Up until about 5 years ago, I don’t think I ever imagined there being a “streets” playset - just a random background of some “urban” setting with generic buildings and/or storefronts didn’t seem like anything that was fathomable.  Around the time of the TVC 2.0 playset revolution, when we got the Jabba’s palace diorama, which was followed by the Tantive IV hallway, I started imagining (as I’m sure many of us did) different possibilities that interlocking and interchangeable generic backgrounds could provide for our displays.  Adding new things to my collection that were either utterly contextless (Hunter, Knight of Red, Mimban Stormtrooper) or just homeless (figures from Hoth, Death Star, etc. as Chris recently wrote about) became less interesting to me than completing or upgrading scenes for which I already had a lot of context. 

For me, imagining where Hasbro could go with these new playsets took a significant turn with regard to Rogue One.  After we got Chirrut Îmwe in TVC, my wishes for completing that crew went into overdrive.  And while Bodhi hadn’t joined the team at that point in the film, I was really loving the concept of building out Jedha City as potential pièce de résistance vis-à-vis my collection.  One of my most wanted dioramas would have centered around the ambush on the Imperial tank patrol.  And it required more than just the tank and some Imperial troopers facing off against disparate actors scheming under the ægis of rebellion.  It needed the city itself to properly bring it to life.  “The city” itself is 2 important pieces:  the storefront/street market/apartment home backdrop, and a bunch of civilians to populate it.  The first suddenly seemed possible, if Hasbro was willing to turn the Tantive IV hallway concept into a modular urban façade.  I imagined some generic doorways and arches with some pottery, stools or crates to scatter around at random, and a canopy for a street vendor selling the Star Wars version of phở, or providing a place for kids to smash a piñata shaped like Pong Krell’s face.  The second still seems like a pipe dream - at least as a Hasbro offering.  Towards the top my list of wants is a “generic citizens” pack.  I’d honestly rather have access to a supply of randos with swappable heads/outfits/accessories (preferably with multiple species) that would fit into multiple urban settings instead of almost anything else.  The chances of such a thing would be close to zero.  In the meantime, I’m sure some übertalented customizer or 3D designer can do a lot of this.  Or maybe Disney can make some bootleg scene-filler forgeries, like the Fakecrawler.  Groß.

Anyway, when Hasbro announced this Streets of Mos Eisley set, it was one of the best reveals I had seen in recent memory.  And I have been waiting eagerly for it to finally arrive.  I have 6 “luxury box” shelves for my most coveted displays.  In anticipation of the arrival of this set, I kicked out one of the previous tenants to make room.  As was discussed in Chris’s aforementioned article about “homeless” figures, when there is a proper home, the whole display is automatically elevated.  So Mos Eisley executed a literal takedown of “Yoda’s Rescue”.  For the record, yes, we do have the Geonosis Arena, but it’s…terrible, and it didn’t deserve to be in the position of honor along with all the awesome figures and toys that comprise that scene.

So - I love the set.  It’s got 3 main structures which can be attached in multiple configurations.  When you have the space to connect multiple sets, you can create an awesome setup complete with twists, turns, and alleys for your figures to conduct scummy business of all sorts. The “main” piece has separately sculpted step, as well as an excellent sliding (not cardboard!) door, which snaps satisfyingly in either the open or closed position.  This piece also has the lever that controls the line’s first TT-8L series security droid.  I would love for it to be properly offered in a Jabba’s Palace Security Gate playset.  It’s neat, even though it lacks the detail of the pearlescent “face”.  A second piece performs more as a filler wall.  A third piece is a large open archway. 

Included are 3 crates, which I’m sure some folks might find to be the stars of the set.  2 are of the ubiquitous “cube” variety, while the 3rd is of the fan favorite “octagonal” shape.  All 3 have removable lids, with space inside to store your whatnots.  Also included is the “pole thing” (coined by Tannith), which is a thing in the shape of a pole.  It can go anywhere you prefer, as there’s no specific place to attach it.  And finally, there’s a cylindrical canister, which is popular amongst desert-dwelling folk. 

The pieces included are all pretty great, and very modular/configurable to allow for varied displays.  But here are two negatives that put a bit of a dark cloud on the set.  First, and perhaps the less concerning of the two, is that there’s not backside.  This is generally the way these sets work, unfortunately.  It would be awesome if you could use both sides, but no luck here.  The much more concerning issue is the lack of paint.  This set is screaming for weathering and a grime wash.  We all know that the reasoning provided for such things is cost.  But I would venture to guess that a majority of buyers of this set would have been willing to pay an extra $5-10 for a TVC quality wash - and I’m sure some collectors passed due to the lack of paint in the official imagery.  Nothing fancy required, just something akin to what we got with the Jabba’s Palace Adventure set.  That would have been great, and made this set almost perfect. 

One other note about multiple sets, while the walls have unfinished backsides, the large arch is designed to plug into an arch from another set in back-to-back fashion, which would give the appearance of being finished on both sides

And last but certainly not least, we have VC342 Jawa (Mos Eisley).  I’m not a carded collector, and I usually enjoy ripping open the cardboard and plastic to get to the toy, but it’s one those rare times where I hesitated to open the figure.  And I may keep one carded just because.  The picture on the cardback is just awesome.  Nothing like a wasted Jawa half-passed out in the desert sun.  I love it.  The figure is exactly as expected - the body is reused from passed releases, while sporting a new robe (or at least one that is colored differently than Teeka’s).  It is essentially the modern Jawa that most closely resembles my favorite Kenner figure, so it will hold a special place for me.  He comes with 3 different weapons/blasters, and 2 separately sculpted bandoliers.  I didn’t bother trying to remove anything because I fear never getting it back on properly.  But it does appear that the hood is glued on.  So while it is as expected, and perhaps scores a bonus for being the closest Kenner analog, the underlying Jawa sculpt is definitely weak.  Upper body is fine, but there is no articulation below the waist.  The figure can sit with his legs stretched straight out like an 5POA figure would do, which means he can’t even pretend to approximate the crossed leg sitting style as is shown on the awesome card image.  Also, if Hasbro does decide to go all out on a new Jawa sculpt, I would strongly suggest they ditch the “robe under robe” type sculpting.  In other words, if you pull up the soft goods sleeves, the plastic buck underneath is wearing another robe - a leftover of it being from a release that didn’t have a soft goods robe at all.  What this means is that the hands are limited by the large “cuffs”.  Even without being ball jointed, it’s a bit tough for the Jawa to hold the ion blasters because the sculpted sleeves get in the way.  And obviously most importantly, we really need to see a future Jawa figure with gross hairy arms.

For scoring, I have to ding the street pieces 2 points for not having paint apps.  However, the modularity and the awesome crate accessories help buoy the score to a 9.  The Jawa would be a 7, like its recent soft-clothed TVC predecessors, but because it’s pretty much the OG Kenner version, I kicked it up a notch to an 8.  This would result in an 8.5 because of maths, so it rounds up to a weak 9.  However, the overall fun factor and the set’s ability to elevate an existing display of lots of figures allow me to ensure it get’s a solid 9.  I can’t wait for it to kick into overdrive when we get the Haslab Cantina doorway, as well as the new Landspeeder, Obi-Wan, and other potential Return to Tatooine figures.  The whole setup is going to be tremendous in a few months.

As of now, you can find the set in stock at EntertainmentEarth (Sponsored)  For an additional discount, use the code BANTHA to get 10% off at checkout.