In 2002, in the midst of Hasbro’s SAGA “Attack of the Clones but not Attack of the Clones” line, figures and toys from other films started to make it into the line just to mix it up.  This was never the case with the Episode I nor the ROTS lines.  Those stayed pure to their movie analogs. Before adding back toys from outside those sources, Hasbro rebooted to POTJ and TSC, respectively.  All of this, of course, was tossed out the window with the Disney media, where there was all kinds of crossings of the streams, despite the packaging artwork being attached to a single source.  But in 2002, there was never officially an Attack of the Clones line, so once the initial movie-themed waves of toys were already exhausted, Hasbo threw in some stuff from elsewhere.  And some of it was…AWESOME.  Even today, some of it is still pretty cool.

Such is the case with the Walmart exclusive Saga Cantina sets.  There were three sets released in the first wave, with three more planned, but cancelled.  This is amazing, and I can only assume Walmart just went bananas and mismanaged their ordering quantity by adding a couple of extra zeroes at the end of the first wave.  Because these were just what many collectors wanted.  The figures in the sets weren’t much to write home about.  They were either repaints or tweaks to existing figures.  The first wave had the least exciting figures, and maybe that also contributed to the cancellation of the second.  Perhaps Hasbro should have led off with the second set, which included the never-before-made Kitik Keed’Kak giant mantis thing.  The knowledge that the figure existed and was cancelled created some underlying desire (read: freaking out) within the community, and it was eventually released (twice).

Each of the three sets included a cantina figure, 3 bar glasses, and most importantly, a cantina bar section.  The Greedo figure was a repaint of the POTF2 Commtech release.  It wasn’t bad for the time.  It had basic articulation with added hinged knees, allowing the figure to assume a realistic seated position.  The left hand is able to grasp the bar glass accessories, although the closed-grip right hand is still only good for holding his blaster (not included here).  The three bar glasses are 2 different sculpts, and were included in each of the 3 cantina sets.

The cantina bar section was the draw here.  First and foremost, it is meant to clip into the others, so if you got all 3 sets, you could have a nice little diorama setup for one of the greatest scenes in the entire saga.  Now, Hasbro made a controversial decision to include 2 barstools as part of the sculpt.  They are separate pieces but cannot be removed with anything other than a lot of patience and elbow grease, neither of which are in my arsenal.  You may choose to do this for the sake of film accuracy, but I don’t think I can take the risk of such heavy groin damage.

The sections are, for all intents and purposes, identical, but there are (unintentional?) variations in the paint applications, so when they are clipped together, they don’t exactly flow 100% perfectly to the eye from a consistency perspective. 

As collectors are a terrible bunch, the release of these sets immediately had the community demanding the next obvious step:  curved bar sections.  So while these were the only pieces in Hasbro’s arsenal for years, they came to be known as “straight bar sections” (not that there’s anything wrong with that) because it was clear to many that this would be necessary nomenclature to differentiate them from the curved bar sections that would obviously have to be released by the following week.  Well, 5 years later, this dream came true with the dual releases of M’iiyoom Onith and Elis Helrot.

So these sets satisfied a demand, but created two more (Kitik Keed’Kak and the curved sections).  Hasbro eventually came through on both, and collectors were completely satisfied, never to complain again! Now we just need to get rid of those silly stools.  That’s all we need.  And the distillery.  That’s it.  Nothing else.  And some cantina alcoves.  And we won’t need anything more.  Except the Tonnika sisters.  That’s all.

The figure is okay.  It deserves a 5, but was rendered mostly obsolete by the VTSC release (unless you swap vests.). The bar section is also pretty cool, although the stools are frustrating.  Putting them all together does give you something worthwhile, although you could also get the straight sections in the OTC Cantina Screen Scenes, if that’s your bag.  More on that another day.