A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy....

Whenever there's talk on the various forums (fora ?) about which Star Wars sets are ripe for a makeover, a few 'usual suspects' invariably emerge. One of those fan-nominated prime candidates, Set 4480 Jabba's Palace, has now been the subject of a pretty decent remake in the form of last year's Set 9516 Jabba's Palace.  Set 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina is another set which features prominently in such discussions; is it indeed crying out for a remake, or should LEGO leave it well alone ?

There are actually a couple of different versions of Set 4501, although the differences are purely cosmetic. The set first surfaced in 2003 (blue box version), with an Original Trilogy black box edition appearing a year later. Both versions utilise the same core set imagery on the front (picture above - click to enlarge), although the design is embossed on the black box version and this together with the absence of the unsightly sidebar of the blue box version gives it a clear edge in the style stakes IMHO. The black box version above features the parts count in the bottom right corner which suggests that my set might potentially have begun its retail journey in the U.S. where I believe there's a requirement for the number of elements within to be displayed on the packaging.

The back of the boxes (below - click to enlarge) share a number of images which provide an overview of the set overall, the play features and the minifigures. The blue box version includes an additional image, that of an alternate build which can be assembled with the elements contained within the box; while I'm generally a big fan of LEGO printing images of alternate builds on its boxes and instructions, I can't in all honestly say that the bizarre creation here is much to write home about; maybe LEGO just let the designer's child loose with the elements and told them to build something....

The boxes are designed to be opened via thumb tabs, although the previous owner of my used blue box example was kind enough to carefully open the box by sliding a sharp instrument under the left box flap exactly as I would have done. My black box version is still sealed, so it was the blue box version that I built for this review.  The set contains a total of 193 pieces, and these fill only a tiny fraction of the box which is around 11 inches square and 3 inches deep; the box could have been half the size and there would still have been more than enough room for the contents. In addition to the parts there's obviously an instruction booklet, but no DSS.

In the case of the blue box version at least, the cover of the approx. 8.5 x 6 inch instruction booklet (above - click to enlarge) mimics the front of the box, with only the recommended age range omitted. The booklet contains 32 pages, although it feels like less. In addition to the building instructions there's a single page showing a couple of other Star Wars sets (below - click to enlarge) plus advertising for a LEGO product survey and the LEGO Star Wars website, which I'll wager looks a bit different now to what it looked like back then....

Colour representation in the building instructions is horrible (picture below - click to enlarge). Those white-looking 2 x 4 bricks in the middle of the build are actually light bley, and the 1 x 8 bricks on either side of them are supposed to be black, while the 1 x 4 x 1 panels on the sides are dark bley. It's disorienting to begin with, although you get used to it.

Given the modest parts count, the set contains a surprising number of rare and/or unusual elements, and you can see some of them in the picture below. The dark bley engine and 22L flexible hose in the top left of the picture are unique to Set 4501, as are all five of the sand red elements in the middle. Sand red is one of the rarer colours in the LEGO palette; according to Bricklink, only 39 different elements have ever been produced in this colour (click here for details), and if you exclude the various minifig parts you're only left with 25 in total, so to find 5 of those 25 elements in one small set is pretty cool. The dark red 1 x 1 x 1 corner panel only appears in one other set apart from this one, as does the tan 1 x 6 x 2 arch with curved top, while a number of elements - the dark red 1 x 2 x 1 panel, the dark red modified 1 x 2 tile with handle, and the dark red 3 x 2 left and right wedges, as well as the sand blue jumper plate - only feature in three sets in total including this one. All 21 elements in the picture are found in 8 sets or less.

In addition to being a repository of rare elements, this set is also a veritable treasure trove from the perspective of the minifigures it contains. A total of five minifigures come with the set, with the undoubted star of the show being Greedo (below - click pics to enlarge). A used example of this minifigure commands upwards of £20 on Bricklink and eBay, reflecting it's status as one of the more desirable Star Wars minifigures. Although by today's standards his relatively complex moulded and painted head isn't necessarily particularly unusual, back in 2003 it would I think have seemed quite exotic, and his painted arms would also have been a fairly unusual feature. Greedo only ever appeared in this set, and in addition to this his head, torso and legs are all unique to this minifigure, all of which helps in part to explain why he's so prized by collectors.

