My scheduling has been a bit shitty the last few days. I was late putting up yesterdays post and I think the one the day before. I’m furiously typing this to try and get it out before 12AM (it’s currently 23.28AM). I had some technical problems with the site yesterday, and today we decided to watch the 1990 version of Stephen King’s ‘It’, not realising that it was over three hours long. It was an enjoyable flick though it did have a few flaws, with the running time being the biggest I think. I know it was originally a miniseries, but I think I would have preferred it episodically, instead of a hugely long movie where not a great deal happens in some parts.

Anyway!

Exactly one year ago today I looked at a few toys from Vivid Imaginations ‘Pocket Shockers’ line. I have a lot of appreciation for Pocket Shockers, and think it’s a damn shame they didn’t get much of a release. To my knowledge they were only available in the UK, but they might have made it to Europe.

These are the sets I will be looking at today.

 

If you looked at my previous entry on Pocket Shockers, you might remember that the toy gimmick is based on magnets, and moving a lever around will make the little figures dance around and stuff. Well nothing’s really changed with any of the sets I’m covering now, but they’re still interesting enough I don’t mind covering more of them. Anyway, here’s the first one.

 

Hot Coals

 

 

I’m not hugely impressed with this one. It doesn’t really move around much when you move the lever underneath the platform, however the toes tap and the bone moves up and down a little bit. With it being hot coals and a foot, you think it would be dancing around all over the place, but unfortunately not.

A Frankenstein’s monster foot is interesting though, so although this is not my favourite of the Pocket Shockers sets I own, it’s not terrible. The next one is much better though.

 

 

Demons Trap

 

 

I’m guessing this might be the reason that these toys weren’t released in America. Christian author (and massive delusional twat) Phil Phillips wrote “Turmoil in the Toy Box” back in the eighties and came up with all kinds of bullshit attacking He-man, Care Bears and Smurfs (that apparently represent undead corpses!), so he would have had an absolute field day if things like this ever made it Stateside. It’s a little red demon, with trident that moves about inside of a magic circle (though it isn’t actually a pentacle like you would usually see in a horror movie). Next to the circle is a black cat that looks like it’s reading from a book of shadows. The demon dances around when you move the lever under the platform. I love this little set and actually have another carded one so if anyone wants one, leave a comment.

Oh, and I may look at Phil Phillips and some of his absurd crap in the future, as some of his claims were just too damn laughable. But for now, the third and final Pocket Shocker, and this one’s a little bit bigger.

 

Cobra Combat

 

 

Not exactly as traditionally ‘horror’ as Satanic circles or undead creature limbs, this one is more about fears I think, with the figures being a rat and and a snake, two creatures that many people have phobias of.

Unlike the other two sets, this one doesn’t have a lever to make the magnets move, instead there is a little wind-up dial that you can give a twist, which will make the rat move about in a circle. The cobra is not removable from the base which is a bit of a shame, but the reason for that is that he built into it, and pushing down on the lever will make him jolt forward like he’s attacking his prey.

 

 

It’s kinda interesting I guess, but it’s not exactly ‘combat’ like the name of the set suggests. It’s more about a snake just attacking a rat. The rat can’t fight back so there isn’t much combat. I would have liked a kind of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots kinda thing, where you and someone else could have fought each other, but with a spooky or gory theme.

There was also a knight and dragon set like this, where I assume the knight would just get killed by the dragon, which I would probably appreciate a whole lot more, just because dragons are generally more impressive than snakes.

 

Anyway, that wraps up this Halloween Countdown post, and regretfully I have just missed the 12AM deadline, so this post is now late. Apart from the places in the world where it’s still yesterday, so I won’t fret too much.

Come back tomorrow for more!