Never Before Have We Seen Such A Wretched Hive Of Scum And Villainy: 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina Announcement

Over the last couple of years, we have started to see two different lines developing in ‘Things that used to be called Ultimate collector Series’ – Direct to Consumer, highly detailed, Star Wars sets, with lots of detail: True UCS sets – such as the Millennium Falcon, Imperial Star Destroyer, Awing Fighter and so forth, and the Master Builder Series: Essentially a large, detailed playset – First seen last year with Betrayal at Cloud City, with origins a few years earlier in the Attack on Hoth, this year we move to Tatooine, and that first wretched Hive of scum and villainy: Mos Eisley, and more importantly, the Cantina.
With 3187 pieces, a jaw dropping 21 minifigures, and a recommended retail price of $AUD529.99/ £319.99/€349.99/$USD349.99 this is the most detailed version of the iconic location seen to date.
When Star Wars first opened in 1977, society seemed to be predominantly human, with the mysterious Jawas and Sandpeople living seperately from regular society. Then Ben Kenobi takes Luke Skywalker to the cantina in Mos Eisley, and suddenly, humans are in the minority of sentient beings. We have been here before: 4501 in 2004 was the first example: back in the days when licenced minifigures were still yellow. It was a simple afair, with a dewback, landspeeder and a single booth, and one of the simplest bar setups we have ever seen.

Then in 2014, we got 75502: A little more detail, some more booths. Once again, we get Luke, Ben, Han, Greedo and a stormtrooper with a new type of Dewback lizard. But we also gain Figran D’an and the Modal Nodes – the house band.

2018, and we get our most recent outing: no sign of Luke and Ben, but we have Han, Greedo, the barman Wuher, and a sand trooper, as well as the spherical Ubrikkian speeder.

The new model looks like a large, tan rectangle, with a couple of half globes. The building opens up to demonstratethe bar and booths within. There are a couple of out buildings – including a workshop, and shop, run by the Jawas.