Wuher - SW [S - P1] - Cantina Bar Section (1 of 3)

On the planet Tatooine, the Mos Eisley Cantina, also known as Chalmun's Cantina, is the hot spot for entertainment and intrigue. Many species intermingle there, spying and conducting shady business. Bounty hunters frequent the seedy joint, hoping to catch their prey in an unguarded moment. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker went to the cantina to find transportation off the planet, which led to their first meeting with Han Solo.

A bartender at the Mos Eisley cantina, Wuher was a whiz with chemicals, drinks and elixirs from an early age. After graduating from a bartending correspondence school, he worked for Chalmun the Wookiee. He met up with a processing droid capable of making new exotic drinks from unusual raw materials, and designed a drink especially for Jabba the Hutt. The violence and villainy in the cantina do not bother this bulky, surly bartender.

Hasbro finally decided to give collectors something they wanted for quite some time. And then collectors didn’t reciprocate by buying them. We’re talking, of course, about the Cantina Bar Section Walmart exclusive sets that paired a Chalmun’s Cantina patron with a literal bar section from the film. Despite screen-inaccurate barstools, Hasbro faithfully tooled the bar sections to match what we saw in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Ponda Baba (1 of 3), Momaw Nadon (2 of 3) and Greedo (3 of 3) gave us nearly 50% of the entire bar, while the second wave including Wuher (1 of 3), Kitik Keed’kak (2 of 3) and Dr. Evazan (3 of 3) would give us the other “almost” 50%. Of course, collectors would still need the curved end sections and the internal distillery before we could call it complete. Sadly, Hasbro canceled the second wave of Walmart exclusive Cantina Bar Sections because the first three sold poorly. Thankfully, out of the blue (and almost two full years later), a few online retailers managed to intercept some of the stock that Walmart should have received and made them available for collectors. To date, they remain some of the rarest Hasbro Star Wars items in their entire catalog.

What’s interesting about the canceled Cantina Bar Section sets is that Hasbro trolled the collecting community with two of them. They wanted to make a big splash and kickstart the Jedi Master Points Auction with a bang. In September of 2003, well after the collecting community discovered the second wave of Cantina Bar Sections were canceled, Hasbro launched the Jedi Master Points Auction with a Celebration Exclusive Jorg Sacul, and a Kitik Keed’kak (2 of 3) Cantina Bar Section set. The kicker is that the auction was exclusive to residents of the USA, making the pieces rarer for international collectors. While it was sad to see this exclusive Walmart line falter, it’s good to know that all of the figures and new ones will be part of The Original Trilogy Collection as part of the Kmart exclusive program. Wuher is a tremendous update to 2000’s POTF2 [FB/CT] Wuher CommTech figure (also an exclusive figure). This time the figure comes with an all-new right arm. He no longer comes holding a bar glass, and his hand is cupped open to hold a drink still, but not have it be part of his permanent anatomy.

Tooled with six points of articulation, Wuher doesn’t have too much movement, but as someone who keeps track of drinks and tips and prevents droids from entering his bar, the action figure doesn’t need any more articulation than what it has. The brand new paint operations give Wuher a realistic appearance. He looks grimy and dirty, very similar to what we saw with the onscreen character. The color palette on this version of Wuher is completely different, and the best comparison we can make is that the 2000 version looks animated, whereas this version looks realistic. When displayed with the bar section and cardboard cutout backdrop, Wuher is gorgeous. Fans of anything Cantina-related will find joy with these sets. Again, Wuher (and friends) were not supposed to escape from the factory, but rumor has it the factory produced and released a bunch before getting the word to cease production immediately. The second wave of Cantina Bar Section sets is extremely rare. Consider yourself a fortunate collector if you managed to grab a set while they were available online. Wuher is a nice update to the 2000 release. We hope you’ll enjoy him as well.