Our second pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is the latest Disney Store exclusive set of Marvel MEGO figures.
Spider-Man Mego 8” Action Figure Set 2 – World’s Greatest Super-Heroes
From The Disney Store
$99.99 plus shipping
I’ve been writing about my love of MEGO action figures for most of the life of this blog, and this set is perfect for the MEGO collector, Marvel fan, or just anybody who likes cool action figures.
These vintage-style figures depict four characters from the Spider-man universe that have never been rendered in the MEGO format before (except by some very talented customizers). This is a great combination of brand-new stuff that’s still soaked with nostalgic appeal.
At the behest of Disney, Mego Corp. continues their relaunched classic 8” action figure line. This exclusive four-figure set, which includes Symbiote Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus, Rhino and Mysterio, comes in vintage-style Mego packaging inside an outer box. The set includes a collectible metallic coin with classic Spider-Man art and Mego logo.
Each figure has 26 points of articulation, exact replicas of the vintage Mego accessories, and removable silkscreen stretch costumes.
The inner boxes perfectly capture the look and feel of the vintage MEGO figures from the 1970s, and it’s great for Spider-man to have new villains to fight. The black-suit Spider-man is a fan-favorite who wasn’t created until after MEGO concluded their original run, so it’s great to have him on hand…until the symbiote gets out of hand, anyway.
Part of the Marvel World’s Greatest Super-Heroes Collection by Mego, and can only be ordered from The Disney Store, or purchased at their theme parks. Most of the time they have some kind of free shipping deal for something this pricey, so check the website for more details.
The first pick today in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a book we first reviewed back in June. This is the first of several books devoted to classic men’s adventures magazines that we have in this year’s Gift Guide. It’s the perfect gift for the fan of great commercial art, or folks who yearn for the days when we had more innocent saliciousness in our entertainment.
Gil Cohen: Inside/OutArchive Collection Covers and Illustrations From Vintage Men’s Adventure Magazines
Art by Gil Cohen
edited by Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle New Texture
ISBN-13 : 978-1943444731
$45.95
Gil Cohen: Inside/Out is an unexpected treat. It’s a treasure trove of the work that celebrated Aviation Artist, Gil Cohen, created from the 1950s to the 1970s when he was a freelance artist working for several of the top Men’s Adventure Magazines.
The Men’s Adventure Magazines were something that probably has to be explained to most folks younger than fifty. These sucessors to the vaunted “Pulp” magazines of the 1930s and 40s were magazines aimed at men, but they weren’t quite porn. In hindsight, they seem raunchy and innocent at the same time. Most of the time they told testosterone-fueled stories of big, strapping men fighting against all odds, much of the time accompanied by a dame in a bikini or her underwear.
They were soaked with a type of salaciousness that, by today’s standards, seems almost wholesome. This much over-the-top masculinity, which wasn’t quite as toxic as what we see today, is sort of charming. Aside from the more lurid stories, there was a lot of WWII adventures, and fighting wild animals. It’s fun stuff if you don’t mind the total lack of political correctness and the delightfully dated references.
But this book is not about those magazines, per se. The one feature that the Men’s Adventure Mags had that makes them so remarkable was that they featured spectacular painted covers and inner illustrations. This is where commercial art elevated itself to the level of fine art, and in the Men’s Adventure Mags, they did it without the pretentiousness or marketing savvy of the Pop Art movement, which was happening concurrently to the heyday of this type of adventure illustration.
This book is dedicated to one of the top Men’s Adventure Magazine illustrators, Gil Cohen, who went on to do several movie posters and over 100 paperback covers for the Mack Bolan: Executioner series, before turning his focuse to Military and Aviation Art, where he is considered a master, with several works hanging at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, as well as at the Pentagon.
This book, the first in a projected series, is an overview of Cohen’s work in the Men’s Adventure field (there have been several collections of his other art), and it’s stunning.
This is work that was created under intense deadline pressure. Yet, Cohen’s artistic ability and professionalism shine through. He managed to take deliberately sensational stories, filled with lurid details and PG-rated prurient interests and illustrate them with beautifully-composed and expertly-deliniated flash.
