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For the last few months, there’s been a two-pronged teaser attack targeting Overwatch fans. Lego and Blizzard were teaming up on something… but what? In August, Blizzard offered up a clip of a […]

The post The First Lego Overwatch Set is a Limited Edition Buildable Bastion appeared first on Geek.com.

If 2015’s Goosebumps aimed to connect with more than just the generations of kids raised on R.L. Stine’s enormously popular book series, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween seems to narrow the scope of its appeal to target fans of that previous film, and their younger siblings. That’s not at all a bad thing—kids need scary, or “scary,” stories of their own, and Ari Sandel’s follow-up delivers plenty of startling surprises for family-friendly audiences. But the fact that Haunted Halloween is peculiarly disinterested in the events of the first Goosebumps film – except as a Google search result – makes it a fascinating curio as the franchise evolves, since its predecessor introduced the author as a character within its world, offering virtually limitless opportunities for creative crossovers even if the real Stine didn’t have literal volumes of great material for filmmakers to adapt.

Jeremy Ray Taylor (It: Chapter One) plays Sonny, a Nikola Tesla-obsessed nerd who reluctantly joins his pal Sam (Caleel Harris, Think Like A Man Too) for a business venture hauling away junk for the adults in their neighborhood. While digging though the remnants of an abandoned house, they discover a hidden room containing a manuscript by R.L. Stine (Jack Black, The House With A Clock In Its Walls) entitled “Haunted Halloween.” Unlocking the manuscript releases Slappy (Black again), a ventriloquist’s dummy with magical powers who announces plans to join Sonny’s family whether or not they want him to be a part of it.

When Slappy proves too mischievous for the two of them, Sonny and Sam enlist his sister Sarah (Madison Iseman, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) to rid themselves of the supernatural pest. But what happens instead is Slappy creates an army of minions made out of Halloween decorations to enact his fiendish plan, and they are forced to figure out a way to return the town to normal and return their diminutive foe to his prison inside Stine’s manuscript – if they can survive the onslaught of evil creatures Slappy has unleashed.

In a 2018 landscape littered with horror films from Hereditary to Halloween, Goosebumps 2’s scares are decidedly pint-sized – a poppy, all-ages tone enhanced by music that’s more Danny Elfman (who did the score for the first film, but not the second) than Bernard Herrmann. Still, they seemed to work on the kids in the audience when I saw the film, especially since Sandel keeps proceedings moving so quickly that even a quick turn of Slappy’s head can register as a surprise. But what’s less clear than how scary Slappy can be is exactly how much we’re meant to identify or sympathize with his motives, given that he supposedly “just wants a family of his own” after we saw him put Stine and the cast of the first film through their paces for no other reason than he’s a supernatural being who likes to cause trouble.

Even without being well-versed in Stine’s work, it feels like there are dozens of great creatures or concepts ready to be explored and expanded on the big screen. Other than his skeleton-key powers to manipulate people and objects at will and seemingly without rules, why Slappy again? And why not include the fictional Stine more? Black shows up only for a few short scenes, and more or less immediately acknowledges that these new kids have the situation well in hand. But in spite of that, the movie inexplicably repeats several key ideas from the previous one – including the premise that completing the unfinished story that set these events in motion will resolve them. And weirdly, it does so without any prior cast members other than Black, making this expanding mythology feel like a series of footnotes rather than new chapters.

At the same time, there’s a fascinating thread in this film about taking responsibility, both for yourself and for others, that it doesn’t tread too heavily upon but nevertheless leaves as an afterthought to Slappy’s Halloween-themed shenanigans. (Mind you, the events of the film feel like good examples where these hapless kids are not at fault for what’s going on, but it’s still a worthy note to end on, even if it’s more likely to be absorbed by adult chaperones than the kids they’re bringing to the theater.) Ultimately, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween is an energetic lark, a thrill ride that feels likely to entertain its target audience – but is it truly worthy of the author’s expansive bibliography, or merely a successful spin-off? Given the way the movie ends, the filmmakers seem confident that it will keep viewers coming back for more; but the one thing these films are determined to reiterate is that it can be really tough to predict how a story will end, especially when Stine isn’t involved enough.

