The PopCulteer
February 7, 2025
We have a few short items for you this week, and then we get to a pretty big photo essay from January’s GI Joe Winterfest in Louisville. so let’s get started, shall we?
It’s NOT Bandcamp Friday Today
The first Friday of almost every month, is usually Bandcamp Friday. That’s the day when my favored streaming service, Bandcamp, foregoes their usual cut of the money and lets the artists keep all the money spent on their music and merch. However today they make an exception.
If this were a normal month, today you could buy new music from David Synn, The Settlement and Dinosaur Burps, and they’d get all the money. It’s a nice way to show a little extra support for the local and independent artists whose work you enjoy. But sometimes they skip Bandcamp Friday for a good cause, and today is one of those days.
This month, on February 7th, from midnight to midnight PST, 100% of Bandcamp’s proceeds will be donated to MusiCares, an organization providing emergency financial aid, mental health support, and essential health services to artists in need. These efforts will go to help people who were affected by the Los Angeles Wildfires.
Bandcamp is patnering with the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), Harman, Lagunitas, Roland, Shure, Victrola, and Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) to make this fundraiser possible. A2IM is a key advocate for independent music in the U.S., and WIN represents the global independent music community. These partnerships amplify the fundraiser’s reach and impact.
It would be nice if they didn’t just unilaterally decide to give the money that would normally go to the artists to charity, but at least it is a good cause.
They have also teamed up with world-renowned designer and artist Shepard Fairey. This unique design will be available worldwide, only on Bandcamp, with proceeds going to MusiCares
Bandcamp Friday, where the artists get the full amount you spend, will return next month. It figures that the one month I finally remember to mention Bandcamp Friday in this space, they skip it.
Universal Love for Captain Action
Well, sort of. LBO, the folks who are currently bringing Captain Action back to life in limited-edition action figure form, have announced a new licensing deal with Universal. let me just quote liberally from the press release…
LBO COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCES LICENSING PARTNERSHIP WITH UNIVERSAL PRODUCTS & EXPERIENCES FOR HIGH-END, POP-ART COLLECTIBLES
Iconic Universal Franchises to Inspire Action Figures, Art Prints, Model Kits and More
LOS ANGELES, CA – LBO Collective (aka Let’s Be Onyx) a team of toy industry veterans and tastemakers, is proud to announce a licensing partnership with Universal Products & Experiences. This landmark collaboration brings timeless NBCUniversal properties like Jaws, Back to the Future, Universal Monsters, Battlestar Galactica and more with new and exciting iterations within the collectibles space, with a focus on creating high-quality action figures, model kits, statues, and art prints.
“NBCUniversal’s iconic properties are foundational to storytelling in cinema and television, and we’re thrilled to honor these legacies through bold, imaginative collectibles,” said Kwame Holland, Co-Founder of LBO Collective. “This partnership blends NBCUniversal’s timeless characters with today’s leading creative voices, setting a new standard for fans.”
Exciting Projects in Development
The collaboration includes:
Action Figures and Uniform Sets: High-end figures with unique form factors featuring iconic NBCUniversal characters.
Art Prints and Statues: Curated with leading artists and designers, including surrealist and pop-art interpretations.
Model Kits: Highly detailed kits for fans to bring to life their favorite NBCUniversal stories featuring characters and sets.
To boil that down to the most exciting parts, I am told that this definitely means NEW Captain Action uniform sets based on Universal Monsters, Battlestar Galactica and other properties owned by Universal. It also means that LBO will be getting into the model kit business, which is always good news, and they’ll be creating all sorts of other collectibles.
Aside from the mentioned Universal properties above, the studio also owns the Gold Key Comics characters, Dreamworks, Illumination and other TV, film and classic animation portfolios, but it’s not clear how many of those are included in this deal.
It’s gonna be pricey, but it’s gonna be fun.
More Winterfest Photos
We have another batch of photos from Winterfest 2025 for you. Sorry for taking so long to get these out, since it’s been two weeks since most of them were shot. We will wrap up our Winterfest coverage Sunday, with all the raw footage we took of the show, set to some barely listenable music (I don’t want to accidentally post any candid audio we weren’t meant to capture). And yes, for those of you who asked, that was Holden Caulfield’s Dana White in the Winterfest Music Video. See him again at right.
In case you missed it, you can find the Winterfest music video HERE, and our interview with Greg Autore HERE. Most of the photos below are by yours truly, but a few are frame-grabs from video shot by my lovely and healthy wife, Mel Larch.
And…there may be one last photo essay, but it’s not necessarily show-specific. For now, check out the pics….

It’s The Paroquet Springs Conference Centre, where the show happened

Many thanks to the Kentuckiana GI Joe Toy Expo crew for getting me into that cool storage area that allowed me to get an aerial view of the dealer’s room.
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