An Anatomy of Star Wars Aliens: Part 2
Posted by The_Rancor,
Following on from my first article on the subject, I’m back with more about some of our favourite licensed alien minifigures. Last time we looked at Star Wars species introduced from 1999 to 2004. In response to public opinion I’m pleased to say more comparison photos are now the order of the day to cover all the species I’ll be talking about.
This time we’ll be looking at 2005-2010, when we saw two more feature films, much-loved games, and the early years of Clone Wars on TV. I’ll still be judging the minifigures’ development based on their custom moulds, accuracy and in some cases whether they feel ‘Lego’ enough. So let’s take a look...
To abridge the definition on our first article I’m including all non-human sentient species in Star Wars that still have identifiable organic features. In this time period, that also means the Dianoga make it in later.
2005
This year gave us three new species, from Episode III and across the trilogy – the mysterious Kaleesh, Mirialans and the iconic Jawas.
Even in their natural form, the red-skinned reptilian Kaleesh usually covered up their most identifiable features with masks. Our only Lego Kaleesh General Grievous is a cyborg, so the only biological elements left are some of his organs and parts of his face under his cybernetic body.
Our original minifigure version had only two custom parts – a torso with the capability for 4 arm connections and a head. The former helped to effectively recreate his ‘arm splitting’ capability but the latter felt oddly wide and looked very little like Grievous’ mask on film.
A new (famously expensive but fully articulated) set of five moulds was introduced in 2010 in tan and dark bley, with oddly large printed yellow eyes. This was improved again in 2014 by recolouring the tan back to white and making the eye printing more discrete, and more sinister.
Mirialans were also introduced in the form of Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, but later we also saw her apprentice Barriss Offee and an unnamed Jedi Consular. Mirialans are very close to humans in appearance, but for their different range of skin colours and that they often tattoo their faces with a geometric pattern.
This species has the distinction of being the only one to be introduced as a light up lightsaber figure (I don’t own) where the facial tattoos were present and a new clothing element was introduced as an identifiable head garment (albeit stuck on). All future Mirialans up to 2018 have progressively introduced more detailed facial printing keeping the tattoos and sometimes reusing the ‘hat’ element as a further identifier of the species.
Jawas were also introduced in 2005, and they struck a very good likeness from the beginning. Little is known about what they look like beneath their robes and hoods, so we know them primarily for their tatty robes and bright yellow round eyes.
The original minifigs printed these eyes at a fairly small scale on a black head, which when combined with a hood and short legs for their small stature made them feel very accurate. Future versions from 2014 & 2018 removed the cape and also printed eyes that seem slightly too big in comparison (see above).
2006
The only new Lego species we saw in 2006 was the Sullustans, in the form of Ten Numb. This species is most identifiable for their pupil-less eyes, large ears and dewflaps (overlapping cheeks). Because their heads are otherwise fairly rounded, these features were printed on a regular head (see below), which was successful in bringing out the eyes and dewflaps (and showed some breathing apparatus).
Even a new version in 2014 only significantly changed the attire whilst the head printing was very similar. The community often clamours for a Nien Nunb so surely it can only be a matter of time…
2007
This year also only introduced one new species – Nautolans, an amphibious race identified by their cool skin tones, black eyes and most prominently their long head tentacles. The only Nautolan we’ve had is Kit Fisto, one of the first Star Wars minifigures to benefit from a rubbery custom head mould. This was essential to add some strength and flexibility to the thin tentacles on the front and back of Fisto’s body which might otherwise have snapped if moulded in hard plastic. A further Fisto was added in 2012 though only his attire changed to suit Episode III more closely.
2008
This year added more species for Star Wars fans, including Togruta, Kel Dor and Rattataki through the medium of the Clone Wars, as well as the Dianoga. The latter is far from humanoid and resembles a cephalopod with seven tentacles and an eyestalk – most famously seen in the Death Star trash compactor. For this reason the Dianoga (see below) was introduced as brick-built, though it only had five tentacles and an oddly forward-facing neck. A version introduced in 2016 (not shown) pronounced the eye better but was constructed in a similar way.
