Bogleech Halloween Classics:

THE BOGLIN SKULL

   On its own merits, this is a damn cool decoration; a bug-eyed, bleeding skull with visible brain tissue, hunks of meat clinging to its surface and a pair of big, floppy rubber monster arms. It lights up and emits your typical generic "ghost noises," but it's those arms that make it particularly fascinating, because while this items has no specific name or brand, those arms are actually borrowed directly from one of my favorite childhood toys:

   BOGLINS were a line of soft, rubbery monster puppets released in the mid 1980's by Mattel, and enjoyed a few solid years of success before fading to obscurity. Like many older toy lines, some or all of their factory molds may have been tossed in the dumpster or sold overseas, which is how these distinct arms must have managed to find a new purpose. They're even made of the exact same rubber, which is interesting, since Boglin rubber feels absolutely nothing like the rubber of any other toy I've encountered. They must have sold the "formula" along with the molds.

   I regrettably don't have a large Boglin on hand for comparison, but you can probably tell how easily this plastic skull would actually fit inside one. I can totally see this as a rotten, undead Boglin corpse, just as the product itself is essentially a resurrection of Boglin remains! Mine eventually stopped working, even with fresh batteries, but no biggie; I pulled out the gadgetry, and we're left with a neat hollow head you can stick on a bedpost or even use as a makeshift lampshade, until the stench of plastic fumes reminds you why lampshades are supposed to have better ventilation. Whoops!