Scare Flower

     Let me just flat out say that I have a problem and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

Okay you guys. I don't know about you but V's character in the V for Vendetta movie was hot and I don't care who agrees with me. There's this thing I have about taller men in masks that can kill me in one punch. Why? DUNNO.

No clue who they are or what they look like. But when they look super intimidating.... and then do super cute things like make breakfast in an apron for you or bring you flowers... I'm just sayin I fall in love a little bit. WHO DOESN'T?!


Let's begin with how I couldn't sleep for forever last night and so Fett --- wait;

Everyone meet Fett.

--and so Fett and I went for a drive. I've never really gone anywhere just for the sake of sight seeing or scenic stuff. He said he always goes on drives when he can't sleep, so we went! It was perfect because there was no traffic. But I guess there wouldn't be at 2 am. 

I didn't know there were so many pretty scenic areas! Kind of breathtaking!

Breakin' da rules.

Waiting until Sunrise would've taken too long so.

We went all over the place. 

I now know LA traffic's weakness... 3AM on a Monday night.

A few days ago we also went to lunch. 

School stuff, then lunch at a Thai place. I got the burrito because it was the obvious choice. Duh

Has anyone ever seen a pool with a waterfall in person? I thought those were a myth.

That is some straight up Legend shit. It lights up at night and has a heating thing that warms the water. And unicorns come and drink from it and there are sirens that aren't bitches, and water pokemon everywhere, it's ridiculous.

The last few days have been so unreal. I don't think I've ever before bugged my friends or co-workers with such stupid ass stories with such elation. Probably makes me a better story teller though. 

H A L L O W E E N    H O R R O R    N I G H T S

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Never been.

Lauren heavily suggested we go. She said it was a thing. A serious thing. She also used to work there as a Scare-actor back in 09 and told me a bunch of stories from her experiences there. It sounds awesome. I've been to City Walk, but never in the actual park before. My excitement was that of .... some hilarious analogy I can't come up with yet. 

You guys.

You do not understand. How happy I was. You just don't.

omg.

Okay. So. 

I've never experienced any sort of haunted house attraction thing, or scare thing, ever. Ever. So I didn't know what to expect, and a part of me thought it might be cheesy, at best. 

NOPE. 

We go in, and it looks like your usual busy avenue of shops and lots of people and big statues and stuff, all lit up at night. And then you hear the chainsaws.

And then you hear people screaming and hauling ass in all kinds of directions. And I'm like wtf, why!? And then this freaky looking dude with a mask comes charging at me like he's going to beat my ass and gets REAL close to my face and I lose my shit. It's the most excited I've ever felt! The combination of fear and elation-- together-- at the same time. It's just like AWW SHIT FUUU.... WEEE!! AGAIN AGAIN!!

Lauren was loling the whole time. She knew. I was clueless. She said they pick up on people who are vulnerable to the experience and ... go after them. I can confirm that. And it was awesome. 

Being surrounded by masked guys scaring the shit out of me? HOO LAWD

The first 'scare zone' that we saw was the one with the chainsaw guys (my favorite). They were doing a theme from The Purge. I have nothing to compare it to, so my immediate reaction to it was THIS IS AWESOME. Lauren said that the Klownz theme from last year was better. I believe her. 

The first thing we did once we got in was go to the Terror Tram. 

Now fair warning, I didn't take a lot of pictures. My phone wanted to die early, and it was dark. So expect to be reading a lot. So.

Anywho, the Terror Tram was really fun. It took us down to a back lot where we all got out and went through a Walking Dead themed maze. IT WAS AWESOME. Startled the crap out of me. Not gonna lie, I loved every second of attention these fictional characters gave me. I JUST WANNA BE STARTLED ALL THE TIME, YOU GUYS.

I never wanted it to end.

We went on the Simpsons ride too. It was one of those screen rides where you're stationary but the car moves around all crazy like, as if you're in the actual thing. It's great. 

