Hasbro tricked you into buying a 42-year-old board game you didn't want so you could own the Grand Moff Tarkin (The Retro Collection).  It's appropriately old-school feeling, and you can see it borrows elements from the Imperial Commander figure from The Empire Strikes Back line. They even left the gloved hands and painted them in a flesh color, with some modifications to the right hand's fingers to better grip a gun.  Hasbro did a good job here - should you run out and buy it?  Read on!

The very, very long-awaited Grand Moff Tarkin in 3 3/4-inch 1978-style has arrived at Target stores.  Use DPCI 087-06-0431 in-stores or this link for availability.  It's $19.99 and packed in a remake of the "Escape the Death Star" board game, which was produced by Kenner in late 1977 in order to get something, anything, on shelves thanks to its lack of tooling.  It's basically a $7 protective shell around Tarkin's 6x9-inch cardback, pre-punched, faux-weathered, stickered, and complete with a blaster pistol that's pretty darned convincing as almost an original.

Star Wars goes Kenner! Six reissues and one new vintage-style "ReAction"-esque figure are seemingly exclusive to Target, and of course sold out preorders in seconds. Hopefully Target and Hasbro don't pull a Spinosaurus and keep them coming all year long!

Ad: Catch up on Vintage Star Wars and Studio Series Transformers at Entertainment Earth! New additions are up - including some Return of the Jedi parts and pieces dating back to 1983!

As a kid, one of the things that always confused me was the make-up of the Ewoks cartoon TV series action figure line.  Why would there be only 6 figures, only 2 of which were regulars and heroes?  A line with 4 Dulok villains seemed odd, and when I saw the second series prototypes a few years later I was even more confused - where's Teebo?  Where's Kneesaa?   How could Chituhr be more popular?

Well, the Star Wars Collectors Archive may have found part of the answer.  In an article Unknown Ewoks: Unearthed Figures from the Animated Series, we see four unproduced Ewoks from that era.  These characters were largely more important to the series and the brief marketing juggernaut of Ewok licensed products in that era.   Perhaps Star Wars could have had a presence for a few more years were these made instead - I remember seeing pegs upon pegs of unsold Duloks (and the occasional Logray) at Kay-Bee toy stores for $1 each for quite some time, and while I did buy Logray on sight I never saw Wicket.  (Or, as Droids went, R2-D2 and C-3PO.)

Those childhood memories can attract quite the scum and villainy. A Vancouver, Washington Star Wars collector reportedly had about $30-45,000 worth of what appears to be mostly vintage Kenner collectibles stolen from his home. Click here for the full report from KRON4.

The Droid 3-Pack AFX Exclusive Kenner Jumbo Figures - Death Star Droid, R5-D4, and Power Droid - were boxed together with a swell background about a year ago.  Gentle Giant still has a few around and now it's a mere $100 for the set - basically three for the price of one.   While issues like "space" and "not having several thousand dollars" may keep people like you and me from collecting them all, $33.33 a pop is a swell deal.  Click through to see if they have any left.

Ad: Entertainment Earth has new Bif Bang Pow! Retro 3 3/4-inch Twilight Zone figures in stock! Black & white figures are a mere 10 bones each, and US orders of $79+ of in-stock toys ship free. Color figures will debut at SDCC next week - but you can order black & white right now! Collect all 7.

Also pre-order new 3 3/4-inch Star Wars Black Series action figures like Luke Skywalker Wampa Attack and R5-G19!  See more after the break.

Ad: They're up!  The long-awaited ALIEN action figures developed by Super7 are now up at Entertainment Earth.  The set of 5 is at $64.99.  Click here to pre-order yours now!

Surprise? There is another...Gentle Giant SDCC exclusive. Today's announcement is plenty times awesome, especially for those who are versed in their vintage Kenner history and know that this was only released in Canada and Australia in this packaging format and a Tri-logo card in Europe, but never released in the U.S. (sound familiar 2013 Movie Heroes fans?) The fourth SDCC exclusive is a Jumbo Vintage POTF Yakface complete with coin!

It's not Star Wars, but shares the same Kenner DNA. Super7 is rolling out their new ReAction Alien action figure assortment that's based on the cancelled line from 1979 in eloquent style for SDCC. There are four exclusives altogether and two are FREE! 

It's gimmicky, kiddy, and fun, yet it will likely earn some guffaws from legacy collectors looking for a more 3.75 inch fix. Hasbro announces a second exclusive for this year's San Diego Comic-Con International: An Angry Birds Vintage 12 Pack Action Figure Set!

For Star Wars fans and collectors, having a passionate advocate and steward like a Steve Sansweet, who also just happens to be the custodian of the largest Star Wars collection in the galaxy, is like catching lightning in a bottle. Not only does he have a collection you can never even dream of owning (let alone housing), but he can write, and write pretty well, of all the relevant events and collectibles from both a fan and collector standpoint because he bore witness to and collected most of them. Like E.F. Hutton, when Steve writes, every Star Wars fan should read.

Via Gus Lopez, former Kenner and Hasbro photographer Kim Simmons has updated his site with more wonderful and amazing vintage Kenner product, comps and prototype photos. 

Les Jouets (The Toys) Star Wars Exposition is now underway at the Musee Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris, France featuring 450 select Kenner and Hasbro pieces from the collection of Arnaud Grunberg.