Trandoshans (T'doshoks in their language) were large, bipedal reptilian humanoids from the planet Trandosha (or Dosha). They had supersensitive eyes that could see into the infrared range and the ability to regenerate lost limbs, as the lizard regenerates its broken tail, although very slowly. (Unlike the lizards, Trandoshans have no tails.) They have an other interesting feature: they periodically shed their skin. They are anatomically built heavier and stronger than most humanoids, including Humans. The Trandoshans were a warlike species who allied with the Empire, they were hired to capture Wookiees as slaves. Some notable Trandoshans were Bossk, Pekt, and Gha Nachkt. Bossk was invited to a meeting on the Executor, and was hired by Lord Vader to hunt down Han Solo, since Bossk was a longtime enemy of Han Solo, and Chewbacca the Wookiee. The other famous
Trandoshan was the slaver Pekt, maybe known from the game Galactic Battlegrounds, and from its database. Gha Nachkt was seen in the Clone Wars animated series, he was a scavenger and junk dealer, he found and sold R2-D2 for General Grievous, but the Separatist leader killed him as a reward.
As a species, they were known across the galaxy for their great strength. Most cultures long ago abandoned the primitive sword in favor of the more lethal Vibroblade. Trandoshans, however, wielded such archaic weapons as badges of honor. Both the Trandoshan Sword and the Trandoshan Double-Bladed Sword were traditionally forged using the rare ore Chalon which made them sharper and heavier than Republic blades. You can see a similar Trandoshan Double-Bladed Sword in the hands of this blue outfit Trandoshan bounty hunter in a room of Jekk Jekk Tarr. And they were also able to use ranged weapons, for example the bowcasters, which they took away from the captured wookies. Also, we learned in Republic Commado that the Trandoshans used the "Accelerated Charged Particle Gun" weapon family centuries after the era of KotOR, in the times of the order 66.
Like many other bounty hunters, Trandoshan bounty hunters also joined kind of "safeguarding of interest organizations" in the early times. The Bounty Hunters Guild was an ancient institution that regulated the bounty-hunting trade. It was led by a guild master who held members to the Bounty Hunters' Creed, the unwritten rules of the bounty hunters. Its rules were the laws that kept bounty hunters together, respecting the "profession", and each other.
During the Old Sith Wars, many bounty hunters ceased to follow the Creed, giving in to the dark, desperate mood of the times. When the Sith offered a bounty for each and every Jedi, the hunters killed many Jedi. With the Jedi nearly extinct, GOTO, leader of the Exchange on Nar Shaddaa put out a higher bounty for every live Jedi, in the hope that the guild's members would bring them alive, however, many thought of it as a decree to destroy Jedi and attempted to kill known survivors. When one of the last survivors, the Exile Jedi appeared in Nar Shaddaa, the members of the Guild turned on each other in eagerness to capture the Jedi Exile, eventually terminating each other, finally destroying the Nar Shaddaa mafia. However Vossk, the leader of the Guild, one of the few loyal to the Creed, has contacted the Exile before that, so Vossk remained alive.
There are several types of Trandoshans in Star Wars films and games. The tall, brown-skinned Trandoshans are the best known, who were seen in Episodes V and VI; these tall, brown-skinned Trandoshans were also seen in the Jedi Knight game series; they are the bounty hunters of the Naboo civilization in the game Galactic Battlegrounds, and we can fight the massive giant Trandoshan heavy mercenaries in the game Star Wars: Republic Commando.
Interesting, but I must mention a medium-sized, green-skinned Trandoshan species, too, they were seen mostly in the Expanded Universe.
You can listen the unique, and very typical (and before the KotOR games the ONLY available) Trandoshan sentence from ESB by Bossk. The Trandoshan bounty hunter says the same sentence in the Galactic Battlegrounds game. However the other bounty hunters have more sentences in GBG, the trandoshans have only this single sentence. Click these links below. I think the actor, who played Bossk had not an easy job. Neither who played the other Trandoshans, the sentences are from the KotOR games.
Bossk typical trandoshan sentence
trandoshan sentence Kotor
trandoshan sentence Kotor
trandoshan sentence Kotor
trandoshan sentence Kotor
trandoshan sentence Kotor
Furthermore, the
Trandoshans are the badguys of KotOR1 and KotOR2 games, they are aggressive to us, and like HK-47 would say "need to be blasted". In the KotOR
series they don't wear that usual yellow pilot outfit, which can be seen on Bossk, more like a purple or a blue uniform.
The purple Trandoshans bounty hunters usually have a vibroblade, and usually serve a warlord, or a kingpin, and work for them like a mercenary. This is why we meet some Trandoshans on the board of Davik Kang's ship, or they were terrorizing Suvam Tan, too. Those, who wore a blue uniform often worked alone, and after the Creed starting its agony, the blue trandoshans often went separate ways from them, and became
independent. They have turned
away from their traditions, and their uniform color was a symbol for their autonomy. Also, they changed the traditional vibroblades for the wookie bowcaster. Such an
autonomic trandoshan bounty hunter gave the idea for my custom figure. You could see above, Vossk also wore this kind of outfit. In this screenshot you'll see an other blue outfit Trandoshan bounty hunter, he is just a simple NPC, drinking in the
Nar Shaddaa cantina, you won't have any interaction with him, he is just a "decorating unit". But you will surely have interaction with this blue outfit Trandoshan bounty hunter in this illustration, he set a trap for the
Exile Jedi at Telos, and wanted to kill him alone, to grab the whole bounty for him, but that was a really big mistake, because this one passed by soon pretty tragically... But before that happened, I was running
around him a bit, to be able to take some screenshots for reference for you.
Custom Trandoshan bounty hunter figure
front w/ bowcaster
Custom Trandoshan bounty hunter figure
targeting with a bowcaster
Custom Trandoshan bounty hunter figure back
Custom Trandoshan bounty hunter figure right side
Custom Trandoshan bounty hunter figure left side
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written by: Norbert
Rostas 2009.06.29. the figure was made years before