Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force: Cantina Aliens (Cinema Scene) Review

"Most of the best pilots can be found here. But watch your step. This place can be a little rough." - Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker, regarding the Mos Eisley Cantina

When I first started to collect the original Kenner Star Wars action figures in 1978, one of the issues that came up was what, exactly, did I want to do with them?

Star Wars, as George Lucas's Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope was then titled, was released in May of 1977, two months after my 14th birthday, and although I didn't see it until October of that year, it won me over in a big way at a time in which I wasn't a child but not yet an adult.  This had a yin-yang effect as far as my new hobby was concerned: I wanted the figures, vehicles, and playsets and to maybe even show them off, but I didn't want to play with them. 

Had I been a bit older and more savvy about collecting, I probably wouldn't have proceded to open my figures and attempted to recreate some of my favorite scenes from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi with my growing collection of Kenner products, but for the better part of the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s, all my shelves held crude dioramas of sequences from the Classic Trilogy, ranging from the Jawas' capture of R2-D2 and C-3PO on Tatooine (A New Hope) to Luke's confrontation with Jabba the Hutt (Return of the Jedi).

As I grew older and my priorities changed, most of my Kenner Star Wars stuff was packed into boxes, with only a few remnants (the X-Wing and Imperial TIE Fighters) left on display out of sheer sentimentalism.  I needed the shelf space for college textbooks and novels by Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and other writers, and after that, I got more into computers, gaming, and writing.

At the same time, Kenner Toys was winding down its Star Wars product lines; with no new films being released anytime soon and with the lethargic reaction to the Cincinnati, Ohio toymaker's Droids and Ewoks tie-ins, Kenner ended the 115-figure collection with its original Power of the Force line in 1985.

 Return of the Star Wars figures: Time passed. I went to college for several years, dropped out, and went on to try lots of different jobs - office assistant, writing consultant, private tutor, ghostwriter, and pet-sitter.  However, even in my 30s, I still liked Star Wars and wondered when Lucas and his production company, Lucasfilm Limited, would get around to making the Anakin Skywalker half of the saga.

Then, in the mid-1990s, the Star Wars renaissance kicked off.  First, the success of Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Star Wars: Heir to the Empire proved that there was still a big constituency clamoring for more stories set "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away."  The resulting literary boom of Expanded Universe books was followed in 1995 by a decision by Hasbro, which had acquired Kenner Toys and its licensing rights to the Star Wars franchise, to start up a new Power of the Force collection of action figures, vehicles, and other products based on the characters, spacecraft, and settings seen in the Classic Trilogy, as well as introducing separate collections based on Expanded Universe novels, especially Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire (1996).

Enter the Cinema Scene:  Although most of my post-1990s Star Wars acquisitions have been the "basic" action figures sold individually in carded bubblepacks, my "crown jewels" are the various multi-figure sets known as Cinema Scenes.

Cinema Scenes (also known colloquially as "three-packs") are small dioramas based on scenes from the Star Wars series, usually containing three 3.75-inch action figures pre-posed on a molded and painted base with a carboard backdrop illustrated to match the specific scene being recreated in the Cinema Scene.

Over the years, Hasbro released over a dozen Cinema Scenes/Screen Scenes which span the entire saga, as well as similar two-figure sets, including the Silver Anniversary two-packs issued in 2002

Most of the Cinema Scenes depict the characters in important but not necessarily exciting "action" scenes; most tend to show such bits as the Jedi Masters in the Jedi Council or Rebel pilots in a hangar bay.

Cantina Aliens:  "Hive of scum and villainy...."

Hasbro's The Power of the Force's Cantina Aliens  features three of the more exotic characters in the landmark Mos Eisley cantina sequence from A New Hope: Labria, Nabrun Leids, and Takeel. Depicted in a more dramatic than usual manner for the three-packs, the figures stand in a dimly lit corner of the Mos Eisley drinking establishment known as Chalmun's Cantina.

As Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes play "Mad About Me," (a.k.a. John Williams' "Cantina Band # 1"), the demonic looking Devaronian information broker known as Labria has apparently angered Nabrun Leids, a methane-breathing smuggler and pilot for hire with a breath mask on his face and a blaster in his hand, while Takeel, the burned-out spice addict from Snivvia, wanders blissfully by, oblivious to the confrontation close by. (He is also the brother of Zutton, better known to Star Wars fans and collectors as Snaggletooth.)

The horned Devaronian Labria calls himself an "information broker", though his information is questionable at best. No one knows for sure what the Morseerian known as Nabrun Leids looks like underneath his breath mask, which he must wear in all non-methane environments. - From the package blurb of Hasbro's Cantina Aliens Cinema Scene

Maybe if Leids really knew who Labria actually is, he'd mosey on over to Jabba's Palace and hand him over to Boba Fett, for this horned humanoid is really Kardue 'sai' Malloc, a former army captain on his home world of Devaron who joined forces with the Empire and became known as the Butcher of Montellian Serat. Hated by his own kind and with a price on his head, he fled to Tatooine and now uses the name Labria, peddling rumors and information to the highest bidder. He drinks way too much, though, and he is a very bad spy. Now he collects music and drinks expensive liquor...and gets into occasional scrapes like the one he's in now.

This The Power of the Force Cinema Scene was released late in 1998, between the release of the Special Edition of the Original Trilogy and Star Wars: Episode I, for there is a link between the old films and the upcoming prequel on the packaging. Not only is there a "Coming Summer 1999 to Galaxies Everywhere" promotional blurb, but there is a small data "file" linking Mos Eisley from Episode IV to Mos Espa in Episode I, akin to the "Flashback" cards on single figures sold at the time.

In the days before the Galactic Empire, the spaceport of Mos Espa hosted many similar characters. From the outdoor markets to the junk shops--overseen by the gambling crimelords, the Hutts--Mos Espa was a place where a nine-year old boy like Anakin Skywalker could learn the ways of the universe. - From the package blurb

Accessories:

Two Blasters
Rifle
Cape
Base
Cardboard Background

My Viewpoint: As in all the Cinema Scenes/Screen Scenes produced by Hasbro, Cantina Aliens comes with the three figures posed on a nicely detailed plastic base and with a cardboard backdrop that replicates the dimly lit interior of Chalmun's Cantina. The figures, too, are really nicely done, and unlike some others in similar three-packs, are armed to the teeth. Each figure -- even the addled Takeel, has a blaster in one hand.

The sculpts and detailing are good; perhaps not as nicely done as some of the figures made since 1998, but still far better than the ones of the 1978-1985 Kenner collections. The horns and leering smile give Labria a classic demonic look, the breathing gear on Nabrun Leids' face adds a certain air of mystery and menace to the Morseerian spacer, and Takeel looks a bit burned out and aggressive.

Of course, the Cinema Scenes' figures' limbs always seem to be less articulated than "normal" figures, maybe because they're already posed in a "displayable collectible" meant to be placed on a shelf rather than to be played with. None of the trio has any articulation point beyond the basic head/neck, shoulder, and hip joints, which limits customizing or radically different poses than the ones they already come in.

Should I buy this for my kids?

While Hasbro recommends this Star Wars Saga Screen Scene for children 4 and up, I'd say most buyers of this collectible would be more serious collectors over the age of 12.

Although Star Wars figures are pretty durable, they do have small parts, particularly the three blasters wielded by the three aliens, that can come loose and be easily lost. These are really meant to be displayed rather than played with.