LEGO reveals Jedi Bob’s full name – and how he ended up fronting Rebuild the Galaxy
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy’s writers have revealed how Jedi Bob came to be front and centre of the animated special – and the cult character’s full name…
Arriving on Disney+ on September 13, Rebuild the Galaxy reimagines the LEGO Star Wars universe through the eyes of brothers Sig and Dev Greebling. Tatooine is a water planet; X-Fighters and TIE-Wings fly through the skies; and anchoring the entire narrative is a once-anonymous character who originally debuted in 2002’s 7163 Republic Gunship.
Unnamed at the time but since dubbed Jedi Bob by the fan community, this happy-go-lucky Jedi has returned almost exactly as he was back in the early ‘00s, yellow skin and all. But to fulfil the role he’s destined to play in Rebuild the Galaxy, Jedi Bob had to become more than just a one-note joke among the LEGO Star Wars community.
“On a very practical level, I immediately said, ‘Well, he’s got to have a name, in addition to being called Jedi Bob,’” Rebuild the Galaxy co-writer Dan Hernandez told Blocks magazine. “That was one of the most important decisions that we made, to say he’s not just a meme character from a LEGO set, he’s got to be a real character; he’s got have a real story and a real name.
“Jedi Bob can be his nickname, but we have to make this a dynamic, realised character. So as a little homage, his full name is Bobarian Afol. For the people that get it, it’s a great joke. And for people that don’t, it just sounds like a cool Star Wars name.” For those playing along at home, Afol refers to AFOL, or Adult Fan of LEGO. Bobarian probably doesn’t need its own explanation.
While Dan had plenty of ideas for fleshing out Jedi Bob, he didn’t really have any idea who the character was before working on Rebuild the Galaxy. In fact, his co-writer (and self-confessed AFOL) Benji Samit had to convince Dan that this relatively obscure character was the right choice to front the LEGO Star Wars animated special.
“How did I explain Jedi Bob to Dan? It’s such a very niche thing,” Benji recalled to Blocks. “Like most LEGO fans, I went through a dark age. When the initial Jedi Bob set came out I was in college, so I wasn’t aware of it at the time. Some years later, I had a job where I’d got disposable income, LEGO sets were getting more and more exciting, so I got back into it.
“I was on all of the subreddits and following all of the Instagrammers. It became my main hobby. When you’re on that side of the internet, you’re very aware of Jedi Bob.” Yet while Bob had entered Benji’s sphere of LEGO Star Wars knowledge, he says he never could have guessed that he’d one day ‘write the Jedi Bob show’.
“When we had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Lucasfilm and the LEGO Group about doing the show, I was thinking about the idea of rebuilding the galaxy and very quickly I lasered in on Jedi Bob,” he added. “I told Dan, ‘Okay, so we need a Jedi Master for this special and this is who it’s going to be.’ Dan was like, ‘What? Who’s Jedi Bob?’”
Dan might have needed filling in on the bigger Bob picture, but it was a different story for the actor who’s ultimately provided the vocal chops for the animated character. “When this audition came up, I went, ‘No way! This is that Jedi Bob!” comedian and voice actor Bobby Moynihan told Blocks. “I’m just a collector, I’m not a big LEGO collector… I knew of the more sought-after pieces in the LEGO universe and Jedi Bob, and it just made me laugh.”
“When we were offering the part to Bobby, we were like, ‘So there’s this character, Jedi Bob, I don’t think you’ve heard of him,’” Dan said. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, haven’t I?’ Then he pulled the minifigure out of his pocket. It’s pretty great that everyone involved is a massive nerd.”
Bobby apparently ended up taking his Jedi Bob minifigure to every single one of his recording sessions for Rebuild the Galaxy. If you want to get your hands on your own modern take on the character, you’ll find him in 75388 Jedi Bob’s Starfighter, which is available now at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores. Check out our review here.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy arrives on Disney+ on September 13. Blocks magazine’s full interview with the Rebuild the Galaxy team is available in Issue 119.
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