Hammerhead’s Hand

As a Star Wars kid growing up, it was impossible to avoid acquiring duplicate action figures. Owning duplicates of some figures made sense. Multiple stormtroopers came in handy to building armies, for example. And then there were figures that nobody really wanted one of, much less multiples. Hammerhead was one of those figures.

According to later lore, Hammerhead’s name was actually Momaw Nadon the Ithorian (“Hammerhead” is actually a derogatory term). To kids, Hammerhead was simply that big headed brown alien who we caught a split-second glimpse of in the Mos Eisley Cantina in the original Star Wars.

As you can see, Hammerhead came dressed in a light blue leotard, making him somehow even less cool. The figure came with a gun, but… c’mon. Just look at those eyes, permanently peeking to the left. How can he aim a blaster? Want to sneak up on Hammerhead? Just approach him from the right! Arming this guy is wishful thinking. His big ass head prevented him from fitting in most vehicles. The figure’s best feature? His giant three-toed feet help him stand up really well.

While most kids recognized Hammerhead as the buzzkill he was, adults loved him. I got at least one Hammerhead figure for every birthday growing up. I guess most adults figured kids already had Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, “but I’ll bet he doesn’t have this guy!” I have more vintage Hammerheads than any other figure. I think I have five of them now.

This isn’t about all five Hammerheads. It’s about the two pictured above.

In first or second grade, I loaned my Hammerhead figure (I only had one back then) to a neighborhood kid. Even though Hammerhead may have been one of my least favorite figures, I was still pretty particular about the condition of my toys. A few days later when Hammerhead returned home, I found this:

His hand had been chewed up! Now in Star Wars land all Hammerhead really did was hang out at the cantina and get drunk, something he could surely still do with only one gimpy hand. (Random fact: Hammerhead has two mouths, which might explain his drinking problem.) It wasn’t even his gun hand that got chewed up; it was his “hey, look at my manicure” hand. In real life this shouldn’t have been that big of a deal, but to me, as a weird Star Wars obsessed kid, it was. It lead to war, one that quickly escalated from “I will no longer play Star Wars with you” into “you are no longer allowed on my property!” (a punishment commonly issued in my neighborhood). I remember demanding many times that someone owed me a new Hammerhead figure! How could Hammerhead remain a Grade A cantina alcoholic with a mauled hand?

It’s been 35 years ago so the details escape me — maybe somebody’s mom called somebody else’s mom, I don’t know — but I remember checking our mailbox one day and finding a brand new Hammerhead figure (mint on the card) crammed inside. In retrospect I should have been more specific and just asked for the cash (I was really wanting Greedo by that point), but another Hammerhead it was, one with two perfect hands.

I don’t display all my figures (most of the dupes are packed away in a shoebox in the closet) but both of these guys remain on the shelf: “new” Hammerhead and “mauled hand Hammerhead.”