Tusken Raider [1995, POTF2]

...with GADERFFI STICK BATTLE CLUB.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere POTF2 line. No bulging muscles. No extra huge guns. No non-canonical hidden weapons (I'm looking at you R5-D4). Authentic sculpting and detail. Authentic weapon. What more could you want? Oh, yeah, that it be called a Sandperson! Why, because most sources, when describing this race, say "Also known as Tusken Radiers." Okay, so this should be the back-up name, not the first. Would it have killed you Kenner to put "Sandperson" in parentheses at least? Nope - nowhere on the package.

Later in this line a Sandperson/Bantha package is released. The figure in this set features hinged knees so it can ride the Bantha.

Five reasons to own this figure:

1. You know after watching Star Wars you took a stick on did the howl while holding it up in the air with both hands - admit it.

2. Who else is going to wantonly destroy a landspeeder?

3. Get to ride a hairy elephant (Bantha). Not a sexual metaphor.

4. Finally, a figure that is supposed to tear off C-3PO's arm.

5. Another excuse to play in the sandbox.

Backstory:

Sand People were an offshoot of a people indigenous to Tatooine for millennia. When a global disaster struck the planet, this civilization eventually evolved into Sand People and Jawas. Much later in their history, after a series of raids which forced out the colonists in the town of Fort Tusken, the Sand People became known as Tusken Raiders.

Unlike the Jawas, Sand People disregarded most technology. For attack and defense they used gaffi sticks, or gaderffii. They do occasionally gather enough metal scrap to make rifles, however. These can be seen in SW and Episode I. Sand People stay covered from head to toe to keep in moisture and protect them from the harsh desert climate. They roam in small tribes, and domesticate native banthas for transportation. Like the Jawas, they subsist mainly on native hubba gourds for nutrition and hydration.

About the only things that Sand People truly fear are krayt dragons, a large carnivore indigenous to Tatooine. In fact, the howl that Obi-wan makes in the first movie to scare the Sand People was a krayt dragon roar. The skeleton that C-3PO passes in the desert was that of a krayt dragon (the prop of which was left there and is still there today).

Want more? The Tusken Raider Wookieepedia entry