Chris And Bret React To The 01/12 Fan Stream Reveals

We only had one reveal yesterday, but it delivers four figures at once. I think it make sense to react to the set as a whole, and then react to the individual figures because whether or not all four work well together is distinct conversation from the merits of them as individual figures. Got it? Let's go!

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Chris:

Three of the four figures have existed on my March Madness Top 25 for a few years now. So this is a home run, right? No. I'm slightly disappointed. It's mostly they way it was teased. To me four shadow silhouetted hands around a table indicates to me that I'm going to be getting four Cantina patrons. We talk about "dream projects" with HasLabs. Getting four Cantina patrons at once is a dream for me. I don't care if they're upgrades or never-before-made figures. If I know that I can get four figures from the interior of the Cantina in A New Hope in one fell swoop, I'm going to be a happy camper. But that's not what we got. We got two patrons, one character from the streets outside, and a nonsense character that does 0.0 for my Cantina display. That last part is what disappoints me the most. I'm also disappointed that these are not carded. I desperately need Labria, Garindan and Arleil on cards. But I can be disappointed, and still suspect that this will be my favorite product for 2026. I can't WAIT to have this in-hand.

Bret:

Yep, it's more disappointing for me than for Chris, but for the same reasons. I'd rather be filling up my Cantina with actual characters that exist on screen (whether original or SE). And of course, as most of our regular readers know by now, I prefer never-before-made to upgrades. So of the two actual cantina patrons in this pack, one is new, and the other is a re-do. I don't care about the cards, but I understand that many folks out there do. So I get the frustration. It could mean that some or all of them will see re-release later as carded figures, which is often the case with these Special Action Figure sets. I'll go into more of the details regarding how I feel for each individual figure, but just like Chris, I am both disappointed and eager to own this pack.

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Chris:

I know there is a "new before redo" camp on this site (see below), and within the community at large. I would argue that Labria is not an update, but is new for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think any POTF2 figures should count as existing in the modern line. POTF2 figures are not scaled relatively like modern figures, the aesthetic is very different, and they were effectively made by a different company. The only Labria sculpt we have so far comes from the 1999 POTF2 Cantina Aliens Cinema Scene. That same sculpt was then repainted for the Saga Collection as 073 - Labria. They're both terrible, and POTF2 figures shouldn't count. Furthermore, below the neck, the figure is so inaccurate, that I'm not sure you can call it "Labria". We needed a new Labria, and it's here. Thankfully.

Bret:

Welcome to Camp New Before Redo! I'm Mr. N. Scout, and I'll be your host and guide for this magical tour of the place where you should hang out more often. Applications are available by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE) to Camp NBR, PO Box 1138, Pueblo, Colorado, Eight One Oh Oh Nine. That's Camp NBR, PO Box 1138, Pueblo, Colorado, Eight One Oh Oh Niiiiiine. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

While I don't completely agree with Chris on his hardline stance that POTF2 is not part of the modern line, I do agree that the handful of remaining figures from ANH that have not been updated do deserve the modern treatment. That doesn't change the fact that for me, Labria is merely an incremental upgrade to my Cantina display rather than a true new addition. Yes, it's a massive upgrade, and the figure will no doubt be amazing, but I'd still rather have almost any never-before-made cantina patron - even if the upgrade is warranted. But in the group of existing background figures that I would reluctantly accept as a redo candidate, I would say Labria is near the top of my list.

When he arrives into my collection, he will take the place of the Labria I already have, rather than increasing the population of my Cantina. With a VERY long list of unmade patrons to draw from, I'm disappointed that this was included in the set over any character on that list.

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Chris:

While I don't feel like it should have been insinuated that Garindan takes a seat a table with other Cantina patrons, I'm thrilled to finally have this figure updated. This is one of the figures I said I hoped would be in TVC2.0 before TVC2.0 even launched. The Saga Collection 034 - Garindan is okay, but he can't hold the communicator up to his snout for the iconic "wrnnt wrnnt wrnnt" scene. A Garindan that cannot accurately recreate that scene is as bad as an 8-D8 without elbows. We needed a new one. Also, this is one of the figures that I felt should have been in the original Kenner collection, so I'm begging you, Mr. Stevie, I need this on card!

