Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We here at Toyriffic hope you get tons of candy and NO ROCKS!

BONUS TREATS: My intern insisted on adding some other toys to my ghost shot line-up:

Ghosts and a Velociraptor, because all dinosaurs are dead so they would naturally be ghosts by this point in history.

Ghosts and a puppy! Because even restless souls love puppies.

Ghosts and a pig! Wasn't there something about a pig ghost in Amytiville Horror?

Have a ghostly Halloween!

Imaginext Series 5 Ghost

At first blush, the Imaginext blind bag series 5 ghost is a little dull. I mean, he's a white sheet. Yipee. He doesn't even come with an additional accessory like most other blind bagged figures. But then you discover his sheet glows in the dark, and that's a handful of points right there because glowing toys are awesome. Also, if you look closely at his 'face' he kind of looks like ghostface from Scream. I'm pretty sure that's intentional, since Fisher-Price could have just as easily left the face flat and lacking in detail.

And then you remove the sheet...

... the ghost is suddenly a ghostly translucent green skeleton and YOU KNOW YOU WANT THIS GUY! He's suddenly TWO awesome toys in one! My only gripe is that the sheet doesn't stand on it's own which would have made for a literal double-whammy.

Imaginext has released many skeletons over the years, but this is the first Kryptonite skeleton! he reminds me of Blight from Batman Beyond, and makes an incredibly versatile addition to any Imaginext sub-theme.

Even though the ghost sheet doesn't stand on it's own, it is a solid sculpt and can still pass as a ghostly apparition on it's own. It will also fit over many standard Imaginext figures. So you can consider this figure a 'two-in-one' if you wish, but even if he's just a one-in-one he's awesome and how can you possibly pass him up?

Here are the codes for Series 5, which is most likely a Wal-Mart exclusive wave:

63 - Chinese Warrior
66 - Genie
65 - Fly-Man
68 - Crash Test Dummy
70 - Cyclops
71 - Warrior Queen
74 - Werewolf
75 - Ghost

Dead Knight! LEGO Ghost Knight Minifigure :: Countdown to Halloween 2014

This Black Knight LEGO armor belonged to one of the past minifigure blind bagged series (I don't recall which.) I gave him a skeleton head and WHAMMO! Spooky ghost Knight!

I also gave him a black jousting lance. And a sword. MORE SPOOKY!

Wanna Play?! LEGO Ghoul Girl Series 12 Minifigure :: Countdown to Halloween 2014

LEGO blind bagged minifigures Series 12 are hitting the shelves this month, and while I think series 12 is one of the least inspired waves of all, there is at least one gem in the bunch.

That gem is this little ghost girl right here, and she's just in time for Halloween!

Wednesday Addams? Emily Strange? The Nate the Great character 'Rosamond' whom the creators of Emily Strange blatantly ripped-off? The girl from The Ring? Lydia Deetz?

Obviously this ghostly school-girl is no one specific, but was inspired by a concept deeply ingrained in our pop-culture psyche: the mysterious, very prim, cute in a murderous sort of way Goth girl who may or may not be dead/evil/a witch/a ghost/1,000 years old. Whoever she is, she's wonderful. I would put her in the top five of LEGO's entire 12 series blind bag run!

Ghoul Girl comes with a little matching bear (who seems to have lost one of his button eyes. 'Will you help me find it?' may be heard in the middle of the night, echoing from some-no-where like a breathless whisper), a cloth skirt (which are generally a pain, I'd prefer it be painted on, but it's cute on Wednesday here) and a more rubberized hairpiece instead of the general LEGO plastic.

Sadly she does not glow in the dark, which is a massive missed opportunity. But I absolutely love her black/white/grey color scheme. She looks like she stepped right out of a black and white movie or tv show!

Lego Haunted Cemetery :: Countdown to Halloween 2013

Another Halloween themed Lego diorama! This one is less busy and more direct than my sincere pumpkin patch.

I might add some more monster elements, I considered a werewolf chasing someone across the cemetery, or maybe a vampire/coffin combo in the mausoleum, but for now I am happy with the ghost haunting the mausoleum and the zombie rising from the dead! I suppose part of the charm of this diorama is that I can alter it in a few different ways with relative ease. It's the diorama that keeps on giving!

