Bib Fortuna is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise.
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The Twi'lek majordomo and chief aide of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, Bib Fortuna is Jabba's closest associate, succeeding him as daimyo after his death before ultimately being killed himself by Boba Fett.
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Bib Fortuna was created by Return of the Jedi co-writers Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, and was designed by Phil Tippett based upon early sketches by concept artists Nilo Rodis-Jamero and Ralph McQuarrie.
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Bib Fortuna survives the events of Return of the Jedi in the Star Wars Legends canon, which encompasses all licensed Star Wars stories outside of the films prior to The Walt Disney Company acquiring the franchise in 2012.
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Bib Fortuna has been described as a fan-favorite and one of the most memorable characters from Star Wars, and has been included on several lists of the best characters in the franchise.
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Bib Fortuna is a member of the Twi'lek species, humanoids distinguished by the pair of long tentacular appendages that protrude from the back of their heads, which are known as lekku.
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Bib Fortuna is a smuggler of an illicit substance called spice, and is one of the first to widely sell a highly addictive drug called ryll from Ryloth to other planets.
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Bib Fortuna becomes infamous as a result, and is sentenced to death on his home planet, but he escapes and flees to the planet Tatooine.
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Crumb was a stowaway thief aboard Jabba's ship when Bib Fortuna captured him and presented him to Jabba before the events of the film.
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Bib Fortuna greets them coldly at first, but becomes intrigued upon learning they have a gift for the Hutt.
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Bib Fortuna brings the droids before Jabba, where they deliver a holographic message from the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker seeking to bargain for the release of Han Solo.
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When Skywalker later arrived, Bib Fortuna is among the first to intercept him and initially forbids him from speaking to Jabba.
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Bib Fortuna appears briefly in The Phantom Menace, the first film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
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At one point, Bib Fortuna wakes up Jabba after the Hutt crime lord falls asleep during the podrace.
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Since The Phantom Menace was set 32 years before the events of the first Star Wars film, Bib Fortuna's presence establishes that he has been employed by Jabba the Hutt for more than three decades, dating back to the final years of the Galactic Republic.
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Kwerve and Bib Fortuna acquire the rancor as a birthday gift for Jabba, and Bib Fortuna earns the majordomo job, while Kwerve is ultimately eaten by the rancor.
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Bib Fortuna appears in several of the stories in Tales from Jabba's Palace, and the book establishes that Bib Fortuna despises Jabba and is actively plotting to assassinate the Hutt, steal his wealth, and take over his criminal operation.
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In that story, Bib Fortuna protects his friend Nat Secura, whom Jabba wants to kill by feeding him to the rancor.
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Secura is the last descendant of a great Twi'lek house, and Bib Fortuna uses Secura's power to sell other Twi'leks into slavery.
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Bib Fortuna has the monks remove Secura's brain shortly before Secura's body, under Jabba's orders, is thrown to the rancor and eaten.
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Bib Fortuna then flees on his private skiff and returns to Jabba's palace, where he expects to take over the criminal operation.
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Bib Fortuna appears in his disembodied droid walker form in a four-issue arc of the Star Wars: X-wing Rogue Squadron comic book entitled Battleground: Tatooine .
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Bib Fortuna is one of the main characters in the comic book Star Wars: Jabba the Hutt: Betrayal, which is set before Return of the Jedi.
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Bib Fortuna appears in the 2000 video game Star Wars: Demolition, in which the player participates in vehicular combat contests at the behest of Jabba the Hutt.
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Bib Fortuna can be seen in the menu screen describing the various terrains the player could choose for the battles.
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Bib Fortuna appears in the mobile strategy game Star Wars Commander, in which he becomes involved in a conflict with a mercenary named Saponza.
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Bib Fortuna makes a brief appearance in the first issue of the Star Wars: Darth Vader comic book series, released by Marvel Comics in February 2015.
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The scene mirrors that of Bib Fortuna confronting Luke Skywalker as he enters the palace in Return of the Jedi, but establishes a direct contrast between Luke's non-aggressive behavior toward Bib Fortuna and Vader's more threatening manner.