We were first introduced to Kel Dor with Plo Koon and he’s still the only character we’ve seen of his species in Lego (below). We’re able to see the Kel Dor’s thick skin and delicate facial features around the sides of their head, but they otherwise require anti-oxygen protection on their mouth, nose and eyes when they’re off-world.
A rubbery mould was introduced picking out the apparatus including its thin tendrils in bley and the skin in a dark orange, which was used again in 2014. The shapes & textures are mostly accurate but the head does look slightly too tall and the tendrils are too prominent.
Togrutas are amongst the most colourful Star Wars species and our first in Lego form was (teenage) Ahsoka Tano. They’re known for their facial patterns, montrals (horns) and lekku (head tails) that grow longer as they age.
The first Ahsoka captures the facial pattern with a regular head print and a dedicated head element captured the other features well based on her age. A larger rubbery element with much longer montrals & lekku was introduced in 2011 for Shaak Ti, which was then in turn reprinted for an adult Ahsoka in 2016 and will be used again in 2020 for a younger version at the end of the Clone Wars.
Now the controversial one! Whether Asajj Ventress is Zabrak or Rattataki seems to be in the balance based on response to Part 1. She was raised as Rattataki and shares their appearance of white skin with no hair, but her birth origins are often noted as Zabrak. Since we don’t have any other Rattataki characters yet, another more universal description for this character could be ‘female Dathomirian’.
Asajj’s identifiable features are discrete but the minifigure has always used a white head showing her facial tattoos. A later version based on the original ‘Clone Wars’ in 2015 toned down the facial print to more closely match the source material (see above).
2009
We saw three more species this year – Weequay, Neimoidians and Mon Calamari.
The Weequay appear throughout Star Wars, often as pirates or serving the Hutt Clan. They’re known for their tan or brown tough leathery skin with pronounced facial features and spines along their jawline. We saw two characters in their first year – the fan-favourite Hondo Ohnaka and Turk Falso. Both used regular head facial prints for their pronounced faces and spines but their bley colour felt odd. We later had Shahan Alama in 2010, and then two similar skiff guards in 2013 and 2017 that were a warmer tone and had a more ‘leathery’ appearance.
Despite ‘opening’ Episode I, it took us 10 years to see a Lego Neimoidian and our first was the infamous Nute Gunray. The species has greenish grey skin, no nose and large orangey eyes, which were all accurately captured via head print from the beginning, through to a 2012 Gunray and 2014 warrior. Neimoidians are often seen with elaborate headgear so a unique element has also been used on both versions of Gunray. I’d like to see more characters like Lott Dod though.
Mon Calamari were also introduced with two figures at once – Gial Ackbar (‘Admiral’ is not his first name) and an officer. This species has aquatic features such as webbed hands, a domed head and large protruding eyes like an octopus, which immediately called for a dedicated hard mould that captured them very well. It’s still in use up to 2020 with more colours, characters and detail, including Nahdar Vebb (2010) and Raddus (2017). Quarrie is on my wanted list, who introduced another mould to incorporate facial hair and some headgear.
2010
At the turn of a new decade we received another three new species – Duros, Talz and Trandoshans.
Duros are somewhat similar in appearance to Neimoidians, usually with more blue or green skin tones, smooth skin and solid red eyes - therefore their features have only been captured as face prints to focus on these. We’ve had two versions of the bounty hunter Cad Bane, the first of which introduced a new element for his wide brimmed hat and another for his breathing apparatus. In 2016, we also saw an unnamed Rebel Duros trooper without these elements.
The Talz (see below) are covered mostly in thick white fur, have four eyes and a proboscis as a mouth – all features very different to humans. Our only Lego Talz minifigure is Thi-Sen, who as clan chieftan also wore a protective shell and headdress. To show all these features, this marked the return of another dual moulded and printed sandwich board, although the bley colours didn’t reflect the white fur accurately and the headdress seemed a little too large.