Most of the time, the illustrations were much, much better than the stories they depicted.
Cohen is 94 years old, and I believe he’s still painting. He’s been interviewed extensively for future volumes in this series, which will present his work in chronological order, but this first entry is an incredibly generous sampler of his entire Men’s Adventure career.
We get to see how Cohen manages to tell a story in a single illustration that conveys more emotion and attracts more readers than the prose that accompanies it. This book opens the door to a whole world of amazing art that hasn’t been exposed to enough people.
Robert Deis and Wyatt Doyle have curated a wonderful collection of Cohen’s art, and I’m really looking forward to see more entries in this series.
Fans of fine illustration, great art and retro pop culture will love this book.
You can order Gil Cohen: Inside/Out directly from the publisher (along with a vast array of other books devoted to Men’s Adventure Mags) or from Amazon, or try ordering it from your local bookseller using the ISBN code.
This week’s art is a small acrylic painting on wood.
Did you ever get the feeling that the patio you were sitting in used to be inside…like, there was a house there, but it’s gone and now it’s just a patio?
Meanwhile, over in radioland, Monday beginning at 2 PM on The AIR, we bring you a recent episode of Psychedelic Shack, and then at 3 PM we do the same with Herman Linte’s weekly showcase of the Progressive Rock of the past half-century, Prognosis.
You can listen to The AIR at the website, or on the embedded radio player elsewhere on this page. PsychedelicShack can be heard every Monday at 2 PM, with replays Tuesday at 9 AM, Wednesday at 10 PM, Friday at 1 PM, and Saturday at 9 AM. You can hear Prognosis on The AIR Monday at 3 PM, with replays Tuesday at 7 AM, Wednesday at 8 PM, Thursday at Noon, and Saturday at 10 AM.
Tonight at 8 PM, tune in for The Comedy Vault. That’s followed by two-hour blocks of Curtain Call and Beatles Blast at 9 PM and 11 PM, and then an overnight assortment of our Haversham Recording Institute programs at 1 AM.
Today’s second pick in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is a classic of children’s television and a landmark bit of adventure puppeteering,
Thunderbirds 60th Anniversary Collectors Edition [Blu-ray] Blu-Ray
$150
From Gerry Anderson.com
From the visionary minds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, Thunderbirds revolutionised television sci-fi with its iconic Supermarionation style and thrilling tales of International Rescue. This 60th Anniversary Blu-Ray is the perfect gift for the Anglophile of a certain age, or for anybody who enjoys fun and exciting adventures with plenty of cool flying vehicles and only a few visible strings. It’s region-free, so it will play perfectly on all Blu-ray players in the United States.
This is the complete series, now available with the three 50th anniversary specials released together for the first time. With over eight hours of bonus content including a brand-new feature length documentary, a new mini Supermarionation adventure and all-new commentaries, alongside rare archive material, documentaries, audio dramas and vintage promos.
A 110-page episode guide booklet and six exclusive cutaway posters by artist Graham Bleathman complete this incredible package. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or discovering Tracy Island for the first time, this is the most complete and faithful presentation of Thunderbirds ever released.
This super deluxe set includes all 32 original episodes and the three anniversary episodes in an 11-disc Blu-ray collector’s set, with a 110-page episode guide and six posters, all tucked away in a rigid slipcase, for the discriminating collector.
The original episodes are restored in high definition from the film elements and presented in their original 4:3 framing. The set brings them together with Introducing Thunderbirds, The Abominable Snowman and The Stately Homes Robberies, the three anniversary episodes.
Over eight hours of new and archive bonus material explores the series’ production, people, music and continuing influence.
You can order this directly from GerryAnderson.com in the UK with free shipping to the United States, but it can also be found, usually at higher prices, from the usual online dealers in the US.
Last year, longtime readers may recall, I was very disappointed in the annual holiday HESS Truck (which wasn’t even a truck) and for the first time in well over a decade, I did not make the HESS Truck the first offering in The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.
