After making my first Sandtrooper/Tusken Raider/Mando mash-up and calling him a Sandalorian, I was asked by JediMindTrix if I'd make him a Sandalorian. I jumped on the chance to create another desert mando and we got to talking about them. Sticking to the original themes and main design elements I decided to give JMT's figure a touch of his own looks as well. In talking with JMT we came up with the idea that there isn't just one Sandalorian, that they're a people or culture existing in the Star Wars Universe all their own with their own backstory:
In the early days of the Republic a Mandalorian long range transport departed from Dxun on its way to explore and colonize new worlds in the outer rim territories. One unlucky transport carrying many Mando warriors flew too close to a star. A solar flare erupted and knocked out their power and life support. Essentially "dead-in-the-water" as it were the crew of the transport decided to abandon their now derelict craft and took their escape shuttles to the nearest planet with breathable air. Little did they know that that planet was Tatooine--one of the least hopsitable planets in the galaxy. To battle hardened Mandalorians Tatooine seemed a walk in the park. Stranded in the desert, pitted against the heat of twin suns, all sorts of deadly creatures, and not least of which were the savage native Tusken Raiders and the crafty duplicitous traders known as Jawas. The marooned Mandalorians fought hard to eek out a life there and carry out their mission of colonization despite their having altered their original course significantly. Stranded without shelters, supplies, rations, communications, or a way off the planet they dug in, drawing upon their warrior's ways. Raiding settlements and Tusken camps, stealing anything they could to survive they began to change. To adapt. Repairing their armor with pilfered Tusken Raider garments, fashioning crude weapons from scavenged debris, knocking over Jawa trading posts for much needed powercells and half-working vehicles. They turned from once proud Mandalorians to savage, twisted Sandalorians, the scourge of the desert. Although they remain largely unknown, often mistaken for Tusken Raiders by settlers and farmers, they come out of the desert to prey on the weak and take what they need. The desert is harsh place and those that mean to survive must in turn be harsh. As they lived on, the Sandalorians grew in population, the original tribe from the transport craft gave birth to a second generation, and the second to a third until there was more than one tribe of Sandalorians living deep in the recesses of the Tatooine desert. Just as the clans of the Mandalorians follow a chosen leader known as Mandalore, the Sandalorians follow their own champion, Sandalore. A chosen warrior and leader to unite the tribes into one. Sandalore is seconded only by the Sandalorian Queen Mother or Matriarch, a fierce female Sandalorian and leader of the strongest tribe. As the republic fell it gave way to the Empire. The Empire established a garrison on Tatooine and dispatched its Imperial troops to keep order over the inhabitants of the arid planet. It wasn't long before the Sandalorians began clashing with these Imperials--clearly no match for their savage warrior ways, and thus they found a new culture to absorb into their own. Donning modified Imperial armor, stealing hold overs from the clone wars, and finding a wealth of technology and weapons ripe for the taking. The Sandos raided the Imperials, the Imperials upped their troop counts and increased their patrols, and eventually replenished their stolen gear, and the Sandos would raid again. The Sandalorians would live on long after the fall of the Empire....
I'm going to post 1 or 2 figures a day here as I've completed 10 new Sandalorians and 3 vehicles. I'm also starting a vehicle thread soon! Stay Tuned!
Relic: A Sandalorian Raid Leader and one of Sandalore's Honor Guards (commanding officer, a chief hunter):
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DSC_3114 Reaver: A Sandalorian Scavage (Scavenger Savage--essentially an average Sando or grunt):
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DSC_3057 8 more Sandos coming soon! Stay tuned!