LEGO have released lots of different minifigure versions of Luke Skywalker, but the version found in Set 4501 was the first. This version initially appeared in Set 7110 Landspeeder back in 1999 (the first year of LEGO Star Wars) prior to being included in Set 7190 Millennium Falcon in 2000. It made its final ever appearance in Set 4501. The head and hair were included in a number of other Luke Skywalker variants, but the tastefully printed torso and legs are unique to this figure. There's no backprinting on the head or torso. Luke comes complete with a lightsaber, featuring a nice shiny chrome silver hilt.

Next up we have Han Solo. While unique to this set, he's actually almost identical to the version of Han Solo which appears in Set 7190 Millenium Falcon, differing only by virtue of the colour of his legs which are standard blue in Set 7190 versus dark blue in this set; the dark blue legs, which feature a printed belt and holster,  are exclusive to this minifigure. The torso, which sports a white v-neck shirt and black waistcoat, and the head, with its smirking expression and brown eyebrows, adorn a few different versions of Han Solo spanning a number of different sets. There's no backprinting on the head, torso or legs.

The version of Obi Wan Kenobi below (click picture to enlarge) is another minifigure which is unique to this set. The torso and head, neither of which are back-printed, have only ever graced two minifigures, both of which are versions of Obi Wan. Strangely, while Luke is provided with a lightsaber in this set, Obi Wan is not, which could potentially cause problems should they encounter a scarred sociopath with the death sentence in twelve systems while they're visiting the Cantina....

The last of the minifigures is a Stormtrooper (pictures below - click to enlarge). While his legs, torso and helmet are pretty standard Stormtrooper fare, the addition of a cloth pauldron and the rebreather on his back makes this variant unique to the set; Bricklink alternatively describes this figure as a Sandtrooper on account of these additions. Unusually, the Stormtrooper isn't supplied with the regulation blaster, instead sporting what looks to be some kind of balance bar, presumably to help him stay mounted on his dewback ride (see later).

Aside from the clutch of rare minifigures, another highlight of the set is the one and only appearance of the dewback (below - click pictures to enlarge). This sand green monstrosity is made up of ten separate elements not including the saddle and harness. The head has a limited range of movement in the vertical plane, and the tail articulates at the body and also near the tip, which attaches via a rather unsightly light bley Technic half pin. Similar to the original version of Jabba the Hutt which can for example be found in Set 4480 Jabba's Palace, the dewback is rather plain and would have greatly benefitted from  some printed detail. Even so, once the saddle and harness are in place and the dewback has a Stormtrooper on its back it actually looks pretty cool, as you can see below.

Having put together the minifigures and the dewback it was finally time to get stuck into some proper building, and I started with the landspeeder. It'a a very simple build, occupying a mere ten pages of the building guide, and you can see the finished model below (click pics to enlarge).

Although far from perfect, it's not a bad rendition of the X-34 landspeeder (movie still from Wookieepedia below - click to enlarge). Of note, it's the only version of the landspeeder that LEGO have ever produced which tries to approximate the colour of the subject matter - all the other versions LEGO has released are predominantly tan in colour. The model is fairly crude and maybe seems a bit too long, but I do like the way that dark bley flexible hoses have been used to create a striated appearance on the side and front of the vehicle. The vertically-mounted engine at the back sits on a sand red 4 x 4 plate, and the whole assembly tips back on a couple of hinges to reveal a small hidden compartment; that's it in terms of play features, apart of course from the ability to swoosh the model around the room, and in truth that's the most important thing....

X-34 landspeeder from Wookieepedia

The Cantina itself completes the set, and you can see the finished structure below. It's made up of three distinct sections - the booth in which Han and Greedo 'work out their differences', an arched entrance and a tiny bar area. The sections are joined by brick hinges which allow some degree of flexibility in arranging the sections relative to each other. The tabletop between Han and Greedo (a tan 2 x 4 plate) tips up to reveal a hidden compartment that's just big enough to conceal Han's blaster - handy, that.... I have to confess to quite liking the sand blue, tan and dark red detailing even though it's almost certainly just an affectation - I'm pretty sure that in Star Wars : A New Hope no such decoration was visible inside or outside the Cantina.

Everything comes together as you can see in the picture below (click to enlarge). While the set has undoubted play value, at only 193 pieces there's obviously not much to it, and it was clearly never designed as a display piece. Given the limitations of the set, it's easy to see why the fan community is clamouring for a remake - there are few more iconic scenes in Star Wars than those which take place inside the Cantina, and the possiblities from a design and minifigure perspective are almost endless. In fact, bearing in mind LEGO's tendency to release updated versions of older sets (sometimes over and over again....) it's actually quite surprising that they haven't already remade this one. I certainly wouldn't bet against it.

Set 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina was available at retail between 2003 and 2005, at a RRP of £27.99 / US$30. It contains 5 minifigures, of which 4, including the popular Greedo figure, are unique to the set. It also contains the dewback, which is similarly unique to the set. Overall, therefore, it's not hard to see  why the set is prized by collectors, and why it commands such a hefty premium in the aftermarket - Bricklink prices for a boxed example start at around £90 / US$145. If you're lucky you might find a cheaper example on eBay, although eBay sellers are increasingly wise to the resale value of LEGO these days and price accordingly.

Mostly on account of the high aftermarket price, it's hard to recommend the set now unless you're a Star Wars completist and/or a minifigure collector. It's not that the set is especially bad, just that as previously stated there isn't really much to it, so unless you really can't help yourself, there are better sets to spend your hard-earned cash on.

A pair of landspeeders from Set 4501 & COMCON024 

"They're for sale if you want them"

As discussed last week, my quest for a 100% complete (as defined by moi, of course....) LEGO Star Wars collection is all well and good, but it's not the whole story. There are also those "ancilliary items" which I alluded to - those rare, exotic trinkets which we curse LEGO for producing, unless of course we're fortunate enough to manage to get them for ourselves..... Despite my focus on the Star Wars retail sets, I do have to confess to keeping an eye out for some of the harder-to-find exotica, and when such items do occasionally present themselves I'm not averse to adding them to the collection if the price isn't too exhorbitant.

One such item which I was recently lucky enough to get hold of without having to remortgage the house or sell my family into slavery for is Set COMCON024 Luke Skywalker's Landspeeder. This is one of those infernal LEGO exclusives which you can only get if you attend a particular event, in this case the 2012 New York Comic Con (NYCC), or know someone who's attending and willing to get up early and stand in a queue. Even after all that, attendees didn't get them for free - they had to cough up $40 for the privilege. Ouch.

You can see some pictures of the sealed set below (click pictures to enlarge). Unusually, it comes in a metal tin with a twist-off lid. The lid is secured with a couple of tape seals and festooned with a nice cartoony representation of Luke Skywalker's face; there's also text around the circumference confirming that the set is indeed a NYCC exclusive. The side of the tin is covered all the way round with a large sticker showing a representation of the set contents against a backdrop of what looks like Mos Eisley spaceport. Overall, the packaging is really rather nice - slick and desirable, and certainly not the kind of half-hearted effort that you might perhaps have expected LEGO to cobble together given that this set is a one-off.

Per the close-up shot below, only 1,000 of these sets were made, of which mine is number 777. I guess that makes them moderately rare in the great scheme of LEGO collectables; to put this number into perspective, there are 10,000 of the much coveted chrome gold C-3PO minifigures in circulation.

When I looked closely I realised that the black section of the seals was in fact perforated; I carefully cut along the perforations and twisted off the lid in order to inspect the contents, which you can see laid out in the picture below (click to enlarge).

The instruction booklet (pictures below - click to enlarge) is surprisingly sturdy. I was half expecting to find a photocopied sheet of A4 inside the tin, but I really couldn't have been more wrong. The pages actually feel thicker than those you'd find inside a regular retail instruction booklet, and the printing is absolutely top notch. The booklet is made up of a total of 34 pages not including the front and back covers, all of which are taken up by the building instructions apart from the last two which show an inventory of parts. The building instructions themselves are extremely clear and easy to follow, with no colour discrimination issues evident.

