Modal Nodes (Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts) - Scum & Villainy - 1:6 Scale Figures

House band of the Mos Eisley Cantina, the Modal Nodes includes a motley crew of Bith aliens, thus their nickname as the Bith Band. The band's front man is Figrin D'an, ringing in on the kloo horn. Backing him up on wind instruments are Doikk Na'ts on the Dorenian Beshniquel - or the Fizzz, for those in the know. Rounding out the band are Tech Mo'r on the Ommni Box, Nalan Cheel on the horn bell-bedecked bandfill, and Tedn D'hai on the Fanfar.

Before their days playing at the cantina, the Modal Nodes, like so many bands, had their ups and downs as Figrin D'an struggled to master his demons. The band accepted a contract to be the house musicians for Jabba the Hutt, but once they realized Jabba's reputation for executing "employees" who displeased him, they began to regret taking the job. Breaching their contract, Figrin D'an took a lucrative offer to play at a wedding, knowing that the job would give them enough money to escape from Jabba's Palace. On the night of the wedding, Figrin's penchant for gambling had him placing their payment on a game, much to the chagrin of his band mates. Luckily for them, Jabba had heard of their breach of contract and came after the band just as a troop of Stormtroopers raided the casino, creating a distracting fight that allowed the band to escape. Soon after the Modal Nodes reached safety, Figrin D'an lost control of his gambling again, this time wagering the band's instruments. He lost. At the band's insistence, Figrin played another hand in hopes of winning back their equipment and was finally successful. After the incident, Figrin cleaned up his act, and the band played throughout the galaxy before landing their regular gig in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

Remember when getting any collectible format of the members from Figrin D’an & The Modal Nodes was a collector’s dream? The novelty has certainly worn off throughout the years. Many believe the intense desire to have these characters from the jazzy Jizz Band in any collectible format is directly due to the fact and derived from the intense desire that we never received them as kids in the late seventies and early eighties. But what made it worse was that we were teased with the as they appeared as two-dimensional pictures on the cardboard backdrop of the Creature Cantina playset. 1997 brought us the very first “figure” form of these characters. Hasbro/Kenner was very good to collectors with this Fan Club exclusive. They provided us with all of the necessary instruments to complete the band if we bought five figures to do that. Hasbro quickly followed up this release with a Walmart exclusive run of six members. Collectors began to panic. Are there five members or are there six members? Both answers are incorrect however. There are actually eight members to the Modal Nodes (seven actively playing in the band and one sitting out): Firgin D’an, Doikk Na’ts, Ickabel G’ont, Lirin Car’n (not actively playing in the band and wearing a different outfit in Episode IV), Nalan Cheel, Sun’il Ei’de, Tech Mo’r and Tedn Dahai. Lirin Car’n and Sun’il Ei’de have yet to ever be made in any collectible format as of the release of Sideshow Collectibles’ two double-packs. Clearly there is always room for more members, no?

Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts represent the ommni box and Dorenian Beshniquel (also known as a Fizz) players of the band respectively. Other than their instruments, it’s nearly impossible to tell these characters apart from each other. While that could easily be interpreted as ethnocentric to some, we challenge anyone to take the instruments away and name they each without error. Sideshow Collectibles seems intent on completing the band, but we do wonder if they would ever consider making Lirin Car’n since he didn’t even play in the band in the film, and Sun’il Ei’de is so deeply hidden in the background that he is almost impossible to see. Still, Sideshow put great effort forth in making the new instruments. The figures aren't simple “repacks”. While we noticed very slight changes in the paint operations between them and 2011's Figrin D’an (Modal Nodes), Sideshow Collectibles has utilized the new Prometheus Pro buck body type. Just so you know, Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts utilize the same exact body types and costumes as the Modal Nodes (Nalan Cheel & Tedn Dahai). But between the figures in the new two-packs, aside from some very minor paint variances, the figures themselves are almost carbon copies of each other.  Utilizing this awesome and new Prometheus Pro buck, Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts come with 31 points of articulation each and can be configured into a vast array of poses that makes them appear to actually play these instruments all the more believable.

Announced in June of 2012, Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts (Modal Nodes) was an exclusive of Sideshow Collectibles for 2012’s San Diego Comic Con. Unlike previous years, they opened up the pre-order for this figure two-pack on Independence Day (July 4th). Sideshow has seemingly done away with “attendee and non-attendee” ordering and processing. The window of opportunity was the same for all which works to everyone’s advantage in the long run. Left with an edition size of "Limited Edition", it's clear that it will remain unknown how many complete Modal Nodes bands will be able to be put together now. This may not be the wisest decision Sideshow Collectibles has made. Not everyone can buy these expensive figures at the same time. It would be a shame for one or two of the members to go for a premium somewhere down the road because they’re harder to attain due to a different edition size. While we’re fans of the Modal Nodes, we have see a lack of interest from Star Wars collectors regarding these characters. For us, they symbolize Chalmun’s Cantina and they have a total outer space alien vibe to them. We dig their tunes and we love how the Expanded Universe ties them to Jabba the Hutt. For us, Tech M’or & Doikk Na’ts (Modal Nodes) is a no-brainer purchase. And that’s saying a lot because our craniums can’t compare to theirs. We jest, but you should completely be aware of just how well-made these 1:6 Scale Figures are. Sideshow Collectibles keeps making better and better products as time moves ahead.