The zombie came from last year's Halloween polybagged set that included a coffin car, with the hairpiece from the Highlander blind bagged minifigure.

The ghost is also from a Halloween polybagged set that came out last year and included a grandfather clock.

The rest of this stuff comes from our mishmash of Lego pieces collected from years of gathering them together from all sorts of sources.

In addition to, and probably moreso than the challenge of building stuff around here is the challenge of keeping it all in one piece, thanks to my intern!

Whoooooooooooo!

My intern, I said!

Lego OG (Original Ghost) :: Countdown to Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween eve! Only one more fright-night to go before the big dark day!

Today's treat is the original Lego ghost minifigure. He's much happier than the new Monster Fighters ghost minifigure!

Probably because he is unencumbered by the weight of his sins. He also lacks the tapering hood of the new ghost.

'Shall we daahnce?'

Original ghost's 'sheet' piece is also a little more translucent than the new dead kid on the block. But they both glow just fine!

Boo! (that means 'Yay!' in ghost-ese.)

Lego Monster Fighters Ghost Polybag :: Countdown to Halloween 2012

This Monster Fighters Ghost Lego minifigure set was popping up at Target last month; not sure if at press time this is still available on the shelves, but if so, go get one!

My first thought when I saw this set was that the Grandfather Clock would be great for use as a secret entrance for a custom Lego Batcave. I've done so and will post about it after Halloween.

The ghost's 'sheet' piece glows in the dark, which is just awesome.

The ghost comes with a 'ball and chain,' but how his wife became thus enchanted I do not know. HAW HAW!

Rose Art Color Blanks Ghost :: Countdown to Halloween 2012

Target has three new Halloween themed Rose Art Color Blank vinyl figures in their Halloween section this year. A Ghost, a Frankenstein's Monster and a Pumpkinhead (what, no Bat?!?!)

These things are great, I got my daughter a few last Halloween and Christmas. This year I picked up the Ghost to give her on Halloween:

If she asks me to decorate it, I'm going to make him into a Pac-Man ghost! Or I might try to get back to Target and grab myself one.I doubt they'll last long enough to be part of the after Halloween clearance, so if I were you I wouldn't wait!

The figures come with markers and stickers and retails for $3.99 if I remember correctly.

These are a lot of fun, I recommend them highly!

All treat: no tricks!

Bone Beast :: Countdown to Halloween 2012

Welcome to Countdown to Halloween 2012! In short, check out Toyriffic every day in October for another Halloween themed post as we count down to the big night itself, October 31st aka Halloween! For a longer explanation of what the hell is going on around here, check out this post. And be sure to check out all the groovy ghoulie contributors at the official Countdown to Halloween website.

Now on with the show!

Today we take a look at this spooky-cycle chillingly called the Bone Beast!

Bone Beast is a Hot Wheels Thundercycle from 2004. Interestingly, nowhere on Bone Beast does it say 'Bone Beast.' That was the name given this ride on the packaging however. On the cycle it is called 'Cybertooth II' and I have no idea why it was changed between casting and packaging, but there you have it.

This cycle is a bit larger and bulkier than the recent Batcycle and others in current Hot Wheels motorcycle releases; in fact it is probably from the first iteration of this concept/design. Like the Batcycle, it fits and rolls along standard Hot Wheels orange track. Unlike the Batcycle, Bone Beast has four smaller wheels on the side and undercarriage to help it glide along the track, similar to how a log plume ride is designed in order to scoot around corners.

Bone Beast appears to be a motorcycle crossed with a Rattlesnake skeleton. SPOOKY! But what makes Bone Beast particularly paranormal is that it includes a translucent ghost-like phantasmagorical rider...with a glow in the dark skeleton inside him!

Actually just the pelvis, ribcage and skull, but it does give off a very haunting effect when racing in the dark!

My Bone Beast has blue wheels; I have seen it appear more commonly with translucent purple wheels. Bone Beast is a fun toy that I've had since I found it on the pegs back in 2004. A skeleton-ghost riding a skeleton-cycle ...what's not to love?

Tune in tomorrow for more fearsome fun!