Maybe you got him for Christmas sometime back in the ‘60s or ‘70s, like I did. First introduced in 1955, Willy was just a smiling clown-nosed bald guy who looked like he should be hanging out in some tough seaport dive bar. Iron filings were sealed under his plastic cover, and he came with a little magnetic wand so that you could, theoretically—if you were a more adroit kid than I, that is—direct the filings around to decorate his mug with all sorts of impressive facial hair, hats, etc.
My problem was always disengaging. I could corral the filings on to Willy’s chin in a passable approximation of a goatee, sort of, but as soon as I tried to draw the wand away from the plastic, the filings would chase it, leaving poor Willy looking like somebody had thrown the contents of a flower pot in his face.
Anyway, I was at a Michaels craft store the other day, and I came across a new series of Halloween-monster variations on Wooly Willy. Seized with nostalgia (plus they were only a buck each) I grabbed up one of each.
So…
Monster-of-the-Week: …our Halloween-week honoree is Willy’s vampiric cousin Thurston Bludd…
A reader recently suggested that, to make up for the short hiatus that Monster-of-the-Week took in September, I should pile up a few extra monsters at the end of October. So, here you go: may I present zombie Eaton Brains...
...cheery skull I. Sockets...
...and mummy Ben Toomd...
I’m not much better at styling them than I was forty-odd years ago, but I like their punning names. Although, come to think of it, wouldn't "Ben N. Toomd" have been better?
Anyway, a Happy Halloween to everybody!
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