This year, I’m very happy to say, the folks behind the HESS Trucks have redeemed themselves, first with very impressive Mini Trucks and a Special Edition (both of which are sold out already) and finally with a much-requested actual Truck.
So the video you see above is a promotional video, and the first pick in The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide is….
2026 HESS Waste Hauler Truck and Snow Plow
We’re just going to quote their PR here…
The Hess Truck’s back and it’s better than ever – delivering two all-new vehicle designs together in one set! The 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow pairs an iconic garbage truck with a speedy all-terrain plow. Together they’re revved up and poised to ‘clear the way’ just in time for the holiday gifting season.
The heavy-duty Hauler Truck is inspired by the familiar waste collection vehicles that work America’s streets every day. Pristinely presented in classic white and green with highly detailed reflective chrome-colored accents, the triaxle, 6-wheeled trash truck is loaded with over 72 LED lights that operate in steady or animated flashing modes. Each of the four cab-top buttons activate a different realistic sound effect, paired with its own animated flashing light pattern, creating a unique visual sequence with every press. A push-button release lifts the rear hatch and triggers a realistic compacting sound allowing access to the Snow Plow via the pull-out ramp which has its own dedicated sound effect, bringing the full hauling operation to life. Both the seven flashing light patterns and the six realistic sound effects are the most ever featured on any holiday Hess Toy Truck – delivering a fully immersive playtime experience!
The Snow Plow is an ATV-style quad built for off-road speed and action. With a blazing fast pull-back and release motor and an adjustable height plow blade, the Snow Plow turns every play session into an action-packed winter rescue mission. A quick turn of the rider’s helmet activates 12 steady-on lights. Designed to load into and deploy from the Hauler’s rear ramp, this unique 2-in-1 toy combination is the perfect holiday gift.
What’s Included
Together, the 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow include 84 total lights, 7 flashing light patterns, 6 realistic sound effects, 2026 milestone-marking license plates, and a complete load-and-deploy play system – all packaged in a keepsake, custom-illustrated holiday winter scene box. Accessories such as gifts and cones shown in images are not included. A tradition for generations, Hess Toy Trucks are among the most beloved and collectible toys of each holiday season.
HAULER TRUCK First-ever Hess Hauler inspired by the iconic garbage truck design—one of the most requested vehicles from fans
Classic Hess green-and-white design with chrome colored detailing
72 lights with both steady-on and animated flashing modes
7 unique animated light patterns (activated via buttons, switch, rear hatch, and ramp)
6 total sound effects, the most ever on a holiday Hess Toy Truck:
Button-activated rear hatch release reveals internal cargo bay
Slide-out loading ramp for Snow Plow access.
6 Free-rolling wheels on 3 Axles for smooth, heavy-duty play
3 AAA Energizer® batteries included
Approx. size: 10.25” L x 4.375” W x 5.25” H
SNOW PLOW (ATV / OFF-ROAD QUAD STYLE) First-ever Hess snow plow vehicle
Quad ATV-style design built for fast paced and off-road action
Pull-back motor for high-speed play.
12 steady-on lights
Rider-activated lighting (helmet-turn feature)
Adjustable plow blade height for flexible play
6 wheels on 3 axles
Loads into and deploys from the Hauler Truck’s rear ramp
3 A76 (LR44) Energizer® button cell batteries included
Approx. size: 4.75″ L x 2.75″ W x 2.375″ H
HOLIDAY-READY PRESENTATION
Signature Hess holiday packaging featuring a beautiful winter action scene
Designed for gifting, collecting, and display
Available exclusively at HessToyTruck.com
Batteries + FREE standard shipping* included
The 2026 Hess Hauler Truck and Snow Plow is sold exclusively at HessToyTruck.com for $49.99 plus tax, which includes Energizer® batteries and free standard shipping.*
I am really delighted that HESS has rebounded after the dud they released this year. You can only get The 2026 Hauler Truck and Snow Plow directly from HESS at THIS LINK.
