Easter Decorations 2026 and Springtime Photos

Before I’m off to Eastercon on Thursday, I wanted to show off my Easter decorations.

But before we get to that, I also have a couple of links to share about where else I have been of late:

For starters, I was at Galactic Journey three times, reviewing the 1971 science fiction thriller Tomorrow is Too Far by James White (with a bit about the latest adventures of the terrorist group that will be known as the Red Army Fraction), the 1970 East German science fiction film Signals – A Space Adventure (with a bit about a new crime drama called Tatort, which just debuted in Journey time and will go on to be a juggernaut) and the 1970 Czech children’s fantasy series Pan Tau, who may or may not be a Time Lord. Pan Tau also features the screen debut of the then 21-year-old skier and model Ivana Zelní?ková, better known under her married name Ivana Trump. She is pursued by an obnoxious guy in the show, who still manages to be not nearly as obnoxious as the man she eventually married. What is more, I was also at the Postcards from a Dying World podcast, discussing the 1950 science fiction story “The Little Black Bag” by Cyril Kornbluth with David Agranoff and John Battisberger.

Meanwhile, my basement is still a mess due to the ongoing work to get a heat pump installed, which took much longer than expected, because the crucial person fell ill and was out of commission for three weeks. Of course, people do fall ill, but the whole thing was nonetheless very frustrating.

Easter is Coming

But even though the basement is a mess and there is an open duct running across my terrace, I did decorate the parts of the house that are not a mess for spring and Easter. In particular, I decorated the big front window with some springtime, flower and nature-themed action figures.

As you can see, the Easter branches are back. For more about the tradition of putting decorated branches in a vase for Easter, see this post from last year.

My parents’ old Easter branch decorations still haven’t resurfaced and I’m beginning to wonder whether they were thrown out at some point. My Mom occasionally got the “throwing out stuff” bug and she didn’t always ask whether I still wanted it. Not that it matters, because I now have my own decorations.

I bought corkscrew hazel branches at a local florist shop and put them into a vase – I had to use the big vase this time around – and decorated the branches in the kitchen, where there is more space to move around.

The big vase is suitably egg-shaped, though sadly of the boring egg-shell white with a thin golden edge edge variety of china, that was inexplicably popular in Germany for decades of the twentieth century. My parents thankfully had more interesting china, but my grandmother had the boring egg-shell white with a thin golden edge stuff and actually divided it between me and my cousin Ulrike in her very detailed will. I gracefully left the china to Ulrike, because I didn’t like it even back then. Ulrike, of course, didn’t like the china either and actually offered it back to me a few years ago. Though my grandmother actually bought a set of Fürstenberg china for Ulrike, when she moved out (she’s fourteen years older than me), which is something I never got due to being too young (Grandma died when I was twelve). And I like Fürstenberg china, though my grandma bought the most boring set she could find for Ulrike. But then my grandma apparently had the “easily visually overstimulated” type of autism, whereas I got the “visually understimulated all the time – overstimulation, what’s that?” variety.

Once I’d decorated the branches, I took the vase with the branches to its final location on the bar cart or rather, I asked a big and strong neighbour to do it for me.

Two decorations I didn’t put onto the branches, though they are theoretically designed for Easter branches, are the two collectible Hutschenreuther porcelain eggs that either my Mom or I got as a gift years ago. Hutschenreuther make a lot of collectible holiday ornaments, which are a popular gift, though I’ve never met anyone who bought these things for themselves. I have a lot of Hutschenreuther Christmas ornaments, but only two Easter eggs. As for why I didn’t put them on the branches – well, they’re too heavy (as are the Christmas ornaments). So instead, they go on a lamp.

Of course, my guardian bunnies are back as well:

The gun-toting pink bunny is Plundor the Spoiler from the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline. Plundor is an obscure villain who only appeared in a single episode of the Filmation He-Man cartoon. In the cartoon, Plundor has taken over the planet Trannis, where he steals natural resources, extracts the planet’s lifeforce and pollutes the environment until he is stopped by an amnesiac He-Man and a local woman named Gleedil, who looks like a humanoid chicken. In short, it’s a not very subtle tale about the evils of capitalism and pollution, except that the villain is a pink bunny. Sometimes, I really wonder just what they put into the water cooler at Filmation.

