31 Days of Horror 2021 Day 31 Escape the Undertaker

 

TITLE-Escape the Undertaker

SOURCE-Netflix

A few years back Netflix introduced interactive movies and episodes of tv shows to their streaming service. The best one ended up being the interactive episode of Black Mirror. I heard that WWE Studios was working with Netflix on something. Then 5 weeks ago learned it was a interactive movie. Figured what the hell give it a watch.

The 3 members of the New Day Stable(Big E,Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) are trying to get inside of Undertaker's home. To get the urn of power. While Taker for the first half sits at a table typing out commands on a keyboard looking like a version of Jigsaw that grew up in rural Texas.

Nothing super scary. Some ok creepy moments. There was some neat ways they used old match footage and made it work in this movie.

And then there is the interactive part. Mostly it has you choosing to follow a member of the New Day. Most of the choices that don't hinge around splitting up the members have an obvious choice that will end in death/end of movie. Pretty sure I got the best ending already after 3 playthrus. And it is decent. 

Hope there is more stuff like this with WWE and Netflix.

Escape the Undertaker gets a C+.

3 toys from the Junk Box 05/25/2015

Sorry it has been a bit since I  have done one of these. I was wanting to wait until I got 3 toys in. But looks like that will be at least a few more weeks. So since I can't sleep I wrote the following.

Got this Oliver Queen Green Arrow in a three pack. Along with Hal Jordan Green Lantern and Black Canary.I have always preferred the Mike Grell Arrow costume. Which is one reason why I wanted this figure. The bow he comes with looks really good. And the paint job is well done. The articulation is pretty good. Plus I couldn't pass up 3 figures for $8 IIRC.Just a few years ago most people that saw this figure had no idea who he was. Hell most of them thought he was Robin Hood. Now thanks to the CW hit Arrow people do seem to know who he is. Even if he looks nothing like the Arrow on the show.

A few years back I went to this great thrift store with my cousin. She was looking for cheap work clothes for her husband. I of course looked thru the books and then toys. Found a bag of random Happy Meal toys. I saw this figure and a stuffed Triple H toy. With the bag priced at 50 cents I grabbed it.I first saw the Disney animated film Robin Hood when I was 4. And it became my favorite Disney movie. Because my father is a bowhunter,I have always liked heroes that use bows.The paint on this is a bit scuffed up.Only articulation is his shoulders and neck. I love how they made his tail out of fur.

I got lucky and found this WWE Super Strikers Slam and Launch ring at Dirt Cheap. Normally this ring is 40 to 50 bucks. But thanks to Dirt Cheap I got it for around $8.The two corners with the silver posts are launch pads. You put your figure in front of the post. Slam your fist down on the silver button and they are launched way up in the air. The shit above the ring has a chair on it. If you hit the WWE symbol the chair is dropped into the ring. I do like how the shit above the ring can be removed easily.Now I just need to get some wrestling figures the right size for this ring.

As always no idea when the next of these will appear. But I hope yall enjoyed another post about toys from the junk box.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 056 DAMN! Why did I write this book

TITLE-Damn! Why did I write this book
AUTHOR-JTG
FORMAT-Ebook
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-$3

For those that don't know JTG is a wrestler that is best known for being under WWE contract for years and rarely appearing on TV. Just recently he wrote a short,about 60 pages,ebook. Full of stories about his time in the WWE.

It is obvious a few pages into the book that JTG doesn't want to go back to WWE.So unlike lots of wrestling bio books,he doesn't hold his tongue.

There is so many great stories in the book. Most of them about JTG's tag team partner Shad. My favorite is one about how Shad showed up for a show wearing a very nice suit. Shad and JTG run into Triple H,who is the bosses daughter. HHH makes a comment about Shad's nice suit. And Shad replies with "I am just wearing it to impress you!"

JTG also goes into detail about WWE's infamous wrestler's court. Where to settle various disputes,the wrestlers form their own judge and jury. I had already read a bit about wrestler's court in Hardcore Holly's book. But JTG goes into much more detail.

So if you are a fan of modern wrestling and want a cheap,fast and funny read grab a copy of this e-book.

Damn! Why did I write this book gets a 4.68 outta 5.

