The PopCulteer
November 21, 2025

It’s a been a while since I’ve done a Kickstarter Alert, and I’m gonna need to interrupt The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide for a moment because there are FOUR great campaigns to tell you about, and one of them is only running for a few more days. Each set has a variety of reward levels for you to explore, which I’m telling you now so I don’t have to repeat it four times in the rest of this post. Also, if there are lines through some of the links, just ignore it. They will work. It’s just some weird quirk where WordPress does not play nice with Kickstarter all the time.

Fearsome Weirdos: Haunted Heaps 2 Trading Cards

Okay, this is the second series of Robert Jimenez’ trading card series that mashes up hot rods with cool monsters and it’s the latest entry in his Fearsome Weirdos series. You can find out more about that going to his ZeroStreet Store.

Fearsome Weirdos: Haunted Heaps 2 Trading Cards is a Gruesome Collection Of Revolting Rides and Wicked Wheels!

The 36 card set is made up of 24 Vile Vehicles, and Highway Hellions, a subset featuring portraits of 12 of the drivers.

The set also includes a lenticular card, a sticker and a promo card, all packaged in a tuck box

The set is written and illustrated by Robert Jimenez, with some writing assists by Paul Harris and Peter Zeis!

Also, available as add-ons are Sketch Cards, Original Art and more! And if you missed out on the first Haunted Heaps set, pick that up along with other Fearsome Weirdos sets which are available as add-ons!

This campaign only runs five more days, wrapping up the day before Thanksgiving. so rush over now and KIck in. It’s already fully-funded, so you know you will get your creepy rides.

Lincoln Mini-Monsters 3.75″ Action Figures

The classic, iconic Lincoln Monsters are shrinking down, ready to invade as a whole new scale of figures!

Exactly one year ago I told you about a new line of MEGO-scale figures that revived the classic cheesy knockoff Lincoln Monsters. The original Lincoln International figures were notoriously fragile, with cloth outfits that seemed more like cheap paper. They were knockoffs of knockoffs, and came with all the joys and pitfalls.

Now, the team that brought you the 8″ reproductions is back with an ambitious new project. Using special mad-scientist technology, they have shrunk the original Lincoln Monsters down to half their original size, and are Kickstarting production of these smaller ReAction-sized figures.

This campaign runs until November 30, and it’s fully-funded, and has blown through some of its stretch goals already. They’ve already cleared enough to make the original six figures, and are branching out into cheesy-knockoff “What If” territory with more figures as well as playsets.

This campaign does require the use of the dreaded BackerKit to collect the shipping fees once they’re ready to ship in early 2027, but considering how fast the post office is raising rates these days, you can’t blame them.

Go check out the campaign and wallow in the monstrosity.

Pirates & Privateers Series Four

From my online buddy, RRParksCards, comes series four of an awesome trading card set. This campaign runs about another two weeks, and it’s way beyond fully funded, and it’s expected to ship in December.

Quoting from the campaign, this series includes:

72-card Base Set of PIRATES — a reproduction of the classic PIRATE’S PICTURE GUM series of 1936. And original set in mid grade would cost $1,000s ‘n $1,000s … but now you can have the full series in MINT condition for a pittance … a PITTANCE I sez … yarrr!
11-card subset by Macarie of classic era Pirates Portraits … pirates that have never been on a trading card before. Written and ‘figured out’ by Reidr Daniels and Matt McClaine … artwork by Claudiu Macarie … based on likenesses we imagined as what modern day actors ought to play them in a movie.
Sticker Subset of maps and flags with artwork by Marsha Parkins
Jean Gerome 3D Lenticular of BLACKBEARD
Elisabetta Stoinich 3D Lenticular of BLACKBEARD
Classic era Pirates & Parrot 3D Lenticular
KOSTO 9-booklet reproduction set of the 1920s ‘Pirate Pudding Booklets’.
KOSTO 9-card reproduction set of the 1950s Pirate Decals … instead of ‘decals’, though, they are raised UV texture cards!
BLACKBEARD genuine etching card. Artwork by Elisabetta Stoinich and produced in genuine ETCHING media by RRParks. Limited, numbered edition.
TWO Raised UV Arthur Rackham MERMAID cards
E. S. Hardy Raised UV MERMAID card
Pirate’s Picture Gum header card
Theodore Kittelsen SEA MONSTER Raised UV special card
Pirate’s Picture Gum reproduction wrapper … FOUR of these, wrapped around 18 different cards … have the fun of opening four packs of this classic era Pirate’s Picture Gum cards to build your set. Each wrapper has a complete checklist.
KOSTO decal pack wrapper (contains the complete set)
Macarie Pirates Portrait wrapper (contains the complete set)
Master Set limited edition Raised UV insert card
Packaging header panel
Two ‘tobacco style’ creator cards (one of Redir Daniels and one of RRParks)
ORIGINAL ART SKETCH CARD!
Treasure Trove METAL CARD with COA on the back … metal card produced by Faerie Metal.
Elisabetta Stoinich BLACKBEARD sepia ‘coffee stain’ variation.
Pirates & Privateers mini flier
DIY Pirates & Privateers Sketch Card Blank
Tim Shinn BLACKBEARD promo card
Let’s talk about the SKETCH CARDS a bit …
SKETCH CARDS! Oh yes indeed… original art sketch cards have been created (and are in the process of being created) — every one of them talented!

Go check out the Kickstarter page and get on board with this amazing card set.

Metropolis Picture Gum Trading Cards

Finally, we recommend a campaign that is near and dear to me because, not only do I love the movie, Metropolis, this project was also the subject of my final article for Non Sport Update.

In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the classic 1927 Fritz Lang film, we have Metropolis Picture Gum trading cards from NostalgiCards. 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 sci-fi masterpiece.

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.

Riley picks up the story, “…I had been a collector and also a dealer of cards, in 1995, when non-sport cards were having a resurgence in popularity, I decided I wanted to try my hand at manufacturing cards. Metropolis was about to enter the public domain soon and being a fan, I thought it would make a great looking card set. So, I decided that it was going to be my first set and I started working on it. Then in 1998, the public domain laws changed and they were extended another 20 years. So, the project got shelved.”

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.

About the cards, Riley tells us, “The set consists of 45 base cards that tell the story on the backs. Then there are 4 bio cards which can be found 1:6 packs. Taking a nod from classic non-sport sets from the era, I will have color variations. Since the movie is in black and white, I decided to do 4 different duotone colors on each card (including the bio cards). The 4 colors are: green, orange, red, and yellow. This makes the series quite colorful for a B&W film.” The bio cards depict the film’s director and co-writer, Fritz Lang, plus the two stars and Lang’s co-writer, Thea von Harbou.

Riley has also designed a period-authentic album, and a three-piece display box that can also serve as a really great display piece. All the graphics are taken straight from the film and just scream “Art Deco.” Metropolis remains one of the most visually striking films ever made, and this NostalgiCards set is a fitting tribute.

Rewards for the Kickstarter campaign include: A single pack of five cards; A 45-card mixed color base set; a 24 pack mixed color box, as well as a Master Set of all four color sets and a “Hot Box” mini-case with all four color sets, each containing a single color.

Plus there are add-ons including the Album and other base and master set options as well as some limited offerings of previous NostalgiCard sets. An added nostalgic bonus is that each wax pack of cards contains one stick of Beeman’s chewing gum!

I know that last part would get ya. Go Kick in now. the set is fully-funded, so you can expect to receive your rewards in March, 2026.

And that is this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, including The 2025 PopCult Gift Guide, which is now going to overflow November, and run until the first week of December, with the Master List hitting one week after Black Friday.