Face Your Fears

For some reason, I kind of want to punch Sid & Marty Krofft in the face for this, even though I know it's not their fault. I know they didn't make this mask. Hell, they probably don't even know it exists. And yet...and yet this gives off such Land of the Lost vibes that I feel as though they're personally responsible for it having been birthed from the ether. It just has that stupid goddamn look on its face that screams "I'm a puppet on a cheaply produced yet incredibly influential kids show from the 70s!" and it makes my blood boil. Somebody needs to wipe this fucking smirk off this dinosaurs face. All joking aside, I actually love this mask. In fact, this might be one of my favorites in recent memory. I've always been a sucker for the weirder creatures; deep sea animals, insects, dinosaurs, those kinds of things. So whenever they're utilized in a creative manner, such as this, I can't help but love it even if it looks like he's about ...

Normally when picking masks for this blog, I would only choose things that feature the mask proper. Occasionally I'll come across one that shows the mask being utilized outside of just general photos, and I'll usually save those for the Round Ups, but this is an instance where I'm willing to break my own rules. There's just something absolutely spectacular about these photos, and the mask is a big part of why. I'll also usually avoid masks that are fairly standard and generic, such as witches, goblins, werewolves, etc, and trolls are no different. They're such a standard amongst the monsters and mask design that I simply refuse to really cover them, often because they're also not ever really done uniquely. But this set of photos, and the mask to boot, proved me wrong. Grandpa Troll here is enjoying a nice summer day on his wicker chair, watching his hideous troll grandchildren play in the yard. I think a big part of what makes this whole thing work is simply...

"Mom, this year for Halloween, I wanna be zombie Christopher Lloyd!" Well, this mask is certainly the one to use if that's what you're aiming for. And what a delightful mask it isn't, isn't it? Everything about this guy puts you in a good mood when you see him. He's just got an infectious grin (and it likely is infectious, considering how long he's been dead for, please don't let him actually bite you) that you just can't help but appreciate, and those bugging piercing blue eyes that seem to say, "Trust me, I'm not undead, seriously, I won't hurt you, just come stand over here unarmed for a moment and I'll prove it." Sure, his pallor is your standard generic grey/blue mixture, which is certainly nothing new, but it could be worse, and the veins thrown on for good measure, while, again, not expertly made in any sense of the word, are a nice touch at least. In all honesty, it isn't exactly the most original mask. Lord kn...

You want a cartoon witch personified in rubber mask form? Ask and you shall receive! Actually, if we're being totally honest, this thing looks a lot like The Old Witch horror host that EC comics used in their horror comics back in the 50s and 60s, almost to a tee. Right down to the ragged hood, the maddening grin, the plump eyeballs (and it just occurred to me that I may be the first person to ever write the phrase 'plump eyeballs' and since doing so I hope to god I'm the last because boy is that an uncomfortable combination of words) and the white straggly hair. Like a demented grandmother hell bent on murdering and then cooking her own grandchildren, this ugly bitch is certainly a mask with attitude, and I love that. I'm not sure if the eyes glow proper, or they're simply an extremely shiny shade of orange, but either way I think it's a fantastic addition to the overall design and I can't get enough of it, even if one of them is seemingly popping right...

Often, when I'm doing my general search through eBay for new masks to cover on this blog, I'll run across something that really shouldn't exist for any real good reason. Usually I simply ignore these and continue scrolling, but I think at this point it's time to talk about what a prevalent issue this has become in the mask world, because my god is it overwhelming me. I've dubbed these types of masks The Masked Terror, and, unfortunately, they are not a badass vigilante group fighting the injustice of the government. Instead, they're merely a collection of masks that terrify and confuse the hell out of us all, and I don't think I should have to suffer alone with this anymore, so I'm taking you with me. Think of this as a sort of "Vintage Mask Roundup" or that one post I did about all the variants of horse masks ( "The Necessary To Cry Coral" ), because it's obviously not a normal post where I just focus on one mask, but instead a s...

