Whereas humans have been intrigued by crazy creatures for millennia, the phenomenon dubbed The Mos Eisley Invasion can be pinpointed to the late 1970’s. It was then that a band of four aliens hit the streets and forever became the most popular and recognizable creatures in the world of pop culture. Cantinamania was here. Instantly recognizable: Walrusman Lennon, Hammerhead Harrison, Snaggletooth McCartney, and Greedo Starr have come to symbolize our facination with the weird and kooky. Stormtroopers and Droids and Ewoks and Bounty Hunters were all cool in their own right, but the representatives from that Cantina capture a special slice of nostalgia.
I was going through some of the songs produced by the Fab Four and a few stood out: Here Comes the Suns, sung by Hammerhead Harrison, was a tribute to Tatooine’s binary star system. In Hello, Goodbye Snaggletooth references an early misrepresentation of himself (taller with a blue jumpsuit and silver boots) which was quickly corrected. In an ironic twist of fate, We Can Work It Out was being played by the Modal Nodes during a confrontation between Greedo and the smuggler, Han Solo. I Want to Hold Your Hand became more meaningful to Walrusman after an incident at Chalmun’s Cantina involving an old Jedi. He went on to write I Am the Walrusman in 1967 after an encounter with a looking glass.
I know you are groaning at this point so I’ll stop with the goofiness. An recent email exchange with fellow enthusiast, SpyMagician, got me thinking of a way to pay tribute to four of my favorite vintage action figures. In it he said this:
I realized some of my favorite Star Wars items were Hammerhead, Walrusman, Greedo and Snaggletooth. NOT Momaw Nadon, Ponda Baba, Greedo and Takeel/Zutton, but those old off model Kenner figures. I love those things to this day as they are half Star Wars and half crazy 70′s sci fi!
Well put, my friend! These guys really came to define my love of the little plastic people and, beyond that, my attraction to the odd, quirky, and off-beat in all aspects of life!
Most. Awesome. Blog. EVER.
Haha! Thanks, Jason. You just made my day. New Year’s resolution: get my bloggin’ butt in gear! That’s the intention, anyhow
[...] When Stars Wars and the Beatles collide — http://www.actionfigureinsider.com/blog/cantinadan/the-fab-four/ [...]
I thought for sure you would use your new Blue Snaggletooth for this… then I realized you had Snags in the Paul slot and Paul is barefoot on the album (and blue Snags has boots on). Well played sir.
Great blog! Happy New Year!
You are right on, my friend! Lennon pretty much claimed Walrusman. After that, it was just a gut feeling to go with Hammerhead with Harrison. Felt right. That left Greedo for Ringo. At least their names both end in “o”!
Which is odd, because if ANY of them is Ringo, it’s Snags!
Got mine with the carboard cantina playset which, as you know, included the blue Snaggletooth. I don’t know about your parents, but back in the day, it was impossible to get my parents to spring for the red Snaggletooth, being that I already had that same character in blue. They just woudn’t go for it, now matter how hard I tried to explain that the red one was the real deal, and that I had to have it. I had to save up my own money and buy him myself – which I still remember doing at a Target-like now-extinct retailer called Woolco. That was a huge financial burden on me as a fifth-grader back then; especially having just discovered LPs, and having to pay for those myself as well.
Well done my friend!!!
A truly perfect tribute to the “fab four!”
Spy