I missed Hina Matsuri (Doll Festival) by one day, I couldn't think of anything new. That was until I came across my copy of (Universal) Monster Paper Dolls that I have had and never used.
If I were ambitious (and/or knew how to go about it), I'd put the following photos up as PDFs and offer them for sale on Etsy or something. As it stands, feel free to scam these photos that I shall now upload.
Choose Frankenstein's Monster or his Bride and there are many different scenarios in which you can dress them up.
Or similarly, you can utilize Count Dracula or the Wolfman as your template.
Several more backgrounds have been provided. Go for it, cut and paste to your heart's desire.
And a final setting for you.
Pretty cool artwork, you can thank Walter Velez for that.
Another book I unearthed can give me hours minutes of fun by moving stickers around.
Amazing what one can find when one tidies up. Since Bruce Campbell is undergoing treatment for a treatable cancer right now, this was a nice find indeed.
Happy Hina Matsuri, have fun with your paper dolls and Have a Nice Shopping!
Before I decided on daily Junji or Yokai entries, I had planned on adding covers of some of the comics I have at a friend's in Canada, on consignment or here with me now. BUT, I forgot to add a comic yesterday. So I revised yesterday's blog entry to include a comic and I found a new snake.
So without further ado, here are a couple of comics for your perusal.
Too bad, there's that nasty 7 encircled on the cover in ink. I gently scrubbed with an eraser. Meh. A little better.
These two comics are probably the oldest rarest ones I own.
So what's the deal with spooks today? I watched the first episode of Junji Ito Maniac: Tales of the Macabre. Not very spooky, but kooky and all together ooky. I detect a tribute to Charles Addams incarnation of his eponymous family. This wacky family conduct a séance to speak to their dear departed dad.
Here is the title card for the Netflix show.
"The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Seance"(The Strange Hikizuri Siblings: The Seance) Transliteration: "Kaiki hikizuri kyōdai: Kōreikai" (怪奇ひきずり兄弟・降霊会)
A photographer with an interest in spirits and ghosts pays a visit to the very strange and creepy home where the six Hikizuri siblings live. (Scammed from Wikipedia.)
Here is the manga where they first appeared.
I must say, the manga transfers to anime rather well. If you can track down the series, the episodes are only 22 minutes long, so easy to digest in small bites. If you can't, here is the author commenting on this episode. Lots of spoilers!! (Doesn't Mr. Ito bear a resemblance to the older son?)
Speaking of ghosts, here are some Gatcha with ghostly features.
For a Yokai, beware the Azuki Baba (Another BABA!). This old hag washes red azuki beans in the river while singing a ghastly song. Turn away once you hear it begin or she'll EAT you!
(Mwaa-haa-ha!)
I'm certain I could have dug through the archives for a more ghostly yokai, but I'm doing this alphabetically.
I don't really have a spooky treat handy, so how about some stickers? This shop exclusively sells stickers and there's a new statue in front of the entrance.
Click around at B-Side Label and you may find a sticker you like and they do do international shipping.
That's plenty for today's entry, I'll ask you to scoot over to another blogger's page, this time it's Deadpan Flook...
More comics and Junji and gatcha and yokai and other stuff tomorrow!
Too bad I have such a short entry for today. I watched Godzilla vs. Mothra earlier and now Mothra vs. Godzilla is on. (The former from '92, the latter from '64.) Here's a brief preview of Battrah in Battle.
I challenge you to figure out which is from 1964 and which from 1992. (A fairly easy task.)
Although King Ghidorah doesn't show up in either flick, here it is alongside Chibi-Mothra and Chibi-Gojira.
As an added bonus, here's a packet of stickers I acquired at some point.
That's it for tonight, I have a busy day tomorrow, though hopefully I'll have a big finale prepared.
ps. Can anyone decipher what I mean by this post's title?
Yeah, I've done the Mothra vs. Mother gag before, yet it never goes out of style in my mind. So here are a couple of pics of my stuffed Mothras.
This guy above is over 25 years old and was given to me by a neighbourhood Toy Store owner when I asked for some Kaiju goodies. He still does the roar and I uploaded a new YouTube Short which probably won't embed properly. So try this link. If not, here's a similar video from years gone by.
I'm not alone in this sentiment...
Here are some other Kaiju tidbits I've amassed of late.
My old Kong head has seen better days. It appears that the humidity has done a number on his leathery face and he almost made it to the trash. I'm going to keep him around a while longer though, we've been through too much together.
I recently bought a clear file of the latest SHIN team up. Feature Shin-Evangelion, Shin-Godzilla and Shin-Kamen Rider. It'd make quite the movie...
Well they have recently came out with some related snacks, a crispy senbei rice cracker with an accompanying glossy sticker. I've already received my first double.
Just for fun, here are a couple of Kaiju I scored around Christmas. I'd consider them infant versions so their moms are already in my collection.
The recently hatched eggshell diaper is a nice touch for Radon.
That's enough Kaiju-talk, here's an actual story of my mom. I'm afraid, I have to go with a rerun photo of her sitting astride Santa's lap in the early 90s. I was the Shoppers World Mall Santa way back then.
My mom was a pickler. She would buy cucumbers from the Farmer's Market in bulk and then bottle up about 50 jars-full. My younger brother and sometimes my sister and I would sneak down in the basement and steal a jar of pickles and consume them one after another while sitting upon our favourite hiding place, on top of the furnace. (It wasn't on.) While other kids would steal from cookie jars, we stole from pickle jars. Guaranteed, my mom would ask us to go grab a jar for dinner that evening after we'd chowed down earlier that afternoon. I'm fairly certain she knew what we were up to but never let on.
Added nostalgia bonus. My High School Chess team. We came second in North America! Though I'm the one holding the trophy, I was always on the bench and the others in this photo were on the actual team.
Before writing this, I watched The Mother. Jennifer Lopez is great, the daughter typically disobeys and puts herself in danger throughout the movie. Worth it though, just for the mom!
