Star Wars Black Series - Nalan Cheel

 Who knew it was going to be a cantina band member that got me to order a figure from Hasbro Pulse? I just had to get him!

Why this one? What is it about a cantina band guy? As a kid, there were three figures I felt were sorely missing from the original Kenner Star Wars line-up: the Rebel Fleet Trooper, Tarkin, and the cantina band! They had Hammerhead and Snaggletooth, aliens that were barely in the movie, but no band!?

So naturally, when this went up, I had to grab it. Cheel is one of two band members that are being released. The other is Figran D'an, the band leader. Between the two of them, you'll have all the instruments you need to fill out the band. Of course, you just have to buy 3 more figures but I'd just go with Figrin since he's cheaper. And let's face it, it's probably the same exact figure with different accessories. I don't have space to display the full band so I'll be fine with just the two of them.

Cheel comes with plenty of accessories: a total of 8 hands, 3 instruments and a pair of drum sticks. He's got all the usual articulation and detail you expect. This is one figure where the chest articulation may be useful.

I'm not particularly fond of how they did the hands on this one or maybe I'm just used to Marvel Legends. With Legends, the hands have a peg that plugs into an arm hole. Here, the hand has the hole and had to be popped on to the arm. I think the Legends way is easier.

Speaking of detail, everyone knows the band by sight but have you ever seen the side of their heads?

And if you squint really hard (or click to enlarge) you can see some additional detail on the throat.

Alright, let's get on with the tunes!

We'll start out with Chell's jam, the bandfill. The speaker looking thing on the front is called a ploong sounder and is in fact a speaker. The trio of things on the side are reciprocator horns. He has a tiny little hole in the mouth area so you can fit the...blow piece in there. Sorry, I only hung around band geeks, I don't know what the actual name is of that piece is or if it's even the same in our galaxy!

Next we have the Ommni Box which is notoriously difficult to play. Tech M'or is the one that usually sits in on it. It's supposed to amplify and alter the bass sounds. I can't tell you how happy I am that they made this so someone can actually sit at it and have their feet on the pedals. It's the little things sometimes.

Finally, we get some percussion with this...drum. That's it. No fancy name, it's just called a drum! I guess whoever was naming the instruments got worn out with all the different horn names they had to come up with (those are packed with Figrin). Sun'il Ei'de is the one normally found banging on this thing.

While I was shooting Chell, I thought it would be a good time for a little cultural intergalactic music exchange!

Quill: No dude, you have to put it on your head to hear it!

Chell (subtitled): It does not fit on my enormous noggin!

Drax: How hard must I hit this to make music?

Take 2