3 toys from the junk box 04/17/2015

We all remember the machines at the front of almost every store in the 70s and 80s. You threw in some change and got candy or even better a small toy.Now sure the prices of the stuff has went up. But so has the variety and quality of the toys. And Fred's in town has the best machines. There has been more than a few times I have stopped there just to use the machines. Hell I save up my quarters and hit it once a month at least. One time was in there and they had these great little Marvel Superhero toys. See Wolverine's head? It comes apart and that is where the rest of his body was stored. I think this was 50 cents. And really wish I had had more change on me that day.

Yeah I own an original She Ra.As a kid I hated this toyline.Mostly because when it started the cartoon replaced Masters of the Universe.Then years later I found one at a thrift store. Grabbed her to go on display with the handful of MOTU figures I had held onto. That is the figure pictured above. Had this one since sometime in the mid 90s. 96 I would guess. At one time I had found her sword at another store. But it got lost last time I moved. I really need to get a tiny brush and do something with her hair. But I know I would look dumb as fuck brushing out a 30 year old toys hair. For the time this was a pretty well made figure. The paintjob was good,as you can see mine has some scrapes.The sculpting is decent. And it's action feature,you pull her to one side and she punches,isn't bad.

I have been a Mark Henry fan since he first showed up in the WWF what close to 20 years ago. Got this Slam City toy in a two pack with Brock Lesnar and a chair. The paint and sculpting is well done. All the Slam City toys look great. His only articulation is at the shoulders. But like all other Slam City figures his arms are that stretchy rubber like stuff. I wish I could find another one. So I could add him to the dash of my car. I wonder if they made a Slam City Mark Henry in the penguin outfit he wore in the cartoon?

3 Toys from the junk box April 9th 2015 edition

Since I am getting so much feedback on these I got another one done quick.Also since someone asked,Yes all the pictures are of toys I own. And taken in various rooms of my house.

From the late 90s here is the Jakk's Pacific WWF bendie Hardcore Holly figure.I got a Stone Cold Steve Austin bendie figure from this line for years. Had it hanging from the rearview mirror in my car. Then ended up giving it to a buddy when he moved.

Last year a good friend in Cleveland told me he had grabbed me a small gift at a recent AIW show.He wouldn't tell me what it was,just that I would love it.

As anyone reading this knows I am a big wrestling fan. And one of my favorites is Hardcore Holly. Part of it is I got to meet him back when he first started wrestling. He worked as a welder on the gulf coast. And worked a few plant shutdowns with my father. So when the company they worked for had a company picnic my father told me I had to go. "Newt we got this guy named Robert who is training to be a wrestler." So I went and got to talk to Robert for a bit.

Fast forward 4 or 5 years and Hardcore appears in the WWF as Sparky Plugg. And quickly became one of my favorite wrestlers.

I had no idea Jakks had made a bendie of Holly. And since I got it I have kept him by my desktop computer. Some people have Norton or Macafee protecting their computer. I got Hardcore Holly and the next figure.

Anyone reading this,if you have any Hardcore Holly merch you want to get rid of leave a comment here.

From the old Playmates Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toyline here is Panda Khan.When this toyline first started I grabbed the four turtles and that was it.Then when I started hitting thrift stores in the early 90s I started grabbing any anthropolymorphic figure from the line.

I haven't read all of the Mirage TMNT stuff,but I have read most of it and Panda Khan never showed up. I must assume he was created for the cartoon.

He has really nice sculpting. The paint job is well done. And the articulation is really good.I like how the pieces of armor on his shoulders and legs is made from a semi flexible rubber. No clue what accessories came with him.The green sword holder on him,well I doubt it originally came with him.

I got this Panda,I had owned him years ago and sold him when I moved from MS to TX back in the mid 90s,at the annual Wesson outfoor swapmeet. One guy had boxes of toys. I found this and asked what he wanted. Since I was getting 4 figures he told me $2.

While I have never been a huge fan of the Transformers toylines,when I saw this lego like set I had to get it.

Pretty sure this is Terraking.He is in his dragon form. The toy is so great. Once you build it you can transform it by removing a few pieces and twisting some stuff around. Yes it is basically a Transformer you make outta lego like pieces that you can transform.

Seems these toys came out in 2012. Construct Bots is the line name. They each come in a resealable tray. Which is perfect for keeping the pieces and instructions in.

I found this one a few months back at Dirt Cheap. With the discount I think I paid $5. Which is a good price. Looking around online these were $15 to 20 each when they came out.

Since finding this one,I have found Blitzwing at my local Walmart. And he was $7.50. Expect him to show up in a future installment of Toys from the junk Box.