The lines weren't horrible either because it was a Thursday night, and we went early enough to get in by the time the gates opened. We also went on El Cucuy. Another maze-- but themed after a Mexican version of the Boogeyman. Creepy shit. I loved it! Because.. you know. Burritos and such.

The transformers ride was awesome. One of my favs. It was another one of those screen rides, but was super awesome well done. Loooooves!

And then there was the Universal Monster remix ride which was cute. It was scary, but they had a DJ and a GoGo dancer in Frankenstein's room playing Dubstep so..... it didn't have the longest line.

We also went to see Chucky! He's an insult comic, just like the Friendly Stranger politician guy at the Purge scare zone. I loved it, lol. He told me to stop using Cool Aid on my hair :P

I'll have to consider this.

There were props from movies everrryyywhere. This one from The Thing. 

We went on the Mummy, which was fun, and pretty! And and and... I don't remember what else. I just know it was fun.

We kept going back to the main scare zone because where the Politician was staged... above him was an arch with flamethrowers. The night was chilly, and I was dumb and didn't bring a jacket. Warmth is good. Fire good. Also... the chainsaw guys. 

There was one point where the Politician had a bunch of the chainsaw guys come over to him and pick people out to come forward and question us. One of the chainsaw guys came over to Lauren and me and I didn't get it at first because he was signaling all weird like... but Lauren said he wanted me to step forward. 

Imagine my brain freaking out.

So I did. He asked me questions and gauged how useful I would be to society and whether I should just get killed or not :P

I went back to where I was standing. There was a huge crowd around him. 

Then a bunch of the chainsaw guys surrounded Lauren and me and started making motions at my face, trying to smudge my eyebrows. One in particular that stood out to me most held a fascination with me. He made it a point to make sure I knew he knew that I'm a noob.

At one point we went to the nearby stand to get hot chocolate and coffee to keep warm. They followed us there, teasingly motioning at my face and roaring their chainsaws up and down our frames and around our feet. Fucking intimidating as shit to me! lol

Lauren was enjoying the whole thing. I was enjoying it, but also was nervous. But also enjoyed it? lol

The chainsaw guy that stood out to me was super tall and would sometimes come up behind me and stick his hand in my face. Startled me every time. While we were at the stand.. he dissapeared for a second while his buddies were around us, then came back-- startling me again-- and handed me a flower. We bonded over our dreadlocks. Except his dreadlocks only made him look even more intimidating.

Source: jedimatt.smugmug.com

The fact that he ran away to get me a flower was the cutest fucking thing and my heart just melted and lol'd. Because he's this huge scary dude... that picked a flower. I dunno. Whatever. It was cute. 

He's sort of my favorite chainsaw guy ever.

There was this other one that was really sneaky. The way they stare at you dead in the face is really.... really.... just... uncomfortable. At least to me it is. You don't know what they look like! And the masks look creepy. So like... you don't know what they're thinking... and then they catch you in a gaze. I dunno. ANYWAY. 

We had din din. Lauren was telling me that her friend might be there too, but we didn't get to run into him, if he even was. BUT she did introduce me to the guy who runs the event, who was super nice. 

The night went on quickly, and I loved every moment the chainsaw guys shared with us. 

Before the event closed at 2AM, Lauren said that there was a thing that happens a quarter til that I may enjoy; the Chainsaw Brigade.

It's basically when all the chainsaw guys and government personel march down the main avenue and halt in a formation of 3 long rows. There's a commander at the front. And they all just stand there, all creepy like, as people weave through them on their way out of the park.

Lauren walked us over to the perfect spot to watch, just in front of one of the gift shops. 

By this time, my phone was long dead and I was sorry that I couldn't capture it. But someone else did.

At the commander's signal the chainsaw guys start up their saws and run rampant, charging people in all their overpowering and intimidating glory. I fucking loved it. So. Much. You guys.

My favorite chainsaw guy would run around us, and sneak up on me again and again and again.