Bret:

Chris took this image for his gallery of the TSC Garindan back in April of 2020:



This looks pretty good to me, and Chris gave the figure a 6/10 at the time, acknowledging that it was good for its day, although it should be updated - also having that soft spot for the character as it should have been in the original Kenner line. Again, the 2006 figure is outdated. Most egregiously, it has no knees or ankles, and has swivel elbows. Nevertheless, it comes with a pretty awesome cloak, and the hood has a great fit. The sculpting and detailing is quite good, and the figure comes with a working holster, as well as a tiny commlink that can hook into a small pouch on his belt. The figure shown during the livestream is clearly amazing, and obviously is a huge upgrade to the 2006 figure. But in no way, shape, or form, was I wanting Hasbro to spend new tooling resources on a new Garindan, because the one we have is fine. Absolutely, it is not re-releasable in TVC, but it looks just fine in my Streets of Mos Eisley diorama, and does what I need him to do. Chris gave the TSC repaint of Labria a 4/10 (to distinguish it from the 3/10 we gave the POTF2 figure). As time goes on, our scoring system evolves a bit, and I would rate Labria a 2, maybe a 3. Such a figure deserves and upgrade. He gave Garindan a 6/10, and even today, I would agree with that. I don't need an upgrade to a 6/10 figure. It's fine for now, and probably would be for awhile. Instead, those precious new tooling dollars went to this guy, instead of Atheloe, or one of the Spacers, or pretty much ANYTHING on the never-before-made list. I hate the choice to make a new Garindan in general, and moreso to include this non-Cantina guy in the set with Cantina guys.

And by the way, did anyone catch Brandon saying "Garindan" like "Garrison"? I've always pronounced it like this:

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Chris:

I'm going to let Nancy Kerrigan handle this one for me:


Is that in bad taste? I hope not. I am (or was) a Nancy Kerrigan fan. Anyway, this figure almost ruins the set. I presume I'm going to have to pay roughly $20 for a figure that I couldn't possibly have less interest in. Honestly, I'd be just as bummed if this were a repack of the Vel Sartha figure. Let's go over the canonical visual appearances of Chalmun: the children's book The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and via hologram in Dr. Aphra Annual 3. That's it. My God. With those credentials, this is a bigger gap in our collections than a decent Episode V Boba Fett! What really stings is that waste of tooling dollars that I don't think can lead to anything else. If this were the Yellow Spacer, would could have gotten Bo-Shek and Bossk out of that.

Bret:

Okay, so after railing against a couple of redo figures, here we have an all new debut figure. Yay! Wait... it's Chalmun? Booo! BOOOO!!! I am almost as excited about this figure as I am for Qimir, which is to say, not at all. Now I have to find a spot for this jerk in my Cantina. The only thing I can think of is to have a spare alcove behind the bar's doorway, to represent his office, and stick him back there where he can't do any damage to my carefully curated screen-accurate/carefully researched/mish-mash from two filming sets scene. Chalmun exists in none of that research. As Chris said, it would seem that this figure is a one-off, with little to no ability for re-use, so it's a real drain on the new tooling budget. My favorite part is that most of it is new, with only a few part re-used from Chewbacca. Fortunately they didn't reuse the hands for Chalmun...but they did reuse Chewie's hands on Chewie himself, which are the most frustrating parts that were screaming to be resculpted but weren't. Awesome. Good times.

In all honesty, Chalmun is one of those figures that I probably would have enjoyed back in 2008 or something, when it seemed Hasbro was swimming in new tooling like Scrooge McDuck. And if it absolutely had to be made in TVC, I wouldn't have been all that upset if it was included with the Cantina itself. Nevertheless here we are. 3 figures discussed, and I didn't really want any of them (but I can live with Labria). The fourth figure better be amazing...

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Chris:

This was the number one figure on both my 2024 Last Figure Standing and 2025 March Madness submissions. I don't think I need to say anything else other than "finally". Oh, one more thing. I need this on card. And this lamp.

Bret:

Arleil was probably on the top of my Cantina figure wish list, even before he was part of the Haslab tier offerings. The only downside to this figure is that it was disappointing we didn't succeed in knocking out his tier. That's not Hasbro's fault, so we only have ourselves to blame. The reveal is somewhat anticlimactic at this point, but there's no way I'm going to let that stop me from enjoying his arrival in my collection.

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