NECA - General Thread

[Misfit]

Blow molds have made a nostalgic comeback as well, though often in a mini form. I was tempted by a Grinch one last year and absolutely picked up a Cornholio one for my son for Valentine's Day.

 

[TheGillMan]

The crappiness is part of the appeal. I have friends that are really into old Xmas blow molds. I am jealous of their collections. I have 2 minor ones. Part of their appeal is their “bad taste” and questionable execution as well . That aesthetic pleasure is very similar. Hell it’s part of the appeal of comics. They are a “low” art form. Halloween chocolate isn’t good chocolate. Corn dogs and Captain Crunch are wonderful in their awfulness. The mismatched Ben Cooper Spider-Man is an aesthetic delight.

I have a friend with some vintage Halloween blow molds, and they immediately give me happy nostalgic vibes!

That said yeah I didn’t like wearing them as a kid either for all the reasons listed. I wanted to BE the character I was pretending to be for Halloween not wear his iconography. I was lucky; my mom helped. I was also creative and I would do work too. I loved Dracula so that’s who I was quite a lot. It was the early 70s. The idea that I could have had a comic accurate Spider-Man costume was just so beyond the expectations of Halloween in the 1970s. As I branched out as I was a little older; I was able to do the majority of the work except ask my mom to break out her sewing machine for an hour or so.

As soon as I was old enough to start putting together my own costumes I did so. Like you, the idea was always to disappear into the character. When I got into High School I had friends who could sew, so that helped a lot.

As I’ve brought up here a few times as some people might remember; I’m into Halloween. I take days off work. Decorate the hell out of my yard. Usually have a big party (night of Halloween; none of this Sat night before BS) I am way over generous with candy. Ben Cooper costumes used to be the low effort kid costume. Low effort on part of the parents. Often bc they are overworked, underpaid and pressed for time but want to do something for their kids. There’s still plenty of that. It used to bug me when kids had next to no costume trick or treating a long time ago. Then it became so obvious they wore what they could at no fault to anyone. Here have a freaking whole handful of candy. As long as my yard haunt made their little brother freak out a little I’m golden.

I'm a Halloween fanatic myself. I've been a home haunter for years, and go all out as well. I had to scale back quite a bit when I moved into a townhome, as my yard is now the size of a postage stamp, but I still do as much as I possibly can to make my house spooky, and the neighborhood kids (and many adults) seem to love it.

I also give candy to anyone who comes to my door, no matter their age or how much of a costume they have on. I'll never understand people who get pissy because they think a kid is "too old" to be out trick-or-treating. Just be happy they are doing this instead of engaging in destructive antics. Hell, even kids who are a bit rude will get something if they come to my door...though it may be a piece of that rock hard gum that loses its flavor by the time it's soft enough to chew. That's rare though, as most ToTs are wonderful, and just having fun.

 

[cmoney]

I say I like Halloween, but it's really more horror movies than anything and I was always a monster kid. We had a number of these costumes when I was a kid, and until adulthood it never really occurred to me just how tight my parents perceived their money to be in those years. I've never thought of them as some sort of corner we had to cut or anything like that. But I'm also not so nostalgic for them that I've been collecting these figures.

 

[PanchaMaestro]

Yeah one of my blow mold collecting friends does Halloween and Xmas as well. He’s way into Halloween too. My friend group goes to his uber decorated house weekend before Halloween for movie night and my house Halloween night. Half of my parties are just close friends the other half big parties with tons of friends, neighbors coworkers.

My main issue with blowmolds is storage. Part of their appeal is how lame most inflatables are; though those store so much easier. If used sparingly and very selectively they can be effective.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

My main issue with blowmolds is storage. Part of their appeal is how lame most inflatables are; though those store so much easier. If used sparingly and very selectively they can be effective.

If I had a garage, I'd have 20 blow molds. I hate the styrofoam headstones they sell now. Let me buy something that'll last until long after I'm dead. As an aside, I bought these headstones off of Etsy last year. They're great.

I'm not into inflatables because I'm a cheapskate (who wants to pay for the electricity?) and I have an irrational fear of starting an outdoor electrical fire.

 

[Ultra Seven]

I'm not into inflatables because I'm a cheapskate (who wants to pay for the electricity?) and I have an irrational fear of starting an outdoor electrical fire.

There's also just something vaguely depressing about a lawn full of deflated inflatables during the day. They look like when the police have to shoot a runaway Macy's balloon. Or a beached whale.

 

[joshsquash729]

There's also just something vaguely depressing about a lawn full of deflated inflatables during the day. They look like when the police have to shoot a runaway Macy's balloon. Or a beached whale.

One time, I saw a deflated Santa lawn decoration that was draped over the person's front steps so that he looked exactly like those old anti-drug commercials. I know it's none of my business what Santa does in his off-time, but I guess I was hoping his cheeks were just naturally rosy, not from the drugs. But I guess it explains how he travels so fast in one night.

 

[secondwhiteline]

There's a house near me whose yard has over 100 inflatables for Halloween, and it's pretty impressive at that scale, but otherwise, yeah, the inflatables are pretty boring. And cheap-looking and modern in a way I don't really like.

Meanwhile, every picture I take of my parents' super-cheap displays looks like the hazy childhood memories of someone even older than me.

Spoiler: Or possibly the Are You Afraid of the Dark? opening.

 

[TheGillMan]

There's a house near me whose yard has over 100 inflatables for Halloween, and it's pretty impressive at that scale, but otherwise, yeah, the inflatables are pretty boring. And cheap-looking and modern in a way I don't really like.

Meanwhile, every picture I take of my parents' super-cheap displays looks like the hazy childhood memories of someone even older than me.

Spoiler: Or possibly the Are You Afraid of the Dark? opening.

I absolutely love displays like that! Something that evokes Halloween from decades ago I'm always a sucker for.