Let’s go back to August, 2015, for an episode of Radio Free Charleston loaded with music from The Company Stores, Farnsworth, ShockaCon, and Jake The Restaurant. This episode also has a 120 second Art Show featuring Michael McKowen’s “The World of the Willing,” a movie trailer for Austin Susman’s Killer Catfish of the Kanawha, and a promo spot for ShockaCon 4.
It’s that time of the year again. Halloween is right in our face, and your PopCulteer is already looking past it to the next big (non-Turkey-centric) holiday. We have a short column this week as yours truly is already hard at work on The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide, which will begin Sunday in this blog to aide you with your holiday gift giving duties, with all recommendations having our usual pop culture slant.
Following the format we’ve used for the last few years, after two special Sunday entries this weekend, this year’s Gift Guide will have at least two entries every weekday, with the plan seeing them posted online by Noon, Eastern time. At least one item per day will be a single item, with a retail price of less than a hundred bucks. After our launch, I’m taking weekends off again, and there’s a good chance that, beginning in our second week, I may have a few days with three entries. All will have some kind of link to pop culture, which is, after all, what I write about in this blog.
There will be entries that include multiple items, and some of our suggestions will exceed that C-note level…a few will obliterate it, in fact. We will also do a few entries that shine our spotlight on some reliably excellent online retailers, and probably a few local shops, too.
Because of the quirks of this year’s calendar, the final day will fall on a Monday. Then, on December 4I’ll run the Master List of everything I recommend, complete with links to the original entries.
You can also expect all of our regular features to continue as normal with the exception of STUFF TO DO, which will become part of Friday’s PopCulteer colum for the duration of The Gift Guide.
This year’s Gift Guide will be comprised of toys, physical media (LPs, CDs, DVD/Blu Rays, real books and other things you can hold in your hands), local, regional and online retailers, plus maybe some decor, clothing items, and various and sundry objects of fine knick-knackery.
Thanksgiving will be “Turkey Gift Day,” once again, because really, who reads this blog on Thanksgiving Day?
I will try to shy away from recommending limited editions of anything. I want people to be able to find the gift ideas I suggest.
I’ve actually done some form of Gift Guide every year since I started this blog in 2005, so this is the 22nd time I’ve come up with a list of gift suggestions for my readers. It really took off about fifteen years ago, and for the last few years I’ve been winding it up in November for two reasons: First, it gives people time to order gifts that can’t be purchased locally; Second, it allows your humble blogger to be done with this massive undertaking in time to make our yearly visit to Chicago for my lovely wife’s birthday.
In fact, this year presents a fun and ridiculous new element of adventure as I will be travelling while we begin the Gift Guide this weekend. What, you may ask, was I thinking?
Another quirk of the calendar this year sees me posting the preview for The 2026 PopCult Gift Guide the day before Halloween. I have not foresaken that holiday. We’re just observing it over on our sister internet radio station today. Beginning at 7 AM Friday (that’s today) you can find Halloween editions of our music and comedy specialty programs, plus a coffinload of special presentations on The AIR. The AIR is PopCult‘s sister radio station. You can hear these shows on The AIR website, or just click on the embedded player found elsewhere on this page. We’re going to run that stuff until Midnight, Sunday.
That is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, plus all our regular features and, starting Sunday, The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide.
About eleven months ago, I told you about a Kickstarter campaign for what turned out to be one of my favorite trading card sets of all time. NostalgiCards’, Metropolis Picture Gum Trading Cards. This project was also the subject of my final article for Non Sport Update. When the set arrived, I was totally blown away. From the period-accurate design and packaging and the cards themselves, this was a note-perfect trading card set.
So of course I’m going to recommend the follow-up set, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Picture Gum Trading Cards. Not only is Caligari considered the other pillar of German Expressionism, it’s a personal favorite of mine, and the bottom of the post you’ll learn more about my connection to this legendary film.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is a very influential 1920 German silent horror film, directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer. Considered the definitive work of German Expressionist cinema, it tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders. The film features a dark and twisted visual style, with sharp-pointed forms, oblique and curving lines, structures and landscapes that lean and twist in unusual angles, and shadows and streaks of light painted directly onto the sets. Some folks consider it a zombie movie, but it really isn’t. It is dripping with style and without this movie, we likely would not have had Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, or any of the other major works of cinematic horror. You can see visual cues swiped from this film in everything from Forbidden Zone to Edward Scissorhands.