There was a woman behind us in particular on the bench that was just started shitless. They circled her, and towered over her, lunging their saws at her and flailing wildly. She would shriek and cry out and curl up in response--- it was definitely a sight to see. They kept doing that to her and we would watch and laugh, lol.

Here's a video someone took showing exactly what happens during the Chainsaw Brigade. Consequentially, it features Mr. Flower. :)
He pops up at around 58 seconds, and can see much of him for the majority of the video. He really goes all out, and that's one of the reasons I liked him so much! It's so fun!! The cutest part is when he headbangs. He did that a lot. People are like wtf is this crazy fucker doing at me??

During the Chainsaw event... he startled me one last time, in the fashion that he adopted, and gave me another flower before they all round up again in formation, and marched back into the park. 

We left the park in higher spirits, and very sore from a long evening of walking. But we had turkey leg, and got scared many times, and enjoyed the warmth of the flamethowers in great company.

It was such an awesome evening, that we went back. LOL.

The last time we went (Thursday) we went on basically all of the rides save for 3 of the mazes that had ginormous lines; Walking Dead, Insidious, and Black Sabbath. Those were our first priorities as soon as we got into the park. 



We arrived a little earlier this time. It was still super crowded busy. This was Sunday night.

My Madoka bag got the attention of two Madoka Magica fans while we were there. They were very glad to hear that Kyoko's voice actress was there, too. It was great seeing their reactions! :D

The mazes we were after were at the back lots. We walked by the movie lots, which were massive. Kind of amazed. Not gonna lie. 

The Walking Dead maze was my favorite out of the 3. You could tell they put a lot into it.

This was outside the maze, while waiting in line. 

This is the most I could capture inside. It was really dark!

We went to Insidious before this one, which was really cool. It's the longest one there. Creepy shit. Then after TWD we headed over to Black Sabbath 3D. It was all neon and day glow and creepy and stuff. Looks cool with the 3D glasses they give you. I also saw a former co-worker while waiting in line. 

Afterwards we went to get dinner and sat out by the main scare zone. I was hoping to see Mr. Flower again, not gonna lie. He wasn't around, but his friends from the other night were. They recognized us. :)

Lauren had a friend that she was going to meet with that works there at the park. Her friend was bringing her mother along to show her the attractions. So once we filled our bellies we walked over to the nearby El Cucuy maze and waited for them to arrive. Fortunately we were able to get ahead of the line and go right in. I felt bad, but... it does beat waiting in line =\

The best part was the end. It was a big group of us, and one of the women in the group was behind me. She was SO SCARED. She grabbed me as she shrieked her brains out going through one of the rooms. I could only laugh and tell her it was okay, lol. As we were headed out towards the exit, little did we know there was a Klown there, ready to startle us shitless. 

HE DID.

And the woman behind me LOST IT. It was the funniest fucking thing ever. And.

The Klownz were walking around aimlessly, scaring people. But there were so many people walking around that you didn't notice some of them until they were RIGHT. THERE. staring at you.

She was a prime target, poor thing. 

We watched the other guests exiting El Cucuy out into the street, silently cheering on the Klown biding his time with his scare tools. It was awesome. At one point a 'brother' comes out and exclaims "OH SHIT" as the Klown's timing nails it perfectly, and hauls ass across the zone to the other side. Lauren and I laughing hysterically at his misfortune. We parted ways with the group shortly thereafter, and headed to go watch Chucky's insult comedy act again. He wasn't on at that point, but one of the scareactors walking around in that zone creepin on us discreetly whispered to us that he'd be on in half an hour. We thanked him and headed over to the main scare zone with the Politician and the flamethrowers.

This was my attempt at getting a picture with him.

There are two politicians that rotate turns.

When this one comes out, I feel like he draws a crowd more. 

So he was there, and more people came over, and more chainsaw guys started showing up.

Lauren and I kept out eye out for Mr. Flower. 

No luck.

Then... 

