Build review - 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina

Review: Lego Mos Eisley Cantina 75290

Having spent the last couple of weeks rebuilding sets I've had for a while, I've rewarded myself with a new build - I've picked the massive Mos Eisley Cantina set (75290) which I bought a few months back and has been taking up the shelf space I've earmarked for the original 2007 UCS Falcon when I get around to rebuilding that.

There is no doubt that this is a great set, in my view.  The detail is incredible and the sheer scale of it is awesome.  Some facts:

• 3186 parts
• 21 minifigures including no less than 9 unique ones (Ponda Baba and Garindan are my two particular favourites)
• Polybags labelled 1-18 (though I counted 27 individual bags + 1 with large parts and the separate dewback)
• 408 page instruction manual

It's taken me two days to build it, though I've not been bricking obsessively through that time.  That has, however, led to repeated earworms of Cantina/Copacabana song (probably showing my age again!).

Did I like it?

So, what's it like?  There are some more details on the build itself below but this is a "Master Builder" set and is clearly aimed at my demographic.  I am in favour of distinguishing between UCS sets (which should be hyper-accurate versions of the original) and these very large versions of what are really playsets.  The level of detail is incredible - I kept finding myself adding more detail to the bar area as I was building, there is a pleasing level of colour variation and the two moisture vaporators are by far the best examples Lego has ever released.  It's also remarkably robust - I was expecting it to be somewhat fragile but you can pick up the main cantina in one go quite happily.

I also loved the little bits of text in the instructions, including the note from the designers that they consciously avoided putting in accurate sliding doors to maintain space (to be fair, I think they would have struggled with the aesthetics of the overall model).  The V-35 Landspeeder is also an interesting model and is nicely designed.  

There are, however, some little niggles.  While there are some rare colours, I didn't spot any new parts in this set which is slightly disappointing (a part variation on a rotor blade doesn't count).  Greedo's ship (anyone know the name of this?) is also pretty much a carbon copy of the version from 75205 with a few colours swapped - surely they could have done better than this?  The build also finally got a bit repetitive - while it was never "now repeat this 31 more times", and in fact, no two elements were ever the same, yet more tan walls to build did eventually get a bit tiresome. 

My overall score is 8 out of 10. 

Comparisons?

So, how does this compare to older versions of the Cantina?  I couldn't get to my copy of the 2018 Cantina (75205) as this is currently buried behind about 2ft of Lego but my guess is that these are from the same designer, given the similarity in the design.  Going back to 2014, there was set 75052, which was a relatively recent acquisition and therefore easy to find. 

This set has the Bith band, the same dewback model and possibly my favourite version of the landspeeder.  At the time I built it, I thought that this was a great model, only lacking a Wuher minifig.  There is also a distinct inheritance from this model in 75290, in my view.

Finally, I also dug out my copy of 4501 from all the way back in 2003. 

This is a much smaller model though includes a dewback and landspeeder (sand red, though?).  As with many of the older sets, it feels dated given the level of detail you now get.  The one big advantage with the older versions though is that the dewbacks were much more articulated.

Finally, it's worth comparing this to the other Master Builder Set - the Betrayal at Cloud City (75222). When I got this, I mentally gave it 10 out of 10 and I still think it is a much better overall set than this one.  The level of detail on both is amazing but because of the variation on the Cloud City set, I never got bored of the build and was constantly delighted by the innovation (doors opened in different ways, elements build several hours before suddenly crystallised into their function, the variation of the decoration was really clever).  It also included two great vehicle models - a twin pod cloud car and a nicely detailed Slave I. I'd still go to Cloud City over the Cantina any day!

The Build

The first two polybags build the V-35 landspeeder:

 

Bag 3 builds the bar:

Bag 4 starts one side of the cantina:

Bags 5 to 9 finish off this side (I've not included all the sub stages):

Bags 10 to 14 repeat for the second side of the cantina building and bag 13 includes Greedo's ship.  It's at this point that I'm starting to get tired of tan brick walls!

Bag 15 does the big moisture vaporator and some outside detailing. Bag 16 does the other vaporator and the dewback pen (I assume that this is what this is!):

Bags 17 and 18 then do two outbuildings.  I did bag 17 last night after a few G&Ts and clearly forgot to take a photo! 

And there you have it: