How to make popcorn that's actually good

The thread title is "How to make popcorn that's actually good"

I wouldn't bother making it on the stovetop if microwave popcorn was just as good. It's not even close to being just as good.

Agreed.
It's just popcorn. I'm not building a goddam house over here.

The point of using a Whirley Pop is to keep the Flavacol mixed in with the oil while the kernels are popping. The machines that movie theaters use do the same thing, except their stirring mechanism is motorized rather than hand-cranked. Salt (Flavacol is primarily salt) doesn't dissolve in oil like it does in water, and without being constantly stirred during popping, most of it just sinks to and stays on the bottom of the pan rather than ending up on the popcorn.

With the microwave popper you linked to not using oil, you would get the same results as you get from an air popper. Flavacol is intended to be in with the kernels and oil while popping in a kettle, rather than sprinkled on after the popcorn is popped, and I doubt much of it would even stick to the popcorn that way, especially dry popcorn (popped without oil). You might be able to get it to stick by adding melted butter to the popcorn first. It won't taste like movie theater popcorn because it's a completely different method, though it might taste good anyway.

It's not complicated or difficult, nor does it take a long time. It takes a minute or two to preheat the oil and then 3 minutes to pop, so maybe 5 minutes total.

For the best results, add 20 minutes in the oven after it's popped, but that's just a matter of waiting, which you can do while watching the first 20 minutes of a movie; you don't have to tend to it while it's in the oven.

I've never made kettle corn so I don't know. I've only ever been interested in making salty/buttery popcorn like they make at movie theaters, and I'm not one for sweets anyway. I do know that the seasoning is just sugar and salt (a lot more sugar than salt), and that a Whirley Pop is commonly used. For the salt I would use fine flake salt, which is sometimes called "popcorn salt," rather than ordinary table salt, because it sticks to popcorn better.

Yeah, that stuff isn't very good. I've only tried it once, and that was enough. Even if it doesn't get overcooked, the seasoning is bland. There are brands of microwave popcorn that are better IMO, and I don't think those are very good either.

When I was a kid in the late '70s and '80s, my great-uncle Herb was "famous" for his popcorn. He used Orville Redenbacher's kernels, I don't know what kind of oil, and topped it with melted butter and salt after it was popped. He used an ordinary pan + lid on a gas stove and shook it the whole time.

My parents never made popcorn at home until 1982 or so when they bought one of those newfangled air poppers, same make and model as this one:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/MEDIAX_792452-T2/images/I/81-VCJENCHL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

Those were the first air poppers on the market (introduced in 1978).

The popcorn wasn't very good; we all agreed that it was nothing like Uncle Herb's. For one thing, Mom bought generic kernels and for another thing she always bought margarine instead of butter. And of course, popping with just hot air vs. hot oil makes a difference too.

About a dozen years ago I visited Uncle Herb (a couple years before he died) and it just so happened that he'd just made popcorn. I hadn't had his popcorn since the '80s and I was surprised that it was just as good as I remembered. I regret not quizzing him about his exact method and ingredients, but that was a couple years before I decided that I'd had just about enough of microwave popcorn and started looking into how to make good popcorn at home.