3 out of 5

Images: Sony

Welcome to day 4 of Homemade Costume week. This bumblebee Halloween costume looks great in person, and could not be simpler to make. A black shirt, yellow duct tape, some pipe cleaners, and a pair of dollar store wings. You can make this no-sew bee costume in about 15 minutes.

Project Estimate:

• Black hooded sweatshirt, on hand
• Yellow duct tape, $3
• 2 yellow chenille stems, on hand
• 2 yellow pom-poms, on hand
• 1/4″ elastic, $1
• Hot glue gun and hot glue stick
• Pair of bee wings from dollar store, $1

Total: $5

To make a no-sew bee costume:

I originally made this costume for Kaboose.com, a site that closed down several years ago, and unfortunately, there is no longer an internet archive of the instructions, and my version of the instructions are long-lost on my old defunct computer.

Basically, add yellow duct tape stripes to a hoodie, then hot glue pom-poms to a couple of chenille stems, then duct tape them to the inside of the hood. Curl the stems around a pencil.

Add a pair of yellow dollar store fairy wings to complete the look.

My Design Process:

I don’t know if you folks care about seeing my sketches or not, but it amuses me, so I’ll just keep posting them. My original sketch was slightly more complicated than the costume ended up — I originally envisioned a black hoodie with a yellow t-shirt over it, but when I started making the costume, I eliminated the yellow t-shirt and just went with yellow duct tape stripes. I also called for the costume to be stuffed with grocery bags (to make it more round) but I decided the stuffing was unnecessary when I put it on my model (my 4 year-old).

My craft planning process is this:

• sketch the project and label what each part is
• think through the actual process of making it and what supplies I will need
• write down the process as I imagine it (so I have “instructions” to follow)
• then take a step back and see if there is anything I can eliminate in terms of supplies or extra work
• collect my supplies (from my stash, or shop for them)
• do the project and change something (usually!)
• make sure to photograph most of the steps so I can remember how I made it

How do you plan for your craft projects? Do you have a sketchbook?

The post Make a No-Sew Bumblebee Costume appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.

Let’s go out to the lobby and dress up like a snack! Your little movie-lover will be thrilled to wear this no-sew Popcorn Costume for Halloween. With a few clever materials, you’ll be able to make this no-sew costume in about an hour.

Materials:

Main Costume:

• ½ yard white felt
• 1 roll red duct tape
• 4 pieces of ribbon, each measuring 18-inches by ¾-inch (choose black, white, yellow or red)
• 1 package of 2-inch white pom-poms
• 1 package 1-inch white pom-poms
• 1 sheet yellow craft foam or felt
• 1 sheet red glitter craft foam or felt
• 1 yellow marker
• hot glue gun (adults ONLY)
• hot glue sticks
• scissors
• stapler
• staples
• ruler

Hat:

• 8-inch round piece of white felt
• 5-inch round piece of white felt
• 6-inch round piece of scrap cardboard
• 1 large white pom-pom
• 3 small white pom-poms
• elastic, ¼-inch wide (length depends on your child’s head size)

No-Sew Popcorn Costume Instructions:

Make the Popcorn Box:

1. To begin, lay the white felt flat and cut out 4 rectangles. Two of the rectangles should be sized 12-inches by 18-inches (these will be known as “the long pieces”) and 2 of the rectangles should be 5-inches by 13-inches (these will be known as “the short pieces”).

2. These 4 felt pieces will form the popcorn bucket. Arrange all 4 pieces in line on your work table. They should be arranged like so: long piece, short piece, long piece, short piece. It’s important that the bottom edges of the felt pieces are aligned so they form an even line, and there should be about ¼-inch gaps between each felt piece.

3. Use your red duct tape to tape across the bottom section where all the felt pieces align, so they are connected. Fold the tape over (horizontally) the other side of the felt, so no sticky parts of the tape are exposed. (This will be the bottom of your popcorn box.)