At the other side of the arch, behind his stage, I thought I saw him walking around but I wasn't sure if it was him or not. 

I remember a chainsaw guy walking by over there, glancing in our direction, pausing, staring, then stalking away. I think that was him. It was cute the way he did it, so it probably was.

shortly after

a gloved hand was popped in front of my face from above. 

Startled me into a squeee. I didn't move, and excitedly looked directly up, hoping, to see his masked face staring down at me all creepy like, dreadlocks dangling a few inches away from my face.

:)

I turned around and hugged him! hahaha

Hopefully that doesn't get him in trouble, as you're not supposed to touch them, or them touch you. 

But I was so excited to see him again and coupled with the fact that he remembered me, and picked another flower for me... YOU GUYS. How could I not? 

We hung out there for a bit until it was time to go see Chucky. When he walked by us again, we looked to him and said we'd be right back. He stared intently and nodded an "okay" before we left. 

^_______________^

Chucky was awesome. 

Picked on us again, and many other people. Apparently at one point they had to put a stop to him because people complained that he had gone too far. But they brought him back! I can see why some people would get offended. But... that's what he does! WTF did you expect? 

The Politician does the same thing. I couldn't believe some of the things he was saying, but it was pretty awesome. The Chucky audience had a really good attitude about it for the most part. 

The way he talks about Tiffany is kind of cute. Kind of. 

We went back to the main scare zone and stood by the flame thrower some more. Mr. Flower showed up again, lunging himself in front of me while another chainsaw guy was circling us. ^__^

He's so taaaaalll, lol I love it. Looking up at him was super intimidating. Kind of like when I looked up at Jack and just ... blacked out. In my mind. 

We walked around some more and got on the Simpsons ride again, and the Transformers ride too! It was colder that night than on Thursday night, so we hung around the Flamethrower a little more this time around. When 1AM hit we were trying to see what other attraction we could do before the brigade started, but the lines were soooo long. We weren't sure if we would be back in time. The shortest line was El Cucuy. So we decided to give it a go. It was 1:43 by the time we got close to the entrance of the actual maze, and Lauren said the brigade would start before we got out. So we split the line and started making our way over there. She was right. They were marching behind us getting ready to get into position! Looking back at them as we walked to our spot was neat. Imagine this formation of dudes with chainsaws walking behind you slowly getting faster in pace. Soooooo fun! 

And then the brigade started again. 

Mr. Flowers again made it a point to visit as much as he could, while still terrorizing the other guests. It was awesome. The other sneaky one kept scoring scare points. They're really good... you have to wonder how long they've been doing this. I'd look in one direction for like... 5 seconds... then turn my head and BOOM. They're standing there with their face like 2 inches away, or their chainsaw is in your face. Or they charge you. Or idek. But it's great. 

Before the last round up for them to march back, Mr. Flower charged at me and motioned his hand toward my face as if going to touch me, and did that creepy intimidating stare thing. All I could do was smile up at him. 

I didn't capture this image or the others of Mr. Flower. Just found them by browsing the good ol internets! 

They were definitely my favorite part. And I want to thank Lauren for suggesting we come here. I am now a fan of Halloween Horror Nights. I think I even prefer this to Disneyland's Halloween Town thing :P

There's only one more weekend left for HHN. I wish I could go, but ... these events are not free! haha

Extra money made it possible for that impromptu second visit, but no more, sadly. I will miss Mr. Flower and his kitty-stalky like ways of approaching and startling me. 

I wish I could've gotten a picture with him, only my phone was long dead. 

But there's always next year! 

To top things off, the Vault Boy commission I did for my boss's wife was posted on Reddit, which led some people to me asking about order one for themselves. 

It's time I start enjoying life to the fullest, finally! And I am ^_^

The ending of the year has been so incredible. With the exception of the not-so-good news from home (which I'm sure will be just fine-- it has to be), I couldn't ask for more. I am blessed, and thankful, and fortunate, and just... yay. Yay! :)