As it begins to arrive, the January wave of LEGO Star Wars sets brings old familiar scenes as well as new ones. Along with numerous vehicles and locations from The Last Jedi, this wave also returns all the way back to 1977 with a new version of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Set 75205 Mos Eisley Cantina includes 378 pieces and comes with a sticker price of $39.99. It’s also the third LEGO version of the watering hole in the galaxy’s most wretched hive of scum and villainy, so we’ll see how it stacks up, both on its own and in comparison to previous versions.
The box & instructions
The box bears this year’s Star Wars packaging featuring characters from The Last Jedi. As with previous waves, although the artwork is specific to the new film it’s being applied across all the sets, no matter which film they’re from. The box front shows the cantina in its Mos Eisley setting, with the landspeeder behind, almost appearing to hover oddly above it like a Roswell flying saucer.
In our recent review of 75202 Defense of Crait, I was pleased with receiving the stickers and instruction manual in their own bag, and I noted that it’s time all LEGO sets do this. As if to highlight my point, this set does not protect the printed materials, and both the instruction manual and sticker sheet plopped out of the box rudely bent in half. The stickers were nearly falling off the sheet.
The build
Bag 1 contains all the parts for the landspeeder, which is an Ubrikkian 9000 Z001. To achieve the landspeeder’s spherical pod-like shape, the build starts by surrounding the pilot’s seat with studs pointing in all directions. The 9000 Z001’s landing gear is made with four grey taps.
The remaining two bags construct the cantina, beginning with the bar. All three sections sit on dark tan plates, and each is a different size. A white modified 1×2 brick with handle connects the bar segment to the entrance segment. This is only the fourth set to include this element in white. Two grey ones are included in the alcove, though that color is less rare.
The finished model
As we mentioned at the start, 75205 Mos Eisley Cantina is the third iteration of this backwater watering hole. With limited shelf space on retailers’ shelves, LEGO only produces sets for an average of two years before phasing them out so that kids have new options to purchase. However, when it comes to famous and time-tested franchises like Star Wars, new fans discovering LEGO (or Star Wars) always want to be able to buy the iconic ships and locations. LEGO’s solution is to continually update and refresh vehicles and settings with new designs, new elements, and new details, releasing variations every few years.
Clearly, the Ubrikkian 9000 Z001 is the most interesting aspect of this set, as it’s the one part that’s never before appeared in a LEGO set. The tiny spherical landspeeder is almost entirely white, with the stripes and markings created with stickers.
Outside, the cantina has a sign which reads Cantina in Aurabesh, along with a small panel of lights for the door lock (a piece generally found in Nexo Knights). The gear behind Han’s seat in the alcove prevents the sections from abutting smoothly.
The bar captures the general aesthetics of the cantina well, but none of the particular details. A number of cups and colored vessels are scattered about, and there’s a small till with a blaster pistol mounted beside it.
The minifigs
75205 Mos Eisley Cantina includes four minifigures: Han, Greedo, Wuher the bartender, and a Sandtrooper. If you’ve got many Star Wars sets, chances are good you already have a Han Solo minifigure. However, minifigure collectors with shallow pockets will be pleased to note that Han is the same version that’s previously only been available in 75159 Death Star, which is LEGO’s second-most expensive set at $500 (behind the new UCS Millennium Falcon).
Greedo, on the hand, gets all-new torso and leg printing. The back of Greedo’s jacket has simple seam lines printed on. Sadly both this Greedo and the previous version lack arm printing, which the 2004 version had. In fact, the 2004 Greedo was one of the first minifigures to showcase LEGO’s new arm printing capabilities.
The Sandtrooper is the seventh version since that first cantina set in 2004, though this one is nearly identical to the one included in the 2014 edition, differing only in the cloth pauldron and accessories. Beneath the helmet peeks the same face as a thousand other infantrymen across the galaxy.
Conclusions & recommendation
LEGO has taken the previous version of the Mos Eisley Cantina and split it into two sets. Luke’s Landspeeder is now available as a standalone set for $20. Buying both together brings the total to $60, while the 2014 cantina cost $70, but also swapped the 9000 Z0001 for a larger cantina structure, a dewback, and more minifigures (such as three Bith bandmembers). This may be the third iteration of the Mos Eisley Cantina, but it’s only the second-best. However, picking up an unopened copy of the now-discontinued 2014 version on the secondary market will set you back more than $100, making this set’s shortcomings a great deal more attractive.
The 9000 Z001 landspeeder is a fun little craft and a must-have for Star Wars fans who enjoy nods to the more obscure parts of the films, and of course minifigure collectors can’t go without Wuher, who has taken 18 years to find his way into a LEGO set. The cantina structure itself, however, is easily forgettable and I suspect many fans will want to customize it to make it at least as large as the previous version.
The $39.99 retail price initially feels a bit high for a small structure, one-man speeder, and four minifigures, but the part count of 378 shows it to be not far off the mark (coming in only a hair above the magical $0.10-per-piece ratio that LEGO sets average). If you have the 2014 version, you’ll need to weigh your choices more closely unless you find a sale. If you only have the 2004 version, or don’t have a Mos Eisley Cantina at all, you’ll definitely want to pick this up.
75204 Mos Eisley Cantina will be available Jan. 1 from the LEGO Shop
The older sets we reference in this article are also available:
4501 Mos Eisley Cantina (from 2004) on Bricklink and eBay
75052 Mos Eisley Cantina (from 2014) on Bricklink and eBay