#max rebo

[jedi-valjean]

Max Rebo or Neel— What's the difference?

A lot of people are confused by the fact that Neel and Max Rebo are, apparently, not the same species. As I've been watching Skeleton Crew, I've picked up on some key differences that really set them apart. On the surface, they both look like blue elephants, but the resemblance pretty much stops there. Let's dive into the differences:

Anatomical Build

If you're a fan of Max Rebo, you're probably aware that his "arms" are actually supposed to be his feet! There's a whole article about this. Ortolans have occasionally been depicted in canon according to their Legends body plan (which does include legs,) but you can see an example of their armless depiction here:

It goes without saying that Neel's species (which is currently unnamed) does not follow this body plan.

Hair

This one's pretty easy. Ortolans have never been depicted with hair, implying they cannot grow it. All examples of Neel's species have been depicted with hair. Honestly I don't think I even need to attach pictures for reference since I'm going to be posting so many already.

Snout, Mouth, and Facial Area

This is where it gets interesting. Compare the snouts on these two images.

With the Ortolan character, an arms dealer known as the Dragon, we can see that he has a small mouth under his snout, just like Neel. But his nose is long, round and bulbous, with no nostrils. Neel's, by comparison, is more like a tapir's, with nostrils on the end and a wrinkled, tapering shape. Neel also has adorable little cheeks, which Ortolans do not.

Also note that Ortolan snouts are prehensile, per this comic:

I think it's safe to assume that Neel's species can't do this. I will say, however, that I cannot really imagine Max Rebo's live action counterpart with the range of motion necessary to curl the end of his snout like this. It does somewhat resolve an issue regard holding things and walking at the same time, but it still strikes me as slightly odd.

Eyes

This is another big difference that you can spot right away. Max Rebo (and all Ortolans) have round, lidless black eyes. Neel's eyes are more humanoid— they have sclerae, irises, lids, and if you zoom in on the picture below, you'll see lashes.

Basically, Neel can blink— Max can't. (There are comics that contradict this, but unlike the example of the prehensile snout, this can be handwaved as a stylistic choice.)

Digits

Another extremely obvious difference is in the digits. Max Rebo's hand-like feet have five digits ending in suction cups. (Fun fact: Ortolans use these suction cups to absorb food and drink!)

Neel, on the other... hand, has four digits, which do not have suction cups, but fingernails:

Coloration

Ortolans are uniformly blue except for the pink ends of their suction-tipped digits. Neel, on the other hand, has pinkish purple coloring on his palms and the underside of his snout and ears.

Back Flap

Ortolans, at least in some depictions, have a fatty flap on the back of their heads. I can only find these two examples:

But Neel doesn't have one (because he's a different species.)

Height and Sexual Dimorphism

Ortolans are generally depicted as shorter than humanoids, as shown here:

Neel, however, is the same height as his peers, and his parents are the same height as the human adults in the show:

There also appears to be some sexual dimorphism in Neel's species— while the proportions of his mother's head appear to be similar to her middle school-aged son, his father (who I could only find in this one shot, unfortunately) has a much larger head and a longer snout. It appears as though he also possesses tusks, though I'm not entirely certain.

Ortolans do not appear to exhibit notable sexual dimorphism in any depiction; this is an image of a female Ortolan bartender:

Ears

Finally, the ears appear to be subtly different. Ortolans have big floppers that don't appear to have a significant degree of muscle support— they're just flat blobs. (I'm putting a picture of Max Rebo's model from The Book of Boba Fett, but I'm very salty about it. It falls short of the original on the left in so many ways.)

Neel's ears appear to have more structure to them— they're bisected by what seems to be some sort of large sinew or pair of sinews. They appear as though they may be prehensile to a degree. (Although it's been suggested that Ortolan ears are actually flippers, I have not seen evidence of this in official media.)

So next time you see an Ortolan or a member of Neel's species (which will hopefully get a name soon,) you'll be able to tell the difference! Putting a picture here of one of Neel's younger siblings 'cause I like it and don't really know how to end this post

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Sy Snootles and the Rebo Band - Return of the Jedi action figures (Kenner, 1983)

[snawleyy]

jizz artist max rebo you will always be famous

[pulpsandcomics2]

Ralph McQuarrie

[queenjiru]

Day 9 of drawing Gonky until #TheBadBatch season 3 premieres! Today he’s bustin’ a move with the legend himself, Max Rebo 🪩 🎶

[vampirerobot]

Max Rebo Band!!

[stagbeetleboy]

Rystáll Sant or Max Rebo for the “name a star wars character” if u want to!!

Like a bean bag and an aardvark had a son

[mayawakening]

Ghost Posters

So, while trying to get screenshots from Spark of Rebellion, I saw that the posters in the common room of the Ghost actually have translatable aurebesh on them!!

(Bonus weird Ezra)

The red one on the right is an ad for the glorious Max Rebo himself!

The orange one on the left I THINK just says Star Wars 😅

The pink one is a poster for DJ Rangthang, who was present when Quinlan Vos and Obi-Wan were talking to Jabba!

And the blue poster is actually for a character named Dasha Sigweed, which is a joke about real life Global Underground musicians Sasha and Digweed.

Thought it was interesting, especially since these are probably Sabine's posters and this is the type of music she would listen to!

[star-wars-forever]

[tcards]

Star Wars - Return of the Jedi: The 40th Anniversary Covers by Chris Sprouse

[shrimptin]

[masterjedilenawrites]

Discuss!

[keldabekush]

New Stickers and Restock!

Catboys Against CIS, Max Rebo Mixtapes, Candy Clone II, and SHEN of NUCLEAR CROTCH FLOSS - active on my shop link in my pinned :^)

[sailor-crusader]

Max Rebo is the greatest glup shitto in all of star wars.

Look at this stupid fucking thing. I love him.

[badlydrawnstarwars]

Slow day at the Mos Eisley cantina, huh?

[queenjiru]

Drawtober day 4 is the Original Trilogy so I had to pay homage to the man, the myth, the legend himself…Max Rebo 💙✨🎶