NostalgiCards’ Todd Riley began work on Metropolis trading cards back in 1996, when it seemed that the film was about to slip into the public domain. In fact, it was to be their first product. While fate, and the Sonny Bono copyright extension act put the kibosh on that plan, NostalgiCards went on to release sets like Morbid Monster Cards and Galaxy Goons from 1999 to 2003, then Riley took a break from creating his own sets. Metropolis was his comeback set, and back then he told me what the plan was for his next project.
So I’m really excited to tell you about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Picture Gum Trading Cards, which just launched last week. I’ve already kicked in, and the funding goals have been met, with stretch goals dropping like flies.
Let me quote the set details from the campaign…
This is our second trading card set in our Silent Film Classic series. This time we are bringing you the quintessential work of early German Expressionist cinema – The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. A faithful tribute to the non-sport sets of the 1920s-1930s, this is the first time a complete card series has been dedicated to this early horror masterpiece.
The colorful 54-card base set features images from the film and accompanying text of the story. Printed on vintage style, thick 24pt stock.
The card size of 2 7/8 by 2 3/8 inches, is being done to be as authentic to the period as possible. This was the size of the earliest gum cards from the era. It wasn’t until nearly 40 years after the film debuted that the modern card size of 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches appeared.
When the film was first seen in theaters, it was actually tinted. Daylight scenes were tinted yellow, night scenes were blue, and scenes inside Jane’s house were pink. So, we have made it so all cards can be found in all 3 colors.
Look for three special limited Biography Cards randomly inserted in the packs. Cards depict director Robert Wiene, Werner Krauss as Dr. Caligari, and Conrad Veidt as Cesare. Odds of finding a Biography Card is 1 in 8 packs. Each can also be found in three different colors.
Card series produced during the era came with gum, and wax wrappers were used to help keep the gum fresh. So, we are also using real wax wrappers for the series to give it that nostalgic quality.
Some of the earliest trading card boxes from the era consisted of a 3-part box including a separate box topper that was inserted along an edge between the lid and the base tray to create a striking display. We are continuing the tradition with our own 3-part box.
There are several different ways you can pledge and get your hands on these cards, from buying a single wax pack, to full sets, unopened boxes and Master Sets where you get everything. You also have the chance to pick up the Metropolis cards, and extra, including a period-accurate collector’s album.
Since the project funded so quickly, many stretch goals have already been met, NostalgiCards has already added promo cards, more biography cards and a custom gum wrapper to the package, and they’re closing in on adding three movie poster box-topper cards to the collection.
If you’re a fan of German Expressionism, I don’t need to do a hard sell on this set. It’s fully-funded, NostalgiCards has an imeccable track record and this set is just cool as hell. Follow THiS LINK to kick in. The campaign has less than two weeks to run, so you don’t want to sleep on this!
And now, after a video break, here’s “the rest of the story.”
Above, you see me basically scratching a 40-plus-year itch.
In the early 1980s, when I was a communications major at what was then West Virginia State College, I was taking a film appreciation class called “Horror and Fantasy in Film.” Because it was so long ago, I’m not certain who the professor was. My fuzzy memory says it must have been Bart Weiss, but my heart tells me it was my old and much-missed friend, Danny Boyd. For the full story on how, four years ago, I decided to take a public domain print of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, and set it to the music of The Stranglers, visit the original post from 2022.
Needless to say, this film has been a big part of at least two-thirds of my life, and if you want a hint of why it deserves a trading card set, just watch the video above…or better yet, watch it with a more appropriate soundtrack HERE.
STUFF TO DO is PopCult‘s weekly guide to just a few of the great events happening in Charleston, Huntington and a few other points here in West Virginia, and sometimes a little beyond our borders, in the coming days. This weekend Halloween happens and we’re going to bring you 13 graphics, roughly in order, for various acts of Halloweenery in which you may indulge.
