Friday, November 18, 2011

Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band Action Figure Set (ROTJ 1983-84)



While other figure packs were made, they were department store exclusives and featured figures already sold separately. The Sy Snootles set was the only figure set from the original line where all the figures were only available through the set. The set is also interesting, since this band got made into figures, but the Cantina Band from the first movie was never made into figures in the original line.

The set included Sy Snootles with a microphone (no two turntables), Droopy McCool with chidinkalu flute and microphone, and Max Rebo with a piano-like nalargon. Kenner's eventual buyer Hasbro would later do another 3-figure set in their G.I. Joe line, the characters from Cobra-La.

Why should you own this set? Five reasons:

1. Three figures! Get a whole band at once!

2. You can make them sing “Lapti Nek” as much as you want – screw the “Special Editions” that cut that out!

3. Does Sy…I think she does…does she have naked breasts?

4. The icons of a generation of aspiring musicians.

5. What? A blue elephant playing a round piano? Am I high or...oh, it's actually a figure.

Backstory:

Max Rebo (real name Siiruulian Phantele) [an Ortolan from Orto], Sy Snootles [a Pa’Lowick from Lowick], and Droopy McCool (real name Snit) [a Kitonak from Kirdo III] were the only three members of the band in the original trilogy. In the “Special Edition” there were at least three more members – but we are only talking about the original, vintage line here. They had a fourth member, but when invited to play at the Mos Eisley Cantina (Chalmun’s bar), Figrin D’an (a cantina band member) tried to have them killed. The unseen fourth member was the only one who died.

Sy Snootles let max Rebo act as leader of the band, while secretly controlling their actions. However, while auditioning for Jabba, she was unable to stop him from accepting his form of payment – all the food they could eat. They narrowly escaped death, jumping off of Jabba’s exploding barge. Rebo eventually wound up playing for Rebel troops and opening a successful chain of restaurants. Droopy wandered off into the desert, despondent at not having others of his kind around. Sy got addicted to spice and never enjoyed a very prosperous solo career.

Want more? Their Wookieepedia entry

154th in alphabetical order

3 comments:

Tom said...

I remember begging my mom to buy it for me in Toys R Us.

Will Errickson said...

Errr... this is about when I gave up buying SW toys.

Ben said...

Ah, c'mon - you could push down the keys and everything!