el Dia de los Muertos

I have a LOT of pictures and videos to trudge through from Saturday's and Sunday's parties so rather than doing that, I have sat on my butt all evening instead. BUT I have a day off tomorrow so hopefully I'll get my act together then. I also have about 400 kids' drawings from one school to scrutinize and put a sticker upon them. I'll be very choosy about which ones I share. Although, here is the highlights of pics from my other schools.

I kept it simple with my Grade 4 classes and just asked them to draw a Jack o' Lantern on a pumpkin template. 

This gal went above and beyond the call of duty and drew the most adorable cosplaying cat ever!

On the reverse of the picture, they can draw any Halloween scene they wish. In the interim, I was taking photos with a half dozen kids at a time, dressed in the innumerable costumes I provided. 

At the cinema, I picked up an interesting flyer for a forthcoming movie. 

Feel free to print this picture off and you can colour it in yourself.

Sayonara, Tyranno!

Here is a remnant from my Halloween posts that I couldn't squeeze into a regular post. Some Crypto-currency.

I'm only UMA I'm missing is the Yeti. I'll keep an eye out for it in the secondary market.

Anyway, enough for tonight, here is what I wore for the kiddies today. About one kid in each class yelled out "Remember Me" which is the Japanese title for Coco.

ChupaChupsChupacabra.

I snagged some UMA Gatchas today and they are sweet.

From L to R, we have the　チュパカブラ (Chupacabra from Puerto Rico), モスマン (Mothman from West Virginia), ビッグフット (Bigfoot or Sasquatch) and a ふらっとうっずもんすたー(the Flatwoods Monster also from West Virginia). Alas, my favourite the ツチノコ (Tsuchinoko from Western Japan) eludes me.

Legend says that if you suck to the centre of this candy, you will reach a Chupacabra. (Note: I may have made this one up.) 

This brings us to some Mexican Yokai today. Such as the オーガ (Auger, above) and シンナテテオ (Shinnateteo, below). The Auger changes colour like a chameleon and lives in the Mexican Sea. The Shinnateteo is also known as Papichin and said to be the Yokai of a woman who died in childbirth.

The  ヨナルテパズトーリ  (Yohualtepoztli) or Night Axe makes the sound of a chopping wood and if you hear it, you will soon become sick and die. 

I picked up a bucket of Twisted Wonderland, just to see what was inside. 

It really is Twisted, there's no Alice anywhere to be seen. Inside is a bag of Caramel Popcorn and of  Honeycorn and a wee bag of  Cider Ramune. 

I'm not sure what hijinks I'll get up to tomorrow, but I am running out of Yokai...

Mr. Big Stuff.

Today was payday and what better way to blow a few bucks than winning a few GotG goodies. Groot and the gang were tough to catch yet I still managed to wrangle a set.

These particular crane games make it tough to grab your prize, it took me several tries to land just a single one. The arm of the crane would pick it up and then drop it, again and again. I had to have the staff re-position them several times and even then they were elusive. After a couple of dozen tries, I landed my full set!

I've placed these guys on my dashboard in such a way so they won't block my view while driving. It is the first pimping of my ride to date.

Btw, the GotG gang are featured in a twitter campaign and the top prize is this dancing Groot. Alas, I have never tweeted nor twittered and have no desire to start doing so thus this prize shall remain unsought.

The above guys were difficult to wrangle though another crane game places older prizes in a single bin and the arms on this game are programmed to actually pick up the desired item. It costs 200 yen per attempt but I usually grab my quarry in a single try. This is what I landed today.
A cushy Chupacabra pillow. (Click that link or this one for more examples of Chupacabra.)

I also grabbed two Fantastic Beasts mufflers (I asked two different staff to position the prizes, I didn't want to appear greedy).

I was going to give them away as presents yet this is rather cozy so I think I'll keep it.

Speaking of Fantastic Beasts, I acquired this platypus-like Niffler several weeks ago. She even has a little pouch in front.

Last week was a first for me. I landed two prizes in one shot. I don't really want the dog but I did desire the Stay Puft Man.

Since I was on a roll, I decided to grab this giant Daruma ball as well.

I won this Spidey and IronMan a while ago and I see that there are a few more in one of the more difficult bins. I'll wait until they land in this easy bin and grab them for friends.

  

Now that Guardians release is on the horizon, I'm hoping there'll be lots more prizes for me to win!

Here's an extended preview for your purview.

Merry Chupacabra!

Way back in October, I discovered Chupacabra have taken over Japan and were Halloweenized. Now they've been Christmastized!

I rather like this look for Santa-Chup. (If and when I ever trim my tree, guess who'll be the star.)

This little guy makes a great stocking stuffer.

But he looks a little peckish. Perhaps if I gave him his favourite dish, sheep!

 Let me gift wrap it first.

There, Merry Christmas, Chupacabra!

Beware The Chupacabra!

Since I didn't grow up in Central America, I was unfamiliar with the legend of El Chupacabra until I saw the X-Files episode, El Mundo Gira. As portrayed in this picture, the razor spikes and tendency to chow down on goats is what makes this cryptid so popular.

Here's a snippet from the aforementioned X-Files episode, your typical Monster of the Week show.

Not such a cute portrayal is it?

Japan's version is of course far cuter and is less canine and more chiropteran. The J-Poppers, Arc de Ciel, spawned the group, Hyde, which spawned VAMPS who popularized the Vampiric Chupacabra.  I'm having a hard time finding an actual song with the Chupa, maybe you'll have better luck.



Ah, that's better. Here is Hyde's Halloween Party:



My first introduction to the Chupacabra was via UFO Catcher and of course, I had to win one or two. Initial attempts were wrought with naught but I eventually nabbed one ready to suck your goat's blood and one having a nap.

The next time I saw them was in a smaller version that also came with a terrified goat!

You can buy some Chupa-goods at the Vamprose Store. You can also check out the Vamps group and dozens other at a massive Halloween Party.

Fortunately, my hunt for the elusive Chupacabra was not in vain for it can be found in various guises. Two  pirate versions, one holding a pumpkin, a hipster and appropriately enough, a vampire.

Since Halloween is almost over (when it comes to merchandising, that is), the Santa -version is not far away!

I have a couple of doubles of the smaller ones and if you ask really nicely, I might send you one. Unfortunately, I'm a little strapped for cash of late, so you may have to wait a while.