Each week I try to tell you about a few cool events all around the state that you might not know about. If you have a show that you’d like to plug in the future you can still contact me via Social Media at Facebook, BlueSky, Spoutible, Instagram or Twitter. I dont charge for this, so you might as well send me something if you have an event to promote. I do ask that you send a graphic that includes the date, time and location, of the event, as well as the cost to attend.
Keep in mind that I’ll need this several days in advance, so please don’t send me a graphic on the day of the event and expect it to show up in this feature.
For much more comprehensive guides to things you can get into in our region, check out these two wonderful resources:
Cristen Michael has created an interactive calendar that is way more comprehensive than this list of STUFF TO DO, and you can find it HERE. Just click on the day and the event and you’ll be whisked away to a page with more details about loads of area events.
Mya Ross at Status Quo does a much better job of compiling a list of local events than I do, and you can find the WTSQ guide to events HERE. Toss ’em a donation while you’re over there.
You can find live music in and around town every night of the week. You just have to know where to look. Keep in mind that all shows are subject to change or be cancelled at the last minute.
To hear music in an alcohol-free enviroment, see what’s happening at Pumzi’s, on Charleston’s West Side.
For cutting-edge independent art films, downstairs from Taylor Books you’ll find the Floralee Hark Cohen Cinema by WVIFF. Each week they program several amazing movies in their intimate viewing room that you aren’t likely to see anywhere else.
Here’s a few more select suggestions for STUFF TO DO in and around Charleston and Huntington this weekend, kicking off with a added feature to WWE’s live broadcast of Smackdown from the Charleston Colisseum on Friday night…
Radio Free Charleston is ALL-NEW as we try to revive everybody’s sagging Halloween Spirit this Tuesday on The AIR! To listen to The AIR, you simply have to point your cursor over and tune in at the website, or you could just stay here, and listen to the cool embedded player found elsewhere on this page.
You can hear Radio Free Charleston Tuesdays at 10 AM and 10 PM, with boatloads of replays throughout the week.
This week we jump headfirst into Halloween and Halloween-adjacent musics to get everybody back in the mood for the spookiest holiday of the year.
With Halloween hype starting in June, and people looking past the fun of Halloween to the potential horrors that might be unleased on Election Day, it’s easy to lose sight of the fun part of being really scared.
This week we have three full hours of scary-ish music, with brand-new tunes from The Pistol Whippers (just in time for Saturday’s Halloween Hootenanny at The Empty Glass), I. Jeziak & The Surfers, Sgt. Van’s Bionic Marines, Tony Iommi, and more. Plus we dig into our archives for more spooky stuff, and bring you songs from some Halloween All-Stars.
Check out this playlist, with links to all, of the artist’s pages…
You can hear this episode of Radio Free Charleston Tuesday at 10 AM and 10 PM on The AIR, with replays Wednesday at 9 AM, Thursday at 2 PM, Friday at 9 AM, Saturday at Noon and Midnight, Sunday at 8 PM and Monday at 11 AM, exclusively on The AIR. We bring you a marathon all night long Saturday night/Sunday morning.
I’m also going to embed a low-fi, mono version of this show right in this post, right here so you can listen on demand. I’m fighting some kind of technical issue, so it’s going to take the form of an embedded video this week…
After RFC, stick around for encores of last week’s episodes of MIRRORBALL at 1 PM and Curtain Call at 2 PM.
At 3 PM get ready for two classic episodes of The Swing Shift, featuring the some slightly spooky Swing tunes.
You can hear The Swing Shift Tuesday at 3 PM, with replays Wednesday at 8 AM, Thursday at 9 AM, Friday at 10 AM and 8 PM and Saturday afternoon, only on The AIR . You can also hear all-night marathons, seven hours each, starting at Midnight Thursdays and Sundays.
Our Halloween programming will continue all week on The AIR, not only in our musical specialty programs, but also at 5 PM every weeknight, and all day Saturday and for good measure, Sunday, too.
Spider-Man Mego 8” Action Figure Set 2 – World’s Greatest Super-Heroes
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