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Artist Spotlight

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Ruth Lucas — Classic Pinup Influence, Colored-Pencil Elegance, and a Style All Her Own

September 21, 2026September 21, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff0 comment

Ruth Lucas creates the kind of artwork that rewards a second look. At first glance, her work immediately calls back to the golden tradition of pinup illustration—the glamour, confidence, expressive posing, and larger-than-life personalities associated with artists such as Olivia De Berardinis, Alberto Vargas, Gil Elvgren, and George Petty. Look closer, however, and what emerges is an artist who is not simply recreating that tradition, but actively reshaping it through her own voice. Lucas works primarily in colored pencil, building her images through multiple light layers that give the finished…

The Rainbow Berry Smelling Case of Strawberry Shortcake V Rainbow Brite

September 20, 2026September 20, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff1980s animated specials, 1980s cartoon nostalgia, 1980s toy rivalry, Kenner Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Mattel Rainbow Brite dolls, Rainbow Brite history, retro toy collecting, Strawberry Shortcake history, Strawberry Shortcake vs Rainbow Brite, vintage girls toys0 comment

By R.A. Rayne Move over, Harding-Kerrigan, Perry-Swift, Jem-Barbie. The biggest female celebrity rivalry started in the greeting card industry. This all started way back in 1972, when American Greetings published a Laurel Valentine’s Day card created by Barbi Sargent. The first image, titled Girl with a Daisy (Strawberry Girl), showed her holding a daisy and wearing an orange hat with a strawberry pattern. The card was a big hit, so popular that Rex Conners, the staff art director at American Greetings, asked Sargent to create more cards featuring the girl…

BATMAN DAY 2026: 87 Years Later, the Dark Knight Still Owns the Night

September 19, 2026September 19, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff#BatmanDay #BatmanDay2026 #Batman #DarkKnight #BruceWayne #DCComics #GothamCity #Batman89 #BatmanTheAnimatedSeries #ComicBooks0 comment

Batman of Two Worlds is the centerpiece of Batman Day 2026. Image: DC. There are superheroes, there are pop-culture icons—and then there is Batman. Today, September 19, 2026, is Batman Day, DC’s worldwide celebration of the Caped Crusader. Comic shops, collectors, readers, gamers and generations of fans are once again gathering around one of the most recognizable fictional characters ever created. This year’s festivities arrive 87 years after Batman first emerged from the shadows, yet somehow the Dark Knight feels every bit as relevant as he ever has. Batman first…

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

ROCKSTEADY AND BEBOP O-RING FIGURE PRE-ORDERS LIVE!

September 18, 2026September 18, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff1987 TMNT cartoon toys, Bebop and Rocksteady action figures, ReAction Plus TMNT wave 2, retro TMNT figures, Super7 ReAction Plus, Super7 TMNT pre-order, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collectibles, TMNT Bebop figure, TMNT Rocksteady figure, TMNT villain collectibles0 comment

Super7 is bringing the chaos of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon straight to collectors with new ReAction+ figures of Bebop and Rocksteady. These retro-inspired 4-inch figures capture two of Shredder’s most unforgettable mutant henchmen with classic animated styling, multiple points of articulation, and character-specific accessories that make them a must-have for TMNT fans. Whether you’re building out a vintage-inspired display or adding more villains to your shelf, these pre-orders are a fun blast of Turtle nostalgia. Well, well. Look who’s here. (Snort!) Catch Bepob as a ReAction+ Figure!…

Put Down That Bag of Bricks

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair Staffaction figure community, collector mental health, Destro Designs, Destro G.I. Joe, Destro Is My Spirit Animal, friendship and mental health, G.I. Joe collectors, Mark Fogarty, men talking about mental health, mental health awareness, nostalgia community, online collector community, toy collecting community, Toy Collector Community, Viper Den Studios1 Comment

By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios My brother Mark Fogarty dropped a video today chronicling the story of how his channel became Destro Is My Spirit Animal. It’s a very personal, revealing story, and I give him a ton of props for having the courage to share it. And here’s why. In this incredible community we have on Twitter, one of the things that makes us so cohesive—and makes this such a great place to be—is that openness is rewarded with positivity and encouragement. It’s a huge thing in…

When the Cameras Stopped: How Crissy Moran Walked Away From Porn, Found Christ, and Made Her Past a Mission

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair StaffChristian redemption stories, Crissy Moran, Crissy Moran Christian testimony, Crissy Moran porn industry, Crissy Moran Treasures ministry, Crissy Outlaw, former porn star finds Christ, porn industry testimony, pornography and Christianity, women leaving the porn industry0 comment

There was a time when Crissy Moran’s face was part of an industry built to make people look larger than life. Beginning in 1999, Moran entered adult entertainment through the internet, initially posting ordinary modeling photographs online while looking for paid work. According to her later account to Christianity Today, offers for nude modeling soon followed. She initially refused them. After a painful breakup, however, she accepted one—and what began as modeling rapidly became something much larger. Moran eventually worked across several corners of the adult-entertainment business. She modeled, appeared…

Speedy Gonzales at 71: Celebrating the Fastest Mouse in All Mexico

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff1950s cartoons, Classic animation, classic cartoons, fastest mouse in Mexico, Friz Freleng, Looney Tunes, Looney Tunes history, Mel Blanc, Merrie Melodies, Robert McKimson, Speedy Gonzales, Speedy Gonzales 1955, Speedy Gonzales 71st anniversary, Speedy Gonzales birthday, Speedy Gonzales cartoons, Speedy Gonzales history, Speedy Gonzales legacy, Sylvester the Cat, Warner Bros Animation, Warner Bros cartoons0 comment

On September 17, 1955, a tiny mouse in an oversized yellow sombrero raced onto movie screens and straight into animation history. Seventy-one years later, Speedy Gonzales remains one of the most instantly recognizable characters to emerge from the golden age of Warner Bros. animation. Although September 17 marks the anniversary of the Speedy audiences recognize today, his story actually began two years earlier. Before He Was an Icon Speedy’s earliest incarnation appeared in the Merrie Melodies short Cat-Tails for Two, released August 29, 1953 and directed by Robert McKimson. That…

IACON CITY - The Transformers Forum

September 17, 1984: The Day The Transformers Changed Pop Culture Forever

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff1980s cartoons, Autobots, Decepticons, G1 Transformers, Megatron, More Than Meets the Eye 1984, Optimus Prime, The Transformers 42nd Anniversary, The Transformers G1, Transformers 1984 Cartoon, Transformers 42 Years, Transformers Anniversary 2026, Transformers Cartoon Anniversary, Transformers Generation One, Transformers nostalgia, Transformers September 17 19840 comment

On September 17, 1984, American television audiences were introduced to a war that had already raged for millions of years. Its combatants were not human. They were enormous, sentient machines from the distant planet Cybertron—warriors capable of disguising themselves as automobiles, aircraft, weapons and other machines. On one side stood the Autobots, led by the principled and commanding Optimus Prime. On the other were the Decepticons, ruled by the ruthless Megatron. The first episode was called “More Than Meets the Eye, Part 1,” and few titles in television history have…

September 17, 1951: Cassandra Peterson at 75 — The Woman, the Wit and the Wickedly Sexy Legacy of Elvira

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair StaffCassandra Peterson, Cassandra Peterson 75th Birthday, Cassandra Peterson Biography, Elvira 1980s, Elvira 75th Birthday, Elvira Horror Icon, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Elvira Mistress of the Dark 1988, Elvira Movie Macabre, Queen of Halloween0 comment

For more than four decades, she has appeared every autumn like a glamorous emissary from some wonderfully inappropriate corner of the underworld: towering black hair, impossibly plunging gown, scarlet lips, dagger at her waist and a one-liner usually sharp enough to draw blood. But Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, was never simply a costume. Behind one of the most recognizable characters in modern horror stands Cassandra Peterson—a comedian, writer, performer, businesswoman and former Las Vegas showgirl whose improbable career carried her from Kansas to the Strip, across Europe, through Los…

The Breaking News Report

Comparing Physical Media Organizational Apps For Collectors!

September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 Serpentorslair StaffCollector Organization Apps, Physical Media Collection Apps0 comment

Story by @GIJoeRepairShop Over the past few years, this author has been constructing a large vinyl record library. At the same time, this author has been reconstructing a large CD collection that got wiped out in a basement flood in the late 1990s. (The same flood destroyed my comic book collection and ninety-nine percent of my GI Joe collection. I’ve successfully rebuilt both collections over the past two decades.) One thing that always was a hassle was being in a record store and not knowing whether or not I had…

BUT DID YOU KNOW? Don’t Feed These Facts After Midnight: The Wild Secrets Behind 1984’s Gremlins

September 16, 2026September 16, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff1980s movie trivia, 1984 movies, Chris Columbus Gremlins, classic 1980s horror movies, Gizmo Gremlins, Gizmo original design, Gremlins 1984, Gremlins behind the scenes, Gremlins Christmas movie, Gremlins fun facts, Gremlins movie facts, Gremlins movie history, Gremlins PG-13 rating, Gremlins practical effects, Gremlins production secrets, Gremlins trivia, Howie Mandel Gizmo, Joe Dante Gremlins, Steven Spielberg Gremlins, Stripe Gremlins0 comment

Few movies capture the wonderfully strange personality of the 1980s quite like Gremlins. Released on June 8, 1984, Joe Dante’s horror-comedy somehow managed to combine Christmas, adorable furry creatures, gruesome monster mayhem, dark comedy and Steven Spielberg-style adventure into one unforgettable package. You know the rules: keep them away from bright light, never get them wet and, most importantly, never feed them after midnight. But did you know the movie hiding behind those rules is packed with strange production stories and alternate ideas that could have made Gremlins a completely…

ALL 2001 G.I. Joe Figures Ranked On HALF THE BATTLE!

September 15, 2026September 15, 2026 Serpentorslair Staffaction figures, G.I.Joe, Hasbro0 comment

On this weeks episode of G.I. Joe Half The Battle, We rank all the G.I. Joe Figures from 2001! Check out this week’s video below and join in the conversation. And as always be sure and subscribe to my YouTube channel for all my latest videos!

Sub-Teams Part 3: Python Patrol

September 15, 2026September 15, 2026 Serpentorslair StaffCobra Commander, Cobra Island, Destro Designs, G.I. Joe Classified Series, G.I. Joe Python Patrol, G.I. Joe sub-teams, Night Force, Python Patrol, Python Patrol Viper, Viper Den Studios1 Comment

By Destro Designs and Viper Den Studios G.I. Joe Python Patrol is probably the sub-team that nails the concept in such a fantastic way. Cobra is already such a crazy-awesome name for the bad guys, and it has one of the coolest symbols in all the land. So, in order to have a sub-team worthy of Cobra, I feel like staying within the snake family is the best way to go. A python is deadly as hell and has a rather unique pattern—even among a species filled with unique patterns.…

The Terminator Belongs in the G.I. Joe Classified Universe — and Marvel’s G.I. Joe #153 Already Showed Us How

September 15, 2026September 15, 2026 Serpentorslair StaffBattle Android Troopers, Cobra B.A.T., Cobra Terminator, G.I. Joe Classified Series, G.I. Joe comic book crossover, G.I. Joe Marvel Comics 153, G.I. Joe Terminator action figure, Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified, Marvel G.I. Joe comics, Scarlett G.I. Joe, Skynet Cobra, Terminator B.A.T.s, Terminator Classified Series, Terminator G.I. Joe crossover, The Terminator G.I. Joe Classified0 comment

The G.I. Joe Classified Series has reached the point where almost anything feels possible. Hasbro has taken characters that once existed as colorful 3¾-inch figures and transformed them into highly detailed 6-inch collectibles packed with weapons, alternate parts, and modern military styling. If Classified ever decides to explore a true crossover, there may be no franchise better suited for Cobra than The Terminator. And strangely enough, G.I. Joe already gave us a blueprint for how it could work. Look back at Marvel Comics’ G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #153,…

Artist Spotlight

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Danny Givens Brings Anime Energy and Comic-Book Power to the Independent Scene

September 13, 2026September 13, 2026 Serpentorslair Staff0 comment

Independent comics continue to provide a home for artists willing to push beyond familiar formulas, experiment with bold visual styles, and bring new worlds to life. This week, Serpentor’s Lair sits down with artist Danny Givens, a traditional and digital illustrator whose work blends the dynamic influence of Japanese anime with the powerful visual language of American comic books. From highly detailed line work and character commissions to sequential storytelling, variant covers, and his work on KROOM, Givens has developed an immediately energetic approach built around strong composition, expressive characters,…