Monday, January 2, 2023

Making a Cantina - Part 1

Custom Kenner Cantina



Welcome!  

Decided to dust off the old blog, because sometimes rambling into the void is helpful:

Kenner revived Star Wars figures in the mid 90's.  Ever since, I've been expecting an update to the classic Creature Cantina playset.  Kenner was eventually bought by Hasbro, and there were a few tries at a new Cantina - a cardboard layout, a few pieces of bar, a table here and there, but nothing complete.  Nothing comprehensive.  I figured at some point, Hasbro would give it another try. Especially now that crowdfunding through Haslab was making giant, expensive Star Wars playset dreams a reality.  A new cantina was surely in the works, right?

And it was! About forty years since the original, Hasbro finally released a new cantina playset! 

... For the Navarro Cantina in The Mandalorian.

The set was a wall, a bar, some chairs, fiddly beverage containers, and very tiny shot glasses.  The gimmick was that cardboard inserts and alternate parts could show the cantina 'wrecked' as it was in the show.  The playset could also be expanded by purchasing additional copies.  But at $50 a pop, that didn't feel like a good investment.  

The Navarro Barro (credit to Adam Pawlus at www.16bit.com for the name) eventually dropped in price until being blown out (no pun intended) for under $20, which is when I bought mine.  Even at that price, it didn't feel like a good value.  It wasn't fun.  But it was the Navarro Barro that made me realize I didn't want a new Hasbro Cantina.  I still wanted Kenner.  Something big, chunky, and funky. Something a 70's kid could only dream of.  A place where 3 3/4" figures from every line and era could hang out.  Thus the Space Bar started it's journey.

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