Classic Hokey Halloween Horror: Pumpkin Cheesecake Creme Sandwich Cookies by Market Pantry

This review originally appeared on The Epic Review back in 2013!   

      These aren't overly terrifying, but they're pretty tasty and appropriately festive so on my last trip to Target to by Fruit Brute and spooky Jones Soda I picked these up. Two nights ago most of The Epic Review crew got together for a Halloween party. Not a Halloween party, like the holiday, but a Halloween party, as in we watched the 35th Anniversary edition of Halloween on Blu-ray. Amongst the delicious foods we partook in were Jones Red Licorice Soda, some delicious snacks made by Brad's mom, and these little Pumpkin Cheesecake sandwich cookies (these were my contribution). How'd they taste? We'll get there. First, let's look at the box! Nothing too special, just one simple fall leaf proclaiming these as "limited time only" and a picture of the cookies. I love how these are displayed with candy pumpkins and cinnamon sticks! Other than that fun little element, the box is actually dull. Really dull. Things get more exciting after the break, though...

Minifigure Review: Fish Robot from Imaginext Collectible Figures Series 11 by Fisher-Price

    It's time for a look at the third figure in the 11th series of Imaginext Collectible Figures and this one is definitely a strange one! Today we're checking out the Fish Robot, a figure that seems to be a goldfish of some sort (possibly evil) on top of a robot body. Imaginext offers some some pretty strangely awesome figures in the Imaginext Collectibles Figures series and the Fish Robot is definitely closer to the far end of the weird spectrum. Looking at this guy, I was reminded of two fish on top of some sort of robot bodies from my childhood: Bob the Killer Goldfish from Earthworm Jim and the motorcycle riding daredevil Fish from the Sweet Pickles series. I don't know where the exact inspiration for this crazy guy came from but I do like him. Oddly enough, though, he doesn't include any accessories. That's weird, right? He is the first figure in the series to not come with anything (the Muscle Men also don't have any accessories although you do get two of them in the pack). This is kind of an odd decision as I can think of a few cool extras that would have worked with the figure. Let's dive in and give the Fish Robot some attention after the break...

Classic Hokey Halloween Horror: Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin

This review originally appeared on The Epic Review back in 2013!


     The Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin is another Halloween candy that, like the Cadbury Scream Egg and the soon to be reviewed Halloween Peeps, has roots with an Easter candy. If you've ever had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, a Reese's Christmas Tree, or a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg, you know what to expect here. It's a chocolate covered peanut butter confection that looks vaguely like a pumpkin. Then again, it's a chocolate covered peanut butter confection that looks vaguely like a pumpkin!!! (See the excitement?!) When I think about Reese's cups and Halloween, I always think about the 90's commercial where we see a Reese's cup that has been attacked by a vampire. Remember it? Anyways, I guess at some point Reese's decided to fully connect their product with Halloween, so we get this spooky treat. The standard Reese's package is already orange, yellow, and brown, so it was already appropriately autumnal. Someone didn't have much work to do, so a simple yellow pumpkin outline and a smaller jack o' lantern was added. It's simple, but nothing terribly memorable when we live in a world where the M&Ms can dress like mummies and the Kool-Aid man happily dons a vampire cape (in years past the packages have been more exciting). We'll taste test this sucker after the break....

Action Figure Review: Tobias Beckett from Star Wars: The Black Series Phase III by Hasbro

    While we're almost two years out from the release of Rogue One we still don't have an action figure of Bodhi Rook yet, leaving our Rogue One crew incomplete. Fortunately, Hasbro doesn't seem like they're going to let the crew of the film Solo suffer the same fate as Tobias Beckett has arrived with Val and Rio Durant are the works (yeah, Korso is probably a long shot but I really can't even remember him from the film so I doubt most others do, too). While it is a bit odd that Hasbro is spacing the Solo figures out so much it is tough to argue that they're not putting tremendous effort into them. Tobias Beckett is another figure that uses the new faceprinting technology that Hasbro has introduced to the Black Series this year with great results. It makes for a really cool figure which is, I believe, the first official Woody Harrelson action figure (barring the Funko POP! Becketts and some unlicensed renditions of Harrelson's character Tallahassee from Zombieland). Sadly, Solo is one of the best Star Wars offerings we've had and yet folks largely seemed to ignore it even though it is filled with cool, underworld fringe characters, bounty hunters, and scoundrels. Let's take a look at this great action figure of Han's mentor after the break...

Classic Hokey Halloween Horror: Boo Berry Cereal

     This review originally appeared on The Epic Review back in 2013!

   Boo Berry cereal was definitely the monster cereal that I requested most often when I was a kid. There's just something about blue food that appeals to me. I think it's because there's nothing gross that's blue and so thus the color blue is always appealing. Green? Boogers. Red? Blood and gore. Brown? Feces. Black and white? Skunks. But blue? Nothing. It's just a pleasant and amazing color for food. The brighter the blue color, the better. In October of 1971 General Mills released the first two installments of their breakfast cereal masterpiece: Count Chocula and Franken Berry. Those guys are OK, but Boo Berry is where the real action is. Released in 1973, Boo Berry added a delightful blueberry flavor to the pantheon of breakfast foods.I just ate a full box of Boo Berry cereal last week and three bowls immediately prior to typing this review, so I'm ready to go. Let's get this review done before the sugar rushing through my veins makes me too crazy! Join me after the break, if you dare!!!

A New Batgirl Review: Batgirl from Batman Missions: TrueMoves by Mattel

    A month or so I was checking out She's Fantastic and discovered that the new Batman Missions series was releasing a 12 inch scaled Batgirl figure in their TrueMoves line.  Over the past 5 years or so Hasbro and Mattel have been releasing these inexpensive, 12 inch scaled action figures and they're really rather ho-hum to me: Decent character selection but limited articulation, questionable likenesses, and a very "flat" appearance. When I learned that a Batgirl was coming out, though, I was might tempted. At this point there is so much Batgirl stuff coming out that I just can't keep up, particularly due to the number of statues and other higher end items. I decided to go for this one though because she is only $10 dollars and I like how it represents Batgirl as one of the big guns worthy of being in this sort of line. These are called Batman Missions: TrueMoves with the TrueMoves name indicating that the articulation has been improved. These remind me quite a bit of the DC Super Hero Girls basic figures, which my 5 year old loves. I could see her possibly being interested in these to bolster her ranks of the girls. Let's check this version of Batgirl out to see how she fares...

Classic Hokey Halloween Horror: White Chocolate Candy Corn M&Ms

This review originally appeared on The Epic Review back in 2013!

    While making pumpkin flavored foods used to be all the rage during the Halloween season, now it seems that candy corn flavored foods are what's hip, cool, and funky fresh these days. Today I'm looking at one of these new kids on the block: White Chocolate Candy Corn M&M's.  Here's notable points that jump out at me from just looking at the bag:
1. The red M&M guy doesn't look too happy to be wearing that candy corn outfit. Oh! the humiliation.
2. Take note these are artificially flavored. I'm assuming this means that the candy company did not use actual candy corn to flavor these, so what exactly did they use?

Of course, that's just the colorful candy shell. If you want the rest of the article (the part that will melt in your hand) then you're going to have to read on after the break...