The Most Important Star Wars Figure Ever Produced

It’s 1978. Kenner Star Wars action figures are on playgrounds, on shelves, on dressers, in hands. Everywhere. Shiny droids. Hooded mysterious Jawas. Aggressive Sand People. Dreaded Imperials. Heroes & even a bounty hunter.

Then, came Hammerhead – who forever changed the nature of play & collecting forever.

Why Hammerhead? Why not the Jawa or Death Squad Commander? Why not Greedo?

Up until then, every single character prior to Hammerhead had a role or an active onscreen presence. They pushed plot, established the might of the empire, created tension or directly interacted with the heroes.

Hammerhead did none of those things.

Hammerhead was a bar patron. A bystander. A looky-loo. Just some random, funky alien in a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Hammerhead introduced world building in a profound way. He had no discernible dialogue. He was not key to events. He had no story.

Why was that so impactful to us as children and to the toy industry?


Because prior to legions of novels and online resources, Hammerhead was a mystery. All of us kids playing with action figures had to create a story for him. He could be an imperial spy. Another bounty hunter. A drunk denizen. An opportunist. A blue collar schmoe at the right place at the wrong time. He could be anyone. In our minds, he could fulfill some great adventures. Pilot the Falcon in a pinch. Pull a pistol just as Luke attempted to sell the speeder. Hell, he could droid-nap R5-D4 & sell him for parts.

At its best, Kenner Star Wars figures (and thereby the creators who made the decision to produce non-essential characters) engaged our hearts and minds with an action figure that ignited our creativity. The folks at Kenner populated a universe full of odd creatures; both organic & inorganic – and maybe most importantly, not critical to the main plot of the original film.

It may be why we’re never satisfied with what we’ve got. Especially with so much new content. We want the droid smashing the console. We want the Rodian in guerilla-style gear. We want the tentacled bounty hunter. We want the frog-alien riding inside the droid dome. We want the third Imperial Officer who nods. We want nameless Trandoshan bounty hunter number 3. We want Luke in his orange jumpsuit without the flight-gear as he’s talking to 2-1B just before the great Battle of Hoth.

We want the universe. All of it.

The alien in the odd bathing suit style jumper started the idea of world building for Star Wars. It’s alive in us. It’s why we have Wilrow Hood and maybe why we have an unquenchable craving not unlike addiction. It’s why we get cases of figures, feel momentary endorphin rush, open or store them. Then, move on.

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