get her back, but it just pushed her away more.  It got quite ugly.  So, despite being extremely broken hearted, I did the only thing left that I could do.

I let her go.

The fall semester flew by.  Before I knew it my first semester as a freshman was over and Christmas break was upon us.  I eagerly came home to enjoy my time off…

…only to find a letter waiting for me from Debbie asking me to meet her at the church we both attended regularly for that night’s service.  Reluctantly, I went.  When, what to my wondering eyes should appear… but an angel of a girl who had won my heart earlier that year.

She apologized sincerely, profusely, and several other important words that end in “-ly”.  Skeptical and still sore from the heart-wrenching, I wasn’t sure.  But, over the course of the next couple of weeks, she convinced me, and by Christmas we were together again.

Obviously, we didn’t end up together.  Things happen, as they often do.  We’ve both moved on to bigger and better things.  But, the reason she places at number one on my list of Holy Grails is this – for one, shining moment, Debbie made for me a Christmas that you normally only see in movies and read about in books.  That year my Christmas was one of merriment, magic and wonder – the kind that the hopeless romantic I was had always hoped for.

For once in my young life, I had chosen wisely.

The Don swears that he just has something in his eye.

Here are the stores of some of my favourite webcomics, as well as a mini-list of what you can find there. If you’ve ever heard your cousin mention how much he likes Richard from Looking for Group, or your roommate talking about how cool Sluggy Freelance is, you can achieve temporary respect in the form of a holiday bribe by shopping these stores for relevant merch. This is just a sampling–you can’t know the true glory until you check it all out for yourself. And don’t wait around, because holiday shipping deadlines are nigh!

Basic Instructions – Clothing, books, commissioned images of your fan-friend! We all need instructions on how to live a better life when the moon-men attack.

Draconia Chronicles – Stickers, clothing, calendars! Who doesn’t want lithe and buxom tigers, dragons, and foxes gracing their home? Foolish people, that’s who. (Please note the site is in the process of changing servers this week and may have a little downtime.)

Looking for Group – Comics, figurines, plushies, blankets, clothes, posters, and randomness! I don’t know about you, but I would burn so many villagers for those Richard socks.

Penny Arcade – Do I really have to explain this one? It’s freakin’ Penny Arcade. They’ve got EVERYTHING. They’re the Sam’s Club of webcomic stores. Good deals at bargain prices. You know the drill. (The Fruit F…umm…Lover certainly knows all about drilling. BAM!)

Questionable Content – Prints, clothing, tote bags! Much of which is not, in fact, questionable content, but much of which is, in fact, super cool.

Sluggy Freelance – Plushies, books, games, pins, and clothing! And you can buy a Defenders membership subscription so your Sluggite fan-friend can see all the juicy content the normal peons–err, fans–don’t get to see. Don’t forget to check out the Breakables Store for more delicate articles like calendars, mugs, and mouse pads. If you don’t buy something, Bun-bun plushie will stab you in the eye with his cute widdle pwushie switchbwade. I may do the same if I never acquire my own serial-killing bunny rabbit. (Regretting my own lack of Defender membership to buy the Defenders-exclusive Holiday Overlord version right about now.)

Something Positive – Posters, prints, cards, clothes, and alliteration! (Much of which is not work-safe, so browse with discretion.) Me, I’m holding out for a Choo-Choo Bear squishy stress doll to get made.

Studio Foglio, creators of Girl Genius, Buck Godot, and What’s New? – Pins, books, games, and squeezy toys. A Wulfenbach airship you can squish again and again? No wonder the Baron is an unstoppable force in Europa.

See, now I’ve done practically all the holiday shopping work for you, out of the goodness of my black little lump-of-coal heart, sharing the joy of the season.

You’re welcome.

….I expect to see those Richard socks and Bun-bun plushie under my tree by Christmas morning. Finder’s fee. You know.

Oh crap, it’s December already.  You know what that means…

Tax season is just around the corner!!

…..

Okay, seriously… if you’re not even going to put forth an effort, I really don’t know what to do with you.  But, since we have officially begun the Season of Miracles, I’ll cut you all a break.

The beginning of the ChristmaHanuKwanzolstivus season also means that I will once again be giving you weekly installments filled with holiday goodness.  Now, I debated whether or not to do like I did last year and theme this month’s articles around “A Christmas Carol”.  In the end, I thought it would be tacky to be repetitive, and I really thought it would be lame if I kept repeating myself.  So instead, this season’s articles will just be comprised of random holiday-themed merriment for all.

And what better way to kick of the beginning of the month than with an installment of “Office” that recognizes counting down the days until Jolly Ol’ Scratch Saint Nick comes barreling down Santa Claus Lane (is that even a real place?).  And to help us with said task comes a cool, little item that will drive my fellow LEGO enthusiasts giddy with glee:

Behold, the LEGO City Advent Calendar!

For those unfamiliar with this festive, holiday item, advent calendars are used to count down to Christmas day.  Usually, the calendars will feature little doors for each day of the month.  Behind each door a piece of candy or other small prize awaits the usurper who had the audacity to open the compartment to support his looting habits.

