What's Going On?!

 Another batch of random pictures I took while in Virginia on our Xmas "vacation".

While out doing some last-minute Xmas shopping in Pembroke Mall, we stumble across... a Halloween store? Huh? The cashier got a good laugh when my friend said "Whew! I thought Xmas was tomorrow! But it looks like I have plenty of time to shop since it's still Halloween-time! What a nightmare!"

To add to the strange-ness of the Halloween store, part of it was obviously being used for Santa visit photo ops. Or some kind of stage performance. Totally empty right now though, I guess Santa has to actually work on Xmas Eve.

That Grogu luggage is so cute! Also, you have to appreciate the enduring popularity of Elsa from Frozen. That movie came out so long ago, but she's still popular. Which is a rare thing these days if you stop and think about it.

How ridiculous was this pig monster on Power Rangers? It was easily the most-silly thing that show ever did, and they've done some pretty silly things.

I hope you didn't want any Hot Wheels for Christmas. Or... maybe this empty shelving means that indeed everybody WILL get a Hot Wheels for Christmas.

What's it called when you are supposed to root for the villains? I guess if all the players are villains, you gotta root for someone. What are they trying to teach kids here? I'm curious but also a little worried this might make me a bad pony.

Fascinating. Can you have an autobiography of a fictional character? Especially someone as complex as Mr. Spock. It seems like quite the impossible task, but give them credit for the attempt. I'm curious for sure.

That Harley Quinn over there is distracting, but I'm looking at that Dark Tower board game centerpiece. Have they ever re-done that in a more modern production? It seems like they should have. Maybe I could look it up to see if they did or not.

Spoiler alert? I'm covering up the name in this picture, but this is Moroha. Daughter of Kagome and InuYasha, in the sequel series Yashahime. She's like both of those characters at the same time. But honestly takes after her snarky yet charming father InuYasha more.

The other two main characters of Yashahime are Sesshomaru's two daughters Setsuna and Towa. They were seperated when they were super young, and due to time-travel shenanigans, Towa grew up in the modern era. But then gets back to feudal-era Japan for the show's typical demon hunting adventures.

The Neptunia series is video games with characters that vaguely represent actual gaming systems. This is Neptune from Zero Dimension, who is supposed to be based on a cancelled Sega Dreamcast successor console, the Sega Neptune. I've not played any of the games, but it's fun to have characters you can be a fan of just by what they are based off of. Did that make any sense?

Dungeons & Dragons trading card box from 1992! Still wrapped up, the price on it was $60, and it's 36 packs. That sounds like a great deal for an un-opened box of trading cards from 30 years ago. Would you dare open them? AHH!! Of course! Wait... can I look these up online somewhere instead? That way we could keep them wrapped up.

Looked up at the Antiques Mall and saw this old dog hanging around up there. You gotta say this all slow and thoughtful... He's seen some things.

Wow. You kids might not have been around for this, but this is what movie theater seats used to be like. And these look like they were "good" seats with plush cushions, a lot of them didn't have this much softness. No drink holders either! How did we live like this? Insanity!

Star Wars Insider magazine from before the "prequel" movies! That might be very entertaining to see what they had to say, knowing now what all happened in the future.

Crazy! Why don't I remember there being any Rambo action figures? We were huge Rambo fans.

There must be a lot of internal differences, because other than the color, and number, there doesn't look like there's many changes between the Cobra H.I.S.S., and the Cobra H.I.S.S. III (maybe the grill in the front?!) Also, there's only 25 tanks between #813 and #788. and they skipped H.I.S.S. II? How many of these things did G. I. Joe blow up? That math says its only 24, ...or as much as 1600 if all of the regular H.I.S.S. tanks plus 812 of the H.I.S.S. III's are gone... And that's not even including any H.I.S.S. II's! And yes, I'm aware I can over-think things sometimes.

Nearby there was a TV playing G. I. Joe episodes which is a brilliant sales tactic around all of these old figures. This was the episode where Cobra was making Serpentor. They lost Sun Tzu's DNA but were going to replace it with Seargent Slaughter's. That's so evil!

Behold, the plushie um... Beholder! And that Displacer Beast is so cute, too! Remember there was a time when parents were convinced D&D was "evil"? Hahaha. Look at this thing! It's not evil!

This character from Labyrinth has always given me deep thoughts. She carries around all of the things that she remembers and it's insane to see it in an antique store, just overwhelming with things you want to collect and carry around with you.

What a prophecy this ad turned out to be for Game of Thrones. "Everything you heard is true" huh? I heard they messed up the ending; so badly that it destroyed any lasting legacy the show could have had. That's what I heard...

Is that a screen shot of the Friday the 13th Nintendo game, autographed by the guy who played Jason?! I'm not a big horror movie fan, but I remember that game being a "sleeper hit" we enjoyed, so that's kinda neat. Next to it is actual Kathleen Turner signed Jessica Rabbit! Of course; she's not bad, she's just drawn that way.

How many Red Rider BB Guns do you think Peter Billingsly signed over the years? Imagine being him at a convention, with everybody rushing up to you holding a rifle. That's gotta be some kind of stress, you think?

This ancient Barber Pole was spinning in the store. What an interesting development, that this spinning thing has become a beacon of recognition, for something as ordinary as a haircut. I wonder what the history behind that is all about.

Oh wow! Fire-blast from the past. The Drachen Fire was a short-lived coaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. It was so terrible that they tore it down after only a few years of operation. I know, that sounds so crazy; to build a whole giant roller coaster, and it winds up being so bad you have to "erase" it. Also, my friend has one of those Big Bad Wolf plushies you can see down there. Now The Big Bad Wolf: that was a great ride.

I want my name on my uniform. What is it? Han. And your family name, who are your people? Nobody, just me. Hmm... Solo. That scene was supposed to be reflective and sad that Han Solo was all alone, but it wound up being just... silly. Is that the right word to use here?

Quick Robin! Use the Bat-Viewfinder! Holy 3D, Batman! This technology is amazing!

I'm reading the description of the poster here for this original Dracula movie, and it says this poster is recreated from the 1951 re-release of the 1931 film, using period-specific print methods. That's kind of neat, like, it could have been made back then, but was made now instead. Almost like this is... undead, somehow.

Thomas Gainsborough's "The Blue Boy" painting sold in 1921 London for $728,000, the highest price paid for a painting at that time. And here it is, for $18 in the Antique Mall. Don't worry, this is not the real one, that one is much larger. Still funny to think you'd find something like that, right?

I thought "stolen valor" was... a crime? Not-cool at the least. The whole point of a medal is that you earned it. I guess there might be somebody who lost one, they might need a replacement.

Check out all of the cool pop-culture designs on these pocket watches. Even though we all have a watch of-sorts already in our pockets, on our phones. Who wants to carry around another thing in their pocket? Another funny thing to notice about pocket watches, is that they are typically attached to chains, so they won't fall and break. But nobody ever has a chain for their cell phone, which is probably a lot more valuable than one of these watches.