#rubber bugs

[karltface]

I placed an order.

My first package from the inimitable Rev Retch, what retches wretchedly and whatnot. @humansbgone if you're a YouTube person. There was a cockroach sticker on offer, and I used to have one as a pet, and of course I got the deluxe version.

Firstly, the point of the thing: Dr. Gregorsa, mid-lecture and captured in kiss-cut vinyl. Nice durable stuff. I've been enjoying his entomology refreshers. A string of grateful bee stickers was included. They will be gifted to the next beekeeper I buy from.

As promised, there are bugs. The ladybug reminds me strongly of my 70s jiggler, but is a smoky translucent black with some glitter. Fabulous. Glow Gryloblattid delights me to no end. Wasp and spider are a nice high mid, good filler on a shelf around the holidays. The ants are ants, although they have the unusual trait of looking skyward. This will mix well with my forward-facing ones.

This, I assume, is the promised "bug paraphernalia". All four have been earmarked for future projects, but for now.....

Gregorsa is teaching a public service course on the dangers of certain plants. Wasp has heard this one before, and is taking a snack break while precocious young Hector gets into another fine mess.

This one was apparently a limited run, but there's still plenty of fun to be had. They got opillione charms!

https://ko-fi.com/humansbgone/shop

[cicada-swarm]

fun fact! clowns are insects <3

[karltface]

Welp, I've been to the consignment shop again. At least I set a budget this time?

I love rubber bugs. The older, the better. But y'know what's never been that common? Lepidopterans. Well, someone ditched a toy butterfly collection, and here we go!

These fine specimens are roughly hand-sized, with two kinds of rubber in play: a softer one for the body, and a stiffer type for the wings. This has prevented the warping and wrinkles one would expect, although these look to be fairly recent, so time will tell.

Speaking thus, this poor fellow looks like he flew through a sprinkler. The caterpillar has a lovely swampy color scheme, but lacks eyes entirely.

Bonus points for the half-extended proboscis and painted underwings. This one's actually a finger puppet, or if you have some TF blast effects handy, Jet Butterfly!

Gallon bag of mixed cards, go! These swank Jaws 3D cards were worth the $4 alone. They do in fact look decent with the glasses on, and a couple are pretty intense.

Hey, Growing Pains! We get groan-worthy captions, trivia questions, and stickers. Not too bad, and they went the extra mile of using the actors' names here and there. Magnum P.I. is exactly what you'd expect: lots of action and buddy-cop humor. I came up short on both Burt Reynolds headshots, but I know there's at least one complete mustache in there, and that's what's important.

I'm sure these would go over better with the faculty than the kids, but here's some Civil War trading cards. The art is competent, it's got nice quick snippets of various engagements. I can't fault it, really.

Y'know what I can fault? The idea that there was crossover appeal with card collecting and soap operas. "The Look" had better look to make sure he can fit through doors with that hair. The presence of Billy Warlock can only do so much for these.

Bits and bobs are a small stack of sports cards, one from Charlie's Angels, a Chris O'Donnell film cel, Rey transfer, and a pack of Powercardz (the 90s!)

Some manner of TCG I've never heard of, it's apparently peppered with deep cuts from the Spawn mythos. Deep enough to include a little demon girl who belongs to.... Well, just read it. Stay classy, Image.

Well, that's that. Time to sort and file this mess.