It could be argued that one of the single most defining moments in the classic trilogy was Star Wars‘ Mos Eisley Cantina scene. Most of the creature work in the movie was crammed into the opening montage in this setting – outside of Mos Eisley, the only non-humans seen in Star Wars are Jawas, droids, Tusken raiders, and the creature in the Death Star’s garbage compactor.
Hasbro hasn’t skimped on mining the Mos Eisley Cantina for figures, either. Such characters as Lak Sivrak, Ponda Baba and Momaw Nadon (previously known respectively as Walrusman and Hammerhead to collectors of the original figures), and Greedo have already been released. Dr. Evazan, the pig-nosed humanoid who, with Walrusman, attacked Luke and drew the wrath of Obi-Wan Kenobi, was included in an early Cinema Scene 3-pack.
One of the recent Cinema Scene 3-packs revives the creature formerly known as Snaggletooth, and introduces two other characters in plastic form for the first time.
Star Wars Insider magazine also offered an exclusive five-pack of nearly identical Cantina Band figures. Each came with a complete set of “instruments,” so between the five you have Figrin D’an’s whole band. While I long ago gave up on being a completist collector of Hasbro’s new figures, I think the Cantina Band is one of the more essential items from Hasbro’s classic Star Wars line, and definitely worth the cost of tracking them down.
Hasbro continues to mine Mos Eisley for future characters. Most notable of these is the Cantina’s bartender, whose figure is named Wuher. This character will be released with the now inescapable Commtech chip in the first quarter of 2000, proving that you can show up for ten frames in a Star Wars film and wind up being immortalized in plastic.