Wow! I have needed to make this blog for quite some time, but first a little background. Over twenty years ago I created a little janky (free) website called Droid Factory Customs to showcase my custom Star Wars action figures. Because of life and losing interest in Star Wars collecting at that time, I sold my entire collection and dropped out of the Star Wars customizing community. A few years later, one of my sons became very interested in Star Wars (around the Revenge of the Sith era) and that got me back into Star Wars customizing. So, almost twenty years ago, I created another, not-quite-as-janky (free) website called Cantina Customs.
With this new website, I also endeavored to create an Ultimate Mos Eisley Cantina Resource Page listing every cantina patron with a floor plan mapping out where each patron appeared in the main left-to-right pan scene of the cantina. Surprisingly, this little website became quite popular! I have seen links to this website on various Star Wars forums including some German and Japanese fan sites. Sadly, though, the computer I used to create that website crashed and burned and I lost all original images and the computer program (Lycos?) that I used to create it. I do not know squat about html, and I have no desire to learn about it. Consequently, Lycos software also became obsolete, and the Tripod host website is not quite as user friendly as I need it to be able to make updates to that site. So, be that as it may, that website has not been updated in a “long, long time.”
Fast forward to social media, especially Facebook, and I have met many Star Wars fans that have utilized information from my old Cantina Customs Tripod site. One of the main highlights from that site is the cantina floorplan that I drew on graph paper. I knew back then that I needed to put my name on at least one of the floorplans so that people would believe me when I said that I drew it 😉. I have actually seen a few custom Cantina dioramas based exclusively on my floorplan. What is funny is that I have actually had online conversations with people that have questioned if I am truly the same person who created that old Tripod website---bonkers! What is also a little weird is that I have also seen an Etsy and WordPress "Cantina Customs" websites that either link to my old Tripod site or just copy and pasted pics and text from my site. Hey, you know what they say about imitation.
Well, in the process of time (sounds like an opening in a novel), life once again took precedent (mostly my college education—I am months away from completing my PhD) and I also lost interest in the hobby, but never in Star Wars. As my brother Kevin used to call me, I will be a “Star Wars Freak” for life. Two things in recent years have, once again, pulled me back into the Star Wars collecting/customizing scene: the Target-exclusive Kenner “ketchup & mustard” Boba Fett (and subsequent Fetts based on that sculpt) and, most importantly, the Hasblab Mos Eisley Cantina! I never, in my life, would have thought that Hasbro would release a movie-accurate (well “from a certain point of view”—more about that in a future post) Mos Eisley Cantina playset or modular diorama, but here we are.
So, with a very renewed interest in the Mos Eisley Cantina and now being in the final stretch of a long college career, I turn back to my absolute favorite Star Wars scene ever—the Mos Eisley Cantina! Please stay tuned for various blog articles that will include behind the scenes information on the cantina scenes, a new floorplan based upon the actual set design blueprints, posts of Star Wars customs, and other random Star Wars ramblings!
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