Cantina Band Member [Nalan Cheel] - TAC - Basic (Exclusive)

Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes entertain the customers in the Mos Eisley cantina with lively music. They play without pause over the sounds of blaster fire, which is heard all too often in this seedy hotspot. The band includes frontman Figrin D'an on klo horn and gasgan string drum, Doikk Na'ts on the Dorenian Beshniquel, Ickabel G'ont and Tedn Dahai on fanfares, Tech Mo'r on the Omni Box, and Nalan Cheel on the bandfill. Whatever trouble erupts in the cantina, the Modal Nodes keep on spinning their tunes for the crowd.

2007 is the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.... and everyone is celebrating it in grand scale fashion. Even Disney has jumped on the bandwagon to acknowledge Star Wars' three decade run on pop culture and they wanted to do their own celebration by giving collectors something special and unique, courtesy of some help from Hasbro. Specifically, they’ve chosen to take Hasbro’s repainted and repackaged Cantina Band Member action figure and add a beautiful electronic display base which includes lights and music. What’s more, although the packaging is identical, collectors will need to buy all five variants (meant to each represent a different member of the band) to get all of the instruments and complete their Figrin D’an And The Modal Nodes cantina band. (Collectors will still be missing some members however.) Does this sound familiar? Déjà vu, right? 2007’s Star Wars weekends ran from June 1st through June 24th and gave Star Wars collectors plenty of time to collect all of the wonderful exclusives produced. What makes the Cantina Band Member exclusive extra special is that it not only helps to commemorates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, it also marks the first time the Cantina Band Member has been produced on a basic card back, albeit in an exclusive manner. Collectors were eager to scoop these up because collecting basic figures in standard packaging is what it seemingly is all about when it comes to action figure buying. The electronic (and musical) base is the selling point here. The figures aren't without merit, but they're also in need of desperate updates. Utilizing a decae old sculpt may work when there is new tooling involved, but not even new soft-goods can make collectors look the other way with the Cantina Band Member figures presented here. As a group they honesly looks great. Not ony do the figures have paint job updates, but so do the instruments.

There are five different band members that you can buy, but aside from the unique musical instruments, all of the figures are identical. It sort of feels like a “catch 22” doesn’t it? Most collectors however will be buying these for many different reasons. Let’s talk about that. For years, collectors everywhere were dying to see the Modal Nodes realized as 3.75” action figures. They weren’t in Kenner’s/Hasbro’s immediate plans, but they did come right on time in 1997 when they were released as Fan Club exclusives (Cantina Band Member from The Power Of The Force "2" [Freeze Frame/The Kenner Collection] line). Cleverly, Hasbro produced one action figure and included five instruments which allowed us to create most, but not all, of the band. At the time, Hasbro added hinge-jointed elbows and swivel wrists which were quite progressive for the era, and helped make the dreams of so many collectors come true. In a meta-anniversary way, Hasbro not only celebrates the 30 year anniversary of the Star Wars property, but also indirectly celebrates the 10 year anniversary of the Cantina Band Member mail-away figure as well. First released as a complete set in 2007’s TAC Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Figrin D’an And The Modal Nodes) Commemorative Tin Collection Walmart exclusive, now these figures become once again exclusive due to the fact that a beautiful electronic display base with music and lights has been added to each figure to make them a little more interesting. It has worked like a charm. All of a sudden these figures look all that more interesting. As far as the exclusive accessory, the display serves as some type of stage and the base shines a blue light and plays a segment of the Cantina Band theme music from Episode IV when a button is pressed. What’s more, it has been designed to fit together with other bases to create a fuller platform.

You also pay a whole lot more for these figures too as they retail for just shy of $15 each. This has a great deal to do with Disney Parks’ higher than average prices and the exclusivity of the pieces. No matter what, you’re going to pay a pretty penny to get all five Cantina Band Members.It goes without saying that these sculpts are dated. But Hasbro has woven new soft-goods jackets (vests really) and completely repainted the Cantina Band Member for the Commemorative Tin Collection sub-line. The same exact figures are now in the Disney Parks exclusive basic figures. The enhanced soft-goods aren’t perfect, but are nice nonetheless. But the true upgrades can be seen in the repaints of the figures themselves as well as the instruments that accompany them. For the first time ever, each Cantina Band Member now comes with one instrument each and the instruments are unique. Collectors are given five options. You can collect (1) Figrin D’an who plays the kloo horn (could technically also be Sun’il Ei’de is you're so inclined), (2) Nalan Cheel who plays the bandfill, (3) Ickabel G’ont (or Tedn Dahai if you prefer since they play the same instruments) who plays the fanfar, (4) Tech Mo’r who plays the omni box and (5) Doikk Na’ts who plays the Dorenian beshniquel (or fizzz) for short. Until Hasbro tools an all-new sculpt of a Bith, probably none of us will be completely satisfied, but between the enhancements made in the paint operations (especially those newly glistening instruments), you can’t deny positive strides have been made to make these previously existing sculpts as best as they could be. But this is a species and a type of Star Wars character that absolutely needs an all-new super-articulated sculpt to make the most out of the character. Hasbro can handle the Bith in the same as as the past. Just give us one sculpt with all of the instruments and collectors will take care of the rest.