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Outwardly, Bib Fortuna appears very loyal and obedient to Jabba the Hutt, hardly ever leaving his side, and regularly supplying him with advice and counsel.
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Bib Fortuna employs this patience while dealing with Jabba's visitors, who range from drunken thugs to overbearing emissaries.
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In reality, Bib Fortuna feels a deep contempt for Jabba, as he reveals to his co-conspirators during a plot to kidnap and eventually assassinate the Hutt in the 1996 comic book Star Wars: Jabba the Hutt: Betrayal:.
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Bib Fortuna is a powerful and dreaded individual in the galaxy's underground community, though somewhat cowardly, and has a large capacity for cruelty and violence.
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Bib Fortuna'ssadism is on display in Return of the Jedi, where he looks forward to seeing Luke Skywalker and his friends get fed to the sarlacc.
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Bib Fortuna is cunning and manipulative, illustrated by the way in which he presents himself to Jabba as meek and passive in order to achieve his goals.
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Bib Fortuna was created by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas, co-writers of the Return of the Jedi screenplay.
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Bib Fortuna was designed by Phil Tippett, the visual effects artist who designed most of the creatures for Return of the Jedi.
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McQuarrie's early sketches of Bib Fortuna were, in his words, "more human" than the final design.
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McQuarrie said his early Bib Fortuna sketches were among his favorite renderings from the entire Star Wars trilogy, though he said the final version was better and "weirder" than his early designs.
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Michael Carter, the actor who portrayed Bib Fortuna, spent three months undergoing extensive makeup casts and tests for the character at Elstree Studios before shooting began.
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Since Bib Fortuna's dialogue was in an alien language, and since he had little knowledge about the rest of the film, Carter did not know anything about the storyline of Return of the Jedi during the filming process.
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Several scenes involving Fortuna were cut from Return of the Jedi, including one in which Salacious B Crumb, the small creature that sits at the tail of Jabba the Hutt, vomits into Fortuna's beverage.
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Role of Bib Fortuna was cast very early in the production process for Return of the Jedi because makeup artist Stuart Freeborn wanted to get started on creating the character's look as quickly as possible.
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The recording session for Bib Fortuna's dialogue took about 30 minutes, and Bauersfeld made up the voice on the spot after looking at a photograph of Bib Fortuna, without having any other information about the character.
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Since Bib Fortuna spoke in the Huttese alien language, Bauersfeld had no idea what the character was saying when he recited the lines.
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Name and first photo of Bib Fortuna were first revealed to the public in a Return of the Jedi poster book published by Paradise Press in May 1983, the first of four such magazines released in advance of the film.
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Ryan said Bib Fortuna "looks like David Bowie with a large bratwurst sausage growing out of his ear".
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Bib Fortuna was ranked No 25 on Rolling Stone's list of the 50 best Star Wars characters, and was included among The Daily Telegraph's list of the best characters from the franchise.
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An action figure of Bib Fortuna was released by Kenner Products in 1983, coinciding with the release of Return of the Jedi.
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The action figure came with a miniature staff, and Bib Fortuna wears a brown cloak in most versions, but five known prototypes exist in which he wears a white cloak, and they are considered among the most rare and valuable Star Wars toys.
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Several other Bib Fortuna products were released in 1983, including an eraser by Butterfly Originals, and a cookie by Pepperidge Farm.
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In 1996, Bib Fortuna was one of the Star Wars characters to receive its own Micro Machines mini-transforming playsets by Galoob.
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The Bib Fortuna playset was sold as part of a collection that included an Imperial Scout Trooper and Figrin D'an, one of the Mos Eisley Cantina band members.
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Bib Fortuna was included in a Micro Machines playset of the planet Tatooine, which included both Jabba's palace and the Great Pit of Carkoon.
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Ceramic mug of Bib Fortuna was released in 1996 as part of the Star Wars Classic Collectors Series Figural Mug line by the toy company Applause.
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In 2017, the company Gentle Giant made a limited run of 750 miniature busts of Bib Fortuna, utilized 3-D technology to create a 1:6-scale replica of the character.
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