Across the history of Star Wars and the various movies and shows, the Mos Eisley Cantina remains one of the most iconic sets, and it is now finally being realised in the Star Wars Black Series. The Cantina Showdown is a Hasbro Pulse Con 2021 exclusive, sold only via Hasbro Pulse in the US, Canada, and the UK following the live stream event.
Hasbro provided us with this set free of charge as part of a press pack for Hasbro Pulse Con 2021
The Cantina Showdown continues the packaging homages that we have seen across the last year celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm. It mimics the Power of the Force 2 Cinema Scene packaging of the late 1990s and is a direct update of the original 1997 Cantina Showdown set from the Kenner 3.75 inch POTF2 figures to the modern 6-inch Black Series.
Unlike the original box, the new Exclusive Set features a metallic foil finish to the box which matches the finish they put on the Wampa set from last year. It looks impressive in person but is difficult to photograph and is prone to fingerprints and smudging.
The box opens from either of the two side flaps and the full innards slide out. The contents are packed onto a 5 sides cardboard tray, enclosed in clear plastic trays that themselves slot into and through the cardboard base and are secured in place with a number of plastic twist-lock connectors. The figures are held in by clear elastic ties - and lots of them - while the accessories are on a small tray to the side of Obi-Wan and taped into position.
Like the original POTF2 release, the inner tray is illustrated like the Cantina bar. Whether it is serviceable as a display environment on its own will be an individual choice, but the various slits and holes do detract and the plain cardboard sides will mean it needs a bit of work.
We start with Obi-Wan Kenobi who is a direct and full re-use of the original 2016 release. There are some tweaks that do improve the figure massively, particularly the photo-real decor on the head sculpt. This face print now works with what is a very good likeness of Alec Guinness, and with much better colouring on the face and hair than the recent 2021 Kenner Homage Obi-Wan.
The other improvement is on the soft goods with a stitch added either side of the hood to keep it in a more natural position. The original figure suffered from a floating hood look, and considering that Ben Kenobi has his hood raised in much of the Cantina Bar scene this minor tweak is appreciated. The hood can still be lowered to reveal more of the head.
Obi-Wan comes with his lightsaber which includes a detailed and well-painted hilt that can also be hung at his belt by way of a hook on the belt, and a loop at the end of the lightsaber itself. The translucent blue blade is a good colour and straight - but the connecting section is quite slim and may be at risk of damage if you swap the blade in and out too often.
There has been no improvement in Obi-Wan's articulation and that does mean that he features the basic 16 points of articulation from that 3rd phase of releases. The legs are very poseable but restricted behind that rubbery skirt. While the arms really need a better elbow and a butterfly joint for the two-handed saber pose. While you can force the arms into a position to hold the saber (see below) they don't want to stay in that pose and put a lot of strain on the saber hilt which bends through the pressure.
Ponda Baba is a brand new character addition to the Black Series with a full new Aqualish head sculpt. The head may appear a little large at first glance, but is correctly scaled considering the original 1977 costume - over the years other figures have scaled the head down.
The body is taken from the Luke Skywalker Medal Ceremony figure (2019), repainting the jacket and sleeves to orange and adding some weathering and dirt. The trousers remain brown, but a shade darker and without the yellow piping. The boots remain gloss black.
Ponda Baba is seen in the Cantina scenes with two types of hands, and Hasbro has included both of them so you can choose his appearance at the bar. The hairy standard hands look new and feature textured hair painted in a darker grey than the base skin colour. The hoof hands also feature hair around the wrist with a glossy grey finish to the hoof itself.
The Luke Skywalker arms did not originally facilitate swapping out hands. And while these new ones work OK, they feel stretched when going in and out and the pegs are quite slim so another area to watch for potential breaks. Sadly, there is no feature for Ponda's arm to be severed by Obi-Wan's lightsaber - this is a miss for the set. The articulation is 16 points in total with double joint knees and single joint elbows.
