Even though the existence of 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina was accidentally outed on an official LEGO news outlet, the scale and depth of this set came as quite a shock when the official announcement came a week later, revealing all the exciting details, features, and minifigures that the 3,187-piece Master Builder Series would contain.
Fans gasped at the size, detail and grandeur of the build, and members of the VIP rewards program excitedly counted down the days to September 16th when they were allowed to purchase their’s for US$349.99, UK£319.99 or EU€349.99, while the rest of the LEGO Star Wars buying world kept their legs crossed until October 1st when 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina went on global release as a direct-to-consumer exclusive at LEGO.com and the company’s branded stores.
However, much like the humble cantina itself – which was known locally (for a while) as Chalmun’s Spaceport Cantina – the LEGO version had much simpler roots when 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina was first released in 2004.
Including the license’s first-ever dewback and its second landspeeder, the cantina itself was a single booth that housed the first appearance of a green-faced Greedo and a yellow-skinned Han Solo. The bar was represented by a small table with, what can only be described as, a tapped keg on top. Extending the playset was a hinged door through which the other minifigures – Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi (both similarly yellow-skinned) and a Sandtrooper. While not particularly exciting by today’s standards, it came with quite a few unique features – including the first stormtrooper with a pauldron.
It wasn’t until 10 years later that Mos Eisley’s most famous (if only) dive bar got revamped as 75052 Mos Eisley Cantina hit toy store shelves in 2014. Packed inside the box was a new dewback, a redesigned landspeeder, three Bith band member minifigures, and a cantina playset that boasted an extra booth, a proper entrance foyer, and a curved bar section with an intricate serving apparatus. Considering that LEGO went through a great deal of effort to improve that cantina, the lack of a Wuher minifigure raised eyebrows amongst fans.
The wait for an update wasn’t as long as the gap between the first and second versions, and in 2018 the third rendition (75205 Mos Eisley Cantina) was released – and with it the highly anticipated Wuher minifigure. As pleased as fans were to finally have someone to pour the drinks, they were equally unimpressed by the scale of the playset, which had shrunk back to its 2004 size. Gone too was the dewback, as well as Luke’s landspeeder – which was replaced by the golfball-like Ubrikkian 9000. Progress, it seemed, had a high price.
And now, a mere 2 years later, LEGO has updated – and super-sized – the Mos Eisley Cantina with a set that nearly tripled the combined piece count of the trio that came before it.
75290 Mos Eisley Cantina
Enjoy quality me-time and relive iconic Star Wars: A New Hope moments with the awesome LEGO® Star Wars™ Mos Eisley Cantina (75290) construction model for display. This 3,187-piece Master Builder Series set features the Cantina with lots of authentic details to delight fans, plus attachable buildings to recreate a Mos Eisley city scene.
Build and display
This immersive build is a great way to relax and reconnect with your Star Wars passion. A Dewback LEGO figure and 2 Landspeeders complete a wonderful display piece. Bring your Tatooine scene to life with 21 LEGO minifigures, including Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and C-3PO, new-for-October-2020 Ponda Baba, Garindan and Labria, plus an R2-D2 LEGO droid figure.Your next DIY project
This building kit comes with clear instructions so you can enjoy every step of the hands-on, DIY experience. One of a huge variety of LEGO Star Wars sets, this building set for adults makes a super gift for yourself, Star Wars fans and hobbyists in your life.
- Immerse yourself in a challenging build and then recreate classic Star Wars: A New Hope scenes with this highly detailed LEGO® Star Wars™ Mos Eisley Cantina (75290) Master Builder Series display model.
- This building kit features 21 LEGO® minifigures, including Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ponda Baba, Garindan and Labria, plus an R2-D2 LEGO droid figure and a Dewback LEGO figure to bring the Tatooine tavern to life.
- The Cantina has a removable roof for easy access to the different booths so you can explore the many authentic details and play out stories with the heroes and an array of smugglers, bounty hunters and aliens.
- The perfect way to click your stress away, this 3,187-piece Star Wars™ construction kit makes a wonderful treat for yourself and a special birthday or holiday gift for the Star Wars fan or hobbyist in your life.
- The buildable Mos Eisley Cantina model measures over 7.5” (19cm) high, 20.5” (52cm) wide and 23” (58cm) deep when opened up. Alongside the attachable buildings and 2 Landspeeders it makes an awesome display piece.
- No batteries required – this set offers a hands-on, mindful building experience with LEGO® bricks only. So give yourself a well-earned break and enjoy recreating an iconic Star Wars™ location.
- Includes easy-to-follow instructions so even LEGO® newcomers can build confidently, plus an illustrated booklet about the set, its model designer and the Star Wars™ stories that inspired it.
- This LEGO® Star Wars™ set for adults is part of a collection of inspiring LEGO building kits designed for you, the discerning hobbyist, as you look for your next fun and creative DIY project.
- Ever since 1958, LEGO® building bricks have met the highest industry standards, which ensures they are consistent, compatible and connect and pull apart easily every time. No need to use the Force!LEGO® bricks and pieces are rigorously tested and analyzed so that all Star Wars™ construction sets meet the highest safety and quality standards on planet Earth – and in every galaxy!
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| 18+ | 3187 | 2275 | 75290 |
Designed by César Soares, a relative new-comer to the LEGO Star Wars design team, the new 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina is the culmination of a lifetime of hoping and dreaming.
“The first time I watched the Cantina scene in Star Wars: A New Hope, I was just 12 years old. I remember thinking, ‘this is where the adventure starts!’” he explains.
While the design process took around 5 months, the overall project took a lot longer than that because, way back at the start of 2016 when he joined LEGO, Soares built a prototype in his own time and displayed it on his desk, waiting for the right time. His foresight and patience paid off because when LEGO Star Wars team leader Jens Kronvold Frederiksen decided that the cantina from that wretched hive of scum and villainy needed to be reprised he turned to Soares.
In an interview with Brickset.com, Soares says that “The final rendition is actually very close to that original creation. The size and shape are virtually the same and the way in which it folds open is extremely similar.”
It was the creation of the Master Builder Series subtheme – which had up until now only had one set in it – in 2018 that raised the bar for LEGO Star Wars playsets and opened the door for the Mos Eisley Cantina to be realized in its true form.
He spent hours scrutinizing the cantina sequence in A New Hope and pouring over as many source material – like the original Star Wars Blueprints (Del Rey, 1977) and the slightly more recent Star Wars Technical Journals (Del Rey, 1995) – reference photos from the Lucasfilm archives, Soares explained.
Given the set’s scale and grandeur, The Holo-Brick Archives has come to realize that a single review won’t do 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina the justice it deserves – and so we are giving it a multi-part review, broken down into the following segments:
- Part One – The Transports
- Part Two – The Outbuildings
- Part Three – The Saloon
- Part Four – The Patrons
- Part Five – The Review
Check back with us throughout the week as we provide a review that is as in-depth and informative as 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina is detailed and authentic.
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