Why Jurassic Park you probably didn’t ask? Well, there are two reasons. Firstly, Jurassic Park was one of the first films of my lifetime to acknowledge its own merchandising power and to achieve ridiculously high market saturation in almost every area. There is a scene within the film that typifies that self-awareness: when John Hammond gives his poetic monologue about the flea circus the camera pans and picks out his park merchandise including items that actually made it out on to shelves (including a hidden Making Of book by the authors of the real thing). It may seem cynical now, but that self-referential product placement was like catnip to me and my generation and it made the off-screen versions of the products somehow more invested in the magical exchange of cinema. That was the point where I realized that we weren’t just buying plastic dinosaurs, lunch boxes and bed sheets emblazoned with the cunningly marketable JP logo, we were buying a part of that movie universe. And the second: why not Jurassic Park? The film was phenomenal, and anyone suggesting that they shouldn’t immediately go now and make the fourth installment is a dastardly scoundrel who needs to re-evaluate their status as a film fan. And it should definitely be based on that legendary “Dino-soldiers” script (yes it is the most batshit idea ever, but Machete and Hobo With a Shotgun started off as similar jokes). So, hold tight for a nostalgic trip through the big wooden gates of Jurassic Park…

Due to an inventory error, we’re now overstocked with Green Lantern merchandise and twenty-three thousand wacky, inflatable, arm-flailing, tubemen. But our loss is your gain, because we’re hosting a contest to give away a ridiculous amount of very cool Lantern stuff. This may take a bit more effort than our other contests, but the prize is worth it (especially if you’re a fan or the friend of a fan who wants to make them insanely jealous). So how do you enter? Glad you asked!

The Green Hornet is coming to homes near you on May 3rd, but you can win your DVD copy today, and it’ll be delivered alongside a couple of action figures. Sadly, the prize pack does not include Kato Vision. So what is in the prize pack and how do you win? I’m glad you asked:

Images from the X-Men Origins: Wolverine toy line show what appears to be a half-naked Wolverine impersonator that they’ve mistakenly called Deadpool. That, or they screwed up the Deadpool design.

One of the oldest marketing adages is that sex sells, and that’s true in the collectibles realm as well. Given that the majority of toy and statue collectors are in a demographic that appreciates a little cheesecake with their meal, it’s no surprise that there’s no shortage of sex appeal in the action figure hobby.