All 110 parts are contained in a single bag. The bag isn't sealed; instead it's closed by way of a sticky flap along one side which can be non-destructively pulled open, and indeed subsequently re-closed if desired. You can see a few of the more interesting parts below. Pride of place goes to the dark red mud guard-type piece which I've never seen before; at time of writing the draft Bricklink set inventory, which is pending approval, doesn't even show this piece, and I'm betting it's brand new. This is obviously a bit of a blow if you're planning on Bricklinking the parts rather than shelling out for the set. The set also contains, amongst other things, 7 light bluish grey 1 x 2 masonry bricks which are as yet only available in this and 4 other sets, and 14 tan 1 x 2 x 2/3 slopes (a.k.a. double cheese slopes) which is more than you'll find in any other set. Unusually, there are no extra parts.

The set contains one minifigure, described by Bricklink as Luke Skywalker (Tatooine, Smiling). To my great surprise, it appears that this version of Luke Skywalker has never appeared elsewhere and is unique to this set. His tousled blonde hair has certainly appeared previously, for instance in the minifigure version of Luke Skywalker included in Set 7965 Millennium Falcon, as has his torso and rather nice printed legs. The minifigure head is however unique, meaning that for the time being this figure can't be recreated 100% accurately from parts obtained from other sets. Neither his torso nor his legs feature any back-printing, and the head isn't reversible (unless entirely blank flesh-coloured minifig heads are your thing) but the figure is nevertheless a nice representation of Tatooine Luke and I guess potentially destined to be somewhat in demand among minifigure collecting completists.

The landspeeder build itself is extremely quick and simple, and the finished model can be seen below. In general, 1 x 2 masonry bricks have predictably been employed to represent brickwork in official sets where they've appeared to date; here however the 'back' of the brick is exposed instead of the 'front' in order to approximate a horizontal line running around the side of the landspeeder. Spoked wheels form the front of the engines, and metallic silver 1 x 1  round plates and 1 x 2 tiles modified with grille are used to provide some subtle detailing. Although it's not clear from the photographs, the landspeeder appears to 'float' thanks to the use of six transparent boat studs attached to the underside of the model. At the back, printed round 2 x 2 tiles form the back of the engines - no stickers in this set - and if you look closely you can see the new dark red mud-guard piece wrapped round the support structure for the central upper engine.

While the model is immediately recognisable as a landspeeder, it'd be an uphill battle to try and argue that it's in any way an accurate representation of the source material - it's far too short and stubby. It'll also only hold one minifigure, making any recreation of the iconic scene below something of a challenge....

"These aren't the droids you're looking for" (from Tumblr)

If you're not a fan of the chibi stylings of this set and would prefer something a little more movie-accurate, LEGO has previously produced three other landspeeders, not including the glued 2008 Landspeeder Bag Charm. Set 7110 Landspeeder holds a special place in my heart as it's the first LEGO Star Wars set I ever owned, bought for me as a present back in 1999 when I was well and truly lost in my Dark Ages; it would be almost a decade before I'd rediscover the joys of LEGO and embark upon my Star Wars collecting spree. Set 8092 Luke's Landspeeder can still be found at retail and is probably my favourite of all the landspeeders; as well as being a fairly decent rendition of the subject matter, it also comes with a prodigious number of minifigures for such a relatively small set. The landspeeder found in Set 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina is arguably the most 'realistic' by virtue of it's unusual sand red colour, although it's also by far the most expensive at current prices thanks to the presence of four rare and exclusive minifigures in the set including Greedo.

Set 7110 Landspeeder (1999)

Set 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina (2004)

Set 8092 Luke's Landspeeder (2010)

If I'm being completely honest, nobody except dyed-in-the-wool collectors really need bother with the NYCC Landspeeder. Sure, it's undoubtedly cute, and yes it contains an exclusive minifigure, but it's hardly worth the £80+ / $129+ that people are asking for it on Bricklink..... I was lucky and managed to pick mine up for less, but even I would have found it hard to justify coughing up Bricklink prices for this one.