Well that wraps up this edition. As always no idea when the next one will pop up. Keep checking here for the next one.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 036 Death of WCW original edition

TITLE-Death of WCW
AUTHOR-R.D. Reynolds & Bryan Alvarez
FORMAT-Over sized trade paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$15

I first discovered the Wrestlecrap website about 3 weeks after it started. Yeah I was reading it back when it was R.D. and Merle writing the entries. And for many years every Friday when I got home first thing I would do is go read the new entries. So sometime in 2008 I ordered this book and the Wrestlecrap Book of Lists from Amazon.

As I said in the last paragraph R.D. is the owner of the Wrestlecrap website.And the other author is the lead writer of the Figure Four Weekly newsletter. Bryan Alvarez is a retired pro wrestler. Who  now works with the infamous Dave Meltzer on the Wrestling Observer newsletter,radio show and website.So this book has a nice mixture of wrestling insider knowledge combined with a fan's perspective.

The book covers the entire length of the existence of World Championship Wrestling.WCW started when Ted Turner bought up the old Jim Crockett Promotions. And ended in 2001 when Time Warner got tired of WCW losing piles of money. They cancelled the two WCW TV shows and a piece of wrestling history ended.

The book details all the stupid decisions the various people in charge of WCW made. Like how they paid the wrestler formerly known as Nails for over 3 years,when he only ever had one match in WCW. Or how WCW paid the band Kiss a huge amount of money to get them to perform at an episode of WCW Nitro. As part of this contract with Kiss,WCW created a wrestler based around the Kiss Demon. But in the late 90s WCW had a habit of paying various celebrities way too much money to wrestle. Like Dennis Rodman,who on one PPV showed up so messed up it looked like he passed out while waiting to be tagged into the match. Or the time WCW paid Jay Leno a huge amount of money. For him to do a tag team match at the annual Hog Wild/Road Wild PPV. A PPV that is held at the annual Black Hills Biker rally. A show that was free to see live. So not only did WCW drop huge money on Jay Leno,but it was also at a show where they made no money off the gate.

Now I have heard lots of criticism about this book. With one wrestling forum seeming to have an abnormal amount of hate for this book. Sure there are parts of the book where R.D. and Bryan make mistakes. But from reading posts about the book,you would think 90% of the book is wrong.

I do enjoy this book. Having had read this book at least 5 times. Just recently a 10th anniversary edition was released. I got a copy and read it. Nothing of importance was added to it. And to me it feels like a cash grab by R.D. & Bryan. The one thing that they added that stood out was an epilogue about TNA wrestling. And really this wasn't needed. No matter what lots of fans seem to think TNA has nothing to do with WCW. And really neither fed have much in common. Just because both are/were badly run doesn't mean they are the same.

Death of WCW gets a 3.15 outta 5.

31 days of horror Year 3 day 27

This was the first film from the WWE films division. And I figured it would be a total pile of shit so I avoided it for years. Then in 2008,I was on my way to work and wanted a cheap dvd to watch. Well this was in the $5 bin so I picked it up. Looked at the credits and realized that Greg Dark,who used to direct lots of porn films in the 80s,directed it.

The film stars WWE superstar Kane as Jacob Goodnight. He is a psycho who has a love for plucking out people's eyeballs. Well after a short prologue the film proper starts. A group of deliquent kids who are in juvie hall are going to help clean up a old hotel.They are being offered time off their sentances be going to help clean and fix up this old hotel. And quickly they find out that there is someone besides themselves there.

Well there is 8 kids and we get a good amount of kills. Kane makes a great slasher villain.Cause the guy is tall and very imposing. The gore effects are a ok combo of practical effects and CGI. And most of them work. The one kill that stands out the most to me is when this one annoying blonde chick is killed by Kane shoving a cellphone down her throat.

The DVD has a ok amount of extras. We get 2 commentaries. One has Kane and one of the executive producers. This isn't a bad commentary and Kane has plenty of fun stories to tell. The other one has Greg Dark and the writer Dan Madigan. This one isn't as good as the other one,but is still a fun listen. We get a making of featurette. And a shitpile of various WWE superstars talking about the film. On one of the commentaries someone mentions about wanting to do a sequel.Which I think it is a decent idea. But it has been 5 years and no sequel so far,so I doubt we will get one. See No Evil gets a B-.