Like a phoenix rising out of Arizona, Hasbro Pulse seems to have one once more.   The oft-dormant fan site had a bit of a push at the Hasbro Toy Fair press event, and now the Hasbro Pulse Instagram Feed announced a new The Vintage Collection Klaatu (Skiff Guard) action figure render.  

This is the first new version of this figure in this costume since the 1990s, updating one of the original Kenner action figures of old to the modern "super articulated" era in time for Hasbro's new Sail Barge - now with over 1,600 supporters.  And of course I have a lot more to say about this.

Getting through hundreds of images is time-consuming, so let's cheat.  It's time for The Vintage Collection to return like so many seven-year locusts. Here are images from Hasbro's showroom, mixed in with lightly edited tweets from our livetweet Saturday afternoon.  You'll see exclusives, main line items, and even a preview of something for 2019.   Sound good?  Awesome.

Hasbro to fans - "Put up or shut up."  Well, not quite as bluntly.

Today Hasbro announced HasLab, it's own crowdfunding site. The goal is to do Kickstarter-like runs for ridiculously great toys for ultrafans, and they kicked it off with the most improbable thing in the line's rich history - Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge.  Yes, a 3 3/4-inch Sail Barge.  No, you're not dreaming.

While there's not much here you haven't heard of or seen teased, it's worth a look!  The Vintage Collection is back, and an exploded prototype of the Imperial Hover Tank shows an incredibly high piece count for the vehicle, which is sure to have a price to match.  Snoke is here with his gold bathrobe and slippers, and massive head wound, and missing jaw chunk.  Who does he think he is, Karloff?  Read on for more!

You have to squint, but user @maro254 posted a bunch of advance looks at HasCon on Twitter.  Of note was a post showing the Star Wars area with some newness - you can make out the 3 3/4-inch Vintage Hover Tank, a bunch of cardbacks, and what appears to be a 3 3/4-inch vintage Snoke!  Take a look - and we'll have more later.

StarWars.com confirmed the winner of the recent fan poll for the next The Vintage Collection figure selected by fans is Marvel's Darth Vader sidekick, Doctor Aphra.  To which I say, not a bad choice!  Thank goodness it's a character we don't already all own as an action figure.

Because sleeping is for the weak, we're now tallying our winners for Fan's Choice right now.  We won't be revealing it today, but you can probably guess who's in the lead if you look at our comments on the original post.

More as we have it - the second round of voting is going to start real soon, too!

Our pal Shannon sent in some images from Orlando at Star Wars Celebration confirming Hasbro will be un-retiring The Vintage Collection yet again in Spring 2018.  (It'd go nicely with the new Han Solo movie.)   For those of you who are old, you may recall this is the fourth time Hasbro has relaunched the faux-1978-1984 format.  The only confirmation I have (not being on the floor) is that of Rey on a The Force Awakens cardback - so if you missed the figure now on markdown at Walmarts for $5.86, you're in luck!  All we know is that the Fan's Choice line is coming and, I hope, the format will return for a good long time.

Update: It's over! We're back with Fan's Choice!  Hasbro has asked for your input on the next new 3 3/4-inch The Vintage Collection action figure.  It's going to be just like last year - you can leave a comment below or email me at this address, and I'll tally the results.   Last year the ballot box got stuffed for Jaina Solo, this is your chance to vote for a future 3 3/4-inch The Black Series action figure.

Note: Please do not request figures that have already been released or announced.  Please do not send duplicate entries.   Please do not send a list of characters - only one will be counted.

Here are the rules per Hasbro:

New Black Series - repacks!  According to many sources, and Robot Kingdom (a very popular exporter of Transformers overseas) there are 4 more The Black Series 3 3/4-inch action figures coming out as future Walmart exclusives.  You may already own them, but they’re good ones if you missed them.  While Hasbro has not confirmed this, it’s a slow news week so we’re going to assume this is all fact and  tell you about these previous releases.  Read on for more pictures, links to reviews of the original figures, and a list of who you can expect to find in stores in the next couple of months.

At this time, there are no Rogue One or The Force Awakens figures in these waves known to be coming.   This continues the previous The Black Series line's proud tradition of minimizing freshness in the 3 3/4-inch range.

Because there's always a chance to drop a price, Amazon marked down the formerly Target exclusive Star Wars Action Figure Special Droid Set to under six bucks with free Prime shipping.  That ain't bad - there are plenty of other items marked down too including $3 Black Series figures and other stuff, so while you wait for the ham or turkey or Denny's to be ready you might want to poke around to see what other deals you can find.

I just found Looper (Blu-Ray, good movie) and the Total Recall remake (haven't seen it) are $4.99 each, also with free Prime shipping.

Reader Brad wrote in to inform us that his local Five Below store - unknown and unavailable to many of us in these United States - continues to get The Vintage Collection figures we all crave like Darth Malgus for five dollars... or below.  Thanks for writing in, Brad, and curse all of you who have access to this fantastic sounding store!

I've been engaged in Stemzee cell research! This new furball comes from Kmart's new and possibly in-your-local-store Kmart exclusive Ewok Assault Catapult.

Check it out - it's Chubbray!  He/she is a new Ewok from the Kmart Ewok Assault Catapult, possibly at a store near you as you read this.  Click here to read all about it!

Let's put a stake through the heart of this week with the Imperial Officer (Death Star Scanning Crew), which finishes up our look at Kmart's new Scanning exclusives.  Next week: Ewoks.  But for now, check out this black-suited villain with fleshy gloves and a swell hat.