Fuzzum

"Those Fuzzums better not mess this up!" "Prince Coby! Our plan is to help our friends as well as rescue your pet!"

- Coby and the droids wait for the Fuzzums to create a diversion

The Fuzzums were a species of sentient avians indigenous to the planet Dandelo. Members of the species were roughly humanoid, standing shorter than the average Human on spindly legs. The arms and legs were hairless and brown-skinned, but the squat body was covered with orange fuzz. Fuzzums spoke their native language through a stubby, pale beak. They lived in a tribal society that relied on relatively primitive technology, characterized by simple musical instruments, cliffside cave dwellings, and ubiquitous wooden spears.

The Fuzzums encountered offworlders sometime before 15 BBY. Eventually, the avians were faced with a group known as the Starhunters, who drove the Fuzzums from their homes in Dandelo's cliffs. The Fuzzums fled to the forests, but several of their number were captured. With the caves theirs, the Starhunters converted them into cages to hold beasts for the Starhunter's Intergalactic Menagerie. Their captive Fuzzums were forced to hunt down new species for the Starhunters' traveling show, while those who escaped set up camps in the woods. When a new group of offworlders later arrived on Dandelo, the forest-dwelling Fuzzums assumed the worst. Nevertheless, the trio&mdash;a protocol droid named C-3PO, an astromech droid named R2-D2, and a Tammuz-an prince named Coby&mdash;convinced the avians that they only sought to rescue a creature known as Ingey from the Starhunters. The Fuzzums and their new guests plotted and executed a rescue mission for the tessellated arboreal binjinphant. With the rescue of an old spacer named Greej and the timely arrival of miner Jann Tosh, the Fuzzums and their allies freed the beasts held in the caves, drove the Starhunters from Dandelo, and reclaimed their cliff dwellings.

Biology and appearance
The Fuzzums were a species of sentient humanoid avians who looked like compact balls of fuzz perched upon thin, stick-like legs. The arms, too, were thin and gangly, ending in three-fingered hands. While all four extremities were naked and brown-skinned, the rest of the body was covered in orange fluff. Members of the species had thick, puffed-out chests that narrowed to thin waists. Fuzzums stood about 1.45 meters tall on average.

There was little distinction between where the Fuzzum torso ended and the Fuzzum head began. The avians had plastic features capable of conveying a full range of emotions. They had expressive brows over their brown-ringed eyes. These orbs were yellow with brown pupils, flanking a pale, toothless, triangular beak with a red interior and two nostrils at its apex. A shock of taller feathers adorned the top of the Fuzzum head. The overall effect made Fuzzums seem bizarre to Humans and other species.

Society and culture
"Oh my goodness! They think we're Starhunters. They want to sell me and use Artoo for a stew pot." "What about me?" "That's why they need a stew pot, I'm afraid."

- First encounter between Coby, the droids, and the Fuzzums

Fuzzum society lacked the technological sophistication of much of the rest of the galaxy. The species' clothing, for example, typically consisted of little more than a cloth skirt, cords wrapped around the arms, and sandals on the feet. The characteristic design of the skirt was a white bolt of cloth with an elongated, brown, hexagonal flap in the center. They regularly wore wooden canisters attached to a baldric over one shoulder. The avians fought and hunted with simple weapons, such as spears made from wooden shafts and stone blades attached by cord &mdash;in fact, a Fuzzum and his or her spear were constant companions.

Fuzzums hunted and fought in small groups. They preferred to attack with their spears, charging an enemy with the weapon held overhead and thrusting downward. They used their numbers to their advantage to overwhelm their target, and they showed no mercy to sworn enemies, such as the Starhunters. Captured enemies faced a dire fate: some droids could be sold, others dismantled so their parts could be put to other uses, while sentient beings could be cooked and eaten.

The species was divided into tribes. Their preferred habitat was villages set into natural caves, but after the arrival of the Starhunters, the Fuzzums relocated to villages in their world's forests, where they erected lean-tos made from tree branches and strips of cloth. Fuzzums built fire pits in their villages, and they cooked stew in stew pots. Their settlements played host to festive ceremonies, during which the avians danced to the accompaniment of drums, horns, and plucked string instruments. Dancing was a Fuzzum sign of joy, and boisterous laughter was a sign of amusement. Fuzzums spoke their own language, which was intelligible to at least some translator droids.

