The holiday is rapidly approaching. You need a last-minute gift item and our two-part PopCult Gift Guide didn’t help one bit.  Relax, for the next three days we’re bringing you the bonus, last-minute PopCult Extra-Desperate Gift Guide!

Today and Thursday we’ll revisit items from the PopCult Toybox and The PopCult Bookshelf that we covered in the past year.  Wednesday will see our video recmmendations. Let us begin…

Mountain Craft Shop Company, located in Proctor, West Virginia, has been producing hand-crafted reproductions of folk toys for nearly fifty years. Their products, collectively known as American Folk Toys, are reproductions of toys once made at home and handed down from one generation to another.  You can find their toys at the gift shop at Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, or you can order from their website. If you’re looking for a local angle, or just want something decidedly NOT electronic, this is the way to go.

Captain Action has been a big part of Popcult since day one, so it should come as no shock that I’m recommending the latest Captain Action toys–a basic Captain Action figure plus costumes that allow him to change into Iron Man and Wolverine.  You may still be able to order these online, but you’ll want to spring for expediated shipping.  For a baragain on Captain Action’s nemesis, Dr. Evil, check out this sale at Autoworld, where you can get the deluxe Dr. Evil for a mere fourteen bucks.  A last-minute check reveals that they also have the deluxe Thor and Loki outfits for sale, too!

NJ Croce has released Bendie figures based on The Justice League of America. More specifically, they seem to have based these figures on very early JLA adventures, because the designs seem an awful lot like the art from the League’s early adventures. These are great stocking-stuffers at under six bucks a pop.  Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and The Joker can be found locally at Magic Mart, while Superman has been sighted at Wal Mart. The elusive Green Lantern has to be purchased online.

Just last week I told you about Midnight Magic, a knockoff of Monster High fashion dolls that has come into its own and is now a collectible line itself.

Originally four brainy schoolgirls who drank a serum that turned them into all-night psarty animals, this year they added four new girls, who all have pets and skin that gliters and is translucent. You can find the Pet Collection Midnight Magic dolls at Family Dollar for ten dollars each.  The basic Midnight Magic dolls are five bucks or less at Family Dollar and Walgreens.

Zombies vs. Zombie Hunters can be ordered for under $12 at Amazon. This playset, courtesy of EMCE Toys (the company run by our pal Doc MEGO) contains just exactly what it says it has–Zombies and Zombie Hunters. 35 figures in a poly bagg. These little two-inch-tall figures are just the right size to re-enact the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” on your desktop at work. Or you can slip them into your Santa’s Village for a memorable Christmas display. The sculpting is fairly detailed for such a tiny figure. The zombies have plenty of exposed entrails, missing body parts, and loads of personal gore and charisma. The zombie hunters are well armed with a variety of firearms, crossbows, axes, and other implements of destruction.

That’s our five last-ditch ideas for toy gifts. Check back tomorrow for our video recommendations.