4. Run red duct tape between the felt panels (along the ¼-inch gaps between each piece of felt) to secure them together. Then flip the felt over and run tape between the felt panels on the other side, and press the two pieces of tap together where they touch in the gaps (this will allow the edges of the popcorn box to crease into the corners of the box).

5. Run red duct tape (folding it horizontally, so half covers one side of the felt and the other half covers the flip side of the felt) over the edges of the long pieces of felt past where they align with the short pieces so all edges are covered.

6. Now, all pieces of the white felt should be taped together and every edge of the white felt—except for the tops of each panel—should be covered with red duct tape. At the bottom, the felt pieces align evenly and at the top they are staggered, with the longer pieces taller than the shorter pieces.

7. Attach the felt panel on the right with the felt panel on the left with the red duct tape creating a loop of the felt fabric. Crease each corner (between each panel) so the felt piece is now the rectangular popcorn box. The long pieces are the front and the back of the costume, and the short pieces are the sides of the box.

8. Use the red duct tape to add vertical stripes to each panel of the costume. I added two stripes to the front and back panels of the costume, and one stripe to the side panels.

9. Staple 2 pieces of the ribbon to the front of the costume (staple each ribbon about 6″ from each edge, so they look like the ties on an apron), and staple 2 pieces of ribbon to the back of the costume.

10. Cover exposed staples at the top of the costume with two pieces of duct tape – one across the front of the costume and one across the back.

11. Cut a popcorn shape from the yellow piece of craft foam or felt.

12. Cut out letters that spell “POPCORN” from red glitter craft foam (or use pre-cut letters) and glue them onto the popcorn shape. Once dry, glue this to the front of the popcorn box.

13. Make popcorn pieces by gluing 2 small pom-poms together and then gluing these to a large pom-pom. Glue 1 more small pom-pom on the other side of the large pom-pom to form a popcorn kernel. If desired, color popcorn kernel lightly with the yellow marker (especially in the crevices where the pom-poms meet each other) to make the popcorn look buttery.

14. Glue popcorn kernels to the costume, or attach popcorn kernels to t-shirt with safety pins (or hot glue if you don’t intend to use the shirt again).

15. To wear, have your child stand inside the box and tie the ribbon over his shoulders.

Make the Popcorn Hat:

1. Crumple up the paper towel sheet and glue it to one side of the 6-inch cardboard circle. Then, turn the cardboard circle over, and put a line of hot glue around the outside of the cardboard circle, close to the edge. Fold the 8-inch felt circle over around the entire edge so it’s covering the side with paper towel (which will make the hat puff up on top) and is secured by the glue on the other side.

2. Measure the ¼-inch elastic all the way around your child’s head going under his chin. Cut the elastic so that it’s snug but not too tight. Glue raw edges of elastic flat to middle of cardboard circle (on the underside of the hat).

3. Glue the 5-inch round piece of felt over exposed the cardboard and elastic (on the underside of the hat).

4. Make another pom pom popcorn kernel by gluing 2 small pom-poms together and then gluing these to a large pom-pom. Glue 1 more small pom-pom on the other side of the large pom-pom to form the complete popcorn kernel. If desired, color popcorn kernel lightly with the yellow marker (especially in the crevices where the pom-poms meet each other) to make the popcorn look buttery.

5. Once dry, glue the popcorn kernel to the top of the hat. 

No Sew Costume Tips

What to wear underneath the popcorn costume: Wear neutral pants or leggings (black or white) or tights (black, white, red or striped) and black, white, or red shoes. Wear a black, white, or red turtleneck, long-sleeved shirt, or hooded sweatshirt underneath the popcorn bucket.

Popcorn treat buckets: Pick up a cardboard popcorn bucket next time you go to the movie theater and add a ribbon handle; or buy a plastic popcorn bucket at the dollar store and add a duct tape handle.

The post No-Sew Popcorn Costume Tutorial appeared first on Dollar Store Crafts.