Our final species for this part are the Trandoshans, who we’ve only seen in Lego form as the bounty hunter Bossk. This group has probably the most obvious reptilian features with scaly skin, sharp teeth and clawed limbs. Our first Bossk introduced a dedicated element reflecting these features and the shape of his head very effectively. A version in 2017 improved the print detail, edited the colour to olive and amusingly printed his feet - as this is one of few species that often stay barefoot!
Next time…
We’re still under halfway through Lego’s sentient alien species after 2 parts and 12 years of the Star Wars theme at 31 unique types. Our next time period will be 2011-2014; four years that yielded a wide array of new aliens as the Clone Wars progressed, and we were introduced to Rebels.
Which of these species I’ve mentioned do you still want to see more characters from? Are you a fan of rubber moulded vs hard plastic elements? Are you still sore about my categorisation of Asajj Ventress? I’m still keen to see what people think in the comments!
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29 comments on this article
Just a minor note: the headdress piece of the light-up Luminara Unduli wasn't stuck on. At least on mine, it was as detachable as any other headgear piece ^^
Great article again, as always! Other than that first Luminara, I don't think I had any of these species as minifigures; post-2005 I only got four Star Wars sets in this era, and their minifigures were all species that had existed in Lego before this. I remember I definitely wanted to get Kit Fisto and Plo Koon at the time, but didn't follow through with that.
Really nice comparison photos, too :D
Regarding Asajj: I must confess, I never followed The Clone Wars very far, so my rejecting her species-retcon is mostly based on that! On that note, I would have at least counted the 2015 version as a Rattataki, since the older show she was based on there existed long before that retcon; though I don't make any claim to know, one way or the other regarding the versions of her based on the 2008 show xD
(Side note, but do we know why Lego spontaneously produced a set from the 2003 series in 2015? I love that they did; but I was in my 'dark age' there and missed it, so I'd be fascinated to know what the reasoning behind that decision was.)
I really hate that I didn’t watch the Clone Wars, when it came out. I recently binge watched all six seasons to get ready for season seven. But now I don’t have any of my favorite characters in LEGO form, and LEGO doesn’t make sets with them any more.
I didn’t even know there was controversy over what Asajj Ventress was.
Thanks for this list, I love these creatures and I would love to get more aliens to incorporate into my dioramas.
@Cooliocdawg said:
"I really hate that I didn’t watch the Clone Wars, when it came out. I recently binge watched all six seasons to get ready for season seven. But now I don’t have any of my favorite characters in LEGO form, and LEGO doesn’t make sets with them any more.
I didn’t even know there was controversy over what Asajj Ventress was."
Seeing as many of the recent star wars films have been lacking in alien diversity, it'd be great to see some of the characters in this series of articles making a comeback for future prequel or Clone Wars sets, especially since the moulds for their heads already exist.
I'm still baffled that they went to all the trouble of designing a Grievous figure, with so many special part, and then made him so small. He's shorter than a regular minifigure!
As for soft rubber components like Kit Fisto's head and the Togruta headpiece: Some parts of them are pretty thin and pointy. If they were made out of hard plastic, they might be considered too spiky, but rounding them off to be safer would compromise the design too much.
Thanks for taking the time to make these. I really enjoy reading them!
This is a very strong article. Excellent work!
Similar to @Cooliocdawg, I'm continually sad that the Clone Wars were fought during my DarkAges™ so I missed a lot of fantastic LEGO...
I now need to go and rewatch both versions of Clone Wars all the way through (again...) to get a dose of Hondo (essentially a Star Wars Ferengi and a very lovable rogue), Ventress (a brilliant foe in both versions [Fanblade please, LEGO!]), and especially Cad Bane's voice!
Great articles. On the whole I think the head moulds created for alien species have been pretty much spot on, especially the later, printed ones and they've resulted in some fairly spectacular looking figures. Kit Fisto, Yoda, Ahsoka, Aayla Secura and Oola, even Jar Jar all look awesome, and as for the newer Wookiees, it really can't get any better.
