Without doubt the dumbest denizens of the many-fangled Star Wars multiverse (and that includes such chronic dimwits as Jar Jar Binks and those hapless stormtroopers), these porcine dupes, fat and green like Shrek but without the stroppy Scottish comebacks, have developed a cult following largely due to their action figure offering great VFM. They were twice the size of any other, and had an appealing troll-like quality as if they had just stumbled in from Middle-earth.

The original remit from Lucas simply read "pig guard", which designer Ralph McQuarrie turned into more gorilla-like humanoids, before Joe Johnston added the wild-boar aspect of the tusks and snouts, taking them back to pre-industrial thugs likelier to be carrying an axe than a good blaster. Which kind of makes their position as galactic bouncers open to question.

They are, after all, highly susceptible to Jedi mind-tricks, as evinced by Luke suggesting his name was, in fact, down on the list for entry to Jabba's palace. But the giant mobster-slug still picked them for his security (apparently they are cheap and effective over short distances), even if their enjoyably vacant, slobbering demeanour makes them more lovable than intimidating.

Inside the rubbery carapace you can't help but picture a British stuntman sweating under the strain and stumbling about like a wobbly drunk, and you have to look to the Expanded Universe for any stand-out individuals from the Gamorrean populous.

For here we meet "Piggy", who was intellectually spruced up by the Empire's Binring Biomedical Corporation, before escaping their evil facility and joining the Rebellion. He made a name for himself as an analyst on Han Solo's anti-Zsinj taskforce, which sure beats being eaten by a rancor... IAN NATHAN