The two small bunnies were my Mom’s and are probably between fifty and sixty years old. At any rate, we’ve had them for as long as I can remember.

The white laughing bunny was designed by artist Max Hermann Fritz in 1929 for the Rosenthal porcelain company. Rosenthal produced this bunny for decades (though apparently he has been discontinued by now) and for a while it seemed as if every German home had one. He has an eerie facial resemblance to Plundor, which I only noticed when I put them next to each other. Now I wonder if someone at Filmation had this Rosenthal bunny at home, which is not that unlikely, considering how ubiquitous it was for decades.

The big tan faceless bunny with the golden egg is a new addition I picked up at a store last year. Though he’s modern, he fits in nicely with the mid century modern bunnies.

Meet Else

People have asked for a closer look at Else, my department store mannequin, so here you are:

I got Else during a going out of business at the H.W. Meyer store at the Berliner Freiheit mall here in Bremen (yes, we have a mall called Freedom of Berlin, since it was built in 1960 when solidarity with West Berlin was very much in fashion) in 2002.  I know the exact year, because the former strip mall was set to close and was eventually rebuilt as an indoor mall and the store was selling off its entire inventory. H.W. Meyer was a local chain of clothing stores here in Bremen, specialising in high quality brand-name clothing for more conservative tastes (or as I used to call it “boring old lady clothes”). Though Else with her bright red hair and fashionable style was never boring or old. H.W. Meyer opened in 1965 and had eight stores in various parts of the city by the early 2000s. H.W. Meyer shut down for good in 2012, fallen prey to changing retail patterns and tastes and supposedly also to the Ochtum Park outlet mall offering many of the brands they used to offer for cheaper.  The branch at the Berliner Freiheit mall was among the last to close.

In 2002, the Berliner Freiheit branch had two mannequins for sale – Else and a mannequin with a blonde bob. Else came home with me, travelling in the backseat of my Volkswagen Jetta, completely naked. Part of me wishes I could have rescued her sister, too, but at the time I could afford only Else. She has been guarding my window ever since, gazing out at the traffic and pedestrians on the street outside. People have quite frequently mistaken her for real. Little kids sometimes wave at her and new neighbours have complained on occasion about “that old woman who’s always looking out of the window, spying on everyone” before they realised that she’s not real.

I have never found a manufacturer’s mark on Else, but her make-up and hairstyle suggest that she dates from the mid to late 1980s. Her dress is vintage summer dress from the early 1980s that used to belong to my Mom. The necklace is a typically chunky 1980s plastic necklace that used to be mine. I bought it at the HEMA store in Rotterdam as a teenager.

Fun with Action Figures

Finally, here is a closer look at the action figures that are populating the window:

Here we have Buzz-Off from Masters of the Universe in his New Eternia version as well as two incarnations of Moss-Man, namely the Masters of the Universe Revelation and New Eternia version. Moss-Man is traditionally flocked, but these two Masterverse Moss-Men are not. And indeed, I wouldn’t have put a flocked Moss-Man this close to plants that need watering.

You can also see my Ruhrpott mug as well as two pottery chickens, which were my Mom’s and date from the late 1970s/early 1980s. They normally live in a cupboard with other random stuff, but I rescued them and turned them into Easter decorations. This brown/red pottery with white glaze was all the range in the late 1970s/early 1980s.

Here we have the New Eternia incarnation of Moss-Man again, well camouflaged against the plant.

The Princess of Power line has a lot of characters that are pastel-coloured and flowery, but since I didn’t want to tear the whole Princess of Power shelf apart, I only took Flutterina, the butterfly girl, who’s always been a personal favourite, from the shelf and put her in the window.

The bare-chested punk dwarf with a mohawk is Torgun Redfin from the Mythic Legions line, whom I recently aquired. More on him later.