History
"He says that those caves used to be their homes until the Starhunters forced them out. Now they are hunted as well. When they are caught, the Starhunters force them to help trap others."

- C-3PO

The Fuzzums evolved on Dandelo, a planet of forests, savannas, and cave-pocked hills located in the Tammuz sector. They achieved a basic level of technology and adopted a tribal society based around life in cliff villages. At some point between 5,000 and 3,000 BBY, the Fuzzums encountered strangers from another world. From this contact, the Fuzzum language was added to the repertoire of protocol droids in the greater galaxy. Dandelo fell within the confines of Sith Space during the New Sith Wars of 1,004 to 1,000 BBY, and within the confines of Hutt Space by 52 BBY and through the Clone Wars.

Eventually, a group of offworlders came to Dandelo. The outsiders, calling themselves the Starhunters, drove the Fuzzums from their caves so as to convert the dwellings into cages to store rare beasts destined to join the traveling Starhunter's Intergalactic Menagerie. The Fuzzums escaped to Dandelo's forests, where they established temporary villages and tried to avoid Starhunter safaris on the lookout for more species to abduct. From time to time, Fuzzums were spotted and captured by the Starhunters; these captives were then forced to use their skills as trappers and hunters to find more animals for the menagerie. Over time, the Starhunters began to actively seek out Fuzzums as well as non-sentient species, and the Fuzzums grew to hate these offworlders.

In 15 BBY, Fuzzums from this tribe spotted a spacecraft crashing into an area of jungle. When they investigated the wreckage, they found a blue-skinned boy and two droids. Taking the trio to be Starhunters, the Fuzzums threatened to sell the golden droid, turn the shorter droid into a stew pot, and eat the boy. The golden droid knew the Fuzzum language, however, and convinced the avians that the three strangers were also enemies of the Starhunters, and only sought to rescue Ingey, a captured tessellated arboreal binjinphant. The Fuzzums agreed to take the new arrivals to their former village, where the Starhunters kept their quarries.

At the cliff-dwelling complex, the boy, Coby, spotted his pet being thrown in a cage by a large droid. Realizing they faced some resistance, the Fuzzums and the offworlders retreated to the Fuzzums' forest village to plot their next move.

The golden droid, C-3PO, formulated a plan. A group of Fuzzums would hide near the cliffs and await a signal from the shorter droid, R2-D2, to attack. The Fuzzums dutifully took up their position. C-3PO split off from the group and impersonated an animal known as a spotted jugadoo. The prospect of capturing the rare creature drew the Starhunters off, leaving the caves lightly guarded by patrol droids. Coby and R2-D2 climbed up to the cages and freed the animals, along with an imprisoned near-Human man named Greej. A patrol droid found the interlopers, and a skirmish broke out in which they tussled over the droid's blaster. R2-D2 finally shot off a flare, and the Fuzzums knew it was time to strike.

The Fuzzums rushed in and attacked a second patrol droid with their spears. R2-D2, Coby, and Greej managed to defeat their droid and free the rest of the captives, including several Fuzzums. Reunited with their kin, the Fuzzums danced with joy. C-3PO and the Starhunters returned to the scene, chased by a jugadoo. Greej arrested the animal collectors, but the poachers managed to grab his blaster and began to make their escape. The timely arrival of the droids' master, a miner named Jann Tosh who had followed a distress beacon Coby had set off before planetfall, prevented the Starhunters' escape.

Thanks to the help of their offworld friends, the Fuzzums had regained their old village. They held a ceremony there to fete the offworlders who had made it possible.

By 137 ABY, the Fuzzum homeworld was once again under at least the nominal control of the Hutts as part of their Hutt dependencies.

Behind the scenes
The Fuzzums were created for "Coby and the Starhunters," an episode of the Star Wars: Droids animated television series that originally aired on November 2, 1985. The species has since been mentioned in various reference works, such as A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition, and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia; each of these volumes provides a nearly identical description of the species.

The 1995 German trade paperback comic book that collects and translates Star Wars 4: In Battle with Darth Vader mentions Fuzzums. In the scene where Han Solo and his companions are in the garbage compactor of the Death Star, the characters are trying to brace the compactor walls with poles and other objects. Solo says of the poles, "These things are as fragile as Fuzzum-legs." Yet, in the 2008 German version of Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1: Doomworld, which includes the same issue, the line is restored to, "They're snapping like twigs!" as in the original English-language version.

Appearances

 * Star Wars 4: In Battle with Darth Vader