Kitik Keed’kak - SW [S - P1] - Cantina Bar Section (2 of 3)

On the planet Tatooine, the Mos Eisley Cantina, also known as Chalmun's Cantina, is the hot spot for entertainment and intrigue. Many species intermingle there, spying and conducting shady business. Bounty hunters frequent the seedy joint, hoping to catch their prey in an unguarded moment. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker went to the cantina to find transportation off the planet, which led to their first meeting with Han Solo.

A female insectoid Yam’rii, Kitik resembles a praying mantis. Very strong and easily angered, she is known for her stealth and technological aptitude. She smuggles livestock to feed the voracious appetites of her large family, who, like all Yam’rii, dine on meat and eggs. She has little goods left to sell for profit, so she's always willing to do a nasty job for the right price.

Here Kitik Kee’kak, Kitik Keed’kak, Kitik Keed’kak! That’s what we hear every time we read the name of this praying mantis type of alien from Chalmun’s Cantina. Kitik Keed’kak is a female Yam'rii from the planet Huk, so of course, that means she doesn’t come with a top and only a skirt. It seems George Lucas has a thing for female aliens without any coverings for their upper bodies. (Sy Snootles anyone?) We didn’t get a great look at her in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but we knew she was there. A large puppet who moved to operators pulling strings, Kitik Keed'kak wasn’t much more than a giant marionette puppet. Aside from being aware of her diet of meat and eggs and that she possesses a fiery temper, not much else is know about this unique Star Wars alien. But we can tell you that the character’s production as an action figure in Hasbro’s toy line caused the collecting community to experience stress and heartburn. Part of the second wave of the Walmart exclusive Cantina Bar Section line, Hasbro canceled the wave because the first three sold terribly at Walmart. Collectors were at fault for the line’s failure. With a significant amount of newness with each character release, a brand new buildable cantina bar section (which interconnected with other sections) and a cutout backdrop to recreate the iconic Chalmun’s Cantina interior, there was no reason for anyone to scoff at the low $9.99 MSRP.

Despite the cancellation of the line, rumors abound that the factories in Asia didn’t get the memo until a batch of them got produced. With a supply of stock that Walmart was no longer taking, Hasbro had to figure out what to do with the “unsold” products. They sat on this stock for much too long. And they tortured longtime collectors of the line by offering ONE Kitik Kee’kak as part of the Jedi Master Points Auction. As you probably imagine, the bids for Kitik Keed’kak were laughably ridiculous. Collectors were bidding in the millions claiming they had that many points to secure Kitik Keed’kak for their collections, but most collectors threw in the towel and became quite angry with Hasbro. He almost two years later, Kitik Keed’kak and company showed up online in limited numbers and at extremely high prices for collectors that wanted them. Despite the inflated prices, Kitik Keed’kak, Wuher, and Dr. Evazan sold out in record time. Once again, those unable to plop down the high retail prices for these sets became infuriated with at Hasbro. But shortly after the figures sold out online (it was already the summer of 2004), collectors were aware of The Original Trilogy Collection going live, and Hasbro announced that the three canceled Walmart figures would all be included in a Kmart exclusives later in the year, but not before misleading everyone before that came to pass. We will explain more about this in a moment.

Kitik Keed'kak is a pretty nice action figure. She has large claws for arms and a head that wholly resembles the praying mantis insect. And in all honesty, her whole body looks like a praying mantis (with a dress of course). She comes with five points of articulation. There isn’t any head movement, but she does have a waist joint. She also has articulated hips, but her skirt inhibits a lot of that movement. Despite a decent sculpt and fair articulation, Hasbro made a huge blunder with the character’s deco. Kitik Keed’kak is the same color as a real praying mantis insect which is bright green. We understand how the error happened. Very few reference materials exist for the character, and the shadowing is much too dark in the film to see what the true color is. Despite her deco issues, Kitik Keed'kak stands nicely with her environmental accessory: the cantina bar section. She cannot hold any of the cups that come with her, but the extra accessories are appreciated. Oh, and there is another important detail that we’ll leave you with here. Early samples of Kitik Keed'kak (and the other characters in wave 2 made it to eBay around 2003, and many collectors scooped them up instantly too. Despite this, Hasbro claimed that the figure was never made and that it would not be made available in the toy line. You can see how badly Hasbro jerked around the collecting community with Kitik Keed'kak. It’s good they were wrong about this detail.