halloween candy anyone?

You see, this is the reason why I couldn't write professionally. I can't satisfy a deadline to save my neck. Once again, I am bringing you this candy review a litlle later than planned. Part of it has to do with my real job taking up a lot of my time, but a large portion of it has to do with my aversion to time constraints. I hate forcing myself to do something because I feel it effects quality. Then I have this major revelation that if our readers were looking for quality, they may look somewhere else. Having not set a high standard for you to gauge by, I essentially have helped myself out. With that in mind, lets get on with the weekly Halloween candy review. In an attempt to make up for my tardiness, I am reviewing two holiday candies in this post. A double whammy ,if you will. I've been running out of candy to review lately. I mean, there's plenty of it around ,but as you can tell from our previous Halloween candy reviews we only talk about unique or special items. Those items can be hard to find. Once again, I was saved by the local pharmacy. Pharmacies are always the best place to look for 'different' holiday candy. They tend to carry the fun stuff. This time around I found a deal on two items. With a price of two for $3.00, I couldn't turn it down. The items I found were 'Rattlin' Skull' and 'Coffin Candy Dig'. Distributed by Malibu Toys, these items focus on the packaging a little more than the contents. This isn't such a bad concept when working with such a young demographic as trick-or-treaters. Though I couldn't find an official website for Malibu toys, I was able to find a few write ups on the company. From what I can gather, their basic philosophy is to provide candy products with toy features. This causes a stiff price ($1.59 each) for the candy under review, but it also results in something worthwhile. When you finish that snack size snickers bar, you just throw the wrapper away. When a child finishes one of these products, there's still a toy left over.

The first item on deck is the 'Rattlin Skull'. As you can see in the picture, it's just a simple plastic skull. What makes it different is that there is a compartment shaped like the top half of a brain attached to the top. This 'brain box' is made of clear plastic allowing you to see the multi-colored candy inside. The candy compartment has to be removed in order to open it and get the candy out. The candy itself is nothing special. It's just a bunch of multicolored pieces of processed sugar that tastes like like a generic, non-tart Smarty.

The kids will enjoy candy as long as it's made of sugar and doesn't taste like turds. That's just a basic fact of life. What will make them like 'Rattlin Skull' is that it's also a toy. Now it's not the greatest toy in the world, but it's a toy nontheless. The 'Rattlin Skull' has a set of teeth which are attached to a string that is anchored within the skull. Pull the teeth out and let 'em go. The skull starts to convulse, so to speak. It's quite high powered and mine actually rattled it's way off of the table before I could catch it. When you do this with the 'brain box' and candy in it, there is an accompanying rattle to the shakes. We see where it gets it's name. It's not the greatest invention in toy history, but at least it gives you more than an empty wrapper.

Next on the list is the 'Coffin Candy Dig'. This little item was a little deceiving. I looked at it through the wrapper and assumed it was a Nerds rip-off packaged in a plastic coffin. I was right and wrong. As you can see, there is a plastic, yellow corpse in the coffin buried in specs of grey colored candy. Inside the package, you also get a cover to the coffin and a 'digging implement'. It's really not advisable to actually dig the candy out with the provided equipment. I tried this (in the name of science, of course) and only spilled it everywhere. Your kid's smaller fingers may be more adept at this, but it still has potential for a mess no matter what you do. The best way to eat it is to just spill a little into your hand and go the old-fashioned route. As I said before, I thought the candy would be a cheap Nerds rip-off. The shape and texture were a carbon copy but the size was a little smaller. The flavor was not what I expected at all. I expected it to taste like plain old specs of flavorless sugar. Much to my chagrin, it had a different kind of berry flavor. It was pretty good, actually. After eating the candy, my assistant and I discovered that the 'corpse' was loose and something underneath it was rattling. We removed the plastic body only to discover three peices of hard candy in the shaoe of bones. This wasn't listed on the wrapper so it was somewhat unexpected. It's not as much of a toy as the 'Rattlin Skull' but the 'Coffin Candy Dig' will hold it's own with the toddler set. I've watched my 4 year old play with an old bottle top and a paper clip before so I know he can do something with a plastic coffin.

In my humble opinion, I think my $3.00 was pretty well spent. I wouldn't go out and buy a ton of them to hand out on Halloween, but I might toss one into a bag or two. These are the type of items you get your own kids or that kid who shows up on Halloween in a costume they put some work into. I have really appreciated the effort put into Halloween this year by the retailers and manufacturers. I've noticed an improvement in products and display this year. It seems as though the spirit of Halloween might be making a come back. If that's something we like, we need to let them know by patronizing their stores and buying the new Halloween products. I'm not one to support over-commercialization, but these products are fun for the kids and being able to take mine to go look at and play with the new products is fun for me too. Let's let our local businesses know that we enjoy the Halloween spirit by picking up a 'Rattlin Skull' or two. Maybe we can help Halloween to make a come-back as one of the best holiday seasons. As far as the Shelf is concerned, we're already on it.


P.S.-
A week or so ago I was asking who this is in this comic strip with Miss grundy. So far, I've had no takers. It's still driving me nuts cause I still can't figure it out. Take another look and see if you can help.

Please feel free to comment if the need strikes you.




Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,Voices whisper in the trees, "Tonight is Halloween!"- - - Dexter Kozen