There’s also a small Easter basket, which was a gift from my cousin Ulrike 36 years ago. And yes, I remember exactly when I got it, namely when my parents celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in 1990. I was a teenager and would rather have been somewhere, anywhere else. My terrible Uncle Uwe as well as his two sons and son-in-law got horribly drunk – they drank 66 whiskey cola between the four of them – and got into a fight later on. Two of them are long dead – both fallen victim to diseases caused/exercarbated by alcoholism – and I haven’t spoken to the other two, since I broke off contact with that side of the family in 2013. For all I know, the remaining two may be dead as well.

My parents celebrated their silver wedding anniversarty on Good Friday – and due to German laws, we actually had to get a special permission to have a private party with music and dancing, because music and dancing on Good Friday apparently makes Jesus cry or something like that (though to be honest, that party was a damn good reason to cry). Easter was two days away, my birthday about a week. And yet only two of the more than fifty guests gave me something. Our neighbours Uncle Schorse (he died last year aged 91) and Aunt Mariechen (still alive) gave me a box of Cat Tongue chocolates and my cousin Ulrike gave me the little Easter nest.  The chocolates are long gone, but I kept the Easter nest for 36 years as a reminder of a moment of kindness on a deeply unpleasant evening.

The wooden Easter bunny finally is something I picked up at a grocery store last week.

Finally, there is also a small party of elves and other nature beings from the Mythic Legions line. Mythic Legions is a fantasy toyline from Four Horsemen Studios that I’ve recently discovered. Those figures are amazing and so my collection is growing.

In Mythic Legions lore, there are four villainous factions roughly corresponding to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as well as four heroic factions that oppose them. One of the heroic factions is called Xylona’s Flock and is made up of elves, satyrs, elementals and other woodland creatures.  Here we have four of them: Artemyss Silverchord, Queen of the Elves and leader of Xylona’s Flock as well as one of her guards. There’s also the centaur Aphareus, who turned out to be a lot bigger than expected, which is why he moved into the window, and Bryophytus, a lichen orc who also serves as a protector of the forest. Bryophytus is pretty much the Mythic Legions version of the Masters of the Universe character Moss-Man. The toy designers known as the Four Horsemen have designed both the Masters of the Universe 200X and Classics toylines and still work for Mattel on occasion. Mythic Legions is partly inspired by Masters of the Universe and there are some Mythic Legions figures that are basically versions of Masters of the Universe characters done in Mythic Legions style. Bryophytus is one of these and note that he is flocked like the vintage Moss-Man, though his flocking is much nicer than Moss-Man’s ever was. Though he is far enough away from plants that need watering that his flocking is safe.

A few days after I decorated the big window for spring/Easter, my growing Mythic Legions collection got some additions. First, I found a great figure for a very good prices on eBay and snapped him up. And then I took the opportunity to go to Hamburg and paid a visit to Comic Cave, an amazing collectibles store that carries pretty much every action figure line you can think of and some you’ve never heard of. Normally, you have to order Mythic Legions figures online, since it’s not a line you can find at retail. But Comic Cave not only carries Mythic Legions, they also have a lot of older figures that have become hard to find, because with Mythic Legions, it’s best to buy the figures in the first few weeks/months after they come out (or preorder them), because prices can go up drastically for older figures. So finding a physical shop which carries Mythic Legions is rare, finding one which carries older figures at a reasonable price is even rarer. And so I snapped up three figures, two of which went into the window to join Artemyss Silverchord’s band. The third is a really cool demon, who will get his time in the spotlight this fall.

In addition to the figures already mentioned above, we have on the far left the satyr healer Krotos. Next to Artemyss, we have her consort Lord Bardric. Okay, so Lord Bardric is not actually the consort of Artemyss Silverchord according to the official Mythic Legions lore, but just an elf nobleman who supports her. But I find that I simply take what I like from the official Mythic Legions lore (which consists mainly of the bios on the boxes and some articles and stories on the website, though apparently there is an illustrated book coming out, which includes details of the lore) and ignore what I don’t like. And so in my version of the story, Lord Bardric is the consort of Artemyss Silverchord, because he’s hot and handsome (and will make puppies cry, because he’s a black elf with cornrows) and he and Artemyss make a lovely couple. Besides, if the Queen of the Elves decides to take a husband, who am I to disagree?

Finally, on the far right, we have the grizzled orc general Vorthogg. Now according to official Mythic Legions lore, Vorthogg is actually a bad guy and a member of the evil Legion of Arethyr, i.e. the forces that follow the Apocalyptic Horseman and God of War Arethyr. However, when I got Vorthogg out of the box and looked at him, I thought, “This guy doesn’t look evil. Maybe he used to work for the Legion of Arethyr once, but then he defected and joined Artemyss Silverchord.” And indeed, according to his official bio, Vorthogg may be a general in the Legion of Arethyr, but he’s not happy with the leadership of Gorgo Aetherblade (more on him here) and he’s definitely not happy that his protegé Urzokk (who will join my collection eventually, once his new figure comes out) surpassed him and became Gorgo’s righthand man. So in short, he has every reason to defect.

Come to think of it, in my personal version of the story, quite a few members of the Legion of Arethyr have switched sides. Next to Vorthogg, there’s also the goblin alchemist Swigg, who’s just too cute ugly to be evil (and since his potions never quite work as intended, he’s basically the Orko of Mythic Legions), so he went to hang out with the good wizards, and of course Lady Avarona, the villainous lady knight, who started an entirely inappropriate and non-canon relationship with Sir Gideon Heavensbrand, purest and noblest of paladins. For more on how that happened, see here. And yes, you’ll see a dramatisation of that story eventually, especially since I got Sir Gideon some more of his noble knights as well as his sister and his horse to keep him on the straight and narrow.

My dining table got a new springtime tablecloth as well as a pot of daffodils. I put the Masters of the Universe Classics Evil-Lyn as well as her Mythic Legions counterpart Malynna the Malevolent on the table, because their yellow skin perfectly matches the flower pot and the daffodils, once they bloom. Though for some reason, my daffodils haven’t bloomed yet.

But even though the potted daffodils are a bust, my Easter branches are sprouting tiny green leaves:

Adventures in the Garden

Once the snow was gone, the spring flowers in the garden started to bloom, beginning with the crocuses (or croci?). I bought some flower bulbs, including crocuses, in the Netherlands last fall, so I have more of them now and they look beautiful.

The grape hyacinths are blooming again as well.

Since the weather has gone from snow and frost and winter to early spring in the span of a week or so, I did take some of my action figures outdoors into the garden to take some photos. Though only figures that have neither flocking nor fabric parts got to go outside, so characters like Bryophytus and Artemyss Silverchord were out. Thankfully, that still leaves plenty of options, so enjoy some of my garden toy photos:

Ambush in the Evergreen Forest

“If I capture you, Man-at-Arms, then maybe Skeletor will take me back in…”

“You don’t need Skeletor, Beast-Man. Why be his servant, when you could be the leader of your own people?”

“Cause… Skeletor is real smart, not like me. He always knows what to do.”

“He’s just using you.”

“Shut up! You’re my prisoner now and prisoners don’t talk.”

The Battle of the Steinhude Sea

The following picture was not taken in my garden, but at the Steinhude Sea, North West Germany’s biggest lake. I took the picture in January, when the Steinhude Sea was frozen, something that doesn’t happen all that often.

“The Sea is mine, He-Man, mwahaha.”

“Isn’t your pal Mer-Man the Lord of the Sea?”

“Pah, Mer-Man may think he is the Lord of the Sea, but I shall rule all or I shall rule nothing.”

Torgun Redfin’s Mission

Finally, I also had some fun with some of the Mythic Legions figures you already saw in my window display above.

Originally, I just took some cool photos with these figures, but then I realised that they do make a little story, focussed on the adventures of the punk dwarf Torgun Redfin.

According to his official bio, Torgun Redfin is the brother of Bromdenn Ironjaw, King of the Dwarves. When King Bromdenn joined the villainous Legion of Arethyr, Torgun and several other dwarves disagreed with this decision and left the Dwarven Kingdom of Ironhold to seek their fortunes in the frozen North. Here, the exiled dwarves met a human called Attlus the Conqueror, who had left his homeland over a fallout with his own brother (there’s a lot of sibling rivalry in Mythic Legions) and formed an army of outcasts and misfits called The House of the Noble Bear.  Attlus eventually returned from exile to join the great battle against the forces of evil. However, he probably would have sent out emissaries first to make contact with the forces of good – you can see one of them in this toy review over at File 770. And this is where Torgun comes in when he is sent to contact Artemyss Silverchord.

