Sideshow Experience

 The Story

The life of Longo Two-Guns became a dizzying whirl as his body tumbled down the shaft under the trap door which had opened beneath his feet. At the bottom, sand forced its way into his eyes, his ears, and his nostrils as his face broke the fall.

Hoots and laughter from the orifices of a dozen different beings fell upon him from somewhere above. A Gamorrean grunted his amusement. A chattering Jawa spouted something incomprehensible. Loudest of all, though, was the deep, guttural rumbling of a gloating Hutt.

Longo spat out a mixture of blood and grit and curses as he struggled to his hands and knees. One of those curses took the name of the creature who’d put him here.

“Jabba!” he coughed, then spat again. “Jabba, what … ?”

As he raised his head, Longo saw the massive bulk of Jabba the Hutt high above him, flanked by his major domo and the bounty hunter, Jango Fett. Various appendages belonging to members of Jabba’s ecstatic entourage waved triumphantly and mockingly in the air above him. Several of the creatures had begun a sort of chant.

“This is it?” Longo shouted. “You’re going to keep me in a hole? Me? How long do you think this will hold me, Jabba? How long? When I get out of here, I’m going to …”

His bravado was interrupted by a heavy thud from behind. Whirling, Longo caught a glimpse of a green, fleshy mass mere inches from his face before a massive arm knocked him flying across the sandy floor of the pit. Longo came to rest on his back, then sat up.

Resting his hands on the butt of a giant battle axe, the largest Gamorrean he had ever seen glared at Longo with eyes of green fire. The giant stood a full two heads taller than his porcine brethren. Layers of fat rippled over a mass of muscle beneath his dark green skin. There was intelligence in those eyes – a cruel intellect previously unseen in the species.

Jabba’s booming chuckle echoed down upon Longo. “Perhaps you are familiar with my executioner, Lomrokk.” The Hutt’s arm quivered as he gestured at the massive Gamorrean. “Renowned for his killing prowess in fighting pits across the outer rim. The blade he wields has ended the life of every creature he has met in combat. With it, Lomrokk has even slain a mighty gundark.

“So tell me, bounty hunter.” Jabba’s eyes narrowed as he leaned toward the edge of the pit. “Unarmed and unarmored, how do you think you will fare against the likes of Lomrokk?”

Grunting, the porcine giant raised his axe high overhead and held it there. Cheers and hoots and howls echoed all around. Jabba barked a command, and his rumbling laughter fell from above as the axe began to fall.

Uselessly raising a protective arm, Longo screamed.

 The Art

This figure represents a true test of our Mythos theme as we set out to shape our first original addition to the Star Wars universe. Of all the races in Star Wars, Gamorreans had stood out as an interesting prospect for exciting character development. Being sort of a thug race that is visually engaging, I dug in with our design team to explore something that might take advantage of these concepts. Research was crucial to pay proper reverence, and as we sought out the details we could incorporate, we were struck by just how detailed the tapestry of the extended universe has become. By cross-referencing Gamorrean culture, Jabba’s court, and various Tatooine storylines it became clear that we could bring a character successfully between the established boundaries. Based on these explorations our character took shape as a deposed warlord-turned-gladiator, who comes to serve in Jabba’s palace as his principal executioner before the days of rancor. Lomrokk is uncharacteristically intelligent, if not super lucky for his lot in life. He is also a bit bigger and more physically imposing than his smaller brethren -something we felt was warranted in a warlord of the species. This gave us an excellent spring board to design and sculpt from. We freestyled a huge executioner’s axe and mapped out a series of past battle scars that would cover the final sculpt. We also wanted to capture a pose that would really echo some epic forms as is often seen in Frank Frazetta’s barbarian paintings. To highlight the piece we placed a tauntaun skull on the base, alluding to a savage Roman Coliseum-type story, wherein Jabba had been executing animals from exotic environments for his guests’ delight!