The Bounty Hunters

Bounty Hunter Minifigs (2/4/2001)

When Darth Vader put out a call for all bounty hunters to send on a special mission to hunt down the Millennium Falcon, he got some of the best hunters in the galaxy. No bounty hunter would miss the opportunity to perform a personal task for Darth Vader. One way you can tell a Star Wars nerd is if he can name all of the nameless bounty hunters besides Boba Fett. I can name them without even looking. There's Dengar, the bandaged "super-soldier" who hates Han Solo but is actually a good person underneath (he later saves Boba Fett's life and becomes one of the few people who truly knows him personally)... IG-88, the assassin droid whose programming malfunctioned and caused him to become completely independent, working for the highest bidder (according to some sources, he actually interfaced with the Death Star II and took complete control of it... for about one second before the Rebel Alliance blew it up)... Bossk, the vicious Trandoshan warrior who hates Wookiees (especially Chewbacca, of course) with a passion (he was so vicious that he actually ate his own father)... Zuckuss, the bizarre insect-like alien who can only breathe with a special device hooked to his face... his personal droid, 4-LOM, who despite looking like an insectoid C-3PO is actually an elite assassin... and finally, Boba Fett, whose past remains a mystery (for my thoughts on that subject, see the Boba Fett Statue page).

These guys were some of my first ever custom minifig jobs. I made the decals in CorelDRAW and printed them onto sticker paper, and the I made the custom heads for Bossk, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM using Sculpey modeling clay. At the time, the only official LEGO minifig of a bounty hunter was, of course, Boba Fett, but I considerably improved him as well, with arm, shoulder, and leg decals, as well as a cape. Since the Prototype Boba Fett armor (with red gauntlets and brown gloves) was always my favorite, I gave him those colors (this was before LEGO came out with their official improved version, which was only available in a single set that I didn't buy, and I didn't like the colors they chose anyway... for more on the variety of Boba Fett suit colors out there, again, see the Boba Fett Statue page). I later began work on much-improved 4-LOM and Zuckuss minifigs, but I quickly lost interest entirely and simply stopped. Oh well.

Bounty Hunter Ships (circa 1999)

Being obsessed with the bounty hunters, I was originally determined to make all of them and their personal starships. These were actually built before the above minifigs, and were some of my earliest customs, so excuse their crappiness. To see Boba Fett's ships, of course, please visit the Slaves I & II page.

Dengar's ship is known as the Punishing One (or is it simply the Punisher?). My custom build of it is extremely simplistic and ugly, as you can see. But if you think that's ugly, wait until you see IG-88's IG-2000: