1-JAC

This article is nominated to be highlighted as a Featured article!

Feel free to review this article's entry and voice your opinion.

▶️ to a preview of 1-JAC vocalizing
(info)

1-JAC was a reprogrammed LOM-series protocol droid that worked as a bounty hunter during the reign of the Galactic Empire. In 9 BBY, he was on the planet Daiyu when a bounty was placed on the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, who 1-JAC subsequently searched for, eventually encountering him on Daiyu's rooftops.

The protocol droid opened fire on Kenobi, but the Jedi escaped the attack. 1-JAC followed the Jedi and his companion, Princess Leia Organa, to a nearby spaceport and approached them; however, before the droid could open fire, he was shot in the back by Haja Estree, an ally of Kenobi.

Biography

"Send it across the city. I want every lowlife and bounty hunter on this planet to know Kenobi is here. They only report to me."
"You really think those scum can catch a Jedi?"
"I don't want them to catch him. I want them to squeeze him. He'll reveal himself eventually, and I will be waiting."

―The Third Sister and Vect Nokru — 20?cb=20250116042720

▶️ (file info)^[4]

1-JAC attacked the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi on the rooftops of Daiyu.

1-JAC was the designation of an independent, reprogramed LOM-series protocol droid^[3] manufactured by Industrial Automaton^[2] that worked as a bounty hunter during the reign of the Galactic Empire.^[4] In 9 BBY,^[1] he^[3] was on the planet Daiyu when a bounty on the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi was posted by Vect Nokru, an underling of the Imperial Inquisitor known as the Third Sister. The Inquisitor did not expect any of the hunters to succeed but hoped that they would push Kenobi into the open for her to find. 1-JAC started searching for Kenobi among the markets of Daiyu, just missing him and his companion, the young Princess Leia Organa, by a food stall.^[4]

The droid eventually located them on the rooftops of Daiyu, where^[4] fellow bounty hunter Tredgar Volk^[5] had already opened fire on Kenobi as the Jedi chased Organa, who had been scared by the bounty on the Jedi and was trying to flee. The protocol droid fired at Kenobi from a separate rooftop, with the Jedi returning fire on both hunters from behind cover while trying to convince the princess to stop running. After Kenobi killed Volk, Organa attempted to jump between two rooftops but fell, causing the Jedi to move out of 1-JAC's view in order to save her.^[4]

Trying to make their way offworld, the pair then headed for a nearby spaceport back down on street level, but 1-JAC caught up with the fugitives as they crouched in an ally near the port entrance, approaching them from behind^[4] and cornering them.^[6] Before the droid could open fire, he was shot in the back by local con artist Haja Estree,^[4] a member of the group known as the Hidden Path,^[7] who was looking to aid Kenobi and Organa. The droid crumbled against the nearest wall before sliding to the floor and powering down. Estree spoke with Kenobi, then shot the droid one last time as he left, causing 1-JAC's photoreceptors to light up as he spasmed and vocalized.^[4]

Characteristics

1-JAC had black plating and green sensors.^[4] He stood 1.67 meters (5 foot, 6 inches) tall.^[2]

Equipment

While hunting Kenobi, 1-JAC used a pair of silver blaster pistols that he kept in black holsters. He also wore a red and black bandolier.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Costume design

"So, we wanted this character to be, in their words, "the most kick-ass protocol droid," okay. He needs to be able to run, and jump, climb ladders, fall down, do all kinds of action."

―Chris Bartlett^[8]

Chris Bartlett sits looking up at the mounted torso and head of the 1-JAC costume during an interview in the Rebelscum studio. — Chris Bartlett created the 1-JAC costume and portrayed the character.

1-JAC was created for the Obi-Wan Kenobi television series, appearing in "Part II," the show's second episode,^[4] which premiered on May 26, 2022.^[9] Uncredited in the episode,^[4] 1-JAC was physically portrayed by Chris Bartlett and voiced by David W. Collins.^[10] Bartlett personally built the 1-JAC suit used in the episode, knowing that it needed to resemble the existing LOM-series character 4-LOM but that he would be a separate character.^[8] Parts of the suit started out as a C-3PO costume and so prior to painting and weathering it was gold chrome underneath. During the weathering process, Bartlett used gold aging to account for any gold that did show through if the paint chipped. His personal thinking is that this gold may be a remnant of a more sophisticated job 1-JAC held before becoming a bounty hunter.^[11]

He was asked to make the character "the most kick-ass protocol droid," meaning the suit needed to allow for action sequences including running, falling, or ladder climbing. To achieve this, Bartlett worked with his dresser Dana Gasser to tailor the suit to allow additional movement and a wider gunslinger stance while also beefing up the arms and pistons,^[8] the latter made to take more shock and look more high performance.^[11] LEDs inside the character's eyes allowed them to light up^[8] but the costume eyes were too thick and frosted to see through and so Bartlett could only see through a mesh over the droid's central "nose" hole,^[11] which was tricky.^[8]

Additional props

"The blasters here are unique in that they are asymmetrical […] so the scopes are on opposite sides of the pistol and that was so that when I'm holding them, ostensibly fictionally, the scopes are on the inside so my bug eyes can look through each scope."

―Chris Bartlett^[8]

Two shots of a work-in-progress version of 1-JAC's blaster and holster, with the weapon still black and cardboard used in place of parts of the holster. — 1-JAC's blasters were created by the props team and provided to Bartlett once he got to set.

Bartlett did not build the bandolier or pistols, which were provided by the props team once he got on to set.^[11] He thinks the red on 1-JAC's bandolier was intended to stand out against the dark plating and was a call back to a red emblem on the torso of the original 4-LOM costume. The pistols were unique in that the pair was designed to be mirrored so that both pistols had their scope on the inside edge when Bartlett was holding them.^[8]

The suits' hands were then tailored to fit the pistols and Bartlett worked with the prop team to make holsters to fit them and look like they had been made as part of the suit.^[11] Hard surface specialist Jesse Moody created the digital costume design for the holsters, producing high poly models for 3D printing. Moody also produced a series of concepts for a shoulder pauldron that went unused.^[12] Bartlett had the custom machined holsters made to open at the front, as droid costumes do not generally allow for the range of arm movements needed to draw out a pistol from the top as usual. He also added padding inside the holster to provide enough friction so that he could slam the pistols back down into the holsters and they would stay in place. Prop master Josh Roth also created an additional wrist holoprojector for the costume that was used for a scene that was filmed in which 1-JAC views a hologram of Kenobi, although this did not make it into the final cut of the episode.^[8]

Filming

"But in the end, they didn't use a shot of me falling on the hard ground. They used a shot of me falling over and the suit locks up and I'm not moving, I' not falling down, I'm not standing up. I've been shot."
"So you were stuck?"
"Stuck against the wall and I don't have balance but the suit's hooked on something."

―Chris Bartlett and interviewer Bobby Robertson^[11]

Bartlett was allowed to make a lot of choices regarding the character's movement during filming^[8] and thought of 1-JAC as a high performance and highly modified droid, making his movements very precise and fast.^[11] The snappiness of the movements ended up proving quite painful for his arms, but Bartlett felt it was worth it to achieve the threatening look he hoped for. The stunts department mostly provided Bartlett directions on where he needed to move on set and what frequency he needed to be firing at.^[8]

1-JAC leans against a wall, the costume caught, as Haja Estree walks past him in a Daiyu alley toward Obi-Wan Kenobi and Princess Leia Organa. — A take in which the 1-JAC costumed locked up and caught on the wall was used in the final version of *Obi-Wan Kenobi* Part II.

After an entire morning of shooting the scene in which 1-JAC is shot in the back by Haja Estree, the suit received some visual damage to its back, although no structural damage^[8] despite parts sometimes popping off. In most of these takes, Bartlett fell directly onto the ground and the crew found it quite traumatic to watch Bartlett do this around twelve times in total with no padding. The take that ended up being partly used however was one where the suit locked up and got caught on the wall, with Bartlett only slowly sliding down the wall after it became unhooked. He then crashed to the floor, disrupting Kenobi and Estree's conversation in the scene and causing everyone to laugh.^[11]

Bartlett had Gasser build a switch to make 1-JAC's eyes flicker, which he did with two gum wrappers, a plastic spoon, two popsicle sticks, and a rubber band. Gasser then rewired the eyes to only light up when the foil was making contact, with Bartlett holding the switch in his mouth. However, when they tested it, the switch became incredibly hot due to the electricity running through it and so the pair went to the prop department who had rubber switches to use instead. Bartlett then suggested they use it when Estree shoots the droid for a second time, as the crew had not planned for how the droid would react. Bartlett sometimes found it hard to breath while shooting the alley scene and felt it was the most physically exhausting filming he had done yet for a Star Wars project. The scene in total took a full day to shoot.^[11]

Naming

"But that's not actually 4-LOM though, it is actually a different droid named One Jack [sic]. Everyone thinks it's 4-LOM."

―Deborah Chow^[13]

1-JAC was mistaken for 4-LOM (pictured) by fans.

During filming, Bartlett also posed for various promotional stills. Bartlett kept the suit after filming,^[8] and the prop department provided a replica of the bandolier to go with it.^[11] Although no backstory has been provided for 1-JAC, the actor likes to think of him as 4-LOM's son in his personal head canon.^[8]

Prior to the release of the episode, 1-JAC was revealed in a trailer for the show released on May 4 of that year.^[14] After fan speculation that the droid in the trailer might be 4-LOM, director Deborah Chow revealed the droid's actual name in an interview with Uproxx given on May 19, 2022, although she did not provide the spelling.^[13] The spelling was then revealed in a blog post on StarWars.com on June 15, 2022, announcing a Hasbro action figure of the character^[15] with box art based on one of Bartlett's promotional stills.^[8]