Look, sometimes a title is too good to pass up, okay? Sometimes you just have to do something for the joke. And the moment I saw this high-ass Frankenstein's Monster, I knew that was what I was going to do. I'm nothing if not willing to commit to bits. This isn't the first Frankenstein's Monster type mask to wind up on this blog, but it's definitely the one that most fits the criteria of what a Frankenstein's Monster should be or is what we would easily recognize as one. But, just because he fits neatly into a little easily categorized box doesn't mean he's not worth talking about! I mean, just look at him, he's well sculpted, well colored and high as fuck dude. Seriously though, the colors and sculpting on this thing are tremendous. The wrinkles, the various linework, the little pimples, the faded bloody scar over his lips and the smear of blood along his scalp, his smokey eyes with that bright yellow color, all matched with that tinted green/grey m...

If I had to pick something that looked like it ate nightmares and shat fear, I think I'd pick this damn thing. I mean, just look at this guy. The level of detail only lends credence to his terrifying demeanor. This looks like the sort of thing that would show up at the foot of your bed to suck your soul out of your nose in the dead of night. Some sort of hybrid between a bug eyed insect and some sort of alien, The Nightmare Eater is an absolutely masterful piece of work in mask creation. Let's talk about his primary features first, shall we? Those eyes are obviously what you're instantly drawn to, and it's understandable why. Like gazing into Disco Balls of doom, they're hypnotic and otherworldly. Bubbled and smooth, they look as if just catching even a remote glance of them would kill you on the spot. What really sets his eyes aflame, however, are the perfectly manufactured creases in what I can only call his brow area. The lines that were sculpted around the eye a...

And so it was that Stephen Merks awoke one morning, weary eyed and depressed as usual, knowing he was going to have to drag himself back to a job that he hated that barely paid enough, only to discover, when he went to brush his teeth in the bathroom mirror, that his reflection showed something wholly unexpected. Rats! Rats living in his head! Two rats, specifically, whom he'd later come to name Matilda & The Boss, nested in one of his eye sockets and his brain. And as Stephen stood there, pondering his newfound companionship, realizing his life had just taken a sudden and confusing turn for the strange and unusual, he couldn't help but think to himself, "...fucking Mondays, man." Have you ever been in Stephen's situation? Have you ever woken up, tired of life, exhausted at imagining your ho-hum dreary life day in day out, only to discover you too have rats living inside of your head, eating you from the inside out? If so, then this is the blog post for you! T...

There's exists a fine line between art and chaos, and when those two intersect, occasionally they create a magnificent thing. This is not one of those things. This is, however, magnificent in its own right for a lot of strange reasons which we'll get into immediately. Aside from what looks like The Incredible Hulk's grape flavored cousin bursting out of the computer screen, this thing raises so many questions, but the first and most important one is obviously...does this even qualify as a mask? There's certain masks that often aren't actually masks, and I feel like this one here is a pretty spotty example of that. To me, a mask is a face that goes over your own face, and while there is a face here, albeit one popping out from the world wide web probably trying to tell you about ALL THESE GREAT DEALS, it isn't really technically a "face". And I can hear someone arguing, "Well, Cyborgs would count, right? Robots would count, right? So why doesn'...

 It isn't enough that he's balding, it isn't enough that he's gone gangrene but now, on top of everything else in his life, Harold's sneezed his eyes right out of their sockets. Now he's got to hold them with his hands and point them at something if he ever wants to see it, and now only is that - I'm certain - somewhat offputting for anyone in his immediate vicinity, but also it just sounds incredibly frustrating. Just imagine standing a in a crowded bustling superstore, simply trying to hold your eyeballs steady between your index finger and your thumb long enough to see what kind of poptarts they have available, while everyone keeps bumping into you and not even recognizing that you're having trouble just doing the slightest simplest thing they all take for granted. Rude, honestly. This mask is really great, honestly. The colors are vibrant as hell and really work together nicely, and I think a good reason for that is because the red veiny bits that th...