On the northern border of Xylernia:

“‘Travel to Xylernia and talk to Queen Artemyss Silverchord and warn her of what’s coming’, Attlus said. ‘You’ll like Xylernia, it’s pleasant and green and best of all, warm.’ Yeah, right. So why I am climbing these bloody mountains then? And why am I still freezing my nuts off?”

Growl.

“Get lost, whatever you are! I’m on a vital mission for the Noble Bear himself and I am not your dinner.”

The Silverhorn Sentries patrol the borders of Xylernia, to protect their homeland and their Queen from all dangers.

“Halt, dwarf! State your business.”

“The name’s Torgun Redfin. I’m on an urgent mission from the Noble Bear and I need to speak to your Queen.”

“You want to speak to the Queen? Do you think I can let any wandering vagabond talk to our most noble Queen? You could be an assassin of the Sons of the Red Star for all I know.”

“A Son of the Red Star? Me? I’m Torgun Redfin, brother of Bromdenn Ironjaw, and I assure I’m not one of Scapular’s lowlives. And now take me to your Queen, cause all our lives are in danger.”

“King Bromdenn is a traitor who threw in his lot with Gorgo Aetherblade and the Legion of Arethyr.”

“I know my brother is a bloody traitor. Why do you think I left my home, went to the frozen North and joined the House of the Noble Bear? Do you think I moved to Björngarr, because I like being cold all the time? And now take me to your Queen.”

“I don’t have the authority to decide who gets to see the Queen.”

“Then find my someone who does, damn you! All of Mythos could be at stake.”

***

Nearby:

“Castle Silverhorn may be the heart of the kingdom, but it feels good to gallop through the forest. Us centaurs are not made for court, we’re meant to race across the open plains…”

“From up here, I can see across much of Xylernia and keep watch to defend our kingdom and our beloved Queen from all enemies.”

“That was a refreshing ride, but I had rather get back. Must not keep Queen Artemyss and her consort waiting. Her consort… – that’s such a weird thought. Seems it was only yesterday that Princess Artemyss was but a young child and now she’s a grown woman, a Queen in her own right, and has taken a consort. Though she chose well. Everyone admires Lord Bardric, almost as much as we admire the Queen herself.”

“Wow, you really are very big.”

“And you are very small, dwarf. Who are you and what brings you to Xylernia?”

“Name’s Torgun Redfin and I have an urgent message to deliver. So who are you, my big friend?”

“I am Aphareus, stable lord to Her Majesty Queen Artemyss Silverchord.”

“Then you’re just the man – ahem centaur – I was looking for. Cause I need to urgently speak to your Queen. I have a message for her from the Noble Bear himself.”

“Hmm, I have heard of this Noble Bear. A ruler who has united the barbarians up north. Is it true that he is a changeling who can take the form of a bear?”

“No, he’s human. He just rides a bear. It’s a long story, which I’ll be happy to tell, once you take me to your Queen.”

“Follow me then, little friend. But know that if the urgent message from your ruler is a marriage proposal, our Queen has already chosen a consort and she’s not interested.”

“A marriage proposal? No, of course not. And anyway, who’d send a messenger to deliver a marriage proposal and not come himself?”

“The Lion King of Leandorr, that’s who. He sent a messenger to propose an alliance and marriage to our Queen. She turned him down, of course.”

“Oh yeah, the Lion King of Leandorr. I’ve heard of him. He’s a royal prick all right.”

***

As for Attlus, the Noble Bear, and his actual bear, I have pre-ordered both and you will hopefully see them soon. However, while the bear has already arrived, Attlus is still delayed because Trump’s and Netanjahu’s war on Iran is messing up shipping.

You’ll also see more of these Mythic Legions figures, because they’re so much fun to photograph.

But for now, I hope you enjoyed these photos of Easter decorations, spring flowers and toys.