Ponda Baba comes with a blaster that I think is new to the line, a sleek scoped weapon with a painted red handle that arrives wrapped in a tiny sleeve to protect it in the box, It fits into the right standard hand, and slips into the holster when not in use. The holster is carried forward from the Luke figure and it was designed to hold a different weapon. The fit, therefore, is not perfect and a little tight and the strap is hard to engage being too short to come over the grip of Ponda's blaster and into position.
The final member of the Cantina Showdown is Doctor Cornelius Evazan who also features a brand new head sculpt with all his disfigurement sculpted in glorious detail- albeit not that good a match to what we see on screen with the figures head too round, with a shallow chin and lack of depth in the hair which is more wild on screen. Evazan features a new torso piece over which is the new waistcoat jacket complete with holster. The arms date all the way back to the orginal Jedi Luke Skywalker figure, while the legs are taken from DJ from The Last Jedi.
Most of the decor for Evazan has gone into the face with the body cast in their base colour with the belt the only piece with paint detail. There is no weathering to dirty up the Doctor as we see with Ponda.
Doctor Evazan has 17 points of articulation, gaining an extra joint thanks to that new torso and a dual joint neckpiece that has motion at where it connects to the torso as well as where it connects to the head.
Evazan also comes with a new blaster with a very complex design of overly long scopes and a very short barrel. It is believed the original blaster prop went on to be re-used in Alien if anyone thinks it looks familiar. It is cast in grey and has no paint apps added. The holster is part of the belt sculpt and is made for the weapon so the fit, when holstered, is tight and secure.
The Black Series is pretty scarce in terms of environmental pieces released over the past 8-years. Aside from a number of diorama bases, we've only really had Palpatine's Throne, Obi-Wan's table, and the Throne and base for Snoke. This set brings us three modular pieces to build part of the Mos Eisley Cantina Bar. We have a straight piece and a curved piece and Hasbro has alluded to us needing two sets to build the full curve of the bar - although the exclusive is restricted to one per customer. I would assume we will see these pieces in further sets perhaps with other Cantina patrons.
Each piece is cast in beige plastic with a grey trim on either side of the bartop and discoloration added to weather the sections. They clip together by way of a clip and peg system and can be connected in both left-hand or right-hand curving configurations. And the straight sections are designed to connect together too if you had more of them to create a longer bar.
The centre part of the bar is a third segment that has to be carefully, almost surgically, removed from the packaging and a myriad of clear ties. The base section is the same colour as the rest of the bar, with the grey trim. On the back, you can see more plug and socket connectors which would allow you to connect two island pieces together for a fuller section of the bar.
The various canisters and pipes above are all individual pieces that slot into holes on the bar and into each other. They are all cast in a grey, with no paint apps applied at all and this is a shame considering the props were varying colours with copper pipework.
You are also provided with three cups/glasses as part of the set to dress your bar with. None of the figures can easily hold these in either hand without some level of stretching.
Once connected together and lined we can see the bar is scaled well to the 6-inch figures. It is well-engineered in terms of how it connects and stands fine on its own.
The Hasbro Pulse Con 2021 exclusive Cantina Showdown set will sell at £104.99 in the UK and that equates to around £66 of figures at the current £22 price point, and about £39 of the bar. It is perhaps lacking in a couple of areas - I'd like to have seen more paint on the canisters and pipework of the bar, and a feature to severe Ponda Baba's arm would have added more value.
As it stands, this is a great display piece if you can snag one via Hasbro Pulse after the Star Wars panel at Pulse Con. Those who love the packaging and are picking up the other POTF2 carded figures be really happy with the foil packaging while loose collectors should be happy with the overall construction and look of the bar - and it is a fair bet we will see further bar pieces now Hasbro has the design to expand the diorama further.
For those who miss out by choice or due to demand, it is understood Ponda Baba and Evazan will be single releases at some stage in 2022.
If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports
About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...