Anime

Berlin International Film Festival

BFI London Film Festival

Eurovision

Fantasia Fest

Fantastic Fest

Food

IFFBoston

Manga

Pokémon

Sundance

Toronto International Film Festival

Venice International Film Festival

Yu-Gi-Oh

About Us

Footer Legal

Header Main

This Is Pop Heist

Topics

Paid subscribers receive access to exclusive content (including this article)!

You want in? 💎

Become a paid subscriber today for unlimited access to Pop Heist — including member-exclusive newsletters, reviews, recaps, and more!

Crack into the vault for exclusive content! 💎

To celebrate Heistmas — and Pop Heist's first anniversary — we're offering 20% off a new annual or monthly subscription!
(Limited time only! Act now! Pow! Zap! Kapow!)

A paid subscription gets you unlimited articles and exclusive content. Check it out! »

Sign up today to get access to more cool content from good-lookin' writers. (This part's free!)

Wanna get in on the heist? 💎

Pop Heist

Connor Lightbody (he/him) is a Scottish film critic, programmer and writer. He is an avid film festival attendee that you can find sipping aperol on the Venice Lido each year while ranting about how good Magic Mike XXL is.

Connor Lightbody

‘Late Shift’ Review: A Poignant Medical Film at a Crucial Moment

Ethan Kaye (he/him) is a writer/editor/book hoarder. He is scared of the Loch Ness Monster.

Ethan Kaye

Best Flicks and Bad Flops

Not Even Michael Keaton Could Save ‘Kraft Salutes Walt Disney World’s 10th Anniversary’

Ally Roth is a 15+ year entertainment journalist veteran whose bylines include SYFY Wire, Looper, and Bell of Lost Souls. She has written comic scripts for IDW Comics and Zenescope Entertainment and has written Doctor Who shorts for BBC Worldwide. She is a long-time podcast host and producer who has worked on Who Won the Week, SYFY&#8217;s Every Day series, and the Amazon podcast Untold Story. She currently co-hosts the New York Times recommended podcast Song vs Song.

Ally Roth

Culture

Laverne Cox’s Trans Sitcom ‘Clean Slate’ Looks Like the Reality We Should Have

Latonya &#8220;Penn&#8221; Pennington (they/them) is a prolific freelance pop culture critic who has written for publications such as Into More, Popverse, Comics XF, and more. They are also a poet and have been published in Videodame, The Daily Drunk, and Sage Cigarettes, to name a few.

Latonya Pennington

The Best in Magical Girl Mascots

Boston culture journalist Andy Crump covers movies, beer, music, fatherhood, and way too many other subjects for way too many outlets, perhaps even yours: Paste Magazine, Inverse, The New York Times, Hop Culture, Polygon, and Men&#8217;s Health, plus more. He is composed of roughly 65 percent craft beer. He currently needs a haircut.

Andy Crump

5 Sundance Films To Keep an Eye Out For

John DeQuadros (he/him) is a professional toy photographer and versatile freelance writer with a keen focus on popular culture. He contributes a weekly column to ToyTales.ca and his work regularly features on platforms like StarTrek.com and 8-Bit Pickle. Additionally, his articles frequently grace the pages of esteemed publications like Smarter Than Jack, Kaiju Ramen Magazine, ToyCollectr, The Toy Book and Retro Format Magazine. When not crafting compelling content, John enjoys immersing himself in retro video games, enhancing his diverse toy collection, taking leisurely walks with his dog, and cherishing moments with family and friends.

John DeQuadros

Heist Guides

Heist Guide: Pokémon

Taco Bell Chicken Nuggets Are … Here, I Guess

Brett White (he/him) is a pop culture journalist and editor-in-chief of Pop Heist. Prior to this, he was a senior reporter/producer for Decider for seven years. Prior to joining Decider, he covered pop culture for Comic Book Resources, Marvel.com, and MTV News. His areas of expertise include Marvel Comics, Star Wars, Drag Race, classic sitcoms, Sam Neill, unexpected thirst traps, and unlikely menswear icons.
In his spare time, he cohosts the podcast Must Have Seen TV and is writing his first book: a biography of <a href="https://www.haydenrorke.com/">Hayden Rorke</a>.
He also lives out his feminine fantasy as <a href="https://www.barbhardly.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barb Hardly</a>, his drag queen alter ego.
His hobbies include spending way too much money on action figures, swimsuits, and fashion accessories. He currently lives in Queens with his handsome husband and two large, orange cats.

Brett White

Music

Monét X Change Turns Up the Bass in New ‘Life Be Lifin” Tour

Daniel Schmergel (he/him) is a writer, investor, dad, and husband. He&#8217;s written fiction, TV pilots and non-fiction about music, real estate, fashion, politics, and comic books, among other subjects. It&#8217;s a chaotic resume, but it works for him. He loves sweaters, music, art, literature, action figures, and his family, but not in that order. He grew up on Long Island and his lived in Manhattan, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, and Bloomington, Indiana (briefly); he currently resides in the DC suburbs. He earned his BA from Colgate University and his MFA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College, where he was not part of a sex cult.

Daniel Schmergel

A Sweater Obsessive’s Top 10 Sweaters of 2024

Jonathan (he/they) is a freelance writer who enjoys covering art, technology, rambling about emotions, and feature stories. He lives in D.C. with his two cats, Raz and Miles.

Jonathan Forney

ACAB — But Not Scooby-Doo Tho