Month: January 2020 (Page 4 of 4)

The PopCult Toybox

Early last year we told you about how McFarlane Toys had secured the license to produce collectible action figures based on DC Comics characters, after Mattel chose not to continue their DC action figure lines. McFarlane’s license took effect on January 1, and the good folks at McFarlane Toys did not waste any time sending out the press release about their first wave of figures, which are up for pre-order at many online stores now. They’re expected to show up at mass market retail later this month.

Let’s just check out the press release for all the details…

Tempe, Ariz., – January 2, 2020– McFarlane Toys, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and DC, today revealed images and details of the highly anticipated new DC Multiverse collector figure line by McFarlane Toys, available in both mass and specialty retailers beginning January 2020.

The new DC Multiverse collector line features incredibly detailed 7-inch figures designed with an impressive 22 points of articulation. Each figure comes with a collectable card that has character-specific art and biography, multiple accessories, and a display base. MSRP is $19.99 to $24.99 USD for each figure.

“McFarlane Toys has kept the DC Multiverse action figure line-up and images top-secret, but today I’m thrilled to show fans, collectors and big kids, like me, the incredible range of DC Super Hero and Super-Villain character designs that our team has created just for them to bring home,” said Todd McFarlane, Creative Force and CEO of McFarlane Toys.

The first wave of figures includes:

Batman: Detective Comics #1000

Batman figure based on the DC Rebirth comic books
Batman accessories include Grapnel Launcher and Batarang

 

Batman: Detective Comics #1000
Variant Chase

Batman figure based on the DC Rebirth comic books
Batman accessories include Grapnel Launcher and Batarang
Showcases a different chest emblem as homage to the Classic Batman

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These are the first words I’m writing for PopCult in 2020. I didn’t write them ahead of time. I’ve been awake for a couple of hours and just sat down in front of the computer at my home office in Stately Radio Free Charleston Manor.

I’ve been writing PopCult since August, 2006, and except for a couple of times when technology failed me, I haven’t missed a day of posting since August, 2013. I didn’t want to start off the new decade on a sour note, so today’s post is this improvised New Year’s message. 2020 marks the fifteenth year of this blog, and I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that fact.

The thing is, I don’t have a lot planned to write about today. The AIR is in marathon mode until next week (you can read about that HERE), and I’ve got computer maintenance planned for the rest of this week, so that we can launch into 2020 proper next Monday, with a full slate of new radio programs on The AIR, as well as more video content here, and perhaps more frequent video editions of Radio Free Charleston in the new year.

Speaking of Radio Free Charleston…longtime readers know that I do the program as a video show, but also as a couple of radio programs for The AIR, our sister internet radio station.  For some time I have been contemplating a move that would make the current radio incarnations of the show more like the original concept of RFC back in 1989, when it was on broadcast radio.  Starting next week, instead of producing Radio Free Charleston as a one-hour weekly showcase of local music from Charleston and the surrounding areas, and RFC International, as a two-hour show where I play anything I want, I will combine the shows into Radio Free Charleston Volume Five, a weekly three-hour show that will mix local music with the best indpendent, avat-garde and classic music from multiple genres.

The show will debut on Tuesday mornings at 10 AM, with replays Tuesday night at 10 PM, and Thursdays at 3 PM, with even more replays throughout the week, so you’ll have plenty of chances to hear it.

The reason for this is just to shake things up a bit and keep the shows interesting for me. When I started doing RFC on WVNS radio back in 1989, one of the most rewarding bits of feedback I got was when I would play a track by a local band, and follow it with a song by one of that band’s musical heroes. I felt then, and I feel now, that our local music scene produces high-quality artists whose work can stand side-by-side with any musicians from around the world.  While it was cool to produce a one-hour local showcase for so many years, it’s time to mix it up a bit.

Our local music is too good to segregate away from the rest of the world’s music. This is a bolder way to bring local music to the masses.

We’ll see how it works. I think it’ll be fun. I’ll be able to mix local artists with the best music in the world, and you probably won’t be able to tell the difference, until I back announce the whole thing.

But for today, I slept late, having spent much of last night working on a watercolor piece for next week’s Monday Morning Art, before ringing in 2020 with Mrs. PopCulteer. Tomorrow will bring another new post in PopCult, and 2020 will hopefully bring more reviews of the cool books, comics, music, television, movies, toys and other cool stuff that makes up pop culture.

Happy New Year, everybody!