Cantina Adventure Set (Sears Exclusive)

One of the first playsets produced in the Star Wars era was this "Cantina Adventure Set", exclusive to US retailer Sears. The playset itself is pretty basic, but what's of interest to collectors today is the set of four new action figures included with it - Greedo, Walrus Man, Hammerhead, and Snaggle Tooth (sic).

Of course, the first three were all the standard Cantina creatures available on blister cards, but the Snaggle Tooth figure was... different. The story is familiar to most collectors but goes something like this: Kenner received a partial black-and-white photo of the Snaggletooth Cantina alien from Lucasfilm as a reference for the action figure sculpt. However what the photo DIDN'T reveal was the alien's diminutive stature and hairy pawed feet, and the colour of his attire. Kenner guessed that the alien was normal human height and would be wearing boots in the film, and that his costume would be blue... wrong. The blue Snaggle Tooth was produced and included in the first run of this Cantina Adventure Set (exclusive to Sears) and in two-packs of bagged figures, also exclusive to Sears. Some time after the movie came out and Kenner realized that the figure was not at all accurate, the figure was somewhat corrected in its appearance, and the blue Snaggle Tooth never again appeared.

The Cantina Adventure Set box is pretty large, but shallow. 

Original price tag is still on the box - $8.99. Pretty decent deal, as it included four figures that would retail for $2 each more or less... so the consumer pays about a buck extra for the playset itself. Not far off what the production value would have been.

Instruction sheet included, featuring blue Snag in a starring role.

Here's the assembled playset. The cardboard is one piece of cardboard, details are shown in photos below.

Tableau from the box art. I guess the Cantina's "no blasters!" rule didn't apply on the streets of Mos Eisley, as everybody's fully strapped notwithstanding the Stormtrooper in the background.

Copyright notice on the playset cardboard. Interesting to note the "1977" copyright date - as the first twelve action figures weren't even available at retail until 1978! Must've been some legal beagle backdating the image.

Here's the playset card laid out flat. Plastic pegs are slotted into the "floor".

Here's the tab and slot that stand the background upright.

Reverse side of the playset.

I'm glad I was able to add this playset to my collection, but honestly the primary appeal of the item isn't the playset itself, but rather the packaging. The box art is classic Kenner and is just great - while Ron Salvatore (for I'm sure it was he) pronounced the kid on the box front to be the goofiest ever to appear on a Kenner package, at least he's not wearing a turtleneck. I just wish there were more play scenarios illustrated on the box, because I'd love to recreate a few more tableaux with this one.

Aw Hell, here's one more just for fun:

Image courtesy theswca.com

Have fun and stay safe!