You're right about the original Jawa as well, seem to have gone backwards there.
By the way, she's definitely Zabrak ....
I was cool with the rubber molded heads back when the first Kit Fisto minifig came out, but that was long before I found out that they've had trouble with painted designs peeling off like stickers. The only specific element I know of that has been confirmed to have this problem is the spiky hair used for Dr. Inferno and Dr. D. Zaster from the Agents theme, but if those had a problem, then every printed rubber element released prior to 2010 is equally suspect.
Mon Cal are my favorite. Cute, funny, heroic and noble fish people with big smiling fish faces! And the minifigs are a perfect likeness.
Only thing missing on the current Grievous is the cape. Rest is perfect. One of my favorite figures from my collection.
Ah yes, and a good explanation of why he got so expensive, because until 2014 his sets were normally priced...
@Rob42 said:
"I'm still baffled that they went to all the trouble of designing a Grievous figure, with so many special part, and then made him so small. He's shorter than a regular minifigure!"
Never thought of it before but yeah, I agree, a much taller Grievous would look great and more accurate to the actual character.
I don’t like the soft rubber pieces. I’m always afraid of the durability of those pieces.
@lynels:
That's definitely a problem with the updated design. The first design had a head that looked like someone was wearing a Grievous Halloween mask because of the thick tube located behind the chin. The new head looks much better, but with a clip connection it basically seems to have ruled out the chances of ever seeing another caped Grievous.
Thanks to BionicleJedi for the reference regarding the removable Luminara hat piece in the original 2005 version - that’s always a danger when I don’t have the minifig to look at in detail and until recently I only had the Mace Windu light up figure whose head isn’t removable.
Glad the additional species photos are helping people to picture them better. My lighting isn’t perfect but the details came out well. In the next two parts you may need to read a little more before you get to each photo because I aim to keep the same level of descriptive detail but many of the species only have one or two iterations and then we’ve never seen them again (yet)!
The headpiece for the light up Luminara Unduli was definitely removable - I remember seeing it removed from the «Try me» hole in the box in a toy shop :/
Does it bother anyone else that the hands are upside down for holding the lightsabers?
Ventress definitely wasn't Zabrak as we did see female Zabrak in the form of Sugi.
^ Star Wars canon vs Legends can’t seem to make its mind up. If you go by both Wookieepedia’s ‘canon’ entry and ‘Legends’ entry Asajj is Zabrak and ‘Dathomirian’ respectively. I just rewatched the Witches of the Mist arc in the Clone Wars and it shows Asajj being born into the Nightsisters but then taken away to Rattatak for much of her younger life. Unfortunately it does nothing to silence previous ideas about her specific species, particularly in Legends before that.
Re: Leetshoe, I find that minifigures with lightsabers display best when holding them in that hand configuration, because they can be held straight across or upwards from their body. Otherwise the lightsabers are always pointing forwards unless held aloft.
@bricks4everyone said:
" @Rob42 said:
"I'm still baffled that they went to all the trouble of designing a Grievous figure, with so many special part, and then made him so small. He's shorter than a regular minifigure!"
Never thought of it before but yeah, I agree, a much taller Grievous would look great and more accurate to the actual character. "
"General Grievous. You're shorter than I expected."
@The_Rancor said:
"Thanks to BionicleJedi for the reference regarding the removable Luminara hat piece in the original 2005 version - that’s always a danger when I don’t have the minifig to look at in detail and until recently I only had the Mace Windu light up figure whose head isn’t removable."
No problem! ^^ Yeah, the heads aren't removable on any of them - I had all the others except Mace! - but the hats / hairpieces all are.
One thing that I forgot to mention earlier is that Matt "Pepaquin" Delanoy showed me a cool trick with the original Jawa (which made me have to pick up a couple). The tiny eyes are actually fluorescent paint. Turn the lights out, hit them with a UV flashlight, and the eyes glow just like in the movies. There's also a firefighter outfit from the same era that's black with fluorescent yellow safety stripes that also glow under UV light.
@The_Rancor :
I prefer the hands right-side-up, the blades 3L, and the lightsabers displayed angled downward in front of the legs. Except Darth Maul. He gets a longer hilt made of a regular hilt and a telescope, two 3L blades, and he has to hold the hilt with both hands angled outwards.
Another great article! Thank you @The_Rancor
I have to disagree about the jawas though. The official minifigures don’t capture their silhouette at all well, which has bothered me since their release. They should look more like MOC custom: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/jawa.jpg
Once again I’m only finding myself missing 3 aliens (and the dianoga), and those 3 are all of a single specific character. Nien Nunb, Kit Fitso, and Bossk.
I’m not a fan of the Nien minifigures, I really think that he needs a uniquely molded head to emphasize its size and the flaps. Of course the real problem is he got killed off in a way that requires you to examine the movie with a microscope, but of course Lego is not to blame. I hope he is honored post-humorously with a unique head mold.
Kit Fitso and Bossk on the other hand have long been on my radar, and I’m just waiting on the opportunity to find them with an acceptable price tag at a Bricklink store I’m already making a purchase from.
I almost had to add weequay to this list, but I just picked up Hondo’s tank last week. Really I just wanted a Hondo minifigure and am shocked that this is the only one in existence. I have to say it doesn’t look great, but it’s hard not to own such an important minifigure. I’d love to see a Rebels version of him with some ugnaughts, and of course a unique head mold sporting the spikes.
When it comes to the rubber molds, I really don’t mind them, in fact they look very good. However I gave my son a Yoda one when he was younger and he decided it would be fun to chew on it, which unfortunately loosened its grip so it will no longer stay on his body.
As I already mentioned, I do like the Togrutas, but the only one I have is the original Ahsoka. I’m very much looking forward to seeing her in the Mandalorian and would love if the rumors were true of her getting her own show. Certainly this should lead to some new minifigures. I don’t think I’ll be buying the new AAT set as I already own a AAT and it isn’t terribly exciting, but it’s hard not to get those minifigures, the clone with the painted helmet looks awesome.
Thanks again for another great article.
The original Grievous design is obviously inferior but I have a ton of nostalgia for it, and the new design isn't quite perfect in my mind yet. Both are serviceable so I feel like a negative nancy implying the newer one is less than great.
I do prefer the bigger eyes on the Jawas though.
@alfred_the_buttler:
The article got the spelling wrong (it's Nunb, not Numb), but you got the names mixed up. Nien Nunb is Lando's copilot on the Falcon, and survives (and it's sad that he still doesn't have a minifig). Ten Nunb was a fighter pilot who most people probably never even knew existed until he got a card in the SW:CCG.
Are Nien Nunb and Ten Nunb related? brothers? Father/son, uncle/nephew, cousins? Or maybe these were just the ninth and tenth character iterations of that species and the writers wanted to mix it up a bit with the spelling for Nien so it wasn't so obvious.
@PurpleDave said:
" @alfred_the_buttler:
The article got the spelling wrong (it's Nunb, not Numb), but you got the names mixed up. Nien Nunb is Lando's copilot on the Falcon, and survives (and it's sad that he still doesn't have a minifig). Ten Nunb was a fighter pilot who most people probably never even knew existed until he got a card in the SW:CCG."
Actually Ten Numb’s last name is spelt differently to Nien Nunb, but either way it would be nice to see the more prominent character get the minifig treatment, particularly as he’s been in the sequel trilogy and Galaxy’s Edge now.
I’ll be honest, I don’t really care much for Star Wars and I only own very few sets. Still, I usually read article on this site.
As someone who can’t name many SW species I was a little confused reading the first article. @The_Rancor - This article was fantastic and I found it a lot easier to follow than the first one. It helped having so many pictures. I am looking forward to the next one!
I feel ya