Ah, the Mos Eisley Cantina… a boil in the middle of a hive of scum and villainy. It’s notable for being the point in Episode IV where it really started to hit you just how… unique… the setting was going to be. Sure, the opening fight was incredible, but it was humans against humans. We liked Jawas, but they were in robes. Here though, we suddenly get dozens of different species, we get the murder of a bounty hunter (because HAN SHOT FIRST!), and we get to see just how cool a lightsaber can be.
Despite being so critical to the entire original trilogy… after all, this was the place that brought everyone together that would pretty much move through the rest of the films… it’s been basically ignored by LEGO. We’ve had exactly two sets that deal with the place, 2004’s absurdly overpriced Mos Eisley Cantina, and this year’s absurdly overpriced remake of the same name. Sure, we’ve gotten a couple of Landspeeders as well, but that’s about it. There are a bunch of similarities, outside of the size between the two sets: both have a Landspeeder with Luke and Obi-Wan, both have a Dewback and a Sandtrooper, and both have Han and Greedo.
At $40 more than the original, there is obviously a whole lot more to this set: 3 Bith, which fall into that “it’s about time” realm of minifigs, and a lot more parts. To be fair, I was excited when we saw the name first leaked, and then very let down when we finally saw this thing. It shows that LEGO knows exactly how to manipulate us AFOL fans with the inclusion of the Bith in the set, since I don’t think Greedo would have been enough by himself to get us to buy it by our first impressions alone. Of course, now that I’ve gotten it in hand, built it, and started reviewing it, the real question is does it line up to those impressions. And if so, what joke I am going to use to make fun of it?