The LEGO City Advent Calendar is especially sweet, as each cardboard cavity holds some little LEGO figure or item that you can put together after you pull that sucker out of its hole.  See?  The fun just keeps on giving with this thing!  You get more to do even after you’ve ripped the prize from its haven of darkness.

Okay, FINE – it does sound like you’re just doing a lot of work.  I knew you wouldn’t understand.

But my fellow LEGOsi’s get it… amirite?!

Here’s a picture of what we have so far.  Granted, I write these articles the night before I put them up on the site – that’s why you only see two of them freed from captivity so far.  Unfortunately, that means that you’re going to be left in suspense as to what today’s advent treasure was.  But, it could be worse – I could do these annually for you fine readers, opening one a day and providing a thrilling story to go along with each discovery, only to leave you all hanging right before the last three days because I got busy and completely disappeared from the site…

But, I mean, c’mon…. I’m not that cruel.

The Don would like to apologize to X-Entertainment.  Just some light-hearting ribbing… please don’t send the crabs after him!

Anyone who is a huge fan of Hallowe’en most likely knows the history behind the holiday.  Some of its background has roots in the end-of-summer festival known as Samhain (pronounced sow-ane or sow-in), a Celtic festival that celebrated the end of the “light half” of the year and the transition into the “dark half”.

Over the years, the pagan and Celtic aspects of All Hallows’ Even were gradually replaced by more Christianized elements, which caused the holiday to evolve into more like what is celebrated today.  Yet despite theses changes, the original Celtic, Pagan, and Wiccan aspects of what is now Hallowe’en have never really gone away.  Many people still recognize these facets of the ancient festival – and in many cases – still celebrate them.

This is especially true when it comes to modern fiction, especially in movies and television.  Shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer and movies like Halloween III: Season of the Witch incorporate the Celtic, Pagan, and/ or Wiccan practices into their Hallowe’en-themed plotlines.  One popular way in witch which this is done is by making Samhain a physical manifestation of the essence of Hallowe’en, imbuing him with supernatural power.  He often uses this power to protect and preserve the holiday.

Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I offer you my two favorite incarnations of this Spirit of Hallowe’en…

Sam, From the Film Trick ‘r Treat

In case you missed my review last week (of course you didn’t!), I really love this movie.  I just can’t shut up about it.  Seriously.  An instant Hallowe’en classic, this film follows five different, intersecting storylines in which characters break the traditions associated with the autumn holiday.

This is where Sam comes in.  Dressed in footie pajamas and wearing a burlap sack over his head, Sam looks like he might be just another trick-or-treater.  In reality, he’s the physical manifestation of Samhain, whose sole purpose is to punish everyone who breaks the “rules”.

And punish he does.  Like a pint-sized terror, Sam’s creepy, burlapped visage pops up frequently throughout the movie, doling out just desserts either directly or indirectly to each individual who fails to observe tradition.  Sam’s nocturnal activities, as well as his visual design, help propel him into immediate horror icon status alongside the greats like Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, and Michael Myers.  In fact, NECA had created an action figure of him long before the film had been released (shown above)!  Not bad for an entity whose reputation precedes him by several centuries.

Sam Hain, From “The Real Ghostbusters”

This version of the patron saint of All Hallows’ Eve proved to be one of the best “villains” of this popular, animated series, mainly due to the fact that his episodes were written by J. Michael Straczynski.  He showed up in two episodes of the original series, and then made a return performance in the “Ghostbusters Extreme” animated series.

This guy is quite the hellion – sinister, manipulative, powerful.  His position in the grand scheme of Hallowe’en differs from Sam’s in that instead of just wandering around castigating those who don’t follow the laws of the We’en, this ugly, red, source of all evil commanded an army of demonic minions.  His goal?  To cast the world into eternal Hallowe’en.  Quite a nefarious scheme (and all the Hallowe’en fans scream “yay!”).  The GBs were able to trap him, but it wouldn’t be long before he escaped from the containment unit, seized the firehouse and attempted to invoke his All Hallows’ Evils once again.  Even though he was defeated by the Ghostbusters a second time, this entity proved that he was not a force to be reckoned with.

This concludes my Hallowe’en series for yet another year.  But, don’t fret boils and ghouls.  There are still a couple of days left until dark half of the year is upon us.  Until then, grab yourself a hot beverage of choice, settle yourself in with your favorite scary movie (might I recommend Trick ‘r Treat?), get your costume ready, and have that bowl of candy set up for those little, monsterish hands that will be grabbing at will.

Oh, and don’t forget your Freddy standee…

The Don got a rock…

They are the essence of everything that is Spwug.  Without either of them, this site wouldn’t be here to bring you a daily dose of all things geek.

It was an honor and a privilege to witness the joining of these two forces of good.  They are my friends.  They are my family.  I am proud to be the head writer of something they envisioned, and I am proud to be a part of their lives.

My best wishes to both of you, Pocky Rich and Katy.  Here’s to bigger and greater things.  With your powers combined, anything is possible.