Fambaa/Legends

"But wesa still needen our beasts, to carry weapons and shields. The evil mackineecks had captured the beasts, for killin' and skinnin'. As the Queen and her big brains plan a big nasty, wesa attacking Camp Six, to rescue our animals and complete disen Gungan Grand Army."

- Boss Rugor Nass in a journal entry

The largest terrestrial herbivores of the swamp, fambaas were technically amphibians but had the scaly hide of reptiles. The creatures were native to the Gungan swamps of the planet Naboo and the jungles of Onderon.

Characteristics
"I know how you feel. You lost your master, and I lost my Jedi."

- Hondo Ohnaka to Preigo's fambaa

Fambaas were large non-sentient amphibian-like animals native to the Gungan swamps of the planet Naboo, as well as Onderon. They obtained food by easily knocking over trees to get at leaves and berries. They also foraged for underwater plants. They reached sizes of up to 9 meters.

In the wild, fambaas traveled in herds of up to twelve and the main breeding herds were so large they were traditionally put to pasture in sacred swampy areas. There were also special fambaa stables contained inside the underwater hydrostatic bubble-enclosed cities.

Females laid large numbers of sticky, gelatinous eggs, which they deposited in puddles and underwater. The young hatched with moist skin and gills, and upon maturity, the gills disappeared and their skin hardened.

Fambaas were said to be much larger than dewbacks, and therefore slower and stockier.

History
The fambaa had been domesticated by Gungans for millennia as beasts of burden and cavalry/artillery draft beasts.

In times of war, fambaas were used to carry portable deflector shield generators for protecting their Gungan masters. They were also mounted with large booma cannons. During the Trade Federation occupation of Naboo in 32 BBY, the fambaas were placed in Camp Six. They were subsequently released by the Gungan Grand Army and outfitted for use in the the Gungan's diversionary battle. During that battle, the fambaa-mounted shield generator protected the Grand Army until the generators were destroyed by battle droids.

During their Clone Wars insurgency, the Onderon rebels used fambaas to hold heavy artillery. In Abafar, they were used as meat in a dish known as Fambaa Delight.

Around that time, Preigo's Traveling World of Wonder had a fambaa as part of the performance. The beast was abandoned to the Ohnaka Gang when Preigo and the other performers fled a Jedi rescue mission.

Behind the scenes
The original concept sketches of the fambaa were two-legged dinosaur-like creatures, lacking forelimbs like their kaadu cousins. Once the four-legged design was approved, concept artist Terryl Whitlatch developed a hand-drawn walk cycle to demonstrate to ILM animators how the animal should move.

In the 2001 video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its 2002 expansion pack, fambaas were the Gungan special unit, used as a mobile shield generator. They were also used as the Gungan Assault Mech, armed with a powerful Booma cannon. For the sake of gameplay the Fambaa was the Gungan countermeasure to the Trade Federation's Multi-Troop Transport. The shield generator-mounted ones were upgradeable with a heavier shield.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Star Wars Episode I: Battles to Color
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Frontier
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures
 * Star Wars: Republic: The New Face of War
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * The Last of the Jedi: Death on Naboo
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine
 * Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins of Dantooine