Magaloof/Legends

"What the?!"

- Magaloof

Magaloof was a male Leffingite from the planet Almak who journeyed to Coruscant to pursue a career in the line of theft. Stealing an airspeeder to get his break, he soon joined the gang of Hat Lo. While in Lo's company, however, he sought to fall in with more significant syndicates, such as Black Sun, or the Baath brothers. In time, he entered into what he thought was a partnership with the con man Achk Med-Beq. Together, they participated in several successful heists. However, Med-Beq and his partner Dannl Faytonni set up Magaloof while the Leffingite robbed a Coco Town jewelery store of its flame gems.

Magaloof was disenfranchised as a result, and was conned out of his takings on the job. He went to jail for the offense, and thought upon his folly. After completing his three-year sentence, he returned to Almak to rethink his life. Magaloof had been eager to rise in the ranks of the underworld, and certainly hoped to make his mark amongst the criminals of the galaxy. He was ignorant of Med-Beq's con, and thought of him as a mentor, but, in retrospect, was disgusted by what had transpired, and had no qualms about dropping his intended lifestyle in favor of a more honest living.

Early life and working for Hat Lo
A male Leffingite, Magaloof was raised on the homeworld of his species, Almak. At some stage, he journeyed to the capital, Coruscant, where he hoped to pursue a criminal career. Magaloof made his start by stealing an airspeeder, although this first theft nearly went awry when the droid ASN-121, with the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi in tow, shot past in close proximity. Offering only a loudly uttered desire for edification, Magaloof emerged unscathed, but shaken. He offered the speeder to an associate of Hat Lo, a local crime boss, who in turn offered him a position in his gang. But Magaloof sought to reach loftier heights, seeking positions in better known syndicates, such as that of the Baath brothers, or even Black Sun, an organization that spanned the known galaxy.

Partnership with Achk Med-Beq
Soon enough, Magaloof found himself in partnership with Achk Med-Beq, a Coruscanti con man. Eventually, due to his greater experience, Med-Beq became a mentor to Magaloof, teaching him the ways of the industry. The partnership proved to be successful, and a variety of heists were pulled off without a hitch. However, Med-Beq saw an opportunity to set Magaloof up, and took it. Convincing the young Leffingite to burgle a Coco Town jewelry store and steal some precious flame gems, Med-Beq enlisted his friend, Dannl Faytonni, to masquerade as a Republic Security Force officer, and confiscate Magaloof's flame gems following the robbery. Sure enough, Magaloof was "arrested" but let off with a "strong warning".

Seeking to tell Med-Beq of the botched operation, Magaloof failed to find his mentor, and soon after, was arrested by the legitimate authorities for the robbery. Protesting his arrest, Magaloof informed the RSF officers that he had already been apprehended on the same charge, and that the missing flame gems had already been retrieved. The Leffingite was told that there was no "Lieutenant Faytonni" in the RSF ranks, and was sentenced to three years in the Moderate Security Ward of the Coco Penitentiary.

Redeemed
Over the three years of his sentence, Magaloof pondered his situation, and came to the realization that Med-Beq had been setting him up from the very start. Disenchanted with the idea of being a criminal, and disgusted with himself for being conned so easily, Magaloof returned to his native Almak when released, in order to restart his life and pursue a new career.

Personality and traits
Magaloof was eager to please and excel as a criminal – his first robbery was no small feat, and he was able to pull off heists with Med-Beq for some time until he was betrayed. He lacked the experience required to recognize a con while in the middle of one, and in turn, suffered the consequences. He repented in prison, and was not totally sold on the idea of being a criminal, which in turn led to his pursuit of a new life back home on Almak.

Behind the scenes
Magaloof first appeared in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, where he was voiced by supervising sound editor Matthew Wood, who would later go on to provide the voice of General Grievous in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He was named by Curtis Saxton and Simon Beecroft in 2003's Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Magaloof's backstory would later be developed in 2005, when Gregory Walker, through the "What's the Story?" Star Wars Hyperspace feature on StarWars.com, would write his Databank entry.

Normally, when writing "What's the Story?" submissions, Walker would start by fleshing out the character's story prior to their appearance in the given film. For Magaloof, he opted to begin with the character's scene, and work from there. He then mined the only other existing source on Magaloof, Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones for information. From his initial draft, he had his character cross paths with Achk Med-Beq, but the nature of the connection changed over subsequent drafts. Walker originally intended to have Magaloof aspire to join the gang of Volven Roxe, from the 2003 sourcebook Coruscant and the Core Worlds, but this was changed to Black Sun during the editorial process. Also altered was Magaloof's prison sentence, which was intended to be four years rather than the canonical three.

In creating the rest of Magaloof's story, Walker created such new elements as the species name "Leffingite," and the planet of Almak. He also made ties to the greater Expanded Universe, including CoCo Penitentiary from HoloNet News Vol. 531 56, flame gems from Star Wars 99: Touch of the Goddess, and the Baath brothers from Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, who would become a fixture in Walker's later "What's the Story?" work. Even though he had other winning submissions later in the program's run, Walker looked back on his Magaloof entry as his favorite.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones